Third Person POV

| A  F E W  D A Y S  L A T E R |

"Attention, Society members: the time is now four o' clock PM. Daily Schedules are now terminated, and Free Period has now commenced. Nightly weekday curfew will commence at 10:00 PM. Those found out after curfew will be punished as Society laws regulate. Enjoy your Free Periods and remember, long live The Society of the People." 

Thaddeus Axton leisurely made his way towards the AirLift at the end of another long day of Construction Unit Training. He chatted playfully with the man beside him named Mitty, the two large males laughing at something as they entered the glass structure. About a week had passed since Thaddeus's kitchen altercation with his mandated Soulmate, and since then they had begun to work themselves into a steady routine of avoiding one another. 

Well, the avoidance was mostly his Soulmate's doing. 

Over the past week the smaller male developed a habit of crying himself to sleep, wondering what he had done to make his Soulmate hate him so. He still only slept on a little sliver on the edge of the bed, a small part of him tried to hold out on hope that one day, he might wake up to Thaddeus sleeping next to him. However, as the days passed Aria found himself waking every day to nothing more than stale, filtered air and a feeling of loneliness that he found it hard to shake.

Aria still felt an overwhelming sense of guilt about making Thaddeus get a strike on his record, even though he still had no idea what he'd done to cause it. Regardless, he tried his best to please his Soulmate, staying out of his way as much as he could as he feared Thad would get angry at him again. 

Angry Thad scared the smaller boy worse than anything he'd ever seen.

To accomplish this, Aria began waking up at around four AM every day to make breakfast and both of their lunches. Afterwards, he would iron Thaddeus's Construction Unit uniform until he was sure that he'd gotten every single little wrinkle out of the fabric. Aria would then leave all three of those things on the glass coffee table that sat in front of the couch - the one that Thaddeus slept on every night - along with a small note in his lunch wishing him a good day. 

Aria always allowed himself a few moments after finishing all of his tasks to sneak a glance of his Soulmate as he slept. The curls on top of the larger man's head were always a little frizzy and a bit of drool usually escaped the corner of his mouth during his night sleep, but Aria didn't care. To him, the larger man was absolutely perfect.

Aria would then pack up his Occupational Training bag full of all of the fun activities that he'd planned for the kiddos that he loved teaching so much, and then leave the Housing Pod. The smaller boy struggled to get everything done in just an hour and a half at first, but as the week went on he had expertly mastered the art of completing all of his tasks in a timely manner, leaving the Housing Pod before the digi-windows even had a chance to show the morning light, and - more importantly - before Thaddeus woke up.

Little did the innocent boy know, Thaddeus was making his own habits as well, though they did not come from the same, kind part of his heart such as Aria's did. Thaddeus's habits consisted of throwing the breakfast and lunch that Aria made him down the chute to the incinerator after reading Aria's daily notes, each of which filled him with more fury and contempt towards the smaller man. 

Thaddeus always seemed to be in a state of frustration over the past week. The man found himself on edge of an angry outburst all of the time, only being able to relax when saw his best friend during Lunch Period, or when they walked back to their Housing Pods together after their shared Occupational Training. His friend was a welcome distraction to the reality of his life at the moment, a reality of which Thad still wished would somehow be exposed as some kind of cruel joke. 

Alas, it was not a joke, and Thaddeus was reminded of it every day when he ripped up yet another note from the boy whom he blamed for making his life a living hell.

Their evenings usually followed the same schedule of avoidance as well. Since the young children of the Early Development Instructional Unit were not yet old enough to stay awake for a full day of Instructional, Aria and his fellow training members were able to leave for their Housing Pods about an hour before most others in the Society. This gave Aria just enough time to get dinner ready before he would scurry into his bedroom for the rest of the night, only to repeat the process all over again in the morning.

However, today was different. 

The first Friday after the Soul Mate Ceremony was deemed Introduction Day, an occasion during which the parents of each new couple were invited to the couple's Housing Pod to meet each other. 

Aria had excitedly planned for this day for over a year, and had already detailed the extensive meal spread that he was going to cook that night in an effort to make a good impression on his Soulmate's parents. However, what he hadn't planned on happening on this day was to have barely spoken to his Soulmate before their parents met - or even worse - to not have spoken at all since the scary kitchen interaction that they'd had.

Aria felt a lurking sense of anxiety as he began preparing the batter for his favorite chocolate chip cookies. He didn't want to disappoint Thaddeus's parents, but considering that he could barely even call what he and Thad had a relationship, Aria's stress levels continued to climb as he overthought the situation. The boy had always felt somewhat uncomfortable in situations where the outcome was uncertain, and this was most definitely one of them. 

That uncomfortable feeling of uncertainty was just how Aria became such a firm stickler for following rules and schedules in the first place. Some would call him a prude for how fiercely he stuck to them, but it was simply how his brain worked best. 

