Ten Days
Soren
slipped through the front door, hanging his snowy coat up on the
hook. Eli was curled up on the couch, his computer on his knees.
Soren sat down next to him, laying his head on Eli's narrow shoulder.
"Heya. What are you working on?"
"Travel
plans," said Eli, quite excitedly. "Vincent wants me to showcase
at a gallery in New York. I'd be going in about two weeks."
"Really,"
said Soren, raising an eyebrow. "When? You didn't mention this
before."
"Vincent
hadn't had much intel on the whole thing," said Eli, scanning
through a series of emails again. "It was just sort of something
that he mentioned in passing. He was thinking it might be good for me
to showcase at a place that isn't just Kansas."
"Would
this be a regular thing?"
"I
don't think so," said Eli. "It'd be four showcases over ten days.
Just sort of a one time thing."
Soren
smiled and pointed at a window on his browser. "Do those showcases
include Broadway tickets?"
"Well,
what would we do over the lull period? There's a showcase on a
Sunday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. We've got a bunch of days
with nothing to do."Soren
looked worried. "I don't know if we can do the "we," Eli. I
don't know if can get away for a week."
Eli
shut his computer and frowned. "You haven't taken a day off in
ages. For God's sake you'd go to work sick if it weren't specifically
against company policy. Wouldn't your boss let you off for a week?""It's
not just about how many days I have," said Soren. "We just got
started on a new project. They put me on the team that's breeding new
subjects. I can't really leave unless I have to. Besides, I'd rather
save my days for when I'm actually sick.
"Are
you sure you can't get away for a week," said Eli, hugging Soren.
"Wouldn't it be nice to get out of Kansas for a short bit?"
Soren
closed his eyes and growled a bit."I'll try. But they're kinda
strict about how we get to use our leave days. They give us a lot to
make sure that no one ever comes in sick."
"I
hope you can get away with it," said Eli. "I have some friends we
could go see. You'd like them."
Soren
sighed, "I'll try, I don't think I'll be able to though. What would
you like to do for dinner?"
Eli
gave Soren a light kiss. "Surprise me. I'm not picky. I just got an
idea that I wanna put in my sketchpad before I forget. You don't mind
if I skip out on helping?"
Soren
laughed as he kissed Eli back. "I'm heartbroken. Get going before
you forget."
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________"I'll
see you later, sweetheart," said Soren as he handed Eli his carry
on.
"Thanks,
sweetie," said Eli, kissing Soren as he took the bag. "I really
wish you could have come with me."
"Me
too," said Soren, giving Eli a tight hug. "I hope you have fun.
I'll just hold down the fort till you get back, OK?"
"That's
still not fair for you," said Eli, rubbing his cheek against
Soren's. "You work too hard. You need to give yourself a break some
days. Don't run yourself into the ground while I'm gone."
"You
should go. I don't want you to be late because of me." Soren gave
Eli another kiss, stroking his cheek. "Have a safe flight, Eli.""I
will. I'll text you when I get in, ok?" Eli squeezed Soren in a one
armed hug and turned to go. "Goodbye sweetie."
Soren
waved as he stepped back into the car. Pulling out of the drop off
lane and back into the chaotic airport traffic. It took way too long
to get home. Friday nights on the highway could be obnoxious enough,
but the airport made it worse. Eli had been in the air for at least
half an hour by the time Soren got home.
Fishing
around the freezer for something easy to cook for himself. He found
some "taquitos" that had some serious freezer burn, but Soren was
too lazy to make something just for himself. Taking a coke from out
of the fridge, he sat down on the L-shaped couch and lay there in a
daze, feeling bored.
He
decided to fire up the gamecube and pop in an old favorite. Soren had
a thing for Super Mario Sunshine. It was, in his opinion, one of the
best 3D Mario games, and the water mechanic made the games and levels
multidimensional and expansive. Starting a new file, he dove in.
Soren actually lost track of the time, and ended up going to bed
around two. Eli had sent him a text saying he had got in safely, but
Eli sent the text while Soren was in the shower, and Eli said he was
going to bed before Soren got a chance to respond.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Soren
eagerly picked up his phone. "Heya, sweetheart."Eli's
light, musical voice filled Soren's ears. "Hey. How are you, dear?""I'm
OK," said Soren. "Bored. There was nothing much to do today. I
cleaned the house up this morning. I called Floyd, Allison, and
James, but they were all busy. I ended up going into the lab and
worked ahead on some stuff so that I can have an easier time on
Monday."
