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Those rare weekend nights when there were no gigs to perform or anything special happening were always ones to look forward to. On these nights, it had become a sort of tradition for the underground duo for one of them to choose something to do and the other to participate. No ifs, ands, or buts.
And tonight was Zuke’s turn to decide what to do.
He had long been looking forward to doing this with Mayday since he first saw this in the Cast Tech District. Granted, Zuke knew that his energetic bandmate would probably not be the most thrilled with building a puzzle but he figured the prospect of putting it together with her would be worth it. Besides, he couldn’t deny it would at least be entertaining watching her have to stop and think for a moment and not rush into things.
“Pleeeease tell me this isn’t the one with like a billion pieces to it?” Mayday whined loudly as she looked over the box that showcased the completed version of the puzzle.
The box containing the puzzle featured a map of constellations and two kids celebrating the completed puzzle. Big lettering with the words “glow in the dark!” and “DJ Subatomic Supernova approved!” were tacked onto the packaging in separate corners in an attempt to woo people into buying it.
Zuke chuckled at Mayday as he took the box away from her. “Don’t worry, this is the ‘simpleton’ version of the puzzle. There’s only a thousand pieces to this one.”
Mayday’s magenta eyes widened as Zuke listed the number. She groaned as she placed her hands on her face, pulling her bottom eyelids downward.
“We’re going to be here all weekend just to finish it. Are you sure there’s nothing else you want to do instead?”
“We did your twelve hour monster movie marathon last time,” Zuke chided playfully. “Besides, if we work together, we’ll have it finished in no time.”
Mayday let out a defeated breath. She knew there was no way out of it now. “Alright, alright. Let’s get started on it then.”
The duo situated themselves on the floor in front of the sofa. The cement flooring of the sewers was cold and not the most comfortable to sit on but having an assortment of blankets and pillows made the area feel much more cozy. Mayday and Zuke sat on opposite sides of each other. Zuke took the puzzle box and opened it, removing the top part. He placed the top part of the box directly under the bottom piece before dumping the contents of it onto the floor. Mayday’s eyes grew large as she watched the mini-mountain formed. The pile of puzzle pieces waiting to be connected before her was very daunting.
Noticing Mayday’s uncertainty on where to begin, Zuke took initiative and reached towards the pile.
“It’s usually a lot easier to find the corners first,” he explained in a calm voice to her. He glanced up at her. “Because there’s only four corners to a puzzle.”
Mayday stuck her tongue out at him and responded in a playful manner. “Of course I knew that!”
With energy, the guitarist plunged her hand into the pile of puzzle pieces to fish for one of the corner pieces. The tiny mountain had a slight avalanche and became lopsided as Mayday pushed her hand through to search for a piece. Zuke couldn’t help but chuckle at Mayday’s sudden energy for building the puzzle. How intense and focused she became just searching for a corner piece was something. Dare he say cute? He could feel his face begin to warm up at the thought but before he could linger on it, Mayday exclaimed.
“Ha! I found one!” She announced proudly as she held up the right corner piece. She placed the corner piece on the ground and folded her arms over her chest, looking at Zuke smugly. “I’ve already done more than you.”
Zuke quickly shook his head to get rid of the lingering thoughts in his head. He leaned back and gave a single clap of his hands.
“Great, bravo,” Zuke responded in a playful sarcastic tone. “That’s one piece out of a thousand done.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Mayday threw back at him in a smug tone. “I’ve still done more than you so far.”
Zuke let out a laugh. “Fine, fine. Now I’ll start helping, o puzzle master.”
Zuke delicately placed his hand into the pile of puzzle pieces and searched for one of the elusive corner pieces. His tactic of searching was more refined than Mayday’s, who seemed to enjoy making a mess of things. Soon enough, he found the top left corner and placed it into position. Mayday found the bottom left corner piece shortly after he found his. The two continued to search for the elusive corner piece.
