All We Know Is Falling
Day Fifty-One: Neighbours.
After an already restless sleep dude to bad dreams, something which Ian seemed to be getting regularly again recently, he was not in the mood to be woken up by banging on the wall. Sean was still fast asleep, as Sean could sleep through anything. Ian had his arm flung across Sean’s stomach, but was getting restless, especially now he had been brought to life rather angrily by whatever was going on next door.
As far as Ian had known, there was no-one living in the apartment next to Sean’s. There was someone below and someone above and someone two doors down, just no-one next door. Now, there was defiantly someone in there. Either some homeless person had broken in and was now settling, or someone was moving in. Whatever was happening, all Ian could think of was why they weren’t keeping the fuck down so early in the morning.
Ian groaned, turned over, and saw that “early in the morning” was actually 2 in the afternoon. Sean’s curtains were of the blackout variety, and so stopped too much sunlight leaking into the room when it wasn’t wanted. However, now Ian could tell that it was too bright for it to be early. He groaned again, trying to turn over and snuggle up to Sean, but gave up.
Sighing, he got out of bed, stretching his arms up out of habit, not need to stretch. He wondered over to the bathroom, decided that him and Sean really needed to do something to the flooring. The tiles were always freezing, and always made it painful to then get in the shower and have steaming hot water raining down on your freezing cold feet. It was not a nice experience, and happened all year through. Since Ian had moved in with Sean, he constantly complained. He hadn’t let it go in the whole nearly-two months, which didn’t sound like a lot, but was when it happened everyday.
Ian stood in the shower, trying to warm up his feet without getting them wet, which was very difficult as he was standing in a basin of water. In the end, he tried standing on the sides of the shower floor, so his feet weren’t in the pool of water.
“What the hell are you doing?” came Sean’s voice, laughing, from the doorway. Ian spun around to meet him, and slipping on the sides of the shower, fell into the shower door. It burst open, and while Sean watched in horror, stuck with a mix of confusion and horror, Ian fell flat onto his ass.
“Fuck!” Ian exclaimed, frowning as he stood up. Sean didn’t know whether to go help him, or laugh until he cried. Before he could stop himself, he went for the latter, laughing until tears rolled from his eyes and down his cheeks. Ian tried to look angry, but couldn’t when he knew that if this had been the other way round, he would have been rolling on the floor with laughter around about now. He smiled, frowning slightly still, as he realised that his fall had really hurt.
Sean cooed, “Aww, honey, do you want me to rub it better?”
Ian ‘sulked’, pouting at Sean, “That is it. I have had it with this cold stupid floor making me fall over. It’s always slippery and it’s always cold and it’s always stupid. I hate it.”
“Ian, I know you hate the floor! I’m not allowed to carpet the bathroom and any other floor is going to be the same. We can always go get a rug?” Sean shrugged, at a loss of what to do. This morning was like every morning, and the whole “carpet in the bathroom” thing always came up. Sean could slip into the shower with Ian, completely naked, and the first thing Ian would say is “You need to carpet the floor.” It wasn’t a great boost to any self-esteem levels, even if it did make Sean laugh like crazy.
“Let’s go shopping and get a rug then. First, though, I need to shower. Fancy joking me, Smith?” Ian replied with a wink. In less than 10 seconds, Sean was butt naked and they were making out in the shower.
“Ian, this is stupid! We’ve been here for three hours all because you won’t pick one lousy rug!” Sean folder his arms, stomping his foot impatiently while Ian was queuing for a coffee. Sean pulled up Ian’s watch, and stuck his bottom lip out, sighing exasperatedly, upon seeing it was now 5:54. They had been stuck in this queue for two minutes, although Sean was acting like it was two hours, “Ian, get the coffee later!”
“Alright!” Ian finally answered, and walked out of the queue, grabbing Sean’s hand and pulling him out of the shop, “Alright, I won’t get a coffee. You know what, screw the rug too, I can’t be bother-“ Ian stopped mid-sentence.