Soren
heard a slap and a crackly sigh from his phone. "Soren, sweetie,
please," said Eli in exasperation. Can't you keep work from nine to
five like normal people?""What's
bothering you, Eli," asked Soren.
"You're
bothering me," sighed Eli, "Honestly, Soren. Can't you please
try and have FUN during your weekends? Don't spend your Saturdays
working."
"It's
just, well, Saturdays are normally, well, our days," said
Soren. "What am I supposed to do with you gone?"
"Sweetie,
you don't need me to have fun. What did you do for the twenty one
years of your life when you didn't know me?"Soren
chuckled. "I... don't know. I gamed, I guess. I played music. I
dunno..."
"Please,
find something to do tomorrow. Can you promise me you''ll do
something for yourself tomorrow? Can you do that for me?"I'll
do that, sweetie," said Soren. "How was your day."
"Long
and boring and sorta stressful, to be honest," said Eli."What
happened," asked Soren, "Did something go wrong?""Sort
of," sighed Eli. "We lost four paintings in the gallery.""Oh,
no! Did you find them? Where were they?"
"They
just got sent to different parts of the gallery. It all got there
safely once we figured out where they went.""I'm
glad nothing was damaged," said Soren. "I can't imagine you'd
take losing four masterpieces too well.""You're
making me blush," teased Eli, "They were hardly masterpieces."
Soren
smiled. "Call me biased. What's your schedule tomorrow?"
Eli
yawned so widely Soren heard his jaw crack through the phone. "I'll
be in the gallery all day. It's a whole day event, and Vincent wants
me to meet as many new people as possible."
"I
wish I could be there with you," said Soren.
"I
do too," said Eli. "Have you ever been in the Guggenhiem? It's so
cool! I wish you'd could see it. All the galleries are structured
around the spiral architecture! I haven't gotten a chance to snoop
around to look at the other galleries. I don't even know who else is
in here."
"Have
fun, sweetie," said Soren. "Give me a call whenever you need to.""Goodbye,
Soren," said Eli, "I love you.""I
love you too. Have fun." Soren let Eli hang up, sighing as he put
his phone back on the dock. It was nine o clock. Soren sighed again,
futzing about the living area, not really feeling like doing
anything. He decided to brush the dust off his Grandmother's old
grand piano. Flexing his fingers as he walked up the loft stairs,
Soren hummed a melody to himself that was leaking out of his head.__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________"Hey
sweetheart," said Soren as he accepted the Skype call.
"Heya,
sweetie," said Eli. "Sorry I called earlier. I forgot about
Pathfinder."
"It's
no big deal," said Soren, "I was knocked unconscious at the time
anyway.""Oh
dear," said Eli. "What happened to Sergei?
"Nothing
huge," said Soren, "I was dropped, that's all. Some schmuck with
sneak attack damage. Just a lucky critical."
"Did
anyone else die without healing support?"
"Nah,"
said Soren. "It was a lucky shot and we outnumbered them even
without me."
"What
was the best thing you killed?"
Soren
grinned, "We fought a mature adult dragon!"Eli
gave a tiny gasp. "How'd you survive that? Isn't Sergie level
four?"
Soren
chuckled. "I don't wanna spoil the ending of the module. It's too
good to just tell you.""You
little tease. How'd a bunch of fours handle a dragon?:"Two
words," said Soren, "Iron golem."
"What?
An iron golem?" Eli's jaw dropped.
"Yep,"
said Soren grinning at Eli's reaction. "We found a rod that
commanded an ancient golem in the dungeon. So the golem fought the
dragon while the rest of us fought the minions. I think Kylie had a
tiny orgasm when she found out Amelia was piloting a golem."
Eli
cackled, "I bet Amelia thought that the iron golem was the epitome
of worldly beauty."Soren
chuckled, "She was going on about how she experienced divine
transcendence. She almost cried when she found out that she couldn't
take the golem out of the dungeon."
"I
wish I coulda been there," smiled Eli, "Anything else happen that
was fun?"
"I
was gonna ask that myself," said Soren, "How was your first
show."
Eli
yawned, "It was...It... was a long day. And I was trapped in my
gallery all day. I talked to a bunch of people who were nice enough.
