Gemotions

"Did you take out the garbage?" Charles asked the moment he walked through the door. His voice was sharper than he intended. The walk home had been brutal, a relentless assault of noise and smells. He wasn't in the mood to deal with anything.

His partner, Robert, didn't look up from his phone. "Almost," Robert said, dismissively. Charles' gaze drifted to the table. "The City Mouse and the Country Mouse." He recognized the cover illustration of a woman in a floral dress, her hands on her hips, looking over a lush garden.

His temper flared. He felt a familiar heat rising in his chest. He took a few deep breaths, but the tension remained. He did *not* want to know what Robert had written about him. He just wanted to be left alone.