Chapter Text
The best thing about college kids was the parties. Specifically, the ones that Felix had time to prepare for, the ones that were usually thrown in his apartment and consisted of people he knew. It was a hell of a way to end a week, especially the rough ones that dragged on forever. He’d spend a few hours with people he didn’t despise, maybe go home with one of them to get laid. And there was always plenty of drinks, plenty to eat too because there was always one drunk dumbass calling for pizza. Once one drunk dumbass suggested pizza, the whole fucking party wanted pizza and some poor guy had to deliver fifteen pizzas and try to act professional with Kaikaina Grif hanging off the doorframe and spouting an endless stream of sexual anecdotes.
Wouldn’t be so bad if at some point she hadn’t lost her shirt, but whatever. She had a bra on. Wasn’t like she was naked.
Thank God for small miracles.
But the pizza had come, like, hours ago, and now all of it was gone and Felix’s apartment was too full of people for this late at night. Too many sweaty people pressed against each other, too many bodies, too many voices. Felix was sure the apartment should be empty - he certainly wanted it to be empty. He had kind of had enough of this crowd after two hours, but here it was. Three in the fucking morning, and no one was leaving.
And his terrible roommates weren’t helping. Wash had gone into his room two hours ago and after Sister checked on him, turned out that he had fallen asleep. Somehow. By some fuckin’ miracle, that piece of shit was asleep even with the yelling and the music.
Tucker was in the living room with an arm around Sister, arguing with one of his friends so loudly he was pretty much yelling. Or at least that was what Felix thought until Sister opened her mouth and screamed obscenities at her brother, who naturally started on her instead of Tucker. Together, they managed to be louder than the music and the entire crowd.
“It’s a goddamn Grif fight,” Felix said to himself. He stood between the living room and the kitchen, between groups of drunken assholes, surrounded by people he either didn’t know or didn’t care about. He watched the argument, wondering just what exactly had started a Grif fight under his roof.
The drunk guy closest to him seemed to think Felix was talking to him and tried to answer. His word slurred together, he laughed in the middle of it, and Felix sidestepped him entirely to stumble into the kitchen. There was a couple in the corner kissing with far too much skin showing and hands everywhere. Felix ignored them, slammed the empty bottle he held down by the sink, and headed to get another from the fridge. There were definitely too little drinks left he thought, snatching the least disgusting one out and twisting the cap off.
Jesus Christ, he had resorted to cheap beer with twist-off caps and a shitty aftertaste.
With the growing noise of the Grif siblings and the music that someone had turned up, he was about three seconds away from kicking people out instead of letting the party wind down on its own. He was on the edge of a headache and now someone was pounding at the door too - great, lovely, more noise. Felix cast a look over to it. Not a single person had moved to answer it, nah, of course not. He squeezed through a group of partygoers to the door. No idea who it could be. Too late for people to show up - he thought so, anyway. Maybe someone had called for other people. It wouldn’t be the first time people showed up at outrageous hours. More pizza would be nice, if someone could pull that off.
But, no, it wasn’t a person wanting to party.
Just a rush of cool night air and a really angry neighbor.
Felix took one look at the guy and amended that thought instantly to a really hot angry neighbor. This guy was young and tall, wit dark hair and brown skin, glaring down at Felix. His hair was pulled up messily and hehad thrown a jacket on over loose pants. The first thing he said was, “Either turn the music down or turn it off,” in the single most attractive voice that Felix had heard in ...ever.
Felix grinned, leaning against the doorframe. Hopefully it looked casual and not like he was about to fall over on his ass. He had been drinking, yeah, but not enough to trip over himself. “Oh, come on,” he said, brandishing the drink in his hand in the direction of the noise behind him. Or at least he meant to. Kind of gestured to the wall closest to him, but whatever. “Don’t you wanna join? You’re free to, y’know, got enough people here I barely know. A lot of them I don’t want to know. You, though…” He paused to trail his eyes over this hot neighbor guy.
Goddamn. Guy was tall and broad, and Felix really hoped that was due to muscles.
He said, “You can come on in, stay a while, stay the whole night.”
This neighbor, this super hot neighbor that he had somehow missed until now, he didn’t seem to be affected at all by what Felix was saying. Still just really angry. “I’ve changed my mind. End the party,” he said.
Sounded like a threat. Felix took the time to drink more and instantly regretted it because holy shit that was awful. “I’m gonna kick the ass of the guy that brought this,” he muttered, frowning at the drink in his hand. He looked back up at his neighbor. At his super hot neighbor with really pretty eyes. Fantastic. “Party ends when it ends,” he said, straightening up off the doorframe. “I don’t have control over that, so sorry. Maybe you can file a complaint with the police.”
