billie joe armstrong is like…the definition of chaotic good. a prime example of this is the fact that one time at a green day concert this guy in the pit was harassing a young girl so billie stopped the show to help her. however, his way of doing so was to jump into the audience, dropkick the guy directly in the face, and then fight him in a crowd of screaming fans
This is missing the best part - when he saw the guy, he tried to be like “Dude, stop” and when the man didn’t stop pushing the girl around he screamed “Fine! You wanna fight? I’ll fucking fight you, then!” and leapt directly into the crowd
Link waited a couple of hours before going back down to the laundry room. He wanted to give the other guy plenty of time to retrieve his own laundry.
Link wasn’t even fully surprised when he found that he seemed to have been the last one down there. Clearly, this dude was not on top of things..
Link rolled his eyes. He moved the chapstick and note that he’d found in the guy’s pocket, and set them on top of the front-loading washer. He then began to pull the stranger’s laundry out of the dryer and set it on the small table. Link moved his own damp, clean laundry into the dryer and got that going. He then turned his attention to folding his neighbor’s clothes.
He found himself torn between feeling like he was intruding by continuing to handle his things, and feeling inconsiderate by just leaving them there in a heap to get all wrinkled. Plus, he found the repetitive motions and the soft clean scent kind of.. therapeutic. He put on his headphones, and carefully folded the laundry.
The underwear, again, gave him pause. Was it super weird to fold underwear? Was it disrespectful not to?
He heard a sound over the music in his headphones and nearly jumped out of his skin.
He slid the headphones off from over his ears to leave them hanging around his neck and spun around to find the source of the disturbance. His already racing heart began to do.. funny things.. as he found himself face to face with the tallest dude he’d ever seen in real life. Link turned beet red when he remembered that he was fondling the guy’s underwear.
“I said, what are you doin’ touchin’ my stuff??”
Link quickly matched the outrage.
“Well, what are you doin’ leavin’ your clothes in the dang washer for half the day? You should be thankin’ me! I’m not your mother. You should call her, by the way.” Link gestured over to where he’d set the chapstick, and handwritten note.
“Hey, thanks..”
“I didn’t salvage the Slim Jim. I doubt a trip through the washer would have improved it much.”
The guy shrugged. “I got more.”
Link realized he was still holding the underwear, and quickly tossed it on top of the pile of laundry.
“So, yeah..” the tall stranger said casually. “Just finish up there and then drop it off at the second floor apartment?”
Link’s jaw fell. He was about to lose his mind in rage at the nerve of this guy when the dude abruptly.. burst into laughter.
It was a deep, booming laughter that came from the chest, and stirred Link’s insides. The guy’s cheeks reddened and his eyes crinkled shut as he laughed.
“I’m kidding, man! I’m sorry I left my laundry down here. I didn’t know anyone had moved in yet. My roommates haven’t moved back yet, and I didn’t know there was anyone in the upstairs apartment. You must be really quiet. But anyway, thanks for, uh.. doing my laundry.”
“I, uh.. It was no problem. I wasn’t doing anything else anyway. Was a good way to keep busy, I guess.”
“My name’s Rhett, by the way.” Rhett extended a hand.
“I’m Link.” Link was so preoccupied with the way that Rhett’s large hand enveloped his, he felt lucky to have remembered his own name.
“Link. Come have a beer with me or something. I’ll buy us some takeout or whatever.. to thank you for doing my laundry.”
Link was acutely aware that he could be reading into things, but it seemed like.. he was being invited into Rhett’s apartment. Alone.
Maybe he was just being neighborly.
Well, it wouldn’t be very neighborly to deny him the opportunity to express his gratitude.
“You don’t really owe me anything.. But, like I said, I don’t have much going on today.”
“Great!”
Link cringed as Rhett swept the carefully folded laundry into a large pillow case, and hoisted it over a shoulder. But it wasn’t really about the laundry anymore..
Link followed Rhett up the stairs.
———
Rhett’s apartment was pretty much as Link would have guessed, just based on the laundry: a stereotypical college guy’s apartment. There were some posters stapled to the walls. A sheet hung over a rod over the window in the living room, to serve as a curtain. There seemed to be maybe three bedrooms down the hall. But Link quickly turned his attention back to the kitchen and living room, feeling too self conscious to allow his eyes to linger long toward the bedrooms.
“So are you 21?” Link asked, to try to make some kind of normal conversation.
“Ha. No. Not for a couple more months anyway.”
“People just figure because of your height..?”
“I have considered that, but I’m actually too chickenshit to see what would happen if I tried to buy beer myself.. My brother bought me this six pack.”
“Oh, that’s nice.”
“Yeah, he won’t buy for me very often, but. Y’know.. sometimes.”
Link wondered if Rhett felt the need to say that to make sure Link wouldn’t try to take advantage, by asking the brother to buy him beer sometimes. Link was definitely interested in taking advantage. But not over beer.
They sat down side by side on Rhett’s futon in the living room.
“Cheers?” Rhett held up his bottle.
“Cheers.”
“To your kindness over the laundry, and saving my chapstick from melting away in the dryer!”
They clinked the necks of their bottles together. And they made a satisfying dink sound.
“Dink..” Link echoed aloud.
Rhett smiled, with a combination of amusement and affection that made Link’s cheeks go pink. Link tried to stay calm, and just relax into the futon, and allow the subtle dizzying buzz from the beer slow his racing thoughts.
Link felt Rhett’s knee knock into his. With legs as long as his, Link reckoned that must happen a lot. Probably didn’t mean much.
Nonetheless, Link didn’t move away from the contact.
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