Then Came You { a pedro pascal fanfiction }

Chapter One

I underestimated a lot of things that day in late February.

One, how fucking cold it actually was in New York City. I'd lived in San Francisco for ten out of my nearly thirty years on the planet. Despite the infamous city by the bay existing in California, San Franciscans are used to the cold, or so I thought. Still, my sun-deprived, fog-ridden ass was not at all prepared for a proper East Coast winter. The weather app on my phone said it was 48 degrees outside; it felt more like 28 with the wind chill and whatever else was going on in that horrific atmosphere two and a half thousand miles away from home.

Two, how heavy the dresser I was attempting to drag up four flights of stairs on my own would be. My new apartment came furnished, which had been part of the allure-- leaving all my old things behind, starting fresh in a new city with new things. However, the closet space was limited, and furnished apparently didn't include a dresser. I found one for free on Craigslist, the seller only lived a block away, the catch was that I had to move it myself. And, with the whole starting anew objective I had set for myself, that also meant I didn't have any friends to help me carry that hundred-pound box of drawers up my new building steps.

I'd managed to get it down the block, to my building and up half of the first flight of stairs, but it was fucking heavy, and I was not at all equipped to carry it the rest of the way. I wasn't ready to give up, though, at least not actively. Instead, I plopped down on the stairs in front of my precariously wedged dresser, and sat there, struggling to refill my lungs, just hoping that no one from the higher floors needed to get outside for a while.

"Um... hello?" A voice echoed from somewhere above me, separated by the dresser, which was blocking the majority of the stairwell.

Just my luck.

I swiveled around, moving onto my knees so that I could peer over the dresser and see who in the building had the most impeccable timing.

Brown eyes met mine, their owner perked his eyebrows up, a small smirk materializing on his lips as his eyes flickered from me to the dresser and back.

Three, him... I definitely underestimated him.

"Are you seriously trying to carry this up four flights of stairs yourself?" He inquired, one of his hands leaving the confines of his jacket pocket and coming up to scratch the stubble on his cheek.

"I was, yeah... until about two steps ago when I gave up and just sat down." I pushed myself onto my feet, staring up at him, separated by several stairs and a whole fucking dresser, it was impossible to tell how tall he was, but from the position I was currently in he felt like a giant.

"Wait-" I stuck my hand up, shaking my head, "How do you know I'm taking this to the fourth floor?"

He let out a chuckle under his breath, "I live on the fourth floor, and I know that my neighbor just moved out. It was an educated guess."

"Super educated," I nodded, then began surveying the situation. "Sorry, so if I rotate this and bring it down one step, I think you'll be able to squeeze through."

"How about I help you carry it upstairs instead?"

I shook my head, "No-- really that's fine, I--"

He interrupted me by pushing his sleeves up, clearing the few steps between him and the dresser, crouching down and grabbing onto the bottom of it.

"Come on, then." He grunted, nodding to the other side.

I quickly obliged, grabbing the bottom of the adjacent side, and waiting until he gave me the signal to lift.