The car ride back to Finn’s place is quiet, but in a comforting way; being wrapped in a blanket of silence, soft and warm.

Arriving at the house, Nik watches as Finn opens his door and steps out of the car. He sits there a moment, looking down at his hands and wiping away the last of his tears before the door beside him opens. Nik looks over and sees Finn standing on the driveway, the open car door still in his hand.

“C’mon, let’s get you moved in and then we can eat dinner,” he says gently, a smile tugging on the edges of his lips.

Nik nods before he steps out of the car. Finn shuts the door behind him and starts making his way towards the house, looking back once to make sure Nik is following him. Nik moves to catch up to Finn, walking beside him up the stairs that already hold so many memories.

He isn’t sure exactly why he’s going along with Finn’s plans so reluctantly, or even going through with them at all. Moving in with someone who you’d only met a few days ago was crazy- right?

But to Nik, this sounded like an opportunity of a lifetime. He gets offered the job of his dreams and a house right along with it, as well as a friend in one of the nicest people Nik had ever met in this country. He’d actually made a friend, and for that, he would always be eternally grateful to Finn.

When the pair step into the house, Nik is brought out of his head as he stares at the mess that only takes up a small section of the living room. He idly thinks that the living room looks much like his brain feels- messy and convoluted, but somehow still marginally organized.

Nik looks over at Finn who has a frown on his face, his eyes intent on the boxes in front of him. He scratches his head and moves towards them, glancing at the labels that are written hastily on the front of all of them. Clothes, memorabilia, old school stuff, a few appliances- Nik internally notes that his entire life is laid out in front of him, and what he sees feels infinitesimal.

Nik pictures his childhood home and feels the pressure build behind his eyes again. It’s not that he wants to go home, per se, but- things were easier there. His mom and sister were always keeping him busy, along with school and the various chores he would perform for his neighbors in his area. He’d gone from being slightly buff from working outside all day to lanky from huddling indoors cramming for exams.

“Well the clothes can go in my extra closet,” Finn mumbles to himself, pulling Nik out of his head. “Good thing there’s an extra in my room.”

“You have two closets in your room?” Nik asks incredulously, his eyes nearly bulging out of his head. He hadn’t noticed that when he’d awoken in Finn’s bed the first time.

“Yeah, but I manage to fit all of my clothes in one closet, so I have an extra. It works out perfectly.”

Finn smiles and picks up two of the boxes, expertly balancing one under each arm as he begins to make his way towards his bedroom. Nik scrambles to follow him, only being able to carry one box in his arms as he already feels like it’s too much.

The task doesn’t take long- moving a small number of boxes full of Nik’s clothes into the bedroom. Finn walks over to one of the various doors that are scattered around the room, opening to reveal a decently-sized walk-in closet. Nik gapes at the space as he makes his way over to Finn slowly, drinking in the fact that he gets to hang his clothes up in a closet instead of stuffing them all inside a cramped dresser.

No more wrinkled dress shirts!

Nik barely notices the smile that creeps onto his own face until he glances at Finn, a smug expression coating his features and putting a feeling of mock annoyance under Nik’s ribs.

“What?”

“Nothing, you’re just cute when you smile.”

Nik only groans at the empty compliment and shoves Finn’s shoulder lightly, turning his head back towards the main part of the room as he feels a warmth creep up his neck. He knows Finn doesn’t mean it in any romantic sense, so why is he blushing so hard?

Nik makes his way back towards the small pile of boxes and opens one up before lifting it up and placing it nearer to the closet. He begins to carefully unfold each piece of clothing and put it on a hanger before hanging it up in the closet. It’s a tedious task, but one Nik enjoys immensely as he gets to organize his belongings for the first time in forever.

He barely notices when Finn leaves the room, too intent on sorting what little he has into different sections of the closet. Work clothes, warmer clothes, cooler clothes, shoes, belts, socks- all of it feels all the more special in a space like this, and after he’s finished, Nik stares for far too long at his handiwork.

Finally noticing the other man gone, Nik leaves the closet and the bedroom and makes his way back towards the living room, hunting for where Finn had gone. It didn’t take him long as he entered the large kitchen and saw an array of food scattering the table. It looked to come from multiple restaurants, and Nik slowly walks towards Finn who’s standing on the other side of the island.

“I didn’t know what you like, so I ordered a lot,” Finn says, beaming. Nik only laughs lightly before looking at the various dishes; Chinese, Indian, local, and even seafood sat in front of him as he could only stare.

“This is… so much,” Nik breathes, swallowing hard. He’d never been able to afford this much food even in a week his entire time in America. Nik chastises himself for bringing up old memories that are only going to make him feel worse and opts instead to just grab one of the dishes on the counter.

It looks to be just normal lo mein, but way nicer than anything he’d ever had before. Finn grabs a plate out of one of his cabinets and begins scooping out of various dishes, piling on way more than Nik had ever seen someone eat- and he’d just graduated from university.

“How did you manage to get all this food here so quickly?” Nik asks idly, concentrating on twirling as many of the noodles on to one forkful as he could.

“You were in there for a surprisingly long time,” Finn says as he stuffed a particularly large piece of orange chicken into his mouth. Nik should be grossed out by Finn talking with his mouth full, but it only makes him laugh as Finn struggles to keep the food in his mouth before he smiles, wide and child-like.

Nik’s heart is full of appreciation as he finishes off his meal, having been unaware of how hungry he had been.

They spend the rest of the evening chatting, talking about nothing. Finn begins to ramble about his childhood lessons on the guitar and Nik listens intently, the softness of Finn’s features drawing him in and making him want to pay attention to whatever Finn had to say, even if it wasn’t really about anything.

Nik smiles- he finally has a friend.