You hear yourself say, "No", not registering it until seconds afterwards. And then your body responds, moving away.

Smith stays silent for a moment, imploringly blue eyes searching yours. 

Then he says, "There's someone else?"

How are you going to answer that - I mean, is there? 

You say, "Yes, I think so."

"Who?"

You exhale. "I think you can work it out."

His hands are still outstretched towards your shoulders, where they were just seconds ago. And the sight makes you feel guilty, as if you've betrayed him somehow - but you feel like you've done the right thing.

"Hey," he says, hanging his head slightly. "Sorry for all this. I should have realised."

You swallow. "Don't worry about it. We can forget it all."

"No," he says. "I wasn't thinking straight. I mean -"

"(Y/N)!"

The door opens abruptly, and Duncan's head appears, followed by Lewis'.

"You said you'd be - oh."

Immediately, you feel pinpricks of heat explode across your skin.

"Sorry," you murmur, stepping away from Alex, who seems to get the message, and does the same.

"We were worried," Duncan says. "You said you'd be in the common room."

"Yeah, sorry," you say tiredly, trying your hardest not to look at Smith. "Let's go."

"See you tomorrow, I guess?" Smith says, his voice ever so slightly strained.

You turn, feeling the heat rise to your cheeks. "Yeah, see you Smith."

______________________________________________

The ride home's awkward.

You try your best to get them talking, make it seem like nothing happened back at the office; but all you get is mono-syllabic responses.

And it gets even more awkward when you drop Duncan off first, leaving just you and Lewis next to you in the car.

"How was the journey back?" you ask, trying to urge him into a conversation.

"Alright, I guess," he says half-heartedly. "You?"

You shrug. "Yeah, okay. The lads're actually not too hard to hang out with when they're too tired to lift a finger."

He laughs. "Yeah, I can imagine." He touches a hand to his forehead. "Fuckin' hell, I should really consider quitting gin..."

You smile, glad you've finally managed to get him talking to you again. "You better had, you fucking idiot. You were so pissed last night, you know..."

He grins a little painfully. "I can tell. I can't remember a thing." 

Your stomach jolts as you remember what happened with Lewis again.

"Not really surprised," you say. "Do you want me to drop you off outside, or what?"

"Sure," he says, unbuckling his seatbelt, hoisting his bags over his shoulder with a grunt of effort. "See you tomorrow."

"Yeah, take care."

You watch him carefully as he opens the door, places one foot on the pavement, and then he turns, and looks you right in the eyes - you can't help but flinch.

Lewis is the only person who's ever had that effect on you. He's not even glaring at you, or looking at you in any other way than he normally does - but it's dark, and the lamplight's reflecting off his eyes so it looks like they're glowing - and they're beautiful, and warm, and sorry, and it makes you feel like he can see right through to your soul.

Regaining your composure, hands tight on the steering wheel, embarrassed at being caught looking at him, you say, "You okay?"

He sighs. "I just wanted to say - I'm here for you if you ever need me, you know."

This? Now? "I know, Lewis. Thanks."

"I mean - I know it kind of sucks that I'm your boss as well, and probably not a very good one either - but I'm your friend. And - well, I'm here to protect you, aren't I? And..." He sucks in a breath. "Well, you know..."

You nod. "I know what?"

He sighs again. "I just - well, if you're worried, you can always come to me. You know that. Right?"

You smile faintly. "Of course. Thanks. Yeah. I know."

Once he's closed the door and you're sure he can't see you, you slap your hand on your forehead, annoyed at yourself.

____________________________________________

MCM COMICCON ROLL CALL!

Your eyes glide lazily across the email, to the name Mark Hulmes at the bottom.

With an exasperated sigh, you click reply, confirm that you'll be there, and send your message off.

This whole day, you've been half expecting for Lewis to barge into your office and ask if he can talk about yesterday - but to your surprise, and relief, of course, you haven't really seen him around.

Or Smith, for that matter.

Minecraft. GTA. GTA again. Gmod. Portal. Fallout. Doom.

It all blurs into one - and you've got to admit, sometimes, it's boring as fuck. But then again, you can't really complain - you're a YouTuber. 

You lean back in your chair, waiting for Duncan and Sjin to finish making their coffee and come back online, and check your phone.

(Y/B/F/N): Haven't heard much from you about your man. how's it with him?

You hesitate, calculating whether to lie or not. Nothing much has happened recently. I'll update you if anything happens.

Kay. Have fun playing your nerdy stuff.

Will do. Ty. 

And as soon as you slam your phone back down on your desk, there's a knock on the door.

"You shall not pass," you say unenthusiastically.

"Mm. Shit. I'll come back later, then, shall I?" Footsteps as he walked back down the corridor to his shared Hat Films office.

Fuck. 

It was Smith.

Footsteps as he walked back down the corridor to his shared Hat Films office.  

You opened the door to call him back: "Smith -"

"You're so fucking predictable," he grins, stepping through as you open the door.

"Shut up," you grin, pushing him gently in the chest - which requires you to reach up pretty far.

He backs away. "Jesus, sorry. Um, can I come in?"

You resist stepping back into your office, slamming the door, leaning against it, hiding your face.

Instead, you nod.

"Yeah, sure." 

"Okay?" he asks, possibly noticing your discomfort.

"Yeah, m'okay. So anyway..." You clear your throat. "I guess you wanted to talk about yesterday?"

He nods. "Yeah. I - I guess I wanted to say sorry. I fucked up."

