#This is the same guy who told me it was the upstairs neighbor bc they keep calling saying they have rats??

[dxsole]

I got a new upstairs neighbor and apparently they have brought mice with them so that's what I've been dealing with for the past 3 days

[waitingformyfavoritesongs]

10 March 2023 Friday 8:33 pmpdt

B4 I was taken to the hospital 🏥 in 2020, when I had ran away, I saw 👀 some things on the news 📰. A guy who was sickly thin was in prison & then he was healed & healthy & unbelievably muscular & s*xy. So I thought 💭 if I confessed everything to the c*ps (cramps sickly 😖😭😤🥵😤🐒💨 8:36 pmpdt) that I might be cured of all the pain. So I wrote a note to my mom asking her to drop me off to the police 👮‍♂️ station. 8:37 pmpdt she said she cannot I think 💭 but she didn’t explain. Back in 2017 when I told her about “Brendan” being our neighbor & I thought he said he saw me break into a car 🚗 she said she would take him to court. And then she forgot. I think 🤔 the incubus possessed her & erased her memory. Incubus did a lot to sabotage us from reporting Brendan. I think 🤔 the incubus made her say she couldn’t Bcz I’m not guilty of doing anything in reality & Brendan & he loved 🥰 Brendan more. & he was probably afraid 😱 that I would report him at the same time I did my confessions. 8:42 pmpdt heather (8:55 pmpdt incubus put extra stuff) incubus doesn’t even want me typing 💬 this now. 8:43 pmpdt I felt guilty at the time Bcz Of my timing ⏱ & the reason for it. I went in & out of feeling certain that nothing really happened. 8:45 pmpdt I felt like hiding & I thought 💭 the guy stopped & would easily find me. But I wasn’t sure Bcz I didn’t see with my own eyes 👀 that he was ok. But from what I heard & felt & I thought 💭 there was no blood 🩸 on my car 🚗 that the guy was ok & untouched. The incubus showed me ahead of time he controlled traffic at least 3 times in my life that I thought 💭 he would stop 🛑 him for me. 8:50 pmpdt

9:48 pmpdt if something happened then I’m going to be shocked & distraught (?)... around 5 years ago I saw 👀 stuff maybe online? An article that the incubus borrowed millions of dollars 💸 from inter scope or octone probably b4 songs about Jane was released. Why? I don’t know 🤷🏻‍♀️. Songs about Jane was said to be a “sleeper hit” Bcz I think I read they toured for 5 years for that album 💿. The other thing I saw 👀 was the incubus was on stage at an intel technology conference & they were talking about “mind reading”. 9:53 pmpdt ( acid pain in throat 9:54 pmpdt) incubus pulled down on the bones 🦴 at the top of my throat. Incubus is killing me & making it hard to breathe 🧘🏻‍♀️. An ex-trump aid quoted harder to breathe 🧘🏻‍♀️ In 2017 for the public to hear I guess as I read in an article. 9:56 pmpdt I cannot find the articles anymore. 9:56 pmpdt 😤🥵😤🥵😤🥵😤🥵😤🥵🥵😤😤😖😭9:57 pmpdt menstrual feeling cramps. 😖😭

9:59 pmpdt Silicon Valley bank 🏦 was shut down? By the feds? Today or yesterday. 10 pmpdt tech startups & bc’s? What are bc’s? Maybe 🤔 it’s vc. 10:01 pmpdt

10:02 pmpdt I don’t like that I saw a car 🚗 w/ a Virginia license plate here. That’s a little too coincidental. 10:03 pmpdt

11:09 pmpdt in 2017? The guy, the older son? Of the neighbor next door 🚪 to my upstairs neighbor, I thought 💭 I heard him say (11:10 pmpdt throat bone 🦴 & flesh pain mins ago acid pain on vag can’t breathe 🧘🏻‍♀️ exhaling hot 🥵 air left hip bone 🦴 pain 11:12 pmpdt) he worked for apple 🍎. So he probably found my address through stalking virtually my mom’s phone 📱 then mine, also probably a Comcast customer. & also he said he was junior’s cousin. I don’t know 🤷🏻‍♀️ if that’s true or not. 11:15 pmpdt which I think 🤔 is how it might be possible that I wasn’t imagining that I saw 👀 Brendan junior in my neighborhood in 2020. 11:15 pmpdt

11:46 pmpdt I did a u-turn to check if the driveway through the sidewalk was clear but b4 I could see/reach it I heard 👂 sirens 🚨 & I lost my courage to follow thru to look 👀 so I drove away back home 🏠 to crawl into bed 🛌 afraid 😱 to watch the news 📰. The thoughts 💭 in my head last minute b4 I went through & on my way home 🏠 were god making me feel like I was making a mistake. I was in denial or not fully realizing at first that it was god & feeling like it was strange Bcz I usually didn’t have those kinds of feelings w/ those thoughts 💭 so it felt foreign (?) to me. 11:53 pmpdt it’s strange that he would suddenly choose to talk to me the way he did when he did after silently demonstrating things like his control of traffic as if to encourage me to believe perhaps 🤔 wishful thinking 💭. 11:55 pmpdt acid pain on vag 11:55 pmpdt. Even though I had memories that made me feel certain sometimes, I always come back to doubt myself Bcz I think 🤔 of something else again to make me feel uncertain. 11:57 pmpdt I guess the jokes on me. I guess no one cares Antolin Garcia torres might actually be 100% innocent of everything. If he’s not 100% innocent of everything then the jokes on me again. No one cares that history is going to repeat 🔁 & this is the only way for us to live, forever, world 🌎 with out end, & like they (left eyeball 👁 stinging pain right eye 👁 same left knee 12:01 skull 💀 bone 🦴 pain right pinky finger bone 🦴 & flesh pinching pain 12:02 am pdt left hip acid vag pain 😖😭😖😭😖😭😤😥😤🥵😤😖😭😖😭) in a social science history book 📚 it said that someone believed every person is wicked/evil. 12:03 am pdt

12:11 am pdt when I got taken to the hospital 🏥 when I ran away I didn’t tell them my name to see if I would be treated differently than when they knew my name. But something tells me that they (stubby pokey pain lower right below bellybutton. 12:14 am pdt. Somehow knew my name but were toying with me. In the ambulance 🚑 one of the emts said I was probably guilty of a crime Bcz I didn’t want to give my name. When I got to the hospital 🏥 they gave a random Jane doe name and put that I was 100 years old even though I told them my age I think? I panicked. Bcz being 100 years old I thought 💭 they were planning to murder me. 12:17 am pdt

12:34 am pdt I can’t remember anymore... maybe 🤔 it felt like a psychic thought 💭 at first? I cannot remember... my blossom hill road to comm. college experience.. the prediction that came true that I’d make it to school 🏫 in record time when it usually took 30mins-1 hour ... I think 🤔 I made it there in less than 15 minutes? I remember feeling shocked 😮. & then I forgot probably? I cannot remember if I remembered that experience at the time I saw 👀 the other cars 🚗 of same colors parking next to each other including myself w/o intention of doing so & then realized it after I picked that spot & also coincidentally running in groups together in traffic all in a dance choreographed fashion 12:43 am pdt.

1:48 am pdt incubus is burning 🔥 my right side rib cage & lungs 🫁 surface it really feels like the flesh of the lung is being burned. I didn’t smoke 💨. You’d think diffused second hand smoke 💨 shouldn’t do anything to you Bcz it’s not hot .. does smoke 💨 usually go up 🆙? When I lived in alum rock 🪨 I started having difficulty breathing. Upstairs neighbor usually smoked outside. I was never a smoker. I got sick once I thought 💭 from second hand smoke 💨 from the daycare lady’s husband’s smoking 🚬. He was extremely old & thin . He might have told me how long he’s been smoking 🚬 but I don’t remember but he seemed to try to communicate to me that smoking 🚬 doesn’t do anything to you or him. He said he was fine several times & I think he even sang a little. The incubus smoked. He’s ok 👌 & he goes around singing & charging hundreds. If you get lung cancer ♋️ then it’s a demon lord/incubus/pestilence curse. That’s what it looks like to me. Bcz I am not a smoker, yet he seems to be threatening me in that old reel dusick posted of the Sunday morning making of video he said “black lung” alluding to harder to breathe 🧘🏻‍♀️. I’ve had a lot of sensitivities & allergies 🤧 & chronic eczema. I could never afford to get addicted to something like that. 1:59 am pdt it’s best though to not get addicted since that Krupp (type of curse. Idk 🤷🏻‍♀️ what Krupp is autocorrect 2:01 am pdt can’t breathe 🧘🏻‍♀️ thru nose 👃😤🥵😤🥵😤😭😖😭) of curse exists. Only he’s allowed to do stuff like that w/o consequences. 2:01 am pdt yes I said “I love you” to “Brendan” even though I never met him in person before that & he lied 🤥 first about his identity & age & said he was friends with gym class heroes 🦸‍♂️ back in 2001. 2:03 am pdt

[peaches-writes]

a hundred days of seo - of all places (pt. 1)

member: changbin but this part is dedicated to besties hyunlix bc i said so  wc: 1.2k genre: fluff, angst, enemies to lovers au, roommates to lovers au, childhood friends to lovers au, neighbor au, college au, eventual friends to lovers au, slow burn, some besties seunghyunlix action hehe chapter warnings: explicit language, mentions of alcohol note: anon! the roommates part comes later pinky promise!

readers choose the adventure game! mechanics | requests checklist & series masterlist 

parts: prologue | part 2 (coming soon!) 

