A/N: A new story I started while sitting around in my mom's apartment in Portland, Oregon. My laptop (still in Ohio), is broken, and unable to be repaired. While I'm here in Portland I'm going to buy a new laptop to take back to Ohio with me. From there, I'm going to get the data from the hard drive transferred over to the new computer from the old one. Until further notice, I'm going to be working on a batch of new stories, starting with this one.

Without further ado, here's the first chapter of "The Complex".

Xxxx

Stepping off the large cargo ship with a sigh, Novak Novkovic slung his black backpack over his shoulder and took in a deep breath of the crisp coastal air. It was late June, and he was in a brand new place. The United States of America.

With dirty jeans, worn out work boots, an old-looking yellow t-shirt, a black jacket, and a black flat cap, he looked pretty close to homeless. Add an unshaven face and messy blonde hair to his choice of clothing, and anyone passing by would automatically assume he hadn't had access to anything hygienic for a long while.

And Novak supposed that was true; he had lived on a cargo ship for the past four months. His father, Nebojsa , was the captain of the ship, and had allowed him to live on the ship while he went around the world shipping different goods and resources.

Nebojsa approached his twenty-three year old son and smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"This is Oregon. I'm going to leave you here to find a life of your own. You can do it, Novak. You have everything, right? Birth certificate, ID, all your money…?"

"Yes, I have everything I need… I just have to find a place to stay." Novak replied.

"Don't worry about it, Novak. I have a young man coming to pick you up." Nebojsa motioned to a cherry red Buick Riviera pulling up. "Speak of the devil, here he is."

The Buick pulled up and a black-haired man with a buzz-cut and a clean shaven face got out of the driver's seat. He pulled a pair of aviator sunglasses off of his face, piercing blue eyes looking back and forth between the two men on the other side of the car.

"Hey Nebojsa; been a while. This your son?" The man's accent signaled that he was from the same region as Novak, though he wasn't Serbian like the two seafarers.

"Yeah, this is Novak." Nebojsa patted his son's back, then motioned to the man who had been driving the Buick. "Novak, meet Nikodemos Antonov. He's Macedonian, and your new landlord. He's covered the first month of you staying in a nice apartment. Once the month's over, paying for rent is on you."

"Sounds fine by me." Novak responded. Nebojsa grinned.

"Well, my son, I guess this is it. Enjoy your new life in the United States of America. Don't worry; if you need anything, just ask Niko here."

Novak nodded and tightly hugged his father. "Thanks, dad. I'll be seeing you."

"You're very welcome, Novak. Be on your way now." As Nebojsa turned and walked back up the ramp onto his cargo ship, Novak turned to Nikodemos.

"Macedonian, huh?" He said as he got into the other man's car. The vehicle was pristine, as if the man cleaned it every day. Nikodemos sat in the driver's seat and nodded.

"Straight out of Struga. You're from Belgrade, right?" He asked, starting to drive towards the city, away from the coast.

"Yeah. So how do you know my father?" Novak asked, looking to the Macedonian.

"My dad works on the docks in New York. Nebojsa spent a few nights in New York a couple years ago and he met my dad. They went out for a few drinks, somewhere along the lines my dad told yours that I work as a landlord out here in Portland… It's a loose connection that your dad somehow remembered. I figured I'd help out; I've got more than a few rooms that need filling." Nikodemos explained.

"You being a landlord explains the nice car." Novak commented.

"Yep. 1963 Buick Riviera. Custom paint, brand new engine, top-of-the-line tires… Let's just say I like American cars. At least the old ones, that is."

"So what's the apartment complex like?"

"It's at the base of a small mountain. Seven different two-story buildings. Three pools, two hot tubs, two fitness centers… Where you'll be staying is the standard one bedroom, one bathroom apartment. There's a kitchen, a small dining room, a bedroom, a bathroom, and a living room. Plenty of closet space, though it seems you won't need it. It's pre-furnished, and I've taken the courtesy of putting in some new electronics for you. TV, DVD player… Oh, and here." The Macedonian man reached into a plastic bag on the floor and pulled out a small cell phone.

"Prepaid cell phone. Figured you wouldn't have one. My number is already in there in case you need to call."

"Thank you very much… You didn't need to do all this for me." Novak said, flipping open the phone, looking it over with moderate curiosity, and then shoving it in his jeans pocket.

"Consider it a favor from one Balkan to another. Believe me, I may seem like a jackass, but I care about people. Some more than others."

