...why
Holy mother of monkeys this is looong....I'd use the bathroom now if I were you. also turn off all electronic devices. but not your computer. that would be silly.
Onward to: Chapter the Third! In which there is more bad writing, college humor, and questionable drinking practices!
It had been a week and a half since Iyan saw Dire, and already his grades were up and his temperament had vastly improved. Even in the class they shared, Dire just stuck to the back row and Iyan kept his eyes fixed on the front of the room. The blonde had been worried at first about Dire telling the good professor about his little grading mishap, but day after day passed without any sort of retribution and so Iyan eventually let the incident slip into the back of his mind, where he was more than content to let it stay. After class one day, Iyan stopped by the coffee shop and picked up a double shot espresso. He was feeling pretty good about his life (the caffeine definitely didn’t hurt) and was ready to go home and relax with no exams or papers to worry about for a few weeks to come. The blonde ran up the metal steps to his apartment with more energy than usual and stood in front of his door looking through his bag to find his keys. He finally located them and looked up at his front door and froze. There was a note taped to his door. Iyan ripped it off the door and read it through. When he reached the end, the blonde let the letter fall to the metal floor, lowering himself to sit down with his back against the door. Evicted. This… Iyan slammed a fist into the floor. This was impossible. He stood with surprising speed and marched over to his neighbor’s door, and began pounding on it. “Liza! Liza, goddamn it, answer the door!” The door opened slowly, and an irritated looking woman opened it, scowling for all she was worth. “What do you want, Semrau?”
“This,” Iyan thrust the piece of paper in the woman’s face, “explain this. What does it mean, we’re all evicted?”
“Just like it says.” Liza stepped out onto the porch, closing the door behind her. “City inspection come by, condemned the whole building. Not fit for human living they say. So…” she shrugged and opened the door again, stepping back inside. “We all gotta leave. Three days to find a new place. Good luck.” She closed the door, leaving Iyan standing outside, wondering where the hell he was going to go.
Once inside his apartment, Iyan looked around. The building may not have been decent, but his own little two room space was impeccably clean; or rather, as clean as he could get it considering the circumstances. He sat down on the mattress on the floor and let his head fall into his hands. Three days. There was no way he could find another place in town that he could afford, no friends he could stay with. Iyan sighed and lay back. Maybe he really would have to use his father’s money… Iyan sat up, suddenly angry. There was no way in hell he would be accepting any more money from that man. There had to be another way. Had to.
Three days later, Iyan was still searching for a way out of his predicament. All while he was packing his stuff up, renting a truck, turning his keys over to city officials, he still kept trying to think of how he could possibly find a place to live. But he was still coming up dry. He walked out of the City Department building and headed to the rented truck, finally resigning himself to his situation. He would spend the next few days where he could - there were plenty of abandoned buildings on campus that he could hole up in for a bit. But eventually, Iyan sighed and put on his seatbelt, turning the key in the ignition, eventually…he would have to go to his father for help. There was no way around it.
Dusk came, and Iyan found himself driving all over campus searching for a place to hole up for the night. The problem was, most every abandoned building in the area had been either claimed by the already homeless or was boarded and locked up so tight no one could get inside. To make matters worse, it had started raining, no lightning or thunder, but a heavy rain that made even seeing two feet ahead difficult. Iyan was, understandably, in a pissy mood. He was wet and miserable and in desperate need of a place to stay. The blonde pulled into the driveway of a huge warehouse just off of campus and sighed, running a hand through his sopping hair. This would be his last try for the night. Otherwise, he’d be sleeping in the truck. Not a pleasant idea considering the amount of boxes taking up most of the room. The blonde shrugged on his jacket and braced himself for the cold wind and rain. He jumped out of the truck and hurried to the small service door he had spotted off the side of the main entrance. Iyan prayed it would be unlocked, and miracle of miracles, the door swung open when he turned it. He entered the building and was confronted with an ominous stairwell that headed up to the top floors into the dark. Deciding that he didn’t want to risk breaking his neck on some godforsaken stairs, Iyan turned to his left and spotted a door leading into what he assumed was the main room of the warehouse. Sure enough the door opened to reveal a cavernous room. Iyan shuddered - it was cold, and a bit creepy, but still a hell of a sight better than any of the other buildings he’d encountered that evening. With a sigh, Iyan settled to the floor next to the door and curled up with his coat as a blanket. He coughed once or twice and fervently wished for a hot cup of tea before falling asleep.
Dire froze in the middle of making a cup of hot chocolate. He could have sworn he heard a cough. He placed his spoon down next to his mug and headed for the stairwell. He ran down the stairs silently, keeping his ears trained for any new noises. There. He turned and headed for the main room. Dire pushed the door open slowly, his eyes adjusting to the dim light of the backup lights. He heard a small sigh and turned sharply to face the source of the noise. There, on the floor, someone was curled up, a dark jacked covering the person’s upper body. Dire sighed. Another bum. He hated having to kick them out, but he was rather personal about his… personal space. Dire sat down next to the bundle of person, and gently shook them by the shoulder. “Hey,” he said rather loudly. The person did not move. Dire snorted and shook them harder, “HEY.”
“WAH!” The person jumped up and scooted back away from Dire, breathing heavily. Dire sat back on his heels, trying to discern a face in the dark. “Now that I’ve gotten your attention, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” The figure didn’t move; they seemed frozen. Dire moved forward, causing the person to move backwards into a beam of light. Now it was Dire’s turn to freeze. “Semrau?” The person stopped moving backwards, and curled in on themselves. Dire hesitated, and then shifted forward, “Semrau, it is you, isn’t it?”
“How,” the figure shifted slightly, “how-wait, Alvarez? Is that-“ The person leaned forward, and Dire could see that it was indeed the short blonde trespassing on his property. The younger man looked haggard and there were dark circles under his eyes. Dire sat down across from the other man. “What are you doing here, Semrau? Shouldn’t you be… I don’t know, not here? At home?” Iyan sighed and leaned forward to rest his head in his hands. “Well, that’s the thing… I,” the blonde swallowed audibly, and raised his head to glare at the other man. “I just lost my apartment.”
“So get a new one. But in the meantime, get out of my-“
“I can’t get a new one, you asshole!” Iyan yelled, lunging forward to grab Dire by the collar. “The last one I had was the only apartment in this area I could afford!” Dire raised his eyebrow at that; the blonde’s clothes and demeanor suggested a rather luxurious lifestyle, but considering the other man was lowering himself enough to sleep in abandoned warehouses, Dire imagined there were other extenuating circumstances. The blue-haired man sighed softly and stood up. “Well what do you want me to do about it?”
“Nothing.” Iyan stood to go, picking up his jacket off the floor and heading for the exit, but then he hesitated. “Well…”
“Yeah?” Dire took a step closer towards the blonde and saw the smaller man tense when the distance between them was closed. He stopped and waited for the other man to continue. But the blonde just sighed heavily, and muttered under his breath, “Nevermind.” Iyan was about to leave when Dire’s voice stopped him.
“You could stay here.” Dire’s voice stopped Iyan with his hand outstretched towards the door knob. “I don’t need your charity,” the blonde spat out.
