Part 1
I woke to an empty bed, but I could hear the shower running.
When I wandered out to brush my teeth, breakfast was already on the table.
Nice.
The bathroom was so full of steam it felt more like a sauna. Leah was either trying to open every pore in her body or personally contribute to New York’s humidity problem.
I peed, brushed my teeth, and on the way out decided a little fun in the shower on our last day in the apartment couldn’t hurt.
I opened the shower door and slipped inside.
Then I turned around.
Rina stood there completely lathered in soap, eyes closed.
I screamed.
Her eyes snapped open.
She screamed.
Soap went into her eyes.
She screamed again, trying to get enough water into them to flush it out.
I decided to back out, slipped on the wet floor and landed hard on my ass.
I screamed again.
For several seconds, the bathroom was just screaming.
I made it out of the shower, bruised emotionally and physically.
Rina came out a moment later, wrapped herself in a towel, and threw me one as well.
“Okay. That was all kinds of awkward. You okay?”
“Ow, my ass. Ow, my feelings.”
“Ah, that’s fine then. Nobody saw anything they hadn’t seen before, and you only bruised your ass.”
She shrugged.
“I’ve had dates that ended like that.”
She left the bathroom and got dressed there, once again without any regard for modesty.
I went to the bedroom to do the same, pulling on some comfy slacks and a baggy hoodie.
When I came back out, Rina was in denim overalls and a T-shirt.
She gave me a once-over.
“You’re packing your apartment in that?”
Fuck.
That was today.
I had completely forgotten.
“Let me get some coffee and eat first. You’re up early.”
“It’s almost eight, Mia. I’ve been up since five-thirty. Used the hotel gym one last time, went over to your new address and found a local gym to sign up for a month, moved my flight to November second, then ran back here before showering.”
I put some butter on my toast.
“You been inside the new place?”
“Nope, but the outside looked fancy. It has a doorman.”
“I know. Feels icky having someone guarding my door.”
“Agreed, but I expect you’ll have to get used to that if you’re gonna live with Leah.”
I nodded solemnly while spreading jam on my toast.
“So, what’s the plan today?”
Rina pulled out her phone and, presumably, a list.
“Leah booked a moving van and movers for two. They’ll take everything we pack to the new place, where Leah will meet them.”
She nodded to herself.
“Leah should be at the new TEG office now, meeting the people her mother hired. She gave notice this morning, cleared out her desk, and is using her remaining five vacation days.”
Rina looked up at me.
“So technically, she’s as unemployed as you.”
“It says that?”
She turned the phone around and pointed at a message from Leah.
I am now as unemployed as my girlfriend.
I rolled my eyes.
Rina went back to the list.
“If everything goes well, you two sleep there tonight and I take your bed here. That’s for three days, then we move whatever is left in this place over once your spa is done.”
I stopped chewing.
“My what?”
Rina froze.
“Eeee... your...”
She closed her eyes.
“Fuck.”
I stared at her.
“Don’t tell Leah. It was supposed to be a surprise.”
Okay, spa.
That was better than hiking.
Or at least I hoped so. I’d never been to a spa.
I took out my phone and searched spa New York.
A lot of results.
“Do you know which one?”
“You are not getting me to spoil more of a secret I wasn’t supposed to tell you, Mia.”
“I’m just asking.”
“No prepping either. Pretend you don’t know.”
I put my phone down.
Rina gave me a serious look.
“Leah was nervous about this. She’s really trying.”
“Trying what?”
“To give you a reset. New apartment, a few days away, get your head straight before everything changes.”
She hesitated.
“And she’s worried.”
“About what?”
“That all this new work is going to make you think she doesn’t care. Or that you’ll decide you don’t need her.”
I frowned.
“She said that?”
“Close enough.”
Rina pointed at my phone.
“So stop fucking researching spas and let your girlfriend surprise you.”
I pushed my phone away and held up my hands.
“Okay, I yield. Let me eat, get properly dressed, and we can move out.”
I put on proper pants, a T-shirt, sneakers, and a zip-up hoodie. It was cooling down, but packing was sweaty work, so I wanted layers I could take off.
We took the subway to my place.
When we arrived, there was a stack of flat boxes leaning against the front door.
“This is from the moving company,” Rina said. “They dropped them off this morning. There should be twelve.”
She went over and started counting.
“Oh. Thirteen. Score.”
She picked up the stack while I unlocked the door.
