Our Music Blooms

Welcome Home(666 words limit challenge)

Yukio unlocked the door to his apartment and let Laurence in before closing the door behind him and turning the light on.

"Woah. I like the color you and Aubrey repainted the entry room." Laurence admired.

"Yeah. Aubrey wanted to paint it purple but I was like 'It reminds me of Barney' So we painted it cool gray ." said Yukio

"Doesn't the school own this building?"

"No. However, Aubrey's father does. He said she could live here for free but she wanted to be independent. She's pretty fun. You might like her."

"I thought you said she's never here." Laurence said as he sauntered over to the fridge.

"Yeah, but she sticks around sometimes. Asks to photograph my plants. She's a photographer. She is also... a fan of yours." Yukio winked.
Laurence's head perked up from the depths of the fridge. His eyes shining. He was so giddy that he nearly bounced over to Yukio.

"She's a fan of me?! Of my music, or cheesy magic? Because I'm as low radar as a normal SoundCloud rapper with my songs, but my magic gets 200 views on Facebook usually and I know it's not a lot, but it's more than 25 views." He gasped for air "But  I've never met anyone who likes my stuff!"

"She's a fan of your songs. Though mostly the remixes, she likes some originals like Today Penne and Tranquility."

"Actually, Today Penne is a remix. Or a mashup I guess. It has something like 16 songs in there coupled with sounds I made with my band back in highschool for our keyboard player." 

"Oh, right. The Illusionists! Why did you say it like I didn't know them?"

"I guess I kinda wanted to forget about them. We didn't get many gigs and we ended on a sour note." Laurence finger-gunned.

"Yo, is it okay if we go to your room? I wanna check it out." Laurence asked.

"I've been waiting for you to ask that. Let's go." said Yukio, as he took Laurence's hand and led him to his room.

Laurence scanned the room before flopping onto Yukio's bed. The room had merchandise of all of Yukio's favorite artists. And then there was his wall. There was something new. It was a collage of multiple things. It was messy, but artistically messy. There was even a photo of who Laurence assumed was Aubrey as he'd never seen her before.
Laurence felt the bed. The mattress was soft. The bedding was warm like Yukio had just left the bed and... had a suspicious lone sock hiding under the comforter. As Laurence pulled it out, the color drained from Yukio's face.

"You wear socks to sleep?" Asked Laurence.

"No, That's stupid. We've been over this. Now please give me my sock!" Yukio snapped. He lunged for the sock but tripped and fell face forward onto Laurence's thigh. In seconds he was up again and successfully seized the sock.

"All that effort for a sock. Wow dude. Why did you want it so bad?" Laurence asked.

"Because I did, okay?!"Yukio flustered, "Just- god. Just...you might want to to wash you hands." He threw the sock in the hamper behind him and stormed out the room. When Yukio walked out, Laurence realised what had happened. I'm an idiot. He thought to himself. How embarrassing it must've been for Yukio. He had to apologise. Most likely with the bribe of food. But not before washing his hands.

"Hey, wait up!" Laurence called.

"Are you following me?" Yukio asked.

"Yeah."

"Stop. Go home. Play with Mikey a little bit."

"But it's so cold out. I could keep you warm."

"Fine. Buy me an vanilla bean frapé."

"Did you not just hear me?" Laurence shook his head and sighed.

"Did I f--king stutter?" Yukio asked.

"Alright alright. And hey! I'm sorry, okay? I didn't realize."

"It's alright. I shouldn't have snapped at you." The two smiled then intertwined their fingers and rounded the corner.

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