Chapter Text
The year really flew by, Mia thought.
It was already November. The leaves were crushed by the pedestrians by now, and the crowns of the trees were bitterly bare. The streets adopted a grayish-brown hue, and the citizens of Prague were just hoping for some snow to brighten the city up.
Mia loved the smell of snow in the air, even though Prague had barely seen any flakes lately. Nevertheless, the city was busy with preparations for Christmas. Almost every street in Prague was decorated with Christmas lights since October. Grand advertisements for the perfect Christmas gift for your father, mother, and perhaps even your cat, were at every other corner. Mia used to get annoyed with the Christmas hype the city annually brought on, but her irritation had been cured by how magical Prague looked in Winter.
Mia was sitting by the window in the kitchen and was drinking her hot chocolate as she watched the heavy rain pour down onto the dark streets below. Her thoughts were both everywhere and nowhere, flowing from one thing to another.
Mia took in a deep breath, her dark eyes now focusing on her reflection in the window glass, and let the air all out at once, suddenly, feeling a bit odd.
Lately, she did have these moments where she experienced a particular shiver as if it were signaling something to her but usually, she just paid no attention to it. Mia wasn't one to delve into esotericism and all that nonsense.
She tapped her fingers on the mug Lukas had bought her when they were shopping at IKEA. They didn't really know each other back then. His bright green eyes were the first thing she had noticed they—made him seem mischievous in a way, especially when he was irritating his friend, Matteo, on purpose. Matteo was basically the complete opposite of Lukas.
Mia had wondered how the two of them ended up as friends, actually. Matteo's personality and behavior did not match up with Lukas's at all. But perhaps that was what brought them together.
Opposites attract, Mia had thought back then, but still, sometimes the unusual pairing gave her a strange feeling.
It had been already about two years since they all moved together into an apartment in the older part of the city. Mia was extremely excited when her younger friend, Darcy, offered Mia to move in with her.
Darcy, a blonde quiet girl—well, not originally blonde, she dyed her hair religiously. Every third week of the month, as if a small dark strand would jeopardize her identity. Mia had noticed since the first time she met Darcy at the lectures at the University that Darcy paid a great attention to her appearance. Her hair was almost always styled uniquely, and if Darcy didn't have enough time, she would at least come with beautifully arranged waves. Mia envied that—envied her beauty, her long blonde hair, and her choice of clothing. When Darcy walked into a room, everyone turned their heads just to catch a glimpse of her. Mia, on the other hand, usually wore simple pants and colorful T-shirts, and that was about it. She didn't think of herself as much of a fashionista. When Mia hurried to lectures, hoping she wouldn't be late again, she was glad if she managed to put her hair in a ponytail or a messy bun. Many times, she arrived in her grey sweats.
Interestingly, though, despite their differences, they found each other's company pleasant. Mia was cheerful and boisterous which made Darcy smile—really smile—and even burst into loud laughter. Sometimes Mia thought that Darcy must have gone through something traumatic because despite the confident way she passed through school hallways, at times, when they were alone, the facade fell. Darcy seemed troubled. But Mia was always there to make her laugh again, to forget about whatever she carried on her shoulders. And after a few years of being classmates, Darcy suggested that Mia should move in with her and her cousin.
"He has this friend there and I sometimes feel lonely. They both work already and it's just kind of... you know," Darcy explained, rolling her eyes and giving Mia a wide grin.
"But I cannot really afford to pay rent, Darc. But I would love to move out from my parents, don't get me wrong," Mia replied, her mind, however, was already full of possible ideas of how she would furnish her new room.
"Oh, no! We own the place... I mean Matteo's mom does. We only split the utilities. And we have a spare room... and when we divide the costs among four people, a piece of cake, really"
"Yeah, a piece of cake," Mia laughed.
It didn't take much persuasion after that. Mia agreed.
The apartment was quite spacious with high ceilings and four separate bedrooms.
Living in one of the old apartments in Prague? In the city center? A dream.
Mia took over the smallest room in the apartment, but it was the only one with a balcony, so she did not mind at all. She had her own space decorated with family pictures and a dangerously high number of house plants. The other rooms were occupied by the rest of the roommates. Darcy's room was near the kitchen and had its personal bathroom. Matteo, Darcy's older cousin, had the biggest room that was near the living room. His friend and colleague from work had a room that was on the opposite side of the hallway to Mia's.
"You have hot chocolate?" Darcy's voice startled Mia and she looked over her shoulder to see her friend closing in.
"Yeah, I thought that the weather is just right for this kind of beverage."
"It really is, yeah," Darcy chuckled and approached the window where Mia was sitting, "it's really nasty outside, huh?" Darcy said.
Mia grinned.
Darcy and Mia spoke English together, and everyone in the apartment talked with each other in English. Darcy and her cousin Matteo were actually born in France but went to study in the Czech Republic for some reason and then decided to stay. Both of them did speak Czech but since Czech was such a difficult language, it was sometimes easier to communicate in English.
"I am kinda worried about them," Mia said suddenly in a serious voice, "if they are in some trouble again and in this kind of rain..."
"What do you mean they, Matteo never gets into trouble. He's mister perfect," Darcy laughed, almost leaving a sign of a scoff, though.