“What have you seen now?” Sean turned around, facing where Ian was facing, “There are no coffee shops, no food shops, and more importantly, no fucking carpet shops, so let’s go the fuck home! All that your looking at is a crappy newsagents and an even crappier estate agents… oh no Ian! Not today! It’s too late!” Sean pulled Ian’s sleeve, for Ian was storming over to the shop window as if he was a child who had just seen a sweet shop. No matter how much Sean tugged on Ian’s jacket, he didn’t stop, and in the end, Sean gave up and just let Ian pull him along.
Ian placed his hands on the window, immediately spotting the right house. Two bedroom, kitchen, two bathroom, living room, small dining area, big garden. Nice estate, nice community, just generally nice. He leant against the window, his breath leaving a misty patch underneath his nose. His hands were making marks on the clean glass, and Sean just stood, arms folder, slightly bent over to see what Ian was looking at.
“Would you like to come inside, sirs?” a man’s head poked out of the door. Ian simply nodded, dumbstruck that he had found a solution. Sean pulled Ian into the room by the hand, rubbing his hands together to warm them up as soon as they got in. Ian tugged his scarf, a present from his ma for getting them the house, from around his neck, not understanding how it could be so fucking cold outside when it was in fact still August.
Sean sat down, pulling Ian over to take a seat next to him. The man leant across the desk, and pushed the tips of his fingers together. He looked as if he was deep in thought, pursing his lips for a while, “Most couples of your age seem to want to take out a massive mortgage for a house they don’t really need. Although I shouldn’t care, I do, and I need to know if you feel you can actually afford this. If you have somewhere to live, for now, I would say that you don’t need to buy a new house. So tell me a little about yourselves. How old are you both?”
Ian mumbled his age under his breath, thinking that the man should just shut up and sell them the house. His face showed a sulky expression, and his forehead showed lines of thought. Sean happily told his age, and the man smiled at him. The real-estate gentleman jotted down some more notes, tapping some keys on his computer keyboard. He studied the screen for a moment, pursed his lips again, then swivelled the screen around towards Sean and Ian, “This is the house portfolio, the one in the window you were looking at. Is this the house you would like?”
Ian smiled and nodded, while Sean looked at the house closely. It had a lovely neighbourhood description, and while Ian knew from looking before what the house was like, Sean flicked through the photos by clicking the mouse the man behind the desk had handed him, “It looks amazing, Ian!” Sean muttered under his breath. The real-estate smiled proudly, as if he had chosen the house.
“Now, there is the rather large matter of the money. This house isn’t exactly cheap…” He trailed off, shrugging in a sort-of embarrassment.
Ian smiled smugly. He didn’t like this guy, he was making too much eye contact with his Sean, and he didn’t like how his eyes kept drifting down Sean’s body, and to his lips and stomach and even his pants. Not nice because Sean was his. His smile stuck to his face as he said, “Do you take cheques?”
“Well, we do. But surely you can’t afford it?”
“Would a card be easier?”
“Yes, but if you use a credit card, it’ll just be rejected. There is no way you can afford it.”
“It’s a debit card, actually,” Ian smiled, while Sean stifled a giggle, smiling because he knew Ian was angry at this man. Even Sean had noticed where his eyes were roaming.
“Well then, that’s even worse! No one person can have quarter of a million credit.”
Ian put his hands up defensively, playing it up a bit because he could tell he was getting under the seller’s skin, “I don’t need credit, dude. Just tell me what I have to do.”
“Is this a joke? Are you pissing around with me on purpose?”
“No,” Ian frowned, pretending to be confused, and Sean muffled more of his laughs with an abrupt cough, “I’ve been… saving up? I’ve got enough money.”
“What branch are you with?” Ian gave his details, and the estate agent phoned his bank, asking for a balance as he was looking to make a big purchase. When the woman at the desk read off the seven figure number to him, he went white. He dropped the phone back onto the desktop holder, and pushed his fingers together, pursing his lips.
“Sorry, Mr Watkins. It appears you can make the purchase. Would you like to split the funds or pay in one lump sum?”
