Suzuki didn't always pick up on the meanings of things.
"King in the castle, king in the castle." Said Shiori. There was a singsong quality to her voice, her hand was on her hip, and she had rolled her eyes at him. He knew what those things meant individually, as if they existed in a vacuum. Mother used to say things to father in that sort of voice and father had explained that women did that when they wanted you to listen to them. Speaking to someone was already trying to get their attention…women were confusing. He knew what the hand on the hip meant, exasperation or back pain, and he knew what they eye rolling meant to. It often accompanied sarcasm…though Shigeko did that to him sometimes…and she was never sarcastic. At least he had never known her to be sarcastic….
Women were confusing no matter what age they were.
"I…am confused." Said Suzuki. It was alright, really, to say that to her. She didn't take it as weakness and she was never annoyed with him either…at least that he could tell. Masami used to tell him that he was a pod person whenever he asked her to explain herself. He didn't think that he'd been body snatched, and if he had been he wouldn't have known, though maybe he would have because he would have been a part of the hivemind….and this was not the time to be going down that train of thought.
Now was the time to pay attention to Shiori. She hated it when his mind wandered.
She rolled her eyes again and handed him his plate. He had no idea why, he was done with it. That was why he had stacked it on top of hers. Now was the part of the night when she took their plates to the kitchen and put them in the dishwasher. That was how it had always gone. He didn't know what could have been different about this. It was a normal night…right? They hadn't done anything out of the ordinary….
Well obviously he had or she wouldn't have handed him back his empty plate.
"About….?" Asked Shiori. She played with the grey lock of her hair. That was…he didn't think that it preluded anything good. Why did women have to be so confusing? Why couldn't she be more like….well not Shigeko, she'd turned into a completely different person overnight, and not Masami either. She had been even worse about acting like this than Shiori.
"Why you've handed me back my plate." Said Suzuki. He braced himself for her to roll her eyes again or tell him that he was being ridiculous…or to storm off. Shiori…she had never done that before…but she was a woman and they could be so confusing sometimes….
"Because you're not the king of the world, yet, and this isn't your castle." Said Shiori. She pulled her hand free from her hair, it had gotten caught in her hair. She was wearing the ring he got her, one of them. She had been wearing a different one every time he saw her. He had no idea if that was a good thing or a bad thing. If she just didn't know which ring she wanted or…or if she was just trying to tell him something…something bad….or good…or…he didn't even know…..
He decided to focus on the things that he did know.
"This house isn't large enough to be referred to as a Castle." Said Suzuki. There. The old house, the one in Sendai, had been referred to as the Castle. He didn't know why people named their homes, he really didn't, but he assumed that homes were named for their most prominent attribute. Shiori's home was something more akin to a cottage…would it have been a criticism to tell her that her home was more of a cottage than a Castle?
He decided to keep it to himself. He was confused enough as it was.
"So you agree. Now get up and help me do the dishes." Said Shiori. Oh. That was what she had been trying to ask of him. He couldn't believe that she had asked that of him. He had never once in his life…well back in university…but that had been different. He had mostly lived out of takeout containers back then and when he did have to wash dishes he had done it with his telekinesis…and that….that wasn't his job…he had a lot to do but this was not on his to-do list…
This was her home and she was his wife…fiancée….girlfriend…she was his…she was a woman and this was her home and in her home she was the queen, if they were going off of that analogy or-or-or-
"You…want me to do the dishes?" asked Suzuki. He needed to know…he needed this clarified. She didn't need to ask him. She had a dishwasher and…and he didn't even know how. He used to just dunk dishes in soapy water with his telekinesis until they were clean. That, of course, was not how dishes were done. It was an entirely different and much more involved process…one which he was not familiar with….
Suzuki Touichirou did not fail…he did not do things that he could have failed at.
"I want your help with them. My dishwasher decided to die the other day so now I'm doing all of this by hand like a washer woman. Well you're going to help me for once since you helped make all of these dirty dishes, Mr. Has-To-Put-Ketchup-On-Everything." Said Shiori. Suzuki…thought she had a point. He had dirtied his own dishes…but that was roommate rules. Back when he and Tadashi had lived together the original rule had been whoever used the last of the dishes had to wash them…so he'd just bought more dishes…and then the rule had been whoever filled the sink to the brim did the dishes…but Suzuki had always been good at Tetris and Fukuda had always been very tenacious….so the final rule had been that whoever dirtied the dishes washed them…
But he and Shiori were not roommates. They were husband and wife…lovers…a man and a woman who loved each other and were on their way to marriage.
