Taste of Iron

Three: Ophtha-what

Three: Ophtha-what

"Do you have any gaming consoles?"

"No."

"No video games of any kind either?"

"No."

"How about any board games?"

"No."

"Playing cards?"

"No."

"Do you have anything? I'll even settle at playing Tetris. You sure the old tenants didn't leave a Game Boy with the fax machine?"

Atlas thought about it as he folded his arms in front of his chest and leaned back on the couch. He was exhausted, and he was struggling to stay awake. But there was no way in hell that he was going to sleep while Emil was still inside his apartment. So he somehow had to keep his eyes open.

It really sucked, because he had a morning shift, so he had no clue how he'd be able to rest enough to show up at work and function properly. It wasn't like he could afford taking a day off either.

Goddamn gang members and their stupid beef.

"No, I don't think so," Atlas finally answered.

"How do you entertain people when they come over?" Emil questioned, looking as if he couldn't comprehend how Atlas lived the way that he did.

"You're the first person that's been here apart from me," Atlas replied. Emil blinked, he parted his lips to say something, but then closed them shut again.

"You've got to be kidding me," Emil muttered. "And how long have you been living here?"

"About six months," Atlas stated.

"You haven't had a single guest in six months?" Emil asked. Atlas nodded as if it wasn't really that big of a deal. "Do you even have any friends?"

"Yes," Atlas spoke.

"And you don't ask them to hang out here?"

"We meet outside." Atlas couldn't really understand why Emil was asking so many questions or why he looked so flabbergasted by Atlas's answers.

The blue-haired man had moved to the city only six months ago, and he did make a couple of friends, though they were also his co-workers. But it still counted, right? Plus, he also had his best friends from back home! Though they hadn't really spoken much since Atlas shifted.

Atlas was never very social to begin with. He had two friends throughout all of his school years, and he never needed anything or anyone more than them. On top of that, he had four siblings, with Atlas being the middle child, so he was always surrounded by people anyway. This was the first time he was actually truly alone, and he preferred it like that.

"You should be scared of me." Emil paused. "But I think I'm starting to be scared of you. Seriously, mano, what kind of anti-social crap is this? You hate people or something?"

"I like them just fine," Atlas mumbled.

"How do you pass your time, then?"

"Work. Eat. Work out. Sleep."

"What do you do for work?"

"What do you do for work?" Atlas questioned back, raising a brow at the intruder. Emil chuckled as he passed the chef an amused smile.

"You really want to know?"

"No."

"Why did you ask, then?" Emil spoke. Atlas said nothing in return and simply shrugged. Emil sighed as he shook his head, the grin still on his lips as he slowly began to get used to Atlas's antics. "I actually can't tell whether you're super boring or really exciting. I'm a people person, ya know? I'm great with them. Can talk anyone into anything. But you...there's something about you that's— what's the word? Fascinating?"