You Make Sure I Always See the Daylight

Rain pelted against the windows of the young man's new home, cardboard boxes with scrawled black ink labels stacked against one wall and his bed pushed against the other. A tiny kitchen was beside his front door, chipped counters and a leaky sink showing just how much maintenance had been done in the past decade. The peeling sky-blue paint showed the age of the apartment, but hey, it was close to his school and only him living here. The only other door was at the end of his bed and led to a cramped bathroom, hell he couldn't even stand up straight in the shower but it was a roof over his head.

This would be the first time Ranboo lived on his own ever, moving far away from the town he grew up in. Coming with barely any possessions, he planned to stretch out his savings for as long as possible while pursuing his dreams. The small space was located within walking distance of the university he was accepted into, working his butt off these past few years to do exactly this. He had planned his escape from his hometown to excruciating detail, renting a rusty old moving van to get his few things here.

The silence of only his thoughts got to be a bit too much, Ranboo decided to put on some music and begin setting up the place that would be his home for the next year at least depending on his financial situation. He hoped to get through the school terms without having to work so he could focus solely on his studies; a major in film production and a minor in English literature would be taking up a lot of his time. Plugging his scratched phone into his small speaker, Lemon Demon's Cabinet Man echoes through the room as Ranboo begins pulling apart the boxes.

Hanging his clothes in the closet and using available surfaces to place picture frames and knicknacks, it felt a bit more comforting when all of those were around him. One picture in particular stood out to him, his thin fingers drawing across the glass pane as he looked at his mothers before setting it on his nightstand. The three of them looked so happy in the photo, Ranboo was maybe 4 years old during the photoshoot. His heterochromatic green and brown eyes were a perfect mix of his mom's, his right significantly more chocolate than emerald, only genetically related to one but he grew up looking a mix between both. One of his mom's had platinum blonde hair and a sweet face, the other raven black with elegant features.

The next year both of them were killed in a late night driving accident and Ranboo was left alone, in the care of a distant Aunt. The only way they watched him grow up was through the glass of a mirror or frame, seeing each of the women in the curve of his lip or the line of his brow as he matured. His Aunt is nice but they never quite had a connection, she worked a lot leaving him to himself. Alone was practically all he knew, his own company was all he needed, that and stories filled with fictional worlds of magical places told through carefully crafted words.

Growing up he had been told repeatedly he needed to focus more, preferring to get lost in his imagination to the reality he dragged himself through everyday. A precious collection of books slowly grew across his walls as the years passed, finding a love for movies later in his life seeing visual storytelling on a screen. Movie posters were plastered across his wall, cliche classic plots being some of his favourite genres. The worn spines of his most prized books now lined the bottom shelf of his night table, he had cut down his trove a lot for the move for the sake of space.

A rumbling in his stomach reminded him to care for himself as he finished collapsing the last box, it didn't take him long to pick up his life and leave for hours away. The music stopped as Ranboo disconnected his phone, pulling up his phone and checking for any nearby food places. The young man had forgotten to go get groceries in his haste to unpack and could spare one night of eating out, especially if it was within walking distance.

A cafe listing popped up in front of him, good reviews written below a posting for The Crows Roost Cafe only a five minute walk away. Speaking of a calm atmosphere and good food, his stomach called for sustenance now. Ranboo had forgotten to eat since he left this morning, a small breakfast with his Aunt before she wished him luck and told him to text when he made it. The entire six hour drive from his hometown had been spent blasting music and singing loudly to drown out the stress of unfamiliar environments.