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Lock Outs and Pink Noses
Really, it was Balthazar’s own fault that he got locked out of his house, but that didn’t stop him from cursing the world for making it have to be on the coldest day of the year. Of course, the one single day that he was not wearing either his blazer or sweater would be the one day that he was trapped outside of his house with only his guitar hanging off his back. His parents were out for the week and weren’t due to return for another three days and his little sister was supposed to be arriving home in a few hours from a friend’s house she had been staying at. Sighing, Balthazar called defeat and started to walk down the road, strumming at his guitar as he walked.
While Balthazar had been trying to find a way to break back into his house without actually breaking anything, he had thought about texting Ursula, but she was off on holiday in Auckland with her family for a few more days. Ben and Bea both lived pretty far away from Balthazar, so he didn’t want to disturb either of them. That only left Pedro, his boyfriend, but he had been dragged into a ‘family bonding exercise’ that meant he wasn’t allowed to have any technology while they were all out together.
As Balthazar started to walk, he finally got a text back from his little sister.
Balthazar – Rosa: Are you going to be home soon?
Rosa – Balthazar: A few hours. I said I’d be back by three. Why?
Balthazar – Rosa: Locked out.
Rosa – Balthazar: Seriously?
Rosa called her older brother then and Balthazar answered, swinging his guitar behind him, “Hey Rosa.”
“Are you actually serious?” Rosa asked, sounding worried.
“I’m serious, Rosa. Yes.” Balthazar sighed, “I’ve tried all the ways in, before you ask.”
“How did you get locked out?”
Balthazar bit his lip, his sister was going to laugh, “I was listening to Mumford and Sons with earphones in. I didn’t realized I locked the door when I went to go and take care of the trash.”
Knowing his little sister, Balthazar knew that Rosa rolled her eyes, “How did I know that it would be something dumb like that. Do you want me to come home now to let you in?”
“No. Hang out with your friends. I’ll be fine. I have my guitar and my music.” Balthazar responded, “If anything, I may end up calling Bea or Ben to come and get me. I just wanted to let you know what I did.”
“Why did you have your guitar on you to take care of the trash?” Rosa questioned.
Balthazar smiled a little, “I may have been doing sock slides while playing my guitar. Don’t laugh because I’ve seen you do it too. I remember about the trash and it was stinking while I was sock sliding”
Rosa had started to laugh, but stopped when her older brother said that, “Oh shut up Stanley. I’ll see you in a few hours.” She made a much nicer tone with her voice, “Let me know if you need anything.”
“Will do. Let me know when you’re on your way home.” Balthazar responded, “Love you.”
“Love you too.” Rosa said, then they both hung up.
In one fluid motion, Balthazar brought his guitar back to his front and he went back to strumming one of his songs on it. Without even knowing where his feet were taking him, he was more focusing on his the music than anything else, he ended up at a park that was about ten minutes from his house. The walking was keeping Balthazar warm enough and the park was pretty much deserted, so he was able to walk around the perimeter of it for a while before taking refuge on one of the swings.
“Serve God, love me and mend” Balthazar started to sing Sigh No More as he played along on his guitar. If he hadn’t happened to bring his guitar out the door with him, he probably wouldn’t know what to do… granted, if he didn’t bring his guitar, he probably would have remembered to grab his keys.
Balthazar wasn’t actually sure how long he had been sitting in the park, idly swinging as he sung Mumford and Sons songs as well as some of his own songs. All he knew was that, in the middle of him singing Shadow when he felt someone tap him on his shoulder. Balthazar jumped and spun around, almost falling off of the swing, but managing to catch himself. He looked up at the person and realized it was Pedro and grinned.
“Pedro! Hi. I didn’t think that you were back yet.” Balthazar smiled up and hugged his boyfriend.
“You’re freezing Balthy!” Pedro said, putting his hands on his boyfriend’s shoulders and holding him close, “Your nose is even turning pink!” Pedro pulled off his jacket he was wearing and, even with Balthazar protested saying he was fine, tossed it onto Balthazar.
Knowing that Pedro wouldn’t take his jacket back, Balthazar pulled his guitar off from around him, slid on the jacket, then put the guitar back on over the jacket. Pedro smiled and hugged Balthazar, “Okay, now you need to tell me why you are outside by yourself ten minutes from your house.”
