-Chapter 21-
*morning
I stretched and opened my eyes, adjusting to the bright morning sun. I heard quiet snores next to me coming from Ty. He was cuddling with my arm. I shook my arm free, careful not to disturb him, and crept down the hall. It seemed as if no one was awake yet. Looking outside, I saw that the sun was just now rising. The extravagant blends of pink and orange hues made the sky look like it was a painting in an art gallery.
"Woah..." Ty, who I was to mesmerized to notice walk up, murmured to himself. "It's beautiful."
I slung my arm around him and pulled him closer for a side-hug while still looking out the window. We stayed like that until the sun was fully up and the rainbow of pinks vanished. I began to make breakfast for everyone, but Ty was quick to take over.
"Go sit down." He quietly instructed while breaking some eggs into a bowl. "Breakfast will be ready soon."
I obeyed and retreated to the near-silent living room. The only sound that could be heard was movement in the kitchen. "Need any help?" I asked Ty.
I heard Ty mix something in a bowl. "No thanks, babe."
I felt my ears and cheeks heat up with a blush when he called me 'babe'. I didn't mind though. "You sure?"
"Yeah. I'm positive. If I need help, I'll holler."
I sat back on the couch and became bored almost instantly until an idea popped into my head. I thought over the idea more until I knew every detail. Making sure to be quiet, I speedily tip-toed down the hall and grabbed Ty's headphones off the bedroom floor. Forgotten memories flooded back to me.
-Flashback-
I placed the obsidian on the table and checked it off the list. Now, I had black wool, obsidian, a bit of redstone, and two emeralds. I smiled to myself and began to sculpt the block of obsidian with the diamond pickaxe. I knew it was going to take awhile, but I hoped it turned out good.
A few days later, the outline was finished. Yes, I said 'days'. I dusted the redstone into a groove along the headband and sealed it by packing it with wool. I studied the dark purple, unfinished outline and grinned to myself, happy with how it looks so far.
I grabbed the wool from the table and tore it into strips. Using a bit of water as temporary glue, I pasted the fluffy fabric to the headband. I created a ring of wool and secured it to the ear covers with water. I did one, final layer of wool on the whole thing.
After the seemingly long process of polishing the two, neon green emeralds, I secured one of them into the cut-out on the left ear cover before doing the same to the right. I made sure they had no chance of falling out or becoming loose.
Holding the new item out in front of me, I studied it and checked for any flaws. The emeralds glowed in the sunlight and the obsidian was strong. I wasn't expecting it to work yet, but it would be a good gift until I figure out how to do the rest.
After a week and a half, I finally finished making a pair of headphones for Ty.
-Flashback Ended-
The emeralds were still as shiny as when I made the headphones. "Maybe for a late Christmas gift, I should make them work. I might be able to make a music player with it. I'll have to ask a friend for help though." My mind said to me. "Not a bad idea." What friend would I ask though? Would I have to go back to the village? Probably.
I heard a door open and someone yawn. "Hey Sky." Mitch stretched and stumbled down the hall towards the living room. I carefully stuffed the headphones in my backpack, careful not to break them. Walking back to the living room, I heard giggling which silenced when I walked in.
"Hey Sky!!" Ty jumped up and hugged me. "Breakfast is ready!!"
I thanked him and walked into the kitchen. Set up neatly on the table was a buffet of breakfast foods. The sight of all the food made me freeze in awe. There was everything from fruits to pork to fresh bread. It looked like something you'd see at a buffet restaurant. "You- you cooked all this food?" I stuttered to Ty.
He walked in and grabbed a plate. "Yeah. Well, most of it. Some of it I just had to warm up."
I followed lead and grabbed a plate from the stack on the end of the table. I spooned a bit of everything onto my plate and took it back to the living room. Ty was already sitting on the couch, eating. Mitch was getting food. Jerome, who had woken up a few minutes ago, was waking up on the couch. I sat next to Ty and took a bite of the tasty food. The room was silent as we all ate. When we were all done, everyone began complimenting Ty.
"That was awesome!! Thanks Ty!!" We all said towards Ty in unison. The three of us hugged him and he inched away from all the attention.
"Are you ok?" I worriedly asked him when the other two went into the kitchen.
Ty nodded. "Yeah. Just not used to having a lot of attention directed towards me." He started walking back towards the kitchen.
Stopping him in his tracks, I wrapped my arms around his waist and whispered in his ear. "It's not bad attention. There is nothing you need to worry about." I comforted before kissing his neck.
His body shivered when I let go of him. "I need to clean the kitchen." He muttered. Ty walked through the kitchen doorway, but paused. I looked in the room, at the table, to see everything already cleaned up. Mitch and Jerome were trying to fit covered bowls in the fridge.
"Did you guys clean the table?" Ty asked.
Mitch and Jerome jumped back a bit. I'm guessing we scared them. "Th-that wouldn't be a problem, r-right?" Jerome stuttered.
Ty quickly shook his head. "Of coarse not!! I was going to say thanks. I was just about to clean it myself."
