C.3 – Loose Ends
The embrace didn't last very long, according to Flask's expense. He pulled back and entered the bedroom, turning on the ceiling fan and setting it to full. Before closing the door, he left behind a quiet "good night", and was then followed by the soft bar from the door that was automatically pushed into the open space in the doorway.
The colt that was still sitting upright on the arm of the couch was surrounded by darkness of the living room. Seeing as the only bedroom in the apartment complex was taken, he simply lied back onto the leather material and starred up at the ceiling. Symphony also noticed that the blanket he was using didn't cover up much of his body, and Flask had forgotten to turn on the furnace.
The passing minutes felt like hours, and Symphony couldn't sleep in the chilly living space. He snuggled up into the couch cushion as much as possible to regain the body heat from the cold air around him. Flask had already gone to bed an hour ago, followed by Delta half an hour later. The kitchen window was still open, and the freezing air from outside was blowing through at high speed, yet the colt was too cold to get up and close it, and it would also be a bad idea to wake up Flask in the middle of the night just to get him to do it.
With that, he grabbed the blanket off from the couch with his mouth and made his way to the small bedroom. As he progressed through the doorway, his wings hung down freely; he was too tired to fold them back to his sides.
The bedroom lurked with the small gusts of silence from the ceiling fan above as time went on. Delta was covered in his bed sheets; his chest rising and falling gently. Apart from what went on through the left side of the room, Flask was laying on top of his sheets, letting out soft snores in the process.
Symphony carefully got up onto the bed and lied down onto the empty space that wasn't taken up by Flask's body. His sheer presence caused the sleeping colt to slowly open his left eye to see his companion snoozing away against the wall just below an old, torn up poster.
The realm of reality returned to Symphony once he noticed that he was being pulled close to the living presence behind him. The immediate contact of Flask's warm skin brought goose bumps to the colt as a sudden chill washed over his spine. Symphony could even notice the colt shifting to his side; nuzzling his neck gently, and wrapping an arm around his chest, practically spooning him under his grasp, and then put him to the other side of the bed. The final moments of the world faded into a brisk darkness as sleep overwhelmed them.
The large ocean of thoughts always kept Flask busy when asleep; properly planning things for the next day and the day after that. Even though Symphony had disrupted his train of thought, the tidal waves of the massive body of thoughts continued to flow normally. It wasn't long until a loud "BOOM" caused the ocean to burst, forming a whirlpool in the center, sucking everything back into his subconscious. A quick, but soft gasp escaped his throat from the sound that had penetrated his peace of mind. The clattering of rain was emitting from the kitchen, forming a puddle of cold despair on the tiles and the counter.
Flask sat up onto the bed, accidently pushing Symphony off the edge of the bed and landing on the floor with a loud "thump". His eyes were still closed tightly after the sudden interruption, and he opened them just enough to see the Pegasus still sleeping even after falling off the bed. He carefully walked to the door and opened it to see a small puddle growing to the bump that separated the carpet from the tiles.
All it took was a bit of effort to close it; a hint of magic from his horn unlocked the window and it fell back down slowly, closing off the rain that left the kitchen drenched. Instead of cleaning up the mess, Flask just turned back into the bedroom and collapsed onto the single mattress, and pulled Symphony back up onto it under his grasp once more.
He didn't know how long he was out from what happened the day after, but it eventually lasted most of the night. Cool Star shifted a bit to face the wall before him, and then turned back to the open space of the hideout. A T.V was installed into the wall to the left corner of his eyesight, which had a coffee table and a circular couch in front of it.
Two sets of single beds stood in the corner opposite of the corner where the T.V was; one of the mattresses sitting above the other by the wooden supports. A set of sleeping bags that are placed on separate shelves (in which are installed into the wall) were placed in front of the set of beds. A refrigerator sat near the T.V, just to the left of the two game consoles that they had been able to get their hooves on.
The rest of the hideout was followed by two bathrooms; one having a shower and the other containing the rest of the plumbing available for use; a guest room was also available to those who would be using the sleeping bags, since there wouldn't be any room to settle down and sleep, due to the fact that the floor of the main room is either covered in trash or small tables that was claimed by different pages of pictures and other forms of art. A small stereo system was placed near the bed set, which had an iPod put into it; a Soft Rock song playing at a low volume.
