That's What Neighbours Are For...

[egghead]

Glen didn't know what he was going to tell his nephew.

He closed the door to apartment 201 behind him, cringing slightly at the noise it made when the bottom scraped along the floor, and was welcomed by the smell of old couch and cigarettes. It had been a long shift, and by the end of it he was hoping to spend the rest of the day smoking away his worries, but after meeting his neighbour in the corridor again, relaxing was out of the question.

He shut his eyes tightly and tried to recollect the conversation they had. His brain was pretty burnt out after pumping gas all day, so he only remembered the last bit...the part where he agreed to have dinner with him.

"Declan..." There was a strain in his voice that made it sound like he was going to cry as he stumbled over a pile of week-old pizza boxes to get over to the hallway.

First he checked the bathroom, but when he found that it was empty, he practically threw himself at the door of the only other room in the apartment. There was no way he was about to barge into a teenager's bedroom, so he knocked as lightly as he could, knuckles just barely tapping the wood.

"Declan?" Glen called out again, praying he was home. "Please help me, Declan, I-I don't know what I did, but the...the guy next door is coming over and...and..." his voice trailed off, too hoarse to spew out more words.

His trembling hands reached up and grabbed fistfuls of his own hair as the gravity of the situation weighed down on him. The entire world seemed to spin around and around with uncertainty. Oh god, what was he going to wear?

 

[Atom]

Of course Declan was on the verge of falling asleep. Music played quietly through his headphones in the dark room but nothing was louder to him than his uncles soft knocking. His eyes snapped open, taking a second to comprehend what he had just heard through the door. Was he serious? He sounded pretty terrified...

Declan stood up and groggily walked the few steps to his door, stepping over the messy floor in the process. His hand gripped the handle, pulling it open swiftly out of panic. "Are you kidding me?" The light from the hallway made him squint a bit, highlighting the tired in his eyes even more. "You mean...that neighbour?"

How did this even happen? Had Glen even taken a look at the apartment, let alone think it was fixable for a guest? There was too many questions but the biggest one was, why THAT neighbour. Before he was going to make his uncle more nervous, he would answer to his desperate pleas of help.

"Okay, well, uh..." At this point he really wanted to tell him that he had no idea what to do either and might also be secretly panicking. Declan recalled one night when he answered the phone and it was their neighbour. All he asked about was Glen...and questions that were way too out of the ordinary. Maybe he should have mentioned it to him long ago.

Too late now!

He chuckled awkwardly a bit, anger welling in his throat. "How the hell did this happen!?"

Oh no....was he going to have to stay home with his uncle and join them..?

 

[egghead]

Now it actually looked like he was going to cry.

Glen stood very still, slightly hunched over, marinating in guilt. "I...I don't know..." was all he could force past his chapped lips, feeling too much like an idiot to spill any details. He didn't want to mention that the only reason they were dragged into this mess was because he was thinking about a cat food commercial during most of the conversation, and was only nodding his head to everything his neighbour was saying in hopes it would make him leave him alone faster.

It was too late for regret. The hands on the out-of-place office clock hanging in the kitchen ticked away precious minutes, inching closer and closer to dinner time.

Glen felt his throat suppress a scream as he suddenly turned away from his nephew and marched over to the tiny storage/towel closet at the end of the hallway. Pulling a dusty box marked "party stuff" in black marker from the top shelf, he cracked it open to reveal...black sock suspenders. His favourite pair, perfect for the occasion.

Sighing, calmed by the sight, he turned back to Declan and tried his best to smile.

"Do we have any hair gel?"

 

[Atom]

At this point he could only sigh, stepping out of his room to see what Glen was grabbing. Who knew his uncle even had stuff like that in the closet, Declan hadn't ever looked inside, except for a towel.
"I dunno, probably. Must be like a thousand years old though.." He pulled off his headphones and narrowed his eyes. "Wait." It hadn't quite set it yet.

"You're actually getting dressed up..?" Seeing Glen in anything other than a t-shirt with cigarette burns and an over-worn pair of pants would be like the coming of the end of the world. Declan covered his mouth with a hand and grinned in laughter.

