Boxes

“What’s in this one?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t looked in that box for years.”

“Well. That much is obvious, love. There’s dust all over it. Where have you had this thing, anyway?”

“In the closet, I think. It was crammed in the far corner. There isn’t much space to put things in this apartment.”

“Which is why you’re moving out of it, yeah, I know. Can I look in it? Or is there something personal in it?”

“Go ahead, I’m sure nothing in it will be that surprising.”

“…Hey, since when do you read Shakespeare? Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, Twelfth Night. Did you know you had these?”

“I’d honestly forgotten that a box like this was up here, let alone a box full of Shakespeare.”

“Hey, there’s a marker in this one.”

“Mmm?”

“If music be the food of love, play on. Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting. The appetite may sicken, and so die…are you sure you’ve never read any of this? It’s really, really beautiful. And it kind of sounds like your writing.”

“Oh, hush. Here, give me that.”

“There are a lot of books in here, under the Shakespeare. Plath, Bronte, Wallace, Alcott, Tennyson…good lord, Takanori, there’s an entire bookcase in here.”

“That strain again. It had a dying fall. O, it came o’er my ear like the sweet sound that breathes upon a bank of violets…stealing and giving odour.”

“Hey, that’s…really gorgeous. How come you’ve never read these before?”

“I don’t know. I truly forgot I had them. It’s easy to leave things like these behind, what with the band, and-“

“It reminds me of you, you know.”

“What?”

“When we’re performing, when you’re singing, and you’re putting everything out there. It’s beautiful, like the words in that book.”

“How can you go from incredibly insufferable to absolutely endearing within the span of three minutes, Akira?”

“Because of my incomprehensibly handsome face and my lovable personality. And the fact that you’re hopelessly in love with me, no matter how many times you sigh at me and tell me I’m annoying.”

“What is love? ‘Tis not hereafter. Present mirth hath present laughter. What’s to come is still unsure. In delay there lies no plenty, then come kiss me sweet and twenty…youth’s a stuff will not endure.”

“That’s not even on that page, Taka, how do you-“

“I’ve read that book before, Akira.”

“Mmm.”

“Something like that isn’t easily forgotten. Especially when it’s something that makes me think of you.”

“You know, there are some days when you smiling like that really does worry me. Makes me think you’re plotting something.”

“Mm, as long as I keep you on edge.”

“Takanori, I am always right on the edge for you. You know that.”

“Well that’s a good thing, I think. And I wonder how I could ever reward such a devoted person such as yourself. A kiss?"

"Mmm."

"A cuddle?"

"Mmm."

"A movie? The possibilities are endless.”

“But the boxes, Takanori. Don’t you have to get those sorted and-“

“I’ve had enough to do with the boxes today, Akira. Now I just want to be with you, hm? Just please come here. The boxes are in my way, and I don’t like not being close to you.”

“So I’m under your command now, hmm?”

“I think the proper quote here is 'I may command where I adore'.”

“You know, you’re actually kind of adorable when you’re quoting old works, being literary, and all that. It’s a very nice reminder that you’re a writer.”

“Mm, well, I’m not sure I have a quote for that.”

“Thus the whirlgig of time brings in his revenges.”