When it gets complicated

This feels just right (Toris)

~Kris~

I hear the door beep and open over the soft classical music filling the room. I pause my fingers over my laptop keyboard and wait till i see the love of my life come around the corner from the living room to the kitchen. Currently perched at the end of the kitchen island on one of the stools, I watch as Tao comes closer. He stops at the other end of the island and sets his bag and everything else he was carrying down, standing there for a few beats.

I can just tell by his stance and demeanor that my baby is exhausted. Rightfully so. My mind starts to wonder of what i can do to make his night better for him than his day was. Before i can fully think too hard on it, he clears his throat, and I look up.

He finally meets my eyes and gives me a tight lipped smile, not even bothering to make it look real. My poor husband. The launch of the biggest line to hit our company has finally made it over to the design phase and Tao has been basically sleeping at the office. My heart breaks for him, but when it comes to design and development, it's a bit out of my wheelhouse. I'm sure if i tried to help, I'd just end up making his job more difficult than taking some things off his shoulders.

Tao turns away from me and heads straight for the fridge. "Did you have dinner?"

I frown at the lifelessness in his voice. "I ordered out earlier. I didn't know when you'd be back."

He sighs and nods, closing the fridge after retrieving some leftovers from two nights ago. Moving over to the counter, he sets the food down and opens the cabinet to observe that there's no plates.

Oh boy, I really should have checked that earlier. He looks into the sink and i finally notice the dishes that have stacked up there. I worked from home today and was in meetings and calls all day, so i just ate out of the take out containers when it got here to save on time. Really should have been more proactive.

As I'm about to jump up and wash him a dish really quick so he can eat, he sighs once again, sounding a bit upset. I pause wondering if something is on his mind as he picks up the bottle of water he had brought in with him. It was almost empty already, but he just chugs it and then slowly ambles toward the trash.

This time in place of a sigh, I hear a groan and he begins pulling the full trash bag from the can, making sure to be as loud and dramatic with his movements as possible. I wait. He'll talk when he's ready.

When he's finally done bagging up the trash and has forcefully discarded it to the side, he heads back over to the sink, and roughly pulls down the dishwasher door, beginning to load a few plates. He probably gets about a half a rack in and then groans again.

"No, that's fine. I'll just make my own food, take out the trash, and load this dishwasher even though I worked all day." Tao says closing the dishwasher a little too firmly.

"Baby, i worked all day too." I say, tilting my head at the sudden outburst.

Tao scoffs and shoves a plate into the sink a little forcefully. Luckily it didn't break.

"But you were home. Was sitting on your ass and sending a few emails that taxing on you? I don't understand why you had a problem with at least doing one simple thing." He snaps.

"Excuse me?" I ask keeping my tone calm and level. "I've been in nonstop meetings all day with people who are all getting the next part of this launch up and going. There's more than just the design and development part of it that's going into this. Once it's out of your hands, it's going to be in mine and i want my team prepared. I also sent my people home to work remotely so they're out of your teams and your own way, so you have some extra space and a quiet environment to wrap things up."