Novak chuckled. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I like people who aren't from around here. At the apartment complex, which is called Brickyard Apartments, by the way, consists of mostly people who were born outside of the United States. You could make up the former Yugoslav nations with the nationalities around. Hell, you could make up the entirety of Europe. There are two German brothers, three Italians, a Russian, his Ukrainian and Belorussian siblings… An Armenian, some Nordics, a Spaniard, a Frenchman… I warn you though; there are some shady characters around. But, other than them, everyone's pretty nice. I hope you don't mind a lot of diversity."

"Wow… So there are others who were born in the SFRY?"

"Yeah. There's Branko, a Montenegrin… Really, really nice guy. Muscular. Usually hangs out at one of the pools or fitness centers…. Then there's Pavla, a Slovene woman. Don't mess with her. She's nice and all, but she's not afraid to backhand any man around. There's also Andelko, everyone's favorite bearded Croat. He's a good guy. Let's see here… There's also Zlatko. He's another one of the shady characters. Maybe that's because he's Bosnian, maybe it's just because he never talks. I don't know… Oh, and then there's Tiku. He's from Kosovo. He seems nice enough, but he doesn't hang around the complex much. And then there's me, a Macedonian, and now we have you, our Serb."

"So you take the time to actually memorize your tenant's names, huh?"

"Only the ones I like and communicate with."

"I see…"

As the Macedonian made a turn into a fenced in lot, he smiled. "Welcome to the complex."

The man parked the car in a parking space outside of an office, and got out. Novak got out as well, looking around in the sunset light. The buildings of the complex had off-white walls with small yards around each building. Flowers and shrubbery decorated the landscape. There was a small pool outside of the office, with only two lounge chairs and a table with one chair sitting on the stone ground around the pool.

"I'll show you around the complex, then take you to where you'll be staying. That alright?" Nikodemos questioned, looking to the Serbian man. Novak nodded, and Nikodemos began walking. The Macedonian led Novak down a sidewalk, commenting on the different buildings they passed. They stopped at one of the pools and Nikodemos introduced him to a few of the tenants.

A man with short black hair and a trimmed beard hopped out of the pool and stood with a smile on his face. He had an abundance of hair on his torso and a tattoo of two names on the left side of his ribcage. Water dripped down his slightly muscular body and off of his red and white checkered swim shorts.

"New resident, huh?" The man said. "I'm Andelko Begovich. ER Trauma Nurse." He offered his hand to Novak, which the Serbian shook with a smile.

"Novak Novkovic. Just got to the states today." Novak replied. He put his hands in his pockets, looking around. A slightly tan-skinned man lay asleep on a lounge chair, a health magazine lying on his chest. He had brown hair that looked like it had lighter colored highlights, and was very muscular. Novak took a shot in the dark and guessed that the man sleeping was the Branko that Nikodemos had mentioned earlier.

"If you need anything, feel free to ask. I work days, so I'm gone typically early in the morning until sometime in the afternoon on days I work. Depends on whether the hospital is busy, but on most days I'm back around six in the afternoon. I'm almost always out here swimming when it's nice out." Andelko explained.

"Alright. Thanks." Novak responded.

"No problem. You probably had a stressful trip to the states, huh? Me and a couple other tenants are going to hang out at the hot tub later tonight around ten." Andelko motioned to an in-ground hot tub a few feet away from the pool under a gazebo. "Would you care to join us?"

"Sure. I don't exactly have any swimwear though."

"You can borrow a pair of my swim shorts."

"You think they'll fit?"

"Sure. You don't seem too much bigger than me."

"I have a bit of a gut I need to work off. Living on a cargo ship for four months can take its toll on your body."

"Don't worry about it. You'll get fit quick living here. Trust me; I used to be a bit of a bigger guy myself. Once I moved here for work, I was whipped into shape. Running around the ER, hiking, and swimming… It's a great way to get fit." Andelko chuckled, smiling.

"Alright. Well, I'm going to have Nikodemos take me to my apartment, so I'll see you later tonight… Andelko, right?"

"Yep." Andelko nodded. "See you tonight, Novak."

After Nikodemos showed Novak the rest of the complex, he handed the Serb a key and showed him to his new apartment. The silver number on the front of the door was the number seventeen.