I just wish I had a chance to explore the Guggenhiem. And there was
this lull period where there just wasn't anyone around."
"Well,
you have a week to do stuff," said Soren. "What's your plan till
Wednesday?"
Eli
absently twirled his lobsided bangs, smiling. "Hrmmm... I have some
friends who want me to come over later in the week, but Monday is
Broadway day. Sweeney Todd!"
Soren
frowned a bit. "Haven't you seen that one a couple thousand times?"Eli
grinned "I've only seen it on small stages. I wanna go see it on a
large scale."
"Well
have some fun, sweetie," said Soren. "I love you."
"I
love you too, Soren. Goodbye, sweetheart."
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________"Heya
sweetie," said Soren, smiling as he picked up the phone. "How was
your day?"
"It
was OK enough, I suppose," said Eli. "Lotsa phone calls, really.
I got a hold of Artur. He invited me to stay over at his place in
Queens. He said he has some friends he wants me to meet... do you
mind?"
Soren
frowned. "Do I mind what?"
Eli
stumbled through his next few words. "Well... you know, we dated
for a while... I just thought it would look a bit weird if I spent a
few days at his place."
Soren
laughed at how preposterous Eli's request was. "Sweetheart, why
would I be so petty? You don't need to ask my permission to see an
old friend. Go have fun. Did anything else happen? Did you have some
fun after your gallery show yesterday?"
"Yeah,"
said Eli, instantly excited. "I sorta explored. Just walked around
the streets. I found the best coffee shop, but I screwed up big
time."
"What
happened?"
"I
forgot the name," said Eli in exasperation. "They had the best
damn muffins I've ever tasted and I forgot the name of the place. I
couldn't remember the way either! URGH! I wanna go back but no one
can tell me where it is!"Soren
laughed. "Don't you keep a journal everywhere you go?"
Eli
groaned. "I KNOW! The ONE DAY I forget is the day I find the best
coffee and pastries in the city!"
Soren
pouted through his phone. "They weren't better than my stuff, were
they?"
"I...
I can't say," said Eli. "Have you ever had pistachio muffins
before?"
"No,"
said Soren, intrigued instantly. "That sounds, interesting, to say
the least."
"It's
settled then," said Eli. "You're making me muffins when I get
home. Then I'll pass judgment."
Soren
laughed. "Fine then. I'll look up recipes. Did anything interesting
happen today, besides your desperate search for muffins?""I
was going to ask you that," said Eli. "How was work?""It
was pretty smooth," said Soren, "The stuff I worked on Saturday
meant less paperwork for me. I was with the mice all day. They seem
to like the stimulant a bit too much. We're afraid it might have some
properties that cause dependence."
"Is
it counteracting the drowsiness side effect?"
Soren
chuckled. "Well, yes. That's why we're adding the stimulant. But
that was my day, really. Nothing much else, to be honest.""Well,
I may be super busy tomorrow, but I'll try and check in."Soren
waved away Eli's worries as if he could see him. "It's fine,
sweetheart. Go have fun. You don't need to worry about me."
"Thanks,
Soren," said Eli. "I love you.""I
love you too. Bye, sweetie."
Soren
hung up, sighing. It wasn't much after ten. He pulled out his
computer, and looked around on cooking sites for pistachio muffins.
It seemed he'd have to hit the grocery store for some ingredients. It
looked easy enough. As he closed his computer, Soren let out an
enormous sneeze. "Damn it," said Soren to no one in particular.
He really didn't want to get sick. What a waste of time. And now that
he was paying attention to it he felt his nose running a bit. "Damn
it," said Soren, addressing thin air again.
Yawning
widely, Soren crawled into bed. Laying there, alone, he sighed and
turned over onto Eli's side of the bed. He spread eagled his gangly
limbs, fanning his nine long tails out to take up as much of the bed
as he could. He felt so tiny in the massive piece of furniture. Eli
had bought it with both of them in mind, going for an extra tall king
size so they could fit without having to spoon every night. To be
honest they spooned or cuddled almost every night anyway, but it was
nice to spread out if they felt like they needed space.
"Goodnight
Eli," said Soren into a pillow, sighing as he closed his eyes and
waited for sleep to come.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Soren
sat up, a haze around his mind that went deeper than his usual
morning grogginess. "Fu---," sneezed Soren. His throat was sore,
his mouth dry, and the cold inkiness of mucus was running down his
nose and throat. He knew instantly he was sick. Picking up his phone,
he sent Harold a text. It was almost eight, and he didn't need to
wait long for a reply.