"OH WAIT, YOU MEAN TONIGHT?!" He took a step back and looked at the clock in his room, the big red digital clock reading the numbers he didn't wanna see.

"Um...Uncle...do I have to join?"
The last time he remembered having anything close to a guest for dinner was ages ago and by ages ago it meant when he was very young. His mom had invited a friend over the one time their dad agreed. Declan had no idea how he remembered that but couldn't remember his own room from then.

 

[egghead]

"You don't have to..." was what he said even though it was painfully obvious that he didn't want to be alone.

Clutching the suspenders in his sweaty palms, Glen shoved the box back into the closet and staggered to the living room, where he dug out a white dress shirt from underneath his mattress. It smelled like cheap cologne and had a stain on the front, but was probably still the fanciest garb he owned.

Tossing it over his shoulder, he briefly considered showering or even giving his sad face a shave before it struck him that hosting dinner didn't just call for looking presentable.

"Oh god..." he whispered to himself when he realized he was going to have to feed a poor soul his cooking. Shooting across the room towards the kitchen, his fingers wrapped around the fridge handle in a vice-like grip before yanking it open. To his horrified surprise, he found that it was empty except for a carton of expired milk and half of an eggshell.

Stumbling back a few steps, Glen's crappy brown eyes were wide as his entire world came crashing down around him. "This is...what are we..." the words couldn't form in the ashtray of his mouth.

He somehow made it back to the hallway, looking like he was going to faint at any moment.

"Um..." he didn't want to ask so much from his nephew, but this time he needed all the help he could get. "Do you know how to cook?"

 

[Atom]

The tone of his uncles voice pondered in his head for a moment then sighing quietly and walking to the closet in his room. It was the least he could do to help him fix the mess that he got himself into. While looking through the closet, Declan grabbed some of his nicest clothes littered all the way at the back. They were maybe worn once or not at all.

Before he could think about it too hard, Glen was at his door again.

"M-Me? Know how to cook?" In all honesty he had to contemplate the question. "I don't...do...you...?" Dinner was screwed if they didn't know how to cook, let alone if they tried it would probably turn out completely awful. "Can't we just order something...?"

 

[egghead]

"Um, well..." Glen didn't want to admit that the only meals he knew how to make were ones that only required ripping off some plastic and throwing it in a microwave. He sighed and tried to think of the number to the nearest pizza place before another thought crossed his mind.

"Spaghetti."

The way he said it made it sound like the greatest idea in history. His face even lit up a tiny bit knowing that they had a box tucked away in one of the cupboards.

 

[Atom]

"Spaghetti?"

Declan stood in a confused daze before his mind also thought of the same thing. That old box of noodles in the back of the cupboard they had for god knows how long at this point. There was probably dust fresher than it in there. "W-We're going to cook?" The thought of anything the two would touch was already a disaster, did they even have a proper pot?

"I guess I'll get dressed later."

He furrowed his brows and scowled, walking past Glen toward the kitchen. Pulling open the cupboard, he reached all the way to the deep corner and found the dusty box. "Geez there's no directions on this thing..." Declan tossed it on the counter and ripped open a squeaky kitchen drawer, to find a rubber band. They were lucky this was simple enough to make.
"Uncle, is this all we have?" He scoffed, laughing a bit at the situation while using the rubber band to tie his hair back the best he could.

 

[egghead]

Glen followed his nephew, but not before slipping into the bathroom to hang his dress shirt on the empty towel rack. It wouldn't be a good idea to get changed so soon, who knew how messy it was going to get in the kitchen?

When he finally showed up, his tired eyes widened at the new sight of Declan with his hair tied back. "I think so..." he answered uncertainly, trying his hardest not to stare as he shuffled over to try another cupboard.

Inside were several cans of sardines, nothing else. His mouth watered just looking at them, but there wasn't any time to snack.

Moving over to where they kept the pots, he pulled out one that had the least amount of burnt food marks at the bottom. "Um, is this okay?" he asked as he set it on the stove.

