Love Across Time

he is half of my soul, as the poets say

It was a warm morning on June 24th.

I let out a yawn as I stretched and sprawled my legs and arms on my bed. It felt so good to be in my own bed. In my own room. But I felt something was missing. As I looked around, I noticed Anastasios wasn't in the room, nor was he in the bed with me. I didn't think much of it, after all, he always wakes up before me. It's a bad habit he picked up during university, a habbit that he still struggles with today, but thankfully he is slowly recovering.
I myself have picked up bad sleeping habits during university, such as waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to fall asleep properly.

I heard hasty footsteps running up the stairs, then the door slowly opening. I saw the face of Anastasios peeping through the crack of the door, and he had the biggest smile on his face.
He then spoke in a soft voice with a sing-song tone;

-"good morning sleepy girl. How is my little owl doing? Did she sleep well? Did she get their beauty sleep?" He stepped in, walked over to the bed and crawled on the soft mattress.
He wrapped his strong arms around my waist, and dug his head in the crook of my neck. I smile and lazily stroke his long black hair, gazing into his black eyes, which almost never met mine. And I'm okay with that. I wasn't bothered when he wouldn't make eye contact, to be honest, I am bothered with eye contact as well.

-"I'm doing okay, I just need to wake up and you aren't helping, my fruitcake." I said, trying to make it very clear in my voice that I'm being sarcastic. I'm not used to speaking with a specific tone, and most of my sarcastic comments and dark jones come out as insensitive or rude, especially to Anastasios, who has expressed to me on multiple occasions when we first started dating, that he has trouble with picking up on social cues and has a hard time finding the difference between genuine insults and sarcastic jokes.

He let out a quiet giggle, and sat up. He started jumping and flapping his hands. I let a small grin creep on my lips and stood up from the bed. I pulled up my silk pants and smoothed out the oversized shirt that I "borrowed" from Anastasios, and let my head rest on his chest.

-"what's got you excited, Anna?" I ask, taking a big whiff of his scent. I could smell his perfume, which had hints of cinnamon and citrus. I loved it whenever he would put on perfume with citrus. For some odd reason, It felt like home.
His arms squeezed me tightly, which warranted a choked out wheeze. He loosened his grip and then kissed the top of my head with this intense affection that I always loved to receive.

-"did you forget, ελαφίνα μου? It's your birthday today! And I have a special surprise!" He started jumping up and down again, and ran down the stairs while giggling like a little gremlin.
His giggles warmed my heart, and so did the fact that he wasn't afraid to be his true self around me. That's what I actually loved about him.
He almost never masked around me. He wasn't afraid to dump every tiny bit of info he had on the most random subject he was passionate about. He wasn't afraid to rant to me without feeling like a burden. And that is exactly what I like about him. The fact that he liked me enough to not mask around me was the biggest honour I could ever have.

I followed him downstairs, and saw him perched on one of the chairs, with a wide smile on his lips. On the table, was a red velvet cake, and two candles with the number "25".
Just remembering that I'm turning 25 makes me feel old. And I'm barely done with a quarter of my life yet.
He got up and hugged me again, but this time with less tightness in his grip.

-"happy birthday to my beautiful girlfriend!" He said and kisses my ear, and pulled away to cut the cake. He cut a piece out of the cake and put it on a small ceramic plate, and slid it over to me.
I sat down and took a fork, and started eating.

-"this is the best cake I have ever had. But you know what makes it better? The fact that it's made with pure love and affection from my wonderful boyfriend." I leaned in and kissed his cheek. He stepped behind me and wrapped his arms around me, his hands draped over my chest and his face sniffing my hair.

-"Αγάπη μου, what do you say we go to the museum in Athens later today? Or maybe the pantheon? I know how much you love those places!" He kissed my neck, and I put the fork down to lean back and ruffle his hair again.

-"you always know how to make me smile, my Spartan soldier." I whispered in his ear and kissed his jawline.

-"And you always know how to make me crumble to my knees, my goddess." He mumbled lovingly and kissed the corners of my lips. He pulled away and took a slice of the cake, took a fork and started eating as well.
When we finished eating our slices of cake, I put the cake in the fridge and gave him a quick kiss on the back of his neck.

-"I'm going to get dressed babe." I said and just as I started walking up the stairs to our room, when I opened the door, I felt him wrap his arms around my waist from behind.

-"Without me?" He asked with a mischievous grin, and pushes me in the room, and closes the door.
He lifted me up in his arms and threw me on the bed, and I let out a surprised yelp but also a laugh. He crawled on the bed and laid down beside me, his hand slipping under my pants and caressing my thigh while the other gently weaved through my hair.
His lips gently kissed my neck, and trailed up to my jawline, then kissed a small scar that went from the corner of my eye and acriss the bridge of my nose.

-"you know what? I change my mind... I think I wanna stay here and be with you all day long." He mumbled, his lips still resting against the small scar.
He slowly moved his body on top of mine, and kissed my earlobe.
After a brief moment, he quickly slid his body off of me and laid next to me, spooning me.

-"sorry, I got too carried away..." He whispered and kissed my hair.

"It's fine, don't worry." I smiled and closes my eyes, enjoying the small cuddling session between me and Anastasios. With him, my soul feels complete. It feels like I have found the missing piece to this puzzle we call life.

He is half of my soul, as the poets say.