“If you guys really love me—” You groan exaggeratedly with furrowed brows, climbing up your wonkiest living room chair with a broom in your hand and violently tapping the ceiling with its handle end. In front of you, your two best friends are quick to approach closer with their hands outstretched in your direction in surprise and worry—Hyunjin, in particular, going as far as letting out a dramatic cry for you to come down which you simply ignore in your annoyance. “If you idiots care about my well-being, you wouldn’t go to this stupid party or, better yet, you would’ve made him take it somewhere else in the first place!” 

“But it’s Changbin’s birthday! As much as you’re our friend, he’s also our friend.” Felix pouts, cautiously taking two more steps closer to you and placing his hands around the chair’s head rest to steady you. “And it’s not that wild this time, just close friends!”

You fiercely glare down at the younger boy, making him gulp and flinch. Gesturing up to your ceiling and the muffled rock music, you then ask, “This is ‘just close friends’? Whatever, I don’t care! I need to study in peace and this isn’t helping me at all!” You protest, hitting the ceiling a few more times for good measure before jumping down the chair. Felix jumps as well and tightens his grip on the chair, scolding you under his breath for being reckless while Hyunjin finally beelines closer to your side and asks you if you’re okay. “Ya, Hwang Hyunjin, don’t you need to study too? We’re in the same Lit class!” 

“We’ve been studying the whole day, dumbass. We’ve literally studied the whole syllabus down for today! Tsk. Chill...” He points out, dusting off the imaginary dirt off of your pajamas in between warning you not to jump off chairs again. “Anyway, why don’t you just go with us? I saw the invite on your DMs! Just swipe a drink and go or something. You look like you need it—“

You redirect your glare at him who doesn’t waver, clearly your longer friend between him and Felix. “I have other things to do and we’re not friends. That jerk and I, I mean.” You grit stubbornly between your teeth. “He’s just stuck to me like a leech because of you two and Seungmin.”

“What’s worse is that he’s my neighbor starting this semester,” You quickly add before Hyunjin could argue back with another one of his bratty remarks. “I’ve seriously had enough of this guy. I’m definitely not giving myself more headache to go on his stupid birthday party!”

“But it’s free drinks?” Felix tries this time with a raised brow, making you slap a hand to your forehead.

“No. I already told you: the drinks aren’t worth it if it’s him offering.” You shake your head firmly, groaning and rolling your eyes when the muffled music intensifies above your heads as if in dramatic cue. 

“Why aren’t you even friends in the first place?” Hyunjin huffs, crossing his arms as if challenging you. “Seungmin won’t say anything, Changbin always changes the subject, and you’re always mad whenever we do as much as inhale to say Changbin’s name.”

The question sets you off even more, making you groan. “Just because! I really don’t like him, that’s all you need to know!” Sighing in defeat, you then push the two away from you and towards the direction of your door. “Ugh, I guess you three have chosen to be traitors to me tonight. Say hi to Seungmin for me if he turns up, I guess. He hasn’t dropped by so he’s probably gonna be late from tutoring or something. Damn it...” 

“Y/N!!!” The two pout at the same time, not even making efforts to stop you from pushing them across the floor and out of your mini communal area.

“Don’t be mad, please.” Felix adds with his best puppy eyes.

“We’ll tell Changbin to turn it down, then, swear!” Hyunjin adds after, nodding along with Felix in agreement. “And we’ll be civil tonight! Less drinks for us and no drunk stopovers here later, promise—“

“You said that a month ago at Changbin’s housewarming part 1 then two weeks ago at Changbin’s housewarming part 2. Not to mention when you stupidly stopped by my house drunk off your ass both ti—“

“Yeah, yeah, but that’s why Felix’s gonna remind me this time! Geez, Y/N.” Hyunjin frowns, flicking your forehead before pushing himself off of you and walking to the entrance on his own. “But swear, it’ll be as quiet as the campus library in a moment! We’ll really tell Changbin!”

“I wouldn’t even count on it at this point.” You sigh, directing Felix down to your apartment entrance to retrieve his shoes. “Just go, get out of my house. Happy birthday, Changbin or whatever.”

“You want us to pass that along?” Felix’s eyes immediately brighten optimistically while yours blow comically wild in disagreement. As you open your mouth to protest against it, the boy then wears his shoes back on and makes a run for your door. “Okay, Y/N, I’ll text you later what he’ll say!”

“Felix, no!” You call out for him helplessly, approaching Hyunjin who follows along haphazardly. “Ya! Ya! You fucking traitors!”

The music surprisingly quiets down when you hear Hyunjin’s loud voice upstairs three minutes later. 

The soft ping of your phone over an hour later reminds you of the pain seeping up your neck from looking down on your notes, making you reposition yourself in front of your work desk as more follow in quick succession. Picking up your phone, you immediately hold it away from your lamp as the screen brightens with each message from your best friend. 

seungmo: how’s the party? 

seungmo: running v late! 

seungmo: im walking to ur place now tho !!!

seungmo: soojin gave me a headache today w her homework 😭😭

seungmo: but yeah u & changbin aren’t killing each other yet right? 

seungmo: pls don’t

Sighing, you quickly cap your pen in your other hand and type in a quick reply. 

y/n: i didn’t go

y/n: i actually feel even better now that i didn’t seeing as you still aren’t there

seungmo: why not? 

seungmo: i thought you were coming???

seungmo: that’s why i’m coming? 

seungmo: dude we talked abt this 

seungmo: ur like neighbors now it’s rude if u don’t greet him at least once

seungmo: & u opened the DM from jisung too so???

y/n: y would i go? i hate changbin

y/n: doesn’t mean we’re neighbors now means that i have to greet him we can just co-exist until he gets kicked out or something

When Seungmin uncharacteristically doesn’t lecture you over text about being civil and polite right after, you set your phone down with a scoff on the quick conclusion that he’s probably caught up with crossing the street or the lack of cell service on your building elevator. Sinking in your chair, you look up to the ceiling once, threatening to shake with the heavy bass reverberating from its other side, and heave a long sigh. 

Of all places, you think to yourself in frustration as you then proceed to close your books and notebooks with a sudden migraine creeping up from the back of your head. Of all places, he just had to move here! 

You look over your phone once more as you then stand up from your seat and finish clearing your desk, frowning when no more messages pop up. 

The intercom across the hall, however, decides ping after. 

@skzwriternet

m.list

readers choose the adventure game! mechanics | requests checklist & series masterlist | prologue | part 2 (coming soon!)

[infinitesimally-patton]

The Angel Among Us| Chapter 5

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Read On AO3

Summary: Virgil was sent down to earth to be the guardian angel of three teenage runaways. He must guide them to safety without revealing his abilities. Otherwise, he would fail his mission, and the ones he was supposed to guide would meet the same fate he did.

Word Count: 1447

Warnings: CHILD ABUSE, Weapons, Panic Attack, Threats and Acts of Violence

Note: So, it's been a while. I don't really want to explain why I haven't updated this fic in forever, but let me just say it's complicated. And I'm sure you don't want a long and convoluted explanation, you just wanna read the chapter. So let's get on with it!

PLEASE TAKE THE WARNINGS ON THIS SERIOUSLY. ESPECIALLY THE CHILD ABUSE. It’s only in the first half if you need to skip it and want to read the chapter, but please don’t make yourself uncomfortable.

Also, I’m scrapping the tag list bc I don’t know who’s active on it anymore.

Virgil never liked to be home. It was scary, and he was always being yelled at for something. So he did whatever he could to not be home. He helped out the neighbors, went to the library, wandered around.

As he got older, it became harder to be out. People started to question why he was never home. Police officers would see him wandering around past curfew and would take him home.

Virgil could remember the night it reached its peak. An officer had brought him home and explained to his mother that he was wandering around the city late at night. Virgil was shaking, though it must not have been as visible as he thought.

Virgil’s mother thanked the officer and closed the door. She watched as he drove away, and then turned to Virgil. She started screaming at him, something about the family’s reputation. Virgil stood there immobilized in fear.

She grabbed a glass bottle that she had been drinking out of and swung it at him. He didn’t have time to run out of the way. It hit his shoulder, sending shards of glass flying. A sizable piece lodged itself in his shoulder, another sliced him right under the eyebrow. He wanted to scream in pain, but that would make her angrier.