“Not charity,” the blue-haired man replied, “not sure what made me offer, but there it is.” Iyan let his hand fall to his side, his head bowed, not saying anything. Dire moved closer, “Well? This is sort of a limited time offer.” Iyan glared over his shoulder, eyes narrowed. Dire stared back, and he could see the hesitation and exhaustion in the blonde’s eyes. Iyan was the first to break eye contact, looking down to glare at the floor. His mouth twitched in annoyance and he twisted his jacket between his hands. Finally he exhaled slowly, and all the tension seemed to drain from his body. “Fine,” Iyan sighed, barely audible. “Fine, I’ll… stay.” The blonde glared up suddenly, “but only for a few days. Just…until I can find another place.”
“You got it,” the taller man moved towards the exit, gesturing for Iyan to follow him. “Not sure I would relish having you here any longer than that anyway,” Dire said, and listened to the steady stream of insults coming from the blonde for a moment before gesturing up the stairs and cutting in, “Come on. Let’s get you settled.”
Iyan grabbed his coat and followed the taller man up the metal stairs, his tired brain trying to piece out just how he ended up in this situation. Reaching the top of the stairs, the blue haired man opened a door that lead into a long corridor. Iyan peered in after the older man. There was a door all the way down the long hall to the right, and another to the left. Dire turned to the right and made his way down the hall. But he stopped before he reached the door at the end and turned to face a small sliding door. He slid it open and led Iyan up a smaller flight of stairs. Iyan was just beginning to wonder if an escaped mental patient had built the convoluted warehouse when Dire opened another door at the top of the stairs and gestured inside.
Iyan stepped past the taller man and found himself in a spacious room, with a tall ceiling speckled with windows. “Guh…” Iyan couldn’t even form words as he looked around the huge place. He turned to face Dire, and the other man was grinning like an idiot.
“So,” the tall man said, closing the door and leaning on it, “what do you think?”
“It’s…” Iyan searched for words, but his exhausted mind couldn’t find any. So he settled for, “it’s big.”
“Yup,” Dire strode forward, gesturing to a red couch along the wall, “it’s big. You can crash there.”
Iyan just nodded and stumbled forward, collapsing onto the couch. He was asleep in a matter of seconds.
A beam of sunlight struck Iyan square in the eye, and the blonde groaned and rolled over. God damn, he hated sunny days. Wait… Iyan sat up suddenly, and glanced around at his surroundings. He was on a couch, in a huge room: a small kitchen area was across the way, and a small nest of pillows and blankets further up in a corner. Iyan stood up, noticing that someone had draped a blanket over him in the middle of the night. A door to his left suddenly burst open, making Iyan jump. Dire strode in, toweling his hair dry. The tall man noticed Iyan, and nodded his head in greeting. “Yo.”
“…hi…” Iyan hesitantly answered. Dire continued walking forward to the corner across from the nest where a tall dresser was located and began opening drawers, seemingly ignoring the blonde. Iyan sighed, and ran his hand through his hair. Good god… he couldn’t believe he had such a moment of weakness as to stay with the obnoxious blue-haired brat. At least it would be temporary.
Dire actually volunteered to help Iyan move his things out of the truck, so it only took a few minutes to drag everything up to the top room. Iyan returned the truck, and walked back to the warehouse from the rental shop to cool his head. All too soon he reached the enormous building, and trudged up the steps. He finally made it to the last door that opened into the living area, and cursed when his face was confronted with strings of beads. The blonde swore more and swatted at the strands. Dire’s laugh echoed from the back of the room, and once Iyan had detangled himself from the retched door hangings, he turned to glare at the blue-haired man. But the blonde was surprised to find the other man in what appeared to be a sea of clothing. The tall man was picking up items and sorting them into piles, a constant look of amusement mixed with disgust adorning his face. Iyan was about to ask what Dire was doing when he stopped in his tracks. He recognized that sweater, and that polo. In fact…
“Are you going through my things?” Iyan yelled. Dire turned to look up at the blonde, grinning widely. “Yeah, I am.” Iyan fought very hard to control his temper, pinching the bridge of his nose and saying as calmly as he was able. “And why, may I ask, are you rooting through my clothes?”
“Because,” Dire stood up and stretched his arms above his head, popping his back, “your wardrobe is… pathetic.” The tall man picked up a pink polo shirt and looked at it disdainfully, wrinkling his nose slightly. “I mean, what is this? Did your mother go shopping for you?”
“…my nana, actually.” Iyan sighed, and sat down on the couch, resting his head in his arms. He could almost hear Dire struggling not to laugh. “Shut up, brat. I don’t particularly care about others opinions, so I just let others pick out my clothes.” Iyan felt the other man settle next to him on the couch, and heard him sigh slightly.
“Well,” the older man clapped Iyan on the back causing the blonde to tip forward off the couch and land on the floor in a disgruntled heap. “We obviously need to remedy this situation.” The tall man stood and began walking towards the door.
“What,” Iyan spluttered, as he picked himself up off the floor, “where are you going? At least clean up this mess you made!”
Dire shook his head and continued walking, “No need. We’ll be giving all those clothes away. We need…” the tall man turned and posed dramatically, “to go shopping!”
“….shopping.”
“Yup. You’ve got money, right? So let’s go! If you’re going to be living here, even for only a few days, you’re not going to be allowed to wear those shirts here. So!” Dire stopped, waiting for Iyan to finish standing up and join him in the doorway. “Shopping is, I’m afraid, our only option.”
Dire glanced down at the younger blonde with a slightly worried expression on his face. It had been an hour and a half since Iyan had made a noise beyond a grunt or sigh. Dire mentally rolled his eyes. Iyan’s sudden descent into dumbness was not all that surprising, considering the huge tantrum the blond had thrown when he heard Dire was dragging him to the mall of all places. The shorter man had actually pouted like an infant for the entire bus ride over. The sight of his favorite store snapped Dire out of his thoughts, and he grinned down at Iyan. “Okay. We can finally get started making you look descent.” Iyan didn’t say anything, just crossed his arms and stared resolutely ahead.
Dire immediately headed for the sales rack in the back and began rooting through the piles of shirts for something that would suit the blonde. The blue-haired man started pulling various shirts and pants off of the rack, and once he had a full armload, he turned to Iyan. The small blonde looked slightly terrified at the sheer amount of clothing the other man was carrying, but tried to hide his unease by looking even sullener than usual. “Here” said Dire, and dumped the lot into Iyan’s arms. “Go through this stuff and see if there’s anything you even remotely like.” Iyan gave a small sigh, but obediently sat down on a bench and began picking through the clothes. Dire turned back to begin picking out more potential apparel, when someone smacked him gently in the back of the head.
“Ow…” The blue haired man turned around to face the culprit, and was startled to find a face dangerously close to his own. The face in question smirked slightly; eyes closed, and patted him on the head. “Damn, Dire. Getting a little slow in your old age.”
