Apartment 247

[mericalovessweets]

Twenty-Five and seventy percent of his tanned skin was covered in tattoos.


Harbor Kline struggled with his lighter, trying to light his fourth cigarette since he got to that dump. He looked around at the small, empty space. It was bad enough he had to walk up two flights of stairs to get in there, but the stains in the carpet and the crayon all over the bottom of a wall was making him want to turn right around and leave.


But he couldn't.


No, he had nowhere to go anymore. Not after his parents kicked him on the street with nothing but a college tuition and a small allowance to live off of till he could get a job. And his tiny allowance was only enough to afford the trash he was standing inside of.


Once he was able to get the end of his cigarette ablaze Harbor stalked off to what was going to be his bedroom. Harbor had already moved some of his things to the dingy room. The new items were refreshing to see as he set everything up. He had gotten his father to drop off his bed from home and a few other things. It had taken a lot of begging and whining from Holland, but it was worth it. He looked at his bed, the coolest bed in the world, sat a little awkwardly on the floor. It was made for hanging, but Harbor knew there was no way he could do that there. The ceiling would end up falling in. He pushed the bed against the back wall and went about decorating his new pad.

 

[Tenome]

Jonah pulled his car onto the cracked concrete of the apartment building parking lot. Once his shift was in park, his engine was off, leaving a silence in the air he found difficult to reconcile. The young adult continued to sit behind the wheel, staring at it and hoping for his nerves to steel. He'd never met his roommate-to-be, just coordinated jointly renting the space over phone and internet, and didn't quite know what exactly to expect. He'd seemed a little standoffish over call, but perhaps he just wasn't one for phone calls. Jonah's little brother hated talking on the phone, so it stood to reason that this man, Harbor was it, didn't either.


The incoming freshman allowed the thought tangent as it helped to distract him from his anxieties. After a moment or two, he exited the car and grabbed a bag from the car. It was a little heavy for his delicate tastes, but he managed to haul it from the trunk to the front door. He struggled to juggle his bag with the door handle, but eventually Jonah managed to enter the the building, navigate the different floors and halls, and finally step foot into the flat.


After setting his bag down, the boy noticed a few homey touched had been added that hadn't been here on the walk through. He'd noticed other cars in the lot so he knew it was possible his roommate would be there, but he hadn't expected the flat to feel lived in already. Speaking of lived in, it was about then that Jonah sniffed out the scent of cigarette in the air. They hadn't discussed smoking in the flat in there limited conversations, but it was against policy.


Jonah followed the scent into the next room to find Harbor decorating his room. As he stepped past the threshold he noticed the tattoos. They were excessive, not to mention somewhat intimidating, but Jonah found his flatmate to be somewhat attractive. He hadn't quite expected it, but there he was, standing there attracted to his flatmate. Noah would have been proud that his dumbstruck brother was behaving like him, a sixteen year old, but Jonah was horrified. It was too weird. He cleared his throat abruptly. "Um, there's no smoking. Sorry?"

 

[mericalovessweets]

Harbor had heard the other enter. How could he not? He hoped the God his new roommate was not going to be loud all the time. He couldn't handle it if he was. Harbor required his quiet time, without it he would be a raging bitch the next day. Not that it was much different, if not just more potent, then his normal attitude. So, he was not phased much when he -Johnathan?- was in his room. Harbor could feel that he was being watched, but he let it go. Having so many tattoos, and even a couple of piercings, he was used to people staring.


He didn't even care really. Johnathan could stare just as long as he wanted, they were roommates. He would have to get used to Harbor's different look. It was only when the other spoke that he felt any emotion. He was surprised that was the first thing he had decided to say when he saw Harbor. Then he was angry.


He turned on his heels, forgetting about his previous project, and walked right over to the other. "Sorry? I'm not," he said, taking a drag and blowing the smoke smartly in the other's face. "And I'm not putting it out. Nice try though,"

 

[Tenome]

He coughed, his lungs unused to the burning that came along with cigarette smoke. "Sorry, it's just against policy. They can evict us if they find you've been smoking."