Maybe Felix shouldn’t bring up the cops ‘cause this guy looked like he might do that. Hopefully not. It’d ruin part of his hotness if he went around relying on the police. Somewhere in the apartment, there was the sound of glass breaking.
Felix ignored it and the neighbor’s next words, cutting him off to say, “Look, I’m really sorry about the noise. It kind of got out of hand. But I tell you what, you gimme your name, and maybe your number, and then I can make it up to you. Say… any time you’re free? I can just drop by your apartment…?” He had leaned closer while he spoke, peering up at this guy, examining the look in his eyes. So angry. There were a lot of things Felix could do to ease this guy’s anger, like a blowjob or being fucked so hard his hips hurt. It’d be good for both of them.
“All I want is for you to end this party.”
“Why, though? It’s a fuckin’ great party.” And why turn down his offer? Totally good offer, one of a kind. …Except not really because he had used that same bullshit on weak-willed people before. Maybe with better words and when he was completely sober, but still.
“I have a class at eight,” the guy said.
Whatever he said next was ignored because Felix started laughing. Fuckin’ hot neighbor guy was a goddamn nerd. When he finally managed to get ahold of himself and talk again, his neighbor was looking at him like he was an idiot. Felix said, “No… no, okay. I- I totally ….totally understand you. But, uh… you should really loosen up, have a drink. You look tense. Let me help you relax, yeah?” Namely by riding his dick until they were both exhausted.
God, this was like the worst he had ever done at flirting, and this goddamn guy only looked like he was getting more and more annoyed. Furrowed brow, unwavering frown. And he wasn’t just looking down at Felix, no, he was looking at Felix like he wasn’t worth the time or the effort or anything. Should have been disappointing, but it was actually kind of hot and Felix ignored whatever the guy said to frown at the drink in his hand. He had definitely had too much to drink if being looked at like he wasn’t worth anything was turning him on.
“Hold that thought,” he said to the neighbor. He paused to turn, grab the nearest person, and shove the beer he held into their hand. No more drinks, nope.
When he turned back to the door, the hot neighbor was gone and he actually took a few steps out of the apartment to look for the guy, head twisting around - because, really, he had to spot this guy. Felix’s apartment was on the fifth floor; even if this guy lived like a floor above or below, he’d be on the stairs. There was nothing but the bass pounding behind him and the breeze floating through. He stood there, frowning at the door to the apartment across from his, until Sister’s voice cut through the music and voices.
“Hey, Felix! Some people went in your room!”
He cursed and spun back to the apartment, slamming the door closed and shoving his way back through the crowd. It was like an unspoken rule that no one ever went in Felix’s room, especially not a couple looking to bang on his bed. And when he got there, Tucker was saying that was exactly what was going on. Felix grabbed his arm and yanked him into the room to help pull the two of them apart. At least they hadn’t made it to the bed yet.
Felix kicked both of them out personally, took the time to tell them not to ever come back. He didn’t know them, Tucker said he didn’t know them, so obviously they shouldn’t be here anyway. “You can’t just invite yourself into my fuckin’ room,” he told them. The girl looked like she was going to cry. Pathetic. “Go to school. Learn some things.”
He shut the door on them standing there, the hot neighbor forgotten about.
✹ ✹ ✹
Felix didn’t wake up until past twelve and by the time he had showered and made it down the small hallway to the living room, it was closer to one. And the apartment, he found, was empty save for himself and had been left in a gigantic mess. Trash was scattered over the floor, empty bottles and plastic cups on every surface, pizza boxes and paper plates all over the tables. Felix sighed, ran a hand over his face, and set to cleaning up the mess.
Of course neither of his asshole roommates had bothered to do anything before they left. Wash would have left for classes before eight, he knew, and since Wash hadn’t been involved with the party, he hadn’t stayed to clean. But Tucker… that motherfucker had no excuse. As far as Felix knew, Tucker’s classes didn’t even start until noon, and he didn’t have work or else he wouldn’t have thrown a party last night. When he picked up a half-full bottle and spilled half of it onto his shirt, Felix vowed to punch Tucker in the face for taking off before cleaning up even a little bit.
An hour later, Felix had three trashbags filled with garbage and had spilled another two drinks on himself. God, he was going to need another shower. A really, really long shower. But before that, he was going to drag these goddamn garbage bags out to the nearest dumpster. The only problem with that plan was that a fifth-floor apartment and a long walk to the dumpster meant multiple trips. After the first one, he wished he could just throw the damn things over the railing to the ground. After the second one, he stopped to text Tucker a really long, really violent text that primarily concerned how Felix was going to pull his eyes out if he was ever left to clean a mess that big by himself.
