Neighbors Chapter 2 (The Morning After)

Neighbors Chapter 2 (The Morning After)

Neighbors is a "what-if" scenario in Roommates. Starting from the end of chapter 19, Mike leaves the apartments behind in shame and meets three entirely different households, each with their own quirky characters for Mike to meet and befriend.

Roommates is a slice-of-life story by tgweaver (http://tgweaver.tumblr.com/ Warning: NSFW content!) and Pokemaniacal (https://roommatesau.tumblr.com/ )

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The strong rays of the sun through the window are what wake you up.

Despite having slept only three hours, two days have been enough to make you appreciate sleeping on something that’s not a cold concrete floor.

After your brain is back into proper functioning order, the first thing to notice is how quiet this house is, the only sound you can hear is of a passing car every few minutes and the occasional neighbor going about their business, even though it seems to be close to midday, everyone in the house seems to be sound asleep.

Waking up here, you can see already it’s a stark contrast to Bonworth’s home. The biggest difference you can see is that the house actually has some personality. The pastel blue carpet floor is a little plain, but it’s a far cry from the gray and white of Bonworth’s apartment. The walls are a dull gray, but there are many pictures and objects decorating it to keep it from being bland.

Now that there’s sunlight, you take a look around the living room. The entertainment system isn’t lacking, as a flat screen TV sits atop a large black-and-gray TV stand, outfitted with a DVD player and another machine of some kind.. There’s also a tiny coffee table in front of it, and a small recliner to the right.

After plenty of stretching you get up from the couch and head to the kitchen counter. After sitting there for a while, still groggy and in a zombie-like state, you turn your attention to a vase with some drawings on it. You reach in to turn it around to take a closer look an- whoops. You just dropped it. Hesitantly, you lean over to the other side to check on it, and to your relief the carpet has saved it from certain death. You pick the vase up, dust it off and put it back in its place. That was close.

An uncomfortable rumbling from your stomach makes you get up and walk to the kitchen. Before you get something to eat, a thought comes to mind, and much to the protest of your growling stomach, you decide to not take anything from the fridge just yet. Fatima may live here, but you doubt she has the final say in things and you wouldn’t want to risk angering the guy who does.

As you turn back to the couch, somebody's battle cry catches your attention. “YOU PICKED THE WRONG HOUSE ASSHOLE!”

Wha- OH SHIT A BAT. As you throw your entire body on the floor, you can hear the shattering of the vase, taking the bullet for you.

As you lay on the ground over the scattered pieces, a bright pink bunny with piercings holding the bat stands over you, wearing a black metal band shirt and some grey boxers.

Just as she readies for another swing words finally escape your mouth.

“Wait! No I’m not an intruder I’m j-!”

“I don’t care who you are! You’re getting out of my house!”

Right as she lifts the bat over her head to pummel your face in, you reflectively shut your eyes.

You’re still alive.

“Yogi, what the hell are you doing?!” You open your eyes to see another, much taller figure standing next to your assailant, holding the bat in his hand.

“This isn’t any way to treat a guest, Beau.” As you turn to face “Yogi,” your first impression is that he is wearing a costume, but on closer inspection something dawns on you. That’s not latex or anything.

That’s his bare skin.

He extends a hand to you. “Here, let me be the first to greet you properly. My name is Yogi, as you might have guessed, this little hothead here is Beaureg-”

The bunny interrupts “Beau. Just... Beau.”

He glares at her. “...Beau. Beau, meet Mike. Mike, meet Beau.”

“N-Nice to meet you, Beau.”

“Hmph.” She crosses her arms and turns her head away from you in indignation.

“Please go seat on the couch, dear.” Yogi pats her on the back, and Beau begins moving.

Once you and Yogi are left alone he sighs, and begins to speak again. “Please, do forgive her for that. She’s… impulsive.” He hesitates before continuing “I’m guessing you’re Fatima’s new… uh…”

“Oh! No no no, I just uh, she brought me because-” The bear cuts you off. “That’s fine, just wanted to make sure.” He chuckles. “We can talk about your situation over breakfast, don’t worry... and speaking of breakfast, would you like pancakes o-”

Yogi is cut off by a crash coming from the hallway behind him. “Mike! MIKE!” A clumsy white fox emerges from behind the wall…

brandishing another bat.

After nearly hitting Yogi twice, Fatima trips and falls at your feet. She tugs at your leg, concern and anger in her eyes.