After sifting through the pile several times, both of them found it at the exact same time. Mayday quickly tried to grab it as Zuke reached for it. She got to it first and he arrived a millisecond after her, yet the contact was inevitable. Zuke’s hand covered Mayday’s and he had no idea how to respond. The drummer stared at his hand on hers and felt his face getting hot again. His throat began to dry up and he didn’t even want to begin to think how stupid he looked right now. Fortunately for him, Mayday didn’t seem to notice and took her hand away. She held up her puzzle piece triumphantly.
“Three out of four corners are mine!” Mayday proclaimed happily as she slammed the piece into its spot. “This is too easy!”
Zuke, after a moment of collecting his thoughts, cleared his throat. He looked at Mayday and gave a small smile, all the while rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.
“Y-Yeah, look at that. But now it’s time for the next part. I find it easier to follow from the corners and build the outside border. But you can always start forming small clusters that’ll be on the inside part too. Whichever fits together first.”
Mayday nodded enthusiastically as she began searching through the pile for pieces to connect. Zuke began his conquest in completing the outer part of the puzzle.
Over the next few hours, the two laughed and joked over building the puzzle. Watching Mayday’s roller coaster of emotions as she worked on it was certainly entertaining to the drummer.
One moment she would be completely focused and having the time of her life. The next she’d be cursing DJ Subatomic Supernova for endorsing a puzzle that was mostly dark and looked nothing like the image on the box only for her to going back to having fun. Though at one point she did try to snip off the ends of the puzzle pieces in a cheap attempt to get them to fit, forcing Zuke to confiscate some scissors. Regardless, Mayday seemed to be enjoying herself even after her earlier complaints.
Watching her and just simply being with her was enough for Zuke to be happy. Sure, Mayday could be extremely childish and thick headed at times But he enjoyed that about her and it made her endearing. And these were some of the moments he enjoyed most with her.
It took nearly six hours but the puzzle was soon completed. Mayday’s energy had long been spent and the guitarist was having trouble keeping awake. Her head was bobbing back and forth as she tried to keep her eyes open, reclining back in a nest of blankets and pillows she made for herself. Zuke was starting to feel the same way as he held the last piece of the puzzle.
“Zuuuuke,” Mayday muttered sleepily. “Put the last piece in already so we can sleep.”
Zuke grunted in a tired tone. “Yeah, yeah. I’m going.”
Slowly, he placed the final piece into position. With a satisfying click, the puzzle was complete. The image of a dark night sky was between the two and they both looked at it with tired admiration.
“Yaaaay, we did it,” Mayday celebrated in a tired voice.
“Yeah, now let’s see it with the lights off,” Zuke answers with a yawn.
The drummer rose to his feet and gave a big stretch. He made his way to the lights and turned them off. Darkness overcame the room and Zuke went back to where the puzzle was. Even in his tired state, his eyes widened in elation as he looked upon the finished puzzle.
The glow in the dark pieces shown brilliantly in the darkness. All major and minor constellations of Stars glimmered almost as if they were the real thing. Even if this was a puzzle, Zuke was still beyond happy to have completed it. Especially with Mayday to assist him.
“Whoa, this is so cool,” Zuke said as he released a breath. “What do you think, May?”
There was no response. Zuke looked over in her direction in confusion, surprised by the lack of words from her.
“May?” He asked out again, feeling a small amount of worry come over him.
In response, there came a loud snoring sound. During the time of him going to turn off the lights, Mayday had fallen asleep. Zuke crawled over to her, careful not to damage the puzzle they built. With the small amount of light given off by the puzzle and the dim lighting, he could see her curled up in her blanket nest. Zuke couldn’t help but chuckle, not surprised that she fell asleep as she did.
Not wanting to disturb her, Zuke found one spare blanket and pulled it over Mayday to cover her. Knowing the floor was still cold and uncomfortable, he figured she would’ve appreciated it. As he did so, Mayday began to stir. Zuke stared at her in surprise as what she said next caught him off guard.
“That was fun…” Mayday muttered in her sleep. “We should...do that again...soon…”
And with those words, Zuke had no idea how he was going to fall asleep that night.