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Geoff and Awsten have this agreement, formed almost immediately after Geoff moved in, that if Awsten had something he needed to do urgently that he didn't want to do, Geoff would sit with him until it was done. It gives Geoff the opportunity to sit in silence with him, to absorb his energy without any of the normal pervasive chaos. He usually draws while Awsten does... whatever it is he does for a job.
Right now Awsten is writing a fuck tonne of emails he has been putting off while Geoff draws a Shibu Inu. His call for commissions on twitter hasn't yielded results yet, but he might as well keep drawing. Just so he knows his tablet still works. This thing is older than his gender.
They're sitting next to each other on the couch. The couch is big enough that they could sit at opposite ends and not be touching each other, which was Geoff's original plan. He sat next to one arm, leaning his tablet on it. A perfect position to ruin his back in the next few years. Awsten flopped down in the middle of the couch, though, close enough that he keeps brushing Geoff as he types. Geoff doesn't mind, of course. It's... cute. Comfortable. Nice that someone wants to be that close to him.
The rest of the house is quiet. It's the middle of the day, so Otto is fast asleep upstairs. Travis is at work and Jawn is visiting one of his packmates. Geoff sometimes forgets Lucas lives here until they end up in the same room. He's a perfect house mate - quiet and clean, except for the mystery stains on the carpet. Although those aren't his fault - his nose keeps leaking something black at random. Travis says that's normal, but Geoff thinks this entire thing is insane.
Speaking of which, Lucas wanders into the living room with his phone in his hand, looking confused. His complexion is a little less grey that it was before, and he seems to be standing straighter. Maybe Travis is right, maybe he will get better.
"Did you remove me from the house group chat?" Lucas asks.
Awsten looks up from his laptop screen like a deer in the headlights. "Uhhh..." He glances at Geoff, who hadn't realised Lucas wasn't in the chat. Or that he should have been in the first place.
"You did!" Lucas gasps. He puts his hand over his heart as if wounded. "You bastard. I was dead, I didn't vanish off the face of existence."
"I had to add Geoff! I didn't want to explain who the extra guy in the chat was." Awsten says.
"You replaced me. You found a new favourite human guy and you replaced me." Lucas collapses onto the floor in front of the arm chair dramatically.
Lucas is clearly joking. But Geoff can't help but feel guilty that he may have come between Lucas and Awsten somehow. It had never been his intention to fill the hole Lucas left behind when he moved in. Now that he has actually met Lucas, it's obvious he couldn't even if he tried. They are completely different people.
Awsten doesn't seem to realise Lucas is making fun of him. He sounds genuinely distressed when he says, "No! I mean, Geoff is my favourite human guy, sure." He concedes. Geoff blushes - he wasn't expecting that. Him and Awsten are good friends, maybe something more, but Geoff didn't think he was Awsten's favourite anything. "But you're still, like, top three?"
"Top three! Who's second?"
"My dad, I guess." Awsten shrugs.
Lucas shakes his head. "I can't believe this. I thought I was special, but I'm just another human guy to you."
"Man, come on." Awsten pats the couch next to him, then harder when Lucas doesn't move to sit next to him. "Dude, us human guys have to stick together. Right, Geoff?"
Geoff is surprised to be suddenly included in this conversation. He says the first thing that comes to mind. "Uh, totally. If we don't make a stand, Travis will leave his weird jars all over the house."
"So true." Awsten nods, drumming out a beat on his laptop.
Lucas finally shuffles over to sit on the floor in front of the couch, by Awsten's feet. He won't come any closer to any of their furniture. "Fine. I'm still mad that you removed me from the house group chat, but it's fine. Can you add me back in now?"
"Sure." Awsten pulls his phone out from his jean pocket. "What's your phone number again?"
"Don't you have it saved?" Lucas raises his eyebrows.
Awsten blinks at him.
"You deleted my number?"
Geoff can't help himself. He starts laughing so hard he thinks he's going to tear the stitches in his binder.
"You were dead! It hurt seeing your name in my phone!" Awsten exclaims.