He was standing before his door after the third trip, wiping his hands off on his jeans when he glanced up at approaching footsteps. Standing at the top of the staircase was that tall, dark-haired neighbor of his - the oh-so-hot and angry neighbor that had disturbed his party. Felix stared, and the guy stared back until his eyes narrowed and he turned his head.
In the instant before the guy started to move, Felix thought about letting him go without a word or apologizing for the noise last night. Or his terrible flirting, goddamn, why couldn’t he have forgotten that? Instead, what he said was, “You gotta problem or something? Or do you stare at everyone like that?”
The man’s gaze turned back to him in an instant. They were standing four feet apart and Felix could still swear his eyes looked better in the daylight.
Before he could say anything, Felix added, “Maybe you’re just into me, yeah? Too stunted to know how to flirt with someone?” He wanted to hit himself because he knew there was nothing flirtatious in that guy’s expression. Just irritation, like Felix was the last person he wanted to see right now. Still, he found himself painting on a suggestive smile and saying, “I might make some time for you anyway. Maybe show you how to get someone's attention properly.”
And then, this neighbor, he smiled for an instant, made a sound like he was choking back laughter. He said, “You smell like you’ve taken a bath in alcohol. It’s terrible.”
Felix frowned, pulling at his shirt. He had, somehow, forgotten that he had spilled all that beer on himself. “Ohh, goddammit,” he hissed. He looked back up in time to see the door across the way swinging shut and then glanced back down at himself. Smelled like a homeless drunk, great time to flirt with a hot guy - and terribly too, holy shit. He let himself into his apartment with a sigh, heading to shower without even bothering to lock the door.
He spent the whole shower thinking about this guy and how both times he had looked at him, all Felix had done was spout what was easily some of the worst flirting he had done in his life. Gonna be really hard to get that guy if he wasn’t completely and totally on point. Especially since he had been a drunk asshole their first meeting. He spared a few seconds thought on giving up on entirely ‘cause two embarrassing encounters was usually more than enough for him to lose interest.
And then he was thinking of the hot neighbor guy’s pretty eyes and dark hair. Of how Felix could see the muscles of his arms today; just a bit, but enough to know that the guy had to be built. God, and he was tall - so tall, like almost a foot taller than Felix, easy - and he had a voice that was like velvet, smooth and rough at the same time. His thoughts got out of control then, centering on hearing that voice while he was being fucked, and now Felix was jacking off in the shower to some guy he had only met twice and barely talked to.
Didn’t even know his name.
He at least had to find out the guy’s name. Then maybe he’d drop it. Just flirt casually with him in passing, maybe actually flirt well for once.
Yeah. He could make that work, he was certain of it.
Felix tried not to think about the guy the rest of the day. He wiped down some surfaces that were sticky from booze and god only knew what else, ordered Chinese food, and flopped onto the couch to watch TV all day. He didn’t have to work tonight, so why not lounge around? It worked for a while, until Wash was standing in front of him with his backpack still on his shoulders and an annoyed look on his face. Specifically, the annoyed look that meant Felix was going to be some kind of bullshit lecture again.
Great.
Wash said, “Did you piss off a neighbor?”
Felix glanced around him at the TV. Commercials. “Pretty sure you already know the answer to that. You wanna make this quick? I don’t wanna miss this show.” He was just watching repeats, but no one needed to know that.
“You’ve got to stop angering the neighbors,” Wash said.
‘“Technically speaking, the party pissed off a neighbor,” Felix said. “But sure - let’s put all the blame on me.”
“Sooner or later, someone is going to file complaints - “
“They already have.”
“ - and we’re all going to be kicked out.” He fixed Felix with a look that was almost a glare, but not quite. Like he was just holding back on the full brute force of his anger.
God, this was the eighth time he had heard this shit in the six months he had lived there. Don’t throw so many parties, don’t make so much noise, don’t piss off the neighbors. Wash seemed to have the idea that every time a party was thrown, he was in danger of being out on the streets. It was ridiculous ‘cause at least one person filed a complaint after every one and they still lived there. Felix was positive the old guy in charge of this place was a little off the fuckin deep end. The last time Felix had come within shouting distance of the guy, he’d been told to eliminate the enemy. Didn’t even want to know what the hell that was supposed to have meant.
But the point was - Felix’s parties weren’t going to get them kicked out. They could have a body stashed in a wall and he was sure he could get away with it by telling the landlord it was ‘the enemy’.
