oddest-oddish

[oddest-oddish]

Entspannen

Generally, I'm an original fiction writer, but writer's block has me looking for another outlet, so here we are with a short piece, featuring a tired Felix and an introspective Ace.

Five years ago, if someone had told Ace he'd be awake at five in the morning to watch a game of football, he'd have asked how big the bet was. Sports betting wasn't his favorite, but for the right stakes, he could pretend to be a morning person for the day. If that someone had told him he'd be watching a football game with no money on the line, purely for enjoyment, at five am, in Germany he would have laughed.

Well, scratch that. If this hypothetical situation had happened five years ago, Ace would have been elated. An early morning on the other side of the world would be preferable to his current situation, spending his time running from monstrous creatures and living amongst similar victims between deadly encounters. He would have been skeptical, but maybe a little hopeful.

Ten years ago, if Ace had been told about his future in front of the television, then he would have laughed. Five, he'd have been happy to hear it. Now? He's downright amazed.

Here he was, sitting alone in a comfortable living room in southern Germany. The clock above the fireplace read 5:03, and a football match was underway. Ace was happy.

Ace had been surprised at how easy it was to fall back in love with the sport he used to admire as a kid. He'd found that Argentinian games could be streamed live, all the way in Coburg, and had started watching them in his free time. With his husband at work, he certainly had a lot of free time, especially when he was new to the country and had yet to make friends or find things to do. His hometown team was still one of the stronger ones, and Ace relearned that sports could be fun to watch, even without money on the line.

Ace yawned again and pulled his blanket further up his chest as he settled in on the couch: a massive L-shaped thing that Ace had originally balked at getting. It was simply too much couch for the two of them. But Felix had convinced him otherwise, and Ace had come to enjoy being able to put his feet up while facing the TV.

Ace found his mind wandering as the game began, drifting to the man sleeping upstairs. It had been only a couple years since the Entity had freed them. Ace expected his relationship with Felix to end when they left that realm, but Felix had surprised him, choosing to stay by his side. Now, they were living together in Germany, a fate Ace never would have expected, neither five nor ten years ago. How had he become so lucky? Maybe it was the universe apologizing for sending him into that realm in the first place; letting him leave with a much brighter life ahead.

Footsteps in the hallway behind him pulled Ace out of his thoughts. He glanced to his right and Felix entered the room. His hair had been mussed up and heavy bags jutted out beneath his eyes. He wore a pair of green flannel pajama pants and an old gray t-shirt just tight enough for Ace to admire his pecs, as the material clung to his upper body. Any other time, Ace would have been thrilled to see him.

Now however, was different. "What are you doing down here, love? You gotta go back to bed," Ace said, careful not to let his frustration strain his gentle tone. While a 5 am wake up wasn't unreasonable for Felix under normal circumstances, Felix had just spent the last four days cooped up in his office racing to finish his newest proposal. He'd been so busy working on his newest design, an expansion to an art museum in Munich, that the hours of sleep he'd gotten in the last three days could be counted on two hands.

When Felix returned to work, he'd slipped into his old routine; he stayed up too late and worked himself to the bone more often than not. He took meals in his home office and sometimes forgot to sleep. Ace knew that Felix was using his work as a release for the trauma the Entity had left behind, but still, he was getting lonely, and it hurt to see Felix working himself miserable.

After one too many nights alone Ace had finally sat down with Felix and asked him to lower his hours. After a long conversation that ended with tears and "i love you"s from the both of them, Felix had promised to work things out.

The issue was that architects have nothing if not an inconsistent schedule. Felix had explained to Ace that with different deadlines depending on the project, the amount of paperwork and reports that had to be done, and the different contractors and businesses he had to coordinate with, a set number of hours a week or a daily schedule was impossible. But he cut back on the number of projects he managed, delegating more to the different members of his firm. His business partner, Lauren, had been relieved to see Felix ease up on his work, even sending Ace an expensive bottle of wine as a thank you for "knocking some sense into him." Felix and Ace had settled into the best routine they could manage. When deadlines approached, Felix would still be extremely busy, but in between projects, he'd find time to wind down, and spend time with Ace. They'd found a comfortable pattern that worked for the both of them.

At least, it should be working. Because Ace knew that Felix had crawled into bed at midnight the night before, having send the last of the files over to the client. And after half of week of exhausting work, he certainly should not be downstairs. Ace had half a mind to drag him back upstairs himself.

"Babe, you promised you'd get some sleep after this. Please tell me you're not putting more on your plate," Ace continued, worry starting to slip into his words.

