Another sleepless night. While other noises, like the constant whirling of machines at use, sparks of welding and soldering, contributed to the noise, this time it was the TV that was unbearable. To make things worse, speakers were set up throughout the living areas of the apartment, ironic for a deaf person. Justin had been trying to be respectful for the free room and board, but even he had his limits. Throwing off the covers, Justin sat up in frustration, but quickly composed himself. Nikhil was a nice dude and he probably didn’t even know due to his disability. With a quick sigh, Justin put on the silver band from his nightstand, stood up, and walked out of the room to confront his new roommmate.
Nikhil was in the living room, rewiring the fingers of a cybernetic arm retrieved from a dumpster dive earlier in the day. The news was replaying the events from the past weekend with captions so he could read. Before Justin could open his mouth, Nikhil quickly pressed the button on the silver band. “sorry,” the word appeared above him as he typed. “not used to a roommate. was i being too noisy?”
Justin typed on the silver band as a response, careful to be respectful with his words.
“Sort of. It’s not your work that’s the issue though. The TV volume could be lowered, since there’s speakers all over the house.”
Justin was still getting used to such old technology.
oh, so the volume was on. he wondered if nikolai had left it like that all those years ago, and neither him nor his mom had ever bothered to change it. nikhil grabbed the remote from underneath the table and pressed the mute button, effectively fixing the problem ( at least, he hoped so ) .
“i’ve had the tv on for almost two hours,” nikhil typed. “were you just … laying there awake for that entire time?” nikhil made a face, torn between bewilderment, guilt, and amusement. he wouldn’t have known had justin not said anything; but, then again, perhaps nikhil should’ve been more accommodating and considerate. the words shifted above his head: “just let me know next time. i would’ve turned it down a lot sooner.”
Even in his sleepless state, Justin felt a small sense of guilt of having someone whose essentially his provider accommodate to him.
“Oh, It’s not a b-”, Justin started saying before realizing.
“Oh, It’s not a big deal,” Justin hurriedly typed as he fumbled with the machine. “I’m kind of used to noise anyways. But thank you, I appreciate it”. He nodded with an apologetic smile.
Justin stopped turning halfway into his room and looked at the device on his arm. He had been scouring his brain for the last few days, thinking of ways to repay Nikhil for his kindness. Justin didn’t like the thought of debt, even intangible ones. Perhaps it was time for an upgrade.
Justin turned back to Nikhil and made sure he got his attention through hand gestures before typing.
“Listen-” Justin started typing, before deleting the word and starting over. “Hey, I just wanted to say”, Justin started before back tracking a bit. “I just wanted to express my thanks for taking me in, especially when you don’t really benefit from it. I’ve been looking for a way to repay you and I think I know how.”