Metal Band One-Shots

The Apartment Building (Multi)

 Tommy exhaled deeply as he finally reached the second-floor landing, grocery bags in hand. The elevator was out of order (again), so everyone was stuck using the stairs until further notice. 

 Things wouldn't be so bad right now, he thought, if he lived on the second floor. But he lived on the third, and would have to journey up even more stairs.

 "Figures," he muttered. "Where's your roommate when you actually need him?"

 Tommy's friend Elize lived on the second floor. The door to her place was partly open at the moment, so he called, "Hey, Elize, you home?"

 She poked her head out the door. "Hey, Tommy." She looked down at the grocery bags. "Wasn't it your turn to do grocery shopping last week?"

 "Exactly. Roy insisted that it was my turn, even though I told him I was the one who picked up groceries last week. What are you up to?"

 "I finally managed to get a new roommate," she said. "I'm helping her move in and everything."

 "Wow. So, you actually got someone to agree to move in here?" he asked.

 "What do you mean?"

 "Elize, you know you and I are the only sane people living in this building," Tommy said. "It's great that you found a nice, normal roommate. I have Roy."

 "Well, he's not bad. Come on, Tommy, it's not like he's an axe murderer or anything."

 "I wouldn't be too surprised if I found out he is an axe murderer. And I work in a store with him. You have no idea how bossy that man can be."

 They suddenly heard music coming from up above them.

 "Is that him again?" Elize asked.

 Tommy sighed. "Yeah. I told him we shouldn't make it so loud. We've already gotten complaints, and I don't want to get evicted."

 "Hey, Elize, what's that music?" A blonde woman came out to the doorway. "Oh, hi," she said when she saw Tommy standing there. "Are you a neighbor?"

 "Yeah, this is Tommy Karevik," Elize said. "He lives in the apartment above us. Tommy, this is Kobra. She's my new roommate."

 "Oh." He smiled. "Uh, nice to meet you, Kobra." He was trying to think of something else to say, but the music from upstairs began to become deafening. "Hold on a minute." He placed the grocery bags on the floor and took out his phone. "I'll ask him to turn it down." He dialed Roy's number, and was surprised when he actually picked up (he didn't think he would hear the phone).

 "Hey, Roy, it's me," he said. "It's Tommy. No, I'm not still at the grocery store. Yeah, I did. Yeah, listen, can you turn the radio down? I'm downstairs with Elize, and we can hear that's it's too loud. Because we've already gotten complaints! Do you want to get evicted and go back to living over the store? Look, just turn down whatever terrible music that is, all right? No, no, it's not really terrible-no, don't hang up-" He lowered the phone from his ear. "Well, I can hope he doesn't come here to murder me."

 "Do you have a difficult roommate?" Kobra asked.

 "Well, sort of," Tommy answered. "He's just kind of...himself."

 "Tommy!" Roy came bounding down the stairs. "Here you are. Did you get all the groceries or not? Hey, Elize."

 "Yeah, I just told you, I've got everything," Tommy answered.

 "Thanks for turning the music down," Elize said to Roy. "We're just kind of busy here. This is Kobra. She's my new roommate."

 Roy nodded. "Hi." He picked up a couple of the grocery bags. "We should probably get these upstairs, Tommy."

 "Oh. Yeah, right."

 "What are you all up to?" Floor and Alissa came down the stairs next, both dressed a little more fancy than usual.

 "Hey, guys," Tommy said. "You guys going out?"

 "Yeah, we're doing a double date," Alissa said. "Daniel and I were planning on having a date night, and Floor wanted to come along with Hannes."

 "That's great," said Elize. "Oh, this is Kobra, my new roommate. That's Alissa and Floor. They live on the third floor, too."

 "Hi," Kobra said with a smile. "It's actually great to meet a few of my neighbors. You ladies have fun on your dates. And you guys seem nice. Tommy and Roy, right."

 Alissa scoffed. "Oh, please. I have a boyfriend who could kick both their asses."

 "Oh, Daniel's not that tough," Roy said, rolling his eyes. "And neither is Hannes. I've met both of them."

 "I don't need Hannes for that," said Floor. "I'd just kick your ass myself, Khan."

 "So, you two should probably be going," Elize said quickly. "Don't want to be late. And you boys should get your groceries upstairs. Come on, Kobra."

 "Nice meeting you," Kobra said to Tommy as Elize quickly closed the door.

 "Is that Simone and Oliver again?" Tommy asked as they climbed the stairs. The couple lived next door to them, and seemed to argue quite a bit.

 "Yeah, they're at it again," said Roy. "Don't really know what they're problem is, but believe me, I never pass up an opportunity to impress Simone and make Oliver look stupid."

 The two got to their apartment, and Tommy placed all the grocery bags on the kitchen counter. "You sure that's a good idea? You certainly haven't done much impressing around here. Elize seems to think you're cool, but Alissa is definitely not impressed, and Floor actually said she could kick your ass, and I'm worried she might. No, please, don't turn it on," he said when he saw Roy head for the radio. "Let's just have a little quiet."

 Roy sighed. "Oh, fine. Let's just get dinner. It's been a long day, anyway."

 After a few minutes of silence, Tommy asked, "You met Elize's new roommate, yeah?"

 "What, the blonde one? Yeah. What about her?"

 "Well, it's...well, she seemed nice, didn't she?"

 "You're the one that talked to her, not me," Roy pointed out.

 "Yeah, I guess so. Look, she's just settling in, so when you're home, can you not play the music too loud? I don't want her to think we're some kind of psychos."

 "Oh! That's what it is." Roy smiled. "You want to impress the new girl, don't you?"

 "Well, if she's nice and normal like Elize, I'd like her to stay," Tommy said. "So, can you please just be less of...yourself? There must be someone else you can go hang out with. What about those Finnish guys that live on the fifth floor?"

 Roy scoffed. "Those freaks? Please. They're trying to be some kind of band. 'Nightwing' or something like that. They fight more than they play music. Guess it's a good thing your girl's three floors below them."

 "She's not my 'girl'. I just met her." 

 "Uh-huh. Well, if you don't want me around, I'll just ask Thomas to give me more hours at the store, or I'll go ask Simone if she needs help with anything. I guess you wouldn't want me to go visit Elize, since the new girl lives with her."

 Tommy sighed. "Are you really gonna be like this? Just keep the radio down, all right?"

 "Oh, fine. I'll keep the radio down, I'll avoid the second floor, and if you're going to be off playing Romeo, I guess I'll be spending more time by myself."

 "Well, you could go talk to Alissa and Floor. They're just down the hall."

 "No, I think I'd rather not," Roy said quickly.

 Tommy turned around. "Are you actually afraid of them?"

 "No," Roy replied immediately. He scoffed. "Why would I be?"

 Tommy smiled. "Yeah, you are."

 "No, I'm not," Roy snapped. "I'll make dinner tonight. Why don't you go figure out how you're gonna play Romeo?"

 Tommy kept smiling. He knew he had pushed a few buttons there.