Chapter Text
Marco wakes up with a fresh feeling when he opens his eyes. The sun is already up and the birds are chanting beautiful melodies. He looks at the time and it is already 8 am. As he stretches his arms he bumps into his husband who is sleeping beside him with last night's blue shirt and black pants still on, curling into a ball. There is no blanket on the little guy. Marco did not realise he has been hogging the whole blanket through the night. No wonder Mario feels cold. The little guy probably did not want to wake up his husband just for a piece of blanket. Feeling bad, Marco quickly drapes the blanket around Mario and plants a kiss on his husband's cheek. He could see his husband's eyes are a little swollen. It looked like he has cried himself to sleep. It is heartbreaking to see his husband like that. Marco runs his fingers through Mario's hair and caresses his husband's cheek before leaving the bedroom.
After freshening up himself at the bathroom, Marco heads to the fridge to get some milk. As soon as he steps his foot out of the bedroom, his eyes widen. He notices the living and dining area are already cleaned and everything is back to normal. It does not really look like they just have a party the night before. Marco proceeds to open the fridge and notices the fridge is full of leftovers. Roast chicken, pizza, fruits and sandwiches stuff up the fridge, leaving it no space to breathe. There is a piece of cake on the middle rack with a small note beside it. Feeling curious, Marco picks up the note and reads it.
I'm sorry, Marco.
Once again Marco feels bad for last night's incident after reading the note. Mario must have spent a lot of time to plan the party but he ended up getting a scolding from his husband. Marco glances to the corner of the kitchen where there are a few bags of trash. He walks over to salvage the items. In the bags, there are inflated balloons, lights strings, half-eaten food, a backdrop full of their wedding photos and a big banner written 'Happy 1st Anniversary'. Mario must have put a lot of effort into the party preparation. It is a pity that Marco did not take the time to appreciate it. He was too flustered to even notice the decorations last night. He stares at the banner in his both hands and realises his words to Mario the night before was probably too harsh.
"Are you going to throw that?"
A rather blunt female voice comes from behind. It freaks Marco out, who does not expect anyone in his house at this hour. The young pilot accidentally drops the banner from his hand. He turns around and sees Mario's cousin Ann-Kathrin Brömmel standing behind him. She stares at him with an unimpressed expression, looking quite grumpy. The young lady has baggy eyes and messy hair, which is far from her normal self. By the looks of it, she probably did not sleep the whole night.
"I said are you going to throw that? I'm going to take out the trash," she repeats.
"Ann? You were here the whole night?" Marco asks.
"Well, of course. Who else would be an idiot to stay here and clean up all this mess? And the party was my idea if you want to put any blame. Mario said you missed the family, so I thought I organised this. But-" Ann pauses. She looks away and sighs without completing her sentence.
"I'm sorry, Ann. Sorry about last night and also... everything. Do you need a ride home?" Marco says.
"No thanks. Montana is going to pick me up. Just focus on the little one inside." Ann says as she signals Marco towards the bedroom with her eyes.
"But-" Marco stutters.
"If it makes you feel better, get me a Burberry bag when you stop by London," Ann says as she picks up a handbag and heads towards the main door.
"Okay," Marco responds as he watches Ann slowly disappears from his house.
Feeling guilty, Marco picks up the bits and pieces of the decorations and starts to redecorate the living room. The young pilot is not sure how his husband made it, but he tries his best to recreate last night's scene. He tries to straighten up the crumbled banner and backdrop, blow up new balloons, reheat some of the leftovers, in hope to recreate what Mario did last night. It is not perfect, probably not half as good as what Mario did but he hopes it is enough to make up for it. After finishing the setup, he goes back to the bedroom to wake up his husband.
"Sunny! Sunny! Wake up, sleepy head!" he calls Mario with a gentle tone. Mario shifts his body a little when he heard Marco's voice, mumbling something that Marco is not able to identify. The little guy opens his eyes slowly.
"Marco? Marco, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make-" he says, grabbing Marco's arm with eyes wide open. Marco quickly covers his mouth with a hand to prevent his husband from saying anything further.
"Shh... Don't say anything. It's my fault. I'm sorry. I should have been more thoughtful." Marco replies. He pulls Mario's hand and leads him to the living room. The room is decorated slightly different than last night, with some of the decorations are placed in a different order and the backdrop looks crumbled. The banner is loose and it drops to the ground. Mario creases his eyebrows. He remembered he threw them last night with Ann. He looks at Marco and his husband just gives him a wide smile. It must be Marco that redecorated the room. Marco wraps his arms around Mario from behind, hugging him immensely and says,
"Let's celebrate our anniversary."
The two spent the lovely day cuddling and gazing each other with some occasional slow kisses and small talks. They spent a good amount of time in the bedroom, being naughty, make role play games and talking dirty languages to each other. The day ended in a blink of an eye before they even knew it.