“Brody!” the tall man stood up in a rush and hugged the small woman, picking her up and spinning her around, dodging her liberty spikes and laughing loudly. “Goddamn, woman, you scared the shit out of me.” Brody was laughing too, struggling to escape from Dire’s death grip. “Gah, you never change, shit-head. Still treating me like a rag doll…”
“Sorry…” Dire gently lowered the black haired woman to the ground, rubbing the back of his neck in fake apology. Brody stood on tip-toe to smack the back of the tall man’s head again, glaring at him slightly. “Fuck, Dire, where the hell have you been for the past few months? James and I were just talking yesterday about how we never see your sorry ass anymore. What’ve you been up to?” Dire sat down on a nearby bench, and gestured half-heartedly towards Iyan, who was watching the proceedings with a slightly alarmed expression. “Well, things have been pretty busy, going back home to take care of some things. But I got a new roommate. That’s him over there with the deer in the headlights expression.” Upon hearing this, Iyan gave Dire a death glare, before sullenly turning back to sorting through the pile of clothes. Brody raised one eyebrow at Dire, and crossed her arms under her chest. “Well, well… ‘roommate,’ huh? Gotta say…” she spared a glance over towards Iyan, “not up to your usual standards. He’s a little short…”
“Yeah, well… wait, what?” Dire stood up suddenly, waving his hands in Brody’s face, “No, no! Not roommate like… roommate” Dire waggled his eyebrows at Brody making her grimace and take a step back, “Just the regular kind. His apartment got condemned, and he needed a place to stay and… it just sort of happened.”
“Right.” Brody smiled slightly, not a nice smile, “and so you’re just taking him shopping… for fun.” Dire sighed, and started chewing on his thumb nail absently. “No. He just…” the tall man gestured helplessly, “all he had to wear were polo shirts. I told him he couldn’t stay at my place if he wore that shit. Plus…” Dire leaned down to pseudo whisper in Brody’s ear, “I think his nana picked out all his previous clothes.” Brody threw back her head and laughed, making all the other customers in the place look up in alarm. Dire shoved his fingers in his ears. He’d forgotten how loud Brody was. Wiping a stray tear of mirth out of her eye, the black haired woman strode past Dire, clapping him on the back. “Well don’t worry, hun. We’ll get him looking human.” She marched very forcefully over to where Iyan was still sitting, and without a word ripped all the clothes out of his hands, grabbing hold of the blonde’s forearm with her other hand. “He-hey! What the hell-“ Iyan struggled in vain as Brody looked over her shoulder and winked at Dire. “Don’t worry, babe. Just start handing me suggestions.” She shoved a protesting Iyan into a dressing room and shut the door, leaning against it with a feral glint in her eye.
Dire handed her numerous items, but Brody passed them all over with barely a glance. Finally, she just sighed and shook her head. “God… looks like your fashion sense went out the window while you were away. Here,” she shoved the tall man aside and strode into the main part of the store. “You lean against that door and make sure blondie doesn’t escape. I’ll pick out some things for him. What size is he?”
“Um…” Dire briefly thought of asking the blonde, then decided against it after realizing Iyan himself probably didn’t know. “…short?” Brody rolled her eyes, and didn’t bother responding. She disappeared from sight for a few minutes, and Dire started fidgeting with a loose thread from his jeans. He could hear Iyan muttering softly to himself, and the door shook every once and a while as the blonde would kicked it in irritation to check and see if Dire had stepped aside yet. Finally, the black haired woman strode through the door, a mountain of clothes in her arms. She began shucking the items over the dressing room door, shouting to Iyan, “Alright kiddo. Try this shit on, then come out so we can decide yes or no. Don’t bother arguing. Or running. Cause I’m faster than you, probably. Plus every one of Dire’s steps is like, five of yours.” She finished tossing the last few articles over, then leaned against the door next to Dire, reaching over her head to pound on the door. “Get going, shorty. I don’t have all day to wait around for you to move your fucking ass.” Iyan muttered a few swear words under his breath that sounded like, “crazy bitch”, but then Dire assumed he started actually trying stuff on, judging by the rustling noises. A few minutes passed, then Iyan’s muffled voice came from behind the door, “What the hell is this?”
Brody quirked a grin at Dire, before yelling back, “What do you mean, kid? What’s up?”
Iyan’s voice began to take on an irritated tone, “…these are girl’s jeans.”
“Yeah, so?” Brody shot back. Dire laughed softly, and clamped a hand over his mouth so the other man wouldn’t be able to hear him. Iyan’s angry voice rose in volume, “So? So? These are girl’s clothes! I’m not wearing this shit. And stop laughing, you blue-haired moron.” Dire burst out laughing, and Brody just rolled her eyes. “Just try them on, asshole. You’re so goddamned tiny it’s hard to find anything for you that’s not girl’s clothes.” Silence prevailed, then more cursing as Iyan presumably resumed getting dressed, and finally unlocked the door. Dire and Brody stepped aside to let him out into the open. The blonde came out of the dressing room slowly, scowling at the floor and blushing fiercely. Brody looked the blonde up and down appreciatively, nodding and muttering to herself. Dire just stared in surprise; the short man looked so different compared to all the other times he’d seen him. He was wearing the aforementioned “girl’s jeans”, coupled with a snug hoodie with overly long sleeves. Iyan ran a hand through his hair, glaring at the wall, “So… um…” Brody let out a short bark of laughter, and stepped forward to push Iyan back into the dressing room. “It looks fine, short shit. Now keep going, you’ve got a lot more to get through.”
“What?!” Iyan began ranting behind the door, but Dire just ignored the blonde’s exclamations and turned to Brody. “Thanks. I appreciate you helping like-“ The black haired woman waved a hand, effectively cutting him off, “Don’t worry about it. Tell the truth, I kind of like the little shit already. He’s… feisty. Besides,” she threw the taller man an inquisitive glance, “I’ve never known you to have so much interest in someone you just met.”
“Yeah, well…I kind of… owe him.” Dire shrugged, and looked away, effectively ending the conversation. Brody rolled her eyes and punched the tall man in the arm. “As evasive as ever, I see.” The two sat down, listening to the muffled screams of rage coming from the changing room.
Two hours and five shops later, Iyan had a splitting headache and was ready to kill the next person who handed him a piece of clothing. When Dire had mentioned getting something to eat at the food court, Iyan had barely managed a reply, but was secretly grateful that he got to sit down away from outfits and shoes. But… the blonde looked down at the bags surrounding his feet; they had gotten a lot done. A lot of the items that Dire and that overly obnoxious bitch had made him buy were like nothing Iyan had ever worn before, and he was pretty sure that by tomorrow he would be regretting this whole experience when he found he had nothing decent left to wear. Dire came back from buying food (all courtesy of Iyan’s credit cards) and reached across the table to hand Iyan a drink. “Here.”
“…thanks.” The blonde snagged the drink from the other man’s hand, and took a big gulp, realizing how tired and thirsty he was. Iyan set the drink down to find Dire looking across the table at him with an amused expression. The blonde instantly became irritated, “What?”
“Nothing. Just picturing the looks on the other TA’s faces when you show up to class tomorrow.” Dire leaned back, and nodded slowly, “And…” he cracked open one hazel eye and grinned at the blonde, “now that you have an acceptable wardrobe, we’re going clubbing.”
“No. Absolutely not. No way in -“
Dire shrugged, “Sorry kiddo. Brody already invited us before she skipped out, and I can never say no to her.” Iyan struggled to keep his temper under control, “Well rest assured, I can say no to her, quite easily.”
“Oh, right. I forgot how you stuck up for yourself today instead of just letting her pick out all your new clothes. That was very assertive of you.”
Iyan snarled at the other man, pissed beyond words, “Shut up, brat.” He stood and shoved his hands in his pockets, “I’m going home.”
“Sorry, blondie. Bus doesn’t come for another twenty minutes. Plus…” Dire stood and stretch lazily before bending down to pick up the bags strewn across the floor, “did you forget you live with me now?” Iyan didn’t want to admit that he actually had forgotten that small fact, so he opted to stay silent and simply curse the other man inwardly. The two sat on a bench outside to wait for the bus, neither wanting to speak. It was a tense twenty minutes before the bus arrived.