You shake your head. "You couldn't have known. Honestly, I think it's best we just forget about it. And you can find a girl who deserves you."

He looks up, and you immediately tell exactly what he's thinking - but he doesn't say it. 

 "So we just forget about this whole thing?" he asks, folding his arms across his chest. "And don't tell anyone?"

"Yeah - it's the only thing we can do, Smith. Let's try to steer clear of all the Tumblr gossip and shizz."

"Good plan," he says, looking at you sadly, which makes you wonder if you've made the right decision or not.

As he leaves, you look back to your screen, and notice you've received a new email in the past few minutes; and as soon as you open it, your heart sinks.

_______________________________________________

"(Y/B/F/N)?"

"Yeah?"

"The landlord made his decision."

"Oh, shit..."

"I know." 

Both of you fall silent for a moment, acknowledging the reality of the situation - that you no longer have anywhere to live. And both of you know well that you can't stay at your friend's - she doesn't have a spare room or bed, she can barely feed herself let alone you as well, and it's way too far from work to be convenient.

What else have you got?

With a jolt, you remember...

"Do you have any ideas?" she asks quietly.

"I've got one," you murmur. "But I didn't really think I was ever going to use it."

"Oh yeah?" 

"So, a while ago, Lewis said if I ever wanted to, since he's got an alright flat with a spare room and everything, I could, like..."

"Oh my God! He asked you to move in with him?"

"Shit - no, not like that! He said, if all else fails, I've got no other choice. And have I?" Her silence answers your question. "Alright. So, I guess I'm moving in with him, then, if he still agrees to it."

"You're actually doing this?"

"What else have I got? I told you, I don't like it, just asking to move in with him because I don't have a home, but I've got no other choice. The fucking landlord's so keen to get rid of me he's only giving me a month to sort everything out." You hesitate. "I swear that's illegal, but anyway - it's only going to be temporary. I'm just staying at his for, say, a few months before I find a new place. Because you remember how long it took me to find a place last time..."

"A year or so," she recalled. "And you picked really well, didn't you?"

You sigh. "I guess I better go talk to Mr. Brindley, then."

_____________________________________________

"A month," Lewis repeats, standing up from his desk chair.

"A month," you confirm. "So, uh..."

He realises what you're talking about. "Oh, yeah, I remember..."

You backpedal immediately. "Hey, if it's difficult for you or you've changed your mind about it, I'm not forcing you, obviously. I'll just ask around a little more."

I'll just ask around a little more. As if you haven't tried that already. Both you and he know that he's your only option.

"No," he decides. "No, I promised. And it's honestly not too much trouble. And I didn't change my mind, either."

"And it's just temporary, while I find a new place," you add. "I won't stick around for too long. I won't, like, be taking up your space for the rest of our lives."

He attempts a smile. "I swear it's illegal for a landlord to just kick you out. And give you a month to do it."

"That's what I thought. But it's okay to 'evict' someone, apparently. And give them notice. And if I refuse to move out, he's going to file a fucking lawsuit against me, which I really don't need." 

"So - you've got a month to move your stuff over, right?"

You nod. 

He exhales. "Have you thought about this? How's it all going to work?"

You shrug. "I've got a mate that owns a van. And I'm not bringing everything with me - just main stuff." 

"And - well, you do realise that people in the office will know? And think that stuff's going on?"

You bite your lip. "I've thought about it, yeah. But I've really got no choice. If I did, I wouldn't be inconveniencing you like this."

"Hey," he says kindly, reaching out an arm to touch your shoulder. "It's no inconvenience. Honestly. It's just I feel bad that this is happening to you, of all people, when it could have happened to anyone else. You don't deserve it."

You close your eyes, swallowing back your fear and anger - not at Lewis, but at your situation. You don't have a proper home. You've got a month to move all your possessions over. 

"Thanks, Lewis," you say tamely. "I promise - I'll make it up to you somehow."

"No need," he smiles, waving you out of his office. "Now fuck off and do some work, please."

You raise an eyebrow, and he laughs.

____________________________________________

"What the fuck?"

"I'm not kidding," you say quickly. "I'm moving in with Lewis."

Sips coughs. "Cool."

Knowing Sips is just trying to annoy you, you continue: "My landlord's evicted me, so while I'm looking for a new place, Mr Brindley's going to let me stay over." 

"So you did it!" Sips says. "You asked him out?"

"Um, no. I'm just staying there temporarily, Sips. He's just helping me out as a friend. I'm going to be in a different room and all that."

"You do realise you're going to see him every morning, every evening - hell." Sips sighs. "Cool. Okay. I'm not going to say anything more. Congratulations."

You hesitate, puzzled. "Congratulations on what?"

You can tell he's smirking on the other end of the line. "Nothing. See you later."

"What the fuck, Sips?"

"Sorry, need to speak to someone else. Talk to you later."

"Sips -"

The call ends, and you stare at your phone in disbelief.

"Canadians," you mutter under your breath.

_______________________________________________

A/N: I am so sorry this update took so long! Hopefully I'll start to update more regularly, now I'm finding more time. :)

I hate to self-advertise, but just wanted to let you guys know I've started a new book! Instead of cluttering up my Yogscast Short Stories book with loads of Smith chapters - because I've got a lot of writing ideas on him - instead I made a whole new book for them. :) It's called 'Short Stories: Alex Smith (Hat Films)', and I just released a new chapter on it. :) Go check it out if that interests you. 

Thanks!