Chapter Text
Red and white lights came through the window of Luis’ bedroom, the colors reflecting onto his face as he sat with his elbows propped on the windowsill. Cigarette in hand, he held it up to his mouth and inhaled as he watched the people below flail their arms around while talking, a couple women crying.
From what he could see, there were about four police officers standing on the road and in the driveway, two more wheeling out a body wrapped in plastic. This body was his neighbor, an elderly woman that he had been living next to for the last few years. With the townhouses connected, he could hear the commotion relatively well, understanding from the conversations that it was a heart attack.
Though the two weren’t close nor did they ever have an interaction that wasn’t them bickering at each other, Luis still felt a subtle sadness within him at the death of her.
Across from his bedroom window he could look into hers, the room appearing dark as opposed to the light that was usually kept on. It all must have happened downstairs. Although the windows of course weren’t close enough for him to reach out and touch hers, they were still all too close, him making a habit of blowing his smoke to the side rather than in the direction of it.
When he was smoking out his bedroom window was when the two would talk the most, an irritated opening of her window as she complained she could smell the smoke even with it closed, him offering a cig in return while telling her to “Relax.”
He could still remember their first interaction, the first day he moved in he had made the habit of choosing this area to smoke, she did not like this adjustment. At first she had politely asked him to choose a different area to smoke, he dismissed it and attempted to follow up with flattering banter, as he does. Apparently older women don’t take kindly to being asked if they have a daughter because they’re unfortunately good looking for their age.
He was having a rough time that day, moving in with two cats can be stressful. A somewhat socially flattering remark, there was annoyance hidden in it as he was in no mood to have his smoking session interrupted.
The sound of the doors to the ambulance closing before it drove off, he gave it a sorrowful glance goodbye as he watched it turn around the corner of the neighborhood.
His life carried on as usual over the next few weeks, the house eventually going on sale catching his attention as he grew excited to see what the next part of his home life would look like. It lined the edges of mundane and stupid, but Luis was actually very interested in the people living around him. He only lived with a couple animals, so being able to have human interaction at home was nice to him and he did what he could to be involved in their lives.
Aside from his basic schedule, in the evenings he would almost always be found propped up along the windowsill of his bedroom. Not only to smoke, but he had a second objective now; he wanted to keep an eye out for his new neighbor. Not to jab at his last one, but he was hoping they would be younger this time, just so they could get along easier. Even a family would do fine, he would love to experience what one is actually like.
But until then he would have to wait.
“Puss, muévelo, get out of the way.” Luis mumbled as he pushed one of his cats to the side with his foot, trying to get in the front door. Rabid creatures, they gave small meows as they pawed at the bag of fast food he had brought in, forcing him to hold it up higher. “Get.”
The sun was already beginning to settle between the trees outside, leaving a small gleam of light coming in through his living room window as he walked over to the dining table. Despite being a townhouse, his home was actually quite big for just one person. The space was empty more often than not, another reason why he would stay at his upstairs window; to be able to see anyone taking walks in the neighborhood, to see people.
He began to unfold the top of his bag and take the food out, sighing contently at the smell of it. Underneath the table one of his cats, Don Quixote, was balls to the fucking walls fucking everything up, bouncing from the dining room rug to the couch, to down the hallway, and back. The sound of his claws scraping against the floor echoed throughout the house, Luis ignoring it as he went ahead and started eating his food. He did this every time.
Puss n Boots, better known as Puss, was his other, calmer cat. She had mastered the technique of getting into her owner’s heart unlike Don Quixote, simply rubbing against his leg and softly stretching out her paws onto his thigh. A small glance down at her from his food, his expression quickly faded into something loving as he awed at her.
As a ragdoll cat, she was already privileged with with an adorable face, blue eyes and mostly white fur, brown tinting the outlines of her eyes and forehead. Don Quixote, on the other hand, was a british shorthair, completely gray with unsettlingly orange-ish yellow eyes. Still beautiful in his owner’s eyes, of course, but he had his moments.
A folded paper towel on the floor as he spooned some of his food onto it, Luis gave her some of the chicken from his bowl. “Beautiful girl.” He whispered to her as she began eating, scratching behind her ear.
