Chapter Text
The first time Mydei meets the man who he'd learn was his new neighbor, he is immediately prepared to avoid him as much as possible. It's a rather rational thought, as he was fairly certain that the kind of people who'd be doing laundry at 2 AM while covered in glitter are not the kind he wants to associate with. He also begins to wonder if perhaps he made a mistake moving to this building if this is what he's greeted with not even 24 hours after moving in. Belatedly, it dawns on him that it'd probably be wise to leave now before he was spotted but that happens a little too late, as the stranger seems to sense his presence and turns around. They lock eyes and he braces himself for whatever madness may come next.
Then the guy shoots him a smile that should not be as charming as it is given the circumstances. It makes his already brilliant eyes look brighter and should possibly be classified as a weapon from how easily it could convince people to do things they never thought they would. Mydei's already falling victim to it, feeling distinctly annoyed at himself for being so easily disarmed by a pretty smile.
Clearly his annoyance shows, because now the man looks a tad cowed, a bit of a strain appearing in his grin. There's a moment of awkward silence as both consider each other until the other speaks.
"Hello, I uh… I swear this isn't something I normally do."
Mydei certainly hopes so. A charming smile can only get someone so far and if this is what he has to look forward to in the future then another move might be on the horizon once his lease is up. But the guy genuinely does seem to be trying to make a better impression so — very tentatively — he'll stick around to see where this goes.
"Mhm."
"I don't recall seeing you around here. Are you new?" He briefly makes an attempt at raising his hand to offer it for a handshake before stopping himself and lowering it, most likely due to the glitter, which was definitely for the best.
He instead offers an awkward little wave. "I'm Phainon."
Mydei's had enough experience babysitting some of his former neighbors' kids to know glitter was next to impossible to clean and could spread around like a mini-plague. It's also at this point that he's really beginning to take note of how much Phainon had managed to spread around. As he takes in the sparkly trail that Phainon had left in his wake, he idly wonders what even happened. There surely couldn't be that many circumstances that would lead to someone being covered in it at 2 in the morning.
The bright fluorescent lighting of the laundry room really makes the glitter sparkle, which has the unintended effect of highlighting which particular areas got the most of it. Objects like the washer and floor have clear traces caused by Phainon's presence, but it's blatantly obvious that Phainon's face got the worst of it. There's a beyond liberal amount in his hair that turns his already bright white hair somehow even brighter and, as Phainon tousles it with a hand, is very reminiscent of a disco ball which should look garish or ridiculous but he manages to pull it off somehow.
His gaze drops down from Phainon's hair to his face and he can't help noticing the massive clusters of glitter that reside on the man's cheekbones, giving off the impression of freckles that also do a great job of really contrasting his brilliantly blue eyes. The majority is gathered there, though just enough of it trails up the side of his head past his temples and ending near the outer top corner of his eyes to remind Mydei of makeup that he'd sometimes seen women wear when going out to parties. If all this was makeup, then he'd have to admit whoever did it — probably Phainon —did an amazing job.
As great as Phainon makes it look, however, he has no desire to look the same. Now very conscious of his clean and nonbedazzled clothes, he keeps his arms folded to his chest and ensures there's a bit of distance between them and merely nods in acknowledgement before introducing himself.
"I am Mydeimos, but address me as Mydei. And yes, I just finished moving in."
"Of course. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mydei." Shockingly, he seems to genuinely mean this. Whatever tension he'd initially entered this conversation with has quickly melted away and he holds himself with far more ease than he should considering the current situation. It's rather impressive actually. Mydei had fully expected him to make the perfunctory greetings before doing his best to either end the conversation early or flee.
He then learns that him and Phainon are apparently neighbors. It's moments like these that remind him that Zagreus is clearly alive and well to be playing tricks like these. And Phainon actually seems excited about this, based on how he visibly brightens at this revelation. Mydei, who has never been in the habit of lying and certainly wasn't about to start now, merely acknowledges this with a grunt instead of saying he was looking forward to seeing Phainon around.
Then the washer beeps to signify the end of the wash cycle and Phainon's attention is diverted to getting his clothes out. It's one of those that opens at the top and has a vertical drum, so he's forced to bend over to reach in and grab his clothes. This means Mydei gets a new view of Phainon's back, which is far more muscular than he initially realized and he ends up giving the other a once-over.
Thankfully, Phainon is still oblivious and Mydei decides this is the optimal time to make a tactical retreat before he's caught staring. It's not very Kremnoan of him but he decides that his ancestors would prefer this over what might happen if he sticks around and potentially says or does something incredibly stupid. So he very carefully slinks back out the door and starts heading back to his apartment.
