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     Welcome to a day of Noah Vinson.

     He woke up to the bright, warm rays of sun discreetly heating up his skin- not. Albinism. His windows looked like something out of a zombie apocalypse movie, what with the exterior window shades. Through tiny little holes that edged them, light sneaked in like slits of laser.

     They cast dots on Noah's mat white back as he spread sunscreen on his body, naked save for a pair of black boxers. He closed his eyes once he got to the face, rubbing his cheeks into funny, sleepy faces. It took more than a shower to wake him up.

     Hence, once he was all dressed and proper, he grabbed the impostor rat and went to the kitchen to make coffee. Whereas his ex-rat would sit on his shoulder just fine, this one kept clawing its way around, nibbling his ear and becoming one with his hair at times.

     Noah lightened up a cigarette and pressed the button on his stereo, playing his favorite album of all times. John Fruscinante- Niandra LaDes and Usually Just A T Shirt. The result of plenty heroin shot into a man that's plenty special.

      After the breakfast, which yes, consisted of cigarette and coffee, he placed the rat in its cage (which was his entire pantry, with the shelves connected by planks to create a tower which the little impostor enjoyed as much as the ex-rat).

     With that, he chose his umbrella for the day, the tiny collection placed in a tall vase by the door, and went on his merry way- not. Albinism. As soon as he stepped out of the building, heads turned his way, whether it was because of his condition or because he was carrying an umbrella on a perfectly clear day.

     However, this particular day was unlike others. Something changed in his routine.

     Once he passed the gate that edged the tiny garden of his apartment complex, he stopped by the homeless dude sitting there every Monday and Thursday. Noah's umbrella invited the poor guy under the same shadow as the albino.

     He appeared to be youngish, though his beard was deceiving. He had wide, dark brown eyes that matched the rest of him: his hair, his clothes, and the smudges on his skin and wear.

     "Hi, Bob." he sighed. "How... are you today?"

     Because Noah was considering becoming a better person after the 'talk' with Morris, and the only one he'd let witness that would have to be a hobo. Seemingly mute and probably foreign, was what Noah had gathered from his brother. (guess who the brother is and win dedication)

     The guy looked up with those clueless, clear... free eyes of his, barely peeking from underneath the large, grey beanie. He just stared intensely, the way Noah had always noticed him stare at any passing person, Noah himself included.

     Noah rummaged through his pocket and fished out some change, then extended his hand.

     Bob blinked slowly, pulled his large jacket tighter around his body and shook his head.

     A crease brought Noah's eyebrows together in confusion, but he didn't ponder on it long before resuming his walk.

     Twenty steps away, and the heads turning his way became too much, as every single day. In order to keep himself from snapping, he searched his pocket for a cigarette.

     ...the pack was gone.

     He stopped, glared emptily frontwards, and turned around.

     Bob was gone, too.

     Noah shook his head.

     Humanitarian crap.

 

     Turns out, Noah wasn't the only one planning to change his ways.

     Morris Kentson... rather, what had once been Morris Kentson entered the waiting room. Even the secretary's decorations seemed affected by his change, they were now mere... background objects, as he, for once, didn't take the time to glare at each one in turn.

     "Morning, Rae."

     Rae's eyes froze on the screen. "Wh-what'd you call me?" she snapped up her head and her eyes only widened more. "What are you!"

     Morris arranged his... simple, grey tie that went... boringly with the... plain blue suit and grey shirt. Sure, he looked as sharp and handsome as ever, just- wrongly so!

     "Where are your stupid suspenders and obnoxious cuffs?" Rae whispered. "Is- is your hair slicked back?"

     Morris pressed a palm to the side of his head and sighed.

     "Yes, the traumatizing humiliation I've suffered back on Friday has radically altered my persona and everything I stand for."

     He rolled his eyes at the end and tapped his thigh as though he was in a hurry.

     "Right." Rae murmured, taking off her fake glasses since she was feeling almost inferior to the man before her. "Um... About that, I'm sorry... I shared the video as well."

     Glossless eyes snapped to her. No longer hid by his fringe, they caught, respectively gave all attention in an overwhelming manner.

     "I really am sorry-" she almost went to voice his name, but... it just struck her that this was her boss. Morris had been her boss all along, but... to her he'd been just Morris, her friend. Now...

     He stepped up to her desk and placed his briefcase on it with a thud. Rae watched anxiously as he opened it, only for the man to take out a box of chocolate and slide it her way.

     With two clicks, he closed the briefcase and walked to the door of his office.

     "Wait, uh..." Rae looked up from the chocolate, at which she'd been staring in guilt. "Today's-"

     "Clean Your Office day, yes, I remembered."

     And with that he stepped into his office, leaving Rae to gawk at the closing door.

     He... remembered?

 

     It was as though the darkness in Noah's room refused to disperse, despite the largely open window that let in his worst enemy's weapon, light.

     There was just something about it that refused to be bright. Most certainly it was the walls stained by his countless past smokes and the dust that had darkened the faint-blue carpet.

