#trying not to think too hard about it but my apartment maintenance guy flooded our entire apartment by a few inches and ruined

[eyebot]

I hate having to pretend that everything is okay and that im happy at work when so much is happening outside of it :’)

[pinkhairedlily]

Chapter 5 - Student Council President Sakura

SCPS AO3 | PREVIOUS CHAPTER

When Naruto let go of that pitch, Sakura knew their school had won. She hugged Hinata who was also overjoyed, and she turned to her side to give Sasuke a high five then she realized he was still not back.

As she moved along the bleachers, she rallied her schoolmates to give a resounding yell routine. Disappearing within the noise, she moved along the halls below the benches, and there she found the group.

When the fist made contact with her face, she almost blacked out. The pain came rushing in after a few seconds of numbness, her sight a complete blur, a slight disorientation, and her hearing muffled. The scuffle played out before her as her eyes refocused, Sasuke kicking and punching the goons on the stomach, but it seemed she got it wrong when Kakashi’s eyes drifted to her as a pair of glaring daggers.

His one foot was on the wrist of the guy who punched her. When the blood finally dripped from her broken nostrils, Kakashi broke the guy’s hand, thankfully echoed by the screams from the bleachers. “You’ll get expulsion and multiple restraining orders just for the hell of it.”

While Kakashi called the security, Sasuke went to Sakura’s side with a mix of an irritated but worried look on his face. Ah, he was wondering why.

“I’m okay,” she tried to say despite receiving no question, but the words came out wrong. Oh my gods, are my teeth broken? How embarrassing?

As if summoned by her thoughts, he stood before them right after the guards took away the passed-out bullies. “Let’s get you two to the clinic.”

--------------------------------

“I can’t call Naruto. I left my bag with Hinata,” she tried to say again but the words were coming out jumbled like I con kor Nar-u-o…I re ma ba wi Hina-a…

Kakashi was trying not to laugh as she communicated with Sasuke who was on the other bed, being checked by a doctor with curtains drawn. The school clinic recommended them to go directly to the hospital.

“He would have to wait for our congratulations,” Sasuke replied.

“I see you wincing in pain, young man. That’s a broken rib right there,” the doctor noted from the other side. When the curtains were swept to the side, Sakura saw her raven-haired classmate clutching at his side. When his eyes opened to find hers, he glanced away and let go of his pained expression.

“Ms. Haruno, I will be referring you to our plastics. Would be a waste if your student council president loses her pretty face.” The doctor tapped Kakashi’s shoulder as she walked out of their ward.

“Thanks, Nohara,” he called out after her.

Sakura deduced he was friends with the doctor, but she could ask him that some other time. She looked a bit older than the Math teacher so they might not be together. Regardless, shouldn’t she be more engrossed of having a crooked nose in front of Kakashi than his personal love life? When he turned her attention to her finally, she instinctively covered her face with her hands.

“Sakura, you should tilt your head upwards, just a little bit. You had a nosebleed earlier, didn’t you?” She did what he said, but gods, this was so embarrassing. She tried to look at him through her fingers, and his beauty mark moved as he chuckled. Ugh, why is he so perfect?

His phone suddenly pinged, and he took a moment to read the message. “Hmm. I need to leave and go explain things to the board. Nohara might advise bed rest and school leave for at most three weeks so get well soon, all right?” Then, he turned to Sasuke. “You don’t have to worry about it.”

Sakura wondered if she should ask a favor from Kakashi. Asking him to stay was a tad too much, and asking him to contact the council would be too irresponsible. Maybe she could sneak out after his exit and find a way to contact the council. She should also call Naruto – second on the task list. He would be devastated without their congratulations.

A hand on her head stopped her thoughts. “Stop thinking at hundred miles per second, and rest. I will take care of the council and inform Uzumaki of your situation. I assume you three are friends?”

“No.” “Yes.” Sasuke and Sakura answered respectively.

Kakashi smiled, finding amusement in their dynamics. “See you soon.”

“Shi yo,” she muttered through her broken nose, unaware of her fingers already fidgeting the rubber band on her wrist.

--------------------------------

She was back in the hospital the following week. While Sasuke was advised to be confined, she was sent for home care. The mandated rest did not even last a day because she needed to show up to her shifts in the café and showed up she did in some elaborate mask to cover her bandaged nose and a sketchpad for conversations. To appease the constant nag and flood of messages from her councilmates, she stopped showing up in school for three days and turned the tables on them by doing all the nagging and demanding daily updates.

