Arthur paid his tab, got the remaining snacks boxed up, and they were out. He was a couple blocks away, and had walked.
"Hope you don't mind walking. It's not far." He smiled at Cyrin, legitimately pleased the dancer trusted him enough for this.
He had no intention of betraying that trust just yet. It needed to be built up a while for it to work.
And besides, he was supposed to be with family soon. They'd notice if he was… otherwise occupied.
"So you've got a sister. Any other siblings?"
Cyrin smiles, “No, I don’t mind walking at all.” He follows Arthur. “I have only my sister and my parents.” He shrugs slightly.
Cyrin stays quiet for a moment, “What about you? Any siblings?” He looks at Arthur, genuinely curious.
"Oh ok. Well, hey, at least it's just the one sibling trying to mooch, huh?" Arthur chuckled a little, before sobering at the question.
"Nah, I was an only child… my parents tried to have others but my mom was sick a lot and they all wound up in miscarriages." He looked down, fidgeting with the box of food. "My parents are gone too. Killed in a car accident when I was a teenager. So it's just me."
That was all entirely true, actually. The Timmons family had been through a lot, and after all of that mess, Arthur had been inhabited by the Sixclaw Revenant. What a final blow.
Cyrin laughs, “Yeah, I guess. But I think we’d be better off with more people, there would be a little more money to go around and help out.”
Cyrin listens quiet, his smile fading slightly, “Oh. . . I see, I’m so sorry for your loss.” Cyrin shifts, uncomfortable, he disliked talking ab out sad things. They tended to make him sad, and tonight was not a night he wanted to be sad.
He hums, “So, to lighten the mood, why do you do real estate?”
Sadness makes him uncomfortable. Interesting. So sob stories aren't it.
Arthur glanced up at him, a small smile on his face. "It was my dad's business. I inherited everything, so… just kinda went with it. It's kept me living well." He smiled a little more. "What got you into dance?"
Cyrin pauses, thinking, “Well. . . I don’t really know exactly. But I remember when I was little, I saw a class of dancers, and I told my mom that’s what I wanted to do.” He shrugs, “Mama told me I could if we could get the money, so I talked to the teacher and she let me work there to pay for my lessons.”
Cyrin laugh, “Pa didn’t know, and he got angry when I started coming home late. And when we told him, well, lets say he wasn’t very happy his only son decided to dance.”
PA?!? What kind of backwoods family am I entangling with here??
Arthur chuckled. "I can imagine. But it's not the worst thing in the world, and you're good at it." His face sobered a bit. "So… did he ever turn more supportive of it?"
By this point, the two had walked several blocks, and were in front of a large apartment building. Nice white limestone exterior, red accents on the building.
Arthur keyed in a passcode on the door lock and held the door for Cyrin. "Welcome to my humble abode."
Cyrin hums, “Eventually. He doesn’t always com to my shows or anything, but he doesn’t get pissed when it gets brought up at home anymore. It’s a work in progress.” He smiles, “He’ll sometimes even bring it up himself.”
Cyrin looks up, raising an eyebrow. “Wow. . . That’s. . . Big-“ He murmurs, walking through the door, “And modern.”
Arthus smiled at him. "Hey, that's good. Progress."
He grinned at Cyrin's reaction. "It was an older building, but I've had it updated a couple times. We've always kept the original limestone it was built with, just to give it that timeless look."
He stepped over to an elevator and presses the button, stepping in once the doors open. "Your apartment would be 6th floor. That's just a floor below me, actually."
Cyrin follows him, humming softly, “It looks nice.” He leans against the wall of the elevator, closing his eyes once it starts to move, “6th floor?” He asks, tilting his head slightly, “Hmm. . .” He looks towards the floor, “I don’t know what to think about that.” He laughs softly.
"I'm glad you think so." Arthur said quietly. "I don't know what my parents would think of it, and some people seem to think I've 'desecrated' it by updating it, or something like that."
He watched Cyrin's reactions.
"Yup, 6th floor out of 7. And you don't have to think about it yet. Maybe once you're in the room it'll be a little easier to have an opinion."
The elevator stopped, and they stepped out into a short hallway. There was a janitor's closet at the end of the hall, and two doors, one on each side. Arthur unlocked the one with number '601' on it and held the door for Cyrin.
"Take a look."
The apartment Cyrin stepped into was beautiful by a lot of standards. 10ft ceilings, solid oak flooring, polished to a high gloss. The walls were painted a matte black, with white accents in the trim. The living room the door opened into was at least 30x40 feet, that flooring covering the entire thing. There was a fireplace on one wall, white trim over the same limestone as the exterior walls. The living room was a sunken design, with two carpeted steps leading up to the rest of the house. The carpet was a neutral blue, and went to the big windows that lined the far wall. The windows were a full ten feet tall, and afforded a nice view of the town and the rolling hills of the country at the outskirts of town.
Cyrin laughs, “I never judge.” He steps out, looking around, titling his head, “It’s. . . Dark—“ He murmurs, not saying anything else. He liked the floor, but the place lacked contrast. He thought that the walls should be a gray maybe, and the blue carpet, he didn;t know what to think about that.
“I mean it looks nice, but I don’t like the dark walls. It feels less. . . Spacey. Normally, I prefer my floors dark and my walls lighter.” He stayed away from the windows, not even looking at them beyond a quick glance.
"Oh, so you're an interior designer now, as well as a dancer?" Arthur teased. "You're welcome to change it if you want. I went with what the design team said is the fashionable thing at the moment." He stepped in and headed towards the kitchen. It was open to the dining area, and had grey stone floors. Light fixtures, appliances, all the accent pieces were a clean, modern stainless steel. The kitchen was easily 20x20, a sizeable space for an apartment.
