Chapter Text
~ 1 ~
INEJ
Inej held the door open with her foot as she hauled the first of her many cases through the entryway. It landed onto the floor with a satisfying thud right in front of Apartment 14, her new home. She suddenly became all too aware that it was still early enough in the day for her five new neighbours also living on this floor to still be asleep, and hoped she hadn’t just woken any of them. She made a note to bring up the rest of her stuff more quietly. It wouldn’t be much of a challenge; she had always been quite light on her feet, much to her parents’ chagrin. When she was little, she’d often managed to run off and hide from them when they told her it was time for bed and get to stay awake for an extra half an hour while they tried to find where she’d gone to.
As she’d turned to head back downstairs for the next suitcase, she heard a click as the door to Apartment 13 opposite her opened up and a head popped up, smiling warmly at her. Her brown hair was long and curly, but Inej mainly noted her striking green eyes.
“Hello! You must be the new neighbour. At least, I hope you are. Otherwise I have many, many questions for you.” She said, stepping out and offering Inej a hand to shake.
Inej shook it. “I am, yes. Sorry if I woke you.”
“No, no, I was already up. I knew you were moving in today so I wanted to be the first to say hi. Not that it’s a competition or anything. Well, it is, but the other guys don’t know that. I’m very excited to finally have another girl living on this floor. I’m Nina, by the way. Nice to meet you.”
“Inej.”
“Inej? Excellent name. Do you need a hand with the rest of your stuff?” Nina asked.
“Oh, no. I couldn’t ask so much of you. I can handle it on my own.” Inej nodded.
“Nonsense! It won’t be any trouble.” Nina said, turning and strolling down the corridor with purpose all the way to Apartment 18 on the other end. She knocked on the door. After a moment, she knocked again, much harder.
The door opened, and Inej was shocked by the beast of a man who leaned out, glaring at Nina with piercing blue eyes. He had an instant presence, helped by his towering height and muscular form. Inej didn’t know whether she was impressed or afraid.
“What do you want?” He asked Nina, tucking a few strands of his long blonde hair behind his ear.
“You need to help our new neighbour with her stuff.” Nina said, arms folded.
“I need to, do I?”
“Yes, you do. You don’t want her to think you’re rude, do you?”
“Everyone else does, why not complete the set?”
“Matthias.” Nina’s tone had changed dramatically.
Inej could see this Matthias was trying to hold his ground and stare Nina down, but after a few seconds his shoulders dropped and he let out a huge sigh. “Fine.”
“Thank you.” Nina said with a smile as she headed back towards Inej, Matthias following glumly. “Matthias, this is Inej. Inej, this is Matthias. He’s sometimes bearable, but always useful for labour.”
“Slave labour.” Matthias said under his breath. “Good to meet you. I’m sorry that you had to meet Nina so early in the morning.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Nina demanded.
Matthias considered. “You’re right. I’m sorry that you had to meet Nina, full stop.”
Nina hit Matthias lightly on the arm as he smiled. “You’re not funny. I’m sorry, Inej, that you have to live in close proximity to the moodiest man on the planet.”
Matthias folded his arms. “What about Kaz?”
Nina sighed. “Fine, the second moodiest man on the planet.”
“Though you are still in close proximity to first place. If you’re lucky you’ll never bump into him.” Matthias said, heading out the door and down the stairs to grab Inej’s things. He raised an eyebrow towards Nina. “You giving me a hand?”
“I will oversee and provide moral support.” Nina smirked. Matthias threw up his arms in condemnation then headed downwards. “As I said, he’s bearable sometimes.”
“And as for that other guy? Kaz?” Inej questioned.
“Kaz is...Kaz. He’s in Apartment 16, so right next door to you. You won’t hear a peep from him, though. He’s a unique character to say the least. Best to just leave him to his own devices. Everyone else is lovely. There’s Wylan in 15 and Jesper in 17. Jesper is admittedly an acquired taste but once you click with him he’s a great person to be around. Wylan is quiet like Kaz but not in a weird way. He’s very sweet.”
“Kaz is quiet in a weird way?” Inej wasn’t quite sure exactly why she was so keen for more information on this Kaz fellow.
Nina considered for a moment. “It’s like...if it turned out he was like a serial killer or something, I wouldn’t be surprised. What’s that saying? ‘It’s always the quiet ones’? Not that I think he’s a serial killer. But if anyone of us goes missing you know who’s place to search first, that’s all I’ll say.”
“Seems like the advice to keep my distance is sound.” Inej said.
“Very.” Nina agreed.
The entryway door burst open as Matthias stumbled in, dumping two large cases on the floor. He turned to Inej, panting slightly. “You have a lot of things.”
“I do. I’ll give you a hand.” Inej nodded, moving to join him just as another door clicked open. A tall, lean man with dark skin and grey eyes walked out of Apartment 17 and waved in their direction. Inej was instantly struck by his clothes; everything a mismatch of colours and patterns as if he’d stuffed everything he owned into one washing machine and had to live with the results.
“Greetings, friends! You must be the new girl. I’m Jesper.” He beamed, shaking her hand. “I thought I heard people talking out here; didn’t want to miss out on all the fun.”
“Ah, so you’re going to help us bring her things upstairs?” Matthias asked.