On the fourth day, she was up and running through the school halls to reach the board inquisition in time. She gladly accepted an annoyed litany of precautions and reminders from Kakashi.

“I never thought you could be this stubborn, Sakura.” He was visibly exasperated. “I can’t tail you every time and remind you that you’re injured.”

But you could. “I’m sorry, Sensei. I promise to not push myself so hard for the next days.” Sakura gave him a peace sign which he jokingly waved away.

“Pull your energy back, like 60 percent of it.” He patted her head softly, like an adult would to an unreasonable kid, and never have she felt more insulted. “If only I could take care of you.”

Like a babysitter would? She immediately put distance between them, feeling angry for no reason, and she stormed off, leaving him clueless in the middle of the hallway about her sudden rigid behavior.

Now she was back in the hospital after a week of mild recuperation. When she went to check on Sasuke, she found him asleep, probably from the sedatives. It amused her that even in slumbers, his brows would furrow, yet a part of her worried that there must be something looping him in nightmares. She left her presence with a basket of fruits and a medium-sized carton of tomato juice which Naruto mentioned was his favorite. Several juice boxes of the same flavor were stacked on the other side of his bed and a plastic bag filled with instant ramen bowls. She would ask the maintenance staff later to take out the trash.

When she finally reached the door of Dr. Aki Nohara, her assistant gestured for her to wait for a while outside. She figured she can loiter in Sasuke’s room and have one of the nurses get her until she heard Kakashi’s voice inside the room.

“I know you literally accelerated throughout school, but you need to act more like your age.” Her doctor scolded her teacher like an old friend. She was aware of her eavesdropping, but she hoped to learn more of his life. “I’m saying you should visit Rin.”

“Does she miss me?” It was and wasn’t his voice. She didn’t hear his usual nonchalance when he blurted out those words. Ah, a weird ache was forming in her chest.

“Do you even need to ask that from me when the answer is already so obvious?”

“Hmm. I’m just not ready….yet.”

“Well get on with it and put a ring on her finger or others will!”

Ah, her sensei was apparently planning to get married? So he had someone after all, someone named Rin. Sakura felt the room crowd her in, almost suffocating her, and she accidentally bumped into a passing staff and a tray cart of medical supplies.

Her small disturbance brought the occupants outside the room. “Ah, Ms. Haruno, you may come in now. You look pale, dear.”

Kakashi waved at her, his teacher persona already up in arms, then he turned to Dr. Aki. “Your medical advice for my heart is noted, but not now, maybe in the far, far, far future.”

Dr. Aki tsked at him. “Off you go Hatake. I have a patient waiting. Oh thank heavens, the color is returning to your face.”

He’s not marrying her……yet. Would it be silly to think I have a chance?

--------------------------------

A whole two weeks have gone in secluded rooms – a week alone in a hospital room because of Itachi’s connections and another week alone cooped up in his apartment. He got radio silence from his brother, and he almost wished he gave him an earful of insults instead – many of which should have called out his cowardice, especially when the clash had an avoidable casualty. He looked so stupid next to cool Kakashi, Kakashi who was only five years older than them, Kakashi who smoked and read with baseball playing on the background, Kakashi who took on all four people at once with no scratch on his body, Kakashi with his silver hair being friends with doctors and bigshots, Kakashi with his beauty mark laughing at Sakura.

If there was any further downside to this, that was also the angry flood of texts he got from Naruto the night of the game, and then nothing. He was too drugged with sedatives he didn’t have the right mind to reply and process them. He was too drugged to wake up with a clear mind even. He didn’t bother to text or call back. Whatever, whatever, whatever. He took a look again at his phone, checked the time, found no new messages, and put it back on his side table.

His past self would have enjoyed this momentary social isolation, but he couldn’t help the nagging feeling of missing company however, he can’t bring himself to admit this aloud.

The next time he opened his eyes, he scrambled out of bed in panic and cold sweat. Someone was incessantly ringing his doorbell. When his eyes tried to find the clock, he found that it was already eight in the evening. He was sure he wasn’t expecting any guests tonight.