An hour later, Iyan trudged up the metal stairs behind Dire, too exhausted from shopping of all things to even think about doing anything else before going to bed. When Dire finally held aside the beaded curtain leading into the main room for Iyan, the blonde man just made a beeline for the couch and collapsed. Dire smiled slightly, but didn’t say anything beyond, “I’ll put your stuff over here. Night.” Iyan simply rolled over, and steadfastly ignored the other man. He was asleep in three minutes.
Unfortunately for Dire, none of the other TAs seemed to acknowledge Iyan’s very sudden and drastic change in wardrobe. In fact, the whole week was pretty mundane. Dire eventually got used to having Iyan sleep on his couch every night (it still wasn’t like the other man was living there in the strictest sense, considering Iyan never returned to the warehouse before 1 A.M and was gone every morning by the time Dire woke up). Still, Dire mused as he walked home after class on Thursday, it was only a temporary thing after all. He’d been leaving newspapers scattered about the place with the apartment listing circled, hoping to not-so-subtly remind Iyan that he was, for all intents and purposes, a guest. Dire glanced up at the towering clouds, and blinked as a raindrop fell on the bridge of his nose. “… Great.” Still seven blocks to go.
Dire pushed his way past the beads and into the main room, shaking the water from his hair like a dog. It was really pouring outside, and Dire was soaked to the bone. He grabbed some clothes and a towel and made his way back downstairs to the makeshift shower he had hooked up. He was slightly worried about Iyan, who was no doubt still working at the library. The blonde was sure to get soaking wet and Dire wasn’t sure if Iyan’s uptightness would let him walk home through the rain. Maybe-Dire paused mid-step. What… what was he doing? The blue-haired man shook his head ruefully, and sighed softly. Semrau was a grown man who certainly didn’t need looking after. He’d lived with the guy for less than a week and was already worrying about him unnecessarily-and to be honest, Dire wasn’t even sure the other man was worth worrying about. The blue-haired man sighed again and pushed his way past the door into the makeshift shower room. It was none of his concern.
Seven hours later, Dire was still repeating to himself over and over that Semrau was not worth worrying about. The tall man had already made dinner, cleaned up, written two reports, and had consequently drank four cups of coffee. Dire sat down in his nest of pillows with his history textbook, determined to not let Iyan’s whereabouts bother him. He rubbed his eyes blearily, having a hard time focusing on the page. Maybe he should’ve had five cups of cof-Dire drifted off into sleep, with the rain still pounding on the skylight and window, thunder making the panes shake.
Dire woke up suddenly when a huge clap of thunder made his lamp rattle and coffee mug clatter to the floor. The tall man rubbed his eyes and glanced at the clock. Three A.M. Wait… Dire stood suddenly, and strode over to his clock. Three A.M.? Where the hell was Semrau? He would’ve woken Dire up if he came in so…
Dire tensed at a small sound that came from by the door. Cautiously, the tall man turned and made his way slowly over to the front of the room. A brilliant flash of lightning lit up the whole room, and Dire could see Iyan’s messenger bag and shoes set down neatly by the door. He walked over to the items, and picked up the bag to hang. Both the shoes and bag were soaked through. Dire furrowed his brow slightly, scanning the room. If Semrau’s things were here then… where was the blonde? Not on the couch, so-a loud clap of thunder startled Dire and made him yell and jump back. “Damn…” he muttered under his breath. The small noise sounded again, this time coming from the back of the room. Dire sighed, it must be Semrau trying to freak him out or something. The tall man strode towards the back of the room, and quickly reached the dresser. He glanced at the space in between the dresser and the corner and froze. Huddled in the small space with a blanket drawn up to his chin was Iyan. Dire wanted to laugh; the smaller man looked just like a kid, curled in on himself like that. Then, another bolt of lightning lit up the room, and Dire caught a glimpse of Iyan’s face. The other man was terrified; his eyes were closed tight, and his breathing was coming in irregular gasps. “…hey.” Dire said softly, reaching towards the other man. Immediately, Iyan jerked up out of his hunched posture, and looked at Dire with wildly frightened eyes. The blonde just stared at Dire for a moment, then closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When Iyan opened his eyes again, he looked normal, if a bit shaken. “Alvarez. What.”
“…are you okay?” Dire reached forward to lay a hand on the other man’s shoulder, but Iyan swatted it away with a grimace, “I’m fine. Fuck off.” Dire began to loose patience, “Right. You’re fine. Which is why you’re huddled in a corner with a blanket. That seems fine to me. Except that you’re not six, Semrau.” Iyan’s eyes darkened, and he opened his mouth to reply when a huge clap of thunder made the windowpanes rattle. With a soft whimper, the blonde hurled himself back into the corner, pulling the blanket up to cover his arms, and burying his head in it. Dire sat back on his heels, a bit unsettled by the blonde’s behavior. Finally, steeling himself for the harsh retort he was sure to get, Dire cautiously reached forward and set a hand on Iyan’s shoulder. The blonde tense slightly , but otherwise did not respond to the gesture. Dire hissed softly. Under the blanket, the smaller man was freezing cold to the touch, and still soaked through.
“Semrau… how long have you been here?” At first, Iyan did not reply, but then a soft “three hours” sounded through the blanket. Dire snorted softly; figures the proud blonde would rather sit in a corner for three hours by himself, scared out of his mind than go wake Dire up for company. The older man crawled forward to sit between Iyan and the dresser, and leaned back, staring up at the rain lashing against the skylight.
“So. You’re afraid of storms.”
“I’m not afraid.” Came the muffled reply. Dire laughed, and reached over to ruffle the other man’s damp hair. “Sure you’re not. But you know…” Dire’s tone turned serious, “not all fears have to be rational. It’s okay you know,” Dire turned to face the lump that was Iyan, “to be afraid of some things. Like me. I’m afraid of pumpkin pie.” The lump remained silent, but Dire bullied his way forward. “I don’t know what it is. Something about the texture or the consistency… whatever it is, I’ve been terrified of pumpkin pie for as long as I can remember. It’s a horrible thing you know,” Dire paused dramatically, “to be afraid… of pie.” Iyan sighed, and raised his head to look at Dire, contempt masking the obvious terror he was feeling, “Afraid of a baked good, Alvarez? God, you are-“ a blinding flash cut the small man off, and he reached forward in a panic to grab for his blanket. Instead of the blanket, however, Iyan accidentally grabbed Dire’s sleeve, and pulled the other man towards him. Realizing his mistake immediately, the blonde released the older man as though burned, and instead curled up in on himself again. Dire smiled slightly, and stretched his arm out to circle around the smaller man’s shoulders. “What,” the blonde swallowed audibly, voice shaking, “what the hell do you think you’re doing, asshole?”
“Sorry.” Dire pulled the other man close to him, “I just had another scary pie vision.” Dire felt the tension drain slowly from the small blonde, and Iyan finally let himself relax against the taller man. The blonde snorted softly, voice hiccupping when thunder boomed against the walls, “Should’ve known a weird-weirdo like you would be scarred of something so normal as… pie.”
“Yeah… strange, isn’t it.”
The two sat in silence, neither moving until Iyan fell asleep. Dire picked up the younger man and placed him on the couch, setting the blanket around his sleeping form. The next morning, Dire awoke to find Iyan gone. The blue-haired man smiled ruefully, and began making coffee. Back to normal it was, then.