"Understood.
Get well soon."
Soren
sighed, rolling over, swamping himself in the covers. He was feeling
chilly. Dammit, he never felt chilly. Soren tossed and turned, trying
to replicate the serene comfiness that he had been enjoying just
before he woke up.
Sighing,
Soren got out of bed and shuffled to the bathroom. He searched the
shower interface for the high steam setting. Stepping into the
scalding water, he breathed in through his mouth and nose, hoping
that the vapor would clear his sinuses. His efforts were in vain,
and after more than half an hour of standing in scalding water, Soren
gave up and turned of the shower. He tried to dry himself with
sparks, but every time he attempted to conjure fire, he let out an
explosive sneeze. Soren muttered darkly as he toweled himself dry,
still snorting and snuffling as his his nose continued to run.Soren
began to snoop around the bathroom, searching for cough medicine.
All they had was a few tablets of DayQuil. It made sense in
retrospect. They really didn't get sick that often, so they didn't
need to have much in stock. He took the pills into the kitchen,
brewing some tea, digging through the pantry for honey. All he had
was the dregs of a tiny bottle, not even worth using in a cup of tea.Well,
then, it looked he'd actually have to get dressed, dammit. Downing a
cup of decaffeinated black tea in one gulp, he pulled on his jacket
and boots. Soren
endured a windy, soggy slog down the street to the grocery store
. Fifteen minutes later he returned
home with honey, lemons, cough medicine, kleenex, and a two cartons
of orange juice. It was just going to be one of those days.
He
let the door slam behind him and grumbled as he set the kettle on the
stove. After the tea was ready, he poured himself a steaming mug and
added the new honey and lemon juice to it. He found some hideous
instant oatmeal that must have been at least a year old, but at least
it was hot food.
Soren
stared into his mug, brooding. This was the worst kind of sick. Just
enough to make him miss work. He could be doing something
important right now. But going into work sick wasn't worth his job.
They could lose months, if not years of work if Soren came in and
contaminated an experiment. They'd figure the experiments out without
him, but he had nothing to do but sit on his ass all day now.
Soren
looked around the game cabinet, looking for something to get lost in.
Something fun, visceral, perhaps even mindless. Borderlands seemed
a good choice. He started a new game, picking the Siren. It didn't
take long for him to get lost on Pandora. He was through the first
few missions when he let out an enormous sneeze. He growled. There it
went, all the immersion, out the window. He tried to dive back in,
playing for over two hours. But it felt forced, artificial... and he
was running out of cough drops too. He was burning through them
rather fast. Soren really didn't feel like running to the store
again.
So
he sat in haze of lethargy, watching the clock inch closer to the
next hour. And the next. And the next. It was five o clock. This is
when most people would get off from work. But Soren normally stayed
later. An extra hour of work paid pretty well, as some experiments
needed monitors and check ups twenty-four-seven.
Soren
more often than not lost track of time at the lab. When he had his
hands on the experiments, he was influencing the lives of millions,
working to bring plagues to their knees... perhaps that was a bit
dramatic, but still, he made a difference working at the lab. He
wasn't just a nine to five office slave.
Soren
sighed as he got up off the couch to retrieve his phone. He dialed
Eli's number. He picked up in the middle of the third ring. He wasn't
sure, but Soren thought he felt his head defog a bit when Eli said,
"Heya, sweetie."
"Heya,"
said Soren, his voice raspy from illness and general lack of use.
"You
sound terrible."
"I
feel terrible," said Soren, moodily.
"Well
that's shitty," said Eli. "You should've just used sick days and
come with me at this point."
"Don't
remind me," sighed Soren. "Did you have fun today?"
"Yeah.
Artur showed me around the city some. You kinda called as we were
walking out the door. We were gonna go for sushi with some of his
friends. Do you wanna talk to Artur?:
"Um...
maybe later. Maybe when I don't feel like crap," muttered Soren.
"OK.
I'll talk later if you like," said Eli.
"That'd
be nice," said Soren. "Goodbye sweetheart. I love you."
"I
love you too. Feel better sweetie."
