A/N: So this is my first published thing here. It's 3:15 AM and I just finished writing, so I might have to look up all the mistakes later. Enjoy?
Any time anyone asks me whether they should stay late in the office, I always tell them that it is a horrible idea. For some reason, I never listen to my own advice. Not on this subject, and not in any other one either. As for work, there was always a new client or big project going on, and usually I found myself back at home at the small hours, much like today. I glanced at the clock on the wall while kicking my socks off, and crawled into my bed. 3 AM, but thankfully it was Friday, which meant that I get to sleep in.
I had just managed to close my eyes when I heard someone cursing from the apartment next to mine. I might as well take a moment to mention that although I loved my home, the walls were quite thin, and especially during the quiet hours of the night a normal speaking voice sometimes carried over to the neighbouring apartments. Knowing this, I didn't really pay any attention to the voice, and instead just yawned and closed my eyes again. And then the person cursed again. And again. I opened my eyes in frustration and turned to lie on my side. Can you please keep it down, people are trying to sleep here.
"Oh great, what the actual hell is this supposed to do? Easy assemble?! Easy assemble my ass." Clearly, the person next door did not realise that he could be heard, or he was just an asshole. I groaned as he continued to curse about whatever it was, and tried to remember who lived across the wall. Wasn't it the young girl with the big dog? No, she had moved out two weeks ago. So this must be the new tenant. I hadn't seen anyone move in, but then again I had spent most of my time at the office this week. The cursing had stopped while I wondered about my neighbour, and I thought that whatever problems the new tenant had were solved, or maybe he had just given up. I was wrong.
"SERIOUSLY? Affordable solutions for better living? HOW is this better living? What the fuck? Do they seriously call these instructions? And the pegs are too long!" I groaned again and sat up. It seemed that whatever the person on the other side of the wall was doing would not be done any time soon, and I was unable to sleep with him raging on the other side of the wall. Without turning on any lights I found myself pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, put shoes on, grabbed my keys and walked to the door next to mine. I could hear the muttering of the person inside from here too, but it paused completely after I knocked the door. I could hear footsteps, and then the door opened. "Sounds like you're having some problem there, and I would really like to sleep, so I'm here to help you with it", I said, and stopped before I managed to make a sarcastic remark about the time.
The person who opened the door could not have been older than 25, and he had black, shoulder length hair and grey eyes. He also looked a bit flustered and a great deal annoyed. He was also very good looking. Damnit. "Uh, hi. I'm sorry about the noise, I didn't realise anyone could hear it. I'll keep it down. I didn't mean to wake you up, I'm sorry about that." He started closing the door, but it stopped it and raised my eyebrows. "I said I'm here to help you, and I do intend to help you because whatever is causing you problems that make you as angry as you are right now, well, it has to be quite important for you to stay up so late. And you already got me out of bed." And he was cute, but I wasn't going to say that to his face.
He looked like he might just tell me to go away for a moment, but then he stepped back from the door, allowing me to get in. "Sorry about the mess, I just got my things in today and haven't really had time to unpack yet", he said. "It's alright", I answered. Truth to be told, the apartment was in chaos. There were opened cardboard boxes littered everywhere I could see, and they all seemed to be at various states of unpacking. "I'm Elrond, by the way", he said, sticking his hand out for me to shake. There was something nervous in him, but I couldn't really blame him for that, having a stranger in his apartment in the middle of the night and all. "Gil-Galad", I said and shook his hand. "Now tell me, what is the problem?" It might have been the lighting, but I think he blushed a little, and beckoned me to follow him to what I expected was his bedroom. I raised my eyebrows and followed him.
"Well you see..." His voice trailed off and he just gestured to the mess next to the wall. "Actually, I don't. What is that supposed to be?" I tried to make out the function of the pile of wood and pegs and whatever else there was. "It's supposed to be a bed. From IKEA. Except that these instruction make no sense at all", he said. And then he flushed again when I laughed. "That's all? IKEA bed? Don't worry, I think this won't take too long", I said after I managed to stop laughing. He gave me the instructions, and I looked them briefly through. "Alright, let's get to it." I managed to find the biggest pieces easily, but locating the smaller ones was harder because Elrond had already managed to spread them out. We sorted the pieces in silence, and I could say that he was annoyed. "I'm sorry I laughed at you. I shouldn't have done that", I said. He looked up from the pile of whatever-those-things-are, clearly surprised. "I-uh, I mean it's okay, I get it, it is a bit funny. Not being able to assemble a bed." Poor thing blushed again, I mused, he really does look adorable when he does that. It amused me, and it also made me fonder of him than it probably should have. "We have all the pieces I have here now", he told me. "This shouldn't take long then", I said. I was confident this would take less than 10 minutes, seeing that I had had no problem with the things I had bought from IKEA. Allright, I had not assembled a bed before, but the instructions seemed pretty clear. It couldn't be that hard.