Mia could not disagree. It was true. Darcy's cousin did everything by the book. That's why he became a detective so fast. And additionally, it would seem that Matteo really had a knack for this job. He was rather extraordinary when it came to looking exactly in the right places and asking the correct questions, always finding the culprit in the end. It was a talent hard to find and the department Matteo worked at noticed his skills quickly.
If it weren't for Matteo, Lukas would definitely not get promoted to detective, at least not that quickly. When Matteo was promoted, he insisted on being on a team with Lukas.
What a good friend, Mia thought.
The boss did not really agree at first, but Matteo is known for finding exactly the words a person wants to hear.
Lukas, in comparison to Matteo, did not follow the rules and frequently got into quite a lot of trouble. Usually, he didn't wait for any instructions from the team leader and just went for it. Thankfully, he mostly did catch the person he wanted to catch in the end, but it did not come without consequences from the police department. He got suspended quite a few times for a month or so because he didn't follow protocol.
"Yeah, you are right. It is really nice of Matteo to stick up for Lukas at work. We all know that Lukas is a good guy, just a little hot-headed," Mia said, remembering Lukas' sneaky look whenever he was up to no good. She adored that.
Darcy sat down next to Mia and stared into the darkness outside for a bit.
"Right, sure he is," she agreed, her tone neutral.
Suddenly, the girls heard footsteps from the hallway. Darcy hastily stood up at the sight of her cousin in the door frame of the kitchen, raising her hand into the air and offering him a small smile.
"Hey," Matteo greeted shortly and offered them a nod which made his dark waves fall into his eyes.
"Where were you guys?" Mia asked with a worried voice.
"That's my fault!" Lukas, appearing next to Matteo, said loudly, almost as if proud while rubbing the back of his neck with his right hand.
Lukas's face was bruised and had a plaster on the chin which was slowly falling off as he was grinning widely at the girls.
"What happened again?" Mia sighed but quickly got up to check the injury in detail.
Mia walked over to Lukas and raised her hand to touch his bruised cheek but was stopped before she could even get close to his face.
"No, no touching," Lukas blocked her hand with his, "it hurts when you touch it."
Mia crossed her arms on her chest and looked up at Lukas with a pretend-angry expression.
"Why don't you ever learn from your mistakes?" she asked.
"I am sorry, mom, please let me pass through, I'll get some ice from the freezer," Lukas smiled but Mia didn't move.
Lukas waited a few seconds, stepping impatiently in one spot and staring down at Mia, who stubbornly glared back.
"All right, miss," Lukas finally said and grabbed Mia under her arms, picking her up and moving her to the side, so he could get to the freezer, since she ignored his wish.
"Hey! No fair!" Mia protested as she was put down on the floor again with ease. She was laughing, though.
It was fairly easy to pick Mia up. She was the shortest person in the apartment, measuring only 169 cm in contrast to Lukas who was about 190 cm tall. Therefore, it happened quite often that Lukas just moved her around by himself since he found it easier in some situations.
Meanwhile, Matteo disappeared from the kitchen and Darcy followed him, leaving Mia alone with Lukas in the room. Lukas grabbed a bag of frozen peas and sat down at the dining table with a loud thud, putting the bag on his swollen cheek.
"What did you do this time?" Mia asked, sitting down in front of him at the wooden table they got from Mia's parents as a gift.
"Oh, you know, the usual," Lukas brushed her off.
Mia rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair.
"Come on, it's not like you don't like a few scars," Lukas chuckled.
Yes, something did happen between them a few times and since then they settled on the term friends with benefits. Mia never gave it a deeper thought and didn't think they should talk about their special situation in detail. However, Mia had to admit that she liked spending time with Lukas, even though he was getting himself into trouble often and she kept being worried about him because he already had enough injuries to endure, and the scars were just adding up.
"Should we order take-out?" Matteo's voice reappeared in the door frame as he walked into the room.
He was now wearing his green sweatpants and black T-shirt as he didn't like to wear his outdoor clothes at home.
"That sounds great, what do we want?" Lukas turned to Matteo and smiled cheerfully just to quickly quench in pain. Lukas' hand shot to his chest as he grunted weakly.
"What? You hurt elsewhere?" Mia asked with concern.
"He has a few ribs bruised, too," Matteo commented as he was looking through his food-delivery app.
"Why would you do that when you are supposed to have dinner with your parents tomorrow?"
Mia sighed, knowing that Lukas' parents are quite strict with him.
"Don't worry. If I weren't bruised, they would find another reason why to scold me and question my life choices," Lukas laughed and rose to his feet, hurrying to Matteo and looking over his shoulder.
"Can we get a pizza? I am in a pizza mood," Lukas said.
Matteo gave Lukas a long look before he said: "Shouldn't you eat something healthy from time to time?"
"Why do you care what he eats? Let him have pizza," Darcy said as she walked into the kitchen, too.
"True. What pizza do you want?" Matteo asked neutrally.
"That really hurt my feelings, Darcy," Lukas said with a sad tone but kept staring at the screen of Matteo's phone with a smile, "I like that Matteo looks after me like that. I'll make sure to repay you that... when you will need it. Sadly, you never need my help."
"Sure," Matteo said shortly.