Peter the roommate

Peter grabbed his bags and entered the apartment. "W-where do yyou wwant me to put these?"

"The spare room is down the hall and to the left. Just put them anywhere. Have you eaten? I was just going to make dinner."

"N-no, I haven't. That sounds great, wwhat wwere yyou going to have?" Peter said as he came back into the room.

"Just some leftover lasagna, want some?"

"Great." Peter grabbed a bowl out of the cupboard. Gabriel gave him a dirty look, but didn't say anything.

Gabriel took a plate out, carefully put some lasagna on it and covered it with a napkin before putting it in the microwave. When it dinged, he took it out, picked up the sponge by the sink and wiped the inside of the microwave out. He sat down at the table, putting a napkin on his lap.

Peter grabbed a piece of lasagna out of the pan with his hands, putting it in the bowl, threw the bowl into the microwave, and punched the buttons. When his was done, he grabbed a fork, standing by the counter and stuffed his face. Gabriel gave him a disgusted look.

"Wha?" Peter asked around a mouthful of food. Gabriel just shook his head. Shrugging his shoulders, Peter continued eating. When he was done, he tossed his dirty dishes into the sink.

Gabriel finished his dinner and went to wash the dishes. Peter gave him a funny look, but then turned away and went into the living room to watch TV.

"So," Gabriel started as he came into the living room "How long do you think you'll need to stay here?"

"N-not sure. The Ssuper said it may take a few wweeks to fumigate the whole building. Seems like there's problem with ccockroaches and they're having trouble figuring out where they're coming from." Peter said without taking his eyes off the TV.

"Hmmm, that's too bad. Well, you can stay here as long as you like. But there are a few rules." Gabriel sat down next to Peter on the sofa.

"Like what?"

"Don't leave dirty dishes lying around. Don't leave dirty clothes lying around. No overnight guests, unless you inform the other person living here before hand. Chip in on supplies and such. If you cook, put leftovers away right away. Generally clean up after yourself. Make sure to use the cleaning products in the cabinets. Don't touch my stuff. The usual."

Peter laughed. Then he saw Gabriel's face. Stopping, he looked at him.

"Y-you're serious? Sorry, I thought you were jjoking. Okay, I can follow the rules." Somehow, Gabriel didn't believe that. They watched TV for a few hours; Gabriel could feel his eyes getting heavy.

"I'm going to bed. Goodnight Peter."

"N-night Gabe."

In the morning, Gabriel got up and went into the bathroom. It looked like a tornado had hit. Wet towels were strewn all over the floor, the bathmat was soaked, soap on the rack dribbled down the wall. The mirror was fogged up and there was toothpaste and shaving cream in the sink. Gabriel looked on in horror.

"Peter!" He shouted.

"Huh?" Peter padded up behind him.

"What-what happened?"

"Oh, ssorry. Guess I hadn't ggotten around to ccleaning that up yet. I'll get to it in a minute. I'm making breakfast."

"Breakfast?" Gabriel turned slowly around, staring at Peter.

"Yyea, you know. The food you eat when you get up in the mmorning? I'm making pancakes, wwant some?"

Gabriel could only nod, his voice gone from the shock.

"Cool. They'll be ddone in a few mminutes." Peter walked back out to the kitchen.

Gabriel followed, afraid to even look in his kitchen. It was worse than the bathroom.

The sink was full of dirty dishes. Batter was splattered on every conceivable counter space. The fridge door was left open. Milk dribbled down a counter onto the floor. Egg shells lay on the floor, surrounding the garbage can.

Gabriel took a few shaky steps towards the stove, watching the pancakes on the pan starting to burn. Giving a whimper, he turned to Peter.

"You-you…My kitchen!"

"Huh? Oh, I'll cclean it up, promise."

"But-but…" Gabriel couldn't finish the sentence. He felt something wet drip onto his face. Looking up, he saw a pancake stuck to the ceiling.

"Peter?" He pointed, his voice a tight little whisper.

"Oh, tthat. Sorry, I'll get that too. I guess I got a little ccarried away flipping the ppancakes." Peter grinned at him.

Trying to breath, Gabriel turned on his heel and went back into his bedroom.

"Gabe? Gabe! Its okay Gabe, I'll clean up. Promise!" Gabriel just ignored him.

Find your happy place. Find your happy place. Gabriel could feel a panic attack coming on. He's only going to be here a few weeks. I can do this! Feeling a little calmer, he went out to the living room.

"I'm ssorry Gabe. I'll be a little mmore ccareful." Peter said; his face red with embarrassment. 

"It's okay Peter, I know you will be." Gabriel stared at the TV.

"I've ggot your ppancakes if you're hungry." Peter placed the plate on the coffee table in front of Gabriel. Gabriel winced, picking up the plate and putting a coaster underneath it.

"Thank you, Peter." Gabriel started eating. Hmm, they're not too bad. Maybe, if I can get him to be a little less destructive, I can have him make these again.