"It's a two bedroom, two bath. I don't know if I mentioned that. The master bedroom has a full interior bathroom."
Cyrin hums softly, “Ahh, well, no, I’m just stating what I prefer.” He smiles slightly, following, staying away from the windows, looking around the kitchen, “This place is going to sit and rot. You should give it to someone who would actually use it, you know.”
He sits on the counter, swinging his feet slightly, “Unless I did invite my family here occasionally.”
Arthur nodded. "Like I said, preferences are good. You'd be allowed to repaint, at least."
He smiled at Cyrin's position and phrasing. "You could! They'd have plenty of space, and the kitchen would get some use. As for sitting and rotting, the whole apartment would be sitting and rotting anyway. It's been empty for a while now." He stepped over to the living room again and sat down on the steps. "Better someone who uses half of it, than nobody using none of it."
Cyrin hums softly, “Yeah, I guess. He doesn’t move, staying on the counter. “What about the flooring? I dont want everything light.” He hums, looking down at the floor,, “And the carpet, not a big fan of blue carpet.” He laughs softly.
“Now I sound picky.” He hops down, “Let me see the bedrooms, god knows what I’ll do with a full sized bedroom, but you never know.”
Arthur thought for a moment. "Well… we could re-stain the floor, a bit darker, if you wanted… but with that much change being made, I'd likely ask you to sign at least a 2 year lease, you know? Wouldn't raise the price or anything." He laughed about the carpet. "I mean, different colored carpet wouldn't be hard either."
His smile softened as he approached Cyrin, not getting super close, but enough to make solid eye contact.
"You are picky, but that's allowed." Cyrin's hopdown was unexpected, and it put him much closer to Arthur's face than he'd meant to be.
There was a moment, and then Arther stepped past him, still not breaking eye contact, before turning and down the hall off the kitchen.
"Down this way."
The hallway carpet was that same blue, but the bedrooms both had creme colored carpets and white walls. Black trim gave some contrast, and the fixtures were all the same stainless steel look.
The master bedroom was huge, easily a 30x30 square, just smaller than the living room. It had a walk-in closet that could have been a whole other small room, and the attached bathroom was on the other side of the closet. It was done in the same gray stone as the kitchen floors, again with the stainless steel settings.
Cyrin blinks at Arthurs close proximity and then follows him, looking around. He stands in the doorway to the bedroom, mute for a moment, “Like I said, this is too much space. . .” He murmurs.
He sighs, rubbing his face, “2 years?” He thinks for a moment, tapping his arm, “Hmm. . . It’s worth some thought.” He hums, looking at the man, “How much?” He asks, thoughtful.
Arthur chuckled. "Listen, I've got the upstairs to myself, and I fill the space. I could give you some ideas if you want."
Cyrin asked how much, and Arthur smiled.
Set that hook.
"The one across the hallway goes for $1100 a month, but I'd be willing to give this to you for $100 a month. You won't find a better deal than that, just because I like you, Cyrin."
He'd be taking a loss, but Arthur couldn't have cared less about that.
If he could get Cyrin in the same building, that would be ideal.
Cyrin thinks for a moment and then sighs, “I’ll defiantly think about it.”
He knew he‘d be an idiot to take up to offer, seeing as his place was $800 a month and he was running late on rent this month. He tilts his head, “YOu should offer more than 100. You’d be taking a loss instead of a gain.”
Arthur smiled at him, tilting his head exactly the same way. It was kinda cute on Cyrin, though Arthur was sure he looked like an idiot.
"It's empty right now, so $100 is a gain either way. You'd be helping me get a tenant in an empty apartment." He watched Cyrin think, hoping he'd take it, hoping he'd fall for it…
His phone dinged, and he glanced at it.
"Oh wow, ok. Umm, its been longer than I realized. You got far to go? I can call you an Uber or something."
Cyrin waves his hand, “Fine. You’ve won me, I’ll take it.” He laughs softly, “You look like an idiot doing that you know.” He grins and moves next to Arthur, standing beside him.
He blinks, “Oh, no it’s fine. I’ll walk.” He shrugs slightly, “It’s kinda far, but I’ll be fine.” He smiles slightly.
Hook set!
Arthur beamed at him as Cyrin moved closer. "I'm sure I do, but I'm a happy idiot. I'm glad you're seeing sense." He looked up at Cyrin, his eyes sparkling. "We'll be neighbors, and all that good stuff."
His smile faded a bit. "It's far? Well, then lemme drive you myself, or at least call somebody? You've only got a few minutes, we talked longer than I thought." He moved towards the door. "I could drive you."
Cyrin laughs, “I’m not even going to be here often enough to do neighborly stuff.” He smiles, following Arthur, “No, really, it’s fine. I’ll walk.” He opens the door, “Yes, I only have a few minutes, but I’ll be there in about 20 minuets. They’ll forgive me if I’m late. Except my sister. She thinks the world revolve around her.” He rolls his eyes.
“And, not to be rude, but I don’t trust you enough to get in your car. And I don’t really trust cabs or Ubers either.”
Arthur shrank back just a bit, as if hurt at the implication he couldn't be trusted. "Oh… um… ok. Well, be safe. I guess I'll… I'll see you around." He stepped out the door and hit the button for the elevator, before turning and heading down the hall. "I'll take the stairs so you can go straight down." The elevator dinged as the doors opened, and Arthur was gone up the stairway at the end of the hall.
He got to the top and immediately went to his window and looked out, waiting to see which way Cyrin went.