“Mike.”

“Good morning to you too, Fatima.” Yogi chimes, before being interrupted again.

“Did she hurt you.”

“Hurt me? She almost-” Yogi taps your shoulder and shakes his head, warning you. However, it’s too late. Fatima flares up, clambering to her feet. Her sights are set on Beau, but Yogi grabs her by the shoulder, giving you the time to block her.

“We’re all fine here, no need to get violent Fatima!” you stutter. Fatima’s eyes dart from you to Yogi, then back to you. Finally, she hangs her head and hands the bat to Yogi. He waits for a moment, anticipating interruption again. When nobody speaks, he goes back to his question.

“...alright, now as I was saying. Mike, would you like pancakes or waffles?” he asked.

“Anything is fine with me. I’m not picky.” you wheeze, before being interrupted by a quiet, raspy voice.

“I’ll take you up on the pancakes.” A short white fox emerges from the far end of the room, asking Yogi for breakfast. She is easily the weirdest of your new roommates, if her appearance is anything to judge by. Not only does she wear hideous orange and purple makeup, but she wears a dark cloak over her clothes as well as a witch hat.

...Has Halloween come early?

“Oh, good morning Lucie. You said pancakes?” Yogi greets.

The costumed fox nods and sits at the couch, soon followed by Beau. With nothing else to do in the kitchen, you follow her and sit with the two girls.

As Yogi pours pancake mix into a bowl, he attempts to make small talk. “So where did you come from before Fatima brought you here?”

You open your mouth to speak, but Fatima interrupts. “He told me he was homeless last night! That’s why I brought him!”

“Homeless?” Yogi responds, a hint of concern and anger in his voice. You nod before remembering that he’s focused on making breakfast.

“Yeah, I used to live in an apartment across town but…”

“But something happened with your roommates?” Yogi asks again.

“Yeah. Now everyone there probably hates me.” you tell him.

Fatima chimes in. “Well, you’re here now and that’s all that matters, right?”

You halfheartedly agree. “Yeah.”


Soon, Yogi has finished preparing breakfast. By no means does it compare to something Frederick would make back at the apartments, but anything beats the frozen meals that Bonworth’s apartment lived off of. With a generous stack of pancakes and eggs on the side, you can’t complain.

Yogi hands everybody a plate, when it occurs to you that there is not a table to sit at. “Hey, Yogi? Uh… where do we sit to eat?”

Rather than directly answering you, Yogi motions to the couch, where everybody else has taken a seat. Yogi sits in the recliner next to the TV, leaving you with the small space left on the couch. You take a seat next to Beau, who is clearly unhappy with the situation.

Before you get too comfortable, Fatima pipes up. “Hey, Beau! Could we trade spots? Please?”

“Be my guest, Fatima.” Beau snaps, clearly agitated at her. The two girls swap spots on the couch, leaving Fatima by you. You are temporarily relieved, before realizing Fatima did it so she could grope you.

After trying (and failing) to shake Fatima off, you focus your attention to the TV, noticing that  it’s playing morning cartoons. You peer over Fatima to Yogi, who seems to be very interested in the cartoon. He glances over and notices the confusion on your face.

“It’s a bit of a morning routine.” he whispers, turning back to the TV.

Soon enough, the cartoon is over and one-by-one, everybody gets up and takes their plates to the sink before continuing with their day. You follow along, leaving Fatima as the last to get up.

How will you spend today? You decide to talk to your new roommates and get to know them better. After all, everyone except Fatima still seems to be tense about it, so perhaps you should show them there is nothing to worry about.

“Hey, Fatima? Where is Beau’s room?” you ask. Her eyes widen a little.

“Beau? Uh, you don’t want to go in there. If she’s mad at you already, she will lose it if you go in her room. She goes crazy when even we go in there.” Fatima warns.

There goes that idea. Maybe Lucie would be better, but Yogi seems approachable too. You decide to go back to the living room, where Yogi has sat once again. Fatima follows along, awkwardly ogling your arms.

After sitting at the couch, Yogi turns away from the TV. “Oh, hey Mike. What are you doing today?”

You look up, meeting his gaze. “I want to help out around here. It’s the least I can do.”

Yogi nods. “I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say we appreciate that, but don’t worry about it Mike. Besides, there’s not much for you to do around here anyway.”

Despite his words, you feel indebted to him and everyone else in this house. They didn’t want or expect you to come, but they’ve still allowed you to stay.

