Colors of Love

Nineteen

A month passed by faster than it seemed to the small, but growing and well-blended family, and before they knew it, Yule was mere Days away. One reason why it'd prolly passed by faster than it'd seemed at first was that not only were they busy with getting Richie truly inducted into Poison, so to speak, but they'd been busy with another big move.

        Upon getting word from his landlord that his apartment complex'd been sold and all remaining residents were to find other accommodations, he'd almost immediately gone to his shared mate. If nothing else, he was hoping he'd let him crash in his guest room till he managed to find another apartment that he could actually afford, which wasn't exactly an easy feat. The area he'd been living in before–not quite in Beverly Hills, but still on that side of Los Angeles–was notorious for outrageous pricing when it came to houses and apartments alike, so he knew that'd likely take him a while.

        Bobby surprised him, though, when he refused to let him look for another place of his own unless that was what he really wanted. For starters, he was his mate, and he wasn't about to let anything–even being temporarily homeless–happen to him when he'd an open bedroom. Not only that, but living together'd make getting to the studio easier when Poison started jamming and writing their next album. After all, they could just carpool, and since he'd far more money at the moment, he could handle the gas such a thing'd take.

        Not having the heart to argue with him since that solved his immediate problem and would save him money going forward, too, the young Neko hadn't even tried. Granted, he'd wanted to be sure that even Duff was okay with this, and he'd been pleasantly surprised to find out that it was actually him who'd suggested this plan. He'd have expected the blonde giant to be a bit resistant to such a thing happening–even temporarily–but there was a reason he'd done such a thing. Both of them recalled their Days of homelessness immediately after moving to Los Angeles, and he refused to inflict that kinda thing on him, if they could help him instead. In fact, he'd actually followed him out to the studio, one-bath apartment he was just barely able to afford to pack up his belongings.

        Having made the move roughly an hour West of where he'd been living, Richie'd tried to get settled in as quickly as he could. Even though Poison'd no plans of getting back into the studio to actually work on another album till after New Year's, he'd wanted to be settled in by the Time that happened. After all, it was no doubt to take him a bit to get his belongings unpacked and set up the way he wanted them–which included mixing his gear in with that of the bassists in their Music room. From there, he'd have to get used to his new surroundings enough to even get a good Night's sleep, and he knew that'd undoubtedly take a while since he was already a bit of an insomniac to Begin with.

        But before he could truly get settled in and adjusted to his new surroundings, the holiday Season kicked into high gear, starting with Thanksgiving. Sure, he'd quite a bit to be thankful for–after all, his mate coulda left him to find a new place on his own–but he didn't tend to celebrate that particular holiday anymore. Luckily, the bassists didn't make him feel bad about that, instead choosing to Enlighten him to their own celebratory practices while they'd the Time. That started with explaining how they celebrated Thanksgiving, just not at the Time of Year he was used to, nor with quite the same Traditions. From there, they'd explained the differences between Yule–which they celebrated every Year in full form–and Christmas, which'd stemmed from the original Pagan Sabbat. Those differences were a lot fewer than he'd have expected, and it made the young Neko a lil more willing to add to the crowd they'd already have for the Sabbat in question this Year.

        "Keep it down," the young Neko said in a hushed tone after opening the front door of his new home.

        The small group behind him cocked their brows curiously as he let them in, then closed the door behind everybody.