Mitch and Jerome sighed and continued to stuff the bowls in the fridge. "What do we need to do today?" Mitch asked.
I shrugged, but I knew what I needed to do today. "Maybe hunting?"
The four of us looked around at each-other and shrugged. "Sure."
Ty walked out of the room to get his backpack and I quickly explained to Mitch and Jerome what I was planning to do. "I'm going to my village to meet up with one of my friends. He's going to wire Ty's headphones so they can be used with a music player. Tell Ty that I left to get a head-start on hunting, ok? Thanks." I sped out the door before a word could escape their mouths.
I ran through the thick forest, dodging branches and jumping over logs. After sprinting at least 5 miles, I sat in the green grass and caught my breath in front of the village gates.
"Who are you?" I heard someone say above me. I looked up and saw a guard in iron armor with an iron sword. "What do you want?" He snapped.
I stumbled up. "I'm here to see Seth Bling. I need him to help me with some redstone."
The guard muttered something into a phone-like thing and not even a minute later, someone spoke over the village's intercom. "Seth Bling to the front gates. Seth Bling." It boomed.
The gate slightly opened and Seth walked out. "Sky?!" He beamed.
I waved and he ran to me. "Hey. I need your redstone knowledge. I made a pair of headphones for my friend and I want to set it up to a music player, but I don't know how." It felt hard to call Ty my 'friend'. I know we're more than that. "Think you can help?"
He pulled my hand and started running in the village. "Of coarse I can help!!" He told me while running. He pulled me into a house, which I'm guess is his, and walked to a table that was slightly powdered with redstone. He pulled out a small box from a chest and some wires. "Is this an ok music player?" He asked, holding it up. It didn't look like a normal music box. Instead of being made of wood with a slit on the top, it was a thin, purple box with a glass screen. There was a big button on the front and a plugin on the top.
"What king of music player is it?" I asked.
Seth handed me the small device. "I invented it. I call it an iPod." He went on to explaining how it works and how to use it. "You change the songs with this button, change the volume with this button, and turn it on and off with this button." He explained, pointing to each button. "What do you want me to fix?"
I grabbed the headphones out of my backpack and handed them to him. "I need the headphones to connect to the iPod."
He informed me that it would take a few hours to a day to finish it and get it working correctly. He immediately went to work after. I sat on a nearby couch and thought about what songs I should put on the iPod. Maybe I should ask some of my friends.
-2 hours later-
"Sky?" Seth called my name while shaking me. "Wake up!!"
I sat up and wiped my eyes. "Huh?" I yawned.
He held up Ty's headphones. A wire was connected to them. "I finished the redstone!!"
"Really?!" I excitedly asked. "Can it connect to the iPod?"
Seth grabbed the iPod from the table and plugged the headphones into it. "See for yourself."
I slipped on the headphones and listened as the music sang in my ears. "Can other songs go on the iPod or just songs by C418?" I questioned, taking off the headphones.
"Any song can go on it. What songs do you want?"
I thought for a minute, but couldn't think of anything. "I don't know. It's for Ty. I'm not sure what songs he likes." I felt like I should know, being his boyfriend and all, but we've never talked about music before.
"I have a question." He sat on the couch across from me. "Is Ty more than a friend to you?"
How did he know? Was he guessing? I felt my face heat up. "Yeah. We're boyfriends."
Seth smiled at me. "That's awesome. I had a feeling it would happen." He paused. "I have a few ideas as to what songs you should put on the iPod."
I became interested. "What songs?"
"They might not be the best, but they're about love." Seth started listing them. "'Headphones' by Britt Nicole, 'Lego House' by Ed Sheeran, 'A Thousand Years' by Christina Perri, 'Just a Kiss' by Lady Antebellum, and 'Heart Beat' by Ross Lynch. I've heard people around the village sing them. They seem like good love songs."
All the songs sounded interesting. "Can you get them on the iPod?" I quizzed.
He quickly nodded. "Yeah!! I can put them on there right now if you want."
I nodded and he took the iPod into a different room. It took a while, but he successfully put all the songs he listed on it and a few of the songs by C418. He told me he tweaked a few of the lyrics so they fit our relationship better. "Thank you so much!! I don't know how I'll ever pay you back." I said to Seth when he handed me the iPod.
"No need to pay me back." He grinned. "Consider it like a Christmas gift."
After saying goodbye, I put the iPod and headphones in my backpack and walked out. Along the way home, I killed a few cows to make it look like I was actually hunting. I walked through the front door of the wooden house to find it empty. "They must still be hunting." I sighed. I relaxed on the couch and studied the headphones. The wire connecting the headphones to the iPod could be taken off the headphones. Both sides of the wire appeared to be the same.
A sound of something hitting the floor echoed through the seemingly empty house from the bedroom. I bolted to it and slammed open the door in fear. Ty was picking up a purple stone that obviously rolled off the table. When he heard me come in, he jolted upright. "S-Sky?!"