Gabriel could hear banging going on in the kitchen, but he didn't have the heart to go and look. God only knew what Peter was doing in there this time. When he was done eating, Gabriel went to put his dishes in the sink.

The kitchen was cleaner. It still looked like a hurricane had hit it, but he could tell that Peter had at least tried to clean up. Sighing, Gabriel got out the water bucket and the bleach. He had just started scrubbing when Peter came back in.

"I cleaned that Gabe!"

"I know you did Peter and I thank you. I just wanted to give it a little bit more of a scrub."

"I said I was ssorry. And I did cclean it." Peter pouted at him. Looking up, Gabriel could see the hurt in Peter's eyes.

Gabriel stopped. I'm insulting him. He did honestly try. Fine, I'll clean it later. 

"You're right Peter, you did clean it. I'll just have to learn to let someone else clean once in a while." He grinned, trying to take the sting out of his actions. Peter grinned back.

"G-great! What do you wwant to do nnow?"

"I've got some work to do. I was going to do it here, but I can go down to the shop if you'd rather have some time too yourself."

"N-naw, I don't mind. Actually, I think I mmight go and do some grocery sshopping. Seems like there isn't mmuch left in the ffridge and I should chip in some wwhile I'm here."

"Sounds like a good idea. Do you need a list?"

"Naw, I think I ccan handle it. I'll be bback in a little wwhile. See ya." Peter grabbed his jacket and left the apartment.

Giving a sigh of relief, Gabriel picked up his sponge again and continued to clean the kitchen. Thirty minutes later, he felt like he had gotten all the pancake batter off the counters along with all the spilt milk. He had even managed to scrape the stuck pancake off the ceiling. The egg shells had been picked up and the floor had been scrubbed. Peter hadn't returned yet, so Gabriel turned his attention to the bathroom.

Peter had tried cleaning up in there too, but hadn't gotten everything. Luckily it didn't take Gabriel long to clean it. He had just sat down at his desk with a nice cup of tea to work on the clock sitting there, when Peter came bouncing into the apartment. 

"Wwow, doesn't look like you got mmuch ddone. That mmust be harder wwork than I thought. Well, I got food. Hope you like ppizza and stuff. I'll put it away." Gabriel could hear banging in the kitchen as Peter put the groceries away.

Gabriel tried to ignore the banging going on in the kitchen and concentrate on the clock, but it was no use. Peter was just being too loud. Sighing, Gabriel set his equipment back down and went into the kitchen.

Peter was just putting the last of the groceries away as Gabriel came in. Curious, Gabriel looked to see what Peter had bought. There seemed to be a lot of junk food stuff. Gabriel just shook his head; at least he could make some meals with what he still had.

"I'm ggoing to mmake dinner tonight if you ddon't mmind." Peter smiled at Gabriel. Gabriel winced, thinking of all the hard work he had put into getting his kitchen clean after breakfast.

"That's okay Peter, I already had dinner planned. How about you cook tomorrow night instead?" Gabriel crossed his fingers.

"Sure, nno problem. I've got ssome errands to do; I'll see yyou about 5:30 then? Bye" Peter bounded out the door.

Gabriel felt the muscles in his back relax. At least I can get some work done now. He turned back towards his desk.

The next few weeks just flew by. Peter tried to keep the apartment clean; Gabriel tried to keep his temper in check whenever Peter made a mess. Peter made breakfast (and did a good job of not sticking anymore pancakes to the ceiling) and Gabriel made dinner and did the grocery shopping. 

Things didn't always go well though. Like the time that Peter forgot to take the overflowing garbage out (for two days!) and the time that Gabriel threw Peter's collection of postcards out. Peter cleaned up after himself and offered to do the laundry (Never again! Gabriel did not appreciate pink shirts although Peter had stated a liking to him wearing them) and Gabriel kept finding himself going behind Peter with a sponge and bleach water, but for the most part the two got along. Gabriel did have to have a talk with Peter about Calvin though, the man was just nasty. Peter promised he'd take care of it and after that Calvin wasn't quite the jerk anymore.

Then the day arrived, the day Peter was to move back into his apartment. Gabriel closed his eyes and gave a small prayer of thanks that things could get back to normal. Peter packed his suitcases and left that morning.

But as the day wore on, Gabriel noticed a problem. The apartment was so quiet now with Peter gone. He hadn't realized just how much life Peter had brought into his home. They actually had had lots of fun, watching TV and ridiculing certain hosts of shows (Ryan Seacrest really was an idiot) and playing cards with Peter, Calvin, Jordan and Frank had been pretty fun. And the few nights that Calvin or Jordan (or both) had stayed overnight had gone well; at least there had been no fighting. Gabriel smiled wistfully.

He almost wished Peter would come back. 

Sighing, he picked up the clock he had been working on. Finally, I've finished it. Now, to give Mrs. Simmons a call and let her kn…

There was a knock on his door. He looked up, startled, and went to answer it.

"Hey Gabe! Guess what?!" Peter stood in the doorway, grinning.

Gabriel closed his eyes, bowing his head.