...and they were roommates | Oneshots

1. Griffin and Dante

Dante had never expected the day to come when he would be helping his roommate move out, leaving him alone struggling to pay rent with his low-paying job just because he found a girlfriend. But here he was. He posted an ad for a new roommate a few weeks ago already, but nobody seemed to be interested. Well, until today, when a young dark-skinned brunette showed up at his door, smiling.
"Hello, are you the guy who's looking for a roommate?" 
"Uhm, yes? I assume you are interested?" Dante asked, his tone polite, though his neutral expression gave away no feelings. The situation was uncomfortable for him, but he didn't want to come across as hostile to the person standing in front of him.
"I certainly am! Could I please come inside? It's quite cold out here," the brunette said, his arms wrapped around himself to fend off the cold.
"Sure.." Dante moved aside and let the stranger into his apartment, which probably was the most careless thing he'd ever done. If you get murdered Dante, it's your fault, he thought, a little bit afraid of what may come after this.
"I'm so sorry I didn't text or call beforehand, this probably must be really confusing for you," he apologized and moved his hand towards Dante. This is it, I'm gonna die, Dante thought. His mind was racing with wild thoughts that were way too dramatized to be actually true.
"My name is Griffin Barnes, nice to meet you," Griffin said and waited for Dante to shake his hand. Took him a minute, as he literally thought he was going to be murdered, and Griffin's hand must've been dirty, but he did.
"My name is Dante Wright."

The first two days that Griffin was living in Dante's apartment felt a little tense for both of them, as the process of moving in caused a bit of a stir with all of his belongings. Griffin also tried getting closer to his new roommate, Dante. But he hasn't been friendly to him ever since he showed up at his doorstep. Even without a proper conversation, Griffin could paint a little picture in his mind of the kind of person that Dante was. Dante was the very picture of neatness and silence. He wouldn't even try to communicate. Other than that though, he couldn't read him. He was like a closed book, and his main personality traits were apparently the title. They were both basically walking on eggshells, until now.

"Hey Griffin, could I talk to you for a moment?" Dante said, his expression still as neutral as ever. 
"Sure, what's up?" Griffin asked, a little confused. Having his roommate speak to him directly was quite a new situation. 
"Uh, well... I've noticed that since you moved in, you haven't really been cleaning up after yourself. I don't wanna overwhelm you or anything, but could you at least please try to keep the place tidier?" Griffin looked up at Dante, taken back by his sudden directness. It felt odd to hear Dante finally speak.
"Oh.. my bad. I didn't think it was that bad, I was just getting settled in, and I was planning on tidying up later today, I promise." He said, hoping that Dante would believe his made-up lie, and that this wouldn't cause any further tension between them, as he already had a hard time getting through to Dante.

Later that day though, Griffin tried to keep his word and went to clean the whole place. It felt a bit awkward as Dante was actually sitting at the kitchen table that had a clear view of the whole living room, he felt like Dante was watching him the whole time, but Dante couldn't care less. He was just happy that Griffin was a man of his word and cleaned the mess he made. When he finished cleaning, he sat down opposite his roommate, hoping that maybe they could strike up a conversation.
"So uhm, what are you doing?" Griffin said as he sat down, curiously eyeing Dante. Which was a stupid question, since Dante was on his phone and eating a sandwich. But he resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
"Scrolling Instagram.. eating. Why? Need something?" Dante said and finally looked up from his phone at Griffin.
"No no, I'm okay, just exhausted a bit and bored," Griffin said and rested his head on the table.
"Oh," Dante answered, he had nothing else to say. He knew nothing about Griffin.
"Okay well... You know, I've been wondering. Where are you from? Did you move here?"
"What? No, what makes you think that?" Dante answered, confused by Griffin's question.
"I mean, your name, it's not exactly common, is it? At least not in Britain." Griffin asked, and Dante sighed. He somehow expected this after his roommate mentioned his nationality.
"The name itself is Italian... My parents had uh... Let's say a weird hobby of naming their children the most ridiculous or uncommon names, and I was one of their victims. Poor Effie, their dog, has suffered the same fate." 
"Effie is quite the name!" Griffin said, giggling at the thought. Dante only let out a chuckle as he remembered their family dog's name. Without even noticing, both Dante and Griffin started to feel more relieved and relaxed while talking to each other.
"What about you? Where are you from?"
"Oh, me? Pfft. Don't even ask, some tiny town outside of London, who would stay there, to be honest..." Griffin scoffed, remembering his hometown. "But hey, we both ended up here, in London, didn't we? Thank god for that." Griffin said, grinning at Dante who completely forgot he had a phone in his hand and only a half-eaten sandwich on his plate. 
"Why did you move to London, anyway? This place kinda sucks." Dante sighed.
"Well, I didn't have anything to do back in my hometown. Here, I can explore myself and live a bit more freely. Plus, my parents... well, they wanted me to move out anyway." Dante nodded and went back to eating his sandwich, he had really nothing else to say. Neither did Griffin, since he was way too buried in his thoughts about his parents and his hometown.