Soren
hung up, sitting broodily on the couch. It was just after five. Soren
was feeling a little hungry. Soup would probably be good. He was
almost out of orange juice, so he'd have to switch to tea and go
to the store tomorrow. Soren got up with a grunt and got to work on
the soup, snuffling the whole time.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The
next two days passed in a mucusy haze. Soren swore the cold was
hanging around out of spite. The one week Eli was gone, Soren was
sick, stuck in the house with nothing to do. It was a wonderful
apartment. It was spacious and filled with nice things. Eli had
decorated all of the rooms with paintings that he had felt weren't
worthy of being auctioned or stuff he had made just for them. But all
that space was doing now was making Eli's absence even more
conspicuous.
Soren
sighed, turning in the blankets that he had laid over the couch.
Soren had stopped sleeping in their bed. It just felt so empty
without Eli there next to him. Eli hadn't had much time to call,
either. Yesterday was a gallery day and today Eli went on a theater
marathon: Hamlet, Spelling Bee, Macbeth, Salome. All they had been
able to do was a quick "Hey, how are you, I love you, goodbye."
Soren
fidgeted on the couch, watching the clock tick by. His cold was
almost gone, but it was policy that sick employees needed to wait a
full twenty four hours after symptoms disappeared. It made sense, but
that still meant Soren wouldn't be able to work on Friday. He had
been furiously re-reading old books he liked as a kid: Ender's game,
His Dark Materials, Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, Circle of Magic; the
pile of spent books around Soren was only matched by the pile of used
kleenex and cough drop wrappers.
Soren
reached for his computer, accepting the skype call. Soren curled up
under the blankets, letting Eli's voice warm him up. "Heya,
sweetheart."
"Hi,
Soren. Are you feeling better sweetie?"
Soren
cleared his throat. "Better. Still a bit stuffy. I've just been
reading a lot. But that's about it. Did you last gallery showing go
well?""Yeah,"
said Eli, eagerly. "Vincent showed up! He held down the fort for a
few hours and let me explore!"
"So
what's the Guggenheim like?"
"I
only got to window shop. A lot of the galleries were invitation only.
But there was a sculptor who had open doors. Her name was...
Jane...something... oh right, it was Olivia! Jane Olivia! She had
some good stuff. She did a lot of kiln clay stuff that she painted
and glazed herself. She had really cool still life sculptures on
display. I had a chat with her and showed her my stuff. We set up an
art swap!"
"Nice,"
said Soren. "What are you trading her for?"
"She
said she'd surprise me. It wouldn't be too big. It's something we
could use a centerpiece on our kitchen table. I was going to pass her
on Grave Mist."
"You
really liked that one," said Soren, visualizing the ethereal, deep
purple abstract that Eli had crafted. "You're willing to just swap
that away?""I
don't need to sell all my paintings Soren. It means a lot that
another artist likes my work enough that she'd offer her own work in
return. She's offering to swap a small part of her soul with me. It's
hard to explain, but we make enough money that I can spare one
painting."
Soren
blushed. "Sorry, sweetheart. I didn't mean to imply-"
Eli
cut Soren off with a sigh. "I know that, dear. It's just an artist
thing. Jane is gonna ship it to the Kansas gallery."
"I
can't wait to see it," said Soren, turning away to sneeze. "How
was your theater binge yesterday?"
"Oh,
it was fantastic," said Eli, pulling his playbills from the inside
of his jacket. "The Shakespeare stuff was on the small stage, but
Spelling Bee and Salome were large scale. I'm contemplating getting
Spelling Bee's soundtrack.
Soren
chuckled. "A small part of me thinks you only want it because
there's a song called Unfortunate Erection."
Eli
giggled and grinned. "What can I say, I'm a sucker for musical
numbers about random boners. Have you seen Spelling Bee before?"
Soren
shook his head. "I only know the songs. Jeanne had me accompany
soundtracks for practice. Hey, what are your plans for the next few
days."Eli
rolled his eyes. "It's all straightforward stuff. Gallery, gallery,
early flight. I should be in by the early afternoon. And Saturday is
also the actual auction. The first three showings was me chatting up
visitors and trying to convince people to come and bid for
paintings.""Well
try and have a good time," said Soren. "Did you do anything else
fun?"
" I
found this bookstore," said Eli, rummaging off screen for
something. "It's called Forbidden Planet... and I found... THESE!"
He proudly displayed three aged, hardcover books.
