staying with a stranger / georgenotfound x reader fanfiction

--chapter eight-- the flat

George and I walk up to a rough looking apartment building the next day. We pass some men sitting on the steps as we follow a way-too-preppy woman up some stairs. She goes on about the history of the neighborhood.

I trip on a large crack in the stairs. George catches my waist before I can fall. I make eye contact with him and give him a little smile.

"And here is the flat," the woman says as she opens a paint-chipped door, "Feel free to look around!"

I hesitantly walk into the living room. I glance around the different rooms. I don't think any of the lights really work, but I can deal with that for a month.

I choose to ignore the spot on the ceiling and around the house.

Okay, it isn't the nicest thing in the world, but it's what I can afford.

"What do you think?" I ask George, who has been very quiet.

"It's, um," he tries to find the right words to say, "It's definitely something."

I laugh a little bit. It's definitely something. I would never picture myself living here, but I have to remember it's only temporary. I can deal with it. It's better than the streets.

--george pov--

No way is y/n living here. I can't allow it.

I look in disgust as I eye the mold obviously growing on the ceiling. Almost every single light is absolutely shattered. What did the previous owners do?

I try to bite my tongue. I am very well aware that this is all they can afford, but it can't be safe with all it's red flags.

Why would we even come up here? I knew they shouldn't live here from the moment y/n tripped walking up the stairs. Actually, before that. We shouldn't have come up here when we saw the creepy men eying them when we walked up the stairs.

"What do you think?" they ask me.

I take a deep breath. I should be honest. Otherwise, they'll be living in this dump.

"It's um," I search my brain for a nice way to put this, "It's definitely something."

They laugh a bit. "I know, but I think I could make it work."

I pause for a moment. Are they being serious?

I don't think it would be a safe place to live at all. They couldn't possibly make this work, not even for a day.

"y/n," I say softly, "you can't possibly think that I'm going to let you live here."

Their eyes widen in surprise. "What?" they ask, wringing their hands together.

"I just-" I stop to think why I said that.

I don't blame them that they're surprised at all. We barely know each other, in all honesty. We've known each other for a week, but I can tell that they're a good person, especially after getting to know them last night at the beach.

"Come on, y/n. You can't live here." I motion my hands to the apartment around us.

"George," they roll their eyes, "I have no other place to go."

They sound so sure that there's no other choice. Have they not been living with me? Do they not think that staying with me is an option?

I don't know what drives me to say this next part, maybe it was the universe telling me. I'm not sure, but I say it anyway.

"Yeah you do," I say, "Stay with me."

"I don't know," they say, "I don't want to overstep boundaries or anything."

If there's one thing I've learned about y/n it's that they are grateful for what they have, but they don't ever want to make anyone uncomfortable.

"You're always welcome, y/n. There's a room just for you, and you've already been there a week." I say, "Don't live here with the mold and the rats. It's not safe nor sanitary. Please, stay with me until you have to go back."

They consider it for a moment. The sound of heels nears us as the lady from before walks in.

"How's it looking?" she asks with a smile.

"We're thinking about it," I answer for y/n.

"Good thoughts or bad?" the lady asks them.

y/n bites their lip in thought. I can picture the gears turning in their brain as they weigh their options. I hope for them to choose my place.

"I think we're going to stick with what we have now," they finally answer, "thank you for showing us anyways."

"Of course," the lady says before leading us downstairs.

We walk down the road back to my flat.

"So, roomie," I jokingly nudge them, "What do you want to do to decorate your room?"

They roll their eyes, "This is going to be great, isn't it?"

"The greatest."

--author's notes--

i'm sorry this isn't super long.. i promise the story is going to get better

i'm low key kinda struggling through a break up lol but it'll be okay

alrighty have a good day!!

word count: 794