"We were freshmen in college and our dorm rooms were 5 doors down from each other. We met at 3 AM as he was decorating his door with duct tape and I was rollerblading in the hallway. I rolled up to him and told him I had some different colors of duct tape if he wanted to use them. We were married 6 years later."
- The Way We Met
Moving in took less time than expected – but a lot more money, which doesn't make Victor particularly happy but hey, now he's got a home. Kind of.
The neighbors aren't as bad as the ones at the old place: sure, there's the kid on the 4th floor who just loves to scream at random times during the day (and night, the little monster), the entrance always smells of fried chicken and he's had enough of Spanish dramas and "You betrayed me, Alejandro!", but it's nothing you can't get used to.
Victor climbs the stairs to his apartment mindlessly, opens the door and kicks away his shoes without a care in the world, and then storms toward the couch and mentally prepares for a good two hours nap.
Or that was the plan, at least, because the high-pitched cry of something in the living room leads him to a sudden halt.
Victor isn't someone who gets easily scared. When he was little, he stayed up until late to watch horror movies and never had nightmares afterwards (although The X-Files theme still makes him shiver because let's face it, it's creepy), he has visited a good share of haunted houses, cemeteries and abandoned asylums during the college years and is still alive; a sudden sound is nothing he can't handle.
"Nothing I can't handle," he repeats to himself while hiding behind the door holding a frying pan.
(So much for being a brave grown man.)
Five minutes later, Victor leaves the hideout and is faced with the most vicious, ferocious, disgusting creature on Earth – one that even a mind such as Lovecraft's couldn't give birth to.
«You little shit,» he crouches down, arms crossed over his knees.
The cat glances at him with his green eyes, purring.
«I'm never feeding you again.»
xox
He finds the door open and decides it's finally time to tell Raizel that, if he wants to be robbed that much, he should also place a neon sign on the door saying "please rob me, I won't call the police" and leave some leaflets around. Cat in his arms, Victor calls out for his neighbor while mesmerized by the sparkling floor and absence of weird smells in the apartment.
No, seriously, that level of tidiness shouldn't be possible. Victor is a clean-freak and yet his apartment doesn't look as spotless as Raizel's. That's not fair, he thinks, padding the floor while glancing around. He doesn't even stay at home as much as I do.
Meanwhile, Raizel hasn't answered his calls. Victor isn't really comfortable with all this "nosing around someone else's apartment" - it feels like sneaking around like a perverted creep that wants to smell your sheets and steal your socks. Victor is not a creep that wants to smell Raizel's sheets or steal his socks. He just wants to give the cat back, great his handsome neighbor, maybe get a drink and a little chat, and go back to his apartment to wish he had the guts to say "I'm very gay and also thirsting over you, do I have any chance or you're very heterosexual-slash-taken?", and mope.
He had a lot of chances to talk to Raizel, mostly because Clawdia – the tabby cat Raizel adopted after his life-threatening adventure – sneaks a lot into his apartment to get some more cuddles and ear-rubs and food. Raizel invited him over several times on his days off to watch some bad movies or just have a cup of coffee together, and Victor calls him up on Saturday to watch together RuPaul's Drag Race.
(Look how many lost chances. No one gets so many chances and wastes all of them.)
«Raizel?» he tries again, louder, and the cat mewls in his arms as to call her true owner. Finally, an undistinguished noise comes in response to his call: the bedroom. Raizel answered from the bedroom with a "here!".
«Clawdia sneaked in my apartment again, she almost caused me a heart-atta—»
Clawdia falls unceremoniously on the ground with a thud followed by a combination of "meows" and scratches. She hisses, angry and offended, and then storms into the living room.
«Sorrysorrysorrysorry-» Victor sprints toward the door with his eyes shut close, words coming out high-pitched and scrambled.
Raizel should really learn a thing or two about inviting people inside.
Like, warning if he's half-naked and drenched in water.
xox
«I'm sorry for the trouble,» Raizel, now completely dressed – light gray sweater, black pants and cute socks with a fish pattern – hands him a warm cup of coffee. «Clawdia is sneaking in your apartment a lot, these days.»
«It's no bother, I just got worried—» he cuts off the part where he decided a frying pan would be an awesome weapon «—because she knocked something off and I thought it could be a robber, which reminds me—» he points at the door with his thumb, «at least close your door if you're taking a shower, or the next time you could come out to an empty apartment.»
Raizel smiles awkwardly. «You're right, I should pay more attention.»
«I would gladly welcome you to my place if that were to happen, but I think you'd prefer your things where they are right now,» Victor returns the smile, gesturing vaguely around with the hand holding the cup.
Meanwhile, Clawdia is staring intensely at him from behind the couch, growling and hissing whenever he tries to get close, probably still mad for the shower incident. Sorry, Victor pleads with his eyes. The cat growls louder.
They fall in a comfortable silence, Victor drinking the last drops of coffee and Raizel bribing Clawdia out with some food.
You could ask him, Victor's brain suggests. Victor kind of agrees. He takes out the phone and, as stealthily as he can, googles "how to ask someone their sexuality sounding casual and cool".
«I was wondering,» Raizel starts – Victor is analyzing the various results Google gave, but since he has to look casual, he raises his head to listen. «I could give the spare keys of my apartment to you.»
Victor chokes.
Google "giving the spare keys of apartment = ask to get together".
«So you can return Clawdia here anytime and I can close my door, you know, for safety measures.»
Victor has stopped functioning. «Safety measures. Sure,» he repeats like a robot.
Google "how soon is too soon to ask someone to get married".
«It's practical,» Raizel concludes, fidgeting with his hands, and his cheeks are dusted of the most interesting shade of pink ever seen. Victor doesn't say a word as his brain has combusted spontaneously and he lost all the basic functions, like talking, or blinking, or stop thinking about Raizel, dammit—
«Victor?» Victor snaps out of the trance.
«Sure thing, buddy,» he manages to say without blurting out "date me please I think you're hot". «I could give you mine, too, so you can catch up with RuPaul's Drag Race on my HD television.»
They shake hands, and Victor isn't sure which hand is sweating like hell – his? Raizel's? Both?
«Your Netflix account is mine.»
Oh, Victor swallows, consume everything you want. My life is in your hands.
For a while, however, Clawdia keeps her distance from him – cats really know how to hold a grudge.
Shortest chapter of this collection but I swear, it took me forever to finish this.
I was planning to update with another chapter of Facing The Unexplained but my PC crashed and corrupted a few files :))) Chapter 7 was one of them :))) I'm fine and not totally having an existential crisis :)))
(Glad I had an old backup file with the beginning written down, so I just need to recollect HOW I wrote everything else. Wish me good luck pls)
You MIGHT remember this setting, and if you do, you're right: another sequel! Yay! I didn't really plan this beforehand, but the idea struck me one of my sleepless nights and I just went along with it.
I think I'd name my cat Clawdia. It's just... I like it. A lot.)
Quote from a heartwarming page called "The Way We Met", which I suggest you read if you want to restore some of your faith in humanity.
(I started RPDR and it gives me life.)
Thanks a lot to those who reviewed and read the last chapter, I hope you liked it!
As always, suggestions are well welcomed, so please send yours via PM here or on my tumblr profile pizza-with-me-okay, I will love you forever!
Expect, someday, a bonus story on "How Shinwoo got the hideous t-shirt he tries to wear in chapter 13" because I talked about it a lot with goddess-of-spring-gems and I finally decided to write it down. You'll find it on my tumblr, so if you don't follow me there or if you don't have an account but you still want to read it (WHY THO) PM me and I'll send you the link!
As always, thank you for your time, and see you next chapter!