"First
edition D&D? Nice," said Soren with a smile. "How'd those
stay hidden so long? That's collectors material there!""They
were put on the shelves hours before I picked them up," said Eli,
thumbing one of the books absently. "If I had gone tomorrow they
might not have been there."
"I
can't wait to crack em open," said Soren, anticipating a game with
Floyd, James, and Alison. "Did anything else happen?"
"No,"
said Eli with a shake of his head. "I was planning to try and hit
the museum of natural history, but that may not work out. I should
go, though. I'm really tired. Sorry to cut us short."
"It's
ok," said Soren, waving away Eli's concerns. "Have some fun.
Knock em dead, sweetie."
"What
good will that do," asked Eli with a grin. "Dead patrons don't
bid very well."
Soren
rolled his eyes. "Goodnight, smart ass. I love you.""I
love you too, Soren."
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Soren
woke up on Saturday, pleased to feel that the ghost of the cold was
finally gone. Soren checked the clock. It was a bit past ten. As
Soren turned to get dressed, he noticed the date. It was the
fourteenth of February. Valentine's Day. Soren harrumphed. He had
never given any attention to Valentine's Day before, but then again,
he had never had a chance to celebrate it with anyone. Not until
recently. Soren hadn't even gotten to celebrate it with Milo. Going
out on one of their illicit dates when everyone they knew would be
doing the exact same thing would just be stupid. Last year with Eli
had been nice. But now Eli was in New York and Soren was stuck at
home, alone.
Cooking
himself an omelet, Soren looked around the apartment. It wasn't
pretty. The aftermath of his cold still lingered around in the form
of a messy living room. Kleenex and wrappers were everywhere. He
couldn't have Eli coming home to a messy house. He spent much of the
morning cleaning. But what would he do today, now that he was done.?
Soren
slowly made his way to the Price Chopper. He had a large list of
stuff he needed, but he was walking rather than driving. It had been
snowing since about eight that previous evening, and it was quite
thick at this point. It must have been at least six inches, and the
streets still hadn't been completely cleared. Taking the car would
have been risky and inefficient.
Soren
shivered a bit inside his fleece. This snow was super wet, and even
all this wind was damp. Soren's fur was getting wet pretty fast.
Soren sloshed through the snow, wishing he had brought a hat.
Soren
smiled a little as he passed a park. A group of six kids were playing
in the snow. A mareep, an eevee, a growlith, a charmander, a shinx,
and an abra were building two magnificent snow forts.
For
the Umpteenth time Soren wished Eli was home. It would have been fun
for them to romp around in the snow together, but if Soren was
alone... he was almost twenty eight. He'd feel like an idiot goofing
around here, alone.
Soren
entered the Price Choppers, letting the warm air flow over his damp
fur. He took the four canvas bags out of his backpack. He'd need all
of them, and his backpack too. Eli would have a sweet surprise when
he got home.
After
at least forty minutes of shopping, Soren exited the store, laden
with ingredients. It took longer to get back, and Soren took some
time to watch the kids play for a bit. Their forts were magnificent,
some parts reaching as high as Soren. Each were equipped with
numerous small mountain of snowball piles.Soren
smiled as he watched the abra girl in particular. She looked around
eight or nine, but she had remarkable control of her powers. She
guided her clumsy throws with currents of pink energy and even lifted
herself shakily on to the top of the snow fort. She reminded Soren of
himself a bit; a young, awkward kit with masterful control of his
personal powers, perhaps a bit too much control for his own good.
Soren
sighed and continued his walk home. He greeted Bill at the reception
desk and took the elevator up. Shedding his wet fleece and dusting
off his bangs, Soren emptied the contents of his bags on the counter:
slabs of chocolate, cr竪me de menthe, coconut shavings, strawberries,
nuts, and numerous other ingredients for chocolate confections.
Eli
actually called while Soren worked, but Soren replied via text. As
much as he wanted to hear Eli's voice, Soren didn't trust himself to
not give away his chocolatey surprise. Soren worked non stop,
sampling Jeanne's recipes and some stuff he found online. Soren
finally finished cleaning after one o clock in the morning. Taking a
quick shower, Soren went to bed, setting his alarm for earlyish so as
to make Eli's early arrival. Soren slowly drifted off to sleep, his
leg hanging off the end of the couch, letting the sweet scents of his
confectioneering project wash over him as they drifted from the
kitchen.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Soren
stood outside of his car, the wet, chilly air whipping at him but not
piercing his fur. He had been standing there for about fifteen
minutes already. Stupid baggage claim must've been delayed or
something. Soren stood impatiently, glancing around and tapping his
fingers. Suddenly, a glint of messy, uneven orange hair flashed
across the top crowd, punctuated by tall, pointy fox ears.
