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Shinpei had been standing in front of the mirror for half an hour, trying to tie his tie. It wasn’t that he didn’t know how—he did—it was just that the thing seemed to turn out crooked every time he tied it. It was skewed to the left, but then he overcorrected and it skewed to the right. Over and over for half an hour. He’d started to get ready before Mia or Takuzo would even be home for this exact reason. As long as Mia’s makeup sometimes took, he was always the slowest out the door. He fussed with the details of his clothes or his hair, he debated with himself about what to bring, and sometimes he even took a second shower. Takuzo was always standing by the door by the time Shinpei was ready, nervous hands in his pockets, trying not to worry aloud about being late.
Shinpei’s shirt was wrinkle-free. His slacks had settled the way he liked. His hair was cooperating with him. It was just this stupid tie, refusing to sit right. He’d even gotten a new tie pin for it—he and Mia had been at an estate sale a week ago, scouring it for vintage figures that might interest Takuzo for his birthday. It was a simple silver and pearl pin that matched the jewelry Mia had picked out to wear.
They’d been planning for this for a week. More than a week. It was their first party since they’d signed their marriage contract. Takuzo had taken Shinpei with him to get a new suit. Mia had taken her nicest dress to the dry cleaner. They’d coordinated outfits and Shinpei was not about to ruin all that by being incapable of tying his tie.
He stared at it in the mirror, hanging limp and blue around his neck like a dejected snake.
As he stood there, he heard steps outside.
Mia and Takuzo arrived together, and they both called, “We’re home,” as they opened the door and began taking off their shoes.
“Welcome back,” Shinpei yelled back, turning away from the mirror for the time being so he could meet them in the kitchen. Mia was still bundled in her winter coat, and Takuzo was standing patiently beside her as she fumbled with the buttons, waiting until she had it off to take it and his own over to the coat hangers.
He saw Shinpei first, on his way over. “Oh, you’re already dressed,” he said, pausing. Shinpei still hadn’t gotten used to the way Takuzo looked at him, coolly up and down without a hint at what his opinion was until he met Shinpei’s eyes again and smiled. “You look very nice.”
Shinpei grinned. “Thank you.”
Takuzo hung the coats before walking over to where Shinpei stood behind the counter. He picked up the end of Shinpei’s tie and held it up between them. “Is this a trend I don’t know about?”
Mia had walked in behind Takuzo and stood up on tip-toe to see over his shoulder, curious.
Shinpei shook his head. “I just haven’t tied it.” He didn’t want to admit to his many failures just yet, but asking Takuzo to tie it for him was very tempting. Takuzo was the perfect tier of ties—they laid in perfect straight lines with smooth, tight knots each time.
“It looks good, though,” Mia said, grabbing Takuzo’s waist to keep her balance.
Takuzo shifted his weight to accommodate her. He still had one end of Shinpei’s tie in his hand, and he picked up the other. “Shinpei,” he said.
“Yeah?” Shinpei looked away from Mia’s smiling face to meet Takuzo’s eyes.
“Do you mind if…” Takuzo tugged very lightly on the tie, and Shinpei took a tiny step towards him. “If I kiss you?”
Mia giggled from over Takuzo’s shoulder. “So serious.”
Shinpei playfully shoved his hand into her face as he leaned in. “I don’t mind.”
Takuzo met him in the middle, pulling him in with the tie, and Shinpei brought the hand that was not occupied with Mia’s face up to the side of Takuzo’s face. Takuzo was chaste about it, like he always was at first, but the pressure of the tie on the back of Shinpei’s neck undermined Takuzo’s gentleness a little. His hand still on Mia’s face, but lightly now and making its way into more of a caress, Shinpei pulled back just a hair to smile at Takuzo.
Flustered as he always was, Takuzo smiled back.
Mia let them have a breath before she tugged at Shinpei’s hand. “Now I feel left out.”
Takuzo moved so she could get around him to stand against the counter. Shinpei leaned over and kissed her cheek, which he knew she was about to be disappointed by until Takuzo bent to do the same. Shinpei felt her smile.
“How much time do we have?” Mia asked as Shinpei and Tazuko pulled away from her.
Shinpei didn’t have a watch, so he leaned against the counter beside Mia and looked at Takuzo.
Takuzo checked the time. “We have to leave in three hours.”
“Oh, that’s plenty,” Mia said, then started off down the hall towards her dress. “If I start right now.”
Shinpei and Takuzo laughed and trailed after her.
“Can I do your tie?” Takuzo asked when they reached the bedroom.
Shinpei stepped up close to him and lifted his chin. Like he was showing off. “Sure you can. Thanks.” Somehow, he’d been saved from having to admit his difficulties with the stupid piece of blue fabric.
As Takuzo started to tie it, Shinpei felt Mia’s thin fingers hook into his belt loops and her hair against the side of his face. She’d snuck up behind him, and, much to Takuzo’s feigned annoyance, began to press kisses down the side of Shinpei’s neck. They both knew he couldn’t sit still when she did that, and, for all his tie-tying prowess, Takuzo was being sabotaged.
“Mia…” Shinpei batted at her halfheartedly. “Don’t you need to put on your dress?”
He felt her pout against the back of his neck. “I’m feeling clingy.”
Takuzo paused with the tie half-done and rubbed Mia’s hand. “We can tell.”
“Hey!”
Shinpei laughed.
Takuzo finished off the tie and smoothed it down. He stepped back to check his work, which was perfect, then said, “I have to iron my shirt.”
“Have fun,” Mia said, waving at him.
Takuzo always did the ironing by himself; it was a little pre-event ritual of his.