Fatima rubs your arm, jarring you from your thoughts. You jolt your arm, causing her to reel back. Yogi speaks again, now facing the TV.

“If you don’t mind me asking, do you have a job?”

You look away nervously, hesitating for a moment. “No, it wasn’t very long ago that I ended up here. I was homeless before I found the apartments. I guess it’s just in my nature to blow every chance I have.”

“Hey, don’t be too hard on yourself. I’m sure whatever happened was a misunderstanding.” If he knew what had happened, he’d probably kick you out. Fortunately for you, he doesn’t press on it.

“I’ve always wanted to be a teacher.” he states, breaking the silence. “It’s been a dream since I was just a cub.”

You’re not sure why anyone would actually want to be a teacher, but you’re not in any position to judge so you simply nod. Yogi continues. “I thought it would be easy to get a teaching job in a city. After all, logically speaking it would have the biggest schools with the most opportunity. Nobody will even give me a chance though. It’s tough being told no after working so hard to accomplish your dream.”

You feel bad for him, immediately knowing why he’s been turned down. Self-consciously, you rub your arm, knowing you’re in the same situation.

“But hey,” he continues. “I won’t let that stop me. Some school somewhere needs a good teacher for their kids, and maybe one day I will find it. So whatever happened between you and the people back at the apartments you left, don’t give up on fixing it. There’s always tomorrow!”

He’s right, but you still can’t bring yourself to even imagine seeing them again. You couldn’t come back, not just to Bonworth’s apartment but your own.

It suddenly dawns on you that Fatima is getting way too close for comfort. “Hey!”

Her eyes widen and Yogi turns, seeing Fatima’s advances. “Fatima, that isn’t a way to treat your guest!”

Fatima scrambles out of the room faster than you can stop her. You quickly look to Yogi, who exchanges uncomfortable glances with you before facing the TV again. Thinking on it for a moment, you wonder if you should go talk to Fatima.

“Wasn’t that a little harsh? I mean, she just surprised me.” you tell Yogi.

Yogi sighs. “Mike, that’s not the issue. Fatima has no concept of personal space when she sets her eyes on the prize. You’re not the only one she treats this way.”

It sounds eerily familiar to another fox you know. Maybe it’s genetic? Still, you can’t help but feel sorry for Fatima. After thinking about it, you hesitantly decide to go after her. After all, she didn’t mean any harm… right? You pick yourself up off of the couch and walk to the hallway she disappeared into. Finding her room isn’t hard, as every door is decorated.

You assume the door with the “keep out” sign is Beau’s room, while the plain door close by is Yogi’s. To the right of Yogi’s room is a door decked out in pink, complete with a human-themed TV show poster. You stop yourself before opening the door, remembering what happened with Mangle. You don’t need something else to add to your rapidly-growing list of regrets, so you knock.

“Hey Fatima, can I come in?” you ask. After a few moments of silence, you turn to leave. Suddenly, the door opens.

“O-Oh hey Mike! I didn’t think you’d want to.. um… talk to me again.” she admits, a hint of sadness in her voice.

Thinking back, Fatima wasn’t being malicious. Considering she’s a humie, you can understand why she was so captivated with your skin. “Look Fatima, it’s fine. I just wanted to see if you were okay.”

She looked up from the ground. “So uh… did you want to come in?”

You’re not sure if you really want to, but you don’t want to be rude. “Sure, why not?”

Immediate regret is the first thing you feel from the moment you stepped inside. Like the door, the whole room is decked out in pink. There’s merchandise from every human anime imaginable scattered everywhere. From statues and posters to stacks of movies, neatly shelved. Despite making you feel uncomfortable, that isn’t what really irks you.


Fatima’s closet door is hanging ajar, and you can see something flesh-colored hanging inside.

“Oh, I see you’ve caught sight of my skin suit! Do you like it?” Fatima asks, clearly quite proud of it.

You don’t think you’re gonna like what happens no matter what you say. Saying yes will just encourage her and saying no will crush her. You’re truly speechless, unable to pick your poison.

Before you can force a response, she speaks again. “It’s custom made for me. You’re not the only one who can rock that look!” Fatima disappears into the closet.

You promptly excuse yourself from the room before she can return. Yogi eyes you curiously as you return to the couch. “Did she try to show you her skin suit?”

You nod. Yogi chuckles nervously. “Yeah, that thing freaks all of us out.”

Living here is going to be very interesting.