Part B...
Onward to: Chapter the Third! In which there is more bad writing, college humor, and questionable drinking practices!
It had been a week and a half since Iyan saw Dire, and already his grades were up and his temperament had vastly improved. Even in the class they shared, Dire just stuck to the back row and Iyan kept his eyes fixed on the front of the room. The blonde had been worried at first about Dire telling the good professor about his little grading mishap, but day after day passed without any sort of retribution and so Iyan eventually let the incident slip into the back of his mind, where he was more than content to let it stay. After class one day, Iyan stopped by the coffee shop and picked up a double shot espresso. He was feeling pretty good about his life (the caffeine definitely didn’t hurt) and was ready to go home and relax with no exams or papers to worry about for a few weeks to come. The blonde ran up the metal steps to his apartment with more energy than usual and stood in front of his door looking through his bag to find his keys. He finally located them and looked up at his front door and froze. There was a note taped to his door. Iyan ripped it off the door and read it through. When he reached the end, the blonde let the letter fall to the metal floor, lowering himself to sit down with his back against the door. Evicted. This… Iyan slammed a fist into the floor. This was impossible. He stood with surprising speed and marched over to his neighbor’s door, and began pounding on it. “Liza! Liza, goddamn it, answer the door!” The door opened slowly, and an irritated looking woman opened it, scowling for all she was worth. “What do you want, Semrau?”
“This,” Iyan thrust the piece of paper in the woman’s face, “explain this. What does it mean, we’re all evicted?”
“Just like it says.” Liza stepped out onto the porch, closing the door behind her. “City inspection come by, condemned the whole building. Not fit for human living they say. So…” she shrugged and opened the door again, stepping back inside. “We all gotta leave. Three days to find a new place. Good luck.” She closed the door, leaving Iyan standing outside, wondering where the hell he was going to go.
Once inside his apartment, Iyan looked around. The building may not have been decent, but his own little two room space was impeccably clean; or rather, as clean as he could get it considering the circumstances. He sat down on the mattress on the floor and let his head fall into his hands. Three days. There was no way he could find another place in town that he could afford, no friends he could stay with. Iyan sighed and lay back. Maybe he really would have to use his father’s money… Iyan sat up, suddenly angry. There was no way in hell he would be accepting any more money from that man. There had to be another way. Had to.
Three days later, Iyan was still searching for a way out of his predicament. All while he was packing his stuff up, renting a truck, turning his keys over to city officials, he still kept trying to think of how he could possibly find a place to live. But he was still coming up dry. He walked out of the City Department building and headed to the rented truck, finally resigning himself to his situation. He would spend the next few days where he could - there were plenty of abandoned buildings on campus that he could hole up in for a bit. But eventually, Iyan sighed and put on his seatbelt, turning the key in the ignition, eventually…he would have to go to his father for help. There was no way around it.
Dusk came, and Iyan found himself driving all over campus searching for a place to hole up for the night. The problem was, most every abandoned building in the area had been either claimed by the already homeless or was boarded and locked up so tight no one could get inside. To make matters worse, it had started raining, no lightning or thunder, but a heavy rain that made even seeing two feet ahead difficult. Iyan was, understandably, in a pissy mood. He was wet and miserable and in desperate need of a place to stay. The blonde pulled into the driveway of a huge warehouse just off of campus and sighed, running a hand through his sopping hair. This would be his last try for the night. Otherwise, he’d be sleeping in the truck. Not a pleasant idea considering the amount of boxes taking up most of the room. The blonde shrugged on his jacket and braced himself for the cold wind and rain. He jumped out of the truck and hurried to the small service door he had spotted off the side of the main entrance. Iyan prayed it would be unlocked, and miracle of miracles, the door swung open when he turned it. He entered the building and was confronted with an ominous stairwell that headed up to the top floors into the dark. Deciding that he didn’t want to risk breaking his neck on some godforsaken stairs, Iyan turned to his left and spotted a door leading into what he assumed was the main room of the warehouse. Sure enough the door opened to reveal a cavernous room. Iyan shuddered - it was cold, and a bit creepy, but still a hell of a sight better than any of the other buildings he’d encountered that evening. With a sigh, Iyan settled to the floor next to the door and curled up with his coat as a blanket. He coughed once or twice and fervently wished for a hot cup of tea before falling asleep.
Dire froze in the middle of making a cup of hot chocolate. He could have sworn he heard a cough. He placed his spoon down next to his mug and headed for the stairwell. He ran down the stairs silently, keeping his ears trained for any new noises. There. He turned and headed for the main room. Dire pushed the door open slowly, his eyes adjusting to the dim light of the backup lights. He heard a small sigh and turned sharply to face the source of the noise. There, on the floor, someone was curled up, a dark jacked covering the person’s upper body. Dire sighed. Another bum. He hated having to kick them out, but he was rather personal about his… personal space. Dire sat down next to the bundle of person, and gently shook them by the shoulder. “Hey,” he said rather loudly. The person did not move. Dire snorted and shook them harder, “HEY.”
“WAH!” The person jumped up and scooted back away from Dire, breathing heavily. Dire sat back on his heels, trying to discern a face in the dark. “Now that I’ve gotten your attention, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” The figure didn’t move; they seemed frozen. Dire moved forward, causing the person to move backwards into a beam of light. Now it was Dire’s turn to freeze. “Semrau?” The person stopped moving backwards, and curled in on themselves. Dire hesitated, and then shifted forward, “Semrau, it is you, isn’t it?”
“How,” the figure shifted slightly, “how-wait, Alvarez? Is that-“ The person leaned forward, and Dire could see that it was indeed the short blonde trespassing on his property. The younger man looked haggard and there were dark circles under his eyes. Dire sat down across from the other man. “What are you doing here, Semrau? Shouldn’t you be… I don’t know, not here? At home?” Iyan sighed and leaned forward to rest his head in his hands. “Well, that’s the thing… I,” the blonde swallowed audibly, and raised his head to glare at the other man. “I just lost my apartment.”
“So get a new one. But in the meantime, get out of my-“
“I can’t get a new one, you asshole!” Iyan yelled, lunging forward to grab Dire by the collar. “The last one I had was the only apartment in this area I could afford!” Dire raised his eyebrow at that; the blonde’s clothes and demeanor suggested a rather luxurious lifestyle, but considering the other man was lowering himself enough to sleep in abandoned warehouses, Dire imagined there were other extenuating circumstances. The blue-haired man sighed softly and stood up. “Well what do you want me to do about it?”
“Nothing.” Iyan stood to go, picking up his jacket off the floor and heading for the exit, but then he hesitated. “Well…”
“Yeah?” Dire took a step closer towards the blonde and saw the smaller man tense when the distance between them was closed. He stopped and waited for the other man to continue. But the blonde just sighed heavily, and muttered under his breath, “Nevermind.” Iyan was about to leave when Dire’s voice stopped him.
“You could stay here.” Dire’s voice stopped Iyan with his hand outstretched towards the door knob. “I don’t need your charity,” the blonde spat out.