Cool Star dragged himself off the mattress and toward the circular couch where one of his friends had already dominated it. A sudden "clank" of an empty can hitting the floor caught his attention and turned his head to where the beds were; another one of his friends had taken the top bunk, and an empty energy drink can had been let go from his grasp of the only hoof that was hanging downward toward the floor. He glanced around the hideout a few times before turning back to the couch, there was someone missing among the small gang.
Now, where the hell has Vapor gone off to early this hour…?
A sudden knock on the front door knocked Star out of his daze, and he proceeded to it quietly. Right there was Vapor; wearing his jacket with the hood over his head; a foul expression had planted itself onto his face. As he made his way in, he pushed Cool Star out of his way while he removed his hood.
"Hey, I've been beginning to wonder if you down for the count back there."
Vapor could only snort as he grabbed some of his belongings out of the only closet of the living space. The rain that was falling toward the earth had soaked his coat and his jacket while he made his way back. He grabbed a messenger bag off the top shelf with his mouth, and gently fell back down from the force of his wings.
Just as he walked past Cool Star, he quickly spat out, "And where do you think you're going?"
"Somewhere that isn't near this hellhole."
"Hm. What makes you think that?"
"Well, it would've been nice to know that whoever it was we were wearing out yesterday was one of my cousin's friends-"
"So wait; YOU are Flask's cousin? Oh wow…"
"What?"
"So this whole time, I've been hanging out with a faggot?"
"You got a problem with that?" he spoke in a low, booming voice as he started to walk toward Cool Star.
Star hesitated for a bit before sending out another one of his comebacks. He knew that Vapor was one of his strongest and the biggest apart from his other two comrades. If anyone messed with him to a point where it would push against his tolerance limit, then it would obviously get ugly and take off from there. It wasn't great being the second weakest of the group, but being torn apart by the Pegasus before him would be the second thing he would want before he could be sent into the depths of no return.
"Just…just get out."
"What's the matter? Can't come up with any material to use anymore?"
"TURN YOUR ASS AROUND AND GET OUT."
The colt starred into Cool Star's Blue eyes for a bit before spitting in between his fore-hooves, and closed the front door behind him. A quick remark made its way into his ears before he departed for the gray sky above: "Don't even think about coming back here, either!"
If there was one place left that he could go now; is the apartment that holds the two brothers and the one guest still recovering from yesterday's beating. He spread out his wings and gave a quick sprint before lifting off the ground with his messenger bag around his chest. The rain was pelting him in the face; it was already too late to pull out his weather spectacles now. It wasn't long until the row of apartments finally came into view of the dense downpour and the fog.
Flask slouched down on the couch a bit more as the television program had finished its term. It was at this hour that he would usually wake up early for the different showings off shows that dated back to ten years ago, or tuning the T.V to the weather station so that he wouldn't have to be bugged by Delta about what the sky would bring throughout the day.
He was about to fall asleep again until two soft knocks on the door caught his attention before dozing off. After looking through the peephole on the door, Flask unlocked the door and opened it so that Vapor could walk through with ease.
"…Hnng…Didn't I tell you to not show up around here?"
"I've left the group."
"Hmph. Set your stuff near the door and go fix yourself something. There should be some snacks on the bottom shelf in the pantry…"
Vapor could only nod as his messenger back slid off his neck and down onto the carpet. There wasn't much left in the pantry; only two bags of potato chips and four packages of Oreo's remained on the bottom shelf. After selecting a beverage from the shelf, he slowly started to rise off the ground and flew toward the couch before cutting off the air flow of his wings and falling straight to the couch cushions. Flask turned toward him, looking at the crushed cushions and back to the tired expression on the Pegasus.
"Easy on this ol' thing; you may never know if the supports holding the couch up will break from a fall like that again." He chimed quietly.
A brief moment of silence, apart from the noise coming from the television set, had settled onto the living room as the rain was softly hitting the kitchen window.
"So, what made you leave the group?"
"Well, when some of the guys and I started to take on the colt from yesterday, I never really did know that he was your friend in the first place. How is he now?"
"Snoozing away on my bed back in the bedroom behind us, but don't worry, he only made it back with a few bruises here and there and a cut along his cheek."
"So what you're saying is; he lives here with you and your brother now?"
"Bingo."
"Huh. Should be fun feeding an extra pony around here."