One day Wash might understand that, but today he was just saying the same old things. That he and Tucker had accepted Felix as their roommate expecting him to be better than this and that they had had a good reputation in the building before Felix moved in. He was only halfway paying attention, eyeing the TV around Wash and waiting for the commercials to end.
And as soon as they did, Felix shifted over to see the screen clearly. Wash threw a glance behind him and rolled his eyes. “Really? You’ve seen this entire show at least three times.”
“It’s a good show, Wash. You should sit down and watch it. Stop bothering me.”
Wash shifted where he stood, sighing. “Look, Felix - This is the one neighbor I would rather you didn’t make angry. Seriously, the guy is probably dangerous. Don’t provoke him.”
“Right. Gotcha. Throw parties. Anger the hot neighbor.”
“Felix.”
He glanced over at Wash, at the strained way his face was set, and then settled his gaze back on the TV. Angry Wash was nothing new. He motioned for Wash to leave, saying, “I promise you that I will not harass our hot neighbor.”
“Yeah, that’s another thing. Can you maybe not flirt with that guy?”
“...Why not?”
“Because he’s a major creep,” Wash said. He glanced across the living room at his bedroom door then back to Felix. “Just… don’t talk to him at all. Don’t even look at him. Go back to not knowing he exists.”
It took a second for Felix to react to that, but when he did, Wash had finally earned all of his attention. He forgot about the television entirely, twisting around to watch Wash start across to his bedroom. Probably going to hide in there for the rest of the day - studying, he always said - and Felix called out to him: “Wait - Wait! What do you mean, he’s a creep? Do you know the hot neighbor? Is that what that means?”
Wash sighed, and Felix’s face exploded into a grin. He just about vaulted over the couch, scrambling the last few inches and slid up beside Wash. “Ohh, Wash, buddy,” he practically cooed, taking hold of Wash’s arm and yanking until Wash’s eyes slid down to him. “Why haven’t you mentioned this before?” He was dutifully ignoring the fact that Wash clearly thought he was stupid. “You gotta at least tell me the guys name, Wash. I saw him today, right - ”
And then he was spilling the whole story about the trash and the multiple trips, how he ran into that guy outside. Right on the tail end of his story, the front door swung open again. He had enough time to glance over and see Tucker dropping his bag by the fridge before Wash said, “If I tell you his name, you’re going to drop this.”
“Yeah, sure. Anything you want.”
“His name is Locus, he’s in like three of my classes, and he’s fucking creepy.” He paused to snatch his hand away from Felix and reached for his door.
From the kitchen, Tucker said, “Wait, is that the tall and muscle-y dude?” When Felix glanced over at him again, he had a hand raised over his head like he was measuring someone’s height, eyebrows raised. He was holding a glass in one hand, standing in front of the open fridge. “That’s who you’re talkin’ about, right? Man… That guy is such an asshole.”
Felix turned away from Wash. Let him stew in his room all day if he wanted to. All of Felix’s attention landed on Tucker instead. “You know him too?” he asked. Tucker nodded, turning back to the fridge and digging around in it. “Seriously? Both of you knew we had a hot neighbor and no one bothered to tell me? How hard would it be, really?”
Tucker didn’t even look at him when he answered. He had pulled meat and cheese and three different condiments out of the fridge. “Dude, he’s been by here about six different times. Complaining about our parties and shit. I’m amazed you missed him up until now. He lives right across from us.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Nope. Do you wanna sandwich?”
Of course he wanted a sandwich. Why the fuck would he turn down food? He settled back on the couch then, throwing his feet on the coffee table. Waiting for Tucker to bring the food over was a lot easier than making it himself. Couple of minutes later, Tucker dropped a plate onto the table by Felix’s feet, complete with a bottle of beer, then kicked his own feet onto the table as well.
He asked, “What are we watching?” He was stuffing a sandwich into his mouth while he talked, muffling his words.
Felix answered automatically, though he was barely paying attention. (He was watching How I Met Your Mother , and he really had seen the entire show twice. Some episodes much more than once.) He ate the sandwich Tucker had made without really paying attention either, just enough focus to eat and recognize that Tucker had slathered on the mustard - again. He always did this and it was gross. Felix wasn’t really paying attention to anything because his mind was already whirring into overdrive, piecing together things and trying to reach conclusions that didn’t exist yet.
He knew the hot neighbor’s name was Locus - it’d be great to moan, he thought, would roll off the tongue real easy. Hot neighbor Locus lived right across from them so it wouldn’t be too much work to talk to him, to flirt with him, to end up in his apartment being fucked against the nearest hard surface. Felix stared at the TV without really seeing what was on it and licked his lips, pulling his lip between his teeth.
