Chapter Text
If there's one thing Ash hates, it's definitely moving house. Whether he's doing it himself or someone else is, the mess of boxes and the constant going up and down stairs always gives him a headache. So when he woke up that cold, snowy morning, ready to go to his boring office job typing data all day, he saw countless boxes scattered by the door in front of his He sighed and rubbed his temples. Great. Movings. Some new neighbor is just as annoying as the last one, that grumpy old man who liked to knock on Ash's door every night to tell Shorter to turn down the volume of the supposed music he was listening to. Spoiler alert: he wasn't listening to any loud music at that hour.
Ash didn't waste any time looking at the boxes; after all, seeing them and thinking about the noise that would ensue for the next few weeks wouldn't improve his mood. He went down the stairs to the floor below his and stopped in front of the elevator, pressing the button to call it and waiting. Before going to work, Ash, Shorter, and some other friends had a routine of meeting at a coffee shop next to their building, so that's where Ash would go. Perhaps a hot tea would improve your mood.
When the elevator doors opened, Ash stepped inside and pressed the button for the elevator to descend to the ground floor. As the doors slowly closed, Ash heard a distant voice calling him.
"Wait! Hold the doors!"
Ash looked up and saw a boy walking quickly towards the elevator, holding two cardboard boxes that covered him from his hips to his nose, leaving only his eyes visible. Ash reached out between the elevator doors, which luckily were still a short distance away, but they didn't stop. He frowned and reached out again, waving his hand. Nothing. They were about to close And the poor boy with the boxes was walking as fast as he could toward the elevator. Ash stretched out a leg and put it there, but the wretched doors of that damned old elevator still wouldn't stop.
Ash then, in an act that was quite unusual for him, completely impulsively, threw himself between the elevator doors, which slammed shut on him before reversing, only to reopen at that very moment The boy with the boxes arrived. He got into the elevator, and Ash followed soon after, rubbing his lower back where the door had given him a rather unpleasant squeeze. He leaned against the elevator wall and heard a low laugh, almost as if he were holding back laughter, coming from the boy next to him, who now had his back to him, putting the boxes on the flor. Ash frowned and snorted.
"Are you laughing? I held the doors open for you to come in with your stupid boxes, you should at least be grateful." He muttered, crossing his arms.
And then the boy turned around, and my God. Ash's entire world stopped. It just stopped. It was as if someone had ripped open his chest, grabbed his heart, and squeezed it tightly, making it pound. He was sure his ears were ringing and his stomach was so knotted that he might vomit. He thought he might vomit. But that would be completely disrespectful when one was in front of the most beautiful person of all the times.
He was shorter, with wavy black hair framing his perfect face, with that huge smile and bright brown eyes. Ash thought he might be drooling, He slowly brought a hand to his chin to make sure. It was dry. Great.
"Thank you very much," the boy said. "It's just that... the way you threw yourself against the doors was so funny..." And then his smile widened and he brought a hand to cover his mouth, holding for not to laught.
Ash cleared his throat and ran a hand through the hair on the back of his neck. He let out a low, awkward laugh, looking away.
"Well... You know, you were carrying those boxes and seemed so desperate to get here."
The boy chuckled softly and stared at Ash for a few seconds before extending his hand.
"My name is Eiji. Eiji Okumura. I just moved here, I arrived just a few hours ago."
Ash squeezed his hand back and felt a warmth spread through his body like he had never felt before. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, and he was beginning to think he was having a heart attack.
"I am Ash."
They held hands for a while until Eiji separated them. He put his hands in the pockets of his jeans. Ash put his hands in the pockets of his beige overcoat, still feeling them warm.
"So... Which floor do you live on?"
"I'm in my room. And you?"
Before Eiji could answer, the elevator doors opened to the ground floor, and waiting for the elevator was Mrs. Owen, with her hands full of shopping bags. When she saw Ash, her eyes lit up.
Ash needed to get out of there quickly before she pinched his cheeks in front of the most handsome boy in the world.
"Good to see you, Eiji. Take care, see you around, good luck with the move. Maybe we can Helô later with your, you know, 'stupid boxes'. Bye!" Ash said curtly, so quickly he didn't even know if the boy had understood, since he himself made a confused face. Ash passed Mrs. Owen with a crooked smile and a quick "Good morning," then walked briskly to the door that would lead him out of the building.
When he got outside, Ash walked quickly to the adjacent cafeteria, went on autopilot, and headed to the worn sofa at the far end of the cafeteria where Shorter, Sing, Bones, and Kong were already waiting, drinking their Cups of coffee. Ash threw himself onto the sofa, at the end next to Shorter, and put his hands to his face. Shorter laughed.
"Wow, did someone have a good start to their morning?"
"Shut up," Ash muttered, his hands muffling his voice.
Shorter put an arm around his shoulders.
"I don't know if that has anything to do with it, but maybe it does, but I think it was something with the new neighbors?"
Ash took his hands away from his face and stared at Shorter.
"New neighbors? Like neighbors in the building or neighbors in the apartment across from ours?"
"Yeah, it definitely has something to with the neighbors," Bones said, taking a long sip of coffee.
"The neighbors across from our apartment. They're from Japan, did you know? Did you meet Mr. Ibe?"
Ash frowned. So it wasn't Eiji. Good. Because if Eiji lived across the street, Ash thinks he wouldn't be able to act like a normal person every time they met in the hallways and Eiji gave him that smile.
"Oh no, I didn't meet him." Ash relaxed and ordered tea when the old waitress came to ask.
"He's a good guy. He's got a cool goatee," Kong said with his mouth full of chocolate cake. Ash wrinkled his nose; terrible food to start the day with.
"He's tidying up the house, I told him we were available if he wanted help." Shorter shrugged.
"What?! Shorter, you know I hate movings. Like, I really hate it."
Shorter nudged his shoulders with his, laughing.
"Relax, man. We're just going to stop by and help unpack. We need to make a good impression if we ever want to borrow sugar."
Ash grabbed the hot cup of tea as soon as it arrived, drinking the first sip eagerly. He sighed.
"Whatever you want, you idiot," he replied.
"There's my dear friend!" Shorter ruffled Ash's hair, who dodged and nudged him with his elbow. They started chatting, all four of them. Actually, more the others three, Ash made a few comments and sipped his tea while thinking about his work, how tiring the day would be, and about Eiji, replaying the entire elevator scene in his head.
Shorter and Ash had lived together for almost six years. They studied together throughout high school and then in college, and now, at 26, they were still together. Ash never imagined when he was younger that a It was possible that their friendship could last this long. He felt grateful to have Shorter, even if his way of showing it was a little different. But Shorter knew, and Ash knew that he knew.
After an hour there, Kong was the first to get up with Bones to go to work; they worked as security guards at one of the malls in New York and mainly took the morning shifts.When they left, Shorter stood up and Ash followed him.
"I'll see you at five o'clock. Don't try to lock yourself in your room, I'll open your door with a foot on the block." Shorter patted him on the shoulder. "Remember: good impressions."
And then he left. Ash sighed and went to the café bar, paying for his tea and heading out onto the snow-covered street. He glanced at the corner next to his building and saw Eiji in the distance, Ash was unloading boxes from the back of a pickup truck. He thought he stared too long because the Japanese man looked up and saw him doing it, immediately smiling. He nodded somewhat shyly. Ash felt his face flushed and he nodded back, just as shyly as the other. And then he began his walk to work.
What a start to the morning...