Rina had never been here before.
When I opened the apartment, I realized I hadn’t been back since Lin broke up with me.
That was... almost two weeks now.
The place was a mess.
Lin had removed about half of everything and pushed the rest into corners. The kitchen still had some utensils, pots and pans, but she’d definitely taken the good stuff.
Most of it had been hers anyway, so fair enough.
My room was untouched.
Bed, wardrobe, posters, all the normal bedroom stuff.
Most of my clothes were already at Leah's, but my cold-weather things were still here. Big hoodies, fall tights, jackets, gloves and hats.
In the living room, Rina was assembling boxes.
We started packing, and by the time the movers arrived, everything that needed boxing was boxed. We stuck Post-its on the furniture marking what was going and what was staying.
The manager of the moving company asked if he could have the keys for the cleaning crew.
“Cleaning company?” I asked.
“Our cleaning department comes in once we’re done. They clean the apartment, document the condition, and lock up when they leave.”
Leah had booked a proper moving company.
I had mentally prepared myself to come back and scrub the place tonight.
I tossed him the keys, and Rina and I left.
That was it.
Not my home anymore.
“You hungry?” I asked.
“You know me well.”
I took Rina to El Lado Taco, my favorite Mexican place in Astoria.
It occurred to me this might be my last time here for a while.
While we were eating, Rina got a message.
“Nice. Leah secured the contract.”
“For Halloween?”
“Yeah. They approved the costume design too, so we can start work now.”
“You moved your flight this morning without knowing if you had the job?”
“I trust Leah. I fully expected her to land it. If not this way, then another.”
Rina put her phone down.
“She is dead set on making this company succeed. I worry more about her burning herself out trying.”
I got the feeling Rina was handing me a job.
Make sure Leah doesn’t spiral.
It sounded a lot like what Keiko had told me.
When we arrived at the new place, I gave the doorman a nod.
Me and him were gonna be friends.
I brought Rina up in the elevator, eagerly waiting for her reaction when she saw the open space.
Instead, I was the one who made a face when the doors opened.
Plastic covered almost everything.
Several workers were moving through the apartment, and Leah was standing at the kitchen island with a tall, thin Black man.
There was banging and sawing everywhere.
I headed toward Leah.
She spotted Rina and me, and the worried frown disappeared.
“Mia, Rina, let me introduce you to Malcolm. He’s the Senior Production Manager at TEG.”
He smiled and gave us a wave.
“I’m just going through the build details for the next three days. Making sure the furniture goes in the right place, contractors have access, all that fun stuff.”
“Leah pulled me off the office fit-out and put me on this instead.”
“The office can wait. TEG’s next contract isn’t until the Thanksgiving gala. We need this place ready for producing the Halloween event materials.”
Malcolm looked toward the staircase.
“I still don’t see why the upstairs door needs to be custom.”
“I know my doors, Malcolm. Just book him. Say Takahashi requested him and send him my specs.”
Leah closed her laptop, slipped it into her bag, and threw the strap over her shoulder.
“And remember, when the movers come, the bed goes in the far-left bedroom.”
Malcolm gave her a thumbs-up.
Leah started toward the elevator.
We made our way back to the apartment, where Leah and Rina started working on the shopping list for everything they would need for the costumes.
I crashed down on the couch and sent my landlord an email.
I’m writing to confirm that I have fully moved out of the apartment as of October 12. The moving company has removed my belongings, and their cleaning crew will complete the final cleaning and lock up afterward.
Please treat this as notice that I have vacated the property.
As the apartment has now been surrendered before the next rental period, I am requesting:
- Return of my full security deposit.
- Refund of the rent paid for October 15 through November 15.
Please confirm receipt of this email and let me know when I should expect the deposit and unused rent to be returned.
That should do it.
I didn’t expect a refund on the rent, but maybe I could claw back some of the security deposit.
I overheard Leah and Rina discussing how much 3D-printer time they needed to book, along with spray booth access.
“Should I pack anything for tomorrow, Leah?” I shouted from the couch.
“I already packed your bag. Put your toothbrush in there and you should be good.”
I went into the bedroom.
Two bags were already sitting on the floor in front of the bed.
“When did you have time to pack this?”
“Last night, while you were asleep on the couch.”
“Oh, right...”
I decided to start packing the rest of my clothes. Leah had some suitcases in the bedroom, so I grabbed one and started filling it with everything I’d accumulated over here.