Holy shit, he needed to get to this guy.
That night, Felix masturbated again. Mostly to test out how it felt to moan the guy’s name. He had been right before, it rolled easily off his tongue between hitching breaths.
✹ ✹ ✹
It should have been easy. All he had to do was find himself outside the apartment at the same time as Locus, talk to him, flirt with him. Totally not that hard. Except every little part of that turned out to be really hard. He found himself taking forever to do the simplest things - taking out the garbage, unlocking and locking the door, getting the mail. And all because he kept throwing glances at the door across from him, hoping that it would swing open and he could act like he had just stepped out of his apartment or just walked up the stairs.
It didn’t happen and he spent even more time trying to figure out what he would even say to the guy. Apologize for the party? That’d be a riot. ‘Hello, sorry for the party pissing you off - but I’m gonna throw another one this weekend so I guess you didn’t change a thing .’ ...Yeah, no. He had already made a fool of himself twice, the next time he spoke to this Locus guy had to be perfect. He had to be smooth, had to make a really good impression in order to dispel the other two - if that was even possible.
But, as Sister so lovingly told him three days after the party, “You’re not gonna get anywhere from waitin’ around.” She was sitting on the counter by the sink, watching as Felix cracked open the door and peered out. “ ‘Specially not if you’re gonna be a creep about it. Like, seriously? Just go talk to the guy.”
“Yeah, good advice and all,” he said, easing the door closed. Couldn’t let it slam closed, good Lord, someone who actually lived here would know what he was doing. “But I can’t exactly just walk over there and knock on his door. Not without a reason.”
Sister made a face, tapping her fingers on the edge of the counter. She was waiting for Tucker to get out of the bathroom, something about a movie and a fabulous party. “Man, just come with us to this party,” she said. “Drink! Relax! Get laid!”
“That’s the plan,” he answered smoothly. He moved to lean against the counter next to her, letting her lay a hand on his head. Followed shortly by her other hand and then she was leaning over him and telling him again how he couldn’t get a guy’s dick just by peeking out a door and waiting. “Yes, okay, I know - will you get off my head?”
“Nah. You’re short and tiny and I feel tall up here.”
“Great. Glad to help.”
Talking with Sister got him nowhere, but that wasn’t really a surprise. She was great for parties, sure, but this was something else. Something that Sister’s advice of just charging in and sweeping people off their feet wasn’t going to apply to.
Felix had to do this right. Had to look good, so he started to make it a habit that he looked damn fine before he left the apartment to do anything. Just in case he ran into Locus. He needed to know the exact right things to say, and he ran through a whole list of comments while he was doing mundane tasks around the apartment or during work. And then, a few times, they had passed each other on the stairs. He forgot everything he had wanted to say the moment his eyes settled on Locus, and he did nothing but stand there and smile. No matter how good he knew he looked, the most he ever got from Locus was a quick glance and then he was gone.
Left Felix standing on the stairs, smile fading.
It was like he was invisible.
At the very least, he clearly wasn’t worth Locus’s attention. That should have turned him off of the guy, he thought one night. He was still sitting on his bike, staring up at the fifth floor of the apartments and frowning. Music was blasting through the headphones that snaked under the bike helmet; it was late, like nearly four in the morning, and Felix was just sitting on an idling bike.
Somewhere up there in that goddamn building was this super hot, super tall, super rude asshole. For whatever reason, Felix couldn’t tear himself away from the idea of sleeping with the guy - even though he’d gone and fucked someone else to see if it was just sexual urgency. Of course that had failed so hard that not only had he found himself still wanting this fucking douchebag, but that had easily been the most disappointing sex of his life.
Sighing, Felix turned the bike off and shoved the keys in a pocket. He took the elevator up, yawning and jostling the duffel bag on his back. The strap cut into the jacket he wore, holding tight to his chest, and he could feel the bag’s contents resting against his back. The rest of his night was spent emptying the bag, throwing his clothes in the washer, and nearly falling asleep in the shower.
The next day, Felix was stopped outside his apartment. It was early - for him at least; not even ten yet - and he wouldn’t even be awake if it wasn’t for the phone call reminding him that he had taken someone’s hours at work. Didn’t even remember doing it, but here he stood. A jacket pulled on over his work shirt, frowning and trying to force the last dregs of sleep away. There wasn’t a breeze today, nothing but heat building, and he pulled at the sleeves of his jacket, wanting to take the damn thing off. It’d be useful when he was on the bike and the wind cut through him, but now it was just… hot.