“Oh, I would Matthias, I really would, but I’ve busted my leg. Really sore. Hell of a limp.” Jesper shrugged.
“You weren’t limping just now.” Matthias noted.
“Well, I’d been resting it and now I’ve irritated it again, obviously. I couldn’t not say hello to my new best friend, could I?” Jesper said.
“You’ve said hello. If you’re not going to help, I’m sure you need to get back to the chocolate factory. The Oompa Loompas must be missing you.” Matthias grinned. Nina held back a smile.
“Another truly original gut-buster joke from Matthias Helvar, ladies and gentlemen.” Jesper said, defensively holding the lapels of his jacket. “You’re just jealous you couldn’t pull this off.”
“I’d like to pull them off and burn them, actually.” Matthias countered.
“Matthias, if you wanted to pull my clothes off, you need only ask.” Jesper winked. Matthias suddenly grew tense and indicated without another word that he was heading downstairs to grab more of Inej’s things.
Nina laughed as Matthias hurried away. “You enjoy teasing him far too much.”
“I really do.” Jesper grinned. “Welcome to the madhouse, uh...”
“Inej.”
“Welcome to the madhouse, Inej. You’re gonna love it. Probably.” Jesper said. “When you’re all settled, I hope you’ll be hosting a housewarming party. I love parties.”
“Give her a chance, Jesper.” Nina said.
“I’ll let you know.” Inej nodded.
“Works for me!” Jesper grinned. “I’ll leave you guys to it. See you around!”
Inej watched with amusement as Jesper turned and walked off without any semblance of a limp. Jesper stopped at Apartment 15, knocked loudly on the door and hurried into his own apartment as a pale, blue-eyed man with ruddy gold hair answered his door. He looked around in bewilderment before spotting Nina and Inej staring at him and sighing. “Jesper?”
“Afraid so.” Nina nodded.
“Jerk.” The man rolled his eyes and shut the door. A few seconds later, he opened it again and looked at Inej. “Sorry. I’m Wylan.”
“Inej.” Inej answered.
“Welcome to the madhouse.” Wylan said with a smile, briefly making eye contact before returning back into his apartment again.
“He’ll be fine once he’s comfortable around you.” Nina promised.
Matthias came through the entryway again, dumping more bags. “Did I mention you have a lot of things?”
“Sorry, I’m coming now.” Inej said, turning to Nina. “Thanks for the warm welcome.”
“Glad to have you here.” Nina said.
“Sure you won’t help us?” Matthias asked her.
“I’m fine, thank you for asking.” Nina smiled.
Matthias rolled his eyes and headed out again, Inej following and noting with interest his and Nina’s reluctance to break eye contact as they parted.
...
After what felt like an eternity of going up and down sets of stairs, Inej looked at the mass of suitcases, bags and boxes piled inside her new home. It had felt good to finally get the heavy lifting done – Matthias had even noted his surprise at how much she could carry – but now the even harder job of unpacking came next.
While it hadn’t been her choice to move away from home and her parents, she had to admit there was some excitement that came with her newfound independence. This was her chance to really find herself. She didn’t know who that was yet, however, and that thought made her nervous. The neighbours she’d met that day had seemed so sure of themselves and who they were. She felt like she knew them all already, but wasn’t so sure if she’d left as much of an impression on them as they had on her. She hoped that would change in time.
Every time she looked at everything she had to unpack the pile seemed to get bigger. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to try and focus herself.
Just relax, Inej. You’re going to be fine.
She decided to put off unpacking for just a bit longer to go and thank Matthias for all his help earlier. The day had been such a blur of excitement and new beginnings that she couldn’t remember if she had or not.
She opened her apartment door and turned to walk to Matthias’ place when she stopped dead at the sight of someone stood outside Apartment 16 next door, his key halfway in the lock. Inej was struck by the man’s ability to instantly have the presence the looming Matthias did without the imposing level of stature and muscle.
He had dark hair, trimmed short at the sides. His eyes were a matching deep brown like coffee. His face narrow and jaw sharp, Inej thought he might just be the most interesting looking person she’d ever seen. She wondered how many hours of examination it would take to work out why he seemed so appealing yet also so terrifying.
He was staring at her now, a fierce intensity in his eyes. Inej wasn’t sure how long she’d been staring at him, or how long he’d been staring back.
“Kaz, isn’t it?” She finally mustered.
It felt like an eternity of silence, and she’d convinced herself he wasn’t going to reply at the very moment he did. “Yes.”
“I’m Inej. I just moved into 14.”
“I see that.”
Silence.
“...Nice to meet you.” Inej said.
“Yeah.” Kaz said, heading into his apartment without another word.
Inej found herself unable to take her eyes off him as he went, to the point where she’d forgotten why she’d even left her apartment in the first place. She headed back inside, wondering why a chance meeting with this Kaz had left her so empty of thoughts other than the colour of his eyes and the gloves she’d noticed him wearing. It had been a boiling hot day, so why the need for gloves?
The words of the others floated around her mind. Weird. Quiet. Moody. They’d warned her to keep her distance from him, yet her instincts were telling her there was no way she could stay away. He’d certainly lived up to the image she’d formed of him earlier in the day, but him simultaneously shattering it made him a complete mystery to her.
All she could do now was try and decide if it was a mystery worth solving.