Sean had to let the chuckle slip from his lips. The man didn’t miss a beat, stared at Sean’s brown eyes which were brimming with tears, and went crimson. Ian just stared, making sure the man’s eyes didn’t drift. They were leaving here as soon as he sorted out the payments. Next time Ian thought, We’re using another estate agents.
As far as Ian had known, there was no-one living in the apartment next to Sean’s. There was someone below and someone above and someone two doors down, just no-one next door. Now, there was defiantly someone in there. Either some homeless person had broken in and was now settling, or someone was moving in. Whatever was happening, all Ian could think of was why they weren’t keeping the fuck down so early in the morning.
Ian groaned, turned over, and saw that “early in the morning” was actually 2 in the afternoon. Sean’s curtains were of the blackout variety, and so stopped too much sunlight leaking into the room when it wasn’t wanted. However, now Ian could tell that it was too bright for it to be early. He groaned again, trying to turn over and snuggle up to Sean, but gave up.
Sighing, he got out of bed, stretching his arms up out of habit, not need to stretch. He wondered over to the bathroom, decided that him and Sean really needed to do something to the flooring. The tiles were always freezing, and always made it painful to then get in the shower and have steaming hot water raining down on your freezing cold feet. It was not a nice experience, and happened all year through. Since Ian had moved in with Sean, he constantly complained. He hadn’t let it go in the whole nearly-two months, which didn’t sound like a lot, but was when it happened everyday.
Ian stood in the shower, trying to warm up his feet without getting them wet, which was very difficult as he was standing in a basin of water. In the end, he tried standing on the sides of the shower floor, so his feet weren’t in the pool of water.
“What the hell are you doing?” came Sean’s voice, laughing, from the doorway. Ian spun around to meet him, and slipping on the sides of the shower, fell into the shower door. It burst open, and while Sean watched in horror, stuck with a mix of confusion and horror, Ian fell flat onto his ass.
“Fuck!” Ian exclaimed, frowning as he stood up. Sean didn’t know whether to go help him, or laugh until he cried. Before he could stop himself, he went for the latter, laughing until tears rolled from his eyes and down his cheeks. Ian tried to look angry, but couldn’t when he knew that if this had been the other way round, he would have been rolling on the floor with laughter around about now. He smiled, frowning slightly still, as he realised that his fall had really hurt.
Sean cooed, “Aww, honey, do you want me to rub it better?”
Ian ‘sulked’, pouting at Sean, “That is it. I have had it with this cold stupid floor making me fall over. It’s always slippery and it’s always cold and it’s always stupid. I hate it.”
“Ian, I know you hate the floor! I’m not allowed to carpet the bathroom and any other floor is going to be the same. We can always go get a rug?” Sean shrugged, at a loss of what to do. This morning was like every morning, and the whole “carpet in the bathroom” thing always came up. Sean could slip into the shower with Ian, completely naked, and the first thing Ian would say is “You need to carpet the floor.” It wasn’t a great boost to any self-esteem levels, even if it did make Sean laugh like crazy.
“Let’s go shopping and get a rug then. First, though, I need to shower. Fancy joking me, Smith?” Ian replied with a wink. In less than 10 seconds, Sean was butt naked and they were making out in the shower.
“Ian, this is stupid! We’ve been here for three hours all because you won’t pick one lousy rug!” Sean folder his arms, stomping his foot impatiently while Ian was queuing for a coffee. Sean pulled up Ian’s watch, and stuck his bottom lip out, sighing exasperatedly, upon seeing it was now 5:54. They had been stuck in this queue for two minutes, although Sean was acting like it was two hours, “Ian, get the coffee later!”
“Alright!” Ian finally answered, and walked out of the queue, grabbing Sean’s hand and pulling him out of the shop, “Alright, I won’t get a coffee. You know what, screw the rug too, I can’t be bother-“ Ian stopped mid-sentence.
“What have you seen now?” Sean turned around, facing where Ian was facing, “There are no coffee shops, no food shops, and more importantly, no fucking carpet shops, so let’s go the fuck home! All that your looking at is a crappy newsagents and an even crappier estate agents… oh no Ian! Not today! It’s too late!” Sean pulled Ian’s sleeve, for Ian was storming over to the shop window as if he was a child who had just seen a sweet shop. No matter how much Sean tugged on Ian’s jacket, he didn’t stop, and in the end, Sean gave up and just let Ian pull him along.
