Chapter Text
Though the flat was only on the third floor, the staircase seemed to stretch forever today. Obi left a trail of wet footprints as he slowly dragged his tired legs one by one up the steps. The elevator was still out of service. Usually, Obi didn’t mind – that old thing had stopped functioning a few weeks ago – but today he was exhausted.
Arriving at his door, he struggled out of his boots, knocked the caked snow from their soles and placed them on the boot tray. He threw a glance at the other smaller pair of wet boots there, standing miserably in their own muddy puddle. When his flatmate bought the tray he was sceptical at first. Now it looked like the thing was useful after all.
A small LED night light turned on automatically when he entered the corridor. Unlike the boot tray, it was one addition he had found useful from the start. If only it wasn’t shaped like a puppy’s head. He shrugged his parka off and hung it on the coat rack. “I’m home,” he called into the flat and raised one eyebrow when no one answered. Maybe his flatmate had already gone to bed.
He turned into the dark kitchen/living space. The only light source was the lamps in the courtyard below, shining in through the windows. If it were not for them, he would have missed the tiny figure sitting in the window alcove, tucked under a quilted blanket, propped on big pillows. There was a cup in her hands, no longer steaming. Her face was turned towards the windowpane, her breath fogging it. She did not seem to have noticed him, yet.
“I’m home, sweetie.”
“Oh,” she turned and greeted him with a smile. “Welcome home, Obi. Long day at work?”
“You can say that again.” Obi dropped his bag onto the couch then sauntered towards her. “They sent us new traction tables and all of us had to help set them up, in addition to our usual appointments – not that we have less of those on a Saturday. Then, Suzu declared himself ‘Master of Manuals’ and started building without any. I should have tied him down and forced him to read them because in the end I had to help him rebuild his tables, twice .” He raised both arms above his head and stretched. “At least he treated me to dinner, though I’d rather have him cover my shift on Monday. Argh, my back is killing me.” He brought down his arms and started punching his lower back. “But never mind my old aching muscles,” he grinned and waggled his eyebrows. “How was your date ?”
Obi watched her smile falter and his punches stopped. “Ah,” she said, looking down into her half-empty cup. Then she looked up to meet his eyes. “It was...nice.”
“Nice.”
“Yeap.”
Obi frowned in disbelief. His flatmate had been talking about this date for what felt like forever. There was a red circle on the kitchen calendar. He helped her pick her outfit. She even asked him to style her hair, for crying out loud. The only thing she did not accept from him was the condoms, but still. Nice was definitely not the reaction he was expecting, but he didn’t want to pry. At least not so much.
“Did he pick you up? It was snowing, he could’ve taken you on a romantic walk from here to the restaurant.”
“Oh yes, he picked me up,” her expression went suddenly flat. “With a car. So, no romantic walk. And the first thing he noticed when he came in was your sneakers,” she paused. “You should’ve seen his face.”
Obi’s frown went deeper. “My sneakers?”
She sighed. “Yes, your sneakers, Obi. Then he asked me whether my flatmate was a guy .”
Obi was flabbergasted. Surely he misheard that. “What? But, I thought you’ve told him I’m–”
“Of course I told him, Obi,” she cut him off with a huff. “You knew I told him. He asked, didn’t he? I don’t know if he’s just forgetful or didn’t listen to any of the things I said.” She placed her cup down and dropped her head to the pillows, closing her eyes. When she opened them again she looked weary. “And I was so looking forward to this date.”
A familiar tightness rose in Obi’s chest. He slowly reached out a hand and tousled her hair, messing the side braid he had carefully made her that afternoon. “I’m sorry, sweetie. And here I thought you were having a splendid time with your prince,” he said in a tender voice, not unlike soothing a sulking child. “But there must have been good parts, too, if you said it was nice?”
She batted his hand away and answered with a snort. “Yea, no, who am I kidding. It was just plain awkward.” She got up from the alcove, took her cup and placed it into the kitchen sink. “But I guess the snow was nice.” Obi chuckled at that remark and, since she did not seem to want to continue the conversation, decided to leave it to that.
“Welp, I’m going to take a shower,” he announced.
“Oh wait, let me brush my teeth first.”
Standing side by side in front of the bathroom mirror, brushing their teeth, Obi stole a glance at his flatmate’s face. He was used to her tired look but the sad one didn’t suit her. Was there anything he could do to cheer her up? Something that would not put her into a more complicated situation? He racked his brain while brushing almost aggressively but drew a blank. Two minutes were too short anyway to come up with any ideas in his exhausted state.
Beside him, the brushing sound had stopped. “Thank you, Obi.”
“Mm?” His mouth was still full of foam.
“Thank you, for helping me prepare for this date. At least that didn’t go to waste,” she smiled.
Obi spat into the sink. “Ah. So the prince might be deaf, but he’s not blind.”
She giggled and punched his arm playfully. But then her fingers caught his sleeve. “Obi,” she said with a small voice.
“Hm?”
“I’m happy you’re my flatmate.”
Obi tilted his head and gave her a lopsided smile. “What’s wrong, sweetie?”
“I mean it,” she said firmly. “Let’s call it a day, okay? I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow.”
*****
The room was dark and cool, the sheets warm. It was the perfect condition for a good night’s sleep, but Shirayuki lay awake. In her mind, she kept replaying the events that happened that evening.
After Obi left for work Shirayuki could not sit still. It was another hour until her date. She knew if she kept fidgeting she would ruin Obi’s hard work. He was kind enough to help her with her outfit and her hair. It was not often that she dressed up for an occasion and she almost could not remember the last time she went for a date. She never thought that a plain dark grey knitted dress would look so elegant on her, paired with her grandmother’s cashmere shawl and the emerald earrings that matched her eyes. Shirayuki had always been aware of Obi’s great fashion sense but did not think that his expertise included that of the opposite gender.
