The door shut and the light turned on. The keys barely made it to their target, carelessly thrown onto the desk in the small hallway. One of the shoes ended up sideways next to its partner while the coat returned to its regular place on the stand.
The fridge door opened and greeted its owner with an awkward emptiness. A six pack of beers on the lower shelf. Three days worth of microwave ready dinner on the middle one.
The TV came to life. The volume was much louder than the idol remembered, with cursing under his breath he crouched down to awkwardly reach for the remote which ended up underneath the coffee table after being accidentally dropped. The TV continued yelling as the idol peeked underneath the table and under the couch, trying to spot the missing battery which escaped on its own adventure somewhere on the floor.
Finally the sports caster’s voice lowered to a bearable volume and the irritated idol was able to flop onto the couch with a deep sigh, the fixed remote resting on the table next to the can of beer.
Shoji turned his attention away from the soccer highlights. He gazed at the empty space next to him on the wide couch. He snapped himself out of his daydream with a laughter and shook his head at himself, he threw his legs to rest against the cushions, filling the empty space and holding himself back from overthinking.
Yet he failed to stop the strange feeling growing in his chest once he fully concentrated on the screen and the familiar sports caster flashing his usual smile. Had he always been this handsome? Wait, what was he thinking? Shoji was surprised by his own thoughts and shook his head to try to shake them off. He reached for the remote, an unusual action when the news were far from over, to hastily change the channel.
He sighed in relief and continued his night of comfortable loneliness.