I was wrong. Again. I didn't like being wrong in general, and twice in a night while I would rather be sleeping in my own bed without a worry for a moment was enough to make me annoyed. "Dear Eru, who does these instructions? I wish I could go and force them to eat them", I muttered as I tried to fit the two pieces together. Elrond had been right, the pegs were too long, and they left a gaping hole in the frame of the bed. Speaking of Elrond, while my mood had gone south with every passing minute, his had risen, and he was grinning at me. "Easy, huh? Don't worry, it's been just an hour now", he laughed. I flung the instructions at him, catching him unaware and managing to land them on his face. "Hey, that's not very nice", he told me. "Neither are these", I told him and flung the remaining pegs at him. "Ouch! Hey, that was uncalled for!" It was, but I was annoyed enough to not mind.
Instead I got up and walked to his kitchen. "Where are your knives?", I asked him. "Knives? What do you need knives for?" His voice was closed than I had expected, and it startled me. I turned around to see that he had followed me to the kitchen. "Well you don't exactly look like someone who would have a saw here, now, do you? So I need a knife." He looked at me suspiciously, and moved to one of the boxes. "What kind of knife do you want?" "Serrated one, a bread knife maybe", I answered. He gave me a bread knife, and I walked back into the bedroom with it. "I could also use a pen", I said, and he gave me one without a word. His wariness amused me, although I could understand where it came from. I was, after all, a complete stranger who now possessed a weapon, for all he knew.
"Why are you helping me", he asked. I stopped drawing the line on the too long peg and turned to look at him. "I think I told you already? I couldn't sleep because you were cursing this bed, although I understand why you were doing that now, and I thought that you would be silent much sooner if I helped with the problem." "But you are still here even though it wasn't that simple and you would much rather be sleeping", he insisted. "I said I would help, and I will help", I said, and turned back at the bed. Taking out the peg I started sawing the extra length I had just marked off, feeling his eyes on my back. When I was done, I fitted the peg where it was supposed to go, and this time the two pieces went together smoothly. "See? Now it should be alright." After that we managed to fit the rest of the pieces without much difficulty, and finally drag his mattress on top of the ready frame. "There you go", I said, yawning.
"Thank you so much! I'm sorry I took so much of your time", Elrond said, and sat on the edge of his new bed. A mistake. There was a cracking sound, and the bed collapsed underneath him. I couldn't do anything but stare, and by the looks of him, he was just as shocked as I was. We looked at each other in complete silence for a moment, and then burst out laughing. I am not sure what I was laughing at, his face, the fact that the bed had collapsed just as we had finished it, the fact that it was not 5:30 AM and by all means I should have been fast asleep and not in my neighbor's bedroom, or because all of them. Elrond stood up and turned to look at the bed. "Are you kidding me? The whole thing broke!" That stopped my laughing, and I moved to stand next to him to inspect the damage myself. I had expected that it was one of the pegs that had given up, maybe the one I had sawed, but instead I saw that one of the side boards had broken into two pieces.
I turned to look at Elrond, who was already looking at me with some sort of mix of amusement and annoyment but before I managed to get a word out, he said: "Don't even think about joking about my weight." I sighed and shook my head. "It's like you know me already", I said jokingly, and smiled at him. "Well, it's way too late, or early, for that", I said, nodding towards the wreck of a bed, "so if you want to crash on my couch tonight, you're welcome to it. I can even promise not to murder you." He looked at the bed for a moment, and then back at me. "I might have to take you up on that offer. Can you also promise not to trap me in your apartment", he said, smiling. I looked at him solemnly and said "Now that's something I can't promise." I saw him swallow and flush again, and I had to turn to look at the bed again to be able to think. Why had I just invited him to stay the night in my living room? Sure, his bed was wrecked, but he could just as well sleep a night on the mattress. Oh whatever, what is done is done. I started walking towards the door, but could not hear him following me. "Well, are you coming or not?" "Well I'm quite low on options, so I guess I'll risk being kidnapped", he answered in a light tone that gave me the impression that he was smiling again.
Back in my apartment I hunted down a pillow and blanket for him and set them on the couch. I knew from experience that the couch was actually very comfortable to sleep in, and told him as much. He laughed at me and said "Well, it better be now that I have your word on it. Thank you, really. For your help, and for a place to sleep in." I lost a track of my thoughts for a bit when he smiled. There was something very soft in his smile, and very kind, and it didn't leave any doubts on whether he was really thankful or not. "You're welcome", I managed to answer, and then turned on my heels and stalked into my bedroom.
Well, that went well.