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16. Did you hear about the race between the two giraffes?
Bane held still with his hand on the lamp's switch, and turned his head to look at Davide again. "You're still free tomorrow, right?" Davide raised his head, thinking. "You remembered, right?" Bane said, and he smiled as Davide recalled, and nodded. He flicked out the light and snuggled close to Davide, squinting and smooching at him in the darkness.
Their second alarm sounded and it meant they had to get moving, which was a pain in the ass no matter how many years down the line it gets. Bane heaved himself out of bed and into the shower, and when he got out, Davide was waiting for him at the table with coffee and bread. He looked barely conscious, hair not yet set, and yawning the apartment down. Bane ruffled Davide's hair and sat down to eat. "What time should I be there to watch, when you usually clock out?"
"About four," Bane said, through bread, pinching the exposed skin on Davide's arm. "Not just to watch, though, I need you to give me a hand."
"A hand? I didn't know it was an arms race… pfft!"
"Hey! You know full well what I mean!" But that one was pretty good. He took a sip of his coffee to hide his smirk.
"I bet it'll be a close fight between third and first place this year," David said, reflecting. "There'll be seconds between them." He chuckled, and Bane leaned over to pull his ear.
Bane checked his watch. Time to move. He got his bag, did a pat-down for wallet and keys, and then kissed Davide on the cheek. "Don't forget!" he said, and headed to the door.
"Have a good day at school," Davide said, "Make sure to teach the disobedient kids a lesson!"
"I'd teach you a lesson! But with luck I'll teach all the kids a lesson!" Bane laughed as he shoved his shoes on. "See you at four!"
17. It was neck-and-neck!
Quarter to four. Time to shut up Ojii's workshop for the day. Davide threw a sheet over the projects that would need finishing later, to stop them from getting dirty - a cleanliness inspector came once and reported about how he sawdust - and then rifled about in the drawers for some paper. He found a lot that had scribbles of designs on them, and had almost run out of ideas where to look, when he at last drew a blank and penned out a notice.
We regret early closure today for personal reasons. Normal business hours will resume tomorrow.
He gripped the pen tightly, tried to put it away, but in the end he lost out to his impulses and added,
By the way, dear customer, those are some nice closure wearing.
He tacked it to the door on the way out. The school gates were already open, but most of the visitors hadn't arrived yet. A few kids, not interested in the sports' day, were vying to be first out of the gate. To make a swift gate-away. And Davide would be railing against such behaviour if he were a member of staff, but he wasn't: at best he was a crutch, and crutches are only useful when you can't make your walking stick… He frowned. Tenuous. I got my rabbit a new crutch. Crutch? Don't you mean hutch? No, crutch: I mean, he's always hopping… Davide snickered as he rounded the building and the sports field came into view. Bane was dashing about all over the place, giving instructions and setting things up. More to the point, he was simply dashing, he could easily run away with Davide's heart, the rogue. Bane caught sight of him, and a huge warm smile broke out on his face as he waved Davide over.
"You're here!" Bane looked at his watch, "God, it's four already? We're not done setting up…"
"I'm here to help," Davide said, "and not to make a meal out of things but, do you have time to eat?" He pulled a lunchbox out of his bag and waved it slightly.
Bane grinned. "That is the best pun I've heard you tell in months. You're the best." He shouted to another staff member that he would be taking a break, and then, placing his palm between Davide's shoulder-blades, directed him towards a nearby bench.
"What do you need me for, anyway?" Davide said as they sat down.
"Eh? Oh, I was kinda hoping you'd stand at the goal and help record the times," Bane scratched at his hair.
"Your job, then," Davide said, at the same time Bane had said,
"My job, basically." Bane laughed. "Well, yeah. I just wanted to… well, I want to run at the back. Encourage the kids to keep going, y'know?" Davide's face must have shown his admiration because Bane whacked the top of his arm and said, "Piss off, gettin' all sappy on me."
"I wasn't getting sappy. Don't be-leaf your eyes, you must be trunk... pfft!"