Hizashi stretched his arms over his head, yawning loudly. He sighed, let his hands drop to the sheets beside him and stared at the empty spot beside him.
Cheshire had to leave early this morning for a special parent-teacher conference or something. He pouted, rolling out of bed and scratching his neck absently. He absolutely hated waking up alone now that he was used to there being a warm, purring bundle beside him at all times. Oh, well. He grabbed his glasses from the nightstand and slipped them on.
"I'll see her soon enough," he muttered as he shambled into the bathroom to brush his teeth. The usual morning absolutions - brushing, shaving, a trip to the toilet -- didn't take long and he was soon turning on the shower. He tested the water and nodded sleepily. Good enough. He stripped off his boxers, the glasses got placed on the sink counter and he stepped inside.
His hair took a very long time because he had to make sure he conditioned it before he styled it every weekday. He lathered, shampooed and then paused, his hand on the showerhead.
What was that small, black speck on the tile? He squinted but couldn't quite make it out. "Oh, no. Ohhhh... shit." His heart started to pound wildly in his chest in terror. Trembling, Hizashi nudged as close as he dared and blew on it. This was always a good test.
The speck moved.
Hizashi did, too.
Screaming so loud that he almost hurt his own eardrums, he launched his wet body out of the shower without thought. As he flailed, his arms got tangled in the shower curtain and wrapped them together. He fell half in and half out of the tub, lucky to have not injured himself beyond a couple of bruises and, well, his pride.
He was stuck.
The shower clips had snagged together like an interlocking chain. He strained and managed to pop a few of them, but the combination of his slippery body and the just as wet plastic shower liner and cloth curtain combo defeated him. Naked, soaking and with bubbles of shampoo stinging in his eyes as it slithered down his forehead he remembered the reason he had gotten into this mess. Gasping, he looked up.
He couldn't see that far without his glasses.
A cold sweat broke out on his body. It could be crawling towards him right now and he'd never know it. What if it got <i>on</i> him? What was it? Probably a spider, they got a few of those in the apartment despite him having an exterminator come in every month.
"Elly." He whimpered, knowing there was no way his bug savior was going to arrive. He thrashed his way to the farthest side and tried to think of his options. The soundproofing they had installed really worked.
A quick, heart-pounding glance around confirmed no bug was near him ...yet.
So, no one would come to his rescue unless he cranked the volume up. And if he did that, he would break everything within a very large radius that was fragile enough. He would be in severe trouble from Nedzu. The principal had let him off with a warning last time, but his patience was wearing thin.
He flicked his head back, trying to keep the soap off his face. "They'll send her in to check on me if I don't show up... right?"
<i>Right?</i>
Elly found him an hour later, dangling from the corner of the tub, his eyes blank with fear and foam drooling out of his mouth.
She took the rest of the day off along with him to help him recover.
And the bug? She didn't have the heart to tell him it was just a fleck of mildew. It had come loose and his breath had caused it to slip on the watery tile.
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