 

[Atom]

Carefully, Declan tightened the ponytail before glancing back toward the pot Glen had set on the stove. "Ew." Is all he could say looking at the old piece of kitchen ware. "It should do..." He took it to the sink and filled it with water, probably too much then setting it back onto the burner.

"Here." Declan tossed aside multiple strange utensils thrown together in a drawer, grabbing a slotted spoon that would have to work. Giving it and the box of spaghetti to Glen, he walked to the fridge only be just as disappointed as his uncle. "What do we even serve this with? We have nothing else..." In frustration he shuffled over to the cupboards again, looking inside.

"That's a lot of sardines." He couldn't help but shiver in disgust.

 

[egghead]

A confused look screwed up the old man's face as he was handed a spoon and the box of spaghetti. He held them like they were covered in slime, what was he supposed to do with these?

While the water (slowly) started to boil, he stood around and waited, still pretending not to notice the tiny ponytail sitting at the back of Declan's head. "Hmm..." he took another peek inside of the fridge, only to find a crusty bottle of hot sauce and some ketchup.

He pulled them both out.

"How's this?" he asked his nephew, holding them up to show him.

 

[Atom]

He turned away from the shelves to face Glen. Was he serious? "That's....that's really gross but alright..." Shrugging, Declan closed the cupboard doors and pushed up his hoodie sleeves. He wouldn't be eating at supper anyway, no matter what his uncle said. There'd be better hope tomorrow when they could order pizza again.

"Here lemme...." Declan gently grabbed the box of spaghetti back, opening it and pouring the noodles into the now boiling water. "Watch that and I'll try to find some plates and utensils I guess..."

One by one he scoured the multiple cupboards in the kitchen, top and bottom. The one things he could find were old chipped plates that looked worse than the bottom of the pot they used and a spork.

This whole situation made Declan realize they really needed to get it together and put more care into the stuff they buy for the house. And maybe if he had a mom around to teach him these kinds of th—

"Oh look paper plates."

 

[egghead]

Glen watched the pasta slowly sink into the boiling water. He stared blankly into the pot as their meal cooked, unsure of what to say or do next, before his eyes caught sight of the time displayed on the stove.

"This'll have to do." He grabbed the pot and hoisted it up towards the sink, where he dumped the contents into a rusty old strainer then back into the pot. It didn't look like the pasta cooked all the way through, some bits were even still stuck together.

Letting his nephew deal with setting the table, he half-stumbled, half-ran to the bathroom so he could get dressed.

 

[Atom]

Declan furrowed his brow at Glen already taking the pasta off the stove, there was no way it was cooked through. This was going to be one gross dinner that was for sure.

He took a wet dishcloth and wiped down the old wooden table, setting a lavender candle in the centre to complete the bare look. How long had that candle even been around? In all the table was at least clean, although looking considerably stupid with paper plates set out, they even had the little flower borders on them. Declan noticed his uncle running off to most likely get dressed so he quickly placed down the plastic cutlery with everything.

The time read 4:31pm and he was already feeling tired after not being able to nap today, it was going to be a long night. With heavy eyes, he walked toward the washroom, calling out. "....U-Uncle? What do I wear?" He looked down at his black jeans and blue hoodie wet with water along the pocket.

 

[egghead]

The door swung open, revealing an almost-shirtless Glen. "Huh?" he asked as he struggled to button up his dress shirt. It wasn't like he was a fashion expert, why would his nephew turn to him for advice?

"Just...anything fancy." He glanced at himself in the mirror, then squinted, frowning. His reflection showed how much the day had drained out of him, and the shirt didn't do a lot to change that.

Sighing again, he brushed past Declan to get back into the hallway. "I might have something..." he muttered as he went over to the closet to pull out yet another small box, this one unmarked.

After blowing off the dust settled on top, Glen opened it up to show him that it was full of neckties of all different colors and styles. Clearing his throat, trying not to be too embarrassed about the collection, he handed it over. "Take...Take your pick."

