Work Text:
Ethan huffed angrily, aggressively turning around in bed, hiding his face under his pillow.
The neighbour living closest to him had just gotten home from work or vacation or wherever the hell he used to be for such a long time, and whenever he came home he made sure that the entire building knew. He was a social guy, that was for sure, and Ethan didn’t understand how he couldn’t be exhausted from being so long away from home and then partying for a whole week when he was home.
He knew he should walk over there and complain, but he was simply too much of a coward. He didn’t want to start a fight with the guy, didn’t feel like it would be such a good idea to get on someone’s bad side, especially not when that someone lived right next door and could, if he wanted to, make his life a living hell.
So instead Ethan pressed the pillow harder over his head, trying to block out the sound, and started to count, hoping that by the time he got to a thousand, he’d tired himself out and fallen asleep out of sheer boredom.
One… two… three…
It didn’t really help, because apparently someone in the apartment decided to stomp his feet to match the rhythm of the music, which made it seem like the whole building was shaking. It didn’t even come consistently, it would sometimes stop so that Ethan could continue trying, could continue counting, but then it came back, making Ethan’s heart skip a beat as well as making him lose count.
Finding out that sleep probably would not happen until the party died down, Ethan got up and marched over to his kitchen, deciding to make some tea, just so that he could make some time pass. He didn’t exactly have anything to get up for in the morning anyway, and if his neighbour was about to party the whole night he might as well get some work done, so he could sleep in in the morning when the man next door would be passed out from his drinking.
Ethan hoped he would feel awful. It would serve him right, having a hangover after he had once again kept Ethan awake the whole night. Pouring the hot water into his mug, Ethan reached for his favourite vanilla tea, feeling like he could just make the best of it since he was already awake. Why not have his own kind of party.
One part of Ethan hoped that he would fall asleep right away though, or at least after he’d had his tea, so he could wake up early and turn on the fucking vacuum cleaner super early in the morning. Maybe he could find his tool kit and hang up some pictures as well, really get his own kind of revenge. Turn on the washer if he had something that needed cleaning.
Ethan wasn’t normally a salty person, but if you felt the need to party every damn time you happened to be home, you might as well learn how to deal with neighbors never respecting that you had a life of your own, or that you’d sometimes like to get some sleep.
He sat down by his kitchen table, the laptop still open from earlier that day. Turning it on, he saw he had gotten a couple of new emails, and he decided to start with scheduling some replies to go off in the morning.
The best damn update his mail had given them, the choice to schedule when it would go off, so that Ethan could actually reply whenever he wanted, and not be worried that the people he sent them to would see that he’d been awake at four am in the morning. If only he could do the same with his text messages too.
As he let his fingers furiously run across the keyboard, he saw a notice that he’d gotten a mail from the landlord, just updating them about the new water heater. Ethan bit his lip, for a little bit there he considered writing to him about the annoying person in the apartment next to his. It wouldn’t have to be a particularly rude one, didn’t even have to be an official complaint, just a few words about how it’s been rather noisy in the building during night time lately, and a wish for an official email or letter or even a goddamn note to all the residents that during night time, it should be quiet.
He opened an empty email, wrote a few words, then he shook his head and closed it down again.
He wouldn’t become that person. He wasn’t that petty, and if he had problems with his neighbours, he wouldn’t become the type of person who always reported to the supervisor. He knew that the most sensible thing to do would be to simply speak to the person himself. But if he was going to be completely honest with himself, the guy made him nervous. Ethan had only seen glances of him in the hallway, not long enough to be able to tell what he looked like, but party people had always made him feel nervous, at least if he was anything like the ones Ethan had experienced in the past.
Once he finished his tea and had made sure to schedule the emails he had planned to write in the morning, and also replied to the new ones, Ethan decided to return to bed. Writing the replies had taken him longer than he had thought it would, and while he’d been focusing on coming up with the right words the man next door must have gotten tired of his guests and kicked them out, because the building was once again quiet, the music and loud shouting gone and leaving them in a nice and calm silence.
Smiling to himself, knowing he would finally be able to get some sleep, Ethan settled back in bed, feeling his whole body ache. He was so tired that it took him a while to fall asleep just because his body needed some time to settle down.