“Donqui!” He called out to his other cat as he ripped up and down the couch. It was an unfortunate nickname, really, but it applies regardless.
Donqui froze in place, a quick pause before leaping off of the couch and attempting to climb up his leg. “Ow, hey! Stop it.” He scooped up some of his food and lightly placed it on the ground, although quick to withdraw his hand.“Estas loco.” He attempted to scold the cat as he bit at the food. “You have lost your mind.”
He responded with no time to waste, claws digging into Luis’ thigh as he begged for more. A quick inhale through his teeth, he calmly pulled each of the cat’s paws from his jeans and simply turned away. Two fingers on his temple as his arm blocked Donqui’s way to his food, he finished his meal in peace.
After a somewhat satisfying dinner, he collected all of his food items and cautiously stepped around Puss, making sure to throw everything out so the other one wouldn’t kill himself with the rest of the leftovers.
Before heading up the stairs he glanced out the window, the sun already having set by now. Despite his loving interactions with his feline friends, Luis hadn’t talked to much of anyone today, simply going to work, a drive thru, and coming back. This boy was awfully social for the type of environment he lives in, feeling the emptiness weigh down on him. Perhaps he would call a friend, he thought as he walked up the stairs.
Undoing the two buttons at the top of his uniform for work, he pulled his shirt over his head as he made it to the second floor, tossing it on a basket of laundry to the left of him. Donqui followed quickly behind at his feet, but was shut out of the bedroom as he didn’t want to expose his cats to secondhand smoke.
Fumbling with his belt buckle, he leaned over and peaked out his window, checking to see if anyone was in the driveway next to him.
At some point last week, a car actually did appear in the driveway. Luis was ecstatic at the new turn of events, a black jeep wrangler with a little zombie funko pop on the dashboard. He found this pretty cute, giggling at it at the time since he had never thought of decorating his car, simple air fresheners hung from the rear view mirror.
Despite this look into their character, he was yet to see who this person was. This enigma next door didn’t seem to go out at night and not often on the weekend, the car only leaving once as they happened to sneak around the hawk up above. Nevertheless, he was shaking in his little boots, consistently checking upon the house of his poor antisocial neighbor.
Moving away from his window as he pulled his belt through the loops of his jeans and slid them off, he muttered a small curse as he forgot his pack and lighter were in the pockets. He was comfortable in his boxers, but looked around for a shirt to put on. The grey tank top left on his bed from this morning would do, pulling it over his head before running a hand through his hair.
His fingers hooked on the underside of his stool as he pulled it up to the window before opening it, pushing it up as far as it would go. A casual and oddly usual peer into the window across from him, he found the curtains closed as usual as he shook a cig from his pack. Unfortunately, this person seemed to be aware of the lack of privacy they would have without the curtains.
Although, a few times the curtains happened to not be pulled completely, a dog wedging its way between them and the window. He was put off when he first saw the dog, not quite a fan of them as he only had cats. The dog appeared to be a boxer from what he could tell, but it never barked at him. A newfound respect as Luis would wave at it.
Whenever the dog would leave the window the curtains would stay partially open, which is where he found his way to invade the other’s privacy. The room was usually well lit, not by a ceiling light but by a tv screen, tinted colors frequently changing as they reflected onto the walls. He would catch glimpses of someone moving around in there from time to time, the only characteristic he was able to identify was that this person was muscular. Instead of assuming he allowed the mystery to continue unraveling, not wanting to exclude muscular women from the picture.
Either way he was beyond intrigued, already obsessed with his nonexistent connection to this person. They were surely destined to become friends, Luis would inevitably draw them in with his smooth banter and unrealistic charm….
He knew it was sad to find his mind so occupied by the idea of not being lonely but he pushed it aside with ease, instead allowing himself to explore whatever his mind desired. Besides, he was more than confident in his abilities to socialize, he didn’t know how to leave people alone.
Contradicting the mystery aspect, he had already made assumptions about this person, albeit they made sense. This person was either a huge binge watcher or an avid gamer with the way the tv was always lit. He liked that, the idea of listening to someone as they walked through their game with him. His longing extended well past the sight through the window.