“Not charity,” the blue-haired man replied, “not sure what made me offer, but there it is.” Iyan let his hand fall to his side, his head bowed, not saying anything. Dire moved closer, “Well? This is sort of a limited time offer.” Iyan glared over his shoulder, eyes narrowed. Dire stared back, and he could see the hesitation and exhaustion in the blonde’s eyes. Iyan was the first to break eye contact, looking down to glare at the floor. His mouth twitched in annoyance and he twisted his jacket between his hands. Finally he exhaled slowly, and all the tension seemed to drain from his body. “Fine,” Iyan sighed, barely audible. “Fine, I’ll… stay.” The blonde glared up suddenly, “but only for a few days. Just…until I can find another place.”
“You got it,” the taller man moved towards the exit, gesturing for Iyan to follow him. “Not sure I would relish having you here any longer than that anyway,” Dire said, and listened to the steady stream of insults coming from the blonde for a moment before gesturing up the stairs and cutting in, “Come on. Let’s get you settled.”
Iyan grabbed his coat and followed the taller man up the metal stairs, his tired brain trying to piece out just how he ended up in this situation. Reaching the top of the stairs, the blue haired man opened a door that lead into a long corridor. Iyan peered in after the older man. There was a door all the way down the long hall to the right, and another to the left. Dire turned to the right and made his way down the hall. But he stopped before he reached the door at the end and turned to face a small sliding door. He slid it open and led Iyan up a smaller flight of stairs. Iyan was just beginning to wonder if an escaped mental patient had built the convoluted warehouse when Dire opened another door at the top of the stairs and gestured inside.
Iyan stepped past the taller man and found himself in a spacious room, with a tall ceiling speckled with windows. “Guh…” Iyan couldn’t even form words as he looked around the huge place. He turned to face Dire, and the other man was grinning like an idiot.
“So,” the tall man said, closing the door and leaning on it, “what do you think?”
“It’s…” Iyan searched for words, but his exhausted mind couldn’t find any. So he settled for, “it’s big.”
“Yup,” Dire strode forward, gesturing to a red couch along the wall, “it’s big. You can crash there.”
Iyan just nodded and stumbled forward, collapsing onto the couch. He was asleep in a matter of seconds.
A beam of sunlight struck Iyan square in the eye, and the blonde groaned and rolled over. God damn, he hated sunny days. Wait… Iyan sat up suddenly, and glanced around at his surroundings. He was on a couch, in a huge room: a small kitchen area was across the way, and a small nest of pillows and blankets further up in a corner. Iyan stood up, noticing that someone had draped a blanket over him in the middle of the night. A door to his left suddenly burst open, making Iyan jump. Dire strode in, toweling his hair dry. The tall man noticed Iyan, and nodded his head in greeting. “Yo.”
“…hi…” Iyan hesitantly answered. Dire continued walking forward to the corner across from the nest where a tall dresser was located and began opening drawers, seemingly ignoring the blonde. Iyan sighed, and ran his hand through his hair. Good god… he couldn’t believe he had such a moment of weakness as to stay with the obnoxious blue-haired brat. At least it would be temporary.
Dire actually volunteered to help Iyan move his things out of the truck, so it only took a few minutes to drag everything up to the top room. Iyan returned the truck, and walked back to the warehouse from the rental shop to cool his head. All too soon he reached the enormous building, and trudged up the steps. He finally made it to the last door that opened into the living area, and cursed when his face was confronted with strings of beads. The blonde swore more and swatted at the strands. Dire’s laugh echoed from the back of the room, and once Iyan had detangled himself from the retched door hangings, he turned to glare at the blue-haired man. But the blonde was surprised to find the other man in what appeared to be a sea of clothing. The tall man was picking up items and sorting them into piles, a constant look of amusement mixed with disgust adorning his face. Iyan was about to ask what Dire was doing when he stopped in his tracks. He recognized that sweater, and that polo. In fact…
“Are you going through my things?” Iyan yelled. Dire turned to look up at the blonde, grinning widely. “Yeah, I am.” Iyan fought very hard to control his temper, pinching the bridge of his nose and saying as calmly as he was able. “And why, may I ask, are you rooting through my clothes?”
“Because,” Dire stood up and stretched his arms above his head, popping his back, “your wardrobe is… pathetic.” The tall man picked up a pink polo shirt and looked at it disdainfully, wrinkling his nose slightly. “I mean, what is this? Did your mother go shopping for you?”
“…my nana, actually.” Iyan sighed, and sat down on the couch, resting his head in his arms. He could almost hear Dire struggling not to laugh. “Shut up, brat. I don’t particularly care about others opinions, so I just let others pick out my clothes.” Iyan felt the other man settle next to him on the couch, and heard him sigh slightly.
“Well,” the older man clapped Iyan on the back causing the blonde to tip forward off the couch and land on the floor in a disgruntled heap. “We obviously need to remedy this situation.” The tall man stood and began walking towards the door.
“What,” Iyan spluttered, as he picked himself up off the floor, “where are you going? At least clean up this mess you made!”
Dire shook his head and continued walking, “No need. We’ll be giving all those clothes away. We need…” the tall man turned and posed dramatically, “to go shopping!”
“….shopping.”
“Yup. You’ve got money, right? So let’s go! If you’re going to be living here, even for only a few days, you’re not going to be allowed to wear those shirts here. So!” Dire stopped, waiting for Iyan to finish standing up and join him in the doorway. “Shopping is, I’m afraid, our only option.”
Dire glanced down at the younger blonde with a slightly worried expression on his face. It had been an hour and a half since Iyan had made a noise beyond a grunt or sigh. Dire mentally rolled his eyes. Iyan’s sudden descent into dumbness was not all that surprising, considering the huge tantrum the blond had thrown when he heard Dire was dragging him to the mall of all places. The shorter man had actually pouted like an infant for the entire bus ride over. The sight of his favorite store snapped Dire out of his thoughts, and he grinned down at Iyan. “Okay. We can finally get started making you look descent.” Iyan didn’t say anything, just crossed his arms and stared resolutely ahead.
Dire immediately headed for the sales rack in the back and began rooting through the piles of shirts for something that would suit the blonde. The blue-haired man started pulling various shirts and pants off of the rack, and once he had a full armload, he turned to Iyan. The small blonde looked slightly terrified at the sheer amount of clothing the other man was carrying, but tried to hide his unease by looking even sullener than usual. “Here” said Dire, and dumped the lot into Iyan’s arms. “Go through this stuff and see if there’s anything you even remotely like.” Iyan gave a small sigh, but obediently sat down on a bench and began picking through the clothes. Dire turned back to begin picking out more potential apparel, when someone smacked him gently in the back of the head.
“Ow…” The blue haired man turned around to face the culprit, and was startled to find a face dangerously close to his own. The face in question smirked slightly; eyes closed, and patted him on the head. “Damn, Dire. Getting a little slow in your old age.”
“Brody!” the tall man stood up in a rush and hugged the small woman, picking her up and spinning her around, dodging her liberty spikes and laughing loudly. “Goddamn, woman, you scared the shit out of me.” Brody was laughing too, struggling to escape from Dire’s death grip. “Gah, you never change, shit-head. Still treating me like a rag doll…”
“Sorry…” Dire gently lowered the black haired woman to the ground, rubbing the back of his neck in fake apology. Brody stood on tip-toe to smack the back of the tall man’s head again, glaring at him slightly. “Fuck, Dire, where the hell have you been for the past few months? James and I were just talking yesterday about how we never see your sorry ass anymore. What’ve you been up to?” Dire sat down on a nearby bench, and gestured half-heartedly towards Iyan, who was watching the proceedings with a slightly alarmed expression. “Well, things have been pretty busy, going back home to take care of some things. But I got a new roommate. That’s him over there with the deer in the headlights expression.” Upon hearing this, Iyan gave Dire a death glare, before sullenly turning back to sorting through the pile of clothes. Brody raised one eyebrow at Dire, and crossed her arms under her chest. “Well, well… ‘roommate,’ huh? Gotta say…” she spared a glance over towards Iyan, “not up to your usual standards. He’s a little short…”
“Yeah, well… wait, what?” Dire stood up suddenly, waving his hands in Brody’s face, “No, no! Not roommate like… roommate” Dire waggled his eyebrows at Brody making her grimace and take a step back, “Just the regular kind. His apartment got condemned, and he needed a place to stay and… it just sort of happened.”
