Chapter Text
Casey finally had enough money from his new job to get an apartment. He had been living out of his car for the past couple months, which wasn’t the best way to live. He was almost finished moving his very few things into the small space. He had just stepped out of the elevator with his last bag when he saw a man coming out of the apartment next door. The man saw him and waved with a big smile.
“Hi there!” the man said brightly, “you must be the new neighbor! My names Ryland er- or Grace, either ones fine!” The man- Grace held his hand out to Casey.
Casey hesitated for a minute before shaking the hand offered to him with a slight smile. “Uh- yeah, hi there. Nice to meet you.”
Casey had to admit, the man was nice looking. A bit taller than him, with messy dirty blonde hair. And then there were those eyes, those piercing blue eyes. Casey could’ve gotten lost in them if he weren’t so scared of eye contact. He looked away shyly once the handshake was over.
“Do you need any help moving in?” Grace asked, tilting his head slightly.
“Ah, no this was the last of it,” Casey replied, holding the bag up slightly. “Thank you though.” He softly smiled again.
“Oh! Sorry I didn’t come out sooner to help,” he rubbed his neck awkwardly.
Casey shook his head a little. “It’s alright really, I didn’t have much anyways.”
Grace smiled sweetly, then gestured to the elevator. “Sorry to cut this short, but I should probably get going, it was nice meeting you though uh-” he hesitated a bit, “what did you say your name was?”
Casey froze for a second, he wasn’t sure he wanted to give out his real name just yet. He still didn’t know if he could trust anyone yet. He stood there for a second, thinking.
“You can call me Driver.”
“Oh! I go by my last name sometimes too! Most people actually call me by it.” Grace laughed nervously, before shaking his head, “I’ll see you around Driver!” he waved a bit before walking away.
Casey turned and waved as Grace got in the elevator. He seemed nice enough, Casey thought as he walked towards his apartment. He walked inside and set his bag down on the rough looking couch he found. He noticed that he kept thinking about his handsome new neighbor. He figured that he’d be content being on his own in this city, but maybe a friend wouldn’t be so bad.
~~~~
Casey was at his new mechanic job when a familiar face walked in. Grace looked around awkwardly before his eyes landed on Casey. His face seemed to light up a bit when he saw him.
“Driver! Hey! I didn’t know you worked here,” Grace walked over with that bright smile of his.
Casey nodded and smiled softly. “What are you here for?” Casey asked, grabbing a towel to clean his hands.
“Oh! Right uh- My car has been making a weird noise,” Grace responded, “it’s like a clunking noise? It gets worse when I hit a bump or something. Do you think you can check it out?”
Casey nodded and gestured to the office door behind him. “Yeah I can, just go talk to Clara in the office, she’ll get you checked in.”
“Alright, thank you Driver! I’ll see you later,” Grace responded, heading towards the office.
Casey’s gaze followed the other man before he snapped his head back around to continue working on the car in front of him. He couldn’t afford to be distracted right now. He had to refocus on the work he had to get done.
A good fifteen or so minutes later Grace walked out of the office, waving goodbye to Casey before leaving the garage. Casey smiled and waved back, almost throwing the wrench he forgot was in his hand.
“That was smooth,” a voice behind him chimed in. Casey spun around to see Clara giggling at him.
Casey huffed and turned back to continue working on the car, trying to ignore her mocking.
“Do you know him or something?” she asked, “you two seemed somewhat familiar.”
Casey nodded, fighting with a particularly tight bolt. Clara hummed in response, still staring him down.
Casey spun around again and cocked his eyebrow, wondering what more she could want.
“What? I don’t get any details?” she asked, pouting a bit. “Where’s the fun in that?”
Casey deadpanned at her for a moment before sighing. “He’s just my neighbor, nothing to really talk about.”
“I have never seen you smile at a customer,” she huffed, “like at all, since you’ve been here.”
Casey rolled his eyes, turning back to the car. It was really nothing special to smile at someone. Most of the customers barely talked to him and were rarely nice when they did. Of course he wouldn’t smile at them. But Grace was nice, and seemed happy to see him. Nothing else to it… Right?