Summer Vibes

Armando wakes up a bit later than usual, and notices the absence of his boyfriend in the bed, which was odd, he loves sleeping til noon. Although yesterday they laid early. Some sounds, not so loud, are heard from the kitchen, meaning the presence of someone there. Salazar is going there, wanting to know what Jack is doing. — «Good morning, cariño», — he says. — «Morning», — Jack replies. «He makes a fruit salad, how wonderful, it’s good for his health», — the man notes in his mind. — «Wanna try, I didn’t prepare it just for myself», — the boy asks with a joy in his voice. — «With pleasure. Have you made tea already?» — «Nope, I want rum», — he says, turning up his nose. Armando already got used to differentiating his moods by the tone of voice, this frisky one means the little boy is joking and patiently accepts his rejection. With a noise from the kettle in the background, the man decides to do the dishes, because yesterday he was too tired and busy after work, so now there are a lot. But when he turns around to the side of the sink, he sees not a single dish there. And the table where they make food looks cleaner than usual. He returns to the table for eating not without being surprised, and doesn’t see any dirt there either. — «What happened yesterday that you decided to clean up?» — Salazar asks with a grin. — «Wha, whatcha talking about?» — «Well, you see, yesterday I left dishes from your breakfast and supper untouched at all, thinking of doing it today, yet I see it is totally clean. And you want to say that you, you, decided to do the dishes without my reminders?» He approaches the boy who is already adding honey to their breakfast for sweetness, stands very close, bends over, and whispers, smiling slyly: — «What does my little sparrow need?» — «You mean?» — he asks in return, making an innocent face, but there is still a hint of nervousness in his smile. — «You have never cleaned anything.» — «It’s hurting, I do that sometimes», — Jack announces, raising the intonation in his voice, trying to turn around. — «Yeah, when you need something», — Armando replies, and goes back, returning the space to him. He makes tea, Jack drinks cold cocoa. After breakfast Jack says nothing, and Armando decides to wait, there isn’t any luck in asking anyway. His boyfriend doesn’t like to clean, at all, even if a table in his room would be a new refuge for cups, he would do anything but never is going to wash them. Although if he needs something, then he will lick every corner of this house. But he won’t tell about his wish, most likely just dancing around it, waiting for him to guess it. Hooray it's the weekend. Today Salazar is willing to dedicate to a book he delayed for so long because of busyness. When the time comes close to eleven, Jack appears in his room, hanging around without a purpose, diligently, but unsuccessfully pretending to be very interested in looking at books, yes-yes, right now he wants to do this. The man assumes that his wish to hide this cleaning was done to get something hasn't disappeared, so he takes away the book, pretending to leave the room because he wants it, pretending not to see a smile appearing on Jack’s face. He notices Jack in another room after returning back, and a lot of shining beads and gems scattered on the floor, which he uses to braid in his hair or to make some bijou. — «Do you want to make some more bracelets?» Jack doesn’t reply. His eyes, although, are rushing on the man, but the boy doesn’t speak. Waits when he enters. And he comes in, can’t even imagine how much space all this stuff took up in his apartment, if here, in the not so long time of their living together, he had already occupied three large shelves for himself. The boy looks at him, and there is hope in his eyes and he is already preparing to use the puppy look, and he says: — «Don’t you think there isn't that much left?» Here Salazar can't help but chuckle and smile nervously. Several boxes are laid out in front of his little sparrow, each one practically crammed with all sorts of things. — «Y-you think so?» — «Yes», — he says, his voice becomes more serious. — «Yeah, there are a lot of them, but it’s hard to use them for just one thing, there’s just not enough for the big decorations I want to make.» The man covers his mouth with his hand, holding back his laughter. He is silent for a while, not believing that his Jack, who can make something beautiful out of hair and a ribbon, is now saying that he, you see, is not enough. The guy looks up with hope, waiting for a reaction. Waiting for him to suggest it himself. — «Do you want to buy anything else?» Just hearing the question, his face lit up with happiness. — «Very much!» — «Then put away your trinkets and get ready», — Salazar answers and goes into another room.

