Sorry, guys, I’m lame and I don’t think I’m gonna finish this tonight. It’s almost dinnertime here and this thing just keeps ballooning, so I’m going to try to finish it later tonight and edit and post it tomorrow (can PdM last all weekend??), but here’s a snippet in the meantime! This is for a prompt @seepunkrun gave me about Zach house-hunting in LA and Chris “helping”.
At the front door, Chris is already grilling the realtor—a short, blonde woman with a soccer-mom haircut and an incredibly fake-looking smile—about the landscaping. “Did the previous owner have a gardner?”
“I imagine so,” says Linda the Realtor, staring down at the papers in her hand as if they will reveal the secrets of the universe to her—or at least the secret to getting Chris to shut up. “I can get that info for you.”
“It’s fine,” Zach says in a rush to be accomodating. “Let’s see the inside?”
Chris pushes his sunglasses up to rest on top of his head and gives Zach a look but mercifully doesn’t say another word as they step into the entryway.
The house has great curb appeal, but it’s even more charming inside. It’s a true mid-century rancher, and the previous owners renovated but not so much that it’s been stripped of its vintage flair. In many ways, it’s the opposite of the sleek, modern apartment Zach left behind in New York, but to his surprise, he finds that comforting rather than off-putting. Maybe he really needs a change. Maybe this just reminds him of the house he grew up in, except twice the size and missing the brown shag carpeting and avocado fridge.
“Are these floors real wood?” Chris asks as they head down the hallway toward the bedrooms.
“Mhm. Original to the house,” Linda says. She has walked ahead of them, leaving to them to trail side-by-side down the narrow hallway, so close their hands brush, but now she turns and stops by a bedroom door to let them peek inside. “This is the smallest of the three bedrooms. It would make a great office, don’t you think? Or…” She pauses, eyeing Chris up and down and then flicking her eyes to Zach. “Or a nursery?”
A nursery? Zach’s entire body lights up with the pins and needles of mortification. The noise he makes is meant to be noncommittal, but it comes out as more of a croak, and he has to duck quickly in the room to avoid looking at Chris, clocking his reaction. It certainly isn’t the realtor’s fault, after all, that she would assume they’re together. Chris has practically been inviting that exact assumption, what with his enthusiasm and over-investment. And what grown man would bring a friend with him on a home tour? What are they even doing?
This is fabulous! Can’t wait for more!
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