"Wouldn't it be easier to just buy new dishes?" asked Suzuki
"I'm not eating off of paper plates, it looks cheap. Now get up and help me." Said Shiori. She tapped him with her foot. He did as he was told. There was no fighting with Shiori, as far as he knew he would win, but he didn't want to win. He didn't want there to be any kind of conflict between them. Conflict killed relationships. At least that was what he assumed had killed his relationship with Masami…
There had been a lot of conflict between them.
There had never been any raised voices. There had never been any harsh words. No name calling, no braking things, and he had never once in his life raised his hand to a woman unless she asked to fight him. But still there had been conflict. She had always stormed off…and at the time he had thought that she had been fine. Since she hadn't told him that something was wrong he assumed that she had simply grown bored of the conversation….but now he knew better. Now he would be better. He wasn't going to let this end up like his last relationship.
So he followed Shiori into the kitchen.
The lights were so bright…had they always been so bright? And had her kitchen always been so…so small? The walls were narrowing, now, and…and he did not fail. He would figure this out. It was washing dishes. He'd seen this done…well no, he hadn't. Mother had never asked for his assistance and father would never have allowed him to give it…and they'd always had a dishwasher anyway. Shigeko did some of the dishes by hand, apparently pots and pans had to be washed by hands, but he had never paid much attention to what she had been doing….
He had taken the time to learn the names and backstories of all of princesses but he had never taken the time to learn how to wash the dishes.
"What's with you?" asked Shiori as she put her plates down in sink. She turned the water on with her telekinesis…but didn't put the stopper in the sink. She was just…this was new. Shigeko always filled the sink with water, from what he could remember. There was nothing else that he could remember but he knew that you needed a lot of water…water and soap…
He did not fail.
"Nothing." Said Suzuki
"Come on, I know you. You've got that deer in the headlights look." Said Shiori
"I…was not aware that I had any kind of look of my face. I have been told many times that I am actually very unexpressive." Said Suzuki
"Yeah, to people who don't know you. I know you, Touichirou, so come on. What? Are you afraid of water or something?" asked Shiori
"No, that's my son…and I fear nothing." Said Suzuki. Shiori threw her head back and laughed.
"Mice." Said Shiori after she was done laughing. He normally loved the sound of her voice, her laughter, everything about her…but that had been…no, no, no. He was looking too deeply into this. She was…things were alright between them…right?
Right?
"They…spread disease." Said Suzuki. That was a reasonable reason, he decided, to dislike them. It wasn't a fear, the urge to avoid them, it was just common sense. Rodents like mice and rats spread disease so the only thing to do was to hunt them to extinction and then destroy any and all samples of their genetic code so that no insane, rouge, godless scientist decided to unleash that sort of evil upon the world.
"That's true but I know that you're afraid of them. Remember when we tried watching that thing about snakes on the animal channel?" asked Shiori
"Watching snakes feed on live mice is disturbing." Said Suzuki
"We're going to have to agree to disagree on this one." said Suzuki. Suzuki nodded. Agree to disagree…he liked that. Masami had always gotten angry with him when he disagreed with her. She had always pulled away from him…become very upset….why hadn't this been an option? Why did women have to be so confusing? He would never have had these problems if he'd been with a man. He and Tadashi had fought before, mostly when they were younger, but these days they saw eye to eye on most everything. Sure he had overstepped when it came to the children and he'd taken liberties, of course, but…aside from all of that they saw eye to eye on most things…
It would have been easier with Tadashi but he was not with Tadashi. He was with Shiori. He had made his choice and now he was sticking with it.
"I can agree to that." Said Suzuki
"So then can you also agree to tell me what's got you so worked up?" said Shiori. Suzuki wondered how he could put this…maybe it would be best to just come out and say it. He loved her. She loved him. She was not going to leave him…at least he assumed that she wasn't planning on leaving him. She wore his ring on her finger and…and that meant nothing. That was an engagement ring. Masami had worn a wedding ring. It hadn't stopped her from leaving. If he was weak then Shiori…she had seen him weak…
She had seen him at his worst.
She had seen him scared, she had seen him weak, she had seen him unsure…and she had penetrated him, too. At that point there really wasn't a deeper level of weakness….of vulnerability. Maybe that was love…seeing someone at their worst and coming back to them. Seeing someone low and instead of thinking of how you could do better you stayed with them and you built them up. Such as when he and Tadashi had been young and Suzuki…those years had not been good to him. There had been so much rejection from all side but Tadashi…he had always been there. Tenacious as he was…tenacious as Suzuki hadn't been back then. Tadashi had always been there to build him up….