It's only once he's back in the safety of his apartment that he realizes in dismay that he had not escaped a glittery fate as he thought he had. In hindsight, he probably should've been more wary of the doorway but he'd ended up brushing against it when leaving and clearly Phainon had done so too, given the light smattering of glitter on his left side. Fortunately it's incredibly minimal, but still a nuisance he'd have to deal with.
Mydei stares at it. He's never much cared about things like fate or destiny, preferring to take stock in actions rather than than decide that certain outcomes were unavoidable, but at that moment he can't help but wonder if this was a sign of some variety. That no matter how hard he tried, once their paths had crossed he'd never be able to fully free himself from the traces of the other's presence.
With a sigh, he swaps clothes and after taking a moment to set the ones he'd been wearing aside to avoid getting his clean clothes contaminated, finally manages to go to sleep. Infuriatingly, his last thought before nodding off is of bright blue eyes and a dazzling smile that could outshine an industrial-sized barrel of glitter.
*** ☀️🍷***
The next day he ventures back to the laundry room, this time with laundry and not because he'd been too keyed up from the move to go to sleep and decided to explore the complex a little. It's still early enough that he's the only one there so he remains blissfully undisturbed as he loads and starts the washing machine. His meeting with Phainon is still fresh on his mind and he can't help but look back at where Phainon had been standing the other night. Obviously, the guy is long gone and Mydei does notice the clear attempts made to clean up after himself, though they were only partially successful. At least Phainon was decent enough to try, he supposes.
Then he notices there's something resting on top of the dryer closest to the washing machine that Phainon had been using. It's small and in a package of some variety and he steps closer only to realize it's a condom. Just in case he wasn't totally sure who it belonged to, the few specks of glitter on it are fairly damning evidence of whose pocket it was in.
It's not exactly particularly scandalous, as Phainon is a grown man who is well allowed to have as many condoms as he wants. But given how this is a communal space and it's entirely possible someone could bring their kids here, he's not about to leave it sitting around for someone else to find.
He stares at it. There is no way he's touching that with his bare hands.
With the kind of caution typically seen when defusing a bomb, he very carefully grabs a discarded pencil from nearby and uses the eraser end to push the condom off the dryer and into a trashcan that he'd moved right next to it. The bin had clearly been emptied fairly recently given how the only thing in the trash bag was a few crumpled up tissues, a business card of some variety, and now the condom he'd chucked in. Given the amount of glitter on all of the objects in question, he's certain they all came from Phainon.
The tissues were clearly used in a failed attempt to wipe some of the glitter off of his face and aren't of much interest. The business card, however, is a different story. Through sheer luck it's landed in the bin face up so he doesn't have to squint or try and look from a different angle to make out what it says. It's rather minimalistic, with only Atlantis written on it in a fancy gold font. The name sounds vaguely familiar in that weird way where you know you've heard of the place but not about it. In fact, the only reason he knows it's a club is because the card is very clearly advertising a place, not a person, and he's familiar enough with the general area of the listed address to know that it's where a bunch of nightlife businesses like bars and clubs are clustered.
Interesting.
He considers everything he knows about Phainon. The guy is — admittedly — very good looking, apparently frequents a club enough to have a business card for the place, and is awake at ungodly hours in the morning rather than asleep like most people. Couple that with what Mydei is now fairly certain was makeup and it's beginning to paint a certain picture. It would appear his new neighbor frequents the clubs a lot and is potentially a big partier.
His eyes land back on the condom and a horrible thought dawns on him at that moment. Is he going to be stuck sharing a wall with some kind of club going sex addict?
Before he can start to spiral down that conspiracy, he stops himself. This was a fairly huge conclusion to jump to about a guy he'd known for all of 15 minutes. And Phainon himself had claimed last night wasn't normal for him. But what about it wasn't normal? His appearance? Him being awake so late?
The ding of the washer brings him out of his contemplation and it dawns on him that he's spent way too much time thinking about Phainon. With a scoff of annoyance, he resolves himself to push the matter out of his mind and focus on the million other tasks he should be prioritizing, like unpacking or changing his mailing address or literally anything else.
But like a weed, the idea has quickly taken root in his mind and shows no signs of going away anytime soon. For now he's just barely able to ignore it, but he gets the feeling that this particular mystery is going to bother him for a while.
A week passes since his unconventional run-in with Phainon and he's yet to see his neighbor again. He also hasn't heard anything, something that surprises him a little. The past few nights he'd gone to bed with the concern that he'd be woken up by either Phainon coming home drunk and making a ruckus in the process or Phainon bringing people home but no such thing happened — at least that he could hear. If Phainon was someone who frequently stayed out late partying or slept around then he was good at not making a nuisance of himself in the process. By the sixth night he had tentatively begun to decide that maybe things wouldn't be so bad.