The next morning, Ethan woke up feeling well-rested and in a strangely good mood, which was weird compared to the crappy mood he had been in last night. He yawned, stretching his arms, debating whether or not he should get up immediately or try to get a little more sleep, just because his bed was so warm and cozy. He dozed for about twenty more minutes until his alarm went off, then he actually got out of bed, feeling rather energized despite having stayed up a lot later than he normally did.
Humming to himself, he made himself a cup of coffee, and as he saw the lovely weather they had he decided to bring the mug with him outside, to sit on the small porch in the sun, enjoying how calm the town always was before people started to wake up.
He sat down on the chair, coffee in his hand, and looked out over the street. Not a single person was out yet, and the air was fresh and felt good as it hit his face. He took a deep breath, letting the air into his lungs. He leaned back in his chair, wrapping both hands around the coffee, and just felt really good about life for a bit.
He knew that he sometimes had his struggles and issues, but right then, he couldn’t be bothered to think about them.
The sound of another door opening had him pull his attention away from the view. He squinted his eyes, turning his head to the left, and saw that no other than the party-lion himself stepped out on the porch.
He looked tired, as was well deserved, with messy hair and red eyes, and he stumbled a bit as he made his way over to the railing, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and for a moment fighting with the lighter to lit it up, cursing lowly the few times he failed before he’d finally get the desired flame.
Ethan watched him for a moment, saw him fill his lungs with the poisonous chemicals, breathing them out slowly, the tension on his face fading as he did. He seemed calmer then, when he had gotten his fill on nicotine. Yet, even though he looked calmer, Ethan couldn’t help but notice that he looked awful. Not that he was ugly in any way, but his pale skin had some hint of grey in it. He had large bags under his eyes that almost looked dark, and he was pretty sure it wasn’t make-up. The guy looked downright miserable.
A little pang hit his chest almost immediately. So he’d hoped that the guy would feel awful for all the times he’d kept Ethan up, but the view displayed in front of Ethan’s eyes was not as satisfying as he’d thought it would be.
“Good morning,” Ethan heard himself say, watching the man turn his head, blinking in surprise as his eyes met Ethan’s. “Long night?”
“Morning,” he muttered, giving Ethan a small nod. “Yeah,” he said. “I haven’t really slept yet.”
“Huh,” Ethan mumbled, then he realized he was staring. “Sorry,” he quickly said. “Thought you went to bed around 4am. At least it got quiet then.”
“Quiet doesn't mean I can sleep,” the man mumbled, looking away again. “You’re Ethan, right?”
“I am,” Ethan nodded. “Don’t think I know your name, though.”
“Damiano,” the man answered, coughing a little as he did so. “Damiano David.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Ethan replied instantly, which was true. It was nice to actually talk to the guy, maybe if he befriended him in a way it would be easier for him to tell him to be quiet when he was being too loud? Maybe he would know to be quiet if he knew that Ethan needed his sleep. It certainly wasn’t a bad idea.
“It’s nice to meet you too,” Damiano answered, still looking tired. “I’m sorry if we kept you up last night.”
A part of Ethan wanted to tell him no one in the whole damn town would have been able to sleep last night, but the other part of him felt a bit bad as he looked into Damiano’s tired eyes, and he decided to put it a bit nicer instead.
“I’ve been through worse,” he said honestly, though he didn’t point out that when he had, it had also been Damiano’s fault. “Sounds like you had fun?”
Damiano snorted, taking another drag of his cigarette. “Not really,” he muttered. “It’s just a way to make time pass, tire myself out.”
Ethan frowned, looking over at the guy with a concerned look. “So you’re doing it to distract yourself?”
“Yeah, pretty much,” the guy admitted, the miserable look on his face lingering. “I don’t… I don’t really enjoy being alone so much,” he then added, his voice quieting down and directed his eyes away from Ethan.
Ethan didn’t know what to say to that, he’d never been good at these kinds of things, always ended up saying the wrong things even when he wanted to do the opposite.
“I’m sorry,” Damiano then said, forcing Ethan to snap out of it. “That was way too personal.” He let out an awkward laugh, and dropped his cigarette on the ground, pushing himself away from the railing. “You don’t care about my bullshit insomnia. It’s not the kind of crap you’d want to hear about from your strange and annoying neighbour.”
He turned around, leaning back against the railing, this time facing Ethan.