*Ty's POV
I heard the bedroom door suddenly slam open with a loud 'thud'. I glanced at it in slight fear to see Sky standing in the doorway. "S-Sky?!" I stuttered.
"Ty?! What are you doing here?! I thought you were hunting with Mitch and Jerome!!" He exclaimed.
I tried my best to hide what was on the table. "I-I decided to stay h-home."
Sky walked to me and pecked my lips. "Why are you nervous?"
"Y-you yelled." I whispered. "I-It startled me." Only a half lie. I'm mostly nervous because I didn't want him to see what I was making.
He gave me a perfect smile. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell. I was just scared. I thought I was the only one home."
My nervousness settled down and I slipped the purple stone in my pocket along with the large golden ring. "I thought you were out hunting." I stated.
Sky shrugged and sat on the bed. "I visited a friend in the village. On the way home, I killed a group of cows."
The room went silent, but it wasn't an awkward silence. In the living room, I heard the front door open and Mitch and Jerome walk in.
"Let's go." Sky stood up and held his hand out to me although I was standing. I held his hand and we walked into the living room. "Hey guys!!" Sky greeted and I waved.
"Hey!! We caught fish!!" Jerome happily yelled, holding up a bundle of about 8 large fishes. Mitch took the fish from his boyfriend and stored them in the fridge.
I thought of the gift I was making for Sky and how close I am to finishing it. I excused myself and ran back to the bedroom where I blocked the door and took the items out of my pocket. Purple stone, gold ring, half-completed gold chain, small block of gold. I took a piece of the gold block and made a chain link with it. I did the same thing about 20 or so more times until the chain was a good length. I picked up the round, mysterious purple stone and tested it on the gold ring. It fit snugly, which was good, and didn't budge. Instead of fighting to get it back out, I left it. I thread the chain through the small ring on the amulet to make a necklace. Using the last bit of gold to create a connecting loop, I completed the necklace. The special stone I found on the ground while in the forest sparkled in the sunlight, making purple lights dance around.
I searched around the bedroom for a small box to put the necklace in. When I couldn't find one, I chose to keep the necklace in the chest under my bed until I find a box.
"Ty!!" I heard Mitch's voice getting closer. He knocked on the door and I opened it. Lowering his voice, he said, "How did the necklace come out?"
Yeah, I told Mitch what I was planning to make for Sky. "It's pretty cool actually. Well, I think so." I smiled to myself and grabbed the necklace from the chest.
I showed it to Mitch. His eyes went wide and his mouth dropped. "It's beautiful!!"
I put it away. "Thanks. It took a while."
"Lunch is ready." He informed. "We're having fish and baked potatoes."
Once he said that, my stomach growled, giving away my hunger. "I guess I'm hungry." I giggled.
Mitch led the way to the kitchen. The smell of food was making my stomach growl more.
Sky handed me a plate of food and smiled. "Eat up."
I thanked him with a small kiss and took a seat on the couch. Since I forgot to get a fork, I set my food down on the table and walked back to the kitchen. I saw Sky holding my headphones. They were connected to a small purple box. "What's that?" I asked, pointing to the purple box.
Sky quickly hid the box behind his back. "W-what's what?"
"The purple box." I replied. I grabbed a fork from the chest. "I've never seen one before."
Jerome and Sky looked at each-other and back at me. "It's nothing to worry about." They said at the same time."
"Ok.." I trailed off as I walked back into the living room to eat.
I heard murmuring in the kitchen. Mitch stood up from where he was sitting and sat next to me. "When are you thinking of giving him the necklace?" He asked, voice quiet.
I shrugged. "I'm not sure. Maybe tomorrow."
"Sky is giving you your gift tomorrow." Mitch smiled at me.
"I'll give him his gift then too." I said, taking a bite of food. Inside, I was smiling like crazy. I guess the smile wasn't only on the inside though.
"Ty? Are you ok?" Mitch giggled. "You're smiling like a psycho." He joked.
"Yeah. I'm fine." I tried to hide my smile, but I couldn't get it off my face. I was just too happy.
Mitch sat back and became silent. "I have a question about you and Sky." He asked a few minutes later.
"Ask away." I smiled, talking another bit of the tasty lunch.
Mitch hesitated. "Who do you think is the 'man' in your relationship?"
I thought for a second. I never thought about that before. "Sky." I half-confidently replied.
Mitch nodded. "Who do you think is the 'man' in my relationship?"
I answered after a minute. "Jerome."
Mitch fell quiet again. "Thanks." He whispered and stood to walk away.
I quickly put my hand on his arm to stop him. "I didn't mean anything against you!!" I quickly reassured.
Mitch gave me a faint smile. "I know. You're right. I'm going to go take a nap." He disappeared down the hall.
I finished my food and took the plate and fork into the kitchen. To my surprise, no one was there. "Hello?" I asked out loud.
I saw a note on the table and picked it up. It was a note from Sky.
"We needed milk. Decided to find some cows. We'll back soon. Love you." It read. I sighed and walked to my bedroom. After what felt like a minute, I was asleep, taking a nap.