“Right.” Brody smiled slightly, not a nice smile, “and so you’re just taking him shopping… for fun.” Dire sighed, and started chewing on his thumb nail absently. “No. He just…” the tall man gestured helplessly, “all he had to wear were polo shirts. I told him he couldn’t stay at my place if he wore that shit. Plus…” Dire leaned down to pseudo whisper in Brody’s ear, “I think his nana picked out all his previous clothes.” Brody threw back her head and laughed, making all the other customers in the place look up in alarm. Dire shoved his fingers in his ears. He’d forgotten how loud Brody was. Wiping a stray tear of mirth out of her eye, the black haired woman strode past Dire, clapping him on the back. “Well don’t worry, hun. We’ll get him looking human.” She marched very forcefully over to where Iyan was still sitting, and without a word ripped all the clothes out of his hands, grabbing hold of the blonde’s forearm with her other hand. “He-hey! What the hell-“ Iyan struggled in vain as Brody looked over her shoulder and winked at Dire. “Don’t worry, babe. Just start handing me suggestions.” She shoved a protesting Iyan into a dressing room and shut the door, leaning against it with a feral glint in her eye.
Dire handed her numerous items, but Brody passed them all over with barely a glance. Finally, she just sighed and shook her head. “God… looks like your fashion sense went out the window while you were away. Here,” she shoved the tall man aside and strode into the main part of the store. “You lean against that door and make sure blondie doesn’t escape. I’ll pick out some things for him. What size is he?”
“Um…” Dire briefly thought of asking the blonde, then decided against it after realizing Iyan himself probably didn’t know. “…short?” Brody rolled her eyes, and didn’t bother responding. She disappeared from sight for a few minutes, and Dire started fidgeting with a loose thread from his jeans. He could hear Iyan muttering softly to himself, and the door shook every once and a while as the blonde would kicked it in irritation to check and see if Dire had stepped aside yet. Finally, the black haired woman strode through the door, a mountain of clothes in her arms. She began shucking the items over the dressing room door, shouting to Iyan, “Alright kiddo. Try this shit on, then come out so we can decide yes or no. Don’t bother arguing. Or running. Cause I’m faster than you, probably. Plus every one of Dire’s steps is like, five of yours.” She finished tossing the last few articles over, then leaned against the door next to Dire, reaching over her head to pound on the door. “Get going, shorty. I don’t have all day to wait around for you to move your fucking ass.” Iyan muttered a few swear words under his breath that sounded like, “crazy bitch”, but then Dire assumed he started actually trying stuff on, judging by the rustling noises. A few minutes passed, then Iyan’s muffled voice came from behind the door, “What the hell is this?”
Brody quirked a grin at Dire, before yelling back, “What do you mean, kid? What’s up?”
Iyan’s voice began to take on an irritated tone, “…these are girl’s jeans.”
“Yeah, so?” Brody shot back. Dire laughed softly, and clamped a hand over his mouth so the other man wouldn’t be able to hear him. Iyan’s angry voice rose in volume, “So? So? These are girl’s clothes! I’m not wearing this shit. And stop laughing, you blue-haired moron.” Dire burst out laughing, and Brody just rolled her eyes. “Just try them on, asshole. You’re so goddamned tiny it’s hard to find anything for you that’s not girl’s clothes.” Silence prevailed, then more cursing as Iyan presumably resumed getting dressed, and finally unlocked the door. Dire and Brody stepped aside to let him out into the open. The blonde came out of the dressing room slowly, scowling at the floor and blushing fiercely. Brody looked the blonde up and down appreciatively, nodding and muttering to herself. Dire just stared in surprise; the short man looked so different compared to all the other times he’d seen him. He was wearing the aforementioned “girl’s jeans”, coupled with a snug hoodie with overly long sleeves. Iyan ran a hand through his hair, glaring at the wall, “So… um…” Brody let out a short bark of laughter, and stepped forward to push Iyan back into the dressing room. “It looks fine, short shit. Now keep going, you’ve got a lot more to get through.”
“What?!” Iyan began ranting behind the door, but Dire just ignored the blonde’s exclamations and turned to Brody. “Thanks. I appreciate you helping like-“ The black haired woman waved a hand, effectively cutting him off, “Don’t worry about it. Tell the truth, I kind of like the little shit already. He’s… feisty. Besides,” she threw the taller man an inquisitive glance, “I’ve never known you to have so much interest in someone you just met.”
“Yeah, well…I kind of… owe him.” Dire shrugged, and looked away, effectively ending the conversation. Brody rolled her eyes and punched the tall man in the arm. “As evasive as ever, I see.” The two sat down, listening to the muffled screams of rage coming from the changing room.
Two hours and five shops later, Iyan had a splitting headache and was ready to kill the next person who handed him a piece of clothing. When Dire had mentioned getting something to eat at the food court, Iyan had barely managed a reply, but was secretly grateful that he got to sit down away from outfits and shoes. But… the blonde looked down at the bags surrounding his feet; they had gotten a lot done. A lot of the items that Dire and that overly obnoxious bitch had made him buy were like nothing Iyan had ever worn before, and he was pretty sure that by tomorrow he would be regretting this whole experience when he found he had nothing decent left to wear. Dire came back from buying food (all courtesy of Iyan’s credit cards) and reached across the table to hand Iyan a drink. “Here.”
“…thanks.” The blonde snagged the drink from the other man’s hand, and took a big gulp, realizing how tired and thirsty he was. Iyan set the drink down to find Dire looking across the table at him with an amused expression. The blonde instantly became irritated, “What?”
“Nothing. Just picturing the looks on the other TA’s faces when you show up to class tomorrow.” Dire leaned back, and nodded slowly, “And…” he cracked open one hazel eye and grinned at the blonde, “now that you have an acceptable wardrobe, we’re going clubbing.”
“No. Absolutely not. No way in -“
Dire shrugged, “Sorry kiddo. Brody already invited us before she skipped out, and I can never say no to her.” Iyan struggled to keep his temper under control, “Well rest assured, I can say no to her, quite easily.”
“Oh, right. I forgot how you stuck up for yourself today instead of just letting her pick out all your new clothes. That was very assertive of you.”
Iyan snarled at the other man, pissed beyond words, “Shut up, brat.” He stood and shoved his hands in his pockets, “I’m going home.”
“Sorry, blondie. Bus doesn’t come for another twenty minutes. Plus…” Dire stood and stretch lazily before bending down to pick up the bags strewn across the floor, “did you forget you live with me now?” Iyan didn’t want to admit that he actually had forgotten that small fact, so he opted to stay silent and simply curse the other man inwardly. The two sat on a bench outside to wait for the bus, neither wanting to speak. It was a tense twenty minutes before the bus arrived.