Of course, it's just when he's starting to revise his opinion about Phainon that the commotion starts. It'd been his off day and he'd just wrapped up tidying his apartment when he heard a loud thud coming from the wall he shared with Phainon. He ignores it at first, thinking Phainon had just dropped something. Then there was the muffled sound of growing mayhem, followed by cursing. Whatever minimal patience and goodwill Mydei had developed toward Phainon instantly vanished and, with a growing sense of frustration, he storms out of his apartment and begins pounding on Phainon's door. A few seconds pass and he's about to start up again when it swings open to reveal an incredibly flustered Phainon.
Mydei, who had initially come over ready to give his neighbor a piece of his mind, immediately notices the scent of smoke and whatever harsh words he'd had prepared disappeared. Phainon begins to stammer out an apology of some sort but Mydei brushes him aside as he storms into the other's kitchen. While he was all for letting others solve their own messes, the scent of smoke was a little too strong for him to just walk away and frankly he had zero faith in Phainon's ability to deal with it.
All the apartments had the same layout, so he makes a beeline straight for the kitchen. The minute he has a direct line of sight into the room it's obvious what the cause of the earlier racket was. The scent of smoke hangs in the air and he can see a distinct trail originating from the sink. Thankfully it's fairly weak and the faucet is on just enough to douse whatever was in there with water so he's not too worried about whatever is in there reigniting.
That just leaves the stove, which he notes with mild horror is still on. The flames were far bigger than they should be, sticking out so much from the bottom of the pan that they nearly engulfed the entire thing. And it's fairly obvious that whatever was originally in the pan had bubbled over and been burnt beyond recognition, further contributing to the smell.
He glances over at Phainon, who at least has the decency to look ashamed. Something about it reminds him of a former neighbor's dog, a big white fluffy one that the kids had loved playing with, whenever it got scolded for being bad. Truly, all Phainon needed was the ears and tail and he'd surely look identical. Maybe that's why the first thing he thinks when he looks at Phainon's face is cute and not something rational like this guy's an idiot. Mydei then briefly wonders if Phainon's brand of chaos was somehow contagious, because that had to be the explanation as to why he was thinking like this.
Any further introspections about potential Phainon-induced madness have to take a backseat, as the stove is still burning and he has no desire to lose all of his stuff in a fire because of Phainon's botched attempt at making lunch. He strides over and turns it off, taking a moment to check that none of the other burners were on. Thankfully that's the only urgent matter to deal with, as a quick glance at the sink's contents reveal a scorched rag but no fire.
After an incredibly tense conversation in which Mydei informs him about basic cooking safety skills like never walking away from a stove while it's on, he starts cleaning up the mess himself because at this point he's worried Phainon would somehow create mustard gas or titans know what if left to his own devices to clean his stove. The process doesn't take too long, mostly because it's still recent so he doesn't have to scrape anything or soak anything that's crusted over.
And that Phainon-centric insanity strikes yet again, as he somehow finds himself forking over his own lunch to the man after throwing out the noodles that started all of this. He tries to rationalize it to himself as a way of ensuring the safety of everyone and their belongings but even he knows that's not the entire reason he's doing it. But it's a little too late to back out now, so by the time he's back in his apartment he not only needs to make lunch again but he's also invited himself over to Phainon's place the next day as well.
He glares at the wall that divides their apartments, as if the answer to why he's acting like this will magically appear on it. Unsurprisingly, the wall remains blank and he gets no answers. So instead he starts planning what to make for lunch tomorrow.
*** ☀️🍷***
The next afternoon he's standing outside Phainon's door with their lunch in hand and still trying to figure out why he's doing all of this when the door swings open, Phainon looking a little shocked at Mydei's presence.
"You were serious about that?" He asks, skepticism written clear as day on his face.
"Do you take me for a liar of some kind? Of course I meant it. Besides, this is less for your sake and more for everyone else's," Mydei says, which isn't totally false but not quite the whole truth. "I, for one, would be furious if I returned home to find it had burned down because some idiot couldn't even do basic cooking."
Phainon winces a little at the pointed reminder of the prior day's events, his metaphorical tail drooping at the memory of what happened. Mydei, for his part, brushes past him and heads inside because he's worried that if he doesn't start moving he'll do something stupid like call him cute or titans know what.
"Make yourself at home, I guess." Phainon says.
"Hm. Since I brought the food, you get the plates and set up the table." He calls back to the other, who's trailing behind him.
