Secrets that Kill (boyxboy)

A House, Not a Home

"Holy.....shit...where the hell do you live, the 50th floor?" Nate asked in between wheezes. He felt like they'd been walking up the stairs for hours. He hadn't understood why Erik had insisted on taking the stairs instead of the elevator, but figured he might as well humor him since technically they'd just gotten over their last fight.

"No." Erik responded, not at all out of breath as he glanced over his shoulder at Nate, an amused look on his face. "Actually, we passed my apartment 15 floors back."

"What! Are you freakin' kidding me! What the hell are we doing then?"

"Nathaniel, I never said I was taking you back to my apartment." Erik mused, pausing as Nate stopped a few feet behind him.

Nate shot him a suspicious glance. In truth, he was kind of disappointed. He'd wanted to see where Erik lived, especially seeing as he lived by himself.

"But...I need to use the restroom." Alright. So maybe it was a lie. But wasn't it Erik that had said all was fair in love and war.

Erik didn't seem to believe him, not even for a second, but changed course anyways, pushing open a nearby door and leading Nate to an elevator. 15 floors later, they were standing in front of door #294, which Erik unlocked and pushed open in one swift movement, leading the way in.

The first thing that Nate noticed as he stepped into Erik's apartment was the strong yet pleasant peppermint scent Erik always seemed to smell of. The second was the furniture, or rather lack of. There were only a few pieces of furniture in what Nate could only assume was Erik's living room. All the end tables were glass, the furniture either black or white, and the walls a matching white in accordance with the carpet. The lamps were chrome, as was the plasma t.v. angled against the wall parallel to the only couch in the room. There was also a black bookshelf to the left of the t.v., but that was pretty much it as far as furniture went. The kitchen was adjoined to the living room on the right side, filled with chrome appliances.

Everything looked so...clean. Almost like it hadn't been lived in. Except Nate knew that was ridiculous.

"Nathaniel? Do you still need to use the restroom?" Erik asked, a small smirk tugging at the corners of his lips.

"No-not really." He actually wanted to explore the rest of the apartment, seeing as he'd learned nothing more about Erik from the décor of his house so far.

"What a coincidence." He mused, the tone in his voice calling Nate's bluff. Nate couldn't understand why he'd agreed to bring him here if he'd seen through his lie. "It's just as well. I should probably use the restroom."

Nate nodded as Erik disappeared behind a nearby door. Hesitating, he slowly made his way over to the bookshelf to his far left. Filling through the collecting, Nate paused, utterly confused. These were grammar books. All of them. What the hell? Hesitating, he pulled away from the bookshelf and glanced at the only other door in the apartment besides the one Erik had disappeared behind and the one they'd entered. That had to be Erik's bedroom.

A quick peek wouldn't hurt, right? After all, Erik had already seen what his bedroom looked like, so it was only fair...

Creeping past the bathroom door, Nate slowly pushed open the bedroom door, taking his time to make sure it didn't creak. The bedroom looked similar to the living room, sparsely furnished with a bed at one end and a dresser at the other. Tip-toeing his way over, Nate slowly pulled open the top drawer to the dresser. It was completely empty. He proceeded to do the same on the second, and found it was empty as well. The third drawer, however, had a small book placed neatly in its center that looked nothing like the ones he'd seen on the dresser in his living room.