“Fucking worthless piece of shit! I should’ve never had you!” Virgil went upstairs into the bathroom after that. Tears were falling down his cheeks. He could barely move his arm without pain shooting up it. He grabbed a pair of tweezers and tried to pull out the glass, resisting the urge to scream. You’re 13 now, Virgil. He kept repeating to himself. You’re a man now. Men don’t acknowledge pain.

The glass was finally out of his shoulder. He tried to slow down his breathing, but the pain was too much. The cut under his eyebrow was bleeding passed his eye and into his mouth. He found the first aid kit after a while, and started to clean his cuts. He put bandages on them and went to his room.

Virgil crawled into his bed and pulled his covers over his head. He wanted out of this house. He didn’t want to live like he was anymore.

He was woken up to his door slamming open. His father burst in, screaming at the top of his lungs. Virgil was scared the neighbors would hear.

His dad dragged him off of the bed by the ankle. Virgil was hyperventilating at this point, terrified for what would come next. His father was still yelling.

Once he was on the floor, his father stood on his leg. His father was a 6’4” laborer, so he was pretty heavy, especially for how malnourished Virgil was. He was in pain. He could see the violence behind his father’s eyes. And then he jumped.

SNAP

Virgil let out a scream. The pain was unbearable. His father left the room, leaving his heart pounding and his body shaking. He stayed on the floor for hours, wondering if he would come back. He got up, not even bothering to try and put weight on his now broken leg.

The pain didn’t go away the next morning. He tried to hide his limp. His homeroom teacher noticed immediately, and sent him to the nurse, who sent him to the hospital. When the ER nurse asked what happened, he lied. Just like always.

Little did he know that it would contribute to his demise 2 years later.

Virgil had gotten used to the cold by now. It was January already, and winter was in full swing. Their extremities were numb and their cheeks were rosy. The farther north they went, the colder it got.

Between meeting Roman and now, they managed to find a relatively small town, but not small enough that there were no stores in it. Luckily, they were able to get Patton an actual winter coat before going north.

Roman, unlike Patton, had a sense of direction, and constantly asked Virgil why they were going north. Virgil somehow managed to brush off the question every time, quickly telling him to not ask questions.

Soon they were within a few miles of the Canadian border, and a half a mile near Logan. They had to find him before he crossed the border. Virgil knew who controlled fate, and they told him that Logan would die after he crossed the border.

They wandered around the area in search, but to no avail. Maybe his instincts were wrong this time. Virgil felt himself start to get nervous. He had to hide it from Patton.

And then the cock of a gun was heard.

“If you move, I will shoot.” A cold, calculating voice said.

Virgil turned around slowly, soon coming face to face with the barrel of a pistol. Virgil’s head started to race, and he fell backwards onto the ground, closing his eyes and covering his ears.

His mind was spiraling. There’s a gun. We’re gonna die. I’m gonna fail. P l e a s e. The only things he could hear were his own heartbeat and his thoughts.

He had to snap out of it. Patton and Roman were in danger. His own fears could be pushed aside for now.

“-makes you think we’re dangerous?” Roman was saying.

“I’ve gotten this far by trusting no one. I’ve pushed away countless people in order to escape this country.” The voice, likely Logan, explained. “Most people have the ability to use their voice, and that is one of the most powerful weapons in the world. I can’t put my belief in anyone.”

“But you can believe us! If you just let us explain who we are-“

Logan trained his eyes onto Patton. “And how do I know if you’re truly on my side or not? You could be lying, and I’d have no clue.”

Whatever plan Patton and Roman were trying to execute, it wasn’t working. Virgil had to think. There was one thing that could work, but Virgil might be exposed during it.

“Logan… Phillips.” Virgil muttered. It wasn’t that loud, but all conversation halted.

“What did you just say?” Logan pointed the gun at Virgil. Don’t do that, please. Virgil took a deep breath. Just swallow the phobia.

“Logan Phillips. 16-years-old. About 5 months ago you were in Kansas. You stopped at a local store in a small town. You bought a lot of water, 2 boxes of crackers, and 4 jars of a specific kind of jelly.” Virgil looked Logan right in the eyes and didn’t look away. “I was the one who checked you out. That store was my grandparents’. A week later you appeared on the news, saying you were a runaway from the Special Tests.” He stood up, not breaking eye contact. It was starting to be uncomfortable, but Virgil wasn’t backing down. “Judging from what you told my friends here, you’re trying to get to Canada. The reporters pieced that together too. But you can’t go through with that plan.”

Logan was speechless for a while. When he spoke, his voice was small. “How do you know that?”

Virgil put a lot of charmspeak into these next few sentences. “Right after that news report, there was breaking news. Canada had just passed a law that would implement the Special Tests, making them the last North American country to outlaw Specials.”

Logan took a deep breath and kept his grip on his gun. “You’re lying.”

“We’re just like you. We need to get away from the tests that will kill us. Come with us Logan, you can trust us.” Virgil held out his hand.

Logan still looked skeptical. “Prove it. Prove to me you guys are specials.”

Of course Logan needed proof, being who he is. Virgil tilted his head to the side smugly. “Right now, I can hear everything. Your heart beating, Roman’s breath, the wind rustling the leaves. There’s a deer about half a mile away running from a hunter. The snow that’s falling makes a distinct sound that’s exactly like dropping a blanket on the ground.”

Patton stepped forward. “I can tell how you feel.”

Logan scoffed. “Impossible. I don’t have feelings.”

“You’re scared, Logan. You’re scared of us. You’re annoyed that we haven’t left you alone yet. You’re nervous about the news that Virgil gave you.” Patton took another step. “There are very few people who don't experience emotions in this world. You're not one of them.”

Virgil held out his hand. “Come with us Logan. Traveling alone is extremely dangerous, and we’ll make sure to get out of this country together.”

Logan sighed. “Fine, but don't think I'm going along willingly.”

[sequoiann]

one door down

pairing; joshua hong x reader genre; total fluff + neighbor!joshua + neighbors to lovers!au ? is tht a thing? if it’s not then i shall make it a thing bc yes ahaha word count; 5.4k words

synopsis; you moved in to your new place, and you and joshua first meet when he helps you out with the boxes bc you were taking forever to do it yourself. his room window was kinda directly opposite yours, so cue random paper airplanes flying into your room and you hearing him play the guitar in the mornings. and every other good shit you can think about when it comes to neighbor!josh (happy birthday shua!)

“Here we are, Miss,” the taxi driver spoke gruffly from his seat as the car slowed to a stop. It wasn’t in any sort of annoyed tone, it seemed that his voice was just deep as it is.

You glanced out of the taxi window and a pretty regular, 2-story house was in view. You quickly pulled out a few dollar bills from your wallet, passing it over to the driver first before you got lost in examining the exterior of your new residence.

Thanking the driver and getting out of the car, you hastily grabbed your single luggage from the bunk before slamming the cover back down. You looked up at the house that was somewhat towering over you, it’s V-shaped roof casting a shadow. The roofline didn’t peak in the center as was the fashion in the previous decade, but instead sloped a little to the left. It looked new — not too new, but newer than you had expected. It looked as if it had been rolled off a production line, but they had forgotten to apply the mandatory layer of color to it. The windows were huge and glassy, with a pretty, soft blue tint to it. You walked closer to it and could see the intricate patterns of wood on the walls of the house, although it was a clean white and grey.

You dug for the keys that your mother had entrusted you in your backpack. It was buried somewhere deep in the front pocket, and after a period of rummaging, you finally felt the jump ring, pulling it out along with all the other keys attached to it. You unlocked the main door with a tinge of excitement bubbling in your heart, pushing the door open to meet the place you’d be staying it for a big part of the rest of your life.

Entering the house, you closed the door behind you and lifted your bulky luggage — not wanting the wheels to stain the wood flooring — and shuffled to a corner of the living room, placing it down. Surfaces of white, glossy plastic iced over the kitchen that was situated to the left of the room, granite enforcing the walls in their straight, uninspired monotony. There was a wallpaper of some sort covering the walls of the other parts of the house, providing warmth in some way. The stairs leading up to the second floor was right at the back wall of the first floor, but wasn’t hidden. Every line was clean and straight, the color scheme being cream, white, and grey. With browns.

Your phone started ringing then, and you picked up immediately. It was your mother.

“Yes, Mom, I’ve arrived,” you told her, wrapping your fingers around the handle of your luggage again and walking towards the stairs with some difficulty from the weight.

“Oh, good! How’s the place? Have you explored?” she asked, sounding way more excited than you were.

You grunted softly as you climbed up the stairs, thuds erupting with every heavy step you took. “Kind of.”

You finally reached the second floor and saw 3 rooms in the short hallway. You entered the first one, before letting your luggage down. You huffed, now focusing on the phone call.

“Why’d you get such a big place?” you asked, trying to make it sound not so much of a complaint. You weren’t complaining. “It’s just me in this entire house, Mom. And it’s gonna be so empty.”

Your mother laughed. “Your Uncle Bob is the landlord, I could get some nice discounts from him,” she stated smugly. “Besides, if any of us visits, we could stay over or something. Or maybe your friends would want to. Who knows?”

