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Alyosha couldn't take this anymore. He knew his house wasn't the most up to code (he couldn't afford it), but it gets to a point. See, his fire alarms liked to go off every once in a while for no reason whatsoever. He cooked all of his meats outside, so it wasn't that. It wasn't really humid inside either.
It happened this morning, in fact. Except this one was particularly bad, because he had been half asleep. Being forced awake by the screeching of beeps that the alarms made was the worst. Especially since his headphones were never on when he went to bed, so he hadn't been able to muffle it.
And now he lay in bed, in the middle of the night, unable to fall asleep. Very detrimental for him. He could hear Tugarin snoring away on his own bed, and yet it sounded like background noise. His mind and ears were conspiring against him tonight, it seemed. Because he could hear them. He could hear the alarms, and yet nothing was going off. It sounded distant, but it felt like it was right on top of him.
Typically, he'd drown out the phenominon with music, but his headphones were dead. He just had to put his hands over his ears and hope that it'd stop and he'd get some sleep tonight.
...
It didn't stop. Not throughout the night, not when he got up for breakfast, not when he left for the train station in order to get to Sneznograd. He felt close to crying. Yet he kept his face and demeanor calm. If there's one thing that he knew wasn't tolerated in public, it was men crying. People tended to see that and think that the man was weak and unable to provide for a potential wife and kids.
He usually frowned at that line of thinking. Why would crying be considered weak? It was vulnerable and delicate, but not weak. Weakness was harassing someone because they rejected your advances of courtship. Not crying.
He covered his ears as the train screeched to a stop. Tugarin was laying on his feet, having been given the heel command as soon as he had sat down. The husky was gazing up at him, paws by his muzzle. He smiled slightly at the dog, reaching down to pet him slightly before standing up to get off the train. Tugarin followed, sticking close to his side.
The two made their way into the city, Alyosha attempting to drown out the typical noises of being in said city. His ears only had his earmuffs to cover them, yet they didn't do much for muting out the sounds around him. He just had to deal with it. It didn't help that those damn alarms were still sounding in his head. He was getting overwhelmed.
He sighed, walking over to the nearby apartment district. His partners all lived in that district, and while they had invited him to live with them, he had refused their offer. Even if he didn't have a lot of belongings, it was still enough to be a hassle moving it all. Now, however... he was seriously rethinking the offer, hassle and all.
He was let into the building with a smile from the person manning the door. Had he really come here that often? Whatever. He made his way inside, pausing to let Tugarin catch up. The person had given him a treat and headpats. Spoiled pup, that one. He shook his head lovingly as the dog wagged his tail while trotting up to him.
Walking up the stairs a few flights and wandering down the hallway led to the shared apartment of his partners. Despite everything, they had insisted on giving him a key to the home. So, letting himself in, he was greeted with an empty home. They were all probably at work. He didn't have any shift at the theatre today, so he was alone until late since Mitya always made sure to go to the girls' shows. He couldn't afford to, and refused to let anyone give or buy him a ticket.
He groaned softly, taking his boots and coat off and putting them in their respective places by the door. The silence in the apartment was ringing in his ears. It was worse then being outside. Tugarin gave a whine, leaning against him and probably worried over why he hadn't stepped further into the home yet. He turned his gaze to him dog, feeling tears come to his eyes.
"Too loud..." he whispered out, shaking his head and wiping his eyes. It felt too loud. And the fire alarms still hadn't gone away. Tugarin nudged him with his nose, trying to get him into the living room at least. He sighed shakily, before slowly making his way into the home.
Once in the living room, he collapsed onto the couch, his body giving up on getting to the bedroom in the back. He moved his hands to his ears, slipping off the earmuffs in the process. His dog had gone off somewhere, he hadn't been psying attention to him. He just had to hope that Tugarin didn't get into anything he wasn't supposed to.
Speaking of the husky, he came prancing back into the living room, tenderly holding a box in his mouth. He recognized it as a music box, one of the duplicates that Odette had purchased. He took the box from his dog, opening it before placing it on an end table. Soft music filled the room, drowning out the ringing silence with its gentle melody. He barely even realised that Tugarin had dragged the throw blanket over to him and covered him with it. He just processed when the dog sat down and lay his head on the couch, next to Alyosha's hand.
He pet the dog idly, shifting the blanket to have it cover his ear. It felt better to have something cover his ear than it did to not. He stared at his dog, eyes slowly drooping as the combination of the music box and his husky next to him made the fire alarms fade, even if temporarily.
...
He awoke surrounded by warmth. It was dark out, yet he could tell that he was no longer in the living room due to the fact that there was a nightlight slightly illuminating the room. He could feel the bodies of his lovers around him, if their gentle snores and small mumbles didn't already give it away. Someone's hand was resting just barely over his ear, and the music box was still playing its gentle tune.
"Mn.. Alyo..?" He heard from his left. He glanced over to see Odette, who moved to sit up just enough to give Alyosha a tender yet sleepy kiss on the forehead. "Are you alright..? We found you passed out on the couch with the throw blanket covering your face." Her voice was so soft, it was just as pleasant to his ears as the music. He found no desire to lie... not that he would anyway, not after Vodyanitsa got mad at him for downplaying his last state of overwhelm that he had tipped them off about.
"...the... world was too silent yet too loud..." he whispered back, shifting to rub his eye with his hand. Odette took that hand in hers, bringing it away from his face. He tended to do that when he was uncomfortable talking about something.
"Figured as much. Is it better now? Do I need to go turn up the volume on the music?" He shook his head, bringing her hand to his lips. He was being genuine this time, the volume just perfect at the time. Odette gave a small, barely noticable smile before settling back down next to him and pressing her forehead to his ear gently.
"Alright then, try and get some more sleep, alright? Vodya was pouting about not being able to talk to you." She mumbled out, before her body went limp as she fell back asleep. He sighed softly, hearing Vodyanitsa mumble something about ballet before his body fell back into the state of unconsciousness. It felt nice not having the alarms in his mind, if only he could keep it that way.