Pest Control ✔

PC │011

【A L V I N】

A few days had passed by since the day my friends and I had had that conversation, and at the moment I was busy with attempting to bake a decent batch of muffins for once. It took me nearly an hour or two to get the ingredients all set and ready and another hour or two to make the batter without messing things up or spilling things all over myself - yet by the time the tray was in the oven, I was concealed in flour from head to toe. 

If it isn't obvious by now, I was going through all this trouble to bake muffins for my neighbour because I still felt like a horrible being for attempting to give him burnt muffins, and this was the only way in which I could make up for it. I won't lie though, I did get a little help from Antonio but I swear I did most of the work. 

Whilst the muffins were seated in the oven and baking, Antonio offered to paint my nails - and surprisingly enough, he did a great job. For once he didn't get the polish on the skin around my nails - he did, however, take a few breaks to gag every now and then because of how strong the smell of the polish was. I, however, enjoyed the smell, oddly enough. 

By the time the muffins were ready, I'd already prepared myself to go over to Lucien's. However, the image of his battered and bruised knuckles stayed in my mind, and I feared they would never leave. Nevertheless, I put on my baking gloves, grabbed the tray and made my way over to his porch. I took another look at the muffins to make sure they were perfect, and when I'd confirmed that they were, I rang the doorbell with a proud grin. 

The door eventually opened and when I saw him, I nearly dropped the tray for the second time.

"Sorry, should I go put on a shirt?" he chuckled upon noticing how red my cheeks were beginning to turn. 

I cleared my throat in embarrassment, "No. It doesn't bother me. I'm straight. Wait no - I'm not straight, wait hold on.. fuck, I'm rambling. That's not what I meant - can you just interrupt me already?"

He let out a hearty laugh, "I was enjoying that little rant, actually. You're not straight but you are?"

"Biromantic asexual," I confessed. 

He raised his brows with an unreadable expression on his face before nodding slightly, "Good to know. I'm bisexual."

"You're bi as well?" I gasped before shaking my head when I'd remembered what I was even there for in the first place. I proceeded to extend the tray out towards him. "I baked some muffins for you because I felt bad for trying to give you burnt muffins the first time and for spilling them all over on your porch."

"Aw, that's so sweet of you," he began with a grin. "You really didn't have to." 

"I wanted to," I admitted and watched as he reached out towards the tray to grab a muffin, when he suddenly froze and cleared his throat before retracting his hand in slow motion. 

"What is it?" I questioned with a curious tilt of my head. 

"Don't move," he instructed. "Don't look down either."

I did both.

I looked down and when I saw the big, fat, nasty, slimy cockroach sitting on top of one of the muffins, I let out the loudest scream known to any being, dropped the tray on the porch and dashed straight into his home like a complete fool. Yes, you heard that right - into his home. 

"God damn it," he hissed when he noticed that the roach had made its way into his home as well along with me. 

He proceeded to gather the muffins on the floor and I stood there like an idiot. Unable to help the curiosity, I turned my head and was taken aback at the sight. There were no alcohol bottles in sight - his house was actually quite clean. Did he have someone over? Or was he alright now?

When he was finally done picking them up, he set the tray aside and stood up before turning around to face me with a sigh of disappointment, "I guess I'll have to throw those away too, huh?"

"Um, yeah," I chuckled in embarrassment, scratching the back of my neck. "Hey, your place looks really neat. Did you have someone over?"

"No?" he responded with a small chuckle. "That was so random. No, I don't bring people over at all."

"You don't? Doesn't it get boring?" I began before shutting my mouth. "Sorry, I should just mind my own business. I didn't mean to offend you."

"You're not offending me, I just don't have anyone to bring over," he shrugged bluntly before changing the topic swiftly. "Anyway, I think you'll have to step aside for a moment unless you want the roach behind you to-"

I didn't even let him finish because the word roach had already sent me running out of his house and onto his porch once again. He glanced back at me with his lips pressed into a thin smile which reflected the amusement he was experiencing at the sight of me being traumatized over a tiny little big - a tiny little bug which had the ability to fly, mind you. 

A tiny little bug which was probably tiny enough to crawl into your mouth. Just the thought of that gave me shivers. 

Once he was done beating the little devil to death, he turned around with a sigh and gave me a small grin, "Again, thank you for the laugh. I needed it."

"No problem," I began. "And uh- Lucien?"

"Yeah, Alvin?"

"You can invite me over anytime you'd like," I said, tugging at the sleeves of my sweater nervously. "I mean - about the thing you said about not having anyone to invite over. You have me, and besides I live right next to you."

He stayed silent for a moment before shifting his weight and stepping aside, "Do you want to come in then?"