After that, I found fresh bedsheets and remade the bed for Rina.
When I was done, I heard her call from the living room.
“Mia, we’re leaving. Bring the travel bags.”
I stuck my head out of the bedroom and saw Rina handling two huge suitcases. One was Leah’s photography case. The other was a mystery.
“We going?”
Leah nodded.
“Heading over to the new place. Need to do Rina’s OnlyFans shoot. Also need food. Can you handle that?”
“Sure. We good with ramen?”
Leah nodded, then looked at Rina.
Rina nodded too.
Democracy.
We left together, and in typical Leah fashion, there was already a car waiting downstairs.
We threw everything into the back and drove over to our new place.
The doorman came over when we pulled up and reached for the bags.
Rina immediately took them away from him.
“Don’t worry about her,” I said. “She’s just like that.”
He smiled and nodded.
“As you say.”
When we got into the apartment, it was eerily quiet compared with earlier.
There was still plastic everywhere, but some furniture had arrived. Most of it was still wrapped or sitting inside cardboard boxes.
“Let’s do it upstairs,” Leah said. “The windows will work better for the gothic look we’re after, and there’s less plastic.”
The door to the second floor had been removed, and a much larger opening was being made in its place.
I decided my task was now finding ramen.
A quick search gave me a few options, and I picked Teppen Ramen, about a block and a half away. I checked what Leah and Rina wanted, put in a takeaway order, then headed out.
When I came back, I realized we had no chairs.
Leah and Rina had already made quick work of the lighting and photo setup, and Rina was halfway through her makeup.
Leah called a break to eat.
We sat on the floor in the upstairs living room, and I realized the private section alone was at least twice the size of mine and Lin’s entire apartment.
I could see my bed through the bedroom door.
It looked minuscule in there.
No, Mia. This is fine. You can have this.
I shook my head.
“So, Rina, what are we taking pictures of today?”
“Abs, ass, some tits, and full frontal for the higher tiers. Maybe a few classy backshots for special purchase.”
She slurped some more noodles.
“I have a lot from the crafting process already, so we just need twenty-five-ish good shots today. Should be easy enough.”
I poked at my noodles for a bit.
“So... weird question.”
Rina looked at me.
“That narrows it down.”
“No, I mean...” I waved my chopsticks vaguely in her direction. “You put all this online. Like, properly online.”
“Mm”
“And people see it.”
“Yes?”
She smiled.
“I am trying here, okay? Give me some space.”
“Sure.”
I frowned at her.
“Do you not feel that you are… I don’t know. Spreading yourself to the world?”
Rina raised an eyebrow.
“Have you seen me, Mia?”
I gave her a once over.
“Yes?”
“I enjoy being seen.”
“How?”
“When I pose, I want people to look. I am not ashamed of any of this.”
“I get the no-shame part, but... I guess I don’t know what I’m asking.”
Leah spoke up.
“I think Mia is asking why it doesn’t feel like you’re giving something away.”
I looked at her.
“Yes.”
She gestured toward Rina.
“Your body is private. Or at least, most people are taught that parts of it are. So when you put pictures of those parts online for anyone willing to pay, she doesn’t understand why that doesn’t feel... exposing.”
“Yes. That.”
I pointed my chopsticks at Leah.
“Exactly that.”
Rina laughed.
“Is this where I’m supposed to say sex work is work?”
She shrugged.
“Yes. But that’s only a tiny part of it. I look like this, and that takes work. I make the costumes, and that takes work. I do the shoots, and that takes work.”
She lifted another mouthful of noodles.
“People paying to see it is just how I get paid.”
“I thought you got paid by companies?”
“That is much more degrading than OnlyFans.”
I thought about that, but Leah and Rina finished eating before I did and got up to go back to work.
I watched them apply makeup at the same time, which was slightly bizarre. Leah was doing Rina’s face while Rina worked on her arm. Efficient.
I sat cross-legged on the floor off to one side, far enough away that I wasn’t in anyone’s way but with a clear view of the whole room.
Rina stood near the arched windows in full costume, cape falling almost to the floor behind her, whip hanging from her belt.
Leah took a few test shots, checked the screen, then moved one of the lights a little farther around.
“Give me the clean full-body first.”
Rina shifted without asking what she meant. One foot forward, weight settling onto the back leg, shoulders turned just enough that the cape opened around her.
