All his life, Ushijima Wakatoshi has been all by himself. He never knew his parents, he grew up in an orphanage and even with all the children around him, nobody truly stayed by his side. At the age of 5, the olive haired boy knew he was a little different from the other kids, that's why they never liked him but it didn't bother him.
Ushijima always played by himself, he always ate alone, he was always by himself but he was never truly alone. He always felt like someone was always watching him but he never found who it was. The boy never really liked any attention but the eyes on him felt pleasant for some reason and he liked it but one day, it stopped.
5 years had passed and Wakatoshi was now 10 and the boy stood in front of a happy married couple who smiled at him; today was the day he was going to be adopted. The boy went up to his room and started packing his clothes. He stopped when he felt familiar eyes on him, he turned around but no one was there. He smiled.
"I'll be taking my leave now..." He continued packing. "I don't know what happened to you but it's nice that you're here again." And with that, he left.
More years had gone by in a flash and Wakatoshi had finally started living on his own as he started college. Not much had changed with him but at least he made some few friends in his university. He was still a quiet young man who enjoyed the time he had alone. With his friends, family, studies and part time job, he was happy and content that he had mostly forgotten the life he had before all this.
After a tiring day in class and slipping at practice, he went home and walked around his apartment while eating a sandwich; a small piece at the end of it dropped and he unconsciously kicked it under the fridge but he was too tired to pick it up and decided to just clean it up tomorrow. As he sleepily started to walk away, he heard a very quiet "Thank you!" from under it.
"No problem," He says, the words passing out of his mouth on autopilot, before his brain engages and he freezes.
He turns, and looks at the fridge. It seems to be the same fridge that was there when he moved in. He felt kind of embarrassed. He never does that, he knows that's how you get roaches, but his back hurts so bad that getting up and down is next to impossible, much less bending over.
"Um, are you holding up okay down there?" He asked.
But there was only silence.
"I know that we're probably the only apartment in the building that doesn't have a bug problem. That's, well, that's you, right?" Again, silence. But he was certain that he heard it.
"Listen, I can't really bend over right now, but if you're down there and hungry, like, there's half a pork cutlet in there that's about to go bad. I was going to throw it away, but if you could, use it."
"YeeEsSsss. Please."
It finally answered, Wakatoshi was still a little in disbelief but nonetheless, wasn't scared.
Well. Whatever it is, it's well-mannered, anyway.
The tall male set his sandwich down and went back and opened the package of questionable pork. "Honestly, it might be a little off. Can you still eat it? I've got..."
"I eEat."
"Okay. Bones too?"
"YeEes."
He breaks the pork into tiny pieces and drops it, kicking each piece under the fridge. The compressor kicked on, so he only had hints of whatever noises might be coming up from there.
"You good? Thirsty?"
"IcccCce? PleeeEa- -ase?"
"Oh, of course, no problem." He just hits the ice maker button on the fridge until there's a handful of cubes on the floor, and uses the broom to knock them under."Better?"
"YeESss. Tha- -aAnk yooOu."
"Sure. Listen, I need to eat and take a nap. You're- you're just stuck under there, I guess, or you'd have gone through the garbage, right?"
"SsstuUck, yeeEs."
"Okay. Just under the fridge or can you move under other things."
"So- -metimes move. In some pla- -acesss."
"In the same apartment, or you gotta move to other fridges."
"SaaAme... hoOoome."
"Ah. Okay. Um, well, I'll try to remember to kick stuff under the fridge for you." He tried to crack his back.
"Hu- - urt?
"Um, my back. I just need to sleep, I'll be okay."
"MaaAke... beEtter."
"That's the plan, friend." He sure hopes that, when he goes to sleep and wakes back up, there won't be a weird pile of pork squashed under the fridge. Or maybe he hopes that there is?
When Wakatoshi woke up, it's like his back had never hurt at all. He got up and went to the kitchen, in front of the fridge to be exact and when he kicked an ice cube under the fridge, he heard a soft noise and sighs and 'thank you', so. Not just some weird pain induced hallucination.
It goes on like that for weeks. The Thing under the Fridge especially likes chocolates and other sweet pastries, but they'll eat just about anything. Their speaking communication gets better the more he talks to them, though they still struggle with sibilants. Wakatoshi assumes this was because of the way the mouth is formed.
They're friendly and polite and haven't been menacing at all. The huge male was actually enjoying his new found company and one day, he thought of an idea, he ducked down with a flashlight and looked under the fridge only to hear chuckling coming from under the couch.
"Ca- -Annot seEe, alwaaays mooOve," They said.
"Fair enough, but I had to try." He shrugged.
"U- - understaaAand." They sounded very amused and it made the male smile.
Sometimes they hang in the living room, they being under the couch, and just watch TV with Wakatoshi. They really like Umbrella Academy, as it turns out.
"How long have you lived here?"
"WheeEre?"
"This... this place. You came with the apartment, right?"
"NoOo."
"No? The fridge?"
"I ca- -me with yooOuu. AaalwaySs yoou."
It took Wakatoshi a moment.
A long moment to think.
"You're the one who was always watching me."
"YessSs. AalwaySs wi- -th yoOou, where yooOu live, I LiiivEe." They sounded pleased.
"Huh. Amazing. Do you need anything?"
"ChooOocolaaAte?"
"Alright."
It's kind of nice to always have company and have privacy if I ask for it.
They like to hear about the world, and sometimes the two of them would listen to audiobooks or the latter would read out loud. Wakatoshi made sure every room has some place for them so they can follow him, or not, as they like.
Until that fateful night, Wakatoshi came home tired and in daze, he walked half asleep to his bed, flopping down and in a minute, someone came in, he must've thought no one would be home since he came home very late. But he advanced on the olive haired male's bed, lifting his fist, and by the time Wakatoshi was finally processing what was happening, the man disappeared with only the trace of his screams.
Well, The huge, in daze male concluded that the front of the intruder's foot must have gone under the bed. "Are you alright, under there?" But no one answered for a minute until he saw a shadow crawling out from under the bed, it stood tall even though it was slouching a bit. Wakatoshi froze on his bed, panic and fear was evident in his face.
"A- -are YOU alright?" Wakatoshi flinched as he heard the shy concern for him.
Looking at the tall figure he finally realized it was his friend and that made him relax. He smiled and reached out a hand to it. "Yes, I am alright, thank you for saving me." He could see it fidgeting with it's fingers. "It's nice to finally meet you, I am Ushijima Wakatoshi." Then it finally looked at him and the huge male could see a tint of pink by its cheek.
"Te- - TendoOou SaAtoori..." It shook his hand but it's eyes widened when Wakatoshi pulled it into an embrace.
"Hello, Satori." He beamed at it and it smiled happily. He nuzzled into the hug more, burying its face on the latter's neck.
"HeEllooO Wakatoshi-kun~"