Some Time Off

2

~~~Akihiko's POV~~~

I woke up to hear Haruki in the kitchen cooking something. I sit up in bed, stretch, then get up and head out of the room. I walk over to where he's standing by the stove and wrap my arms around his waist, "morning."

"Morning." He holds up a spoon of whatever he's cooking for me to try.

"This is really good," I go to sit on the couch and wait for him to finish, scrolling through social media, checking how the band is doing. Not Given though, after we graduated and Mafuyu and Ritsuka got busier with school the band as it was broke up. Those two are still playing music too though. The band I'm in now includes a few other friends from school I met that were also music majors. We're decently popular so it's hard to find time where I'm not performing with them or with the orchestra. 

Haruki sets the table for breakfast and calls me over, "how are things?" His hair is messy in the morning, but it looks nice.

"We've got another gig tonight a few cities over, not sure how late I'll be out."

"Will you be back here or go to your place?"

"Not sure yet, we might just get a hotel room for the night too if it goes too late."

"Ah I see..." He looks down at his plate.

Even though we're together, we still don't live together. It's nicer when I'm out late and further away from Haruki's place to just go back to mine, but I can tell he doesn't like it. Sure, I'd rather spend more time with him too but when I have to wake up early for practice, I don't want to be bothering him. "Haruki?"

He doesn't look up at me, "hm?"

"I could get an extra ticket if you want to come to the show, that way we can go somewhere afterwards?"

"Cant, I have to go in to work early tomorrow and I'd rather not have to worry about commuting."

"Oh, ok then" I sigh and finish up eating, "well I'll be getting ready then, have practice soon."

"Yeah, don't want you to be late." He still wont look up at me, he keeps focusing on his phone instead.

"Haruki." I lean down for a kiss.

"You better get ready, you'll be late." He gets up to wash the dishes.

I stand there for a second thinking about what just happened. I don't know why he's so upset but whatever, I need to get to practice. I can ask him about it later. I go get dressed and head out, heading for practice.

~~~

The gig goes well, we all perform our best and the crowd loves it, but something feels off. I call Haruki after we finish performing but he doesn't answer. It's not too late either he should still be awake. I try calling again but still no answer so I leave a message, 'the show went well, going to stay the night over here, call me back when you get this.'  We pack up all our equipment but I cant stop thinking about Haruki. What did I do this time, we really need to talk it out or we'll never be able to get past... whatever this is. 

We make it to the hotel shortly after, we got one big room to keep the price lower. Right before bed I call Haruki one last time, still no response. I text him instead We need to talk but then realize how broad and terrifying that statement is. I delete that and instead write, do you have time to meet up tomorrow? That's much better so I hit send and head off to sleep.