Pausing
only to lock the car, Soren rushed through the crowd. He slipped
between the masses of people and exploded out of the crowd to sweep
Eli up in his arms. There was a muted thump as Eli dropped his
suitcase and reached a hand up to stroke Soren's cheek as they
kissed. Soren sighed as they broke away, savoring the indescribably
sweet smell and taste of Eli's body. "I missed you, sweetie."Eli
giggled and buried his face in Soren's chest and arms. "I couldn't
tell. Are you feeling better?"
Soren
gripped Eli briefly, picking up the suitcase that Eli dropped. "Now
that you're home, I am. How was you're flight?"
Eli
took Soren's free hand, the two of them looking conspicuously happy
together. "It was long and loud. There was a kit behind me who was
flying for the first time."Soren
frowned as he unlocked the door. "So you didn't get any sleep, did
you?"
Eli
shook his head, throwing his carry on in the back seat. "I just had
to deal with it. The flight wasn't that bad. I just wanted to get
home."
Soren
got in and started the car. "Did you eat, sweetheart?"
Eli
shook his head, "No, unless you count a shitty airport muffin and a
can of ginger ale. Do you mind cooking?"
"It's
no problem," said Soren, checking his mirrors as he pulled onto the
freeway. "What do you want? Or would it be easier to order take
out? We could pick it up on the way home."
Eli
tapped a finger on his muzzle for a minute. "Hrmmm... You know what
I want?"
Soren
smiled, humoring him. "What?"
"I
want a pizza. The east coast doesn't have pizza. They just have
flatbreads drowning in grease. I want midwest pizza. Deep dish."
"I
knew you'd say that," smiled Soren, remembering his own experiences
with New York pizza. "I have Scarletti's on my phone."
Eli
ordered a large bacon, ham, and pineapple pizza, hanging up with a
lick of his lips. "they said it should be ready to deliver about
ten minutes after we get home.""Works
for me," said Soren, anticipating the pizza. "Did anything
interesting happen on the way home?"
Eli
shook his head. "Nah. Just travel logistics. Boring stuff. Hey,
Soren, do you mind if take a quick nap? I'm really tired."
"You
can close your eyes if you need to," said Soren.
Eli
kissed Soren's arm. "Thanks sweetie."
It
didn't take long for Eli's breathing to slow. Even in sleep Eli
looked exhausted. The drive was uneventful: Eli didn't even wake up
as they pulled into the complex garage. A good part of Soren felt
like picking up his sleeping sweetie and carrying him home, but
walking through the lobby with Eli in his arms felt not a little bit
weird. He opted for a rub of the shoulders and a kiss on the cheek.
"Heya, let's get home before the pizza guy get's here."
Soren
picked up Eli's bags and walked to the elevator together. They zoomed
up to the 17th floor, Eli holding the door for the baggage
laden Soren as they stepped into their apartment.
Eli
paused, smiling as he saw the couch. "What's wrong with our bed?"Soren
scratched the back of his head. "it felt so empty with just me in
it. It just felt too big to sleep in without you in there with me."Eli
reached around Soren's shoulder and kissed his cheek. "Are you sure
you missed me? The way you talk it sounds like you're almost
disappointed I'm home."Soren
turned around to kiss Eli back, smiling as they broke apart. "Smart
ass. Do you want help unpacking?"
"I'm
OK," smiled Eli, beginning to unpack as Soren fished out two plates
as well as two cans of ginger ale. The pizza came as Eli threw the
last of his laundry into the hamper.
Sitting
next to each other rather than on opposite sides of the table, they
dug in. Eli demolished two slices before Soren finished his first.
Soren wasn't too hungry anyway, "Did anything else happen while you
were in the city?""Nothing
too important," said Eli thickly through his third piece. "Just
the stupid delay. I lost my phone charger too, so I couldn't even
call to chat. I wanted to save my battery for emergencies. I'm sorry
I made you come out to the airport this late."Soren
kissed Eli. "It's ten o clock, sweetheart. It's not that late,
really."