The next day the both of them spend in the house too, as Mario did not want to go out. He claims that he is tired. Marco believes his husband. He could see it in Mario's panda eyes. Marco himself actually wanted to walk around the city as he has not done that for a while but he chooses to compromise his husband. Spending quality time with his husband is more important than anything else in the world. However, Mario is surprisingly quiet than he usually is. The young pilot tries to fool around by tickling his beau but he did not get the response that he expected. Mario is unfazed by the tickling. Marco also notices some weird behaviours from Mario but he could not put a finger on it. He tries asking Mario about the matter, but Mario just shrugs him off by flashing a smile and says that everything is alright. Marco still feels a little weird despite hearing Mario's answer. His beau is always the restless, energetic little bunny, but now the little guy constantly complains about tiredness. Maybe, just maybe Marco has thought too much. He shrugs off the thoughts, switches the mood by humming a Justin Bieber song.
"Marco, that was so last year. Justin's latest song is 'All around the world'." Mario says.
"What?" Marco responds. He looks at Mario with a puzzled expression as he has never heard that song before.
"But Bieber is secondary now. Nowadays K Pop is the jam. EXO, Bigbang and Girls Generation... those are the big stars. You should follow their music." Mario says.
Marco is agape to Mario's words. He starts to feel a distance between himself and Mario through their casual conversations. It is like they have been living in two different worlds. It is weird for Marco as he has known Mario since 9th grade. Almost half of his life. They were high school sweethearts that are inseparable until Marco becomes a pilot. But now it feels different and Marco could not figure out why.
Mario has always been the outspoken one between the two. One thing that Marco admires about him is that Mario is able to communicate with people of all ages and background. Marco, on the other hand, is often the reserved one towards strangers. He often struggles to open conversations with new people. The young pilot is only comfortable being with close friends. He prefers to keep his friends in a small circle where he could be all out crazy with them.
But Marco never had problems talking with his close ones until now. He tried to change the topic by talking about the movies with Mario, but it became awkward as he has not been in the movies for more than a year. Apart from the major world news, he feels like he has grown apart from the actual world. All the celebrity gossip news, songs, movies that he used to talk with Mario are all obsolete. He could not catch up with all the happenings from his loved ones. Everything Mario told him sounds foreign to him and he struggles to give any response other than a nod or a smile. Actually, that was also the exact same reason he unable to communicate with Mario's friend the other day.
Marco then changes the topic to the family. He is suspicious about Mario's behaviour when they talk about their friends and family. His beau seems to cut short those conversations, not willing to carry on the topic. The little guy always diverts the topic and it raises Marco's eyebrows further. Marco tries to confront Mario about his behaviour again, but his husband is offended by, throwing a tantrum at the pilot so Marco has no choice but to zip his mouth.
It became worse when Mario becomes surprisingly quiet. He would listen to Marco's story for the most of the time and Marco is not used to it. Marco thought maybe because his husband could not relate himself to any of his travel adventures and hence the silence. The young pilot tries to joke about the cultural references between their hometown with other countries, but Mario does not seem to get them. He just gives Marco blank stares. From time to time he gets a one sentence reply. The conversations are not going anywhere. Day by day the situation gets worse.
During the 3rd and 4th day, Marco suggests to go out to a nearby park or mall to change the environment but Mario keeps on giving excuses, complaining about tiredness the whole day. Marco feels disappointed but he just lets Mario rest at home and accompanies him. At the meantime, the young pilot examines his husband closely. Mario's eating and sleeping patterns have seemed to changed. He would eat more than his normal portion and wakes up in the middle of the night. Mario has not just acted differently, but also physically different too. Marco has noticed that Mario has gained a significant amount of weight from the last time he remembers. The little guy has an obvious tummy and his face looks washed out. It worries Marco, but the young pilot cannot do much when his husband does not want to talk about it.
Everything seems to go back to normal on the 5th day, Mario with his sunshine smile and chatty behaviour comes back. When Mario is in a jolly mood and Marco feels relieved. Marco thought maybe he is overthinking the whole situation. But Mario's behaviour changes again on the 7th day. He becomes quiet again and complains about headaches. The house is silent for most of the day when Mario is quiet. The awkward silence seems like an eternity to Marco. The young pilot struggles about opening a topic. He could not stand the silent moment and at last, he blurts out something.
"The bread is fluffy."
"Yeah, I got it from the bakery house beside the Euro shop," Mario responds.
"It's tasty." Marco continues.
There is no further response from Mario. The silence continues after the bread conversation. Mario just stays quiet with his head facing the plate as he slowly munches his food. He only finishes a quarter of his plate. The only sounds in the room are the clinging sounds of the plates and utensils. Marco stares at his husband, wondering what to say next. He could not believe he does not have anything to talk with his husband. And for the first time, spending time with Mario is torturing. Minutes feel like hours, and hours feel like days.
And now he actually misses work.
