2021-03-07 - First Apartment

Well, after much hemming and hawing and learning how to get an apartment, Casey and Wes finally, at long last, are out of that motel and into their very first place together. And really, it's not too shabby. It's clean. It's has a fridge and working stove. And the carpet looks reasonably new... which is good, because they don't really have any furniture yet. Wes dumps their bags on the floor just after entering the main living room space and looks around slowly, grinning. "We did it! We're free!" Because now it's more real and not just a temporary fleeing of their hometown.

There are definitely worse places to stay than in the tiny one bedroom apartment that they've managed to set themselves up with. Sure, it's not the ritz, but it is clean and the electricity works, the doors lock, and the carpet was freshly professionally cleaned and seems to be in good shape. He laughs a little at Wes' proclamation of freedom. "Yep. Welcome to our new home." He looks around the very empty space and chuckles. "We need a bed." But he turns then and wraps his arms around Wes and says, "But.. aside from a decided lack of furniture.. I'm liking it. And your new not-girlfriend lives here too, so we can always go visit her." He grins. That joke is /never ever/ going to get old.

Wesley laughs, leaning against Casey as he rolls his eyes. "Hey, knowing someone else in the building is a plus. What if we need eggs, or sugar, or .. toilet paper. Shit, do we have any toilet paper?" He peers over Casey's shoulder in the direction of the bathroom door. "Maybe I should text her now." Not that he makes any move to break free of the hug. Instead he just smiles. "It'll be like camping out in the woods at our hideout. Only nicer."

Casey grins at the eyeroll and leans in and steals a kiss from Wes, "We have nothing, man. We need to go back out and get some basics, and I need to get the air mattress out of the truck. And we can have the joy of waking up with it half deflated and our asses on the floor until we can get an actual bed." He doesn't move to do any of that right away either, instead just standing there with his arms wrapped around Wes' waist. "And warmer, too," he laughs. There's actual heat in the apartment.

"Lies. We have each other. And a new start in a new place." Wes says, wrapping his arms around Casey and squeezing tightly. Eventually he draws back, wiggling free of the other man's hold. His eyes wander the empty walls until he spots the thermostat. He crosses the room and turns it up. "Why do air mattresses always leak? You'd think they'd solve that shit. Although, I suppose they always keep the air running on bounce houses." He ponders as he wanders into the kitchen to open each cupboard and look inside. "Maybe we can find some furniture cheap on Craig's List."

"Yeah, we do," Casey says with a grin. He lets Wes go after a few moments so that he can wander around and open everything up and look around at it all. For his part, Casey just leand up against the wall by the door since he plans on going right back out to get more things now that they have the keys, not to mention get their bed out of the back of the truck. "We could get a bouncy house and put that in the middle of the bedroom instead," he jokes. Then he says, "Man I'm not sure I want someone else's furniture. Let's go to like the ReStore or something where they at least check and make sure stuff doesn't have fleas or bedbugs in it before they resell it."

Wes pulls a couple of ice cube trays out of a drawer, holding them up with a grin, "One less thing we need!" He's stupidly excited about this minor thing and goes to fill the trays with water in the sink. "A bouncy house for a bed sounds pretty fun to me. Or a trampoline! Oh oh, what about hammocks? We could get one of those really big ones and hang it?" He opens the freezer and puts the trays inside. They won't want for ice. In the dead of winter. Yep. "And sure, that's fine. How much do we really need anyway? A bed? A couple of chairs? We can watch Netflix on my tablet." He's so oblivious to reality.

Casey just seems to enjoy watching Wes and his excitement, just drinking it in from where he leans against the wall, a grin on his face. Wes is fucking adorable. There's just no two ways around it. "I'm vetoing hammocks. Maybe we can get one for the balcony." Because they have one of those. "But we're getting an actual bed that my back won't die on. You will thank me later." He grins a little and says, "We need a lot of stuff but we'll start with a few basic things. Bed first. Maybe a couch. Or two chairs. Whatever we find a better deal on, I guess. Kitchen stuff so we can cook. Trash stuff. Bathroom stuff. Groceries. Then we can add other bits of furniture as we go."

"Alright, alright. No hammock. But think on the trampoline. Could be fuuuun." Wesley says, looking over with a wider grin. He pokes around under the sink, "Good pipework under here." He declares, then wraps up his kitchen inspection with a peek into the oven. It's empty, thankfully. He looks in the bathroom next, turning the water off and on before commenting, "There's no shower curtain. Add that to the list unless we want to flood the bathroom. Good thing I've been stocking up on the tiny soaps and shampoo from the motel."

"Sure, until we bounce off of it and splatter against the walls. Or worse, go straight through them into the neighbor's place." Casey eyes the walls dubiously. "I'm not sure that I trust their structural integrity that far." He grins when Wes disappears into the bathroom and listens to the water coming on and off. "Yeah, that's already on my list. Along with wastebaskets, bath mats.." Fortunately they do have towels, a gift of a set from Wes' parents to take with them, along with some blankets and other random linens.

"That'd have to be some serious bouncing to go through the wall." Wes says with a laugh, wandering back out into the empty living room/dining area. "Wastebaskets? We could just hang a bag up on a door." He taps the side of his head with a smirk, "See? I'm saving us money already. Good thing you have me here." There's a little nudge of Wes's elbow at Casey's side as he wanders back over.

"Wastebaskets," Casey says with a little grin. "We're going to have proper stuff like proper people living in an actual apartment instead of a dorm room." Look out Wes, Casey is going to start nesting. He's got an actual space now. It's going to get kitted out just like the fort did over the years, with the two of them adding to it over time. He gives Wes a little nudge back. "Come on, let's go out before it gets too late, get a few things, and then we can crash for the night."