Chapter Text
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Val sighed and ran a hand through his hair, exasperated and beyond tired.
The light from his worn down laptop was the only source that illuminated the small room, burning his eyes that were threatening to close. Hours after hours, line after line of ads promoting apartments for sale; all of that just to find nothing.
He took a sip from his now cold and awfully bitter coffee, his eyes still fixated on the screen that maybe, by some miracle, he would find one he could actually afford and preferably not be far out in the trenches.
Each one he had found either had the same old exagerrated price that only people with too much money and time on their hands would possibly buy, or was so far away to the point he would have to find a new workplace (he would rather not!). Or even worse? Both. At the same time.
Not to mention the few apartments he had actually visited in person were being sold in unknown, sketchy neighborhoods by awfully suspicious individuals. He reckoned that if he hadn’t left swiftly those few times he would have already been left to starve in a ditch or something. Probably wasn’t a brilliant idea to try and see them in person, but hey, he was a desperate man in desperate needs!
He would never forget when a cockroach casually climbed up on him as that wicked man cackled at his beyond frightened expression. Pure evil, he’s telling you.
The blonde gingerly took off his glasses and massaged his temples. If he didn’t find a solution, he wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up on the streets soon. Sure, if he ever needed help, which he did, his friends would immediately welcome him with open arms— even scold him for not telling them sooner. Gosh, he could only imagine the look on Holly’s face if she would even steal just one glance at him right now. Although they didn’t have time to meet a lot, when they did, she always made sure he ate well and freaked out on why he was so skinny.
“I swear you’re gettin’ skinnier on purpose just to get sick amusement from my reactions! ‘m serious, Val; if next time ya thin up even more, you’re never gonna leave my sight ever again.” She had said last time. He even remembered her getting Giza and Dak-Ho in her plan to make a whole feast for him to eat well. He let an amused huff escape his mouth.
But he didn’t want to be yet another burden they’d have to carry around on their shoulders.
Val set his laptop to the side and dramatically fell back on his old pillow with a thud. He felt frustrated tears well up in his eyes and he closed them on instinct. His clenched fist accidentally made hard impact with his keyboard and he hissed in pain, “I don’t think I can do this anymore.”
Almost on cue, he felt a bright light behind his eyelids. He immediately opened and squinted his eyes in annoyance, realizing he forgot to shut his laptop completely; but when he raised his aching hand to close it— he paused.
As he scanned the screen more, the less he could believe it. How come he hadn’t come across this before? An apartment at half the price?! This must have been some cruel joke the universe was playing on him.
As his fingers moved the cursor and his brain absorbed the information as fast as it could, he realised he actually had a chance.
‘It’s so close to the clinic as well!’ He let a hopeful smile bloom upon his face.
Once seeing the contact information, Val scrambled up to quickly search for his phone in his pocket and dialed the number.
“Hello? Yes, I call in regards to the apartment put up for sale…”
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“Yes, this apartment could be fully yers at half the price!”
Val looked around the apartment astonished. Although it was visible that the building itself was old, the apartment itself looked decently maintained — it was even big enough for two people, having two separate bedrooms! This seemed almost way too good to be true.
“Are you sure, sir? Truly half the price?” While his instincts roared at him to just take it and run with that price, his heart couldn’t bear the thought of taking advantage of this man’s kindness.
“Since it is old and hasn’t been lived in for many years, I insist! Yer the first person in years to come up to me for one of these apartments,” The old man chuckled before glancing at his watch. “The other apartments are already filled with old fellas like me, so I was mighty surprised seeing the handsome young man that ye are here!”
The blond man nervously chuckled and scratched his rosy cheek, “Haha, surprises me, really. This place is lovely!”
‘The view is nice, too.’ Val turned to look out the big window to his left, admiring the way the sunlight reflected onto the wooden planks below. In front of the building stood multiple types of plants he surely did not know the names of, along with a small well. Vines climbed up the building, looking surprisingly maintained regardless. Man, this might have been a sign to pick back up the multitude of books left by his dear friend, Lily, about each and every type of plant. He might as well plant even more flowers to give the area more life to it!
The last time he had seen her, she was packing up to find a new city to explore. Although, she had always been a girl quiet in nature; when excited, she could spout out information faster than any machine could, he believed. So that time was spent staring at her with a fond smile and constant nods, to show he was listening to her every single word.
Although, he couldn’t help it, he still felt his eyes water at the thought of his best friend leaving. He was immensely happy for her, of course, but it still hurt to see her go.
He remembered vividly how she was still lost in thought, rambling about the city she was going to, when he suddenly just burst in tears and tackled her in a hug. She had to spend several minutes trying to comfort him, albeit very awkwardly, while shedding a few tears as well.
She had given the fragile plant books in his care, saying she trusted him with these more so than she would trust them with herself.
“Besides, if you recognize anything from these books, I would be happy to see it in photos!” Is what she’d said.
As much as he would like to keep her all to himself, he knew she would be the happiest out travelling and exploring the world. He wouldn’t be holding her back. So he moved on. They still kept in frequent contact, of course. Lily sent him an update at least once a week, when her schedule allowed her to.
Yet a small part of him, deep inside, still ached for her.
But enough of all that, most excitingly, the small clinic that he worked at was only 10 minutes away, walking distance. Compared to his old apartment…this was god-sent.
Val had to move out of his old apartment due to the lack of money to sustain it. The distance between it and the clinic he worked at not helping either, having to save money for every day transport along with the apartment bills.
The young man was snapped out of his daydream by the older man in front of him clearing his throat. “So?” He dragged out the last letter, his left foot tapping repeatedly on the creaky floorboards — an impatient rythm. Val noticed he kept glancing at his watch.
