716Chapter Ninety Two: Around the U-Bend
Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.
Movie Playing: Into the Woods (2014)
Theme 42: Sink
"Fucking hell!"
The sound of Hiruma cursing filled their small apartment. Based on the sheer volume and suddenness of his shout it was a pretty good bet that he had injured himself. Mamori doubted that, whatever it was, was life-threatening so she finished getting into her pajamas at a normal pace before heading over to the bathroom. If past experience was any indication he had probably stubbed his tow or jammed his finger in the drawer again. Upon entering the room it became very clear that neither of these things were the case.
The fact of the matter was this: Mamori wasn't entirely sure what to make of the sight before her. That sight being her long time boyfriend with his massive blond head buried in the sink like he was trying to figure out how to dive down the drain.
Utterly perplexed she asked the only reasonable question she could, "What are you doing?"
He didn't even bother removing his head from the sink. "I knocked one of my cufflinks down the damn drain."
"Oh no." Well that was unfortunate. She had actually bought that particular pair herself the last time they were in the states. His scrimmage had run longer than expected so she had been killing time downtown when she had spotted them in the window. They were actually pretty simple, nothing more than the bullet rim, but she had recognized the ammunition logo as the kind he had used back in school and couldn't stop herself from buying them. Even though he didn't wear them often, she knew they were his favorite. He only ever brought them out for special occasions and took extra care of them when he did. "Can you see it?"
"No." He gave one last fruitless look before storming out of the room in the direction of their bedroom. "Fuck!"
She took the opportunity to take a look for herself. Sure enough she couldn't see any trace of the missing cufflink. She hoped that it was only stuck in the u-bend and hadn't bounced down further than that. Making her way towards to kitchen, she was stopped short by the sight of Hiruma pacing in their small entranceway. "What are you doing now?"
"What do you think I'm doing?" He snapped back with his phone at his ear and his free hand jammed into his slack pocket. "I'm calling the fuckling landlord to come up here and get the damn thing."
"What? No!" In a move that even the bravest and boldest in the NFL wouldn't have dared attempt she snatched the phone right out of his hand and ended the call. "You are not waking up Ms. Takaya for this!"
He had the nerve to glare at her like she was the crazy one in this scenario. "How else do you expect me to get my cufflink?"
"I'll get it out if you just give me five minutes." Without waiting for a response, she turned on her heel and continued her trek to the kitchen. She was rummaging under the sink when she felt the familiar glower of Hiruma attempting to stare down the back of her head. She didn't bother looking up as she grabbed the mop bucket and pipe wrench that she kept there for just such an occasion. "Can I help you?"
"Can I have my phone back?"
Mamori stood up to her full height: the pipe wrench in the bucket in one hand and his phone in the other. She made sure to keep his phone tucked behind her back, just out of his reach. "Do you promise not to call Ms. Takaya?"
"Fine." At her flat unimpressed expression, he heaved a deep sigh and promised, "I won't call Ms. Takaya."
"Or a plumber or anyone else?" She didn't give him a chance to protest or think of a clever way out of her demands. "No calling, texting, messaging, or anything to anyone."
He had to give her credit where credit was due. She really did know him better than anyone else. Despite his lingering anger at himself for his uncharacteristic bout of clumsiness, he felt the corners of his mouth kick up. Just a bit. "Fine."
"Fine." She handed him back his phone. Then she breezed her way past him, right back into their tiny restroom.
He followed, hot on her heels. However finding her on her knees with half her body wedged under the sink, brought him up short. Now he found himself awkwardly hovering in the doorway threshold. After several moments of perplexed silence, he had to know. "What are you doing?"
"Getting your cufflink back."
Despite knowing that she was a generally a wealth of practical knowledge, he found that he was skeptical. "How?"
"It's probably just trapped in the u-bend." She explained, head still buried un the little under cabinet. "So I'm taking that out and dumping it in to the bucket. With any luck your cufflink will come out with it and then you can fish it out."
"Huh." Well when she put it like that, he felt a little silly for attempting to wake up their very nice landlord at this very unreasonable hour to come fix something that was apparently the easiest thing in the world to do himself. Still, he was feeling a little useless as he continued to stand there like some sort of idiot. "Do you need help?"
"No." There was a small clatter as she presumably put down the wrench and started tugging at the pipe. Then there was a wet sloshing and splattering sound and her smiling face was staring up at him. "I'm already done."
He managed to regain his composure quick enough to help her to her feet. Once up, she reached down and picked up the mop bucket. Bringing it up to chest height, they both looked down simultaneously.
And immediately regretted their choice.
"Ew." Mamori's compulsive cleanliness cringed at the watery gunk that had drained out of the pipe and into the bucket.
Hirmua was the first to admit that he wasn't the neatest of people to live with but even he found himself wrinkling his nose at the sight of identifiable goop and recognizable clumps of hair. Still, it had worked. Nestled in a puddle of dirty water was his cufflink: completely intact and only a little grubby looking. Nothing that a little warm water and soap wouldn't fix right up. Still, there was the matter of retrieving it. He looked up at his long term girlfriend with great expectation. "How am I supposed to get it out?"
"Don't look at me." She promptly shoved the less than appealing bucket of polluted water and grime into his hands. "I got it out of the sink. You get to pick it out of the bucket."