He trudged on to his door and mustered some strength to look through the peephole. Blue irises looked back at him, moved away a few steps, and struck a pose with a pink-haired girl with bandages still on her nose. The door never opened so quickly during the length of his stay.

“Are you stalkers or something?” were the first words he spat.

“Dr. Aki Nohara said it’s okay to visit you now!” Naruto whined. “And Sakura brought food!”

Sakura presented several paper bags. “It was Naruto’s idea actually. He nagged me for a week.”

“Yeah and I couldn’t understand her in the first few days,” the blonde said, rather straightforwardly.

Sasuke held back the urge to slap his hand on his forehead, but he moved to the side as he allowed them to venture inside his apartment. On second thought, did he put his underwear on the laundry basket?

“We figured you didn’t have dinner yet,” Sakura told him as she laid out the food containers on the dining table. “Mind if we use your utensils?”

“I forgot to say please make yourself at home,” Sasuke snapped sarcastically.

“Eeew, you’re still in your pajamas.” Naruto made a face at him while he opened his fridge and scoured for water and fruit juices. “That makes the two of us who didn’t shower!”

“You idiot. I showered this morning.” Nevertheless, Sasuke sat on the seat beside Sakura, allowing her to give him a bowl of ramen and some serving of okonomiyaki. A large platter of takoyaki was placed in the center of the table, first to be consumed by impatient hands and hungry mouths. Sakura had one hell of an appetite and fast metabolism to boot.

“Anyway, congratulations idiot,” he said while munching on the last piece of takoyaki. “Aren’t you supposed to travel to Fukuoka for the semis?”

“Yeah, next week! It doesn’t start until next month, but Captain Haru said we need to train,” Naruto replied as he proceeded to open a bowl of instant ramen. “The board also granted us exemption from exams. My brains are saved.”

“Your training camp really coincided with the school field trip,” Sakura noted. “Maybe we could visit you in between?”

“That would be the best!” Naruto grinned sheepishly, but Sasuke swore there was a tinge of red in his cheeks.

Finally rid of all food and dishes, the three lounged around in his living room, browsing titles in Netflix – Sakura wanted gore, crime, and horror while Naruto wanted adventure and fantasy films.

“What genre do you want, Sasuke?” Sakura asked. She was in possession of the remote and was seated on the other end of the couch. Naruto was on the floor with an open packet of chips and soda.

“And if I said romance?” he chided, weirdly enough to catch them offguard, but Sakura landed on the Twilight series and pressed play without second thoughts. “I was joking.”

“And it’s now starting,” she said back.

“How long are you gonna stay here?” He lost track of time – not the first instance this happened but the first occurrence without the burden of something heavy. “It’s past midnight.”

“I thought I was slow but you’re actually slower,” Naruto teased. “We’re staying over, grumpy.”

“I would love for a vampire to bite me,” Sakura quipped out of context.

Sasuke figured he didn’t have the energy to refute their uninvited sleepover at his unit. By the time New Moon played on screen, Naruto was sleeping on the floor with his mouth hanging wide open, and Sakura was lying fully on the couch, her feet stretched out on his lap. He slid out of this awkward entanglement and strode quietly to his drawers where he took out spare blankets to cover them with. On his bedside table, his phone lit up with a message notification.

Happy birthday, Sasuke. – Itachi

AO3 LINK | NEXT CHAPTER | CHAPTER 6

[hotoffthepressfics]

Broke But Not Broken: Chapter 11

MASTERLIST

Part XI

Previous | Next

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Female Reader

Word Count: 2,764

Summary: The reader deals with the aftermath of Bucky’s incident. Will the strain be too much for their budding relationship?

Warnings: Angst, slight violence

Inspiration/Chapter Soundtrack:

“1000 Times” - Sara Bareilles

“Tell Me How” - Paramore

“River Flows In You” - Yiruma (Bucky’s Song)

A/N: This update isn’t too exciting, and is probably a little depressing. But it has to be done! The next update will be better, I promise. Thank you guys for sticking with the story! I often fear it’s getting redundant and boring, so I hope that isn’t the case. Please let me know what you think?

Y/F/N - Your fake name

It’d been nearly twenty-four hours since you’d found Bucky on the bathroom floor of his apartment and called the ambulance. Blood alcohol poisoning. His blood alcohol content was 0.274%. Bucky had almost killed himself trying to drink away his problems.