You chuckled, relenting. “Okay then.”

“Oh, by the way,” your mother started again. “Go greet your neighbors, I heard there’s someone living next door. I’ve packed some of my homemade muffins in your luggage bag.” You could practically hear how proud she was on the phone. She must’ve been talking about the house on the left side of yours that you saw previously. It looked almost like yours, except it was whiter, its roof colored black. You caught a glimpse of warm, orangey lights inside.

“Mom, no!” you protested. You didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but that just came out as it did. You heard her hum sullenly on the other side of the line, making you rephrase your words. “I mean,” you muttered, quickly thinking of an excuse. “Your muffins are great, Mom, but it’s 11am in the morning, what if they’re still asleep?”

“Who sleeps till 11?” she frowned.

You rolled your eyes. “I know I do.”

“That’s just you.”

“Mom!” you exclaimed. “It’ll be weird to pop by so suddenly. They aren’t even expecting me. I’ll just live a quiet life here.”

“Y/N, they’d be glad! Just go, knock on the door, say hi, pass them the food, and you’re done!” your mother urged.

You sighed. “I’d like to believe I have social anxiety, Mom,” you mumbled softly, crossing your arms as you sat down on the floor beside your luggage, pulling it down so that it was lying down in front of you before unzipping it with one hand, using your feet to hold it down when it moved. It definitely wasn’t a ladylike sight, but you didn’t really care. Luckily, the luggage didn’t move much due to its weight, so unzipping and opening it with just one hand wasn’t too much of a chore.

“Where did you put it?” you asked your mother, scanning through the overstuffed luggage. You were grateful nothing came spilling out, thanks to the seatbelt-looking things that formed an X over everything, holding them down.

You could visualize your mother’s expression lighting up. “The corner, I think!”

Your hands immediately fly to all four corners of the luggage, and you saw the mason jar of cookies and muffins.

“Found it,” you told your mother, scrutinizing the glass for any cracks, and at the same time peering into it to check if the food were still… well, intact. They fortunately were.

“Great! Now get going, before the moving truck gets there. You’re gonna be busy once it does.”

“Yeah, sure.” Ideas were forming in your head, all seeming quite possibly done.

“I’ll be checking the next time I go over, don’t eat it yourself and don’t hide it either!”

“Yes, Mom, I got it,” you droned. Your cover’s blown.

The call ends there after you two say your goodbyes, and you sighed, looking at the mason jar in your hands. A cute, yellow ribbon was tied on top, and you could tell your mother had put in quite a lot of effort to make it look nice.

Not wanting to let her handiwork go to waste, you stood up, leaving your opened luggage on the floor and going back downstairs. Your hand casually goes to your pocket, making sure your keys were in there before leaving the house and heading over to your neighbor’s.

You couldn’t help but stare when you saw the lights coming from deep inside of the house; somewhat at the back of the living room, if you guessed right. The warm lights contrasted really well with the white exterior and interior, and the design of the house was really simple but futuristic and sleek. Its lines seemed even cleaner than yours, if that was possible.

Tugging on your denim jacket, you walked up to the doorstep, the dark door seeming more intimidating than a regular door should look like. You gulped, your eyes scanning the door as if the spot you picked to knock on would make a huge difference in the person answering it. You took a breath and recited the lines you had to say a few times in your head, before knocking on the wooden door, your knuckles making a sharp, not-too-loud thudding sound. There was silence as you stood there for a while. Your ears perked up to try to pick up any sounds of someone walking towards the door, but there was none.

You internally whooped — the owners were probably out. But if so, then why would the lights be on?

You brushed it off and was about to walk back home when you heard someone call from inside, “Coming!”

The voice was a little rough and obviously belonged to a man. You heard footsteps hastily making its way down the stairs, and you suddenly had the urge to run. Run? Why run?

Before you could even think any further, the door swings open, and a guy stands in front of you. He looked slightly haggard, wrinkles lining his forehead and the corner of his eyes, but he didn’t seem too old. Just the dad-age.

Your practiced lines of introducing yourself came out as a jumble of words, which led to you shutting up and simply handing the jar of food to him. He frowns slightly.

“May I help you?” he asked, and you quickly snapped out of it.

“Oh! Um, I’m so sorry,” you rambled. “I’ve just moved in next door, and my mother wanted me to give you those,” you told him, gesturing over to your house. He leans out a bit to look over to your place, his eyes widening slightly in realization.

“I see,” he said, his voice monotone, a subtle smile on his lips. “Welcome to the neighborhood then.”

You smile. “Thank you, sir.” You looked past his shoulder and caught a glimpse of the inside; it looked as good as you had presumed.

The man lifted the mason jar. “And thank you for these, sweetheart. Help me thank your mother too.”

You nodded, not removing the smile on your face and feeling yourself lighten up at the endearing term he used. “Will do.”

You briskly walked back into the warmth of your house after that, feeling relieved that it wasn’t a grumpy old shag that was living next door. Even thinking about it seemed horrible. You took off your jacket and hung it on the wooden coat rack standing beside the main door, locking the door before going back upstairs.

Unpacking whatever you had in your luggage took everything off your mind soon enough. You had put your music on shuffle, playing it just loud enough for you to hear it. You didn’t want to blast it too loud — it definitely wasn’t a good idea to disturb your neighbors on your first day here. The house was pretty well-furnished, and you had cabinets and closets already built in. Once you unbuckled the X-shaped belt in your luggage, whatever clothes you had packed inside started toppling out, which means you had to refold everything, except for the jackets and coats that you were going to hang up. You sighed and began folding and stacking them up before moving them into your closet.

Lunch was a quick bite of cup noodles which you had brought along, and the moving truck arrived right after you were done with your meal. You left the empty cup (which was a quarter filled with water and seasoning) on a corner of the countertop, hurriedly washing your hands before rushing out of the house.

The driver from the moving truck hopped down from his seat, raising a hand as a greeting when he saw you before starting to pull your boxes of stuff out of the back of the vehicle.

You jogged over, hugging a box of unexpectedly heavy stuff that he passed to you. You muttered a quiet ‘thanks’ before making your way back, kicking your main door open and lowering your stance before dropping the box on the ground beside the coat rack. It was only the first box and your hands already felt like they were burning. You had like, eleven boxes left. 

Giving yourself a mental note of encouragement, you headed back out to see the driver unloading the boxes and stacking them up on the sidewalk. You internally wanted to beg him to help you bring some to your doorstep, but you didn’t dare to. Therefore, you had to bring every of the remaining eleven, weighty, burdensome boxes into your house by yourself. You felt tired just thinking about it.

“Sorry I can’t help now,” the driver suddenly spoke apologetically just as you were about to walk back with the second box in your arms. “I’ve got another house to get to after yours.”

Oh.

You nodded in understanding before he climbed back onto his truck and drove off. Sighing in defeat, you stacked the box you were holding on top of another box, attempting to carry both at once to shorten the time needed to get the job done. The second box was blocking your line of sight entirely, so you relied on looking on the ground to find your way to your door.

The box on top suddenly wobbled slightly due to your shaking hands, and you panicked, causing it to waver even more.

“Shoot!” you exclaimed aloud as it lost its balance and fell off to the side.

However, it was caught by someone else who was apparently beside you right when the box fell.

“Woah there,” the man muttered, the box falling perfectly into his arms. You felt yourself breathe again after he caught it. You looked up at him. The man was donning a pair of sweatpants with a dark blue checkered flannel over a white tee, and had hair of a light caramel color, the straps of a black backpack slung over both of his shoulders. His eyes weren’t extraordinarily large, but the brown orbs seemed so gentle that you wanted to stare at them forever.

“T-thanks,” you stammered, unsure of what to do.

“You’re the new neighbor?” he asked, and you nodded, slightly puzzled.

“Yeah,” you said, glancing over at your house. “I just moved in today. I mean, I’m moving in. Kinda. I’m trying to.” You let out a tired sigh as your eyes traveled to the pile of boxes.

Joshua chuckled lightly. “Nice to meet you. I’m Joshua, I live right next door.” He nodded towards the sophisticated white house you had visited earlier, and you blinked.

“You are?” you quipped. “I went over just now, and someone else opened the door… A man.”

Joshua nodded. “Must’ve been my dad. He doesn’t stay with me, but he comes over sometimes.”

Your lips formed an ‘o’. “I’m Y/N. Hi.”

Joshua stifled his laughter at your awkwardness. “Hi,” he responded. “You seem like you need help with the boxes.”

“Oh, right, the boxes,” you said, remembering your task as you looked at the scattered boxes on the sidewalk. “I mean, I don’t want to bother you, but…”

Joshua smiles, his eyes forming little crescents as he walked towards your house with the box he had in his arms without saying anything. You walked alongside him, entering your house first and placing the box down beside the first one.

“Just leave them here for now,” you told him, and Joshua nods, placing his box on top of another.

“Give me a sec,” he told you suddenly. “I’ll be back in a few.”

You were confused, but didn’t question him as he ran back to his house. You walked back out and picked up another box, and Joshua came running back out a few seconds later. You realized his backpack was gone now.

