Tenement Funster

After Midnight....

It had seemed like a good plan at the time.  Brian yawned violently as he tried to keep his eyes open.  The pages in front of him kept blurring.  He reached for his coffee again and hoped it would finally kick in.  The caffeine wasn't cutting it today.  Brian glanced over at Ellis and wished he had a meeting somewhere and would disappear so Brian could lay his head down and take a nap.  This was going to be the longest work day of his life.  And Roger was to blame.

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It all started because Roger couldn't go back to his flat as he thought he might run into someone.  Specifically Mel.  He had thought about it and felt the best time to steal into his place was while Mel was working the graveyard shift.  The building was dead quiet at night and no one was around.  It was the opportune time to sneak in and pack his things and carry them out.  Unseen.

So a plan had been hatched.  Roger didn't want to be around any longer than necessary so Brian took the key to his place and obtained some boxes from a nearby market.  He returned to the building and after changing into some more casual clothes, took the path to Roger's flat and locked himself inside.

It felt odd to be alone in Roger's place but Brian felt a purpose in being there.  He sat the boxes down and went to Roger's clothes closet first and began looking for the things the blond had mentioned.  Some things he needed right away.  Brian pulled out the paper list Roger had made for him.  After finding the duffel bag in the floor of the closet, Brian tossed some underpants, socks and t-shirts inside.  He managed to find the shoes Roger had mentioned and shoved them in the bottom of the bag.  An extra pair of trousers was rolled up and tucked in as well.

Brian moved to the bathroom and placed Roger's toothbrush, toothpaste and deodorant in the side pocket along with his hair brush and blow dryer.  He walked the bag to the front door and set it there.  At the ready when he went to leave.  Brian picked up a box and returned to the bedroom to empty his nightstand drawer.  The box of condoms came as no surprise or the tube of lubricant.  Brian found a satin pouch that contained something long and round but decided he didn't want to know as he deposited it in the box.  He soon had the drawer empty and checked under Roger's pillows for anything loose to toss in the box.  Brian then looked under the bed and pulled out some shoes and noticed something underneath the mattress that was wedged in the springs.  He sat up and lifted the mattress to find some kind of journal.   His instinct was to immediately place it in the box and not look inside.  Brian did this but then his curiosity got the best of him and he picked up the journal and opened it.  To his disappointment it did not appear to be a diary.   As he took a closer look at a few pages, he found what appeared to be some attempts at poetry.

'So he writes poetry...'  Brian murmured with delight as he scanned over the page he had opened.  

'My new purple shoes
Been amazin' the people next door
And my rock'n'roll forty fives
Been enragin' the folks on the lower floor

I got a way with the girls on my block

Try my best to be a real individual

And when we go down to smokies and rock
They line up like it's some kind of ritual'

Brian grinned as he read the clever lines.  They almost leaned towards song lyrics but were fresh and original.  He was quite impressed.  There wasn't time to read more but he made a mental note to ask Roger about his aspirations to write.  He carefully tucked the journal in the side of the box and felt his affection for the blond increase.  Brian soon had that box and another filled from contents in the bedroom.  He carried the boxes to the front door and lined them up.  He had another box and went and quickly filled it with essentials from Roger's bathroom.