An hour later, Iyan trudged up the metal stairs behind Dire, too exhausted from shopping of all things to even think about doing anything else before going to bed. When Dire finally held aside the beaded curtain leading into the main room for Iyan, the blonde man just made a beeline for the couch and collapsed. Dire smiled slightly, but didn’t say anything beyond, “I’ll put your stuff over here. Night.” Iyan simply rolled over, and steadfastly ignored the other man. He was asleep in three minutes.
Unfortunately for Dire, none of the other TAs seemed to acknowledge Iyan’s very sudden and drastic change in wardrobe. In fact, the whole week was pretty mundane. Dire eventually got used to having Iyan sleep on his couch every night (it still wasn’t like the other man was living there in the strictest sense, considering Iyan never returned to the warehouse before 1 A.M and was gone every morning by the time Dire woke up). Still, Dire mused as he walked home after class on Thursday, it was only a temporary thing after all. He’d been leaving newspapers scattered about the place with the apartment listing circled, hoping to not-so-subtly remind Iyan that he was, for all intents and purposes, a guest. Dire glanced up at the towering clouds, and blinked as a raindrop fell on the bridge of his nose. “… Great.” Still seven blocks to go.
Dire pushed his way past the beads and into the main room, shaking the water from his hair like a dog. It was really pouring outside, and Dire was soaked to the bone. He grabbed some clothes and a towel and made his way back downstairs to the makeshift shower he had hooked up. He was slightly worried about Iyan, who was no doubt still working at the library. The blonde was sure to get soaking wet and Dire wasn’t sure if Iyan’s uptightness would let him walk home through the rain. Maybe-Dire paused mid-step. What… what was he doing? The blue-haired man shook his head ruefully, and sighed softly. Semrau was a grown man who certainly didn’t need looking after. He’d lived with the guy for less than a week and was already worrying about him unnecessarily-and to be honest, Dire wasn’t even sure the other man was worth worrying about. The blue-haired man sighed again and pushed his way past the door into the makeshift shower room. It was none of his concern.
Seven hours later, Dire was still repeating to himself over and over that Semrau was not worth worrying about. The tall man had already made dinner, cleaned up, written two reports, and had consequently drank four cups of coffee. Dire sat down in his nest of pillows with his history textbook, determined to not let Iyan’s whereabouts bother him. He rubbed his eyes blearily, having a hard time focusing on the page. Maybe he should’ve had five cups of cof-Dire drifted off into sleep, with the rain still pounding on the skylight and window, thunder making the panes shake.
Dire woke up suddenly when a huge clap of thunder made his lamp rattle and coffee mug clatter to the floor. The tall man rubbed his eyes and glanced at the clock. Three A.M. Wait… Dire stood suddenly, and strode over to his clock. Three A.M.? Where the hell was Semrau? He would’ve woken Dire up if he came in so…
Dire tensed at a small sound that came from by the door. Cautiously, the tall man turned and made his way slowly over to the front of the room. A brilliant flash of lightning lit up the whole room, and Dire could see Iyan’s messenger bag and shoes set down neatly by the door. He walked over to the items, and picked up the bag to hang. Both the shoes and bag were soaked through. Dire furrowed his brow slightly, scanning the room. If Semrau’s things were here then… where was the blonde? Not on the couch, so-a loud clap of thunder startled Dire and made him yell and jump back. “Damn…” he muttered under his breath. The small noise sounded again, this time coming from the back of the room. Dire sighed, it must be Semrau trying to freak him out or something. The tall man strode towards the back of the room, and quickly reached the dresser. He glanced at the space in between the dresser and the corner and froze. Huddled in the small space with a blanket drawn up to his chin was Iyan. Dire wanted to laugh; the smaller man looked just like a kid, curled in on himself like that. Then, another bolt of lightning lit up the room, and Dire caught a glimpse of Iyan’s face. The other man was terrified; his eyes were closed tight, and his breathing was coming in irregular gasps. “…hey.” Dire said softly, reaching towards the other man. Immediately, Iyan jerked up out of his hunched posture, and looked at Dire with wildly frightened eyes. The blonde just stared at Dire for a moment, then closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When Iyan opened his eyes again, he looked normal, if a bit shaken. “Alvarez. What.”
“…are you okay?” Dire reached forward to lay a hand on the other man’s shoulder, but Iyan swatted it away with a grimace, “I’m fine. Fuck off.” Dire began to loose patience, “Right. You’re fine. Which is why you’re huddled in a corner with a blanket. That seems fine to me. Except that you’re not six, Semrau.” Iyan’s eyes darkened, and he opened his mouth to reply when a huge clap of thunder made the windowpanes rattle. With a soft whimper, the blonde hurled himself back into the corner, pulling the blanket up to cover his arms, and burying his head in it. Dire sat back on his heels, a bit unsettled by the blonde’s behavior. Finally, steeling himself for the harsh retort he was sure to get, Dire cautiously reached forward and set a hand on Iyan’s shoulder. The blonde tense slightly , but otherwise did not respond to the gesture. Dire hissed softly. Under the blanket, the smaller man was freezing cold to the touch, and still soaked through.
“Semrau… how long have you been here?” At first, Iyan did not reply, but then a soft “three hours” sounded through the blanket. Dire snorted softly; figures the proud blonde would rather sit in a corner for three hours by himself, scared out of his mind than go wake Dire up for company. The older man crawled forward to sit between Iyan and the dresser, and leaned back, staring up at the rain lashing against the skylight.
“So. You’re afraid of storms.”
“I’m not afraid.” Came the muffled reply. Dire laughed, and reached over to ruffle the other man’s damp hair. “Sure you’re not. But you know…” Dire’s tone turned serious, “not all fears have to be rational. It’s okay you know,” Dire turned to face the lump that was Iyan, “to be afraid of some things. Like me. I’m afraid of pumpkin pie.” The lump remained silent, but Dire bullied his way forward. “I don’t know what it is. Something about the texture or the consistency… whatever it is, I’ve been terrified of pumpkin pie for as long as I can remember. It’s a horrible thing you know,” Dire paused dramatically, “to be afraid… of pie.” Iyan sighed, and raised his head to look at Dire, contempt masking the obvious terror he was feeling, “Afraid of a baked good, Alvarez? God, you are-“ a blinding flash cut the small man off, and he reached forward in a panic to grab for his blanket. Instead of the blanket, however, Iyan accidentally grabbed Dire’s sleeve, and pulled the other man towards him. Realizing his mistake immediately, the blonde released the older man as though burned, and instead curled up in on himself again. Dire smiled slightly, and stretched his arm out to circle around the smaller man’s shoulders. “What,” the blonde swallowed audibly, voice shaking, “what the hell do you think you’re doing, asshole?”
“Sorry.” Dire pulled the other man close to him, “I just had another scary pie vision.” Dire felt the tension drain slowly from the small blonde, and Iyan finally let himself relax against the taller man. The blonde snorted softly, voice hiccupping when thunder boomed against the walls, “Should’ve known a weird-weirdo like you would be scarred of something so normal as… pie.”
“Yeah… strange, isn’t it.”
The two sat in silence, neither moving until Iyan fell asleep. Dire picked up the younger man and placed him on the couch, setting the blanket around his sleeping form. The next morning, Dire awoke to find Iyan gone. The blue-haired man smiled ruefully, and began making coffee. Back to normal it was, then.
Part B...