The Neighbor Next Door

Here's to another year

[DEPICTIONS OF PHYSICAL AND MENTAL ABUSE IN THIS CHAPTER. stay safe please <3]

It was raining on Tuesday, which ruined MePhone's plans of gardening today. It sucked because he was looking forward to it, but he supposed there was nothing to be done. There wasn't much to be done in the house really either. He caught up on his chores for his routine, and he even got the energy to clean up a little, too in general. It felt nice finally feeling productive after a week of wallowing. A breath of fresh air. That just really left him with the TV, and his cat, who didn't want to go wander out in this weather. It was that harsh, summer kind of rain that was too warm, and often evolved into a thunderstorm. The kind that lasted all day, showing it was indeed summer now. Come to think of it, MePhone hadn't really been paying much attention to what month or specific day it was. It always usually blended together, so he didn't bother remembering most of the time. Deciding to check, just out of curiosity, he looked at the calendar on his phone, letting out a small hum.

It was mid july. Meaning he had once again gone a year without celebrating, or really processing he was technically another year older. Not that big of a deal anyways, really. He hadn't celebrated anyone's birthday since... Well, the last one that got celebrated was his and his brother's tenth. For obvious reasons, but MePhone wasn't going to overthink it this year, like he did every other year. It was just the passing of time. Another year closer to... Dying? Was he even going to get old and die? Or were his systems just going to fail on him someday? He shook his head, not wanting to think too hard about stuff like mortality when it surely wouldn't be an issue for a really long time, rather shifting his focus to the cat, who was rolling around on the living room floor, pawing one of its toys around. It was now when MePhone realized he should probably let the people he talked to know he was older now. Even if it was late. His texts between 3gs were still a little tense since the whole freak-out thing, but they were both keeping it normal enough, and as casual as they could.

'didnt relize im 28 now'

'crazy right haha'

That's all he needed to say, surely. He'd probably just wait to tell OJ tomorrow, since he was going over for dinner. He was also pretty excited about that. For things to return to... Some kind of normal again. He appreciated it a lot. Also, the last time he went over for dinner, it was nice. This would surely be nice too.

And... He wasn't thinking about it too deeply lately, with everything going on, but... Especially with the companionship from Sunday, his fondness for his neighbor was growing. Just... He felt seen, really. Cared for, and he craved to be closer to that more than ever. An adoration that was just growing. He hoped he'd get more of those feelings by hanging out with him more. Even if it was love, even if he realized that, and was nervous about it, he wasn't too terribly against the idea of it anymore.

Even if he knew it would be unreciprocated, it was fine to yearn, wasn't it?

He felt so silly for letting his emotions switch so much these days, but... He wondered if that was just normal. Or he was still just unstable, but... It was better than feeling the negatives of that.

It felt like he was fine these days, so he was going to take it as he was fine. It's all he could really do, anyways as he went on with his day.

'Oh shit really?'

Was the text he got back from his older brother.

'Do you want me to come down so we can celebrate or anything?'

'prob too late for that'

'happened in june, wasnt paying atenton'

'We could just do a late celebration or something if you want, I wouldn't mind,'