Steve had arrived about ten minutes after you did. At the time you weren’t really sure about Bucky’s condition. All you two could do was wait. An hour and twenty-seven stitches to his temple later, you could see Bucky. He rested comfortably in the hospital bed. Now you and Steve waited and hoped Bucky would wake up.

You yawn, stretching out your arms and legs from your cramped perch from a chair. A firm hand rests on your shoulder causing you to flinch. You look up into Steve’s face.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. Why don’t you go walk around and get something to eat? I’ll take it from here.” He suggests.

You worry your lip, glancing at Bucky’s prone form. Indecision plagues you. You didn’t want to be gone if he awoke. As if to weigh in on the decision your stomach gurgles loudly. You sigh.

“Okay. I’ll be back soon.” You say, rising to your feet.

Down in the cafeteria you purchase a chicken salad sandwich and water, taking a seat at a table near a large window. You half-heartedly unwrap the sandwich, pushing it aside after a moment. While your body insisted you needed to eat, you just didn’t feel like it. Your spirits were pretty low.

All the time you’d known Bucky he’d been happy and seemingly carefree. You’d taken solace in his laidback manner, finding it easy to trust and relax near him. Seeing Bucky now after his episode and subsequent binge drinking left you on shaky ground. You didn’t blame him for what happened, but perhaps you’d opened yourself up to him too quickly.  

Bucky’s cell phone rings. You still had it from when you found him. You dig it out of your pocket, picking at the crust of your sandwich.

“Hello?”

“Hey Sug, how’s our boy doing?” CiCi’s voice came on the line. Hearing her voice caused the lump to form in your throat again.  

“Uhh… he’s stable… The drinking did a number on him, and he hit his head so hard he’s a bit concussed, but the doctor said he should recover… Given that he wakes up.” You inform her. She tuts.

“That boy has been on some benders but nothing this bad. He was certainly trying to escape some demons…” she sighs. “I have to head to work now, but you text me when there’s news, alright hon?”  

You promise to update her and say goodbye. Slipping the phone back into your pocket you dutifully eat your sandwich.

Your mind wanders as you make your way back up to Bucky’s room. The closer you get you can hear shouting. A commotion has stirred. Right in Bucky’s room. Your heart clenches and you pick up the pace.

“Where are my clothes?! I want to leave now!” You can hear Bucky yelling as you come up to the door.

You jump back as a harried nurse dashes out, muttering about security.

“You can’t leave, Buck! You nearly succeeded in turning your blood to sludge, they have to make sure you’re gonna be okay! Now shut up and lay down!” Steve shouts back. His large frame blocks the doorway, back facing you.

You peer around him into the room. Bucky paces the floor from the bed to the opposite wall like a caged animal.

“How’d I even get here? How’d you know where I’d be? You can’t get after dodging your calls and visits I don’t want to see you?!” Bucky works himself up a bit more; his pacing quickens.

“You need to calm. Down. Y/N called me. She’s been looking for you ever since your…episode with her. She found you passed out and bleeding on your bathroom floor. You’re lucky she did otherwise you’d be dead.” Steve says.  

Bucky scoffs, “She should have just minded her damn business. Ironic that the girl who never speaks about her problems would go diving headfirst into mine. I didn’t ask anyone to save me!” He grabs the dry erase marker from the board on the wall and hurls it towards Steve.  

Steve ducks, unaware you’re standing right behind him. You flinch just enough for the marker to pelt you in the arm. You yelp, a little too loudly for the object’s size, as it bounces off. Like the flip of a switch memories of Colton come flooding back. Him throwing things, screaming in your face. Hurting you as the wave of his anger rose. Shaken, you glance up at the two men.

Whereas Steve���s face was a mask of shock, Bucky’s was one of horror. He took a step towards you.

“Y/N… shit!” He falls back, the IV pulling against its connection to him.

Hysteria bubbles up. Your panicked mind sounded a warning bell. Run. Get away. You couldn’t do this again. Steve reaches out to you. You pull away. A small whimper escapes your lips.  

“I’m sorry…” you moan before turning and sprinting down the hall, both men calling for you.

•••

You felt so stupid for fleeing the way you did the evening before. The flight response had just been so strong. You sweep up more of the broken glass, dumping it into the garbage can you’d brought in from the kitchen. You couldn’t bear going back to the hospital, so you decided to do the next best thing and clean up Bucky’s apartment.  