Eli
smiled before giving an enormous yawn, "I don't believe it. It
can't be that early. I'm gonna shower and go to bed. Flying runs me
into the ground for some reason."
"Go
for it," said Soren. "I have a few things I wanna take care of.
I'll stay quiet."
"Don't
worry about me. I'll be knocked out soon enough."
Soren
cleaned up the plates and wrapped the remaining pizza for his lunch
tomorrow. He
sat on the couch and picked up the scientific journal he was reading
before he had left to pick up Eli
. There wasn't a
deadline for this, but Soren liked to be on the cutting edge of
whatever science project he was working on. But he couldn't get into
it for some reason. Soren's ears perked up as he heard Eli step out
of the shower.
"I'll
be right behind you, sweetie," said Soren kissing Eli as he pulled
on pajama pants."Don't
worry about me," said Eli. "I might read for a bit, but I might
just go straight to bed."
"I'll
be quiet," said Soren. "I know you're tired."Soren
stepped into the shower, not needing to wait long for the water to
warm. He breathed in the scent of Eli's strawberry wash that still
lingered within the shower and smiled. He washed quickly and dried
off. Eli had his nose in a script that a friend had sent him, the
blankets rolled up so that Soren could climb in.
Soren
slipped into bed kissed Eli. "Is it any good?"
"It's
a musical, so I'd have to see it before I pass judgment," said Eli
as he closed the booklet. "Thanks for driving me home."
"It's
no big deal," said Soren, rubbing Eli's shoulders. "Airport cabs
overcharge on weekends, especially nighttime." Soren paused as he
reached for the light on his side of the bed. "Oh, right, I
completely forgot."
"Forgot
what," asked Eli, putting the script down in his lap.Soren
was rummaging in his nightstand drawer. "I forgot... this," he
said as he produced a small, red, heart-shaped box crafted with
cardboard and construction paper. "Happy Valentine's Day, Eli."
Eli
kissed Soren as he took the box. "You didn't need to do this for
me. Now you're making me feel bad for not getting you something.""I
know I didn't need to. I wanted to," said Soren, grinning as Eli
picked at the bow.
Eli's
face transitioned from a smile to a perplexed frown as he opened the
box. It was empty, save for a small picture of their refrigerator. He
tossed the box back to Soren. "Soren, you little tease. What are
you playing at?"Soren
caught the box, chuckling a bit. "Take a look in our fridge. I
promise I'm not just baiting you."
Eli
got out of bed, faux muttering as he walked to the kitchen. Soren
leaned against their doorway as Eli stuck his head in fridge. He gave
a tiny gasp. "Soren, how much did you spend on chocolate?"
Soren
stepped up behind Eli, enjoying the magnificent sight of a
refrigerator stuffed to the brim with truffles and chocolate
confections of all kinds, neatly sorted into different tupperwares by
flavor. "Not that much," said Soren, "I made them myself."
"You
made all this," muttered Eli, mostly to himself. Looking up at
Soren, he asked, "How long did it take you to make all this
chocolate? There's about a dozen containers in here!"
Soren
grinned. "Most of Saturday. I made mint meltaways, turtles, coconut
creams, peanut butter cups, dark on milk truffles, raspberry creams,
chocolate covered strawberries, cake balls, caramel truffles, and
vanilla filled truffles. I made a few double batches of the stuff we
both like."
Eli
hugged Soren, pressing his cheek into his chest. "You spoil me, you
know that? Thank you so much, Soren."
Soren
smiled as he led them back to bed. "It was fun, actually. I've
never made chocolates before. I think they turned out good."
"I'll
let you know tomorrow," said Eli, smiling as he put his script on
the nightstand, flicking the lamp off as he settled back into the
blankets. Soren sighed as he felt Eli cuddle up to him, putting his
head underneath Soren's muzzle.
Soren
gave a tiny growl and gripped Eli's bare chest and back. As he
wrapped his tails around them both, he ran his hands down Eli's back
and kissed his hair.
"Thanks, love. I missed you."
"I
missed you, too," whispered Eli. "I love you, Soren."
"I
love you too, Eli. Goodnight sweetheart," Soren kissed Eli again,
shifting in the blankets as he held him. Smiling, he let the warmth
of his love and Eli's soft breathing lull to him sleep.