Chapter Text
Avery was about three minutes away from the address Der sent him before it really hit him that he was about to meet the most important person in his life in person. For the last hour he could barely contain his smile, but at this point his face hurt, and he had a feeling it was only going to get worse the longer the day went on.
They had only met around a year and a half ago, first being through the odd book in his Minecraft world, but eventually Der messaged him on discord like a normal person, and after that they had never really stopped. Sure, at first Avery didn't believe that he knew everything, but after enough time he was convinced. They spent hours on end in calls, playing games together, or just talking. He was just glad that he could help Der out with whatever happened to him.
His mind snapped back to the present as he rounded the corner with the apartment complex he had been given the address to. Avery watched someone opening the door of one of the houses, only to stare at him and wave.
He could feel his heart rate skyrocket as he struggled to lessen his grip on the steering wheel as he turned into an empty parking space, before launching the door open and sprinting over to the door with a speed that left him absolutely winded.
Slowing down a little bit until he reached a speed walk, he got to the front of the house where Der was, or at least who he heavily assumed Der was. It would be horribly awkward if he wasn't. His ribs and lungs ached as he came to a standstill, doubling over to catch his breath before looking up. He didn't really have the lung capacity right now to speak, so he waved, accompanied by the brightest grin he could manage.
Der waved back, a soft smile on his face, before stepping down the stairs to stand with a very out of breath Avery.
Avery took a fraction of a moment before he asked between breaths, "can I hug you?" he looked up expectantly, taking in everything all at once.
Der considered a moment before nodding slowly, stepping forward a bit and letting Avery borderline choke him with the tightest hug he has ever endured in his life. He knew it would probably hurt a little, but damn.
Eventually Avery stepped away, bouncing on his feet excitedly. "You're like, actually real! In front of me!"
"I am. We should probably go inside though and get you some water."
"Right right, right. Inside your house. Yes," came the response that was spoken both too fast and drawn out from breathlessness.
Der smiled again as he walked up the stairs and let the two of them in.
The smell of bleach lingered in the air, and the apartment was nearly spotless. Books were placed neatly on shelves, small succulent plants dotted the otherwise brown and gray rooms, and the warm glow of lamp light bathed the small house in a safe feeling.
"I had, a bit of time to clean up before you came. I vacuumed like three times in the last six hours," Der admitted, before pointing at a shoe rack beside the door. "You can put your stuff there. Don't leave your shoes on in my house."
Avery did a mock salute before pulling off his shoes and leaving his jacket on, just so he had something to tug on with his hands. "Your place is nice!"
"Thanks. It's not normally this clean. Especially after, everything that happened."
"That tracks," Avery said, still standing at the door. "So," he started, rocking on his feet. "How is everything?" he asked, his voice hitching up an octave as he tried his best to contain his excitement of standing in Der's apartment.
"It's, alright. Could be better. I've mostly spent today stressing over how the apartment looks and things for us to do," he said, sitting down on a couch against the wall a little bit away from the door. "It's not that I don't know what you want to do, it's that there's so many things that it's a little hard to pick just a few of them."
Avery sat down as well, on the opposite side of the couch. "Why don't we play a board game or something? Something that has a randomized element," he added before Der could remind him of the fact he would inevitably win a skill based game.
Der let out a small exhale, which in Avery's mind was the equivalent of thunderous applause from a crowd of people. "We can do that."
A little over two hours later, Avery felt the incredible urge to flip the board on the table and declare that he had won despite that definitely not being the case. Despite his best efforts to have a game that was mostly based in luck, he was still heavily losing.
"I'm gonna walk out of this house and go back home."
"So your plans to stay for the full week go out the window as soon as you lose one game of Monopoly?" Der asked, his voice far too smug and annoying for Avery to resist glaring at him.
"Yes," he said, before he rerolled his dice a third time for a better result. "House rule, I get to roll until I get something I like."
"Mhm."
"You already know who wins, just tell me!" Avery whined, sinking back into his chair after getting another bad roll.
"Well, this has been going on for hours, and I have ten thousand dollars and you have almost none. But it's Monopoly, no one wins. We get tired and give up and put the game away before anything officially happens."
"That sounds about right," Avery says. "I still think it's cheating that you know the results of your rolls before they happen."
"Well it's not exactly like I can stop that from happening."
"Maybe your just not trying hard enough," Avery smiled before ignoring all rules and just moving three spaces and gaining another two hundred dollars.
Der stared at him. "Interesting that you think I'm the one cheating here."
"That's how it works. Its cheating if someone else does it, but when I do it it's fine!"
"Sure," Der's voice was dry as he spoke. "After this we need to get your suitcases into the house. You left them in your car."
Avery stood up and snapped his fingers. "I forgot about that!"
"I know. Which is why I reminded you," he said, rolling another dice and picking up more money.
"...Can I just forfeit? Now I'm worried that my cars gonna get broken into and my stuff stolen while we're doing this."
"That won't happen. But sure. I win."
Avery laughed as he stood up and began putting all the pieces away. "You said like, three minutes ago that no one wins in this game!"
"And yet. I can help you bring your stuff in."He nodded and walked towards the door, trying to put his shoes back on without grabbing them.
The two of them ventured outside, seeing the dusk filled sky as the sun only had a few moments left today. Avery did most of the lifting of the suitcases, but Der did help him get them up the stairs to his apartment.
After an exhausting ten minutes, all of Avery's stuff was inside, which was mostly just clothes and other basic necessities.
Avery stretched his arms after he had sat down, "I thought they'd be lighter then that. Also I like, completely forgot to ask, but where am I sleeping?"
"Uh, the couch for tonight."
"For tonight? Am I supposed to book a hotel? You never mentioned that."
They both stared at each other for a moment, before Der eventually looked away and said "I meant for like, all nights. No hotel."
"Oh."
Silence stretched across the room as Avery fidgeted with his hands, not quite knowing what to say next. But he didn't have to come up with anything, because Der was the one that spoke up first.
"I'm, going to order some food, I'll be back," he said, walking away into one of a few closed off rooms in the house.
Avery thought this week was off to a good start.