Jonah shook his head at himself. It was probably rude that that was the first interaction he made with Harbor. "Um, sorry." With a hand held out he continued. "I'm Jonah. Harbor, right? It's good to meet you."

 

[mericalovessweets]

Right. Jonah.


"Yea," He answered, taking his hand slowly to shake. Shaking hands. So freaking formal, but oh well. Harbor could at least be happy with the fact that the other had backed down easily. He hated to have to argue with people over dominance when he knew that he would always win. "Anyway, don't worry about the smoke. I'll keep it clean enough around this dump to keep the smell from sticking," He continued, "I hope you do the same. I can't stand how it looks, it's making my skin crawl," Harbor wrinkled his nose as he spoke, he meant it. He couldn't stand it.

 

[Tenome]

With a nervous glance around the room, Jonah's brow furrowed. What exactly made his skin crawl? The apartment seemed perfectly normal to him. A tad dingy perhaps, but relatively nice for their price range. Jonah would know, having done months of research and touring.


He just nodded with a small frown. "I'll keep it tidy."


Something about Harbor struck Jonah as a spoiled rich kid, but shrugged it off.

 

[mericalovessweets]

Harbor let out a sigh before turning to go back to what he was doing before. "So, tell me about yourself, Jonah," he said, reaching up to hang one of his prints. They were better off getting along in the long run, even if their personalizes clashed. They were not there because they thought they would like one another. No, for some reason or another both of them ended up in that spot. Harbor would try not to be too ill towards his new "friend" and make nice conversation. At least for as long as he could.

 

[Tenome]

He shrugged and leaned against the doorway. "There's really not much to tell," he said, watching his new roommate hang a print, "I'm from Minneapolis. I have a younger brother, Noah, he's still in highschool, and he lives with our mom and her husband back in Minnesota."


Jonah paused, admiring the way Harbor's muscles worked beneath his illustrated arms before sighing. "I... I don't know, I like reading and writing; I'm an English major, for now at least. I like annotating and analyzing different works like movies, music, and, y'know, books. It's fun to find metaphors and make sense of symbolism..." The freshman trailed off lamely, knowing he sounded boring to the probably exciting young man. "What about you?l

 

[mericalovessweets]

They were absolutely nothing alike, and it didn't surprise Harbor at the least.


"I was born in California, but I grew up in New York," He started as he finished up his cigarette, putting it out in his ash tray. "I got kicked out of my parents house cause they said I needed to grow up or something." Harbor opened another box, grinning when he saw what was inside. His prize possessions. He reached in, taking out a very carefully bubble wrapped object, setting it down slowly. "I don't really know what I wanna do in college other than party and get high. So, I donno how much I'll really be around. I like getting new tattoos and shit, shopping for clothes, and getting my nails shaped up," he had left out getting his hair done and his eyebrows waxed, but it was already getting pretty girly.


He wasn't sure how his new roommate would react to his sexual orientation.

 

[Tenome]

Jonah frowned and shook his head. "That's a waste. Why pay for college if you're not going to actually go to college?" The thought of someone squandering away their education like that sickened him. He'd had to work his ass off in highschool, getting A's and countless service hours just to get him a few scholarships, and not to mention how he'd managed to work a part time job into his schedule just to make up the difference. Jonah had struggled to make it, and here this spoiled shit strolled in just to slack off. "If you think that's going to prove to your parents that you're a mature individual you have another thing coming." Tapping his thumb on the doorframe before he left, he felt a wave of anxiety wash over him. Could he live with someone like that? And more importantly, was he going to party in the dorm?


With a frown he turned to leave. He still needed to drop his bags off in his room. As he hauled them there, it occurred to him that he was acting like a tightass, but then he figured it was because he was a tightass.


Suddenly it occurred to him that Harbor was into some extremely feminine things. Shaping up nails, shopping... It sounded a lot like his brother's interests, and his brother was super gay. Was it possible that his new roommate was? If anything, Jonah hoped Harbor was asexual. He didn't want any noisy lovers brought back to the room.

 

[Tenome]

@mericalovessweets


*squints*