Maybe that was what love was…even at forty six he wasn't sure.
"I….have never done the dishes before." Said Suzuki. There. He had said it. He didn't know and…and now she was the one with the advantage. He waited. She didn't laugh or roll her eyes or…or do anything. She simply stared at him for a moment….and then another…and another. A long moment.
"Are you serious right now?" asked Shiori
"I am. I have no idea how to do the dishes." Said Suzuki
"You're older than I am." Said Shiori
"I am aware of this fact." Said Suzuki
"Are you telling me that in forty six years on this Earth you have never once had to do the dishes? Your mother never made you?" asked Shiori
"We had a dishwasher." Said Suzuki
"You never helped your ex-wife with the dishes?" asked Shiori
"No, that was her job." Said Suzuki
"Well I can see why she's your ex…whatever. What about when you went off to university? Don't tell me you lived on takeout." Said Shiori
"I did…mostly…but I didn't wash dishes properly. I just used my telekinesis to dunk them in water until they were clean. I can see that you're letting the water run so I am at a loss and think that it would be best if I left this to you. You are a woman after all and this is your domain. You're better at these things than I am and anyway this is not my-" said Suzuki. Shiori sighed and rubbed her temples. He didn't finish his sentence. He got the feeling that Shiori didn't want him to finish his sentence.
"Touichirou, I swear to God if you tell me that this is my job…king in that castle, that's who you are right now. You know that?" asked Shiori
"I…do not know what you mean." Said Suzuki
"You were just about to tell me that doing the dishes, and I'm guessing all the cooking and the cleaning, fall to me because I'm the woman. Am I correct? Sorry, it's just a little hard to hear you all the way over here in the twenty-first century." Said Shiori
"You're being sarcastic right now. I don't understand why." Said Suzuki
"Men can do the dishes, Touichirou, that's what I'm getting at. Men can do the dishes and women can do all kinds of things now. We're allowed to go to work and earn money and even wear pants these days. It's a very progressive era we're living in." said Shiori
"I…am well aware of the rights women enjoy and their changing roles in the workplace. I employ many women and my daughter is a woman…though she doesn't wear pants…but I think that might be a comfort thing instead of some sort of gender role…thing…" said Suzuki. Shiori rolled her eyes…but then she took his hand…
He let her. He had no idea what she meant to do with it but he let her take his hand.
"Touichirou, I love you, but you were being very sexist though and it's honestly making me question marrying you." Said Shiori
"You-you want to marry me?" asked Touichirou. The water which had been pouring downwards into the sink began, instead, to invert. It flowed upwards towards the ceiling. Shiori stuck out her other hand and tried to force it back down but the sheer weight of his feelings…the force of it….was too much for her. He loved her….he loved her so much….and she loved him…
She hadn't been trying that ring on for size. She had been wearing because…because she said yes…..she'd said yes!
"I did, I do, but not if you expect me to be some kind of live in maid just because I'm a woman. You're an adult, Touichirou, and we live in the twenty first century. If you want to marry me then you're going to have to be an equal part in this. In everything. And that includes washing the dishes…and without telekinesis because it never works out as well as doing them by hand." Said Shiori
"I…can do that. I can learn if you show me." Said Suzuki. Him…do the dishes? He was a man and men did not…father had been very clear. A man married a woman to have someone to care for him and a woman married a man to have someone to support her and their children. He had never questioned it…but he was forty six years old. He had been born in 1973. Father had been born decades before that…and he had learned that from his own father. Times had changed and the world…the world had changed…and if he was going to rule it then he had to understand it….he had to change with it…at least like this.
He'd been penetrated by another man and enjoyed it….if he could be that progressive then doing the dishes was nothing.
"Good. Lesson one, don't be afraid to roll up your sleeves." Said Shiori. She rolled up his sleeve for him but left him to do the other one. He could do that. He loved her…he loved her so much. He didn't want to do this but he would for her. This was what love was, he decided, doing what someone asked of him…and changing for someone. A woman stayed with a man because she needed support and a man stayed with a woman because she needed to be supported…but things were different now….the world was different and he had to be different…for love. For her love. Love was different….better…it felt better than anything he had ever felt in his life…her love….
If he was the king of this castle then she was his queen