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Finally, you were finished. The boxes were all out of the U-Haul and you were finally moved into your apartment. After hours of going up and down far too many flights of stairs hauling heavy box after box, everything you owned was in your new apartment. Apparently before you moved in, the elevator was broken and no one cared enough to fix it.
Letting out a relieved sigh, you plopped yourself on your couch, able to take a well-deserved break. You noticed that you left the front door open but couldn’t bring yourself to care at the moment.
You deserved a moment of peace, and you had your moments…
Until you heard bickering across the hall.
“Romeo and Juliet is a masterpiece, Aaron! It portrayed the woes of familial grudges and young love! It is a beautiful tragedy and how dare you say otherwise!” One voice with a Southern drawl exclaimed.
“Thomas, it romanticizes suicide for children who disagree with their parents! Romeo and Juliet were rebellious teens that wanted to do whatever they wanted without consequences!” Another voice, more crisp than the previous, rebuttals.
You presumed the Southern accent belonged to the Thomas fellow, and Aaron was the man who understood the immaturity and negativity in the Shakespearean tragedy. Trying to shut out their dispute, you groan and roll over on your couch, holding a pillow over your head.
You weren’t sure, but you could have sworn that they had gotten louder in just a few moments. Another male voice attempted to quiet them down but their efforts were to no avail.
This went on for what you could mistake for being hours, and you have had enough.
Throwing your legs over the edge of the couch, you got up and stormed to your neighbor’s apartment. Their door was open; no wonder it was louder than it should have been had the door been closed.
Your fist gave aggressive raps to their door, not hesitating to let them know you were fed up with their bickering. You thought you saw the figures of the men shift to glance at you at the door but weren’t sure. Your hunch was confirmed when you heard footsteps getting closer.
The man was tall, but not freakishly so, and had a crisp, sharp feel about him. His eyes were a warm chocolate brown and were trying to pull you into their depths. Had you not been angered at their arguing, you would have taken a little longer to admire the man in front of you.
“Can we help you, ma’am?” You recognized the voice as the one that had a lick of sense about theatre, Aaron you think it was.
“I think you can. I couldn’t help but hear you arguing with your buddies on the topic of Romeo and Juliet. Then again, I’m not sure if anyone in the entire building could not hear it-”
“I am so sorry about them, Miss. I really hope they didn’t disrupt your afternoon with their senseless bickering. They seem to forget we have neighbors who couldn’t care less.” You were interrupted by another of the men, the peacekeeper of the three since there was no twang on his words.
The man introduced himself as James, and the first thing that pops in your head about him was that he was the epitome of an adorable man. This wasn’t a bad thing whatsoever, you found it quite refreshing to be honest.
He had dark eyes that were almost black, and appeared to be a human teddy bear in physique and personality.
“Well I don’t care what Aaron thinks, Romeo and Juliet is a literary work of genius. Isn’t that right, darlin’?” Another man walked - swaggered, actually - into view, and you almost collapsed to the ground. You could spot the drawl of his voice from a mile away from being everso acquainted with it from across the hall, but now you were blessed with the way his lips curled up as he called you darlin’. This was Thomas.
Three of the most handsome men you have ever seen in your life are in front of you and here you were in sweatpants and a messy bun, not thinking that you would be greeted with such a sight.
What a time to be alive.
But despite the onslaught of the realization these men were right here and focusing on you, you gathered your wits back together to tell this Thomas guy about the train wreck that is Romeo and Juliet.
“Juliet was Romeo’s rebound chick! After his man ego was wounded by Rosaline rejecting the childish snob, his buddies wanted Romeo to find someone else and Juliet just happened to make him smile one time! And then they think it’s love! No wonder Rosaline rejected him, she’s one of the only ones there that had a lick of sense!” You went on with your rant, unable to stop yourself upon seeing the amusement in the faces of Aaron and James.
“And another thing, Rosaline had no guy whatsoever and survived the damned play! Does that not send a few red flags? And with that, I rest my case.” You take a light bow, confident in your complete shutdown of the taller man’s case.
Thomas was gobsmacked. At first this was killing your nerves and caused you to worry you made a poor first impression, but then he cracked a smile that you now realized you couldn’t let yourself be deprived of and he laughed.
“You, darlin’, will fit in perfect here. The name’s Thomas Jefferson, and who might you be, firecracker?” Thomas had crossed the room and was now in front of you and you couldn’t help but catch a whiff of his cologne and hot damn, it smelled great.
Sticking your hand out, you offer it to the curly-haired man and reply, “Y/N, your new neighbor. Nice to meet you all.” Instead of shaking your hand like you expected him to do, he took your hand and kissed the back of it, shooting you a wink that made you nearly collapse into a puddle.
The man who answered the door moved closer to where Thomas and you were standing, mirroring Thomas’s actions with your other hand minus the wink. “I’m Aaron Burr, and may I say that you have an astonishing ability to shut Thomas up, something James and I struggle with on nearly every occasion?”
You hit it off spectacularly with the four of them from there, not leaving their apartment until the late hours of the night after drinking wine and swapping embarrassing stories. You learned the three of them were dating each other, but in your inebriated stupor, you didn’t grasp what it meant for you until the next morning.
Well, afternoon. You didn’t wake up until nearly four in the afternoon, thanks to the wine.
Taking an aspirin or two with a glass of water, you take a shower to refresh your mind after the night before. You weren’t sure, but it felt as if you had developed an attraction to the three men across the hall in the one night you had spent with them.
