Chapter Text
It was a strange day. Every time he picked up some cutlery with a clatter, every time there was a loud jumpscare in one of the movies he was watching, every time a bird sang shrilly to its fellows in those damned trees, the same sound came from next door. A gasp, a bang and a furious curse. That's not just ADHD, Tyler decided around noon. The ki-guy sounds fucking terrified. Shrugging on an old t-shirt and a pair of much-loved jeans, as well as a grey beanie sitting on his bedside table, he cranked up the DVD's volume and shuffled tiredly into the kitchen. He had a plan.
First things first. Hoping the sound of the movie would cover for him, Tyler dug out a bottle of milk from the fridge and poured the last few cupfuls down the sink. He sank back into the couch and paused the film, so his strangely quiet roommate would definitely hear him trudge to the kitchen and make some coffee. When he 'noticed' the milk had 'ran out', Tyler cursed and clutched the bottle to his chest - as well as a little something else from his freezer drawer. Before he had time to think through the flaws in his plan, he was knocking on Ethan's door with a tub of ice cream and an empty milk bottle balanced in his arms.
The ummistakable sound of Ethan jumping came from not so far away, and Tyler shuffled his feet silently. Gasp. Bang. Curse. There was a moment of awkward silence before the door swung open, and Tyler was met with a worried frown and wide eyes. What colour were they? Blue, grey, brown, green, hazel was green and brown...what was the name for blue and green and grey. The sea. The thought came unbidden, and Tyler tried to push it away as he grinned apologetically at Ethan-from-next-door.
"Sorry if I startled y-" he started, just as Ethan opened his mouth to say, "Are you okay? I hear-"
They both shut up, and it was awkward for another moment. Tyler looked at his shoes, and then at the ceiling, and then at the wall, and then at the ice cream, and then at the milk bottle...and then into Ethan's searching eyes.. "I'm fine, thanks," he murmured after a quiet infinity, "but my hands are getting a little cold. I, er," - since when do I stutter? - "I kind of wanted to bring you a welcome gift and ask for some milk for my coffee at the same time?" It came out like a question, and Ethan looked kind of bemused as he presumably tried to translate what Tyler had said.
Tyler took the opportunity to notice some things.
- This kid was short, or young. Tyler could literally see over his head.
- Either way, he needed to stop calling Ethan a kid.
- Ethan had dyed hair, a kind of silvery violet blue that was just a little bit less green than his eyes.
- Ethan had acne, like a lot of people Tyler knew. It didn't look bad, though. It was kind of endearing, like a freckle on someone's cheek or the crooked smile people told Tyler he had. How did that work?
- Ethan was kind of maybe perhaps mayhaps possibly probably extremel-
"S-sure thing, um, Tyler! Come on in!" The opportunity was over, and Tyler tried to look as nonthreatening as possible as he ducked past his new neighbour through the doorway. Ethan's apartment looked like the mirror image of his own, if a little more sparsely furnished. The Overwatch menu, pulsing silently on the television, gave everything a ghostly blue glow. Apparently this Ethan fellow wasn't a morning person either. Ethan himself, clad in bright blue flannel pajamas, practically tiptoed past him towards the fridge after shutting the door with a click and Tyler suddenly felt awful.
"Um, here's some milk," Ethan was saying, his head in the fridge. "Was that all you needed?" Tyler nodded quickly, then realised Ethan couldn't see him and clarified, "Um, yes! And here's some ice cream to celebrate you moving in! I've never met anyone who doesn't like ice cream, so I-ahem. Sorry."
The light from the TV screen bathed half of Ethan's face in blue as he grinned. "Thanks...Tyler. And, uh, sorry about last night." Tyler shrugged, "Don't mention it."
They stood there for a moment. Ethan coughed. Tyler reached out to take the milk and the smaller man jumped again. "Hey, do you want to share some of that ice cream? I, uh...I have an extra controller...? I mean, if you want, which you probably don't because you want to get back to your coffee and your weekend, I'm sor-"
"Sure." The shock on Ethan's face was immediate and momentary, and it made Tyler want to chuckle and cry in equal measure. "Let's eat some goddamn ice cream."