Dismissing his daydreams as there was nothing going on in the window at this moment, he blew out smoke as he picked up his phone from the windowsill.
Shortly into the doom scroll he found his choice of apparel to be poor, a chill running down his spine as a cool breeze came through. The weather had begun to get cooler as of the past few days, October settling in just around the corner. Aside from the chills he enjoyed weather like this more than anything, his phone screen lighting up the slight upturn of his lips as he inhaled from his cig again, the warmth of it pooling in his chest.
He would remain in this spot for hours at a time, uninterrupted tranquility as he chain smoked out the window. If he were to look to his left the first thing he would see is an added structure to the building, a bridge connecting the outside of his place to the one beside him. This was if he were to look slightly down though, looking straight out he would see spaces for parking, then the rest of the neighborhood past it. It wasn’t much of a view but he made the most of it, enjoying the sight of the trees placed between his parking lot and the townhouses past it.
The sound of a window sliding up made his eyes dart up from his phone, watching a man push his window up as he held his dog back with one leg, oblivious to the critter in front of him.
A smile further made its way on his face as his head tilted slightly to the side, overjoyed in finally seeing his neighbor. He was able to take in a good look at this guy as their eyes locked, a disturbed expression crossing the man’s face.
He was indeed muscular, a fitted white t shirt accentuating his shape with a loose pair of darker sweatpants. He seemed around the same age as him, maybe a little younger, twenty four or twenty five. Strands of blonde hair falling in front of his furrowed brows, his face automatically drew him in. Pretty would be a good word to describe it.
Placing his phone down on the windowsill, Luis leaned his arm out the window and flicked his cigarette, ashing it. “Saw you moved in last week, I was wondering if I’d ever see you.” He smiled. “Name’s Luis.”
Pausing before crinkling his nose at the smoke from the cigarette, the man glanced off to the side before beginning to close the window back, muttering a quick “Yeah, sorry.” as he quickly shut down the interaction.
Before he could get another word out, the window was closed and curtains were pulled back, the dog watching as Luis sat with his mouth slightly agape. Blinking a couple times before holding the cig back to his mouth, he inhaled and exhaled with a heavy sigh, looking off to the rest of the neighborhood. “Unbelievable.” He muttered as he turned back to the dog, smoke leaving his mouth as he talked to it.
Despite this failed first attempt at a connection, he found a subtle attractiveness lying underneath the rude mannerisms of this guy. The passing thought of him looking like someone who reads reddit daily made him giggle a bit, sighing again as he put his cigarette out on his ashtray.
One way or another they would be involved with each other, he determined while pushing his window down slightly, allowing air to still come through. A poor retaliation against the loss of this guy already being stuck in his head.
Standing from his stool, he walked over to his bedroom door and gave the handle a light pull, opening the door to allow the cats in. Don Quixote, having been waiting at the door this entire time, trailed in and walked to the end of the bed as Luis moved to lie down on it. He loved to play this game of feigning disinterest whenever a hand reached out to pet him, his owner groaning as he walked around his hand just far enough that only his fingertips would graze him.
“You think you can get away from me?” Luis giggled, a quick lean forward as he picked the cat up from underneath his two front arms and pulled him onto the bed. Holding the cat on his chest, he kept his front paws lifted off of him as one hand withdrew, finger pointing as he scolded the cat. “I know you want attention, why do you do this?”
Donqui only stared back, obvious discomfort displayed on his face from being held in such a weird position.
Returning his hand to under the cat’s arm, he attempted to pull him in for a kiss on the head, paws touching his lips as his little arms outstretched to block him. Scoffing, he laid him down on his chest and picked his phone up from the mattress, pulling up his camera app.
Snapping a photo with the .5 filter, the cat’s ears stretched out brilliantly, causing him to giggle again before uploading the photo to twitter. He typed out a caption beneath it reading “Dumbass.”, wearing out his act of spite before continuing to scroll through his feed.
Unknowing to the act of tomfoolery that just exploited him, Don Quixote pawed at his chest before eventually falling asleep, paws outstretching to his neck.