You pondered the meaning of this revelation as you began to fix what you went ahead and considered dinner. Settling for something relatively simple, you begin to fix enough spaghetti to be your leftovers for the next few days.
Digging around your opened boxes for a pot to boil the noodles in was a painstaking task that involved you attempting to limit the noise created by their clattering to no avail.
After a few minutes, you successfully found exactly what you were looking for, hoisting it up into the air like Thor’s hammer in victory… until you caught sight of the arachnid crawling around inside of it.
The body was a glossy black and on its body, a telltale red hourglass that struck the fear of nature into you. The pan immediately dropped from your hands as you emitted a shriek that could have been heard from miles away, your body shooting feet into the air where you came to rest on top of your kitchen counter.
Moments later, there was a heavy pounding on your front door and you recognized the worried voices of James, Aaron, and Thomas.
“Y/N! Are you okay?” “What’s going on in there?” “Why did you scream? Can we come in?”
Their voices were only slightly comforting as you eyed the pot resting on the floor that held the spider that caused your current predicament. You answer the boys with a simple ys and the knowledge that the door was unlocked and they instantly flooded in.
Taking in your current state and the pot that shouldn’t be on the ground, they had no clue what was going on. You could see it in their eyes and answered the question they weren’t asking with a shaky voice. “S-sp-spider in t-the pot…”
Thomas’s eyes went wide as he let out a string of frightened profanities, him climbing on the counter beside you and now in the same state of fear you were in. He received disapproving looks from his boyfriends but still didn’t move from his perch.
Aaron sighed as he approached the pot, James stepping back to give Aaron room. The man lifted the pot by one handle and gazed into it. What he saw did not please him in the slightest, the man letting it fall back onto the floor as he retreated.
See, the man expected a small jumping spider that wasn’t even the size of his pinky nail, but what he got was far from that by any and all means. What he found looked like it would eat a jumping spider for breakfast and still be hungry.
“Oh hell no! I love the Avengers, but that thing is no Natasha Romanova! Nope! Sign me the fuck out!” Aaron shouted as he also proceeded to retreat in your living room as far away as he could be while still able to witness what happens. “See?! You aren’t laughing now, are you?!” Thomas shouted to Aaron and Aaron simply replied with a loud no.
James rolled his eyes, obviously too used to scenarios like this. The mental picture would have made you smile but seeing as you were perched atop your kitchen counter with Thomas beside you and Aaron hiding in your living room, not much could make you smile.
The smaller man removed his shoe in one swift movement as he approached the dreaded pot that housed the arachnid that has caused pandemonium to erupt in your apartment. He lifted it with one hand and brought the shoe down briskly and with force, killing the damned thing on impact.
James then tore a paper towel off the roll sitting to the side and returns to the pot to remove the carcass from your dish, throwing said carcass in your trash can. He did this without a word being spoken, an eerie calm surrounding him.
“There, it’s gone. Aaron, you can come back, Thomas, get down from there!” James says nothing but offers to help you down from where you were, letting Thomas get his own pansy ass down.
“Thank you James, I’m so sorry about all the commotion-” “Nonsense, those things can kill you and I am glad to help.” You began to apologize but the hero of the day interrupted you.
“But seriously, let me make dinner- or well, order a pizza -to make it up for the whole thing. Apparently the universe doesn’t want me to cook.” You added a nervous laugh at the end, your nerves still frazzled. Everyone agreed, this being seen as a good idea.
Hours later, the four of you were on your couch, eating pizza and drinking wine with Disney movies playing on the TV; it was almost a repeat of the night before and you didn’t mind.
Mulan just ended and you asked the three whether they’d like to watch another movie and they agreed to stay with yawns coming from the three of them. Having the feeling they would fall asleep, you reluctantly put Moana on for what was probably the dozenth time you watched it.
Once “You’re Welcome” ended, you looked at the three men on your couch and noticed they were completely out, Thomas letting out small snores that were oddly adorable.
How were you going to get them back across the hall? Carry them.
Aaron appeared to be the easiest one to lift, so you made a beeline for him first. Gently lifting him from the couch and putting an arm under him to support him, you begin to guide him to his apartment.
As you walk in, you panick. You didn’t realize until it was too late that you had no idea where their bedroom was.
“First door on your right,” A sleepy voice advised from the doorway. Gasping, you almost drop Aaron at the sudden voice you recognize as James, who held a sleepy Thomas under his arms.
“So pretty… adorable… Y/N…” Aaron began to mumble in his sleep and you were dumbfounded. He thought you were adorable? Storing the thought to the back of your head for later, you accompany James in hauling Aaron and Thomas to their shared bed.
Thomas decided to drowsily join the rambling. “Y/N… hot… smart… damn... ” Their compliments, despite them being made in a state of sleepiness, flattered you.
“They’re both right, you know.” James remarks after the other two were in the large bed. He crossed the bedroom to where you were gazing at the taller men resting, a fond smile on your face. “What do you mean?” You ask him, but get no reply.
Taking your hand, he began to lead you to your apartment. Once you’re both in front of your door, he turns to face you. “We all really like you, Y/N. The three of us would like to get to know you better. Is that okay?”
You didn’t know what he meant for a moment, but then it dawned on you.
“If that’s what the three of you want in the morning, I would like nothing more.” Instead of speaking, he simply leans in and places a kiss to your cheek softly.
Thank the universe for spiders.