Mydei walks into the kitchen, only to stop short at the sight of the entire surface of Phainon's kitchen table being covered in money. He tries to think back to if it was like this yesterday, but the fire had drawn all of his focus to the stove so he honestly can't recall what was or wasn't on the table that day. Phainon's table isn't small either, so it truly is a testament to how much cash he has laying on it that the entire surface is covered.
His gaze darts around, taking it all in. The bills are in varying states, from incredibly crinkled or worn down to a few that look fairly new with most falling somewhere in-between. He also notes how most of them are smaller bills, with the largest being a 20 but the majority being made up of 1s and 5s. Either Phainon was rich enough that he could casually have this kind of money laying about or he worked a cash-intense job.
Mydei thinks back to the business card advertising a club. Hmm.
Speaking of Phainon, he walks in right after and seems to realize that Mydei's hands are full so he grabs a nearby box and idly starts sweeping the money into it to clear off the table. Bills flutter off the table and onto the floor, most of which he largely ignores, and prioritizes emptying the tabletop. It's a bit of a rush job but it only takes him about 10 seconds. Phainon puts the now full box onto the nearby countertop and gestures for Mydei to go ahead.
"Sorry about that. Table's all clear now." He says before he turns to presumably go get utensils and plates. Mydei does so, sliding into a nearby seat and waits for Phainon who eventually gets some and quickly sets the table and they start eating. For the first few minutes it's silent, both because they're eating and due to that awkwardness of still being just enough of strangers that it's a bit difficult to figure out where to start a conversation.
Phainon's the first to break the silence.
"About the first time we met…" He trails off for a moment, clearly still embarrassed about that. "I really am sorry you had to see me like that."
Mydei snorts, the memory now more amusing than anything. "You mean glittery and in almost no clothes?"
"Yes, like that. Someone spread the rumor that it was my birthday at work, someone else had confetti cannons, one thing led to another and…well… you can probably guess the rest." Based on Phainon's emphasis on someone and the look of fond annoyance on his face, Mydei gets the feeling it was a friend or someone he knew. There was just a special kind of exasperation when referring to your friends versus a stranger or minor acquaintance and this was clearly the case.
"I see."
Phainon laughs a little awkwardly. "Anyway, that's all just to say that I promise that's not how I usually am. And uh, thanks for not calling security on me."
"As if I would need security to deal with you."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Phainon asks, sounding a little indignant. Mydei just grins lazily at him, pointing at Phainon with his non-occupied hand to emphasize as he speaks.
"You look as if a thin breeze would knock you over. Had you turned out to be a threat, I would have no problem detaining you myself."
Phainon squawks, and Mydei is rapidly finding out that it's far more entertaining than it should be to wind him up than it should be.
"Hey, we can't all be built like literal gods! Some of us are just a lean kind of muscular!" He protests. Mydei smirks, both at the accidental compliment and the look on Phainon's face when he realizes what he just said.
"Is that a compliment I hear?" He teases. Phainon flushes a little, groaning in annoyance.
"No, it's — ugh! Just eat your food, Mydeimos."
Mydei does and they lapse into silence for a minute before Phainon speaks up once more. The conversation starts out a bit stilted in the usual way on account of them still being near-strangers, though it quickly loses that feeling the more they talk. For the first time, they're not there interacting under bizarre or emergency circumstances so they're able to talk regularly and in depth without being interrupted.
Phainon, as it turns out, has been here a while so he gives Mydei a brief rundown about some of the other residents on the floor. The majority of them are your typical 8 to 4 office workers or otherwise not at home for most of the day, though there are a few who either work from home or are retired. Phainon also assures him that everyone is polite and there have been almost no major disputes or concerns in the time he'd been living there.
Mydei, who is quickly getting better at reading Phainon, can't help noting a bit of tension in Phainon's shoulders and the barest hints of a frown. Phainon had also said almost no major disputes, not none at all.
"I'm guessing you were involved?"
Phainon attempts, poorly, to evade the question. "What gives you that impression?"
Mydei merely cocks a brow and says nothing. Phainon's shoulders slump a little and his resolve to not talk about it crumples like wet cardboard.
"Her name was Caenis, and she used to live in your apartment."
"What happened?"
"I don't know, she hated me from the first day all the way until she moved out."
"So you have no clue why she didn't like you?"
"None. Whenever we saw each other she'd just sneer at me. And she wouldn't stop trying to get me kicked out. I tried everything to get on her good side. I tried to be quieter when getting home from work, I was always polite to her, and I even helped carry some of her stuff in when she first moved here."
"She thought you were too loud when you came home?" Mydei asks, a little confused at that part.
