Chapter Text
“You found them on Craigslist ?” Adam asked skepticism laced heavily in his tone.
Blue and Adam were sitting on his little couch he had bought at a yard sale for ten dollars, six years ago. In his little one bedroom apartment, there were at least five different portable fans blowing cool air on them at once, as well as the breeze coming through the window.
He took a sip of the iced tea out of his cup. His blue eyes were staring at her, waiting for a response.
Blue groaned in response, leaning back against the arm of the couch and sticking her feet on his lap. She tossed an arm over her face.
“Yes, on Craigslist. When you’re desperate to not sleep on a couch in a one person apartment, you’ll take pretty much anything.”
Adam just lets out a mmmm as a response, and nothing else. When Blue peeked up from behind her arm, she saw he was on his phone scrolling through something. She had no doubt it was an email of some sort; it was really the only reason he used it, other than calling and texting Blue.
“So how many people are you potentially living with again?” he inquired, not looking up from his screen.
“Three.”
“And they’re all guys?” the skeptic tone came out again in full form.
Adam was nothing if not protective of Blue. And she appreciated it, but she could handle herself thank you very much.
“I’m meeting them tomorrow. They want to see me.”
“If that’s not dubious intentions, I don’t know what is. Do you want me to come with?” he offered.
She flapped her hand in dismissal. Blue knew he was working on a big project for some big wig company he couldn’t afford to skip valuable time on. Especially over something like this.
“I’ll call you after. If I take the offer, then you can come over any time you’d like.”
Adam nodded his head. “And where do they live again?”
“Monmouth Apartments. It’s on the other side of town.”
Adam scoffed, and Blue kicked him in the shin for his troubles and threw a pillow.
Blue had done her research before hand. She might’ve been desperate and dumb enough to look on Craigslist for ads on apartments and potential roommates, but she at least looked up the place before going over.
It was in an okay part of town. Not nearly as shady as where Adam lives, but not a ritzy area like where celebrities live. This is downtown LA, not the Hollywood glam part. Two very distinct areas of the same city.
The area looked large, at least in the pictures. And there was a nice kitchen and living area. Blue didn’t care for room space; she lived in a house that always had at least ten people running around at any given time. Living with people was not the problem, it was who she was living with that could be potential.
When she had trekked up the stairs to apartment 4D, and knocked on the door, the person to answer it was not who she was expecting at all.
The door slammed open, and immediately she was hit with a wave of loud electronic music. The kind that was played at rage parties at college frat houses. The man was extremely tall, and the palest skin she’d ever seen on a person. His ice blue eyes were narrowed and his shaved head was intimidating, and that was before she saw the sleeve of tattoos down his arms and the hooks of one curling on his shoulders and neck. He gave a sneer in greeting.
“What do you want?” he demanded. Even his voice was sharp.
Everything about this guy screamed: Danger! Do not provoke! That was the rational side of Blue speaking. The irrational side told her to not let this guy push her around. And she had the stupid sense to impress him. She got the impression he wasn’t impressed by much.
“ I’m the person who inquired about the new roommate on Craigslist,” she explained. She had to speak loudly over the music.
And eyebrow cocked up and he crossed his arms over his chest. She watched him look her up and down. But unlike when other guys did it, this didn’t feel sexually predatory. He wasn’t emphasizing on her breasts or legs or ass.
He let out a sigh through his nose and whipped around towards the interior of the apartment.
“Dick! We have a guest,” he shouted loudly before stomping back inside.
Blue was unsure if she was invited in, but the door was wide open so she stepped inside after him.
The first thought that came to mind was: holy shit this place is insane. It was a place that seemed to be taken straight out of a TV show. The living room was just as spacious as it looked in the photo she had seen. Light filtered through the panel windows, and there were books scattered everywhere. In the middle of the floor, was a giant model of Los Angeles, which was so absurdly detailed she couldn’t help be impressed.
But it was also a men’s paradise. Pizza boxes were stacked in a corner of the dining table, with some Chinese take out piled on top of that. Beer bottles of fancy imported brands lined the window sills like some messed up stained glass window art. The only thing was the kitchen seemed to be immaculate; not a pot was out of place.
Down the hallway, Blue turned in time to see a giant raven fly out of one of the rooms, low enough to almost hit Blue in the head, and let out a loud KERAH! Blue ducked down out of instinct as the bird flew and perched on one of the dining table seats. The bird seemed to take Blue in, her head cocking side to side. Blue did not know how to take that.
“What the fuck,” she muttered to herself.
