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Every week Musashi and Mob made it a point to take a break from farm work and take a trip into town to spend time with each other. One week, Mob would choose the activity. The next, Musashi would. It was surprising how many times they tended to lean towards morning jogs ending with lunch at one of the local restaurants in town, so the third week, they’d choose something different, like going to a park, or getting out of town. This was one of those weeks, and Musashi was especially excited. Mob had told him that there was a new movie in the theatre, one that had just enough sap for Mob and enough action for him. It hadn’t gotten very good reviews, but it looked like fun anyways.
There wasn’t a theatre in town, so they were stuck driving a ways into the city. Musashi drove the beat up, off white truck, Mob fiddling with the stereo. Usually Mob liked to wear a sun hat around the farm, but since today was special he’d actually put a little bit of effort into his hair.
“Oh look, it’s Ms. Mio,” Musashi pointed out, waving to the old woman as they drove by.
“Oh. I helped her with a spirit problem a few months ago.”
“Yeah? What was the problem that time?”
“Er… There wasn’t really a spirit,” Mob shrugged. “But she thought her walls were haunted, so I fixed her vents.”
“Ah, right. She’s where the fresh apples came from, right?”
“Yeah.”
Comfortable silence came between them, only chatting to point something out as the scenery passed by or comment on a radio commercial. The dusty roads turned into calm city traffic, and Mob hummed quietly with the song on the radio. Musashi smiled. Today would be a good day.
The movie was pretty bad, but there was just enough of a plot to make Mob cry at the end, so it was good enough for them. Besides, it was really more about spending time together than critiquing a movie, so they were happy. The theatre was pretty full considering it was a recent release, so they sat and waited for more people to leave.
“You okay now?” Musashi asked, amused at Mob clumsily wiping away a tear.
“...Yeah.” Mob rested his head on Musashi’s shoulder, sighing. “I’m okay.”
A family filed out of the room, followed by a young couple. The credits continued to roll, music accompanying the wall of names and titles. Musashi held Mob’s hand, fingers intertwined. This was nice. Very nice.
“Oh.” Mob held up their hands in the dim light of the theatre, staring intensely at their hands. After a few minutes of silence, he pointed at a little nick in Musashi’s pinkie finger. “Where’d that come from?”
“Hm…” Musashi racked his mind. Working on a farm meant working through little scratches and bumps to get the job done, so he often forgot about things like this. “Think it’s from when we were moving those hay bales. There was a hole in my glove there, some of the straw cut me? I think. It’s either that or from one of your cats.”
Mob little exhale of amusement made Musashi smile. “Yuki does like to bite.”
“Heh. Yeah. It was probably Yuki.”
A tiny kiss was placed on the offending cut, and the credits came to a close, lights turning on.
“Musashi, look.” Mob and Musashi were walking around downtown Seasoning, arms intertwined. Mob was pointing out a candy store that was advertising a sale on chocolates. Musashi laughed when Mob looked up at him with a hopeful sparkle in his eyes.
“Let’s take a look, shall we?”
The little shop was an air conditioned relief from the summer air outside, and it was colorful and smelled like sugar. Mob and Musashi (mostly Musashi) chatted with the store clerk for a while. She was very nice and smiled a lot, which immediately put Mob at ease (which made Musashi happy). They both happily accepted some samples, Mob buying a bag of chocolate. Musashi pointed out a bag of gummy bears that reminded him of one of their neighbors who always handed out gummy bears on Halloween. Mob chuckled. On their way out Musashi pretended not to see Mob sneaking a peak at the bag.
They continued on their way, smiling and chatting and holding hands and laughing, stopping at crosswalks and standing even closer even though they were both sweating from the summer heat. By the time they returned to the truck the chocolates in the bag were practically mush, so they blasted the (frankly, kind of broken) air conditioning and sped off. They’d only been gone for about five hours, but it wasn’t like they didn’t see each other at home. Not to mention you can’t just quit being a farmer. (Fortunately, local teens need jobs and they had plenty of work at their farm.)
“You want some?” Mob asked, holding a melty piece of chocolate. “It’s very soft.”
“Sure.” Mob gently placed it in his mouth, hands quickly retreating to the bag for his own serving. It was sickeningly sweet, and the hot summer air didn’t help, but it was good. Musashi turned on the radio, the voices of whatever station dj droning on and on about whatever it was. They both only had one chocolate, and even though the cool air was on full blast, they were both sweating. Mob rolled his window down. Neither of them spoke, but they both smiled, content and happy.
Pulling into the dusty driveway, a few cats greeted them, rubbing against Mob’s legs and nearly tripping him up when he got out of the car. They were meowing indignantly, as if they had been deeply offended by something Mob had done. Musashi laughed, crouching down to pet one of them.
“Looks like they missed you, Mob. Or should I say, they missed you feeding them.”
Mob laughed lightly, reaching out and ruffling Musashi’s hair, who chuckled at the sensation. “Guess I should go do that now.”
The cats followed them as they made their way to the house, Musashi’s arm over Mob’s shoulder. Today was a good day. Their dates were always good. Musashi placed a kiss on Mob’s head, only separating when Mob mock-scolded him, saying he had to get the cat food or else they’d both be covered in cat scratches. Musashi smiled, breathing in the summer air.
Today was a very good day.