Having nothing to lose, the adressed man nodded.
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Shamil blew the hair out of his face in boredom, scrolling absurdly fast over all the apartment ads.
He paused upon an excruciatingly overpriced one and snorted, “I could do a better job than these lowly scammers. They didn’t even try to make it look appealing!”
Yet another one that looked like it had seen the devil himself. “What a hovel.”
The third one he had stumbled upon was so bad all he could do was stare blankly at a wall.
The fourth, the fifth, sixth or seventh, he lost count. All the same junk.
The blue-haired eventually had enough and got up to stretch, simultaneously grabbing the glass of milk, which he got from the receptionist, from the nightstand and aggressively gulping it all down.
Once done, he wiped at his mouth. “Jeez, you’d think there would be better options in a city like this one.”
He stood in silence for a moment, his blue eyes scanning the empty hotel room. All that stood there was a modest bed cradled in white, snowy sheets, a small closet and an old TV. Did it even work anymore? He doubted so. He still approached the remote and pressed the ‘on’ button with his manicured finger.
To his surprise, it did work. Albeit slowly, it was fair enough for the small area he was in. He let some crappy romance drama run in the background as he plopped back down on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
It was cold. It was always cold for him, though. At least it smelled nice in here.
He wanted to be mad at his parents that he got kicked out, but at the same time, it was a relief. They handed him a handsome amount of money for him to get out of their hair and find somewhere else to stay rather than their house. Kind of hypocritical to think about, they were never home to see him anyway, how could he have possibly annoyed those old farts?
It was always cold in his house, way too big and empty. But now, he could actually start fresh. He could get a cozy apartment(if he had any luck, at this point he’d be more willing to search for the earliest available train ticket out of this damned city!), actually do something he liked, maybe even get a cat!
He lazily smirked at the thought of a little furball nuzzling on his chest as he watched cringe k-dramas and laughed like a madman.
Oh, who was he kidding? He knew he was fated for the same old, uneventful, cold life.
Shamil was snapped out of his thoughts by his phone buzzing. He opened it up to see a message from an unknown number, including a link.
“ ‘I heard you were looking for an apartment.’ …Huh.”
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“This is the apartment shown in that ad, correct?” The pale man played with his blue curls, looking around the room with an unreadable expression.
“Ya bet it is!” Said man closed the door behind them before passing him and leaning on the wall next to the intricate window.
A deep hum came out of Shamil’s throat, approaching the windowsill, swiping his index finger on the surface and inspecting the dust collected.
‘An apartment building seemingly created in around the 1910’s…In surprisingly decent condition.’ He then trailed his finger on the details of the windowsill, taking them in with a raised eyebrow.
‘This design,’ looking around the apartment, he realised that the building’s rooftop was low-pitched with broad, overhanging eaves. The outside was built of some kind of stone, while this apartment, and possibly all of the others, were made primarily of wood.
The apartment itself had a prominent, central chimney placed in the living room, along with a built-in stylized cabinetry.
From only these key elements, he realized this building was created in the prairie style — the houses back then were usually put together with this in mind. “Has this been coordonated by Frank Lloyd Wright?” The other man scrunched his nose in confusion, having lit a cigarette by the now open window. “Don’t know what yer talkin’ ‘bout, lad.”
“Frank Lloyd Wirght, in the 1910’s,” he trailed off before realizing it was helpless. ‘This old man doesn’t know shit. What was I even expecting?’
‘He doesn’t know how much this actually values and it shows, otherwise he wouldn’t have placed it at such a measly price.’ Shamil watched with a judgemental expression as he subtly choked on the smoke, ‘He just wants to get rid of it. Well, I’ll take it!’
“Can I move in starting tomorrow?”
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“This should be it, if I remember correctly.”
The landlord had left the blond man with the key to his new home, scurrying off pretty quickly after their first meeting. He sighed and touched the door with feather-light touch.
‘May there please not be cockroaches this time.’ He took the key and gently unlocked the door.
The scent was the first thing that hit him. Blueberry with a hint of fresh air. The window must have been open then. Wait, should the window even be open?
Val looked down at the floor and saw, innocently sitting there, a pair of black leather boots. One was standing upright, while the other had fallen down. The owner must have been in a rush. Wait, the owner?!
His eyebrows furrowed and a cold sweat ran down his back. Could it have been the old man’s? No, he didn’t have to know him that well to know he wouldn’t wear something like that. Right? Plus, he didn’t have such small feet from what he remembered.
After sitting in the hallway contemplating all of the life choices that lead to this exact moment, he decided with a quiet gulp to find out what was up with the mysterious pair of boots.
He carefully stepped into the spacious living room, taking a look around and spotting a large black luggage decorated with interesting stickers, sitting in the middle. Not weird at all!
Val barely took a step forward when he heard an echoey “SHIT!” coming from the left, supposedly where the bathroom was. Were you telling him that he had to deal with a burglar before he even got settled into the apartment? What would they even steal from the bathroom, the toilet paper? He didn’t even have that!
The blond man silently took the claw clip that held his locks in place and held it in front of him as some sort of weapon, before realising how ridiculous that was and putting it in his pocket. He instead tightened the grip he had on the apartment keys.
He heard the toilet flush, some big thuds, some splashes of water, and took this as a chance to rapidly approach the bathroom door, effectively silencing his footsteps.
Now what? He stood in front of the door like an idiot, in his little brown coat. He hesitantly brought his hand up to knock when the door opened abruptly.
Nothing could have prepared him for when he was met face to face with a striking blue-haired man.