"I'll see you later, Novak. Remember; give me a call if you need anything." With that, Nikodemos left. Novak walked into his apartment, looking around. To his left was a tan couch with a coffee table in front of it. A tan recliner was against the far wall, and a TV was on a stand against a small wall to his right. There was an entryway to a small kitchen. Next to the door he had come in, there was a hall with a few closets and an open door to a bedroom. He walked into the bedroom and set his backpack on the bed, sighing slightly. There was a large dresser with a mirror in between two windows.

Novak took off his hat and set it on the dresser, looking himself in the mirror. He looked so gruff and unclean; he figured taking a shower would make him feel a bit better about himself.

He walked to the bathroom and got undressed, tossing his dirty clothes on the floor. He took a shower, scrubbing his body clean with soap and washing his matted hair with the mall bottle of shampoo that Nikodemos had most likely left for him.

When he got out of the shower, he wrapped a towel around his waist and proceeded to get dressed. As he pulled on his jeans, a knock came upon the door of his apartment. He wrapped the towel he had been using around his neck and walked out of the bathroom, going to the entrance to the apartment and opening the door.

Standing outside was Andelko, carrying a plastic bag.

"Hey Andelko. What's up?" Novak asked, smiling at the man.

"I brought that pair of swim shorts for you. Just asked Niko which apartment you lived in." Andelko held out the plastic bag to the Serbian, who accepted the bag.

"Come on in, if you'd like." Novak said, turning and walking into the apartment. Andelko stepped in, shutting the door behind him.

"I'm assuming you just took a shower?" He asked, looking over the Serb, whose hair was still damp.

"Yeah. So you're from Croatia, right? How long has it been since you lived there?" Novak questioned.

"Twenty years… I'm twenty-nine right now. You can imagine the period of time I left Croatia in."

"You probably left during the start of the Croatian War, if I'm doing my math correctly. Right?"

"Yeah. You said you'd been living on a cargo ship for the past four months when we were talking at the pool, correct?"

Novak nodded. "I decided that I'd had enough of living in Serbia and got on my dad's ship when he stopped into one of the ports in Montenegro. I left pretty much everything I owned with my mother back in Belgrade, but it's not like I had much in the first place. I didn't have a cell phone, computer, or anything that I could really take with me."

"Are your parents married still?"

"Shockingly, yeah. Yours?"

"Well… My father died in Vukovar in 1991. My mom's a widow."

"Oh… I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's alright. The past it the past; that's pretty much the motto in the complex. You'll notice that no one here really clings to events that happened in the past. All the wars in the nineties; they stay in the nineties. A lot of us from the Balkan region grew up for at least a few years in Yugoslavia, and almost every one of us left before all the wars went into full swing."

"Who stayed in their countries during the wars?"

"There's a Bosnian named Zlatko who lives here in the complex. He was born in '86 and stayed in Bosnia until '03. He has some pretty… gruesome stories. I could only listen to a few before I had to ask him to stop."

"That brutal, huh? I can't imagine what he went through. I stayed safe in Belgrade during the nineties. Lived there all my life up until I got on my dad's cargo ship. Now I'm here in Portland, Oregon, with absolutely no knowledge of where anything is."

"I'll help you out. Help you get your bearings on the area. It's really not too bad out here. Very green. Very healthy."

"Thanks. Well, I'll go put on these swim shorts, and I'll be right out." Novak said, smiling at the Croatian, who nodded. The Serb went back into his bedroom, shutting the door behind him. He took off his jeans and underwear, taking the pair of swim shorts out of the plastic bag that Andelko had given him.

The pair of swim shorts was black with a red star on one side. Novak pulled them on and sighed slightly, walking back out of the bedroom. Andelko looked to him.

"They fit alright?" He asked.

"Yeah. Perfectly." Novak replied with a smile.

"Come on then; I'm sure the rest of the guys will be thrilled to meet you. Oh, and as it turns out, my ex-wife and another woman, Pavla, are joining us." Andelko said, opening the door and walking out, followed by Novak.

"Ex-wife? You were married?" Novak questioned.

"Only for a year. Elizibeta and I were married five years ago. It was doomed from the start. Neither of us really loved each other, and the marriage fell through. We're still great friends though. She's Hungarian, by the way." Andelko explained.

"Wow. That's rare to hear that two people who got divorced actually get along."

"I know, right?"

As they two got to the hot tub, Andelko greeted one other man who was sitting in the water already. The man had messy brown hair and dull green eyes that were surrounded by dark circles. He was decently muscular, but had a few visible scars on his pale skin that shocked Novak.

