Effect of Precision

Seth woke and checked the time. 5:55. Exactly five minutes before Etho would wake. He knew this and Etho knew this. It was always like that, everyday the same.

He sighed. There was nothing else to do but what he did every morning: wait out those five, long minutes just watching Etho as he lay, curled beneath the sheets.

"Damnit Etho, can't you just wake up?" Seth huffed, taking another glance at the clock. 5:58.

He thought about breaking their routine. He had thought about it a lot recently. Things had changed between Etho and him. They had fallen into the precision of their work, placing a routine to their everyday lives, to their love.

Seth took his hand and brought it to hover over Etho's sleeping face. Just as he was about to brush Etho's cheek, ding! (click, boom? Whatever noise a clock makes.), the clock turned to six and Etho's eyes fluttered open.

"Seth?" Etho yawned, grabbing Seth's hand out of the air and pulling it down to his cheek.

"Hey Etho," Seth muttered, regretting the routine once again.

[|] [|] [|]

The day went by just as planned. Seth and Etho both went to work and returned, Etho arriving early with just enough time to prepare dinner before Seth got home. They ate and then went off to do their own things.

Seth was twiddling around with some redstone puzzles but, upon casually glancing at the time, sighed. He took his outspread hand and curled the fingers in one by one. Five, four, three, two-

"Seth," Etho said, peeking his head over the other's shoulder. "You should come to bed. It's getting late."

Seth figured a little rebellion against the precision was in order. Turning his head towards Etho's, he gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"In a minute."

Etho's eyes widened for a moment, confused of what to think about this deviation, but he rolled his eyes. Ruffling Seth's hair he said, "Okay, but not too much longer." He walked away smiling.

High acceptance rate, good reception. Seth made mental notes as he closed down the game. Maybe I'll bring it up tomorrow.

He chuckled to himself as he realized his strange train of thought. He was trying so hard to break this systemized living, but he was relying on its accuracy to read Etho.

Anxious about the morning, Seth slept restlessly.

[|] [|] [|]

"E-Etho? Can we..." Seth took a deep breath. "Can we talk?"

Etho nodded nervously. The day had gone so well, what was bothering him? "Should we go sit down, or-"

"No. This is different, important."

Etho couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. Good not one of those talks, he thought.

Part of their routine was a petty quarrel every couple weeks. They alternated who would bring up the topic; it was usually something small and stupid that they knew would never be fixed or would take no work to fix. They would argue about it and someone would storm out - also alternating - only to return later and they would forget about the whole thing.

But not really.

And Etho was beginning to think that, as the fights went on, Seth would stop coming back.

"So what is it?" Etho asked.

Seth opened his mouth to say something, then shut it, then opened it again. He was getting frustrated and confused. How was he going to tell Etho everything that was going on?

"Seth," Etho murmured, getting the attention of his flustered partner, "whatever you're crying about, it's okay, just tell me. I hate seeing you upset like this."

Seth brought a hand up to his face, shocked to notice that he actually had been crying. Etho took Seth's hand away from his face and held it in his own, patiently waiting for whatever upsetting news Seth had to offer.

"Something's wrong, missing." Seth's speaking was hitched and his voice wavered. "This isn't right Etho, what we do. I miss when we were... when we were real. When our love was real. Now everything's a game of precision. It's like our lives are measured and counted and timed. It's not real anymore Etho. It's not spontaneous and surprising and sweet. I know some things are better when they're exact and precise. Like redstone, Etho, redstone has to be perfect otherwise it won't work. But we aren't redstone, our lives aren't redstone, our love isn't redstone. We're people. People who are in love. People who aren't perfect." Seth paused, placing his other hand over Etho's chest and looking up at him through watery eyes. "I miss you."

Etho's eyes were welling with tears as Seth finished speaking. He pulled Seth into his arms and held him as they both cried.

"Seth, I... I didn't realize..." His voice trailed off.

At this point, Seth was wishing he had taken Etho's offer and found somewhere to sit down because he was having trouble holding himself up with his shaky legs. He was grateful, however, for Etho's arms wrapped, warm and protective, around him.

"Seth?"

"Mm hmm?" Seth was coming down from his tears and stayed happily cuddled in Etho's arms.

"I love you."

>END<

(Woah, Arrow here. Sorry for the crap ending. I'm battling against precision and not doing something nice and proper for the ending... Just kidding. I'm too lazy to do something good. Since I don't have an official update book, I'd love for you guys to keep up to date on my Message Board, as that's where I update personal things. I'll explain it more to you... On the MB! Haha. Now you have to look. Well, that's all. Love n' stuff! ~Arrow.)