"I work nights and don't usually get home until around 2 in the morning, so I try to be quiet when I do." Phainon explains. That explains why he was up so late when they first met, at least. It's also a testament to how quiet he is that Mydei remained oblivious to this, as he's always had great hearing and never heard so much as a footstep in the past week.
Phainon, clearly a bit incensed from the topic, continues to rant about her for a few more minutes. It ends after he regales Mydei with a story about the time she'd complained to the landlord about how he'd thrown a massive party that lasted until 3 in the morning and disrupted everyone, only to be told that was impossible considering Phainon had been out of town for close to a week during that time.
"The look on her face when she realized she'd been caught mid lie was hilarious," Phainon laughs a little as he recounts the memory. "I'm telling you, she had it out for me since day one and I don't even know why!"
The opportunity to mess with Phainon a little is too good to resist. "Did you perhaps almost burn down the building and force her to put out your fire as well?"
Phainon gives him a flat look, clearly sensing what he was doing. "Seriously?"
"I merely wonder how often I can expect that to happen. If it becomes a habit, I may as well stock up on fire extinguishers." He already has, actually, having ordered a second one immediately after getting home yesterday. Just in case.
"I had already put out the fire before you came! All you did was turn off the stove!" His thin attempt at keeping up the pretense of being offended doesn't hold up for long, as he can't contain his laughter.
Then he spies the well-stocked bar cart in the corner and Phainon notices the object of interest. It's not often that Mydei thinks about his father and his alcoholism, as doing so gives the man far more attention than he deserves (read: none at all), but when he does it's a guaranteed way to put him in a bad mood. So when Phainon asks him if he wants any, he ends up spitting out something about how the industry is predatory and his preference to avoid it.
It comes off a tad harsher than intended, given Phainon's wince. To his credit though, Phainon clearly pivots to a new topic — likely sensing that this was a far more sensitive topic than Mydei is ready to delve into — so he asks about what Mydei does for work. More than happy to talk about something else, Mydei tells him that he's a chef and owns his own restaurant, which clearly impresses the other.
Then he asks Phainon about what he does and the reaction is…bizarre.
Phainon, who'd had no problem meeting his gaze earlier, suddenly averts his eyes a little. "Oh, me? I…" His mouth opens and closes a few times and it's obvious that he's hesitant to finish.
"Don't tell me you've forgotten your own profession." Mydei says eventually, half to break the silence and half to see if maybe that'll break Phainon out of his weird state.
It works, as Phainon eventually stammers out something about working at a club. When Mydei presses him about that, he gives a few vague descriptions about dealing with drunk people and working crowds and…oh.
The pieces click together.
A guy who's handsome (though he definitely won't be giving Phainon the satisfaction of telling him that), works late nights at a club, earns a lot in cash, whose job involves — in his own words — 'putting on a show', and is oddly sketchy about giving a straightforward answer as to what he does? It wouldn't exactly take a genius to pick up what Phainon is putting down.
He takes a moment to consider what to say next.
As much as his friends liked to joke about his preference for being blunt and straight to the point, he is well aware that some situations require a tactful approach with carefully chosen words. This was clearly one of those times. So Mydei takes a moment to do so, not wanting to risk coming off too harsh or judgmental.
"So you're an…entertainer?" Is what he settles on. So you're a stripper goes unsaid but it's clear that both parties understand the real question.
Phainon nods. "Something like that, yeah." He says, following up with a feeble attempt at a casual shrug. That's enough of an answer for Mydei. And this time it's him who changes the topic because it's clear Phainon doesn't want to be pushed about this.
The relieved little smile that Phainon gives him speaks more than words ever could, anyway.
*** ☀️🍷***
Before Mydei knows it, close to three hours have passed and if both of them didn't have their own lives he's sure they could spend plenty more talking. Spending time with Phainon is far more pleasant than expected. There's a kind of ease when they talk that definitely shouldn't be seen with people who've only known each other for a little over a week and yet it feels perfectly natural.
It's…really nice, actually.
It's also truly a testament to their new friendship that when Phainon reveals one of the bills from earlier has stuck to the bottom of his shoe may or may not be covered in things he doesn't want to think about, he actually agrees to meet with him later that week for lunch rather than run for the hills and do everything in his power to ensure they never meet again.
Not even a month in and Phainon has him doing things he'd never imagined himself doing before. He opts to blame it on the same irrationality that caused him to give Phainon his lunch and thus kick-started everything. Maybe, with enough time, he'll finally become immune and stop doing things purely because he knows they'll make Phainon happy.
Then Phainon grins at him again as they part ways, the same one in the laundry room from a week ago yet somehow ten times brighter, and he already knows that's not going to happen.