Balthazar smiled down out the ground, “I might have locked myself out and Rosa won’t be home for another few hours to let me in.”
Pedro shook his head, “I can’t believe you, Balthy. Why didn’t you call anyone?”
“Ursula is on holiday. You were out with your family with no phone. Bea and Ben live too far away and I didn’t want to bother them.” Balthazar told Pedro. He just rolled his eyes at Balthazar.
“Bea and Ben would’ve come over here. You aren’t that far away for their cars.” Pedro sighed a smile on his lips still, “Well, would you like to go home then?”
Balthazar looked at Pedro curiously, “I got locked out.”
“You’re parents had given me a spare key into the house because they got sick of always having to let me in.” Pedro reminded Balthazar.
“Oh,” Balthazar said, “But it wasn’t because they got sick of answering the door, you were just over enough at this point for you to get one.” He added with a laugh, “And in case I ended up locking my own keys into the house.”
“You still have to tell me how you managed that – and why you brought your guitar out with you.” Pedro gestured to the guitar that Balthazar was carrying and mindlessly strumming while he talked to his boyfriend.
As the two of them walked back, Balthazar and Pedro both swapped stories of what happened in their lives while they were away from each other. Balthazar told the story of Rosa deciding to hid his favorite picks all throughout the house and refused to tell him where any of them were – which Balthazar later found she had put inside of his guitars. Pedro had explained how when they were in one of their rental places, John had bought Pedro a bi-pride flag and Pedro had gotten all excited and hugged John even though John had explained that it was a joke the whole time.
The two of them were in a good mood when they got to Balthazar’s house and Pedro looked at Balthazar’s nose, “It’s still slightly pink.” Pedro got closer to Balthazar’s face, not that personal space was ever a problem for Pedro, and kissed his nose, effectively making all of Balthazar’s face turn pink. Laughing, with their faces still close together, Pedro kissed Balthazar just as a car pulled into the driveway.
Vaguely, Balthazar could hear a door shut and the sound of a camera shutter, then giggling, “Oh, I’m so sending this out to your friends, Balthy!”
The couple pulled away to see Rosa with her phone out, “How do you even have my friends number?”
“They gave it to me.” Rosa shrugged, pulling out her keys.
“I thought I asked you to text me when you were on your way home?” Balthazar asked.
Rosa nodded, “I did. You never wrote me back and I can see why now. Hi Pedro!”
“Hey Rosa.” Pedro said, moving out of the way so Rosa could unlock the door. Pedro held open the door and let Rosa and Balthazar walk in ahead of him. Balthazar pulled his phone out of his pocket and saw he had a few texts.
Ursula – Balthazar: Good morning Balthazar. Hope today is going well for you.
Rosa – Balthazar: I’m coming home early.
Rosa – Balthazar: Need anything?
Rosa – Balthazar: Well never mind. I’m almost home.
Ben – Balthazar: Urs said you weren’t writing her back. You okay?
Balthazar walked up to his room with Pedro in tow as he wrote back Ursula and Ben to let them know that he was okay. It wasn’t a moment after he clicked the send button that he got six text messages from Ben all within a minute.
Ben – Balthazar: BALTHY AND PEDRO SITTING IN A TREE!
Ben – Balthazar: K-I-S-S-I-N-G!
Ben – Balthazar: FIRST COMES LOOOOVEEEE!
Ben – Balthazar: THEN COMES COMMITMENT!
Ben – Balthazar: THEN COMES A BABY IN A BABY CARRIAGE!
Ben – Balthazar: (If you decide to have kids but don’t feel like you’re being pressured into anything)
Pedro’s phone was going off too, which he must have gotten back, and he read them. Balthazar saw them and saw that they were the exact same as to what Ben had sent to him. Rolling his eyes at his friend, Balthazar turned his sound on and put his phone off to the side. Pedro threw himself onto Balthazar’s bed and Balthazar set his guitar on its stand. Just as Pedro got himself comfortable, Balthazar moved onto the bed and laid his head down on Pedro’s chest.
“I missed you, Balthazar.” Pedro said quietly.
Balthazar grinned, “I missed you too, Pedro.”