Philanthropy

Otacon: It's been a while. Autumn and I have been busy, but we made it through our first year of Japanese studies!
Snake: So that's where you guys were.
Otacon: DAVE! YOU'RE BACK!

***

Thirteen

These days in the cabin were crazy. It was as if all the tension in the air had disappeared with that fuck. Of course I was still worried about his wound, afraid it would get infected or something. And I was worried about being found. But I was more afraid to get caught by Mei Ling. Because we were doing it all the time. And when we weren’t, we watched anime together. We had no choice, really. We had to wait until Mei Ling and Cindy had cleared things up for us. When there would be a sign of danger, we’d leave immediately. But there wasn’t. I checked the situation with the new shiny laptop. Seemed that they’d tracked me down and they at least knew who I was, and where I was in. But my location they couldn’t find.

‘Snake, I guess they wanted to catch me to make me shut up about the metal gear stuff.’
‘Do they know you’re with me?’
‘Yeah, I guess.’
‘They don’t believe me to be dead anymore?’
‘You’re not mentioned by name. I don’t know.’
‘Well, you’re the same status as me, then. Lethal to the government and wanted dead or alive. When they ever catch you they’ll probably put you in an isolated prison for the rest of your life.’
‘Yes, that’s what it says here, too. “When found deliver to SI security immediately.”’
‘Don’t worry. I won’t let them catch you…’
‘Let me go! I was about to watch Shakugan no Shana!’
‘No.’
‘Mmm…Stop. We already did it this morning.’
‘No.’
‘How can you want it again already? What the hell are you?’
‘A soldier. And your boyfriend.’
‘…Ah…’
Ego boost.

We lived like that for days. I hope I made him happy then. I loved seeing him smile. And he was smiling so often now… Every smile made me love him more.

‘You’re so sweet.’
‘Sweet. Okay.’
‘You totally are. I’m so in love with you. You’re the best.’
‘Little geek. Otaku.’
‘You said it! Yay!’
‘Little geeky otaku.’

It was as if we had no choice. As if we both knew it couldn’t last forever, and it wouldn’t last long, either. We had chosen a different life; the hard way. So we might as well take our chances, here in the middle of nowhere. The cabin was in a valley, hidden far away from civilization. The smoke from our fireplace was probably invisible to the whole world. We cooked dinner together. We even argued a few times. He said I was complaining all the time about food and that that kind of attitude was completely useless. But I just smiled and grabbed the rice, and started to make something I liked anyway. I saw his smile from the corner of my eye. I reached for his hand and found it.

‘You’re not so tough after all, are you?’

He lifted me up into the air. He was wearing a red sweater from that weird lumberjack’s wardrobe. I was in a longsleeve Mei Ling had picked up for me. We didn’t wear any shoes inside. Why would we bother? Rain was pouring down once again, and there was nothing outside. His sweater was so soft. He made me all warm. Memories of my life and what I had done and dreamt of were flashing around in my mind. The smell of autumn in the air reminded me of so much. It was as if I was incredibly far away from all of that, being where I was. Away from my apartment from AmsTech, forever. Away from my colleagues who never talked to me anyway. Away from the streets I used to walk, every single day. Away from my room, away from Em and dad. Away from school. Away from Chris who would always push me over at gym class. Gym class in general.

I couldn’t believe how soft his arms were in that sweater. How warm I was in his arms.

I started to cry. But he didn’t say a word. I think he understood.

***