Prompt: 14. Radio-cassette player

Get up to go shower
I'm dancin' for hours
He knows the way I like
He knows just how I want it
You see my hips swayin'
The moment's delayin'
It's inside my body
My boyfriend's a hottie

- "Music is My Boyfriend," by Skye Sweetnam

Waking up that morning was particularly glorious.

Auggie Anderson had spent the past three and a half days working almost nonstop cracking a code from the Liberians, and at the end of the day Joan had sent him home early with the stern motherly instructions that he was to do nothing but sleep and relax until he came back to work on Monday.

Which meant, of course, no alarm clocks.

It was probably ridiculously late in the day at this point, but with a lack of sight it was difficult to gauge the time based on the amount of sunlight peeking through his window. Yet another random snippet of life he missed thanks to the Accident, but it was better not to dwell on things out of his control and focus on important things in his life. Like his bed, which at the moment still had lingering remnants of grapefruit perfume laced through the sheets.

He smirked to himself at the memory, a strange sense of pride settling in his chest at the knowledge that he and Annie Walker were finally, finally together. It had been going on seven months now, but ever once in a while he would be hit with this inexplicable surge of happiness that she was dating him, and not some 7th-floor asshole.

This probably wasn't one of his greatest moments of maturity, but he was a man, after all. He should be allowed a certain amount of slack for finally getting the perfect girl.

Annie had spent the night, as she usually did (they learned pretty on in the relationship that if they stayed over in her guesthouse her sister somehow always managed to spot them sneaking out to work) but she had to leave for the DPD early in the morning to finish up some last-minute paperwork for Joan. She agreed to head back to his apartment after work for beer and a James Bond movie marathon after.

He rolled over onto his stomach in the bed, burying his face in her pillow and inhaling the subtle scent of her perfume mixed with citrus body lotion and sex. Their sex. And there was that surge of testosterone-fueled pride yet again.

But instead of drifting peacefully back to sleep for at least another half-hour (if not more), his shoulder collided with some hard and plastic. His eyes flew open automatically, a knee-jerk reaction even if it didn't do anything to solve this new mystery.

He pushed himself up on his elbows, gingerly feeling around until his fingers found the object he had initially hit. It was definitely plastic, rectangular with grooves and indentations for buttons along one edge. There were little stickers with raised dots on each button that he recognized as Braille writing. Play. Pause. Stop. Rewind. Forward.

Attached to the plastic box was a wire, a wire that connected to his favorite headphones, the expensive set that he kept home at all times, not one of the CIA-issued ones. This definitely was older and bigger than a typical mp3 player, and was too boxy to be a CD player.

"Why the hell is a cassette player in my bed?" he mumbled aloud, his brain still foggy enough from sleep to mentally okay talking to himself. He sat up in bed, sheets pooling around his waist as he slid the headphones over his ears and located the button that read Play. There was only one way this radio-cassette player could wind up in his bed without his knowledge, and he was more than willing to go along with her game.

There was a series of low, almost undetectable scratches, and then fumbling of plastic on hardwood, and finally a very familiar voice piped through the headphone speakers, speaking softly. "Hey, Auggie," she said, "This is your favorite girlfriend speaking."

"So about a week ago, Danielle was emptying out some of the old junk our mom mailed us years ago, like our old art projects and music and some crappy t-shirts. But when she was going through it, I discovered this old tape recorder and my cassette player from forever ago, and I decided I thought it might be useful."

He smiled and leaned back against the headboard, content to just listen to the sound of Annie rambling.

"You worked seriously hard this week with that code thingy that I still don't fully understand, and considering I have to go into the DPD today while you get to sleep in like a lazy bum- which sucks majorly, by the way, because I hate when you're not at work and I am- so I figured now is as good a time as any to break in the old cassette player."

"Anyway, I'm talking quietly because I'm in the kitchen and I can see you sleeping in the bed and I don't want to wake up your crazy bat-ears. I always love it to see you sleep, 'cuz you're cute when your hair gets all messed up and you sometimes snore. I'm sure that's just going to inflate your already ginormous ego-" He chuckled at her great sense of humor, like usual, "-but I guess it doesn't really matter at this point, because I love you too much to be bothered by something like your ego."

Gone was that male pride, and instead it was replaced by something very, very different. His breath caught in his throat, and he could feel the warmth spread throughout his chest at that simple offhanded statement, as if she was mentioning something obvious like the color was blue or Mingus was awesome.

This wasn't the first time they had said I love you, but every time he heard her say it he was always thrown off. It amazed him that, after everything, it was so simple. She loved him. Sometimes he couldn't believe how lucky he was.

"I don't really have a point to this first recording, in case you can't tell, but I don't mind too much. I guess all I wanted to say was I'm looking forward to making many, many more recordings for you to listen to. That's all. Love you, Auggie."

There was a noise that sounded like a kiss and he realized she must have made a smooch sound and it made him grin again. The recording let out a click, and then the sound cut and the recording stopped and he was left sitting there, still holding the cassette player in his hands. He loved her, too, wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, in fact. It was scary that he was so sure of that after only seven months of dating (and what was even scarier that he was pretty sure he knew that before they started dating) but he knew he couldn't imagine his life ever being complete without marrying her.

And he couldn't wait to hear every one of those pointless recordings she had in store for him for the rest of his life.

$4$

Yet again, very short, but I had this scene in my mind that I had to get out and it worked out exactly as I wanted it. Granted, it made me stay up and extra hour longer than I should considering tomorrow is Monday and I have class early, but this was totally worth it because this fluff needed to be written while it was still in my head. XD

You guys more than likely haven't noticed it, but I don't often write fics that cover the concept (or often include the words) of "I love you." This probably has to do a lot with my personality, because it's in my nature to kind of hold back on declaring anything until I'm absolutely positive about it, so writing this was different. Sugary fluff that I'm sure you guys are used to by now, but it's a new concept for me. :D

(Oh, and fun fact- this title is the second time I've made a reference to Casablanca in this fandom, even if it's actually a misconception and the line never actually occurred in the movie.)