“That was fast,” you commented as Joshua carried 2 boxes at once. He merely smiled.

So it went on like that, the both of you going back and forth and bringing the boxes in. You two talked quite a bit for a first meeting, from telling each other your ages to discussing your hobbies. He was just a year older than you, you found out.

“That’s all of the boxes, right?” Joshua asked as he placed the last box down in your house, and you nodded.

“Yep,” you confirmed as you glanced outside one last time to make sure nothing was left on the sidewalk. You looked back at Joshua, smiling gratefully. “Thanks a lot. I would’ve taken forever if not for you.”

Joshua chuckled. “No problem,” he said, adding, “You probably would’ve broken some stuff too.”

You laughed, humming in acknowledgment. 

“Mhmm. You should go back before your dad starts questioning why you’re here for so long,” you said, and Joshua laughs.

“Sure,” he said, stepping out of your house. “I’ll see you around, right?”

The corners of your lips couldn’t help but turn up, your cheeks turning a light shade of pink which wasn’t very noticeable. “For sure.”

You brought up some of the boxes into your room, those that contained the stuff that belonged in your private space.

When you walked past your room window, the outside caught your eye. You realized that there was a window from the house next door facing yours, and it was so close it seemed like you could just jump over.

What was even more surprising was that in the room, on the wide bed that was situated in the center of it, was Joshua, still in the same clothes you saw him in, his legs crossed on the bed. A guitar was on his lap, one of his arm resting over it as the other hand pressed down on the strings. He started strumming lazily as if he wasn’t really sure of what he was playing, but the melody still made out something.

He suddenly stopped strumming before looking up, his eyes meeting yours. You felt your heart stop.

“S-sorry!” you shouted across although he would probably be able to hear you even if you spoke in your normal volume. You felt heat crawl up your neck. “I didn’t mean to stare.”

You were preparing yourself for him to be angry or show any signs of negative feelings, but none came. Instead, surprise washed over his features, before a smile appeared as he placed his guitar down on the soft mattress, walking over to the window.

“Y/N!” he exclaimed, obviously surprised. “That’s your room?”

“Kinda…?” you droned, looking around. “There are 3 rooms in this house and I’m the only one living here, so…”

“Oh,” he muttered in realization. “Cool! We can talk like this.”

You laughed. It definitely was cool.

Like a Romeo and Juliet thing.

Your friendship with Joshua blossomed a lot over the next few months, and you honestly owed your thanks to the fact that you two were literally living side-by-side. One push of the windows and you two could talk about anything and everything like there was no tomorrow. You two could chatter about the smallest of matters to having deep conversations late into the night, when you would sit down on the elevated marble platform that was built right at your window, your back leaning onto the wall and your legs stretched out. You’d open the windows entirely regardless of the fact that you were at the risk of just falling over, but you knew it wouldn’t happen as long as you didn’t fool around. Joshua would pull a chair over to his window, elbow propped on the silver frame, his chin rested on his fist as he listened to you speak. 

You never noticed it yourself but Joshua looks at you like you placed the sun, moon and all the stars in the sky.

Paper airplane conversations became a thing, too. You were the one who started it, actually, and you didn’t really expect him to play along. Your desk was right beside the window, so in the middle of doing some stuff, you grabbed some used papers that you didn’t need, writing a short ‘yo’ on it with a fat, black marker before folding the said paper into an airplane. You then threw it towards Joshua’s window, the airplane easily gliding gracefully through the air and into his room.

He was so confused at first at the arrival of the inanimate object, but he saw you at your window, smiling cheekily. He laughed softly, shaking his head and picking up the airplane. You gestured for him to unfold it and he did, before chuckling to himself again. Joshua took a sheet of paper from his desk, scribbling something on it and flying it over to you. You unfolded that and it read ‘you’re such a child’.

“Excuse me?” you spoke, and Joshua laughed.

“You’re excused,” he joked.

That led to the both of you constantly flying paper planes into each other’s room at random times of the day, whether the other party was in or not. There was once when Joshua wasn’t home, you folded tons and tons of paper planes, flying them all into his room and covering his entire bed and floor. You couldn’t see Joshua’s expression when he entered the room due to the limited view of his room that you could see from yours, but you could visualize how surprised he was from his exclamation of “oh God, oh wow!”. You nearly fainted laughing at the mix of shock, surprise, and mock anger in Joshua’s expression when he saw you at your window, giggling to yourself.

He got his revenge on you soon enough, though. He did the exact same, except that he revealed that he wrote something in one of them. You couldn’t stand the suspense, so you spent an hour unfolding every plane, and in the end, it was just a ‘hola muchacho’ that was written in one of them.

You literally marched to Joshua’s doorstep and tackled him to the ground.

But there was this really sweet side to him too, which sometimes made you question how someone could be this balanced in nature.

You would wake up every day to Joshua playing his brown, ordinary guitar at about 10am in the morning, its soft, acoustic tunes lulling you awake, and sometimes even helping you to fall asleep at night when you can’t. You’ve never slept so well before, you’d dare say. His mellow, soothing voice that rarely accompanied his guitar-playing was indisputably music to your ears. You loved how he stayed so lowkey about it. Once you woke up, sitting up on your bed with your messy, disheveled hair and half-open eyes, you’d, more often than not, hear Joshua chuckle at your unkempt appearance, then greet you with a gentle “Good morning, sleepyhead”.

But of course, there were times when you’d just drop back onto your bed and close your eyes, and that would be when Joshua would start strumming his guitar noisily, one of the only times when you’d say that the guitar playing sounded horrible.

“C’mon, wake up! We’re supposed to go out today!” you’d hear him say, resulting in a tired groan for you because you’re just that lazy.

“Can we postpone it?” you asked hoarsely, your morning voice still apparent.

“Nope.”

“Hmm.” You were already drifting back to dreamland.

When Joshua becomes helpless, he’d make the effort to go downstairs, walk over to your house, unlock your door since he has the spare key, come upstairs into your room, and then sit by your bed, annoying you in the most gentle way possible (it doesn’t even seem possible but Joshua does it) until you get up.

But there was this once when you overslept into the afternoon. You got confused when you woke up and the clock on your desk showed 12:13pm, and after coming to your senses you stood up, going to your window and looking over at Joshua’s. To your surprise, his windows were closed and his curtains were drawn.

“Hey, Joshua!” you whisper-shouted, sleep still lining your voice. No replies.

You started getting worried. His window hadn’t been open since yesterday night, and you had merely thought that he was staying out with his friends till late, but he wasn’t one to sleep in until the afternoon.

The uneasy feeling in you was eating you up. You quickly washed up and changed out of your pajamas, before going downstairs and hurriedly walking over to his house. You noticed newspapers from the past 2 days peeking out from his mailbox and grabbed those. After getting no response from knocking on his door a couple of times, you unlocked it with the key you had, before placing the newspapers on his countertop and rushing upstairs, your heart beating slightly faster than it should.

You pushed down the handle of his room door, carefully pushing the door open. His room was dim, almost dark, minimal sunlight peeking in through the tiny gaps of the maroon-colored curtains. Joshua was lying on the bed, on his side, his blankets pulled up to his waist. You couldn’t help but stare. His features were much softer when he was asleep, the lines that usually creased the corner of his eyes and eyebrows replaced by a youthful, dove-like appearance. His chest slowly rose and fell in sync with his shallow breaths, serenity plastering itself across his face.

You closed the door behind you and soundlessly walked over to him, gently placing your palm on his forehead. Nope, he wasn’t having a fever. Your eyes caught sight of a few prescribed pills on his nightstand, and you realized that he was having a cold.

Joshua suddenly stirred in his sleep, his eyes fluttering open. There was blankness in his eyes for a moment as he slowly took in his surroundings and the fact that you were in his room. He hummed softly, his voice sounding scratchy, and he slowly sits up.

“Y/N?” he slurred. His hair was standing up in all directions, making you chuckle and attempt to flatten them. “Why’re you here?”

“Because you have some explaining to do,” you said in mock annoyance, sitting down on the edge of his bed. “Why didn’t you tell me you were sick?”

Joshua smiled, although he still didn’t seem fully awake. “It’s just a cold.”

He had zero idea that you had overslept because he didn’t play his guitar. 

“That’s still being sick.”

Joshua hummed again, nodding in resignation. “Yes, yes, you grandma.”

You brazenly cupped Joshua’s face with your hands, scrutinizing him. “You look dreadful.”

“Do I?” he murmured, looking around for a mirror.

“Yeah, but it doesn’t matter because you’re too good looking when you aren’t sick,” you pointed out, snickering.

Joshua chuckled, his eyes forming the mini crescents that you loved. “Why, thank you.”

You chuckled too.

“Have you taken your meds?” you asked, and Joshua nods, a little unsurely.

“Yeah, just. I think.”

“Good. Now go back to sleep,” you said, your hands intuitively and gently pressing down Joshua’s messy hair. “This is the only time I won’t be disturbing you,” you told him impudently.