Someone clears their throat while you scrub at the linoleum floor. You start, whirling around. A curvy, red-headed woman stands just outside the bathroom.  

“Uh, hi. Who are you? Bucky sent me to get some things for him.” She explains as you continue to stare at her open mouthed.  

“Oh! I’m Y/N… his downstairs neighbor I guess…” you say, awkwardly sticking out your hand as you stand.

“Nat.” She offers her hand and a friendly, if a little standoffish, smile. “You don’t need to clean that. That’s what Clint is here for.” She gestures behind her.

You look and see a stocky man with short hair and a grim expression. He purses his lips and gives you a two finger salute when he sees you staring.

“Oh… is Bucky not coming back?” Your heart sinks.  

From the way she spoke it sounded like Bucky would be gone indefinitely. Had you really upset him that much? And who was this woman? She was rather pretty, and seemed very self – assured. You fiddle uncomfortably with your pruned hands. Did Bucky and her have a thing?

The woman called ‘Nat’ shrugs. “Not really sure. Steve wants him to stick around the VA center for a while. I can’t believe he actually got him to agree this time.” She turns to look at Clint as if seeing if he agreed with her.  

“Okay. Well I’ll just... leave you guys to it.” You mumble unsure of what to do with yourself.  

Disheartened you head out the door.

•••

“Oh Sug, he doesn’t hate you. Why would you say that?” CiCi caresses your head as she brushes out the tangles in your hair.

You’d been hiding out in your apartment the last day, slipping further into a reclusive state. You had called off work, determined to shut out the world. You knew you were being silly. You couldn’t stay cooped up forever.  

“Because he was so angry to be in the hospital. He said I should just mind my business… I just –“ you stop talking, your throat closing off as you attempt not to cry again.

“That doesn’t sound like he hates you baby. He’s sick and scared. He wasn’t thinking straight. People say things all the time they don’t mean. He just needs time to get his head straight.” She urges, plaiting your hair into a neat braid.

You shake your head slightly, guilt eating at you. “He was right, I shouldn’t have gone digging when I’ve kept my secrets so close to my chest.” You reason, talking more to yourself than to CiCi.

CiCi stops fussing with your hair and walks around to face you. When you refuse to look up at her she crooks a finger under your chin, tilting your head upward. Reluctantly you meet her eyes.

“Now you listen to me. You both have had your reasons for keeping your secrets. Yours were just to preserve yourself from a mad man. Buck’s were going to keep destroying him until there was nothing left. You saved him, Y/N. He will see the good in that someday.”  

You doubt her words, images of Bucky’s angry face flashing in your mind. You tried to remind yourself that there had been remorse in his face just before you’d fled, but you couldn’t be sure if it’d been from being caught expressing true feelings or because he’d regretted speaking without thinking. You’d just have to live with not knowing. As it stood you didn’t think Bucky would be coming back. You smile up at her sadly.

“It’s probably for the best anyways.” You say, waving CiCi off as she begins to protest. “I better get ready for work.”

•••

Talking to Maggie had been slightly less terrifying than you thought, though it was still painful.  

“Really, I wasn’t upset with you. Naomi has always been a bitch. I was just surprised it was you to put her in her place. I only sent you home because I felt you needed a break. Which...if I’m being honest, you still look like you need? Is everything okay?” Maggie’s eyebrows knit in concern.

You give her a wane smile, “Yes, it’ll be fine. I just want things to go back to normal.” You admit exhaustedly.

So the days went. You’d go to work; you’d come home. Sometimes you’d spend the day helping Tía around her apartment. Occasionally CiCi and Damien could coax you out for lunch. The days turned into weeks with no sign of Bucky. The owners of the building hired a temp to care for its maintenance. It hurt to see a stranger everywhere you’d grown accustomed to seeing Bucky. You tried to push down the pain. You didn’t want to examine why it hurt so much.  You kept reminding yourself this was for the best. This was safe. The quicker you could move on the better.  

