Y/n had hit rock bottom. Or, at least, they were circling it like a vulture. Their bank account had reached the kind of negative balance that made them laugh. Not because it was funny, but because if they didn't laugh, they'd probably cry. Or scream. Maybe both.
No matter how many rental ads they combed through, it all felt like a cruel joke. Every decent room in the city was gone, snatched up by people who probably had jobs, friends, and didn't have to choose between paying for groceries or rent. At this rate, they'd be trading in their mattress for a cardboard box. They were even scoping out bridges with good cover in case it came to that.
But then... they saw it.
As they scrolled through another dismal list of overpriced rentals, something caught their eye. A banner ad popped up, glaringly bright, as if the universe itself had thrown them a bone.
☆ 𝚁𝙾𝙾𝙼 𝙰𝚅𝙰𝙸𝙻𝙰𝙱𝙻𝙴: 𝚁𝙴𝙽𝚃-𝙵𝚁𝙴𝙴, 𝙲𝙾𝚉𝚈 𝙷𝙾𝚄𝚂𝙴, 𝙼𝚄𝚂𝚃 𝙱𝙴 𝙾𝙺𝙰𝚈 𝚆𝙸𝚃𝙷 𝚁𝙾𝙾𝙼𝙼𝙰𝚃𝙴𝚂. 𝙸𝙼𝙼𝙴𝙳𝙸𝙰𝚃𝙴 𝙼𝙾𝚅𝙴-𝙸𝙽 𝙰𝚅𝙰𝙸𝙻𝙰𝙱𝙻𝙴. ☆
Y/n blinked. Twice. Rent-free? Was this a joke? No. No way. Desperation gnawed at their gut as they clicked on the ad, hoping against hope it wasn't one of those scams that would ask them to "send over their Social Security number for verification."
The description was absurdly simple:
☆ 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚎. 𝙻𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚍𝚞𝚝𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚍. 𝙼𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚘𝚑𝚊𝚋𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚖𝚞𝚕𝚝𝚒𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚍𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚜. 𝙼𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚕𝚎 𝚞𝚗𝚞𝚜𝚞𝚊𝚕 𝚌𝚒𝚛𝚌𝚞𝚖𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚜. ☆
Well, Y/n could deal with some roommates. Sharing a place with strangers was better than broke. Hell, they'd scrub toilets for a place to sleep at this point. They scrolled to the bottom, barely skimming over the fine print, something about "caretaker responsibilities" and "manifestations of one individual." Whatever. Legalese. Their eyes glossed over it, too hungry for a quick fix to bother with the details.
It didn't even matter what it said. If it was free rent, they'd sign over their soul for it at this point. Without hesitation, they clicked Submit.
It should've been a warning sign that they immediately got a notification back with acceptance for the room.
A whole minute hadn't even passed since submitting their request with interest in the room.
No matter. They weren't going to pass up this opportunity.
Quickly Y/n began packing their sparse belongings evenly distributed into a backpack and old sports bag. Clothes, a few plushies, some electronics, toiletries... and underneath everything, hidden out of sight, the trashy fanfics books they read. All the important stuff.