"Novak, meet Zlatko Pilav. The Bosnian I was telling you about earlier." Andelko introduced. As Novak stepped into the hot tub, he offered his hand to shake. Zlatko shook the Serb's hand with a small smile and a quiet greeting that was nearly drowned out by the sound of the jets under the water.

Novak sat down in one of the corners of the square hot tub and leaned back. Andelko sat in the opposite corner, next to Zlatko.

"So I think we've completed our little group of former Yugoslavs, Zlatko. We have our Serb now." Andelko stated, looking to the Bosnian beside him.

"Really? How funny that people from all over Europe keep flocking to this complex." Zlatko replied.

"Well, they do say birds of a feather flock together."

"But Europeans are very diverse. Even in the Balkan region itself; the countries may be small, but each one is so different in many ways."

"I agree."

"Hey, hey, look who showed up!" A woman wearing a green bikini exclaimed. "Zlatko; it's been forever since I last saw you." The cheerful brunette sat on the edge of the hot tub on the side of Zlatko that was vacant and leaned down, hugging the man. She had similar green eyes to Zlatko, and had nearly the same color hair.

"Hey, Pavla."

So the cheerful woman was the Slovenian Pavla that Novak had heard about.

"Just so you know, Novak, these two are cousins." Andelko informed, glancing to Novak. Pavla turned her vision to the blonde Serb relaxing at the other side of the hot tub.

"Oh, who're you, stranger?" She asked, smiling.

"I'm Novak Novkovic. Just moved here from Serbia." Novak answered, smiling at the Slovene woman.

"I'm Pavla Prockofijev. I'm from Slovenia. It's nice to meet you. I have to say though; you don't look one bit like an ethnic Serb. I mean, blonde hair? Is that natural?" Pavla asked, laughing slightly. Novak chuckled.

"I've been told that before. As far as I know, I'm Serbian. Born and raised in Belgrade. Both my parents are Serbian, and my grandparents are Serbian except for one."

"Where are they from?"

"Moldova. Must be where I get my blonde hair from."

"So one of your grandparents being Moldovan makes you… A fourth Moldovan, right? Yeah, I think so... I'm a Biology teacher, and genetics are my favorite part about it. Sorry if I ask any odd questions." Pavla apologized, smiling.

"Let's see here, we have a teacher, an ER nurse, and… Zlatko, where do you work?" Novak asked the quiet Bosnian.

"… I'm a bartender at a restaurant just down the road." Zlatko replied, smiling embarrassedly.

"Bartender? You seem too quiet for such a social job."

"He's more talkative when he's comfortable with his surroundings. He's been working at that restaurant for a few years now." Pavla informed. "He's actually a pretty social guy, believe it or not."

"So where's Liz?" Andelko asked Pavla.

"She's on her way. She had to do a last minute errand so that Roderich had something to eat when he got home."

"Have you heard from Branko or Tiku?"

"Branko decided to go for a jog, so he may be a bit late. Tiku said he had a lot of work to do, but he'd do it later in favor of coming here."

"Alright. Man, I haven't seen Tiku in a long time. He's so focused on college. He's going to have a great career ahead of him once he graduates."

"No kidding."

Time passed quickly, with conversations spurring up out of anything that the four people in the hot tub came up with. When three more people joined, Novak paid more attention, wanting to learn about them.

"Make some room, boys." A woman with slightly curled brown hair said with a playful smile. She had bright green eyes much like Novak's own, and was wearing a red and green bikini. She hopped in and sat down, followed by two men.

One was the muscular man Novak had seen earlier that he assumed was Branko. The other man looked to be the youngest out of everyone in the gathering. He had light brown hair and tired-looking green eyes. His skin was slightly tanned and practically flawless, minus a cast covering his left hand and wrist.

"Looks like we have a new face here. What's your name, blondie?" The woman who had come with the two men asked.

"I'm Novak Novkovic." Novak replied, smiling. "Just got to the states today. I'm from Serbia."

"Novak, eh? I'm Elizibeta Hedervary, but just call me Liz. I'm from Hungary."

"It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise. Hey, boneheads, introduce yourselves to this newcomer." Elizibeta smacked both the heads of the two men she had come in with. The muscular man was the first to speak.

"I'm Branko Njegos from Montenegro. Nice to meet you." He said, grinning. He then pointed to the man he had come in with. "Your turn."