Didn’t help any that he was standing in front of Locus. Stupid hot Locus, staring down at him with a frown of his own. He said, “Is that motorcycle downstairs yours?”
Felix flicked his eyes over Locus’s face, lingering on his mouth before shooting back up to his eyes. “Depends,” he said. “Which one are you talkin’ about?”
“There’s only one.” Locus had pulled his hair up again, apparently that was what he always did - but it had fallen loose in front, framing his face. Felix wanted to pull it all down because if he looked hot with it up, he had to look even better with it around his shoulders. Felix was thinking about how it would feel to run his hands through it, or to pull on it, twist his hands in it while Locus slammed him against a wall - and then Locus said, “Stop coming back at four in the morning and leaving that thing running.”
Felix was snapped out of his thoughts so fast he was pretty he had whiplash. “...What? You… you can’t possibly be saying what I think you are.”
“The bike. Stop leaving it running.” Holy shit, this guy was fucking serious. “It may surprise you to know this, but that thing makes noise. Some of us get up early.”
“We live on the fifth floor!” Felix said. He was somewhere between disbelief and wanting to laugh because this was the first actual conversation he had had with the guy. And it was over his bike. “There is no fucking way you can hear that. Do you have super hearing? ‘Cause the guy on the first floor never complains, but you? Oh man, you - of course you do.”
Locus’s frown deepened, brows knitting together. “What -?”
“Turn the music off,” Felix said. “Turn the bike off. Don’t make noise because precious Locus has to sleep for his early morning classes.” He was laughing, quietly, and he raised one hand to press against his forehead. Gave a huge sigh. “You’re good for a laugh, man, but… Tell me, Locus, if I make too much noise for too many days in a row, what are you even gonna do? And don’t say call the cops on me, ‘cause that’d just be so disappointing.”
He was baiting now, just wanting to get a reaction out of Locus. Even if it was just more anger - just give him something to work with.
Locus said, “Don’t make me have to break the bike,” and was on his way down the stairs before Felix even had time to react. Then he was speeding after Locus, following him downstairs and telling him to slow the fuck down, to explain what that even meant, why was he moving so fast anyway. And then Locus said, without even turning around, “I have class. Are you going to follow me there?”
“I have work. Don’t flatter yourself.”
Locus’s answer was an amused noise, like a stifled laugh. He said: “The way you’ve been acting, I can never be sure.”
“Oh, go fuck yourself.”
They were on the ground floor by now, Locus walking quickly and Felix scrambling to remain at his side. “That’s exactly what I expect from you,” Locus said. He didn’t speak again until he stopped by Felix’s bike, hand stretched out toward it, keys gripped tightly. “Now, are you going to turn this thing off when you get home?”
Felix eyed him, the keys in his hand, the bike, and wasted no time in sliding forward and shoving Locus’s hand away. He really hoped this guy wasn’t such a petty dick that he’d key the bike, but he also didn’t want to take a chance. Besides, the fact that Locus had basically threatened to break the bike wasn’t a good confidence booster. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. I’ll try, we’ll see.” He laid a hand on Locus’s chest, meaning to shove him away. He froze instead, eyes dropping from Locus’s face to where his hand lay.
Locus was warm. He could feel heat through the shirt, and somehow that was such a great thing even when he was hot inside his jacket. Felix had the momentary need to run his hand down Locus’s chest, to feel the muscles that had to be there - and then Locus had snatched his hand off, bending his wrist back until it hurt. Felix hissed, yanking his hand away. “What the fuck is your problem?”
“Keep the bike off,” Locus said, and Felix huffed. “And keep your hands off of me.”
“Yeah, ‘cause that’s deserving of breaking my wrist.”
“Turn the bike off,” he said again. He was leaving then, and when Felix hurled an insult at him, he didn’t even turn around. Didn’t say anything else, didn’t look back at Felix. Just got into his car and started the engine.
Felix stood where he was, rubbing his wrist absently, watching as Locus’s car sped away. It wasn’t until he started to climb onto the bike that he realized he had left the helmet sitting on the kitchen table and groaned. So caught up in being tired and goddamn asshole Locus that he had forgotten it.
After that, he was late to work and endured another comment about how he was lucky to be employed here at all. That if he messed up one more time, that was it, and he was gone. And then he was back to doing mind-numbingly boring work, smiling and bullshitting his way through it. Really, the only good thing about this job was that he was getting really good at feeding people what they wanted to hear. It wasn’t even worth the money because it was such a sad amount that went into his bank account lately - someone was taking all his hours, the fucking assholes.
