Dates

Date/Timing: 14 February 2006
Setting: Gottlieb home; Berlin, Germany
.
Hermann glowers at his workbook and his horrifically malformed attempts at reproducing the first five katakana, sulks back in his desk chair.
Bastien stops petting his wings, peers around his side.
„It's hard, huh?“
„The rules are simple enough, but these damn kana ....“ Gestures in frustration.
„If you teach me, maybe I can help?“
„I can't even /copy it yet, how am I supposed to /teach it?“ sighs Hermann.
Bastien crosses his arms. „We can learn together.“
„That's not how it works, Bunny.“
„Why isn't it?“
Hermann cocks his head. „What is it about Japan that you find so appealing?“
Bastien shrugs. „It's different—“ Checks over his shoulder. „—and it's far away.“
„I can see the appeal in that.“
„Well, /I can't /wait until I'm—“
A sharp rap at the door.
Bastien eeps, jumps; Hermann sits straighter.
„I will be out for the rest of the evening. I expect you to be in bed at the proper time, Bastien.“
„Yes, Father,“ he grumbles.
„What was that?“
„Yes, Father.“
Father grunts, stalks away.
They listen to his footsteps fade, then the front door latches.
Bastien looks to Hermann.
Hermann queries.
„Do you know where Father's going?“
„He has a date.“
„Ohhhh ... riiiiight. What's her name again?“
„Monica something. I think.“ Mumbles, „I try not to think about dates, especially not related to Father.“
„Why not—“ Freezes. „Oh. Yea. Sorry, Manny.“
Hermann waves it off.
„Do you think he wrote you for Valentine's Day?“ whispers Bastien.
Hermann shrugs.
„Are you going to write /him for Valentine's Day?“
Hermann shrugs again.
„You really should write him, you know.“
„Why's that?“
„It's what people in looove /do on Valentine's Day.“
„And you know this because ....“
„/Everybody knows it, silly.“
Hermann smiles despite his best efforts. „Fine. I'll include a holiday greeting—“
„And something with hearts!“
„—and something with hearts in my next note.“
„Awesome!“ Bastien's eyes light up with mischief. „Sooooo ... what do we want to do now?“ 
„Well, my writing isn't going to improve tonight—“
„Video games?“ chirps Bastien.
„Your screen time—“
„Father's not here.“
„What game did you have in mind?“ Hermann levers to his feet. 
„/Katamari!“
„It's /always /Katamari, isn't it?“
„Because it's /awesome, duh.“
Hermann rolls his eyes as Bastien tows him to the sitting room and pushes him down onto the couch, then bounces over to start the PlayStation.
Familiar music fills the air.
Bastien settles in, passes Hermann a controller, taps through the menus to engage competitive mode.
„Can't we play cooperatively this time?“
„No way! This's the one game I can beat you at!“
Hermann sighs.
Category:Ficlet
Category:Berlin (setting)
Category:Hermann
Category:Hermann's POV
Category:Hermann has wings
Category:Hermann (ficlet)
Category:Bastien
Category:Bastien (ficlet)
Category:Lars
Category:Lars (ficlet)
Category:Edan (mention)
Category:Katamari (reference)
Category:Ficlets with images