If you allowed yourself to be honest, though, you knew you missed him. The nightmares had returned in full force, keeping you awake most nights. You missed the comfort of his presence. The way his steady breathing had grounded you, promising you’d be safe. You’d taken to sitting in front of the piano, the one Bucky had gifted to you, and thought of him. Alone in the dark, early hours of morning, it was the only time you would let your mind wander to him. You played the pieces he loved, the ones that reminded you so much of his smile. When those songs began to run low you’d absently play, letting your fingers run along the keys, writing their own song. It was a melody they played often enough you didn’t need to write it down.  

The evening that marked three weeks since you’d last seen Bucky you go to check on Tía Maria. You knock on her door once before letting yourself in.

“Tía? I’m getting ready to head off to work. Are you set for the night? Do you need anything?” You call out to the little, old, blind woman.

“Oh mija!” she feels her way into the living room. You meet her halfway, bending down so she can kiss and pat your cheek. “How are you? You don’t sound well.” She asks, holding your face in between her hands.

You sigh. It was getting tiresome, being asked so many times if you were alright, but you knew they meant well. “I’m doing just fine Tía. I’m just leaving for work. Do you need anything?”

Tía releases you and claps her hands as though she just remembered something important. “Oh yes! I want to make some cookies tomorrow, but I’m out of flour. Would you mind picking me up some on your way home? If it’s not too much trouble!”

You smile, planting a quick kiss to her cheek. “It’s not a bother, I would be happy to get it for you.”

You bid her a good night and headed off to work.  

Your shift starts out pretty normal. Naomi continues to go between sneering at or ignoring you, but she keeps her distance like she’s done since your fight. This you can handle. You mill about the tables and get lost in the monotony. Not surprisingly, the club is quiet. Michael never showed to start his shift. Maggie entreats you to play and you agree. You start off with the normal set, playing jazzy, upbeat pieces.  

You aren’t sure why, perhaps it’s your flagging spirits, or the somber cloud that seems to constantly hang over your head these days, but as the last song ends and you begin the next you tap out the first notes to Bucky’s song. You pour yourself into it, bleeding all the anxiety, hurt, and loss you’d felt the last couple weeks. For the first time since the night in the hospital you allow yourself to feel everything you’ve kept bottled in, momentarily forgetting the small, crowded club of bargoers.  

As the song ends you jump from the clamoring patrons. You laugh a little at the whooping and whistles as you give your audience a small bow. You glance over to Maggie and your smile falters a bit. Marcus had apparently decided to make an appearance tonight during your song and his eyes were locked right on you. You swallow nervously as you keep playing, very aware of the eyes observing you. As the night draws to a close, you step down from the stage. Marcus and Maggie wait at the bar, the brief smile she gives you doing little to put you at ease.  

“Umm... Marcus, I know I’m not supposed to play but - “You try to explain, but he interrupts.  

“I know what I said, however... I’ve reconsidered. It seems you have a very special gift, Y/F/N, it wouldn’t do to squander it.” Marcus says, giving you a wink and placing his hand on your shoulder.

If you didn’t like the way Marcus had looked at you on days he wasn’t interested in speaking to you, you really didn’t like the way he looked at you now. You try your best not to shudder but pull yourself out from under the weight of his hand.  

“Thank you.” You say quietly, trying to make the step you take back seem casual.  

“Work with Maggie on a schedule around the times Michael is supposed to play and we’ll get you back up on that stage. Good work tonight!” Marcus turns and heads out, waving goodbye dismissively as he leaves.

Maggie rolls her eyes. “As if you haven’t played most nights you’ve worked since you started with us!” She laughs and you can’t help but grin. She sobers. “Seriously though, you do have a wonderful gift. That song you played was amazing! I’ve never heard it before!”

You laugh a little, “That’s because it’s never been played to an audience. It’s my own song.”

Maggie continues to fawn over you, making you blush. After you help close up you bid them all goodnight and head to a supermarket that was still open. You’d told Tía you’d get her flour and you weren’t going to disappoint the woman.

Bag of flour acquired you make the journey back to your apartment building. The night air is cold, a forewarning to the snow that will soon fall as the winter months start rolling in. You pull your coat tighter around you. A little worry starts to niggle at the back of your mind. You can’t shake the feeling like you’re still being watched. A tendril of fear coils its way up your spine, but you try to push it away. You sneak a glance behind you but don’t see anyone.  

Stop being paranoid. You tell yourself, but the feeling persists. As the building comes into view you breathe a little easier. You pick up your pace, eager to get inside. Just as your about to enter the front entry a firm hand grabs your shoulder.  