"I'm Tiku Harxhi." The young brunet said, looking to Novak. "I'm from, uh… Kosovo… Hope you're not the kind of Serb to… yeah…" Tiku trailed off.

"Oh, don't worry about it, Tiku. I'm not against Kosovo's independence." Novak chuckled.

"Oh thank God…" Tiku breathed a sigh of relief. "I left Kosovo to escape people who fought against Kosovo's independence. So far, everyone I know here has little to no negative opinion of it. I'm glad to finally meet a Serb who's for Kosovar independence."

"I like to think I'm different than a lot of Serbians. I'm naturally blonde, for one. Not common in Serbia much. I don't give a shit about what happened in the nineties much…. I don't hold grudges unless I have a good reason to hold one."

"The blonde hair strikes me as something that you take pride in." Andelko stated, chuckling.

"That… is way too true." Novak replied, laughing heartily.

The group relaxed in the hot tub for what must have been a half hour. Slowly, one by one, they dissipated. Tiku had left to go work on an essay for a college class he was taking, Branko had gone off to rest for the night, Zlatko had to hit the hay due to the fact he had to work the next day, and Pavla and Liz had decided to go on a late-night walk around town. That just left Andelko and Novak at the pool, late at night with the moon high in the cloudless sky.

Andelko breathed in a lungful of warm air, then let it out slowly. He leaned his head back against the ground for a moment, eyes closed, before opening them and smiling.

"It's a great night… It's rare here in Oregon to have such great weather… Usually rains a lot, and if it's not raining, it's just cloudy and depressing… Maybe this weather will last. Hopefully it's like this for the rest of the summer." He said.

"Yeah… But hey, rain on land is better than rain on a cargo ship. One time a few of our cargo containers came loose in a storm by Alaska… I had to go out into the freezing rain and wind with a bunch of my crew and try to manually save the cargo... We managed to strap it down until the storm died down, but damn did it suck… I was soaked to the bone, and I must have had a temperature of eighty-five by the time I went back inside."

"Wow… So how was it, living on a cargo ship? You've probably been to a lot of places, huh?"

"Living on the ship was alright depending on the weather… In the four months I was on the ship, I hit the majority of the major shipping state on each side of the United States… Seen a bit of Norway… Denmark… France… A lot of places. I've only really been on the docks. Never been much of anywhere else in the countries."

"Before you went on the ship were you studying to do anything or what? You seem like a decently intelligent guy."

"I actually wanted to go into the Serbian Army because my dad is a veteran, but I decided against it in favor of trying to study to become a mechanic… I dropped out of college because I couldn't afford it, and I just… I got tired of Serbia. That's when I got on my dad's boat when he docked in Montenegro… I used what I had learned to become a mechanic to do my best to upkeep the engines on the ship and whatnot… But automobiles and giant ship engines are two completely different things. I pretty much just served as manpower. I didn't get paid for anything I did until my dad decided to shove me off here to America. He gave me five thousand dollars… told me to use it wisely. I think tomorrow I'm going to go out shopping for a new wardrobe, since I really only have one set of clothes. Know any good places to get clothes around here?"

"Yeah. Actually, how about I take you to the Clackamas Town Center? It's pretty much the mall here. Plenty of clothing stores and whatnot. I don't work tomorrow."

"Could you possibly show me around town as well? I really don't know the area and it'd help if I could have someone who has lived here a while show me around."

"Yeah, of course. Sounds like a plan. Anything to help out a guy like you." Andelko said with a smile.

His chocolate brown eyes peered at Novak with an emotion in them that Novak himself couldn't quite catch. Andelko almost seemed to be flirtatious with the way he was looking at Novak, but perhaps that was just the Serb jumping to conclusions. Surely Andelko wasn't gay; the man had an ex-wife! What was Novak thinking, even jumping to the conclusion that a man like Andelko was flirting with him.

"You alright, Novak? Your face is red… Maybe you've been in the hot tub a bit too long." Andelko's voice snapped Novak out of his wandering thoughts.

"Y-Yeah, I probably have been in here a bit long. I think I'm going to get out…" Novak stood from his seat and hurried to get out of the hot tub and walk off, away from the man who was filling his mind with assuming thoughts.

In his rush, he forgot the fact that the concrete was slippery from the water dripping from his body. Before he knew it, his feet slipped out from under him and he fell backwards, smacking his head hard on the cold ground.

For Novak, all went black.