Oh My God, They Were Roommates

8 | Escape

"You knocked?" Sora droned.

Ray kicked into gear, rules still in hand. Sora pointed to them and asked, "What're you doing with those—" only to be cut off by Ray shrieking in a barely restrained whisper, "No time to explain! I had to buy a mattress and Leo, Huey, and Barry are helping bring it—"

The both stilled at the distant sound of Huey cursing in the stairwell. "Almost there... I think this is Ray's flat," Leo's voice sounded, just outside of the foyer. "Almost! You're not the one carrying it!" Barry shouted.

Ray spun back around, pinned like a frog on a biology countertop. Instead of pins, however, he was held down by Sora's sharp and deadly glare.

"You fucking idiot," Sora seethed, and Ray yelped at the sound of the front door opening. Sora cursed again, under his breath, and scrambled back to his bedroom. Ray skidded after him, assisting in shutting the door before Huey and Barry ever made it over the threshold.

Ray flattened his back to the Sora's closed door, only to shriek at the sight of the apartment rules in his hand. He stuffed them up the front of his shirt without thinking twice.

"Ray?" Leo called into the apartment, footsteps coming to the foyer door.

Ray yelped. "Over here!"

"Oh, thank God—I thought we just burst into a stranger's flat," Leo laughed, striding into the living space with an impressed whistle. "Wow... nice place, dude."

"Thanks—"

"It's not messy at all! I was expecting, like, a pigsty or something."

"That's because I just threw the pigsty out the window," Ray said as he reached for his bedroom door. "This is my room. The only bedroom. 'Cause I live alone."

He could almost hear Sora bang his forehead against the wall.

He flattened a hand over his stomach where the paper crinkled. The sound was drowned out by Huey and Barry cussing in the foyer, so Ray and Leo rushed in to help. The four of them struggled across the apartment to Ray's room where they kicked aside Ray's sleeping bag in favor of dropping the mattress onto the hardwood floor.

The instant it was down, Huey and Barry collapsed onto the mattress.

Leo put his hands on his hips. "What're you two lazing about for? Don't y'all work out or something?"

"Or something," Huey huffed, rubbing a hand over his forehead. He passed his fingers through his black curls and glanced over at Barry, who let out a gruff groan as he sat up, straightened, and stretched his shoulders out.

"Nice place you've got here, de Lucía," Barry said.

"Uh, thanks."

"So, you rich or something?" he asked and was immediately assaulted by Leo punching Barry's upper thigh.

Ray winced—it looked like that hurt like a sonuvabitch. "Uh... not exactly. My aunt—she's helping me out. And I got a pretty good deal on this place."

"How good?" Leo asked, jabbing a thumb in the direction of the wall opposite the windows. "And by that I mean could I move into the bedroom over there."

Ray's heart stopped.

"Th-That isn't a bedroom," Ray said, weakly. "Just a... closet. Large closet."

"Who said I couldn't live in a large closet? This body is compact, bro," Leo said, hands stationed squarely on his narrow hips.

Huey yawned, flopping his phone out of his pocket. He raised it up, only to hesitate, eyes stilling on the screen. Barry took notice and turned, only to have his head bashed in when Huey shot up and knocked his head straight into Barry's thick skull.