You scream.

EVERYTHING TAGLIST:

@booktvmoviefangirl @lowkeybuckyb @mrsdaamneron @xxashy999xx @c-ly-g @coal000 @rroguebones @ghostlyrose2 @part-time-patronus @emelielwh @peaceinourtime82 @buckysforeverprincess @geeksareunique @amnahs9695 @v-2bucky @scarlet-skywalkers @lokilvrr @thisismysecrethappyplace @sacre-bluhm @tatertot1097 @until-theend-oftheline @amoonagedaydreamer @marvelouspottering @thatfanficstuff @chuuulip @littlemarvelfics @averyrogers83 @ellaprime68 @shield-agent78 @jewels2876

BUCKY BARNES TAGLIST:

@bloodiedskirtts @igotkatiepowers @misplacedorphan @superwholockwannabe @moonstruckhargrove @ladysergeantbarnes

BBNB TAGLIST:

@imaginecrushes @that-bearshark @jademox @theraputicwritings @marvel-fanfiction @aubri1313 @xcriminalmastermindx @regulusirius @jacquelineisawkward @lostinspace33 @directionerfae @rainbowkisses31 @marie-is-in-the-dark @msgrungie @mrsbarneswillseeyounow @getmedeacon @owhatshername1 @drunkinthemiddleoftheday @mizzzpink @aveatquevale- @sweetlydecaf @absolukeyrh  

[hillbillyoracle]

Why I haven’t been posting lately...

I’m putting what I wrote for a reddit post warning people away from my landlord beneath a cut. It’s been pretty hellish and I’ve been scared/nervous to talk about it but I want people to know what’s going on isn’t small. 

In addition to what I wrote below, we realized the stairs aren’t well constructed after I fell down half a flight of them on Monday evening - in bare feet (no socks) on hardwood flooring. The ledges bend in different directions and I slipped/tripped on one that wasn’t level. The whole right side of my body is a series of black and purple bruises, my feet and hands got scraped up by baseboards that didn’t seem to get sanded. I’m still recovering. 

More below the cut:

TL;DR: What we’ve dealt with since moving into a [landlord redacted] place:

- They were hard to get a hold of and now they won’t respond at all

- Multiple code violations they either didn’t fix or placed the onus on us to arrange for

- Zip Code is wrong on the lease which made getting our drivers licenses and such a pain

- Charged us for rent we already paid multiple times; put notice on door

- Charged us for HOA fees incurred before we moved in

- Maintenance guy is incredibly incompetent and condescending

- They’ve failed to do anything about the roach infestation

- They started up a construction project next door that’s active 12 hours a day

Other than what we’ve seen personally:

- They have code violations on record with the city

- The owner's twitter features the line “It’s all about whose ox is getting gored” - guess his tenants are the ox.

- He weirdly almost gloats about kicking people out and upcharging the next tenants

More Info:

We had to move very quickly and weren’t able to research places as well as we would have liked. So I’m writing this to make it easier for other folks to know what they’re getting into with them. If you’re okay with all of this, then by all means, I support you renting from them. But it was certainly too much for us and I wanted to spare other folks what I could.

I’m actually afraid to share this as I wouldn’t put it past them to be retaliatory, to make a up a reason to kick us out over being more public about what they’ve done. Tried to put it on a throwaway but alas.

I think the best summary of both [landlord’s] property and their service is what my partner said - “It’s not really living, it’s surviving, and that’s not really what I look for in a home.”

So many things have gone wrong at this place that I’m going to go thematically rather than chronologically. Which is wild given that we’ve only been living in the place for three months.

The workmanship in this place is horrible. There are shelves falling out of the wall. The dishwasher leaked and then the maintenance guy “fixed it” by having it overflow through the sink which leaves a bunch of crud in it. They didn’t even both trying to make the basement floor remotely level so our washer and dryer are on stilts – the best fix we can manage right now. Every now and then they come off them and rock around which I’m sure isn’t great for the machine.

They got the zip code wrong on the lease which has caused problems trying to get identifying documents switched over and other things switched over. Small but important. Since they’re nigh impossible to contact (see further down) we’ve mostly not bothered trying to get this sorted with them but it’s been a real pain.