The other good thing about work, the one that had risen up recently, was that he could spend the whole time running over excuses to talk to Locus. That thing with the bike had been totally out of nowhere, but that didn’t mean he could just walk over to his apartment, knock on his door, and expect to get laid. Nah, especially not after that brief conversation. Something about Locus was pulling him off his game, making everything he said come out scrambled and stupid.
Not to mention that he had insulted Locus, had mocked him - yeah. Great. Gonna be real easy to get the guy to be interested when Felix was calling him a nerd the next time they passed one another.
(But eight a.m. classes, really? Who does that to themselves? Not even Wash did that. Shit was torture.)
Whatever excuses he did make up to cross the short distance to Locus were pathetic. Some were made up right on the spot. Like, for instance, the day Locus had opened his door and just smiled at him expectantly. It wasn’t the first time Felix had gone over there with some bullshit, but it was the first time Locus had opened the door with a smile and it kind of... shattered whatever he had prepared.
So Felix spouted the first thing to come to mind. “My bike is out of gas,” he said after a moment. “Can you take me to the store?” He definitely was not staring at Locus, at the way that easy smile reached his eyes.
In response Locus had looked right over his head and said, “Aren’t your roommates home?”
Felix had said no at the exact instant Tucker had thrown open the door and yelled at him that it was his turn to cook dinner, to stop fucking around with the neighbors. And then Locus had smirked and closed the door in Felix’s face.
While Felix was cooking that night, Tucker leaned against the counter next to him to ask, “Why are you still messin’ with this guy?”
“Y’know, I think it might be that I want to fuck him,” Felix said lightly. He was cooking with his own personal supply of meat, the stuff he stashed in his room away from these idiots and their grabby hands. Tucker’s pestering was distracting. This had to be made right. “Just a little bit of an idea that, yeah. Yeah. I really wanna fuck the neighbor.”
“Wow, no kidding.”
“Why do you care?”
Tucker snorted, moved to pull a drink out of the fridge. “I don’t. But apparently he keeps bothering Wash. And you know how Wash is.”
Yeah. Always studying, always working, always busy. Didn’t care for distractions, didn’t care for Locus at all. Felix rolled his eyes, shoving food into the oven. “Wash’s problems aren’t mine. I’m sure he can handle himself, and I’m absolutely sure that I’m gonna need you to get the fuck outta here unless you want burnt food.” He shoved Tucker out before the guy could offer up some terrible advice, like giving Felix the oh-so-rare opportunity to go through his blackbook of chicks to bang.
Felix didn’t need it. Besides, if Tucker hung around, he really would end up burning the food.
In reality, Locus was just a challenge at this point. There were few people who could ignore Felix, especially when he wanted them to be into him. Even fewer still that Felix would actually keep coming back to just to try again. Locus happened to fall into that last category - everything about their interactions screamed of failure, but that was what made it a challenge.
A challenge that found him staring at the ten pound bag of sugar on the counter two days later like it was the answer to all his problems. But it was so simple and this was totally something that couldn’t be fucked up. If he was going to look for stupid excuses to go bother Locus, then there was nothing better than the desperate neighbor needing some sugar. A classic move. He was going to make absolutely sure that no one could turn this around and make it an obvious lie. He grabbed the bag before he could second-guess himself and promptly started to pour the entire bag into the trashcan. Damn thing was nearly full and he shook it to make it fall faster, watched it spill onto his shoes and the floor and cursed.
It was a brilliant idea - totally flawless, ‘cause now Locus couldn’t close the door in his face when they were actually out of sugar.
Of course, that was when Tucker walked into the kitchen. He set an empty glass in the sink, looking at Felix like he didn’t want to understand. Despite that look, the first thing out of his mouth was, “Felix… What the fuck are you doing?”
Felix looked at him, smiled, and shook the last of the sugar out of the bag. It missed the trashcan entirely, spilling over his shoes and the floor. He didn’t even notice, tossing the bag over his shoulder and turning to throw the door open while Tucker stared at him blankly. As he crossed the space between their apartments, it was like a switch must have been thrown in Tucker’s head cause his next words were full of anger and confusion. “What the fuck?! Why did you pour out all the sugar - Felix! What - Why!? ”
He ignored Tucker, knocking on Locus’s door twice and bouncing on his feet. He was grinning because this was like… this was perfect. It had to work. The door opened and Locus glanced at him, then over his head. Felix looked over his shoulder then, saw that he had forgotten to close the door, and waved at Tucker. When he turned back, Locus was still staring over his head. Felix cleared his throat, resisting the urge to reach out and rest his hands on Locus’s chest. Though it would definitely get his attention, it was way too early to be feeling up the guy.
