Chapter Text
Finally the bell rang.
Test week was always hectic, but this one was more so than normal. Grace was exhausted. Once the last kid filed out of the classroom, he took about 10 minutes to just sit and stare at the ceiling. As a little breather and small crisis. You know, rethinking his life choices and all that.
He only got up and put his things together when he remembered Felicette... She might actually kill him if he was late. Plus, it sounded really nice to sit and cuddle with her on the couch with a nice cup of coffee while he graded tests.
Oh God. The tests. The grades he had gotten on the last one made him lose hope in the next generation. He was praying these were at least a little better... He made sure to study with his students extra after that. One of the students only got ONE question right, and it was that the mitochondria was the powerhouse of the cell. He had to take a breather after that one.
Moving on, he slung his backpack over his shoulders and unchained his bike from the rack. He hated riding up the hills, but he didn't exactly ride a bike everywhere for exercise.
When he pulled up to his house, he could already see a familiar ball of black and white fur sunbathing in the window. She un-loafed and meowed with a stretch.
His house wasn't big by any means. It was a one bedroom one bath townhouse that was extremely narrow. But hey, it was decent for his teacher salary. The townhouse connected to his was pretty much the exact same, just a little more lively.
Grace didn't have many hobbies and nowhere near enough money or time to even start one, but the guy next door seemed to have a few. He had a table and chair just by the window that Grace had seen him drawing or reading in, and a plethora of plants. He doesn't know how he keeps all of them alive. The guy next door also had a dog!
So pretty much, he was the complete opposite of Grace.
As Grace chained his bike up to the fence, a loud thunk made him turn his head. The dog had burst through the front door before the owner could put a leash on her, running through the yard and bouncing everywhere.
The owner came out seconds later telling her to get back inside. Grace smiled at the sight, accidentally making eye contact with the man. The man smiled and waved nervously back before calling over,
"Sorry about her!"
Grace waved his hand, "Don't be, she's adorable. What's her name?"
He finally caught up to the dog and picked her up with ease, even with one arm! Oh yeah, Grace forgot to mention that. The man was shorter than him, but much stockier. He had longer dark hair usually held back by a cloth headband and was definitely of Asian descent.
He was also really handsome. Grace would admit that anyday. It wasn't news that he wasn't exactly straight. He wasn't sure what he was, but he definitely felt attraction to men. Especially after this guy moved in and wore a tight fitting shirt, showing off his muscles and apparently insane chest. Like holy moly.
Even though he only ever caught sidelong glances as they passed by each other...
"Her names Laika"
The man sat the dog down and put a vest on her. Grace adjusted his glasses to see that she was a service animal. Made sense.
"That's really pretty!"
"Right? It's the one her first owners gave her."
Once Laika was clipped to the leash, she was much better behaved. She sat like a statue next to the man. That was actually adorable. She focused hard when she was in work mode.
He glanced at Grace's window to see felicette scratching at it, urging Grace to hurry up. He pointed his head towards her,
"And who's this?"
"Huh? Oh! That's Felicette. She's just being impatient, don't mind her."
As if agreeing, Felicette meowed at him through the window again. He chuckled, low and warm, making Grace's face turn a little warm.
"I won't keep you then, she looks pissed."
Grace rolled his eyes, "When is she not?"
The man was just about to walk off before pausing.
"Oh, what was your name?"
"Grace. Ryland Grace. Nice to officially meet you."
"Simon. You too. Bye Grace," He smiled at him before turning around and walking off with Laika. Graces face felt hot. When he smiled he could see the mans canines. He was ethereal. What did they feed this man?!
Felicette snapped him out of it with another meow.
"I'm coming, I'm coming! Jeez!"
Simon wanted to actually introduce himself to his neighbor eventually, but not like that. He was thinking of a good way to go about it for months.
Apparently Laika got sick of it took matters into her own hands.
He was kinda grateful, actually. He wasn't sure he'd ever build up the confidence to talk to him himself. Simon already wasn't great in social situations, but it was even harder when the guy looked like an angel.
And of course, his name was Grace. That was a little funny to him.
But seeing the man pass by everyday, he started noticing small details that were just... So damn charming.
Everytime he came home, Felicette would be in the window to greet him and he would scratch at the window and greet her back with a huge smile on his face. His dimples and dorky smile while his glasses were hanging from his ear was enough to make Simons chest flutter a little.
He seemed to just be like that: a little all over the place. Multiple times he had watched him rush outside mumbling with a bag full of binders and shit in his arms when he woke up late.
There was one Friday when he had gotten home much later than normal. When Simon finally saw him, he was being held up by two of his friends as he giggled and stumbled with every step, clearly drunk. His two friends looked exhausted. One of them apologized to him as they left.
Maybe next time he saw Grace pass by, he'd invite him to sit and chat with him. Maybe entice him with a cup of coffee (he could just tell that man had a caffeine addiction.)