***

They drive to the nearest big shopping center, where they can find a lot of things for handicrafts. Or just get lost for a few hours: want to occupy a child with something? Send one to a toy store. Want to occupy a person who is fond of handicrafts? Send one to a knickknack store. We guarantee you freedom for a few hours. — «Why did you bother so much with cleaning?» — Armando asks with a grin. — «Didn’t want to take the bus» — Jack replies, narrowing his eyes. — «Ah, so this is the reason.» This time, something goes wrong. No, everything is fine, basically, it's just that Jack very quickly (as fast as possible) picks up what he needed, not looking at the items for very long, basically just grabbing them and throwing them in the basket. And then he declares that this is not enough for him, and he wants to go somewhere else. — «Are you sure you can’t find all you want here?» — «Yes, they have different assortments, truly», — the boy replies, coming closer to the car. «And I was wondering why you were talking about the bus» Armando doesn't look closely at the things sparrow takes, he just stands at a distance and looks at the goods on offer. With the second bag stuffed, they head to the parking lot when Jack notices a cluster of benches and tents and suggests they go have a look. — «Is that a fair there?» — Salazar asks, running through the dates of the upcoming holidays in his head. — «Have no idea, but it looks interesting!» The shelves are filled with almost the same jewelry that Jack likes to make, only from different beads, soap of different shapes, cups, candles... Everything that would make a good gift. And an expensive one. That's probably why it was difficult for the sellers to sell even a small part of the items they brought, the price issue outweighed it. That's why Jack couldn't sell anything from his collection, the demand wasn't there. Instead, he simply unraveled the beads and bracelets he made and reused all those beads. — «Wo-o-ah, look how beautiful these are!» The man looks at the contents of only one stall, preferring to get to know the offer better, but Jack, in the meantime, manages to move away as far as possible. Armando is guided by the muffled voice, and hopes that he went in the right direction. He finds himself in front of a counter on which are hung... Something... Hanging on threads. — «Aren’t they beautiful?» — Jack asks, turning to him. — «Yeah?» He hesitates, his eyes unable to focus on the motley array of things. Seeing Jack's undisguised joy in looking at them, Salazar moves his hand closer, trying to figure out what they are. But he immediately stumbles upon the price tag. — «How mu…» — the word escapes his lips involuntarily, but he regains control by muffling the last syllable. The price tag is eighty euros, you won't see that every day. — «What is this even?» — «The dream catchers», — the shopkeeper answers him, —«attract only positive dreams!» He watches Jack examine each one carefully, touching each one with his finger… Armando looks at the owner from under his brows, but apparently doesn’t care. He starts sorting through the others, and each one has something similar: seventy euros, a hundred and ten… wow, a hundred and sixty! «Oh well, at least this one is bigger than the others.» He peers into his face. «I sincerely hope you don’t want them, they look unreasonably expensive.» — «Jack?» — he calls quietly. The guy is distracted from his work and looks at the man. He smiles and nods his head towards the car. And somehow he quickly approaches him, does not linger. «Let it really be uninteresting for him» — the Spaniard mentally crosses his fingers for luck. They are driving on a road unoccupied by other drivers, it is not the right time, even though it is a day off. Jack is fidgeting with anticipation, which means he will be busy with his hobby in the evening. — «You were so passionate about them, had I distracted you?» — «Mh? Not really.» — «What did you like about them?» Sparrow doesn't think for a second, he just stretches, loosening his back. — «Color range.» — «A what now?» — «I was simply searching for inspiration.» Salazar looks at him in surprise. — «Yes? Wouldn't you like something like that for yourself?» — «Have you seen the price tags?! You and I bought so much for that amount in the store alone that I'd make at least ten of those!» Armando chuckles, smiling. — «Are you sure?» — he asks quietly, not expecting an answer. Jack twitches and starts fiddling with the collar of his shirt. — «Well, I was joking, of course, the materials are not enough for 10 of them... But there are many more bijou I can do!» — he justifies himself, and the Spaniard only laughs, ruffling his hair with his right hand, while he can.