90. Nowhere and Nothing
Tsumiki realized Io hadn't come to bed that night. She woke to sunlight and birds chirping and delightful happy morning sounds, but unrumpled blankets beside her. With a yawn she slid out of bed and made her way to the kitchen, eyes heavy with sleep still and thoughts otherwise simple. She passed the door to the office, closed, without a second glance. The coffee maker wasn't even on.
"He's not up then?" She mumbled, reaching up for the blessed grounds of caffeine in the cupboard above the machine. While the liquid brewed she meandered around the kitchen, pulling together the necessary ingredients and objects and putting them on the counter. The enticing smell brought her partially out of her sleepy stupor and the obvious announcement that the coffee was done made her almost swoon. After dumping in a respectable amount of sugar and taking a regenerative sip, she set the mug down to pour Io's share and add the usual amount of creamer and sugar. Finally awake enough to realize he was probably knocked out in the office she walked steadily toward the closed door.
Knocking softly, she received no answer. Tsumiki smiled lightly, "At least he slept some…"
Awaking in absolute darkness, Io furrowed his brow, confused as to the lack of natural light shining in, if not the light of the streetlamp outside. He couldn't even see his hand in front of his face. He was sitting on a chair, based on what he could gather. Maybe it was the fact that he hadn't been sleeping well these last few nights, or maybe it was the stress of work, but he began to panic. Where was he? Where was she? Why was everything not making sense? The soft creaking of the door opened and a dim light began to seep in.
"Late night working again? You covered the blinds and closed the door..." That's right, he was in the office. He was typing up a draft... That bothersome light outside kept glaring on his glasses and prevented him from working .Then the battery died and he fell asleep waiting for it to charge. She set a still steaming cup of coffee on his desk before fixing his ruffled hair from the few hours sleeping on the now dead laptop, the cord had never been plugged in. His wife's shoulder was far more comfortable than a desk.
"Thanks... Tsumiki." He mumbled before dozing off.
She gave a short hum, knowing he would understand her reply. After a few minutes though he started getting restless and shifting. "Alright. Time to move to the couch." She patted a hand on his cheek and gently woke him up. "I know just come with me," Tsumiki said meeting his nonverbal protests by moving his arm around her shoulder and pulling him from the chair. "Come on…" She encouraged as they moved toward the couch that was a few feet from them. The shuffling sounds quieted once they fell upon it having become unbalanced from the impact. Tsumiki turned around sharply and landed with a soft "whoosh" while Io wobbled toward the floor instead of her lap like she had hoped. It was too early in the morning for this. Still, she managed to pull him in and succeeded in getting him on the couch… Partially. Not really. That was a lie. She didn't really succeed at all. He landed at her feet, head lolling back on her lap.
"Mm… Work to do…"
"Sleep." She answered his sleepy mumbles.
"Okay…" He shifted a bit more before finally falling back to sleep.
Eeeyyyy second one done! (Sorry I had to go to a meeting for careers and didn't get to post this before I left)
Third one shall be up in a few hours :)
Once again, I own nothing. Besides my brain. And once again. I apologize for the frustratingly shortness of it... I'm also in the process of rewriting one of my earlier stories by the way. Should be finished by tomorrow. It's for FMA though.