Joshua smiled, lying back down, but his hand was holding onto your wrist. “Are you going back?”

You shrugged. “I’ll probably keep you awake if I stay,” you said, chuckling. “You know how noisy I can be.”

Joshua shook his head. “That’s fine. You keep me awake all the time anyway.”

You laughed. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means I think about you a lot.”

Your eyes widened in surprise at the unanticipated answer that you received as you looked away from him, heat blossoming in your cheeks. “I think your medicine has some weird side-effects.”

Joshua chuckled. “No, it doesn’t. I’m telling you the truth.”

You were so embarrassed you wanted to bury your face in something, anything.

“I like you, Y/N. I really do. I’ve liked you ever since you started flying your little airplanes into my room. I love your laughter, how your head kinda hangs back when you laugh really hard. You’re just so…” Joshua trailed off, and his gaze softened, his eyes practically twinkling, his thumb rubbing small circles into your skin. “So beautiful.”

You tried to bite in the wide smile that was forming on your lips, burying your face in your hands, your back facing him. “Joshua, you know I can’t handle these kinds of things,” you mumbled. His laughter rings in your ears. 

Your heart was palpitating so fast against your chest, you could literally feel the thumps on your ribcage. You liked him too, you liked him so much you would space out and think about him at random times, and then start smiling to yourself. You loved how he was so playful but so kind at heart. Even your mother liked his personality --- she herself had been trying to push you to him everytime she comes over.

“That’s fine. I’ll make it easier,” he said. “Do you like me back? You just have to say yes or no.”

“You ass,” you said, your cheeks sore from smiling. “I can’t not like you even if I wanted to.”

Joshua beamed in content, before pulling you lightly towards him. You ended up lying right beside him, his face intimately close to yours. Even being this near to him, you couldn’t seem to find any flaw in his features. His eyes practically held the galaxy in them, his lips pinkish and slightly chapped, his skin having the tiniest of bumps on the corners of his nose. Even that seemed cute. Joshua chuckles softly after noticing how your eyes weren’t looking at his.

“You’re adorable.”

He lightly presses his lips to yours, the lips you’ve been dreaming about. It was as soft as you have expected it to be. A rosy hue played on both of your cheeks after he pulled away.

“You’re sick, Joshua,” your reminded — but not that you really cared about that anyway.

“Oh. Right. My bad,” he muttered, his thumb caressing your lips gently. “I think I’m better already anyway.”

The both of you started going over to each other’s houses more often than you should, so much so that it was almost possible to just sell the house you had and live with Joshua.

Joshua started cooking quite a lot for you, even though he wasn’t the best chef. You always laughed to yourself when you saw him in the kitchen with an apron, commenting on how motherly he looked. He would proceed to strike a few poses sometimes, and when you whip your phone out of your pocket, he’d immediately return to the stove and act aloof. He mentioned about spotting the empty cup of noodles the first time he came into your house (aka when he helped you with the boxes), and nagged about how unhealthy it was for your body. He was so caring; he’d always check on you over the smallest matters, like if you got to work safely when he can’t send you himself, and even making sure you don’t give in to your cravings and feed yourself ice-cold drinks when you’re on your period because he knew you’d have horrible cramps if you do.

“Just a sip, Joshua!” you argued, reaching for the can of cola as he tiptoed, raising it up and away from you, shaking his head persistently. 

“You’re gonna be rolling in bed and sobbing at night, so no,” Joshua said, putting the can to his mouth and drinking it himself. You pouted, and he couldn’t help but titter, abruptly placing his lips on top of yours for a moment. You could taste the negligible amount of the drink from his lips, the slight fizziness bubbling on your tongue.

“There,” he teased after pulling away. “That’s a sip for you.” 

You tried cooking breakfast for him once too, and he actually woke up because of the smell that wafted through the air in the house. You didn’t even hear him coming downstairs, so you nearly jumped out of your skin when you felt his hands snake around your waist, his chin resting on your shoulder as you felt his breath on your neck.

“You’re not supposed to be up so early!” you exclaimed, and he chuckled.

“Sorry,” he apologized, placing a quick peck on your cheek before peeling himself away from you.

“Try not to burn anything, babe,” he joked.

“It’s just eggs, Shua,” you told him pointedly, pretending to be offended. He laughed.

“I know. But thanks. Love you.”

You snickered. “Well that was random, but love you too.”

✄— more fics

[ajwarked]

this morning at about 9 am, our landlord shut off our water (without any prior notice) and started replacing the hot water heater (that had been leaking since November 2020, it’s April 6th 2021). they were being super loud, talking really loud, we could hear everything they were doing. our unit is right above the basement where they were working. eventually after over an hour, i yelled “could you keep it down” and someone started to reply but my boyfriend, who hadn’t been asleep long, works night shift, has lived here and dealt with this for years, who also goes to school at the same time, in an irritated moment yelled “shut the fuck up”. a little while later, i smelled gas in our bedroom where my boyfriend was sleeping. i asked him if he smelled it too, he said yes, i threw my shoes and a mask on and ran downstairs to make sure everything was okay. i said “hey it smells like gas upstairs, is everything okay?” the landlord, really annoyed, said “yeah we’re replacing the hot water heater for you. you know your boyfriend has lived here for years and never yelled like that.” i said “okay i was just checking on the gas smell, but he’s really tired, he works third shift, and he’s in school so you know”. she complained about him saying fuck, i said “yeah he’s just really tired and you guys have been going since 9 am, you didn’t even give us a notice. anywhere i’ve lived usually gives a notice for this stuff, you’ve texted before, you couldn’t’ve shot a text about this or left a note?” she said nobody’s complained before and most tenants are really cool about this. i said okay well i was just checking on why my apartment smelled like gas. she said you aren’t a tenant why isn’t your boyfriend down here talking to us (i pay rent but am not on the lease because i moved in here after leaving an abusive ex and my bf didn’t want me to feel pressured to stay bc i had only known him a week). i said well he’s sleeping and in his underwear, i smelled gas to run down and see what was up. she again said ever since i had been there that he had been really angry and had never been like that before. (god forbid he complains when she pulls her bullshit like this. she regularly vacuums at 9 or 10 am, she’s known for 6 years now he works night shift). she really tried to pull a “you’re really not being chill about the bullshit i’m pulling”. i said “are you saying that’s my fault?” she said “i’m not saying who’s fault it is but”. i just stared at her. the way she was looking at me and around, she was clearly annoyed and had no regard for me and was just treating me like a nuisance. there was a teenager there with the landlord, and her adult brother, the teenager’s dad. the teenager said “stop running your mouth and go home”. i said “I’m sorry, what?” he said “you heard me, stop running your mouth. go home”. i stared at him. he said “go home”. i stared. he said “do you have a problem?” i said “yes, why are you being so rude? and who even are you? i’ve never seen you here before.” he said “this is my dad and YOU’RE being rude to my aunt and dad. we’re here installing a hot water heater for YOU, so just stop running your mouth and go home” i said “oh so you’re the landlord’s kid?” and looked at the landlord and her brother as if to see if there was any sense registering in their brains. i said “you really didn’t have to bring up anything, i was just trying to tell you my apartment smells like gas. you didn’t have to do this.” the guy that was actually installing the hot water heater said “we were being quiet the only thing that was loud was us moving the heater” i said “no, we could hear y’all talking, chains moving, you working on everything. we could hear every little thing, why do you think you woke us up and he got so annoyed?” he said “well we’re almost done we’ll try to keep it down” i said “thanks” and stormed upstairs and slammed the door. i started crying and told my boyfriend what they said. he went downstairs and said they obviously knew they fucked up. his landlord tried to say “move if you aren’t happy here” and he said “I’ve wasted 50 thousand dollars here, we’re looking to move now.” it was just ridiculous. worst of all, it just triggered this horrible response in me, that “sit and take it or fight back even though you’re fighting against someone insane” that my mom and ex put me in over and over and over. i had flashback after flashback and totally melted down. idk. i just needed to write this somewhere. i doubt there’s anything we can really do but try to move. our apartment is full of mold, literally insulated with styrofoam, the sink is always broken, the shower is regularly leaking because it’s completely unsealed so we literally just shower at the gym. the cabinets are falling off, the carpet is from the 70s, the drop ceiling tiles are falling apart and there’s obviously been leaks there. it’s ridiculously expensive to heat or cool this place because it was built in 1927 and just in shambles. it’s old military housing, there’s literally not even doors between the rooms. the walls are thin wood paneling from the 70s. this winter the entire apartment was surrounded by feet of snow and ice and they took weeks to clear the smallest path. it’s cheap, and it’s CHEAP. they do no maintenance even though they’re seemingly always here being loud in the morning. it’s just a fucking ridiculous place, plus our neighbors are toxic and drunk and crazy. we’re starting the process now to move.  I don’t know why i didn’t throw it in their face that the broken hot water heater wasn’t for my convenience, like they were trying to throw it in my face as some service for me. i didn’t even know it was even broken, our hot water has been just fine. that’s only for their sake, bc we don’t pay water here, they pay for it, and a leak for 6 months from a hot water heater is going to surge a bill. they should’ve replaced it before it went bad.  they’re the epitome of privilege. they inherited this building from their daddy and that’s how they make their living, skimming off of other people’s income. and the space they provide is a total shithole. fucking ridiculous. 

