Chapter 1
after being rushed into the ambulance and beginning to drive, the panic finally began to subside within eddie’s chest. which was great considering he hadn’t used his inhaler in years, and fuck HIM if he decided to start now. On the other side of the vehicle, however, eddie’s friends and roomsmates, Mike and Ben were a different story. Eddie’s fall had been quite a shock to them and they held each other surprised as tears continued to stream down each of their faces. It was a little strange considering they knew he would be fine – it was only a broken bone after all – but the sudden change to their morning left them quite stunned. Eddies own anxiety came mainly from his late mother which is why he was so adamant to remain calm. She had invented fake illnesses and prescribed him medication he didn’t need in an attempt to control most of his life, but he was unwavering in the fact that she would not continue to throughout her death (heart attack… She was rather a large women). upon arriving at the hospital, the medics lead Eddie inside the building and through to the office where he gave his information and was taken into a private room. Mike and Ben were left to sit in the waiting area. They knew he would be fine, falling off the ladder wasn’t fatal, but they couldn’t help bounce their knees and bite their lips with worry. They loved Eddie and they hoped that his injuries would be minimal. Suddenly, Ben lifted his head of his hands and turned to Mike.
“Eddie fell off the ladder clipping his roses right?”
Ben asked, evidently thinking of something. Mike turned to him, intrigued to see where he was going with this point.
“Yeah, he’s lucky that the clippers didn’t hurt him any more than the fall did.”
Ben sat quietly a small smile spreading across his face. After a minute or two of Mike trying himself to figure out what Ben’s point was, he gave in and flicked him on the shoulder.
“You have to tell me you know. I’m not just going to figure out myself”
Ben laughed at mikes confusion, and turned to face him.
“well, Eddie is very clearly not going to be able to continue gardening with only one arm.”
confused, Mike blinked slowly.
“Yes…”
“Meaning…” Ben continued, “ because neither of us can garden either, at least not without killing anything, he’ll have to hire a gardener”
at this point Ben was grinning from ear to ear, and Mike had still had no closure at all.
“Ben, this still is not making any sense-”
Mike was unable to finish his sentence because Ben could not hide his excitement any longer.
“guess who we know who is a Gardner?”
suddenly the puzzle pieces came together in mikes mind.
in unison both boys excitedly, but quietly out of respect, whisper-screamed “Richie!”
richie was the boys’ neighbour. he lived with his friends stan and bill, and they often held loud parties (their neighbours would remain without the knowledge that the party consisted of only 5 people, 6 at most) and had music blasting into all hours of the night. eddie and his early morning office job did NOT approve, but that didn’t stop him from being mildly attracted to him. well, mildly may be a slight understatement. not that he’d ever admit that ..l
“Hopefully, with 2 months to be basically living together, we can finally get them to admit their feelings!” mike squeeled.
both boys had gotten some funny looks from families and elderly people in the waiting room so decided that, since Eddie clearly wouldn’t be out any time soon, they would go wait in the car. They sent him a quick message to let him know, without realising he had left his phone at home in the panic of the moment. as they were in the car, the engine running and the radio playing lowly, they devised their master plan. they decided that they would call richie and tell him everything that had happened, and then convince him – with obviously a little extra pay – that he would swap rooms with Ben and live with Eddie and Mike for the two months that eddie would be unstable.
after half an hour of planning and plotting, and letting their neighbours know the plan as well, they decided it was finally time to tell Richie. After all, without his cooperation this would never work.
“ready?”
“absolutely!”
mike pulled out his phone and dialled richie’s number.
“hello?” richie’s voice rang out, a little confused considering he had personally called mike one time to ask him who the ‘very sexy small guy’ was in his bed when eddie had come home drunk one night and accidentally walked into the wrong house.
“hi rich, we have a quick favour to ask”