Shinpei turned as Takuzo left to face Mia. “Please don’t mess up the tie. Takuzo made it so perfect,” he whispered as he leaned in to kiss her.
She held herself away from him at an exaggerated angle, and was soon grinning against his mouth at the ridiculousness of her own posture.
Shinpei laughed. “You’ve gotta get that dress on or we’ll never be ready.”
Mia scampered off towards the closet, saying as she went, “You’re right, you’re right. The two of you are just distracting.”
It was Shinpei doing the sneaking up from behind, now, pressing kisses into the soft skin where her shoulder met her neck. “Are we?”
Mia leaned back against him, dress in hand. “I am not strong enough for that, Shinpei.”
He laughed and held onto her for a moment longer before stepping away. He could tell she was considering being a tease about stripping out of her clothes, but she ended up choosing to be no-nonsense about it. If they dawdled any longer, they’d be hopelessly sidetracked and end up hours late. Shinpei, as much as he enjoyed dawdling, knew that this party was important to them. They were building their confidence, finding their footing. The playing around could wait until tomorrow. It wasn’t as though they were running out of time for that.
As Mia pulled on her stockings, Shinpei sifted through the jewelry on the nightstand for his tie pin. He found it nestled underneath a colorful broach Mia’s mother had given her. Carefully, looking closely at his reflection, Shinpei slid the pin into the fabric of his tie, slowly so he wouldn’t move it too much out of place. After smoothing the fabric, he turned and said, “How’s that?”
Mia gave him a thumbs-up. “Very handsome.”
“Thank you.”
Takuzo came back in, then, in his freshly ironed shirt.
“Hi!” Mia waved at him, like he’d been gone a long while.
He smiled at her, “Hi.”
Shinpei reached over and held up Takuzo’s jacket. “Here you go.”
They moved around each other in the small bedroom with a coordination that had taken them a couple weeks to master, Mia ducking under Takuzo’s arms as he reached for things, Shinpei occupying the bed collecting wallets and phones to be placed in pockets and purses later. He was unused to being ready first, but it was nice to be a little removed from the constant movement of it, watching as Mia put product in her hair and Takuzo carefully put in his cuff links.
“Oh, no,” Mia said quietly, and Shinpei looked over to see her holding up a necklace, hopelessly tangled, its pearl caught in a net of silver chain.
Takuzo frowned. “How does that even happen?”
“It must’ve fallen off the hook.” Mia pulled at the chain a little, but the knot didn’t budge.
Shinpei held out a hand. “Let me try.”
She handed it to him.
“Good luck,” Takuzo said.
Shinpei held the necklace in his hands for a moment, trying to figure out where the clasp was or if there was a looser point in the tangle. He found the clasp first, but undoing it didn’t seem to help. After pulling a few taught loops, Shinpei found a bit of the chain that gave. He pulled it out as far as he could, which made the knot into three little knots. It reminded him of fishing line, the way that a big knot would resolve itself into a couple of smaller knots before it unraveled. He worked at each one until they were all loose, then fed the end of the chain through.
“There,” he said, holding the necklace back out to Mia, “Fixed.”
Eyes wide, she took it from him. “Wow… Magic.”
Shinpei laughed and shook his head, “No, just patience.”
Mia put the necklace on carefully, then adjusted it for a moment before turning away from the mirror and declaring, “I’m ready.”
“You look beautiful,” Takuzo said, smiling.
Shinpei nodded. “Elegant and everything.”
They had about a half-hour to spare, which was impressive, considering their best so far was five minutes.
“I just have to find my scarf,” Takuzo said.
As he rifled through a drawer, Shinpei started putting things into Mia’s purse. They’d thought all their wallets would fit, but it turned out there was really only room for one, so they decided via rock-paper-scissors whose wallet was the special chosen wallet. They didn’t need everyone’s loose change just to go to a party, anyway.
“Takuzo, your wallet won,” Shinpei said, holding it up.
Takuzo looked over his shoulder. “It won?”
“It gets to come with us.” Mia took it and stuck it in her purse alongside a tube of lipstick and Shinpei’s extra cuff links. He was always losing them.
“Oh, I see.” Takuzo turned back to the drawer.
Mia stood and looked at the clothes that had gotten piled up around the edges of the drawer as Takuzo dug through it. “Can’t find it?”
The three of them looked through every pile of clothes in the room. The drawers, the clean laundry waiting to be put away, the dirty laundry in the hamper, the nice clothes on hangers in the closet. Takuzo’s sage green scarf was not in any of these places. It had slinked off somewhere else and was engaged in evasive maneuvers as their search widened to other areas of the apartment. Shinpei found himself looking in the cabinet under the sink as Takuzo, more logically, searched between the couch cushions.
As Takuzo was starting to worry about the time, saying he could just do without it, Mia called, “Aha!” triumphantly from somewhere back towards the bedroom.
In their haste, Takuzo and Shinpei had completely forgotten about the laundry room, and they arrived in the doorway to see Mia holding the scarf aloft, having fished it out of the washing machine, where it had been left long enough to dry. All it needed was a quick ironing.
“I am the best wife,” Mia said as Takuzo pressed the scarf.
Shinpei handed her the purse she’d left in the bedroom. “Of course.”
“Peerless,” Takuzo added.
“There can be no best husband, though.” Mia put the purse strap on her shoulder like she meant business. “It’s a perpetual tie.”
Shinpei hooked his arm through one of Takuzo’s once he’d finished arranging his scarf. “That’s okay with me.” He put his head on Takuzo’s shoulder. “Is that okay with you?”
Takuzo smiled. “Well, I would put my vote in for you.”
Mia took Takuzo’s other arm. “Don’t sell yourself short.”
And, with five minutes to spare, they were off.