[dear-jjh]

“accidentally” | neighbor’s! au

gif originally posted by kangdan101

requested: yes. characters: lai guanlin x reader, bae jinyoung  genre: fluff, neigbours! au, light angst (?) word count: 2.3k summary: out of all the accidentally’s, which one was your favourite?  author’s note: its a very light story! nothing too crazy, nothing too angsty (i guess). when i received this request, i was actually so excited to start working on it bc i found it so funny hahaha. anyways, thought i would be able to post this scenario by the end of the week but i finished it early! as usual, please tell me how i did and if you liked it! thank you, i hope you enjoy reading!

masterlist

Its been a really stressful day. Your schedule is basically packed for the next two weeks or so. Due dates after due dates. Back to back projects and tests. You really just wanted to go home and take rest as well as breathe for a bit.

Once you entered your house, you just wanted to have a breakdown. But you couldn’t do so because you didn’t have time for that. You then headed to the kitchen to grab some snacks before heading to your bedroom upstairs.

When you stepped into your bedroom, you immediately placed the snacks and your bag in your desk.  You closed your eyes and took a deep breath because now you can finally take a rest for a few hours before doing your homework.

Right when you opened your eyes, you realized that there was loud music playing but you didn’t know where it was coming from. You sighed in disbelief because you just wanted to have a peaceful night but you thought that it wasn’t really possible now. The music was hip-hop, you liked hip-hop but not right now because you weren’t really in the mood to jam to that type of that music.  

You slid your curtains to the side and you looked out the window to see your neighbour’s window open. Now you knew where the music was coming from. It was from your neighbour’s house. You really wanted them to turn it down but you didn’t even know who your neighbour was so you just decided to let it go.

Wow, this day really wasn’t going well for you, huh? You thought. Was peacefulness too much to ask?

You left your curtains open but you shut your windows closed so that the volume of the music would lessen a bit.

You grabbed your snacks from the table and your laptop from your desk. You brought these to your bed as you wanted to lay in your bed and take a nap. To cancel out the loud hip-hop music that was currently playing from your neighbour’s house, you decided to play your favourite sad playlist to get you to sleep.

You were slowly dozing off to sleep when you heard your phone make a notification sound.  Again, was peacefulness too much to ask? You were about to fall asleep and take a good nap but this person decided to bother you. You sighed while grabbing your phone from your side table.

“Lai Guanlin wants to share a photo with you. Accept or Decline?”

Confusion. Thats what you felt when you received that notification.

Um what? Who was Lai Guanlin? And how close could he be to you that he can airdrop you something? What the hell?

It took less than a minute for you to actually make a decision whether to accept it or not. You hesitated but you decided to accept it anyways.

A smile formed in your face once you saw the picture that was sent. It was a meme but was it really a meme? I mean, You couldn’t help but laugh because it was a cute picture of a sad dog that said “Turn that frown upside down” with another dog smiling. Who wouldn’t smile at this picture?

“Baejin look at that dog!!! Its cute isn’t it???” Lai Guanlin sent you this message.

Again, you were confused. Was this an accident? Who was Baejin? The only Baejin that you knew was that new student in your English class who just transferred last week. Still confused, you decided to reply to whoever this Lai Guanlin was.

“Thats a really cute dog and that made me smile but this isn’t Baejin LOL” Once you were done typing the message, you placed your phone back to your side table and you silently laughed when you realized that this person just accidentally sent you that picture.

He replied and this was your conversation,

Lai Guanlin: OH MY GOD I ACCIDENTALLY PRESSED YOUR NAME, SORRY IT WAS FOR MY ROOMMATE!!!! Well this is embarrassing…

Y/N: LOL no its fine, it was actually cute. Btw, if you were able to airdrop that picture to me, how close are you to me right now?

Lai Guanlin: Oh? I don’t know how your name even appeared either but I told Baejin about what happened and he said that you’re our neighbour so maybe thats why I was able to accidentally send it to you

Y/N: Oh! Baejin. Yes, I know him. He’s one of the students who recently just transferred to the school and is actually in my English class

Lai Guanlin: Yes him LOL. I’m Guanlin tho!

Y/N: Hi, I’m Y/N. By the way, do you mind turning down the music a little bit? I was gonna take a nap and study right after. I like hip-hop too but its not the type of music I can fall asleep to lol

After sending that message, your could hear that your neighbour started to lower down the volume to the point that you can barely hear it anymore. You assumed that he lowered it down because of your text.

Lai Guanlin: Sorry about that, if you ever need to tell me to lower down the music or anything, don’t hesitate to text me! You have my number now ;)

You smiled upon reading the text. Actually, you didn’t end up taking a nap anymore. Something about this person woke you up and made your day better. Your mood actually lifted up. You eventually had to bid goodbye as it was finally time to study and do work. But that wasn’t the end of it.

Ever since that “accident”, you and Guanlin would constantly start texting each other by sending random memes. You also found out that he and his other friends recently just moved in to the house beside yours. He was also in the English class that you were talking about. You felt bad that you only knew Baejin but Guanlin didn’t really take it to the heart since you guys were now closer.

Everyday he would airdrop you a picture and you would do the same. You both would just constantly laugh about the memes. A day didn’t feel complete when Guanlin doesn’t send a random meme. Of course, you would both get so busy but you started to feel a little sad whenever he forgets to message you.

Sometimes, you even felt as if you were clingy. You would use the excuse “Can you send me the notes from todays class?” to him just to get the conversation started. Little did he know, you had all of the notes because you were writing so diligently in class earlier. He would always send it though. No matter how busy he was, he would still try to message you.

You became really good friends with Guanlin and you appreciated the fact that he would always try to cheer you up whenever you were having a bad day. Sometimes you would hang out and just talk about memes and such. But that wasn’t it. Your relationship got deeper.

You started talking about your goals and dreams, your likes and dislikes. He would ask you about your day and you would do the same. You eventually figured that you were catching feelings for this guy but you weren’t sure if he felt the same. You would constantly talk to him. You started to feel attach and this wasn’t good because once you’re attached, it would just be so hard.  

After realizing that you have feelings for him, you started to message him less, to reply to him less. You started to distance yourself. You knew he didn’t feel the same. He wasn’t only this friendly to you, who knows, he could be sending a meme to the girl he was talking to earlier during your English class.

In person, you would also start ignoring him and just by giving him the cold shoulder. Guanlin felt sad and disappointed that you were starting to do this. He thought that you guys had a good friendship and he thought that there could be a potential for a relationship. But you started doing nothing but to ignore him.

Days went by and you thought that Guanlin didn’t notice the change in you. Each time you ignore Guanlin, it hurts his pride because he tries to talk to you but all you do is distance yourself even further.

Constantly talking to him caused you to fall for him. You would always talk before but now it lessened.You started to see each other less. You started hanging out less and this was because of your “busy” schedule. But you knew it wasn’t your busy schedule. It was because you wanted to stop catching feelings for him. You didn’t want to fall deeper for him when you weren’t even sure if he would be there to catch you.

Coming home was too peaceful at this point. Everytime you enter your bedroom, there wasn’t any more loud music. It was too quiet. There wasn’t any more memes that was sent. Your night became too peaceful. This wasn’t the type of peacefulness you wanted, especially not after meeting Guanlin.

As cliché as it sounds, Guanlin made your bad day good. His presence made you feel so happy and everytime you part from each other, you always couldn’t wait for the next time you see each other.

He brought butterflies in your stomach each time he would “accidentally” brush his hands against yours.

You could feel your heart drop to the ground each time you would catch him “accidentally” staring at you while you two study for English together in the library.

You couldn’t express it in words how you felt when you accidentally tripped and he caught you with his arms and he said “You’re so clumsy, but don’t worry! Every time you trip or fall, I’ll always be here to catch you.”

You couldn’t do anything but close your eyes and cherish the moment whenever he would “accidentally” fall asleep while watching a movie and his head would just casually fall on your shoulder.

You couldn’t help but feel so thankful each time he would bring you a cup of coffee to class early in the morning because he knew you stayed up late last night but his defense was that the barista “accidentally” gave him two cups of coffee when he only ordered one. 

A smile would form on your face everytime he would “accidentally” send a meme in the middle of the night while having stressful study session. He knew you were stressed because he could see you from his window. 

Yes, ever since you guys became close, you would always leave your windows and curtains open when you’re studying to see how each other was doing.

You could go on and on how happy he made you feel. You could go on and on with how many accidentally’s happened already and how many of these accidentally’s made you jump up and down on your bed.

Eventually, all of these made you unexpectedly and accidentally fall for him. But, all of these accidentally’s were now just becoming memories.