Flask shot him a stern look, and spoke sharply, "Uh- no. I'm not housing another pony just because they were kicked out of their own turf. You can either live in the apartment that hasn't been bought yet or stay in a hotel for a week until you can fly out of Manehattan."
"You see, that's the problem. Most of the hotels around here are either non-vacant or their just crummy and dirty."
"Now look around you. This apartment is crummy and dirty, and I don't see you complaining about this place."
"Hmph. What about the apartment?"
"Brand new; refurbished; shouldn't cost that much to buy and settle into."
Vapor took the last potato chip out of the bag and quickly stuffed it into his mouth before throwing the bag away and putting his messenger bag on.
"Where are you headed, now?"
"Going to go see how much that apartment costs; I should have enough funds to start living in it."
"I wasn't being serious about the apartment thing you know-"
Flask was cut off when the door was closed behind his cousin, whom was already on his way to the front desk. He started to gently massage his temples with the flat surface of his hooves; this isn't what he had expected at all. Sure it was nice for Vapor to visit the small home once in a while, but now the visits will seem constant.
The door behind him opened gradually before coming to a stop. Symphony walked around the boundary of the couch, got up on the cushion, and slouched down all the way to his back.
"…Who was that you were talking to…just now…?"
"None of your business."
"I was mentioned in the little conversation, so yes it is my business."
The Teal colt moved his hooves down to rub his eyes before getting ready to give out the long explanation.
Symphony could only stare into Flask's eyes before the first thought entered his mind instantly. "…I still don't get it."
A sudden pulse of frustration echoed all over Flask's body; he wanted to strangle that Pegasus to no tomorrow just to get some sense into him. He could only put a hoof to his face and shake his head. While getting off the couch, he used his magic to flip the switch on the television set to the "Off" position and walked into the realm of the kitchen, fishing out a bowl from one of the top cabinets. After getting out one of the cereal boxes, he went over to the kitchen window and opened it; receiving a quick gust of cold wind that went in multiple directions after it came in contact with his face.
Flask?
The sudden voice had suddenly startled him. He looked around the apartment and only saw Symphony silently snoozing away on the couch on his back.
Flask!
He turned around to the kitchen sink again, and then toward the mirror. Instead of showing a reflection, he only saw Vapor from where he was a few minutes ago before he left, eating those extra potato chips he was planning on saving for later.
FLASK!
"FLASK!"
Vapor was already starting to yell to where he could hardly speak now. Flask blinked a few times to redirect his mind back to reality and focused on the presence before him.
"Like I have been trying to say for who knows how long, what about the apartment?"
Apartment? Oh that-
"Oh, sorry. Now, the apartment thing is just a bit of a thing I accidently came up with. Besides, someone already bought it a few weeks back."
"So does it mean I have to live on the streets from now on?"
Flask sighed and thought for a moment, and spoke up again. "Why not just fly back to Gallopston and live with your friend or something?"
"Oh hell no. I'm not going back to that place; after I saw the lake of dirty water you call an 'ocean'."
"…And how long has it been since you last visited the town?"
"From the top of my head: five years ago. Why?"
"Just trying to point out the fact that the body of water you saw back then could actually be clean now."
The Pegasus tapped a hoof on his head for a moment just before he got up on all fours and picked up his messenger bag.
"Leaving so soon, cous'?"
"Well, I thought about what you said about the water being clean today, and I thought that maybe I could use whatever amount of funds I have left to head back."
With that, he opened the door and disappeared behind the wooden frame and turned down the hall toward the elevators. He suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned back to the apartment, and poked his head back into the living room and chimed, "…Mind giving me a lift to the airport?"
Flask stared at him. No movements were made as he sat there on the couch like he had been ever since he was talking to Vapor; just the awkward silence that his Hazel eyes continued to bring as Vapor smiled foolishly like a foal.
"If you want to go there now, then it would be a good idea to start walking."
A look of satisfaction had sprouted onto Vapor's face, and he pulled his head back from the open crease and flew to the elevators as fast as he could.
Quick Notes
After many ideas put down on paper and tossed away into the trash can near my desk (plus the amount of headaches I got from getting writer's block), I finally managed to get this out to the public. If the same thing happens when I try to get Chapter 4 in, then just try to at least be as patient as you can. It saves me the stress and the lack of effort I have been putting into this.
Feedback always welcome.
Review, please!