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Ellis had woken up for the day when the dim, red glow of his alarm clock read 4:43, for no particular reason at all. He had simply opened his eyes to the still dark of the morning and found himself unable to sleep once his mind began to tick. It wasn't unusual to find that whistful whimsy itching at his fingertips in the silence before sunrise, so he just pulled his legs free of the limbs that were tangled around his and slipped quietly to the little, battered writing desk after he opened the door of Poe's cage. The sleek little animal rustled but didn't come out.

The time ticked by, the sunrise came and went. A gruff voice said its goodbyes on the way to work and Ellis smiled and nodded between ink-stained fingers and scrawled words. He felt the most at ease in his comfort zone, with Poe winding between his ankles and -

s**t, what time was it?

Deep in his daydreams, the thought struck him and he rebounded so quickly that he nearly toppled his chair clean over. Suddenly reminded that he had been promising Shiloh that they would hang out, he rushed back to his bedroom and began scrambling through the clothes littered around his floor. It only took two pairs of pants for him to find the pocket he had shoved his cellphone into - with a missed text message 20 minutes old.

Groaning at himself, he opened it and typed up a quick answer:

[To Shiloh: I'm so sorry! I wasn't paying attention to the time. I'm at Redfort Village apartments, #4a]

There wasn't an answering text message, this time.

Time ticked by with nothing out of the ordinary except the sound of someone, distant at first, drumming their feet too loudly on the stairwell. The batter of feet echoed inside the semi-crumbling plaster walls until it steadily grew louder and louder, though less frequent. The damn halls were too confusing.

"2B, 2C, 2D," the redhead's voice whispered as he counted, eyes zipping from old bronze door hanger to old bronze door hanger, "wait - 2F?"

Ellis drew up short for a moment, eyes narrowed on the plate accusingly. With his cellphone still clutched in his hand, Ellis rounded back and turned left down the fork in the hall instead of right. 2E. One slender hand reached out and tapped its knuckles against the door while Ellis drew a series of deep, struggling breaths; he had taken the stairs a bit too fast. The realization cracked his lips in a wide, pleased smile even as he buckled and braced his hands on his thighs.

Maybe more than a bit.

He reached out to knock again, laughing to himself between gulps of air.

"Shy?"

In a flash, Shiloh had whipped the door open and gathered him into a hug so tight that Ellis felt another, gasping laugh escape his heaving lungs. Even if he couldn’t breath, this was perfect, like the daytime dramas he sometimes watched with his mum when she was lonely.

“I did,” his words with mirth given form as he wound his arms around the other, adorably happy ginger. Shiloh wasn’t often unaware enough of his anxiety to initiate physical contact but here, with the sudden surprise, he seemed as caught up as Ellis did himself. He used the grip to rock slowly from one foot to the other, making the pair of them seem like waddling penguins, tramping around on Shiloh’s welcome mat.

“Ah, screw it if I did. I’ll just make K fix it.” The laugh he emitted then was weaker, but only because he knew, really, that there was no making K do anything he didn’t actually want to do.

Both of his arms unwound from Shiloh’s warm body so that he could brace his hands on the other boy’s shoulder, staring down into his eyes with all of his pleasure plastered across his tan, youthful face. Really, what were the odds that Shiloh had lived so close without either of them noticing? Well, apart from the fact that they both seemed to be trying to work themselves to death..

“I’m sorry, I rushed down here without even asking - are you ready? Do you still need to uhm,” he glanced over Shiloh quickly, then past him into the apartment that his friend had claimed for his own, “get stuff together? Can I do something?”

Ellis found that his anxieties and worries were diminished a little in Shiloh’s presence - having someone that worried more made him feel steadier, even if it was just because he felt that overwhelming urge to stave off anyone else’s fears. Especially a someone that really mattered to him.

He just laughed gently under his breath as Shiloh pressed their foreheads together, leaning into the smaller figure so that he could use Ellis’ weight to balance him on his tippy-toes. It was an affectionate, familiar gesture that he might’ve questioned from anyone else but Shiloh? No. Comfort was the cure for the anxious soul and they had always shared that need. It was a relief at times, especially when he knew Pie was more likely to rebuke him when he was in a foul mood (which, honestly, was pretty often). That was a complex, tangled web compared to the simplicity of Shiloh’s easy friendship.

“Oh, okay,” he mumbled through a laugh, shoving both of his hands in his pockets while Shiloh stepped back into his apartment and busied himself getting the things he wanted. His shoulders shrugged and he rocked easily from toe to heel in a nervous, fidgeting gesture as he waited. Ellis was full of such tendencies even when he wasn’t worried about a thing.

“Really?” The laugh was louder this time, almost disbelieving, but he was already heading for the stairs he had just bounded down. Poe was one of the most perfect joys in his life and it seemed to thrill him to no end anytime someone else wanted to shower the fluffball with love. At least by now most of his panting breaths had abated but he had absolutely no intention of taking the flight with as much gusto as he had before - there was no need, not with Shiloh securely beside him.

“Just make sure you lock it first,” he reminded from the bottom of the stairs, “I don’t think everyone here is as nice as you.”