Waves of Green & Checkmates || Larry Stylinson

Chapter 3: The sandwich

The fog lays low today and it's one of those days in early spring where it seems like the weather is still deciding whether to turn into spring or whether it ought to stay cold and grey for a little while longer. It's a literal donderdag—which translates into Thunderday but actually means Thursday in Dutch—and Louis is awakened by a roll of thunder. He is glad he has a late shift today so he can sleep in.

Zayn and he stayed up until early morning playing Call of Duty and sipping a few beers until they fell asleep on the couch. Trying not to wake him he shifts Zayn's body off of him, gets up and starts cleaning the mess they left yesterday. He grabs the empty beer cans and the pizza cartons and brings them into the kitchen. Mentally he makes a note to bring out the garbage later when the storm has calmed down a little. The sound of making the metal and cardboard fit into his tiny kitchen bin is louder than expected which brings out a growl coming from the living room. Oops.

"Wake up sunshine. Time to face the day. You're going to be late for work." Louis tries to drag him out of the couch. There is nobody who likes to sleep as much as Zayn.

"Don't have work today." Zayn groans, hiding his face in the pillows.

It takes a lot of persuading, dragging his body out of the warm sheets and reminding Zayn that he promised Louis to help him asking the neighbours if they've witnessed anything about Rozas disappearance. But after a bit of pouting and nagging and telling him that they have to hurry to get everything done before Louis has to head off to work, Zayn finally gets up by the mention of the cats. Everyone has a weak spot and Zayn's seems to be cats. At home Zayn had two cats himself and he misses them—it sometimes seems to Louis—more than his own family.

Zayn volunteered to make breakfast. So while Louis cleans the rest of the room, Zayn is occupied at the stove making use of his pans and eggs. At the same time he is trying to fix yesterday's chilli by adding a few spices and ingredients, reducing some liquid to make it less watery and letting it simmer for twenty more minutes. It's almost impossible to make a masterpiece out of a disaster but the chilli is way more palatable today and they enjoy some fried eggs and toast with it.

Because they're running out of time, Louis decides to leave the kitchen a mess after they finished eating and hopes to remember cleaning it up after his shift. They freshen up. Louis shaves quickly. Zayn decides to empower his facial hair for a bit. Then they go over to spend some time with Apollo and Percy. Louis doesn't like leaving the cats all by themselves, but as he doesn't know where Roza is or when she is coming back, he can't think of another solution. Then the mystery solving starts.

First they knock at apartment 3A, where Markus van Bloemenhuis lives. Louis assumes he is already at work so he isn't surprised when nobody opens up. At apartment 3B which is right in front of Louis', Natalia, a single mum living with her 4-year old son Jan, flings the door open looking stressed. She sighs and puts on an agonised smile.

"Louis." Natalia says looking slightly confused at both of them. They hear Jan screeching from inside and things falling to the ground. "Sorry, we're having a tough morning. I—is there something I can do for you?"

"So sorry to bother you. I just... you don't happen to have seen Roza today or yesterday or any day of this week? Or know where she is... maybe she told you something...?"

"Ah... I've seen her once or twice." A spark of hope ignites in Louis. "But I don't know anything. I assumed she's at home? Sorry."

"Oh..." Louis is not surprised but it was worth a try. Louis feels a bit sorry for her. Her husband left around New Years after she found out he was cheating on her. Well she kinda kicked him out. Valid. But it hasn't been easy for her since, processing everything, taking care of her sometimes challenging-son, working to make enough money to afford a living. "Tell me if you need anything, yeah?" Louis offers compassionately.