"Oh, my God." Lucas shrieks, trying not to laugh too. "You don't even love me anymore."
Lucas gets up to leave, but Awsten shoves his laptop away and grabs him around the waist. He tackles Lucas to the floor with a scream. Geoff watches in amusement as they wrestle until Lucas manages to push him off.
"I love you~" Awsten sing-songs, trying to get in Lucas' face. "You're still in my top ten human guys."
Lucas smacks him on the shoulder. "Top ten now?"
"I forgot about Pete Wentz."
"Am I above Pete Wentz?" Geoff dares to ask. He flips his tablet pen between his fingers.
"To be determined. It's a close run thing." Awsten rests his chin on Geoff's knee. "If anything, you're the Patrick to my Pete."
Geoff smiles softly. "That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me."
Lucas gags. "I feel physically sick at how sappy and gay that was."
"That's just the decay." Awsten climbs back up onto the couch beside Geoff, sitting closer to him than Geoff thought possible without getting into his lap. He points to Lucas. "Give me your damn phone number."
Lucas does, and Awsten adds him back to the house group chat. Geoff feels his phone buzz and he pulls it out. He quickly puts Lucas' number under a new contact and saves it, reminding himself to get a contact picture for him later.
"How do you spell your name?" Lucas asks Geoff. "You aren't in my contacts, obviously."
Geoff has a moment where he completely forgets his own name. His mind cycles through every name he ever considered giving himself, as well as his dead name. By the time Geoff's brain has clicked back into gear, Awsten is spelling his name.
"G-e-o-f-f. The worst way to spell it."
"Hey." Geoff pouts. "You said you like my name."
"I do, because it's yours." Awsten says, which makes Geoff smile. "I just disagree with how it's spelt."
"A-w-s-" Geoff starts before he gets hit with a cushion.
"There, you're in my phone now." Lucas says, shutting it off and throwing it onto the armchair.
It occurs to Geoff then that his name is correct in Lucas' phone. His number is saved under the right name in several people's phone now. That feels nice. Another one of those weird little things that make him euphoric. He experiences a couple of those a week now, sometimes as many as one a day. Every one makes him regret leaving his old life less.
"Geoff." Awsten nudges him. "You're supposed to be body doubling me."
"Right, sorry." Geoff turns back to his tablet. "How many emails have you sent now?"
"Seventeen." Awsten looks proud of himself. "I haven't even cried once."
"Well done!" Geoff says, genuinely impressed. Writing emails is hard. "You're like a real adult."
"Ugh. Don't say that." Awsten grimaces. "Real adults have to do their own taxes."
Geoff frowns. "Who does your taxes now?"
"My dad. Who does your taxes?"
"I do. My dad doesn't like me." Geoff tucks his foot under the opposite leg. "Even before all of that, I did them myself."
"Hm." Awsten nods thoughtfully. "Would you be willing to do my taxes?"
"I don't like you that much."
"But you do like me."
Geoff smiles as he returns to his drawing. "Yes, Awsten, I like you. You're my favourite human guy."
Awsten's pretty smile lights up his face. "I win at life, forever."
"You two are disgusting." Lucas mutters from where he's lying on the floor.
"Don't be homophobic, Lucas." Awsten chides.
Lucas rolls his eyes. "My parents literally disowned me for being gay. Which is why I did my own taxes. Before I, y'know, died."
"The only certain things in life are death and taxes, and you, my friend, have beaten both." Awsten says approvingly.
"There are some advantages to being friends with you people, I suppose." Lucas sighs as he stares up at the ceiling. "S'pose I can never get another job, though. My social security number wouldn't work anymore."
"You used to be able to steal the identity of dead babies, but they have checks for that now." Geoff says as he shades the Shibu Inu's ears.
"Why do you know that?" Awsten asks, voice laced with something between concern and admiration.
"Dad's a lawyer."
"Right." Awsten nods, then adds under his breath as he returns to his emails, "Strange man."
Geoff doesn't mind being called strange as long as he gets called a man. It isn't an insult in this house, anyway. There's something wrong with all of them.