You came home early after finishing your last exam for the term. All you wanted to do was tell Guanlin how happy and relieved you felt. You wanted to ask him about his exams and how he did. But you couldn’t. You were only able to message each other once this week and it was because you actually didn’t have notes from the previous class.

Entering your bedroom wasn’t as exciting as before. No loud hip-hop music. You slid your curtains to open the window and you noticed that his windows were closed.

You sighed in disappointment and regret that you distanced yourself from him when you guys could’ve kept a good friendship. But after accidentally catching feelings for him. You didn’t think it  was possible to do so. Everything he did for you and towards you, you couldn’t help but expect and assume that maybe he was also starting to gain feelings for you.

You felt nothing but emptiness because he wasn’t there like he was before. You jumped in your bed and buried yourself under your blanket and the sadness that you felt. You decided to take a nap to try to sleep off this empty feeling away.

You slowly opened your eyes as you woke up to loud music coming from your neighbour’s house, again. This time, you weren’t annoyed nor you didn’t want him to turn down the music. You missed this. You couldn’t help but smile remembering the first night when you talked.

You were about to get up when you received a notification from your phone. For the first time in a while, you felt excited just because of a notification.

“Lai Guanlin wants to share a photo with you. Accept or Decline?”

Without any hesitation, you accepted it faster than a blink of an eye. It was a meme, but you weren’t sure if it was really a meme. Because memes were supposed to make you smile or laugh but this particular meme suddenly started to make you tear up.

This meme said “I like you…. I miss you… And I can’t wait to see you…” Another dog meme, just like the first time he accidentally airdropped you something.

You didn’t know whether you should cry or run to his place and see him because of the emotions that were currently overflowing. You could feel your heartbeat speed up just by the thought of him feeling the same way.

Lai Guanlin sent you a message. 

Lai Guanlin: Oh, I accidentally sent that ;)

You couldn’t help but smile upon reading the message. You grabbed your coat and then headed out of your bedroom to go to his place to see him and tell him what you’ve been feeling all along.

Because, out of all the accidentally’s that you shared together, this was your favourite one.

Here is the dog meme that was used towards the end of the story! 

posted on: 171205 (updated on 180102)

[softnorwegians]

Another bunch of asks that I didn’t want to leave unanswered! Note: tread lightly if you love the remakes or William or P Chris, opinions in asks not necessarily my own.

man, I can already see the fourth of july instead of may seventeenth plot...oh god! Skam Austin gets worse everytime I think about it too hard!

I think it’ll be prom or homecoming or something that’s a thing?

I had my problems with skamit but kept watching until ep 4. When italian vilde was going upstairs to hook up with you know who she actually stopped and asked italian chris if she was doing the right thing bc she was not sure and she was like wtf are you kidding me, just go with him. I just, idk, no best friend would tell you to follow some guy just like that. It might sounds stupid but that scene really made me feel so damn bad. I am afraid this remake might be a bit too much for me.

Mmm, yeah, I didn’t keep up with that one past the first ep so I don’t know. I’m glad the Italians seem to enjoy it but I could understand why they’re like “oh god, how to we explain this to non-Italians” at least once an episode. 

I think the positive thing about it being on Facebook watch is that it is the only free streaming platform it could have been on, meaning it has the potential to reach more people. I mean okay you need a fb account but that’s better than paying for Netflix or Hulu every month. Plus as of now it isn’t geoblocked. And Facebook owns Instagram so the social media can be filtered better than it would have on any other network. I just see how in terms of what US networks have to offer why FB was best

Yeah, I think it’s a fitting choice? I’m not sure how much being on a certain platform gives you a greater reach, I think some people were thinking more people might stumble onto it elsewhere.

I’m from jersey too! Man north and south jersey are like two different states. Imagine Skam Jersey City or something - never on time to anything because NJ transit sucks, the multiple malls within in a 20 minute radius is the hangout on weekdays and you go into the city or Hoboken on weekends for no reason with no money to spend. Your neighbors pretty much make your block more diverse than the UN. Real non chain pizza and Chinese take out are eaten religiously.

Jersey has a little bit of everything?? Because I was from a small-town, little suburb that was all tree-lined and beautiful. But that town was also surrounded by highways and stripmalls if you went ten-fifteen minutes in several directions?

i used to be meh about the remakes but the longer they go on the more i hate them. the european ones feel like a bunch of bad cosplayers decided to remake skam. I HATE THEM

I have this thing where it’s kind of fun to compare them at first but then the novelty wears off and I’m more “why... no...”. I generally hate remakes though so I’ve actually felt like I’ve grown as a person to be this accepting!

Lol Isak and Even were barely in s4 and when they were the storyline was either dropped halfway trough or Isak was used to further Sana's story, develop their best friends story they build in s3 or to use Isak as preacher to justify muddy waters. Just like Sana and Noora's ONLY SOLO scene did, to "call out Noora's hypocricity" but it was more to excuse and get a wise, popular character to make William look better (lol). Yet Vilde and Chris were close and had build up with Sana, not Noora...

My two least favorite scenes in Skam...

If the Uk is the biggest it's not what Scandinavia is getting. 90% is American based, it's always been like that and that's why we have so much American integrated in out cultures and also why we are also very good at English because while we study it early on we are constantly surrounded by English and American film and television.

Maybe part of that stat is the UK/USA co-productions? Like a British production company doing Skam Austin like this. 

US Willhelm looks like the most genetic white football player douschebag and he looks exactly like that scumbag from 13 reasons why. I wonder why the remakes never changes the ethnicity for Willhelm when he's supposed to be the dream goal?

Yeahhhhhhhh, it does say something that they’ve changed P Chris to a minority twice while the most popular guy is always remarkably the same.

I mean I get that Julie is doing skam Austin so it’s being critiqued more BUT there are so many other remakes going on to watch instead. So many countries have the opportunity to make skam and I’m sorry but so far they all either did an exact copy and/or are not keeping up with the point of daily updates in real time.People hate on Julie but the other creators so far have done little to adapt it correctly. Clearly from Skam Austin we see that the characters do not have to be exact copies 🤷🏻‍♀️

Well, I don’t think people were very accepting of the other remakes either? People have been pretty harsh on all of them. It’s just a different kind of harsh with Skam Austin because it’s tied up with people’s existing feelings about Julie Andem and s4 and the end of Skam and etc.

"The argument is racist" omg stop throwing that word around it actually has an important meaning and using it for something inappropriate is just defeating its purpose. Also idk if it's just because that anon is American, but not every argument needs to have an underlying note of racism in it and it's frustrating when people just use the "you're racist" card just to look better in a discussion, it just destroyes the job we put into fighting against racism when it actually matters.

Yeah, that happens a lot. There’s a thoughtful way to consider race in what we’re talking about but that’s not it.

I think skam austin is going to be another repeat of the same plot , like I think if they wanted to do something new, they would change the name at least but calling it skam austin immediately connects it to og skam and I think the other remakes have shown us just have different they can go with the plots...

I don’t know, I’ve really gone back-and-forth about how close it’s going to be? I think we have to wait and get some footage at least.

imagine how it was when she broke the news to the actors? the deal was done during s3, they must have at least thought of her going to the states, then finding out s4 is the last season.

I wonder if they did find out in stages or all at once. Was Skam ever possibly going to continue? Without Julie, maybe? I’d kind of assume she told them both at once.

I remember reading a while ago when a p Chris fan was going ***** over Jonas and that Eva didn't give Chris a chance because he's so much more than a fuckboy. They said they had seen vines of pchris and Eva and I though of course it would be vines rofl so imagine a bunch of people falling for this hot badboy over vines expecting this great badass character and then he's barely in the show? I think it's 90% Herman projection onto Chris and Eva. They love him because he's apparently hot.

Yeah, with P Chris I’m like “he’s barely there????”. At least William is a character!

it's weird that all the remakes chose to start in the middle of the school year. even weirder that skam france has chosen to put out 2 seasons in the space of about 4 months... I feel like they're doing that to dominate the skam remakes, you know to be the most predominant remake. Seems fishy to me. I don't trust them. Don't even get me started on these fake leaks of the episode for publicity!!!!! We're not falling for it! Who else could it be except THEIR OWN TEAM!!! yeesh lol sorry ANYWAY

Didn’t episodes leak twice or something? I don’t know, I’m not following it very closely. I did find the whole “just wait, things will change more after episode three!” thing annoying though.

"Is it true that skam Italian uses a white actress to play a muslim character? If so it is so wrong!!" Anon,let me just remind you that what is wrong about it is the fact that she's a non muslim girl but she wears a hijaab and plays a muslim (if we get s4..I can't imagine all the scenes with "Sana" praying, knowing she's not muslim). Please, remember that there are white muslim people and it'd be more okay for a white girl to play this character IF the actress was muslim herself I guess.

Yeah, I think you have to be careful not to conflate that, but also it is a shame that they’d change a POC character into a white character? Just because someone can be white and a Muslim doesn’t mean that’s actually a good representation of the Muslim minority there?