“Am I keeping you up too often?” he then asked. “I can find other ways to distract myself. Just say the word.”
“Maybe sometimes,” Ethan said, deciding to not be too blunt about it. “I don’t do loud noises well,” he added. “But I don’t want to seem like the old grandpa neighbour who complains about excessive noise all the time.”
“But it is bothering you,” Damiano pointed out, looking compassionate and guilty at the same time. “I’m really sorry, I can find something else really. Just let me know.”
Ethan appreciated the offer, it did make him feel better, hopefully it meant that he didn’t have to worry about not getting enough sleep, but at the same time he couldn’t help but feel bothered by the look on Damiano’s face. For some reason, he didn’t want this person he barely knew to suffer through his nights just because Ethan couldn’t sleep if the man was doing something he clearly needed for his own mentality’s sake.
“Have you tried tea?” Ethan asked, realising himself he sounded like an idiot. “To help you sleep, I mean.”
“Tea, warm milk, a bath, going for a long ass run before bedtime,” Damiano shrugged, reaching for his pack of cigarettes, lighting a second one. “I’ve tried it all. Everything google says should help.” He snorted, placing the cigarette between his lips, inhaling the smoke. “Everything but pills,” he mumbled. “I don’t like pills.”
“Not even if they help?” Ethan asked, he didn’t want to be rude, but if they could help, they did seem to be the best choice.
“Not even if they help,” Damiano confessed, looking a little bothered. “I don’t know how to explain it, they freak me out and make me nauseous. I was willing to give it a try a few years ago, but it didn’t work out.”
Ethan tried to come up with everything he’d read about sleep deprivation over the years, but if Damiano had tried everything google suggested, it was very unlikely that Ethan would be able to come up with something that would actually help him.
“I’m simply not good at being alone,” Damiano said with a sheepish smile. “I sleep better with someone else in my bed. I tend to try to convince someone I party with to stay, not hard when they are drunk out of their mind and would gladly screw literally anything on two legs, but the ones I had here last night were such assholes, I kicked them all out instead.”
He looked at Ethan, a small smirk on his face.
“What about you?” he asked. “Do you sleep well alone?”
Ethan blinked, not sure what he was supposed to say to that. He’d never really thought about that, the only thing that kept him from sleeping was all the noise, once he got to sleep he slept like a baby.
“I do, yeah,” Ethan said, still looking thoughtful. “I also don’t think I’ve shared a bed with anyone for years.”
That was true, he couldn’t even remember the last time he had woken up with someone by his side. It had been three years since his break-up with Thomas, and after that he’d had probably two one night stands, and both had snuck out before he had even woken up in the morning.
“Shame,” Damiano said, giving a casual shrug. “We could have helped each other.”
“You inviting me to sleep with you?”
Damiano shrugged again, smirking. “Why not? You’re good looking, you live damn close, and you’d surely benefit from me being able to sleep,” he grinned, giving Ethan a playful wink. “Sounds like a win-win, don’t you think?”
“I normally don’t go to bed with people without at least having dinner with them first,” Ethan said, putting his mug down on the table. He wouldn’t drink it.
“So have dinner with me,” Damiano suggested, as if it made all the sense in the world. “We can go out, they have lots of good diners around here. Or you can come over to my place and taste my lasagna. We’ll enjoy some food and get to know each other.”
Damiano looked so hopeful that Ethan felt that he couldn’t say no even if he wanted to. Then again, it had been way too long since he went out to dinner with someone who wasn’t his mom or his annoying cousin, Victoria.
“And if we do this and you find out you don’t like the idea of going to bed with me, I’ll just throw another party and find myself someone else,” he winked. “Jokes aside, though. Dinner? With or without going to bed together?”
“You know, dinner does sound nice, yeah,” Ethan nodded, giving Damiano a warm smile. “And if you’re as good of a cook as you’re loud, that lasagna will be the best damn thing I’ll ever have.”
Damiano laughed, a cheerful sound, and for a moment, he looked less tired, less miserable.
“It will be,” he promised, meeting Ethan’s gaze. “So dinner at my place? Tonight?”
“Yeah,” Ethan said, still smiling. “That sounds great. I’ll come by around… six?”
Damiano smiled, nodding in reply.
“Perfect.”