Felix brushed his concerns aside with a wave of a hand and crossed the room towards the couch. He picked up a large tan blanket on the way before making his way to where Ace sat. With a low grumble, he laid down on the couch, curling up on a ball perpendicular to Ace, laying his head in Ace's lap.

All at once, Ace was reminded of just how adorable Felix was when he was tired. He relaxed as Felix got comfortable beside him, relieved that he wasn't about to go do any more work. "Alrighty then, happy to have some company," he said, bringing one hand into Felix's short hair, absentmindedly rubbing his scalp.

"Missed you," said Felix. His eyes were closed and his breathes heavy as he spoke.

"I missed you too, but I'm glad you got everything done, love. Those sketches you showed me looked like some of your best yet. And Lauren's got someone to oversee the next couple stages, so we've got a few days to catch up." As Ace spoke, Felix grabbed at his free hand and squeezed it gently.

"Mm-hmm." Ace deciphered the hum as a yes and turned back to the game. Two players were arguing with the referee who held a red card in his hands. Well shit; losing a player this early would make things very difficult for his team. However, Ace didn't mind too much- seeing Felix curled up with him made it hard to be angry.

"Should I mute it?" he asked quietly. "Don't need to hear it to know what's going on." Felix just shook his head. Ace felt a rush of relief, especially because the remote was sitting on the coffee table out of reach, and getting up now would be downright cruel to both of them.

The game resumed on screen and Ace focused on it once again. Beneath him, Felix's breathing evened out as he fell asleep. Ace smiled. He could get used to this.

At halftime, the match was scoreless. Ace carefully pulled his phone out of his pocket, careful not to jostle Felix too much. He answered messages from Jeff and Jonah before opening the phone's camera. He made sure the flash and the shutter sound were both off before holding his phone up, pointing it down, and snapping a picture.

The quality wasn't great, but that wasn't important. The light of the television illuminated the left half of Felix's face. The tension in his expression had loosened, and he looked more at ease than he'd been in a week. Ace smiled down at him as a warm feeling stirred up in his chest. Love.

While stuck in the Entity's Realm, this feeling had always been accompanied with a pang of guilt. Ace never should have been so happy about the situation. He and Felix never should have met, let alone get together. The man had a girlfriend and a child on the way; he didn't deserve to be pulled out of his life and thrown into hell alongside Ace. In a kinder world, Felix never would have heard of Ace.

But the world was cruel enough to push them together, so they made something out of it. Ace was grateful to Felix for choosing him in the Entity's realm, but the feeling that they didn't belong there, didn't belong together, never went away.

Now though, they weren't looking over their shoulders, awaiting their next trial. Now they had real food, electricity, and indoor plumbing. Sleep didn't always come easy with the lingering nightmares, but when it did, there was a clean, warm bed instead of whatever dry ground they could find. And the love certainly came easy, without the feeling of guilt lingering in the back of Ace's mind.

When the second half starts, Ace turns his attention back to the screen. By some miracle, the game remains scoreless, despite the penalty the team is facing. While Ace is happy to see his team hanging on, he's mostly glad for the tie because going into overtime means he gets to stay here with Felix for another half hour.

Halfway through the overtime period, Ace's favorite player scored a goal. Instinctively, he jolted up in excitement, startling Felix in the process. His husband gasped as he woke up, looking around in confusion.

"Shit, I'm sorry about that," Ace said. He'd really hoped Felix would stay asleep for longer.

"Mmm, it's alright," said Felix, squinting at the television. He made no motion to get up, just rolled onto his side so he could see the game. "I do not want to change my sleeping schedule by a lot."

"Right 'cause getting up at 7 in the morning is normal for you." Ace sighed dramatically, with no real frustration. Some things never changed, and their opposing sleep schedules were likely one of them. Normally, by the time Ace saw Felix in the morning, he'd been up for a few hours, having gotten dressed and ready for the day. So in these rare opportunities, Ace reveled in seeing his husband sleepy and at ease. The cuddles were a nice bonus too.

The game ended 1-0 shortly after, but neither man made a move to get up or reach for the remote. Felix dozed off again and Ace pulled him closer, held him a little tighter. Eventually, Ace would get restless and Felix would get hungry. They'd have to move eventually. But for now, Ace could just sit here, holding the man he loved. For now, they could just be.

Thanks for reading. I really enjoyed writing these two together, and if anyone has any requests, I'm always looking for story ideas. More to come I hope, both between these two and some original works of my own.