 

[Atom]

Seeing his uncle without his shirt done up was something he wasn't ready for and probably never would have been. He looked away a bit, squinting toward another part of the small hallway.

"What's considered fancy, though?" He scoffed in frustration, then worrying that he might have be irritating Glen with how clueless he was. That was until he pulled out the box of accessories, Declan taking them with a hint of amusement. "Wow, I didn't think you even had stuff like this! I was beginning to think all you owned was that one white t-shirt.."

Declan sifted through the ties, pulling out a bright yellow plaid bowtie in disgust. Where the hell did he get half of these? He placed it back then found a black and grey striped tie among the other nice ones. It was subtle enough.

"Would...this suit me?" A small sheepish smile spread over his face while looking toward Glen.

 

[egghead]

"Uh..." Glen looked surprised that his nephew would even care about what he thought. "Y-yeah..." he scratched the back of his neck nervously, about to tell him that it would look great on him when the sound of the doorbell killed the words in his throat.

His head snapped towards the door. Their guest...showed up this early?

Silence once again filled the apartment, but his heartbeat rang loud in his ears. "No..." he whispered, not wanting to believe that this dinner was actually going to happen and that it was going to happen right now.

Grabbing a tie blindly from the box, Glen quickly wrapped it around his neck and stampeded for the entrance, almost tripping over their shoes as he did.

"Why, good evening," spoke the smooth voice of their neighbour once he opened the door.

It looked like he got dressed up for the occasion as well, since he was sporting a necktie and a black sweater vest with gold trim. His wavy dark hair looked like it had been recently fluffed and his mouth was curled in a permanent radiant smile.

"We...Welcome." Glen couldn't look him in the eye. Instead he found himself staring at the beautifully wrapped gifts held in his hands while he awkwardly sidestepped out of the way to let him through. "Uh, come on in."

 

[Atom]

Along with his uncle, he turned around in shock at the doorbell, it seemed way to early and of course that neighbour would do something like this. Declan watched Glen rush off toward the doorway, nervous of how it was going to go.

While he answered, he quickly ran for his room and pulled the cleanest pair of black pants off the ground, putting them on. The last time he got dressed up was back in summer and the concept still felt weird.
Digging deep in the back of his cluttered closet, he found the one white button up shirt he owned, slipping it on over his t-shirt and doing the buttons up as fast as his clumsy fingers could.

It would do, after all it was just the neighbour....but....he had no idea how to do up a tie. Declan furrowed his brow in panic while rolling up the sleeves to his shirt.


"Uncle....uncle...!" He called from down the hallway at his door frame with the tie in hand. "Can you help me..?" The words turned into a bit of a whisper by accident.

 

[egghead]

Glen immediately went barreling into the hall, leaving their neighbour hanging in the doorway. "What? What is it?" his voice was sharp with concern, but upon realizing that nothing was wrong, he calmed down.

Sighing in relief, he took the tie and folded it carefully around Declan's scrawny neck before fixing it with the skill and precision of a surgeonーthe only thing he knew how to do right.

"There we go..." he gave his nephew a smile before a voice called him out of the moment.

"Is everything okay...?"

Their neighbour was standing at the end of the corridor, casting a long shadow that creeped along the floor. It was hard to make out his expression in the dimness of the apartment.

"O-oh, yeah!" Glen shook his head. "Everything's fine, we were just..." his voice trailed off as he glanced to his nephew for support.

 

[Atom]

Declan watched Glen do up his tie with strange precision, almost mesmerized by it. He adjusted it after it was tied and looked down at his clothes self consciously only to glance back upward at his uncles voice and smile.
"Thanks..." A feeble attempt at a real smile came over him, feeling better about his clothing choice after Glen's assurance.

The neighbours voice brought a strange shiver down Declan's spine. He was unusually normal sounding for someone who wanted to have dinner at their place. He scowled a bit at the handoff but gave in and walked toward their neighbour in the hallway, signalling his uncle to follow. "L-Last minute preparations...that's all." Declan waited for Glen to say something next, going shy.