Gyles watched the long hand pass th

Gyles watched the long hand pass the fifteen minute mark. He couldn’t help but be anxious. It wasn’t that he obsessed over punctuality. Rather, it was that, despite being young, his lover was extremely exact with his time, almost never being late. In fact, he could only think of two occasions when he was late, today being the second one.
Given that, he couldn’t help but be concerned when Takaba failed to show up at eight. Then five past eight. Ten past eight. He tried again and again to reach the cell phone but all it did was ring and ring but never pick up, just the same old “You’ve reached Sei Tanaka. Leave your name and phone number and…” over and over again. Gyles tried the apartment number but came up with more or less the same response.
He was planning on taking him out that night to a particular restaurant. The reservation was set for nine and so far, the boy hadn’t shown. Gyles’ best bet was that he had probably gone out to take photos around London, and now, he wished he had never given that piece of advice.
Gyles dashed to the door when he heard the soft knock.
“Where have you-” His eyes widened in shock, “My God! What happened to you?” He took the bag from Takaba and set it aside, ushering him inside.
Takaba let Gyles pull him out of his coat, slipping off the sleeves, “Some trouble…”
He pushed Takaba through the living room toward the bathroom, “Well never mind that. Let’s get this taken care of first, Sei…”
In the bathroom, he turned on the hot water tap and let the water run until he had a good, warm combination. “Clean the area around it first,” he said as he took out a first aid kit from on top of a metal rack.
Takaba put his arm under the running water. The heat made his cold fingers tingle in warm delight, but it was countered with the stinging as the hot water seeped into the wound.
“I didn’t say wet it.”
“Oh…” Takaba drew his arm back away from the wound.
Gyles flipped open the latch to the box, “What were you doing?”
“Taking photos…” he murmured like a child being castigated.
“That’s not all you were doing,” Gyles turned around to see Takaba just standing there with his hand under the water, “You have to wash around it, else it’ll get infected if there’s still grit and dirt.”
“It’s just a shallow cut.” It was partly true; the fabric had kept the blade from penetrating very far.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s shallow or not. If it were any worse, I would have taken you to the hospital to get some stitches. Sei, you’ve got to look out for yourself more.” His large, gentle hands moved over Takaba’s arm, gently rubbing away at the dried blood and the dirt. When Takaba drew in a sharp breath, Gyles paused before continuing. He finally turned the faucet off and shook his hands dry.
Takaba reached for a towel, but Gyles’ stopped him, carefully wiping the water away with a new, white towel.
“Does it hurt?”
What?!
“I didn’t even know it was there until I got off on the metro.”
“Just what were you doing?” He took a ball of cotton and wet it with hydrogen peroxide. “This is gonna sting.”
“I provoked a bunch of thugs.” Takaba winced at the liquid was spread around the wound. It bubbled and foamed vigorously.
“And why would you do that?” Gyles applied a pale yellow antibacterial ointment and a strip of gauze over the wound. “try to moving your fingers and wrists first.”
He did as he was told and flexed his fingers and turned his wrist, “They were beating up a guy.”
“I see. It should heal without any permanent damage except for a scar.” That makes sense. You would never leave someone like that, would you? It’s just not in you to turn a blind eye to thing. “Why didn’t you call though?”
“I… lost my phone…” Takaba covered his eyes with his free hand. The headaches that had been suppressed by the rush of adrenaline were surfacing again.
“Sei...” Gyles crouched in front of Takaba, “You don’t have to do this. Don’t put yourself in danger for a bunch of photos. Forget the camera, forget the films. Just forget the exhibition altogether for now. They don’t matter.”
“But they do.” The headache… the drumming was getting louder and louder. Over the next hill. Another valley closer. Firecrackers lit up behind his eyes.
“No, Sei. They don’t. What matters is you, alright? Don’t forget that. That you alone are the centerpiece of my life.”
Gyles, don’t say that…please don’t say that…
“I don’t need masterpieces,” a jagged signals of pain dashed across the synapses between every cell, firing away. “I don’t need colors or black and white. I don’t need anything else. The one thing I need, the only one I ever need, Sei, is-”
Takaba was shaking his head slowly, “Gyles…”
“The only person I will ever need is you. That’s why, when you do this to yourself,” whips were cracking on his ear drums. “when you put yourself in danger and end up hurting yourself, I can’t help but-”
“Please…” don’t say that, Gyles, don’t say these things to me, because I’ll break your heart, Gyles. Don’t love me.
“want to reach out to you.”
What had Asami said a long time ago…something about value… that’s right…There is no such value in you… He was right, Gyles…he was right…There is no such value in me to deserve any part of you.
“Sei, just stay with me because I will stay with you. I’d go to the ends of the earth for you.”
Not me, Gyles… It’s not me…
“So tell me, what can I do? What can I do to make you feel my love?”
I feel it too much. Because it’s not you… It’s not you, it’s me…Gyles, it’s all me…
“Five minutes.” Takaba whispered, holding his hands together into as tight of a possible, it was trembling, subtly, just barely.
“Sei…”
“I just need five minutes alone,” Takaba managed a meek smile, “I’ll be right out after that.”
“Are you sure…” Gyles sighed.
“Just five minutes, Gyles. I just need to…uh… I just need to pull myself together, okay?”
He stood and planted a light kiss on Takaba’s damp hair, “I’ll be in the living room if you need anything.”
As soon as Gyles was out and the door closed, Takaba shoved his hands into his pocket. He had been hiding his trembling hands, which were shaking uncontrollably from the pain. He stood up slowly, the slowest movement jarring, and locked the door quietly, then turned on the lukewarm water, watching it spiral down into the pipes. The cylindrical container refused to stay still in his hands as he struggled to pop the lid open. The damn child-proof cap. It popped across the room when he finally managed to open with his short nails.