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Adam had just moved to Toronto looking for a fresh start, his hockey career destroyed thanks to a nasty hit on his leg that left him - although mostly fine - unable to play anymore.
Jack was a huge help with his recovery and managed to find him a lovely apartment in a nice neighborhood, and he had enough money to not worry about bills for some time.
Adam was moving some boxes to his apartment on the third floor when he met him. He was walking down the stairs wearing the tightest shirt Adam had seen, and a little sheen of sweat glistened on his dark skin.
The man was gorgeous and, of course, caught Holster staring at his biceps, because that's the first thing he noticed.
But instead of the weird stare or even glare, the man in front of him smiled. "Hi! You must be the new neighbor; I'm Justin Oluransi, nice to meet you," he said, allowing some space for Adam to pass next to him.
"Adam Birholtz, 3-A. I'd shake your hand, but it seems I have mine full," Adam laughed, trying to shake the nerves off him.
Justin chuckled. "I can see that." He then looked at his watch and winced. "Well, I'd love to help you, but I've got to get to work before my boss kills me." Justin then continued walking down the stairs. "I'll see you later then."
And then time passed, they met like this every day, albeit momentarily, nothing more than a good morning or the occasional chit chat while waiting for the elevator. Holster couldn't even say he knew Justin that well. But, still, he couldn't help but be lost in those deep brown eyes of his every time they talked or be captivated with his gorgeous smile or sweet voice or... You get the point.
He didn't ask for more, though; he was fine like this. Mostly because Adam was a massive coward and he didn't feel like getting his heart broken again would do him any good, so he decided to keep it that way, low and secure.
_/. x \_
Until tonight.
Adam didn't know what was worse:
Being hit by a car while drunk and having your crush watching, or said crush being the one running you over.
It was Friday night, and he wanted to go to a bar. His friends were all busy, and if someone asked Adam, he wouldn't doubt to say he felt miserable.
So, what better way than hit a bar and see if he could get laid, just to have no luck at all and end up walking home not-that-drunk-but-still-enough-to-keep-him-from-using-his-car.
He was almost home, walking by the complex's parking lot, when the car next to him hit him and toppled him into the ground.
"Oh my god, are you okay?" said the man above him, the streetlamp making a halo around his face and accentuating his beautiful face. "I'm so sorry, you have no idea how sorry I am."
"Are you an angel?" Adam asked eyes wide and dreamy, most likely from the concussion he certainly had but still.
"Oh God," Ransom said, taking a deep breath "okay, Justin, take a deep breath" he then tried to pick Adam up and taking him to the cockpit. "I'm gonna take you to the hospital, okay? "
Justin put on his seat belt and then put Adam's on and drove away to the hospital.
_/. x \_
"Everything's fine, everything's okay."
Except it wasn't, because Justin had just run over his neighbor and current crush with his car at 11 pm while going out to get food for his cat.
"Stay with me, dude, don't fall asleep," Justin said, speeding through the city to the nearest hospital, coincidently the one he worked at.
5 minutes and they were at the entrance of the ER, a nurse ready to help Adam into the hospital thanks to Justin calling earlier and letting them know he was going to arrive with a patient.
Once in the ER, Justin let the other doctors take Adam away and see if he was okay. He got first-hand experience of being on the other side of the waiting room, and honestly? He hated it. The uncertainty, the way time seemed to work against him,each second feeling slower than the last until he couldn't take it anymore.
An hour passed and finally, finally, they let him see Adam.
Camille, the head nurse, came to tell him that Adam was alright and he had no severe injuries. A mild concussion, but otherwise, he was fine.
Justin was taken to where Adam was, lying on a bed with an ice bag on his head. "Hey Adam, how are you?"
"They gave me some painkillers and this ice pack to help with the swelling, but otherwise I'm fine." Adam winced a little as he laid back on the bed.
"Look, Adam, I'm so, so, so sorry for what happened. I wanted to know what I can do to make it up to you," Justin apologized, hoping the blond wouldn't be too mad at him.
Adam pondered for a while, and an idea came to him. He didn't know if it was because of the alcohol, the painkillers, or his concussion, so he thought, "Fuck it."
"How about a date? Thursday, 4 pm, at Dineen's." Adam smiled back, he didn't know if it was the concussion or the painkillers talking, but this newfound bravado was working in his favor.
"So, what do you say?"
_/. x \_
"I call bullshit," Lardo said, crossing her arms hopping onto the counter of Justin's apartment. "There's no way in hell any sane dude would ask you out just after you hit them with your fucking car."
"I know, Lardo. But honestly, he's so cute and handsome, and before this, he was just the cute guy from upstairs, and we never talked that much before that!" Ransom said, rubbing his face with his hands as he leaned on the counter, "and the one time we do it's because I ran him over, I'm honestly lucky he didn't sue me or something."
"Yes, but are you also an idiot?" she scowled, hitting Justin on the head with a rolled-up magazine Lardo had lying around. "For all we know he could be a serial killer planning his next murder!"
Lardo hit him again.
"Look, it's just a date," Ransom said, trying to defend himself. "Besides, I convinced him to go to Bitty's bakery, so it's not like I'm going to be alone with the guy."
