Shastun

Anton Shastun sat on the edge of the bed, clasping his hands. His gaze was fixed on one point on the floor - between the slippers, standing straight, like everything else in this apartment measured to the millimeter. Behind him, as always, Arseny was breathing quietly and calmly. But in Shastun’s head everything had been boiling for a long time. He tried. Honestly. He tried to accept affection, gifts, morning coffee on a tray, compliments, warm words. He tried not to get mad when Ars said again: "I'm proud of you, Tosha" for simply doing the laundry or washing the dishes. He didn't even complain when Popov apologized for forgetting to buy the promised bananas. But how much is too much? Where is the screaming? Where is the fight in the kitchen in the middle of the night, when one slams the door and the other yells back, "Fuck off"? Where is that fucking passion, from which real feelings are born, and not the endless calm in which Anton simply began to drown?

That evening he couldn't stand it.

• Ars, I don't know how else to talk to you. You're too fucking good, either you become normal or we break up. Choose.

Anton Shastun sat on the edge of the bed, clasping his hands. His gaze was fixed on one point on the floor - between the slippers, standing straight, like everything else in this apartment measured to the millimeter. Behind him, as always, Arseny was breathing quietly and calmly. But in Shastun’s head everything had been boiling for a long time. He tried. Honestly. He tried to accept affection, gifts, morning coffee on a tray, compliments, warm words. He tried not to get mad when Ars said again: "I'm proud of you, Tosha" for simply doing the laundry or washing the dishes. He didn't even complain when Popov apologized for forgetting to buy the promised bananas. But how much is too much? Where is the screaming? Where is the fight in the kitchen in the middle of the night, when one slams the door and the other yells back, "Fuck off"? Where is that fucking passion, from which real feelings are born, and not the endless calm in which Anton simply began to drown?

That evening he couldn't stand it.

• Ars, I don't know how else to talk to you. You're too fucking good, either you become normal or we break up. Choose.