Ian placed his hands on the window, immediately spotting the right house. Two bedroom, kitchen, two bathroom, living room, small dining area, big garden. Nice estate, nice community, just generally nice. He leant against the window, his breath leaving a misty patch underneath his nose. His hands were making marks on the clean glass, and Sean just stood, arms folder, slightly bent over to see what Ian was looking at.
“Would you like to come inside, sirs?” a man’s head poked out of the door. Ian simply nodded, dumbstruck that he had found a solution. Sean pulled Ian into the room by the hand, rubbing his hands together to warm them up as soon as they got in. Ian tugged his scarf, a present from his ma for getting them the house, from around his neck, not understanding how it could be so fucking cold outside when it was in fact still August.
Sean sat down, pulling Ian over to take a seat next to him. The man leant across the desk, and pushed the tips of his fingers together. He looked as if he was deep in thought, pursing his lips for a while, “Most couples of your age seem to want to take out a massive mortgage for a house they don’t really need. Although I shouldn’t care, I do, and I need to know if you feel you can actually afford this. If you have somewhere to live, for now, I would say that you don’t need to buy a new house. So tell me a little about yourselves. How old are you both?”
Ian mumbled his age under his breath, thinking that the man should just shut up and sell them the house. His face showed a sulky expression, and his forehead showed lines of thought. Sean happily told his age, and the man smiled at him. The real-estate gentleman jotted down some more notes, tapping some keys on his computer keyboard. He studied the screen for a moment, pursed his lips again, then swivelled the screen around towards Sean and Ian, “This is the house portfolio, the one in the window you were looking at. Is this the house you would like?”
Ian smiled and nodded, while Sean looked at the house closely. It had a lovely neighbourhood description, and while Ian knew from looking before what the house was like, Sean flicked through the photos by clicking the mouse the man behind the desk had handed him, “It looks amazing, Ian!” Sean muttered under his breath. The real-estate smiled proudly, as if he had chosen the house.
“Now, there is the rather large matter of the money. This house isn’t exactly cheap…” He trailed off, shrugging in a sort-of embarrassment.
Ian smiled smugly. He didn’t like this guy, he was making too much eye contact with his Sean, and he didn’t like how his eyes kept drifting down Sean’s body, and to his lips and stomach and even his pants. Not nice because Sean was his. His smile stuck to his face as he said, “Do you take cheques?”
“Well, we do. But surely you can’t afford it?”
“Would a card be easier?”
“Yes, but if you use a credit card, it’ll just be rejected. There is no way you can afford it.”
“It’s a debit card, actually,” Ian smiled, while Sean stifled a giggle, smiling because he knew Ian was angry at this man. Even Sean had noticed where his eyes were roaming.
“Well then, that’s even worse! No one person can have quarter of a million credit.”
Ian put his hands up defensively, playing it up a bit because he could tell he was getting under the seller’s skin, “I don’t need credit, dude. Just tell me what I have to do.”
“Is this a joke? Are you pissing around with me on purpose?”
“No,” Ian frowned, pretending to be confused, and Sean muffled more of his laughs with an abrupt cough, “I’ve been… saving up? I’ve got enough money.”
“What branch are you with?” Ian gave his details, and the estate agent phoned his bank, asking for a balance as he was looking to make a big purchase. When the woman at the desk read off the seven figure number to him, he went white. He dropped the phone back onto the desktop holder, and pushed his fingers together, pursing his lips.
“Sorry, Mr Watkins. It appears you can make the purchase. Would you like to split the funds or pay in one lump sum?”
Sean had to let the chuckle slip from his lips. The man didn’t miss a beat, stared at Sean’s brown eyes which were brimming with tears, and went crimson. Ian just stared, making sure the man’s eyes didn’t drift. They were leaving here as soon as he sorted out the payments. Next time Ian thought, We’re using another estate agents.