Lardo just gruntled and leveled him with a slightly less heated glare. He was going to be alright, he thought, or at least he hoped so.
_/. x \_
Jack laughed once Adam was done talking. Sure, he was worried for his friend after he heard he got into a car accident, and had decided to fly over to Toronto and see how Adam was doing. But after being told the whole story in person about how that was the only way Adam was able to ask his crush out, Jack couldn't help it.
"And?" Jack prompted, stifling his laughter as he sat on the couch in front of Holster.
"And what?"
"Did he say yes? "
"Yeah, we're gonna go to this little bakery on Thursday." Adam ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. "God, I just can't believe that that had to happen for me to ask him out."
"At least you didn't have to win the Stanley Cup to get the nerve to ask someone out, eh?" Jack smirked, leaning back onto the couch.
Adam laughed, remembering the pining Tater had done for Parson. Two excruciating years passed by before Tater, after winning the cup, asked Parson out after the game. "Yeah, but it was close."
"Yes, yes it was."
_/. x \_
"Come on, Ransom, you can do this," Justin said, trying to give himself some confidence. He walked inside the bakery, the distinctive tingling of a bell ringing above him, and saw Adam sitting on a table facing away from the door with Bitty in front of him.
They seemed to be talking amicably, and Justin made his way to the table. Bitty seemed to notice him, finished talking with Adam, and walked past Ransom.
"I like him," Bitty said, giving him a thumbs up and walking behind the counter.
"Sorry, I couldn't find a place to park, "Justin apologized.
"It's no problem," Adam waved away, dismissing Justin's apology.
Once he sat down, Bitty came over with a menu for Justin and took his order.
"And how was your week?" Adam asked, sipping at his coffee and leaning onto the table. "You told me you worked as a doctor, right?"
"Yeah, It's been hell, not gonna lie," Ransom sighed, playing with the menu on his hands. "It seems people do stupider stuff the closer we are to April."
"And why did you decide you wanted to be a doctor?" Adam asked as another waiter - Chris, if Adam recalled correctly - brought Justin's order.
"Well, there isn't a deep reason behind it," Justin explained, looking away. "My parents wanted me to be a doctor, and I liked biology, so it made sense that I had to become a doctor. But I like it, although working at the hospital tends to be tiring as fuck. I like helping people." Justin then looked at Adam, curiosity filling. "And why did you move to Toronto?"
Adam laughed, leaning back onto his chair. "Well, you see..."
They kept talking, about everything and nothing at the same time. Justin learned that Adam knew how to play the piano, about his career as an NHL hockey player, and his passion for Golden Girls - which in his opinion had been one of the best shows of American TV.
In return, Adam learned that Justin - or Ransom as his friends called him - used to play in the NCAA, had two sisters, loved pumpkin spice lattes, and was a Bruins fan. Which, hey, no one is perfect, right?
Once Bitty had to close down, they walked to their complex, huddling closer thanks to the cold of the night.
Once they stood outside of Ransom's door, Justin took out his key and put it into the lock.
"So I guess this is goodbye then," Adam said, his voice low and soft like velvet. He could feel Justin's body heat due to how close they were.
"I guess so." But Justin made no attempt to move. He then bit his lip, worried, arms crossed on his chest. "Look, I had a great time with you, and I want to do this again with you."
"Same, I mean, I enjoyed our date too, and -" Adam scratched the back of his neck, "- I would also love to go on another date with you."
Ransom leaned closer and gave Adam a soft kiss on the lips. "Good night Adam." Justin said, parting away.
"Uh, yeah, bye," Adam said, a shocked expression on his face.
Justin closed the door, leaving a dumbfounded but happy Holster in the hallway.
_/. x \_
One date turned into two following the next week, which in turn turned into 5 dates the next month.
Justin hadn't felt this happy since he dated March. Adam was just so kind. Yeah, he may be loud, and his taste in music is pretty much old dad's rock, but Justin found it endearing actually.
Funnily enough, Adam pretty much adopted Bitty just as he did, and Bitty seemed to like Adam enough to let him inside his kitchen.
Justin thought he made the right decision.
Adam thought he was super fucking lucky.
_/. x \_
"I think Bitty likes Jack," Ransom said, plopping down on the couch of their now-shared department. The perks of being in a relationship for well over a year? Living together and sharing rent.
"Yeah, so does Jack, "Adam said, grabbing his coffee mug and sitting next to Ransom. "Jack has this puppy eyes look whenever they meet, it's disgustingly adorable, to be honest."
Ransom hummed, putting down his book on the coffee table in front of them. "They keep dancing around each other, though."
"Yeah, but I think it's better to let them figure it out by themselves; At least, that's what we did."
"You make it sound like we knew better."
"And we did," Adam said, stretching and leaning over Ransom's side to get more comfortable.
"I ran you over with my car," Ransom argued, "and only then did we talk to each other like normal adults."
Adam hummed in response, trying to take in the moment while drinking his coffee. He then felt the hot liquid warm him from inside, the snow falling out on the streets, covering Toronto on a white sheet, and Justin cuddled by his side in his tacky salmon shorts.
He felt content.
"I think the best thing that happened to me was getting run over by you," Adam said, kissing the top of Ransom's head.
Silence.
"Babe, I love you, but what the fuck.”