Trauma - Shudderkin au

Chapter Two - The Flat's a mess

"Newspaper lined floors,
Paint covered fabric,
Cover your flaws,
With glitter and plastic"

~

Larrikin finished work at 5pm every day and was home by 6pm normally. He walked along the lake and then through the nature reserve till he was met with busy streets and traffic. Then all he had to do was follow the main road for a few kilometers before taking a right hand turn and going into the first apartment building. He unlocked the front door with his key card and went into the building's main lobby. He took the stairs up to the third floor and went to the apartment door at the far end of the corridor. Number 38. He fumbled in his back pocket for his keys. Well shit. He'd left them at work. He banged on the door. "Oi! Idiot! Open up!" He called for his flat mate.
After a couple of minutes he tried again.
"I'm coming you twat!" came the reply from the apartment and rustling sounds could be heard from inside. The door was opened and a man of average height, his left arm in a cast, opened the door. He had jaw length black hair and his denim jeans were covered with paint as usual. As well as the rest of him really.
"Took you long enough." Larrikin muttered, pushing past Hopeless and into the room. The man, Hopeless, closed the door and walked into the living room, slapping Larrikin's arse on his way. The shorter man let out a yelp as he jumped in surprise.
"Hey!" He exclaimed, crossing his arms and he went to sit on the kitchen bench, facing the living room. The living room in question had floor to ceiling windows on one side, perpendicular to the kitchen bench Larrikin sat atop of. The floor of the room was covered in newspaper and a large canvas sat on an easel half finished. On top of the newspaper lined floors lay all sorts of paints and art supplies.
"Are you ever going to clean up?" Lar asked, swinging his legs.
"Look I will eventually. But for now the painting comes first. There's an exhibit that asked me to enter some work and they're setting up in a week. I wanted something new to display." He said as he wiped his hands on his pants, making the paint covered fabric even more of a mess.
"So long as you don't get paint anywhere that it isn't meant to be."
"I know, I know. The land lord will kill us." He sighed, taking the pain brush from behind his ear and touching up part of the painting.
"Want some dinner?" he asked, spinning around on the bench and sliding off on the kitchen side.
"Sure. Mac and cheese?"
"You know it."
They shared a grin and Larrikin got out the pasta and a saucepan. He set the pasta up to boil and went over to the CD player in the corner, turning it on and putting in an Abba CD. He turned to look at Hopeless and saw the smirk on the man's face as he kept painting.
Larrikin sung along as he cooked, making the white sauce next.
"Is it hard painting with only one hand?" He asked in an instrumental.
"Kinda. I mean I can still use my left hand. Just without fine motor skills or wrist movement." Hope shrugged. He had painted a beautiful ocean landscape on the cast the day that he'd got it, which was only last week. He'd gotten into a fight at work and was hit. The man responsible had been fired and Hopeless given a few days off, but he was waiting on the insurance company to get back to him about the whole ordeal.
"Well at least it was your left hand and not your right."
"I'd just paint abstract if it was." He shrugged, returning his focus to his work.

~

Saracen was on dinner that night. Which meant they were sitting in the living room eating take away pizza. Dexter and Saracen had Fridays off together, Ghastly worked at home and Erskine had just gotten home from work. Shudder himself normally worked full time at the national gallery as a project manager but after getting in a fight with one of the workers in restoration he had been fired. He didn't even know what happened. One minute they were just talking friendly and the next, the man was on the ground clutching his arm. He sighed at the memory and put his plate down on the coffee table, his pizza barely touched.
"Everything alright?" Ravel asked from his side. The golden eyed man was in a suit. He worked as a lawyer ever since the war ended and he was a darn good one at that.
"I am fine. Just thinking about work."
"I'm sure things will sort themselves out."
"I hope so. I don't want things to go to court."
"You know I'll defend you if they do."
He nodded, leaning back against the couch. "Thank you for saying that, but there is no need. I'll probably take a settlement offer before that happens."
"Well if you need a lawyer, I'm here. For free too." He smiled, punching his arm lightly before getting up to get more pizza. Anton stood as well. "I think I'll have an early night." He muttered and excused himself, going back up the stairs.

~

Larrikin sat on the couch watching Hopeless paint. The man was pretty much entirely covered in paint by now and even Lar had managed to get some on himself.
"How easily does the paint come out in the shower? Because you are covered."
"It covers my flaws." Hope chuckled, turning around to face him. He had paint on his nose.
"What flaws? You're gorgeous." He joked. Hope rolled his eyes.
"See. You've been fooled by my disguise."
"It's all the glitter you use."
They laughed and Larrikin lay down on the couch, stretching. He closed his eyes and listened to Hopeless humming quietly to himself. This was the life. This is how he liked to spend his Friday nights. He was invited to a Dungeons and Dragons session by Gracious but he'd replied saying he was too tired. Besides, he didn't know the other two members of their party yet because they never really got around to actually playing Dungeons and Dragons... They just tended to all be too busy.

Eventually Larrikin rolled off the couch and onto the floor, exhausted. He landed with a thud and Hope jumped in surprise, turning around to face him.
"Lar?"
"Hmph?" he groaned from the floor.
"You should go to bed." He said, concern lacing his voice.
"I am."
"You landed in a puddle of paint though. You idiot."
Larrikin rolled over onto his back and looked up at him. He had a patch of blue paint on his shirt. Hopeless snickered.
"Come on, you. Let's get you into the shower."
"You are so gay." Larrikin mumbled as Hopeless picked him up and carried him into the bedroom.
"Yeah, yeah. Like you can talk." He joked in reply.
The apartment had two bedrooms but they both slept in the master bed room most of the time. They had put two single beds in there and then a double bed in the spare room for if either of them had a date.
Hopeless dragged him through to the en-suite and dropped him on the tiled floor.
"I need to finish the painting. Go to bed." And with that Hopeless left him there.

Larrikin pulled off his shirt and shoved it in the sink, turning the tap on and trying to clean the paint off it. He eventually gave up, putting the plastic plug in the sink and leaving it there to soak while he showered.
He found his thoughts drifting to the dark haired client he'd seen for the first time that day. The man was handsome, he'd admit that. But he'd look a lot nicer if he didn't scowl so much. A smile would be nice on his face. He shook his head trying to clear it. He shouldn't be thinking about his work on a Friday night. He should be relaxing. He turned the shower off and stood there, his hands against the wall and his wet hair in his face. After a moment he got out of the shower and grabbed a towel, using it to ruffle his hair dry as he walked into the bedroom, leaving a trail of water in his wake. He dried off his body and pulled on some pyjamas before flopping onto his bed. He tossed his towel across the room, aiming for the bathroom but it ended up on Hopeless' bed. Oh well. He closed his eyes, taking deep breaths and slowly falling asleep.