     Nothing he could do about those, but he sure did his best on Clean Your Office day, as did anyone from IT. The reason is, they either didn't have the time or mood to clean stuff up, and so an assigned day was like your mother nagging at you to do it until you gave in.

     His desk was clean and shiny and he could now actually close his drawers! With that out of the way, it was time for the real deal, IT-wise.

     Noah was knelt by all of his devices: routers, switches, modems, plugs, extension cords and- oh no. Do not forget cables.

     All IT people in the world dreamed the day in which all would go wireless.

     Noah's white fingers went from one cable to the other as though they were in a jungle switching lianas. He tried to make sense of them rather than unplug them all and start over, because he was someone known as 'the one upstairs' in the IT building, even by the ones that were on floors higher than him, and so he had his hands on many soft spots of the company.

     ...

     ......

     .........

     With a tsk, he unplugged a cable and left the entire building with no internet.

———

     "Find anything interesting?" Noah asked tentatively. After a Clean Day, they'd always find weird, fun, useless or awesome stuff in their desk.

     Chester looked up. They were in the rec room of IT, kitchen section, where a handful of guys were scrubbing the place. Chester was just there for the cheap excuse of a coffee they had.

     "Bug off." he croaked out.

     Understandable, for now that he turned his head, Noah could see the bruise he'd left on his right cheek. It had time to darken over the weekend, the way Noah's lip bruise developed into something similar to a piercing.

     "Hey what's your problem?"

     Chester scratched his stubble. "We'll end up fighting anyway so I thought I might as well get it done with now."

     "Huh?"

     "I was the one who played the melody."

     Noah had guessed it was someone from his branch, everyone there was a jerk. Chester even more so, what with his insomnia that caused random outbursts of sociopathy.

     Still...

     "You fucking prick!" Noah exclaimed, then reached into Chester's pocket and took his pack of cigarettes before heading for the exit.

     Chester grinned faintly and followed.

———-

     "I was bored."

     "So you just up and screw me up!"

     "I screwed him up."

     "He's HR, Chester! You made me be in bad terms with HR!"

     "As if that's your main problem." the man laughed creakily, looking around them at the abandoned parking lot, IT smoke spot. "You're thirsty as fuck, dude."

     Noah sucked in some smoke and let it out his nostrils, flared in fury. "Me and him were friends..."

     "Is that so? You didn't give two shits that Shawn posted the video on Reddit because you were planning on broadcasting it eventually anyway. Quite the friend you are."

     Noah observed his friend's wobbly torso and loose neck. It looked as though he was having a hard time supporting his head. His dark circles were nearly black.

     "True." Noah murmured. "It's just how I am, a shit person. But he..."

     He glanced into distance, recalling Morris's words.

     "He grew on me." Noah smoked some more. "He's cool."

     Chester raised his head, and despite the fact his hair no longer covered his eyes, they didn't glisten one bit.

     "Since when? Since you kissed?"

     Noah tsked. "Why are you being such a dick?"

     "Oh if I really were a dick, we wouldn't be fighting now." he smirked, cigarette hanging between his teeth.

     "Really, picking on my sexuality. Let me guess, are you also quarterback in your team of American Football, you jock?"

     That'd be just funny, looking at the lanky guy barely standing on his feet.

     A hand approached Noah like some sort of jumpscare and gripped his jaw, nearly raising him off his feet. In a matter of seconds, Noah found himself with his back pressed to the wall, his hand digging into the cracks of bricks in nervousness. The other was keeping hold of his cigarette, he still hadn't bought his own pack.

     Noah felt all the tentative 'good guy' he's been trying throughout the day drain from his body. With that weight off his shoulders, his back straightened and his head raised. He was still far from meeting the height of Chester, even with his back hunched.

     Noah knew. All of this lazy hatred aimed at him...

     "Have you slept at all this weekend?"

     Chester's teeth, not perfectly straight but far from flawed, flashed one by one with the expansion of his grin. Chester more like Cheshire...

     The man cocked his head forwards, brushing Noah's cheekbone with his own. It pressed into Noah's until it hurt, he was that bony.

     "You know me so well don't you."

     His breath tickled Noah's shoulder, exposed because of the loose, thin material of his burgundy pullover.

     "Chester, let's go nap."

     His eyes barely managed to peek above the man's shoulder to glance at the cloudy sky, mostly covered by the leafs of enormous trees.

     "That would be great." Chester said, his voice a rusty whisper.

     Noah's eyes widened despite the natural light that made his eyes sore and irises red. His friend was now pressing their temples together, teeth dangerously close to Noah's ear.

     "Chester-"

     "Is everything all right?"

     Noah didn't move an inch. He was now seeing the profile of Chester's face as he snapped his head to the right. Locks of dark brown hair rounded his sharp features and bumpy nose, ending underneath his defined Adam's Apple.

     "Certainly." he snapped.

