Blood Stained [M×M]

Chapter 1: Eli

His footsteps echoed as he picked up his pace down the empty apartment hallway. The metal grate of the floor and the police sirens echoing the neighborhood did little to ease his tense shoulders. He pulled his hoodie up more, his eyes darting at every dingy and scraped up door he passed, uneasiness settling grossly in the pit of his stomach. His mind was going a million miles an hour, and he couldn't seem to focus on any of the thoughts that were flushing by.

A bang on the apartment door next to him had his heart drop to his stomach. He ran to his apartment, and unfortunately for him, it was the last one of the hallway right next to the dingy green wall. A perfectly entrapped place that suffocated him the first time he saw it, but since this was the only apartment complex that didn't force him to show I.D., he couldn't complain.

The door right next to his opened, and before Eli could really put the brakes on his running, he felt his face and shoulder slam into something soft yet firm. His hands shot out, barely able to brace himself against the rusted metal as his knees hit hard onto the floor. He groaned, looking up to see who he had run into, and his throat felt like it was going to close.

The man he had run into was on his knees, rubbing his chest where Eli most likely made impact. From what he could make of the man's face, his eyebrows were scrunched in pain. His black medical mask covered the rest of his face from the nose down, but Eli could immediately tell the man was handsome. The smallest pinkish tint of a misshapen scar peeked out on the bridge of his nose, and his hair was short and shaggy with an undercut.

His clothes were the one thing that deterred him. He wore a black long sleeved skin tight turtleneck that accentuated his jawline and Adam's apple. The black jacket he wore on top was a sort of waterproof material with many buckles and pockets. Eli couldn't see his pants and shoes very well, but from the side he could see, it matched his jacket in terms of buckles and pockets.

Eli couldn't seem to explain it, but his heart flipped when the man opened his eyes. Dark amber stared back at him, cold with a bit of intrigue.

"S-sorry," was all that came out. Eli flattened his palms on the floor, getting to his knees. He reached for the railing next to him, gripping the cold metal and pulling himself to his feet. He realized quickly that the man was also on his feet and towered over him a good few inches. He was intimidating as he stood in front of Eli, his eyes looking him up and down, but they settled at his throat. Eli grabbed his hoodie and brought it up, covering the dark purple bruise and fingernail markings, uncomfortably shifting his eyes.

The man seemed to take the hint and turned to his door, closing and locking it. Eli opened his mouth to say something, but his voice caught in his throat as the man turned back to him with a narrowing glare. He walked past Eli with a small nod. The breath that Eli was holding, released as he looked behind him, watching the man's broad shoulders walk away from him. Eli kept his eyes on the man until he turned the corner. Eli looked back at the door and bit his lip at the number. Apartment 13.

Eli looked back at the corner the man had disappeared from but decided to give up and walk to his own apartment. He put the key in, unlocked it, and slipped in. The smell of cigarettes and mint were the first things he smelled when he entered. He closed and locked the door, flipping on the yellow tinged light of the small kitchen. Eli sighed, taking in the kitchen that barely looked big enough for one person.

It had a double-sided sink with a foot and a half of counter space. At the end of that counter space was the 2 surfaced stove and the small oven that looked like it could barely fit a 9 by 13 pan. After that was another foot and a half of counter space, ending with the fridge. It was a standard off-white fridge but definitely held its years of scratches and rust on the outside.