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It was Saffy's one day off this week and so she had been less than pleased when the neighbour on the next floor up had decided that this was the night that they would be their loudest yet and Arian had been dispatched to in his cousin's words 'turn that freaking thing down!'

God it was loud. Arian could hear the music booming in the hallway of their apartment block, the dark-haired teen privately wondering if it was this loud a floor down, just how loud was it in the apartment itself.

On the way to stairs up – it was only a flight up after all – he passed their neighbour Madam Thomas coming out of the lift with a bag of groceries to hand and a set of ear plugs which she told him had prompted the shopping expedition.

It wasn't hard to find the apartment in question on the floor up, it was the only one with insanely loud music belting out after all. Arian knocked on the door once and then again 5 minutes later as when his first knock prompted no response, the second knock louder than the first.

As he waited to see if the second knock would prompt some sort of response, the dark-haired teen found himself begining to think that Madam Thomas' investment in a set of ear plugs was a sound one.

It looked liked the second knock had done the trick. The volume of the music suddenly dropped right down and a few moments after that, the door was opened by a brown haired man.

He nodded at the other's comment “Yes, my cousin has one of the apartments on the floor down, she sent me to ask you to turn the music down to something like this volume as it sounds kind of loud downstairs.” Actually Saffy hadn't phrased it quite as nicely but Arian figured that the man in front didn't need to know the full unedited version.

Arian had let the other's 'This music is awesome' comment pass in silence. It wasn't particularly his cup of tea to be honest and given Saffy's comments – it was probably safe to say that his cousin wasn't a fan. The other's agreement to keep the music down however prompted a relieved smile “Thank you, my cousin will really appreciate it.” As would likely a lot of their mutual neighbours.

The brown-haired man had turned and was making his way further into the apartment, so Arian figured that the conversation was over. In fact the dark-haired teen was contemplating making his way back downstairs now hat he had passed across Saffy's turn down the music request and the other's question took him a little by surprise. “I'm not sure” he admitted. “I've not tried Thai food before.” Food at his grandparents had been strictly English fare and when Saffy decided that they should have a take-out night then they usually ordered pizza, although occasionally his cousin opted for Chinese.

Arian felt a little confused at his neighbor’s reaction to his admission. The dark-haired teen had no idea that it was the other’s favourite food and wouldn’t have thought it that big a deal even if he had – he certainly wasn’t expecting that it would net him an invite in.

As the other explained about the dish Arian caught a whiff of a smell coming from what he assumed was the kitchen “It smells nice.” It did as well, even though privately Arian wasn’t too sure about the coconut. It took a few moments for the dark-haired teen to notice that the other had started setting out two table places. “Oh I’m intruding, I apologise.” It didn’t occur to Arian that the second table setting might possible be for him.

Arian blinked at the other, the spontaneous invite taking the dark-haired teen by surprise. Spontaneous invites wasn’t something that he’d come across much – and he was pretty much a virtual stranger to the other – at least he thought he was. It was unlikely that Saffy would mind him being out for a bit. No knowing his cousin she was most likely taking the opportunity to get her head down now that the music was no longer blasting downstairs.

“Um thank you,” there was a hint of awkwardness to Arian’s voice as he finally took a seat at the table and picked up the second plate. Helping himself to a little of the contents from the big plate that the other had set on the table he added. “I’m Arian by the way,” given that his neighbour had just given him an impromptu invite to dinner Arian felt it only polite that he know his name, “Arian Laith.” If the other had met Saffron, it was possible that the surname would be a clue that he was a relative of some sort.

“A soda would be great thank you.” If the milk had been the only thing on offer then Arian would have drunk it out of politeness and then try to avoid having more than one glass, The dark-haired teen wasn’t much into milk on its own – although it made a great drink to dunk freshly baked cookies into.

Arian nodded at the other’s introduction – it was always nice to have a name to put to a face – and then ate a forkful of the food on his plate and chewed it thoughtfully. For some reason from the moment Connor had mentioned that there was coconut, Arian been expecting something really really coconutty. It was okay though – really okay – not too nutty at all. He waited until he had finished chewing to say “It tastes good.” No talking with one’s mouth full for this teen – and then took another bite.

“It’s okay” Arian waited until he had finished eating another mouthful of the chicken and noodle dish that Connor had called kha-something soy before answering. “It was a bit odd after the summer at first, getting used to a new school and everything – but my cousin's been good and I think I’ve mostly gotten used to things.” Like looking right when crossing the road when he should have been looking left.