She then heard a pair of footsteps and turned back to the hallway. The pale man had disappeared, and instead, it was a much shorter guy, in a bright magenta polo, chino shorts and the most horrific pair of boat shoes Blue had ever seen. He had the face of the All-American Man, the type that would be featured in Republican campaign ads.
He looked startled to see Blue standing in his apartment. But the face soon morphed into a decent smile, with perfect white teeth and dimples to match. Blue hated how attractive she found him.
“Oh, you must be the guest my friend was referring to,” he had an old money accent too. Great.
The raven let out another loud KERAH! The man looked to the bird like it wasn’t a big deal before turning back to Blue. He stuck his hand out to shake. Blue took it warily.
“ Don’t fret over Chainsaw over there. She’s totally harmless . I’m Gansey, one of the people living in this apartment. And you are?”
Who the hell names a raven Chainsaw? Who the hell even owns a raven as a pet? She thought to herself.
“ Blue Sargent.”
“Welcome! Would you like anything to drink? Or perhaps anything to eat?” he offered already walking to the kitchen.
“Water would be fine.”
“Top shelf!” Blue made a face at that.
Who the hell are these people?
Gansey filled up a glass with the tap water from the sink and handed it over to Blue. Then he gestured with his arm to follow him towards the couch. They both maneuvered carefully through the model of LA and sat just far enough away from each other not to make it weird. She took a sip of her water.
She watched as his face pinched together. He ran his thumb over his bottom lip. Then he looked up at her.
“I must say when I put the ad out for a new roommate, I did not expect to find a woman like yourself the only one to answer the call.”
Blue felt a surge of anger rip through her body. She slammed the glass of water on the little table and glared at Gansey, crossing her arms over her chest.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” she demanded.
Gansey cocked his head to the side, looking like a confused puppy. A moment later he seemed to realize the mistake of his words. He opened his mouth to respond before he was cut off by a loud laugh. Blue whipped around, still angry to see it was pale, tattooed man. He walked out of one of the rooms, with a beer in his hand and threw himself on the couch in between Blue and Gansey.
“Even when you try not to be a misogynistic asshole, you still manage to say misogynistic things. Way to go Dick,” he teased.
Chainsaw the Raven, then flew off her perch and landed in pale, tattooed guy’s lap. He then proceeded to pet her head softly. Gansey looked extremely troubled.
“I apologize for my wording. What I merely meant was that I just expected a man to answer. Given as in the ad I did specifically state it was three men living together.”
Pale, tattooed, man let out another bark of laughter rolling his eyes and taking a sip of beer. “Keep digging that grave.”
Blue decided she liked pale, tattooed guy just a little more.
“Ronan, please,” Gansey pleaded. Blue took just a little pity on him. He looked like a kicked puppy. And she could see it wasn’t ill-intentioned. He was just a little ignorant. And Ronan seemed to keep him in check.
“Yeah, Gansey. It’s twenty-seventeen. Just because we might get a woman suitemate doesn’t mean anything. We can peacefully co-exist!” a new voice came.
From the other side of the room, right next to the kitchen, another guy emerged. He also had pale skin, and he had bleach blonde hair that was stuck underneath a snap back turned backward. He had a Blink-182 t-shirt on and a pair of basketball shorts. When he saw Blue looking at him, he beamed like a puppy and pranced on over and sat next to her. His gray eyes were wide.
“I’m Noah. Nice to meet you! I do hope these two dopes haven’t scared you off.”
The way he seemed to be at ease with life, helped Blue just a little bit. Gansey and Ronan both had very strong, differing personalities that demanded to be shown to the world. Noah was more subtle. He leaned forward towards Blue.
“Your hair is so fluffy, can I feel it?” he asked.
Blue had to re-think her last thought regarding Noah. But in a weird way, he reminded her of a little puppy. He was completely harmless, so she nodded her consent. A soft hand petted her hair and Noah’s face lit up like a kid on Christmas. He only did it for a few seconds before sitting back on the couch.
Gansey and Ronan just looked at the interaction with their eyebrows raised. Gansey cleared his throat.
“So, Blue, what do you do?” he wondered.
“I work for a non-for-profit regarding environmental issues,” she responded. Gansey nodded like it was the most interesting thing he’s ever heard.
“Most interesting Blue Sargent. Do you still want to live here with us? I do promise it isn’t quite as bad as this first impression might have been to you. Rent will be not a problem as we split it.”
Blue heavily considered her options. It was either continuing to live on Adam’s couch in his apartment, or take her chances and live in a nice, lofty apartment, with some quirky guys in a nicer part of town. She’d take the gamble.
“Yeah, I’ll bite. Where do I sign?”