When we moved in, we paid 6 months ahead. A mistake, yes, we know. But they kept trying to charge us for rent we’d already paid. We contacted them three times about the charges on the account and still they packing taped a failure to pay rent notice on our door.

They’ve continually tried to charge us for things we do not have to pay. They tried to charge us for a fee they incurred before we moved in and when we pointed it out to them they did not apologize. The second time they did it they didn’t contact us at all and we had to repeatedly check to see if it’d been removed.

We figured out this was because the yard crew kept pulling our trash can out and not putting it back so we asked them to stop yard services - which we never signed up for. We had to ask them 4 separate times and even then we only got them stopped when we paid for a lock and put it on the back gate and the mower came to talk with us.

The maintenance guy is not only very incompetent but completely condescending. He was two hours late and gave no heads up. I had to call to get any updates. When I tried talking to him about it when he arrived, he walked in essentially said that he’d done nothing wrong and walked away while I was in the middle of a sentence. He would not tell me what was going on and flat out ignored my questions. Our dog is epileptic and was getting nervous with all the strangers and loud noises so I decided to take him away from the apartment for a while. I tried to find the man and again was ignored. Once he realized I’d left he called to yell at me for leaving.

When we moved in they pointed out that they were aware that the basement electrical outlets were not up to code and gave us a number of an electrician to call. We called him and never heard back. Our basement is still not up to code.

They also pointed out they knew our backyard was a flood risk and said they’d be sending someone to fix that. They never have. It’s basically a pond out there when it rains and it’s filled with mosquitos.

We asked about bugs well before we moved in. We were assured they’d send someone to spray. We contacted them multiple times about it. They eventually sent their maintenance guy who left us with a couple roach traps and some spray that did nothing. Our kitchen, even after a month of keeping everything spotless is still infested. He said that the root of the problem was the abandoned house next door and he couldn’t do anything about it.

We found out two days later that the house was not abandoned and they owned it so they could do something about it. Because they began very very loud construction without any notice, construction that was happening for 11 hours a day. When we contacted them initially, they were very condescending, saying it was just because it’d been unoccupied for a while and we weren’t used to the noise (we’ve both lived in shared housing for almost a decade at this point) but said that they’d limit the hours to business hours Monday – Friday. But then without contacting us further and ignoring all our calls and emails – they continued to work 11-12 hours a day. I still cannot understand why they promised it at all and then turned around and go against it. It’s just spiteful.

They’ve ignored all of our emails for 2 weeks straight. We cannot get in contact with them.

A person we’ve never interacted with from their company called us to ask about our dishwasher, meanwhile they’d ignored 5-6 emails we’d sent trying to get more information about what was happening. What a blatant way to say we don’t care about you, just our property.

I am disabled, I do what work I can out of my home and my partner works from home several days a week. This has forced me to basically live somewhere else in order to sustain any kind of income and has taken a major toll on my health. Even if I did have a 9-5 job, I’d still be dealing with this an hour before and two to three hours afterward. When I am at the house I’m getting up early and staying out late just to not have to deal with the noise.

In trying to find out what I could about them more recently, I found that they have at least one code violation they were found guilty of and had to pay the city.

We also found that the owner of the company has a twitter in which he kind of weirdly gloats about kicking people out of their homes and doing very little work so that he can charge people more money. His bio features the line “It’s all about who’s ox is getting gored” – guess the ox are his tenants. I’m now very very skeptical of his “trouble tenants” as I wonder if they didn’t refuse to pay for a place he wouldn’t fix and he kicked them out, “upgraded” the place, and upcharged the next tenants. He brands himself as an entrepreneur and adding value but I can tell you this house is made to sell, not to sustain actual human life in them.

A warning to women and queer people: I would especially advise women and queer people away from this company. They’ve been really weird about my partner and I living together. We told them when we moved in we were a couple and yet weirdly we just get referred to as roommates or just grouped together under “ladies”. It’s really uncomfortable. With the maintenance guy being as patronizing and horrible as he was, I wouldn’t want another woman to have to go through that but it’s whatever you’re comfortable with in the end I suppose.

So that’s what I’d want people to know about doing business with [landlord]. More power to you if you want to but I would never ever recommend them to anyone.

If you know of anything we can do about this, let me know but I'm not hopeful.

Editing to Add Some Pictures

We could post a lot more but I feel like these sum it up for right now: https://imgur.com/a/uzXQPzM