December: A FC/UC Short

Free-Jones Apartment
New York City
United States of America
November 2120

“Do you want to eat something, Lena?” Ansel asked. He peered into their shared office and saw Elena by her desk, working on a drawing with earphones strapped to her ears. The man couldn’t help but smile, coming closer and nudging her shoulder playfully with his free hand. “Lena.”

“Oh, shit, hi,” she greeted. Elena quickly took the earphones off and smiled at the other, rubbing her eyes. “Shit, how long have I been working?”

“A little more than two hours. You weren’t coming out of the office to eat, so I decided to go out and get us something to eat,” he explained. Ansel pulled his own chair over and Elena moved to give him space, “Sushi?”

“Ansel Free actually feels too lazy to cook for once,” she teased. He made a face and she smirked, pressing a kiss to his nose. “Relax, I’m just teasing. What did you get?” She watched as he removed a couple of containers from the paper bag, expression perking up as she took note of what the other had bought.

His salmon sashimi, a few choices of sushi rolls, and there was Elena’s personal favorite: tempura with Japanese fried rice. Ansel took out two large cups of red tea next and she couldn’t help but plant another kiss to his lips. “You really went all out with this, Free.”

“You shared a sushi post on your Facebook, tagged me, and just put a smiley face,” he replied calmly. Elena snorted and then poked his arm.

“Fine, fine. Can we actually get to eating?” Ansel nodded. In a few minutes, they were eating in the small office, despite it being one of the things Ansel wanted to avoid doing. In fact, the only thing he allowed in the office was a small amount of beverages, provided they be put away from their tech equipment.

Elena was halfway through her meal when she noticed Ansel watching her. His sashimi had gone untouched since she had begun. “…what is it?”

“Nothing, nothing.”

“Liar. You haven’t touched your salmon.” His eyes widened a little and darted downwards, as if remembering there was salmon in the first place. “What’s wrong, Free? You’re just…watching. And to think you love your sashimi.”

He swallowed the piece before answering. “Just you.”

“Me?”

“Mhm. You haven’t been yourself lately, Lena.”

“…what do you mean?”

“I – er – well,” he stammered, “I’ve just noticed.”

“Noticed…?”

“You haven’t been in the best of spirits,” he finally told her. “I thought it was just because you were taking longer shifts at the café, and you had gotten tired. But it sort of…it lasted. It lasted more than usual. Right?”

She tried to ignore how spot-on he was being; it was a little unnerving. “Right.”

“Would you have any reason why, Lena?” Ansel paused once more in eating and pushed away his chopsticks momentarily, “…I’m worried.”

“Don’t be. You have better things to worry about,” she insisted. “And I’m okay. I’m really okay. See? I’m eating.”

“Eating a good meal for once,” he muttered, and then tried to smile at her. “Really, Lena, if there’s something you want to talk about to me, you shouldn’t feel embarrassed or ashamed.” His eyes fell on the mark on her right collarbone, “I’m here for you. Always am, always will be.”

“You’re such a fucking sap,” Elena commented, but her gaze softened at his words. “Thank you, Ansel. I’ll keep that in mind.”

* * * * *

As the month passed, Ansel could detect more ‘signs’ from Elena.

The closer it would get to December, the more ‘signs’ would appear. Elena would be less energetic, less perky. She’d be more likely to stay and sleep than go out and do something. If she’d have to work, it seemed like it was more than laziness that made her want to stay in instead.

Not knowing what was wrong made him fret, so he tried to make her feel better through different ways: Ansel cooked her favorite meals more, did his best to pick up Japanese food more. On one occasion, he tried to replicate her favorite tempura-and-Japanese-rice combination.

(It was able to earn a smile at his expense. Ansel had to face her teasing him about not exactly getting the rice right – it had ended up hard and undercooked.)

However, it didn’t seem to be enough.

Ansel ended up calling Amelia on Skype while Elena was out working her usual shift. When he explained the situation to her, Amelia’s expression fell and she ran a hand through her hair. “Alright,” she exhaled. “Yeah. I know exactly what you’re talking about, Ansel. It’s not new. Elena had them while she was still here in Connecticut with the family.”

“What is it…?”

“Her birthday is coming,” Amelia explained. “We don’t know why, but…for some reason, whenever her birthday nears, she gets like that. If Elena’s usual battery mode is eighty to ninety percent on good days, this time around she gets to sixty to seventy percent. It decreases the more her birthday’s approaching…”

“How can I help? How were you able to help her out?”

The elder Jones sister gave a low hum. “The best I could do was be there for her, Ansel…if you’ve noticed, Elena isn’t the type who outright asks for something,” she told him with a weary smile. He nodded. “Be there for her. She usually messages me if things get bad, but…so far, it doesn’t seem like she’s crossed the tipping point. Which means that your attempts are working.”

* * * * *

Both of them agreed many months back that should they feel the need to take a day off, they could. Ansel had already done that a few times; he purposely asked Elena not to wake him up because he felt like his body and mind couldn’t catch up. On the rest day, he’d stay away from his equipment and would do things that would make him happy. Elena would usually end up with a full stomach and their fridge would be fully stocked for the next week.

When it came to Elena, however? Ansel wasn’t sure how she would spend hers. It had always been him that would need to take some off days.

A week after asking Amelia how he could help Elena, Elena had asked him if she could spend her day at the apartment instead.

Needless to say, he was the one who convinced her to sleep early.

He had to work on some editing and ended up coming back to bed a little later than usual. The male rubbed his eyes, yawning, and regretted having to work so late. Ansel would have to get less sleep than usual –

And then he heard Elena crying.

“Fuck, Lena?” Elena’s form on the bed froze upon hearing his voice and she attempted to curl into a ball under the covers. “Hold on a moment…” Ansel kicked off his shoes and practically leaped onto the bed, burrowing under the covers just to get to her. Elena was covering her face and he nudged her back up, prying her hands away.

“You should be working,” she muttered in reply. Ansel wiped her tears away with his thumb. “Retel.”

“I’m done working. That’s not the point – what happened?” Elena stayed silent and Ansel could only frown before kissing her forehead.

“Tomorrow,” she told him quietly. He nodded. It was silent between the two of them for a moment before Elena asked suddenly, “...Ansel?”

“Yes?”

“Can you…” she shifted a little, hoping he would get the message. Ansel quickly opened his arms and Elena moved into them, burying her face into his chest. The brunet closed his eyes and held her tighter. Elena was colder.

“I don’t know what’s wrong,” he murmured quietly, “But I want to help you, okay? I don’t want you to go through this alone. I don’t want you to end up feeling alone, Elena. Especially because of what you’re feeling right now. I know it’s not something you can easily get over.”

“…I’ll tell you in the morning,” Elena managed. Ansel gave a nod and kissed the top of her head. “I promise I’ll tell you in the morning.”

“I can wait,” he assured her. “I’ll wait for you.”