When Locus looked back at him, Felix’s grin faded and he said calmly, “Hey. Seems that we’ve run out of sugar.”
Locus said nothing. His eyes narrowed.
Felix didn’t look away from him, ignoring all the angry curses that spilled out of the apartment behind him. He wasn’t going to look away from Locus until he got an answer - even the smallest answer would be good enough. He looked at Locus’s face as he sighed, at the hairs that had come loose from the tie, and then Felix bit down sharply on his lip to keep the ridiculous urge to grin again at bay. No need for that.
And then he heard Wash - “....Why is there sugar on the floor?” He sounded confused and tired, like he almost regretted having to ask that in the first place.
Tucker answered: “Ask the lovesick idiot!”
Felix no longer had the urge to grin, but he still fought to look normal, look casual. Look like his roommates weren’t throwing him under a bus here, really. Locus was glancing between him and the apartment, a smile growing on his face. It was attractive, very much so, but it was at Felix’s expense and he would rather have that perpetual frown and distaste over this. It was like the more they said, the more Felix wanted to go and beat the idiots senseless - ‘cause this should have been perfect, it was supposed to have been so fuckin’ easy. Ask for sugar. Get sugar. Engage Locus in conversation because, hey, casual talk was one of the things Felix was good at.
And now he was just standing there, staring past Locus and into his apartment, listening to the disaster that was growing behind him.
Even Sister had started up, and he hadn’t even known she was in the fucking apartment to begin with. She was louder than anyone else put together, voice cutting through the air and carrying easily. God, she was practically screaming and the more she said, the more heat Felix felt rise in his face. “ Get some, Felix! Tell him you wanna suck his dick! No, no - TELL HIM YOU WANNA RIDE HIS DICK! GET HIM TO FUCK YOU LIKE YOU’VE NEVER BEEN FUCKED BEFORE!”
Felix muttered a curse, running a hand through his hair and then rubbing at the back of his neck. Locus was starting to laugh now, and Felix was thinking that even his laugh was attractive and wanting to hit him to make him shut up. He was still staring into the little sliver of Locus’s apartment that showed behind him, at the floor tiles and the light that reflected off of them.
Sister was still going - “Have the best orgasm of your life, Felix! You deserve it!”
Felix muttered, “This has gone horribly wrong…” just as she petered off into manic laughter. As far as he could tell, Tucker had stopped his bitching too - at the very least, he wasn’t loud enough to be heard where Felix was standing. So. It was just him now, standing in front of Locus and pretending he wasn’t blushing and that he wasn’t currently wishing he could just lean forward and bury himself into Locus until the heat left his face.
But then, Locus was moving and he glanced up to watch him head further into the apartment. The door stood open, giving Felix the opportunity to lean in and sweep his eyes over everything in sight. Locus was in the kitchen to the right, opening a cabinet. The living room was across from where he stood, spreading out past a counter. A large couch and a chair sar before a fairly good sized television. There were curtains at the far wall that reached the floor - did Locus really have floor-length windows? The whole place was clean, almost spotless, and Felix was just about to step inside when Locus was in front of him again.
He took Felix by the arm, turning it palm up to place a small bag of sugar in his hand. It wasn’t full, but it would do until someone yelled at him to go buy more - but that wasn’t even important. Locus’s touch was firm, warmth spreading where his fingers curled around Felix’s wrist. Felix glanced up at Locus, feeling the fingers around his wrist moving slightly.
Locus was smiling still, light and barely there at all. He had angled his head to look down at Felix, and there was amusement glinting in his eyes. For what was probably the tenth time that week, Felix thought that this motherfucker had such pretty eyes that it was unfair.
There was no way he could pretend he wasn’t blushing now - why the fuck was he even blushing? Jesus Christ -
Locus said, “Goodbye, Felix,” and then took his hand away.
“Wait! Locus, don’t you fucking - !” The door shut in his face and Felix growled, hand tightening on the bag of sugar Locus had handed over. He kicked the door lightly, imagining Locus in there, in that clean apartment, smirking to himself like the bastard he so clearly was. “Goddammit,” Felix sighed.
He turned slowly back to his own apartment, reluctant to go back to the shitstorm that was going to start with his roommates. Wash was still standing in the doorway, frowning at him. After a second, Felix raised the bag in his hand and offered a sheepish grin. The heat in his face was fading away at least, finally.
Wash said, slowly and carefully, “Did you… did you pour out all of our sugar just to talk to him?”
Felix frowned. “Sounds stupid when you put it that way.”