     Noah glanced aside from the corner of his eyes to see Morris keep the lid of the dumpster open, a black bag in hand. He threw away the trash, let the lid fall close and approached them while clapping the dust off his palms.

     The fingers on Noah's jaw twitched as though Chester was tapping a rhythm. When Morris reached them, Chester only got closer to Noah, pretty much covering him whole, his face entirely hidden by Chester's hair.

     "What's going on?"

     Chester licked his teeth. "We're just messing around."

     "Can I hear what Vin has to say?"

     Noah's eyes widened. He was still calling him Vin.

     Chester leaned his torso backwards, exposing a ruffled Noah, his jaw still captive. He stared at Chester's chest distantly.

     "I don't wish to file a report."

     Chester snorted.

     "I could do it for him unless you leave."

     The man didn't hesitate before letting go of Noah and stepping away. However, he did stop to scoff before entering the building.

     Noah finally planted his heels on the ground and took three long drags of his cigarette before squashing it into the brick wall.

     "Do you have a cigarette?" he said, eying his suit up and down. He frowned at the hair, more so at the inability to run his hands through it.

     Morris took out a pack, and Noah halted. He didn't know why he'd asked him, for all he'd known Morris wasn't a smoker.

     He glanced at the pack, then at Morris, then at the pack. It was held out to him by a steady, still hand, unlike the one he'd followed on the surveillance footage: moving smoothly, hypnotizing all life that surrounded him.

     Noah took hold of the pack with one hand, then held the hand itself with his other and looked at Morris.

     "I'm a better person, Kent."

     The man offered him a look of pure, genuine lucidity. It was as though all of his attention was on him, no longer half wondering to cartoons and half being perplexed by his albinism. Noah felt... common under this gaze.

     "You changed over the weekend, just like that?"

     "You are in no position to say that, look at you!" Noah took grip of his tie, far too plain and wide. "What is this? What is this?" he took the pack of cigarettes from him. "Are you trying to play daddy or something?"

     "Acting my age, is all." Morris squinted his eyes. "That." he nodded to the pack. "I smoke when stressed, and you're pushing me over the fucking edge."

     Noah gaped, shaking the pack mutedly. "What do you want from me! Why'd you do that just now?" he pointed at the door of the building. "Why- why'd you kiss me? Do you like me or not? Why are you being such a drama queen?"

     "Like you?"

     There went good old Morris. His eyes grew wide and his cheeks took a hint of pink to them.

     "Please! Pff! Like you?"

     Noah lost it. Started by coughing into his hand, but then he was doubling over, clenching his loose hoodie.

     Morris's jaw only got sharper as he clenched his teeth, and it was all it took for Noah to lose his voice.

     The man took his pack and retrieved two cigarettes, one of which he placed between his lips, holding out the other one.

      "Thanks." Noah said.

     Morris cocked his head low and sideways, shoulders hunched as he lightened up his cigarette, hand cupping the lighter. He was about to go for Noah's, but the guy gripped both sides of his jaw.

     Morris glanced at him confused. "Just because you didn't report me for sexual harassment doesn't mean I won't." he murmured, cigarette bouncing with each syllable.

     "I'm just lighting mine up." Noah scoffed.

     "I could've just-" Morris shut up so that their cigs could touch tips.

     Noah took a few puffs, but remained up close, rubbing Morris's jaw and keeping the other man's eyes in what felt like a trance. It reminded Morris of Kaa from Jungle Book.

     Not that he had his mind on cartoons. He was a grown adult and all. He even had the slicked back hair to prove it.

     "Done?" he asked, looking down at Noah.

     He shook his head slowly, eyes, now transparent since they were shadowed by their foreheads, refusing to blink. Morris gulped dryly and reached up to take hold of Noah's wrists.

     The door of the building opened and Morris halted away while Noah turned to glare at the intruder. A woman which he'd seen around Morris on more than one occasion.

     Noah turned back around, only to see a trail of smoke lead to the corner of the building. Morris had quite literally disappeared.

     The woman sighed, stepping closer to Noah and glancing at where the man had left. She was holding a box.

     "Rae. Nice to meet you." she murmured, glancing at him. Well, more so at his albinism.

     "Right." he murmured distantly, growing more angry in pace with the dispersion of Morris's smoke. Eventually, his jaw impulsively clenched, causing him to bite into the cigarette.

     He coughed it out and spat the ground.

     "Charming." Rae commented. "Look what you've done."

     She opened the box to show a crumpled, dirty, sad little top hat. Noah rubbed half of his face and placed a hand on hip before going inside the building with long strides.

     The moment he stepped in he jumped on spot, scared by Chester, who was leaning on the wall nonchalantly.

     "The fuck, dude. Were you-"

     "Nap time." he deadpanned, before proceeding to tap Noah's nose with a finger.

     Noah rubbed it while watching the man lead the way.

     With a last glance outside, at the box Rae was holding, he left.

So who do you think Noah's brother is? (character from some other story) :o Dedication, guis.

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