Einron: A lifetime of Regret

Part 21: Momentos

Aaron sat in bed, staring up at the ceiling, his wrapped around a pillow. It was his day off, and Ein wasn't home to share it with him. He didn't say where he was going, or when he'd be back,  but the note on the door made it apparent he left early while the morning light had just started to burn. Probably after I fell asleep, he assumed. But he had to have a good reason.

He trailed his hand up the bag of cotton, scratching lightly at the seam. For once, he didn't have anything to do but just sit there, and the noises across the hall informed him that Jax and Ryder were busy at the moment. He finally threw the pillow to the side, the perfect idea came to mind. He'd make a surprise for when Ein got home.

Ein stood out in the cold, beanie atop his head, bulky winter coat bundled around him, woolen gloved cloaking his hands. He knocked on the door one more time, glancing back at his car, then back at the door just as it opened slowly. 

Aphmau peered out the door for a moment before hiding behind the door once more, "What are you doing here."

"We need to talk, Aph. Please. I'm not here to gloat or anything."

"How'd you find me?"

"The pups,"

"That's a long drive."

"Beleive me, I have a few good reasons."

She opened the door, "Fine, but make this quick."

"Thank you."

He entered and the smell of citrus hit him like an anvil to the face. She had multiple candles burning at once. He recognized a lot of the furniture from their old house, the couch, the rugs, the tables. The curtains were new though. It was a significantly less spacious living room, however. 

He turned to her, "Do you still have Aaron's things here too?"

"Yeah... I haven't gotten rid of anything. If he wants them, he can have them."

"Okay, good, well that was easy."

"What, was that the reason you came here?"

"No, that's just one of em. I-I wanted to see how you were doing... and if you needed anything."

"In short... I'm okay, and no, I don't need anything. Our mutual friends already made sure of that. So you don't have to worry about me."

"And you're sure of that?"

she walked over to a fat cat sitting on the back of the couch, "I'll be fine, thank you." she pointed upstairs, "His things are up there. I'll show you."

Up the stairs was one long L-shaped hallway decorated only by a carpet and a table. She walked toward the very end of the hall, pointing into a room with a wide box sitting on a bed, things stacked on top of each other like a game of Tetris.  "Thanks."

"Anyway, I gotta get to work, so just grab it and go."

"Gotcha." and off he went, the box barely fit in the back of his car, but he made it work. He drove back home for the next couple of hours, listening to the radio. And when he finally got home, he breathed out the longest sigh of his life. The sun was starting to set, but it was only around fourish. He grabbed the box and went inside. 

The smell of cinnamon filled the air as Aaron pulled the trays out of the oven, 6 perfect cinnamon rolls lined each tray. he readied a bowl of glaze as soon as the rolls cooled down, placing a small glob of icing on each. The front door opened and he quickly glanced over. Ein held a large box filled to the brim, but he didn't seem bothered by the enormous weight of it all. "Watcha making," he exhaled, cracking a smile, cinnamon rolls. What is all of this?" 

"I went to Aph's and got all your things back."

He smiled, "You didn't have to do that."

"I wanted to. And you have no idea how far away she lives. For real, she must've got a hotel or something when she came to town, no way in hell I'd want to do that ever again." 

He grabbed the first thing he saw, the long neck of his old guitar, rigid in his hands and cold to the touch. He plucked one of the strings, "Y-yeah... that's out of tune."

"Then tune it."

He smirked at him, "Maybe in a bit, what else is in here?"

"Hmm," he peaked into the box, "Old yearbook, photo album, old laptop, and a jacket, the rest just looks like random clothes, he picked up a large bag at the end of a hanger, "Suit of some kind?" he raised an eyebrow.

"That would be the tuxedo I wore to prom."

"Ah, fancy." 

"Go eat a cinnamon roll and I'll tune this thing for ya."

"You had me at 'eat," he smiled as he walked toward the kitchen. 

Aaron grabbed the guitar, sitting down on the couch, "You really didn't have to do this, you know?"

"I figured that since we're on somewhat talking terms with Aphmau, she wouldn't be too upset if I asked for everything you left behind," he spoke with his mouth full.

He played a note, tightening the string slightly, and played it again and again until all of the strings sounded correct to his ear. He started by playing simple songs like Hot cross bun, Mary had a little lamb, what's up, and seven nation army, but amped up the difficulty slightly with a song Ein hadn't heard before. 

"What song's that?" he walked over to Aaron holding another cinnamon roll.

"Eternity... I used to play it for Aph... but well, you know. That went well for me."

He tore off a piece of the cinnamon roll, holding it in front of Aaron's lips, "Thankfully, I'm not her." he kissed him as soon as he'd swallowed the chunk of roll, "Go ahead, play something else."

Chuckling, he started playing another song.

Fin

So yeah, that's it, nearly a year's worth of writing all wrapped up. I feel so very weird. I'm just glad so many of you guys enjoyed this. I'm very fortunate some of you have stayed with me through the various revisions I made to this. And I dedicate this fanfiction to all the fans of the series that helped me continue writing through my troubles. So thank you very much for all that y'all have helped me with. I post various other Ein related stories on here as well, feel free to start reading them if you want.

Have a song that I feel fits this story somewhat well, a while ago I was kinda having a fixation on it, which I don't know if y'all get, But I know I sure as hell do. So yeah, I doubt a lot of ya'll will even like it, but I do, so fuck you if you don't, and have a nice day.