In order to calm her nerves, she decided to tend to her plants – nothing that would push any dirt under her nails, just watering and plucking withered leaves. When the building’s doorbell rang, she leapt out of excitement and had to stop herself from gnawing on her lips while she waited until her date arrived on her floor. When the door opened, she almost forgot to breathe.
“Good evening, Shirayuki.”
“Hello, Zen.”
Her date smiled warmly at her. He looked dazzling. It was the first time that Shirayuki saw him in clothes other than suits. He had on light grey trousers, light blue button-up and navy blue blazer. Even his light blond hair looked different than usual. Despite the heavily falling snow outside, his pair of Oxfords was clean and shiny and he was not holding a coat. He must have come by car.
Shirayuki caught herself staring and stuttered. “U-um! Thank you for picking me up, Zen. Would you like to come in? I just need to close all the windows before we go.”
Zen nodded and stepped into the corridor. “Take your time, I’ll just wait here.”
Shirayuki was closing the last kitchen window when she heard Zen call, “Shirayuki, is your flatmate a guy?” She hurried to the corridor and saw Zen looking down at a pair of Obi’s white Mexico 66 on the shoe rack, at least six sizes larger than hers. “You never told me your flatmate is a guy. Or do they belong to your brother?”
A frown started to form between Shirayuki’s eyebrows. “You know I don’t have a brother, Zen. And yes, my flatmate is a guy. Obi, remember?”
Zen looked up to her with a confused look. “Obi?”
Shirayuki could not believe this was happening. Did Zen really forget everything she told him about Obi? Granted, they had this conversation during a short lunch break on a hectic day. Zen was constantly distracted by his phone but still gave her the impression that he was listening to her. Shirayuki did not expect him to remember every detail about Obi, what with the number of things she told him that day. But he surely must have at least remembered the fact that he was a guy ?
When she told him this, Zen looked lost. “Well, if you say so, I guess I should’ve heard about him,” he cleared his throat and adjusted the cuff of his shirt before continuing, “and I’m sure you know what’s best for you, but...” He looked her in the eyes, “...don’t you think it might be...dangerous, for such a pretty girl like you to share a flat with a guy?”
In her bed, Shirayuki groaned and pulled the blanket over her head.
Zen, Obi is gay.
With those words, she had hoped that her apparently forgetful date would stop pestering her about her flatmate on their first date. But her hope was in vain. During dinner, their conversation kept coming back to Obi. It was not that Shirayuki didn’t like to talk about her wonderful flatmate, but she was really looking forward to finally getting to know Zen better.
It was hard enough for them to find a time slot that fits both of their schedules. Being the general counsel of the renowned Wisteria Hospital at such a young age, Zen Wisteria almost never had free time for himself, not even on the weekends. He once jokingly said that his brother, the hospital’s chairman, was always watching him to make sure he was doing his job properly. Whenever Shirayuki saw him in the hospital he was usually hooked on his phone, followed around by his big, quiet assistant. Even after knowing each other for a couple of months, the only times Shirayuki could meet him was during lunch breaks, and even then they were often interrupted.
And now that she had all of his attention to herself, all they talked about was Obi. As if that was not enough, Zen seemed to be obsessed with the idea that he was a lethal threat to her.
Are you sure he was really gay?
A man is still a man, Shirayuki.
Have you ever thought about moving to another flat?
How about taking some self-defence classes?
Do you have pepper spray?
The gourmet food on Shirayuki’s plate tasted bland to her tongue. She did not feel like defending Obi against Zen. Not because she could not do it – Obi had never been anything but a perfect gentleman to her. She just wished she didn’t have to do it. She wished that Zen would have listened to her when she told him how Obi became her flatmate and what their friendship meant to her. Even if he should forget about those, she wished he would at least trust her enough to take good care of her own safety. It’s not like she would share a flat with any guy, even if he were gay.
While she tried to answer and explain politely, the annoyance kept building up inside her. By the time they got back to her building, Shirayuki was mentally chucking the evening into the bin. All she wanted to do was to crawl into her bed after writing a note to her future self to remind her to never go on dates again. They got out of the car and suddenly a hand on her wrist took her by surprise. She turned to Zen, who for the first time in the whole evening looked a bit bashful.
“Shirayuki,” he took her other wrist in his other hand, “it’s been a very nice evening. You look very beautiful. That dress suits you really well.” Shirayuki thanked him and waited for him to continue. As irritated as she was, she didn’t have the heart to tell him that it was Obi who chose her outfit. “I’m...I’m sorry that I interrogated you, you know, about your flatmate. I want you to know that I did it only because I’m worried about you. I’m sorry if what I said upset you. I really didn’t mean to.”
Shirayuki felt her irritation ease a little. “Thank you for your concern, Zen, I appreciate it. But like I said, there is nothing to worry about. Obi is my friend, I’ve known him for years, he’ll never do me any harm, trust me.”
Zen tightened his hold on Shirayuki’s wrists. “I’m sorry if it sounded like I don’t trust you, I do. I wish I could trust him, too.”
“Would it make you feel better if you met him?” Shirayuki blurted out, then instantly regretted it. She did not want to unnecessarily involve Obi any further in her love life. She already felt sorry that she had to ask him for advice for this date. But she also did not want Zen to think bad of him. She wanted him to get rid of all his prejudice. She gazed up at his face, not really sure whether she expected him to decline or to accept.
Zen seemed thoughtful. “That might be a good idea. I’ll think about it.”
I’ll think about it. Shirayuki groaned again and curled even further into her blanket. Great. If she was lucky, Zen would just decide to trust Obi and leave the matter there. If not, she would have to convince Obi to meet Zen. He would be unbearable. Yay .