Anxiety flaring, Aria's hands involuntarily shook as he tried to open a package of flour, accidentally flinging some of the powdery substance up onto his face. The boy wiped away as much of the white powder as he could, feeling glad that no one was there to witness his little accident. However, he knew that something else embarrassing was bound to happen again if he didn't get his anxiety under control. Luckily, he knew just what to do to help himself.

Aria was far from the best dancer, but he'd accidentally found out a few years back that losing his body in music made his ever-present anxiety flow out of his body like water. The boy only allowed himself to do so within the privacy of his own presence, and now was one of those times. 

Meanwhile, Thaddeus made his way down the long and winding hallway of floor negative six. Thad gave his best friend Mitty a fist bump before they parted ways, each turning a different corner as they made their way towards their separate Housing Pods. As soon as he parted ways with his best friend, his mind instantly filled up with the inevitability of the day's events. 

Introduction Day.

Thaddeus had been dreading it for the past few days, trying to find a way - any way - to avoid it. However, after his run in with Elder Edergan, he was in no rush to try to get out of another mandatory Society event. Therefore, he opted for the next best option. 

His parents were like the Elder's personal cheerleaders. Therefore, if they caught wind that he was anything but ecstatic with their decision, he was sure that they would report their disobedience, and he would get yet another visit from good old Edergan. That's how he came up with the best idea to get what he wanted.

They were going to fake it. 

Of course, he'd have to talk to Aria about it first to make sure that they were both on the same page. But the man surmised that if it was even half as easy to get the little bug to do what he wanted as that one time in the kitchen, then he knew he had this little charade in the bag. With that in mind, Thaddeus swiped his thumb across the fingerprint scanner, stepping inside his Housing Pod as the door slid open for him. 

The man was greeted with the familiar scent of whatever Aria chose to cook for dinner that day, but was caught by surprise by the fact that there was also some sort of old time-y pop music playing over the Housing Pod speaker system. Thad found this highly unusual considering how over the past week he'd gotten used to coming home to a quiet Pod and a wrapped up plate of dinner waiting for him on the dining table. 

The loud music must have masked the sound of his heavy footfalls as he neared the kitchen, seeing as to how Aria remained blissfully unaware of his Soulmate's presence as he continued going about his business. Whereas, Thad found himself standing just outside of the doorway, eyes wide in shock at the scene that he'd stumbled across. 

Thaddeus watched in silence as the smaller man who he'd grown accustomed to mentally calling 'Bug,' swayed his hips along to the melody of a song whose name was - according to the digi-window that displayed it - Anaconda by some ridiculously old artist named Nicki Minaj. Thaddeus found himself strangely transfixed by the sight before him, his predicament of lying to their parents during Introduction Day momentarily forgotten as his eyes followed the boy's movements. 

The smaller boy's wide hips swayed from side to side as if they had a mind of their own as he bent over to place a cookie sheet in the oven, some areas of his soft cheeks and face still white with flour as he mouthed along to lyrics that he didn't actually understand. 

Thad continued watching for upwards of a minute as Aria tapped his finger around on the oven's control panel, finding himself unable to rip his eyes away from the fluid movement of the smaller boy's body.

It was not until Aria turned around to get started on cleaning up the mess he'd made that he noticed Thaddeus's presence, both parties being caught extremely off guard by their previous actions. 

A yelp of terror left Aria's mouth as he dived for his tablet, tapping the glass screen furiously to turn the music off before lowering his head in humiliation, hoping that his hair would cover his cheeks that flamed beet-red. 

"I-it wasn't what it looks like!" Yelped the small male, swallowing a soft whimper of embarrassment that tried to bubble up past his lips. The boy felt ridiculously irresponsible, inwardly cursing at himself for getting so caught up. 

He knew that Thaddeus usually got back to their Pod around that time, but somehow lost track as he happily cooked and danced around the kitchen. He had no doubt that the larger man was judging him for what he'd seen, and his anxiety flared right back up as he thought of the possibility that finding him like this may have been the last straw to break their already fragile relationship completely. 

Thaddeus, on the other hand, found himself still uncharacteristically lost for words as he tried to pull himself back together. It took a few moments to do so, but he soon felt the hot fire of rage flare up in his chest again, replacing his initial shock at the fact that he had been staring at the boy in a manner that he usually reserved exclusively for girls with the smallest hip-to-waist ratios. 

It angered Thad to no end that the small boy caused him to think about another man in such a disgusting way, so, in his typical, self-centered fashion, he opted to take that anger out on the poor boy who he knew would be too timid and afraid to retaliate. 

"Whatever, Bug. Dance your happy ass into the living room, we need to talk." Thaddeus grumbled out the first words he had said to Aria since the previous kitchen incident days ago, before turning on his heel and heading towards his destination without another word. 

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