Click.
“Eyes here.”
Click.
“Hold.”
Leah lowered herself slightly and shot again.
“Turn.”
Rina turned her back to the camera, pulling her hair forward over one shoulder so the detailing down the cape was visible.
“Good. Three-quarter.”
She rotated halfway back.
Click. Click.
“Whip.”
Rina’s hand was already moving toward it.
This was nothing like when Leah photographed me.
There had been so much talking then. Move this. Turn that. Chin down. Relax my shoulders. Stop making whatever stupid face I was making.
Here, Leah gave Rina half a word and Rina seemed to know the rest of the sentence.
“Low?”
“Yeah.”
Rina widened her stance slightly.
Leah dropped to one knee.
Click.
“Cape out.”
Rina caught one side of it and let it hang away from her body.
Leah took another burst.
I understood maybe half of what they were doing.
I understood that it looked fucking cool.
Leah checked the last few shots.
“Okay. We have the costume.”
Rina reached for the fastening at her throat.
“Cape stays,” Leah said.
Rina stopped.
“Smart choice.”
She started on the rest instead.
Rina slipped her hands under the robe and started working the top free underneath it.
The outer layer stayed fastened high at her throat, hanging open beneath the clasp and falling under her arms rather than closing across the front.
She pulled the top out and tossed it onto the growing pile of costume pieces.
The robe covered considerably less than I had expected.
Leah lifted the camera.
“Shoulders back.”
Rina rolled them once and settled into position.
“Good. Keep the collar square.”
Click.
“Turn a little.”
Rina shifted into a three-quarter angle.
Click. Click.
The robe framed her chest without really hiding much of it, but every time I thought Leah had pushed it too far, Rina moved an arm or changed the angle and suddenly everything important was covered again.
“Whip.”
Rina reached for it without looking.
She brought the handle up across her chest.
Leah adjusted her position.
“Higher. Rotate the cross.”
Rina moved it a few centimeters.
“Like this?”
“Yeah. Hold.”
Click. Click. Click.
Rina changed the angle herself after the third shot, turning her hip and letting the robe fall farther open on one side.
Leah immediately followed her with the camera.
No discussion.
They just kept moving.
“Pants next,” Leah said.
Rina took off her boots and undid the pants and belts.
Leah looked down at her feet.
“Boots back on.”
Rina gave her a look.
“Yeah, I know, but pants need to be off first.”
She sat down long enough to pull the boots back on, then stood again with the robe still hanging from her shoulders.
The effect was ridiculous.
Mostly naked. Giant armored boots, dramatic blue coat, red arm, whip.
Somehow it still looked more like a costume than less.
Leah lifted the camera.
“Side profile first. Weight on the back leg.”
Rina turned.
“Good. Let the coat fall behind you.”
Click.
“Hip toward me.”
Click.
“Hold that.”
Rina sat cross-legged in front of the window, the robe pooled around her hips, whip resting across her lap.
Leah circled a little to the side.
“Chin down. Eyes up.”
Click.
“Good. Now hand on the handle.”
Rina shifted, one hand curling around the whip, the other braced lightly against the floor.
Click. Click.
From where I sat, it looked equal parts prayer, threat, and pin-up.
They moved on quickly after that.
Rina stood again, lifting both arms while Leah wrapped the belt across her chest and tightened it just enough to hold. The buckle sat slightly off-center, her torso otherwise bare except for the robe hanging open from her shoulders.
Leah stepped back, looked through the camera, then pointed.
“Turn. More. Hold.”
Rina shifted into a three-quarter pose, arms still raised, stomach tight, red arm catching the light.
Click.
“Good. One more.”
Click. Click.
Then Rina dropped to her knees.
Not dramatic at first. Just a controlled movement onto the floorboards while Leah adjusted one of the lights. The robe slid to one side, leaving her mostly bare, and Rina folded her hands together in front of her chest.
“Prayer?” I asked.
“Castlevania is packed with religious symbolism,” Rina said.
Leah made a small approving noise.
“Exactly.”
She took a few shots from standing height, then lowered herself.
“Lean back a touch. Good. Eyes closed.”
Click.
“Now open.”
Click.
After that came what Rina had called the high-tier backshot.
Leah was flat-out on the floor for that one, camera angled up while Rina stayed kneeling near the window with the robe pushed aside and the line of her back fully exposed.
“Arch a little.”
Rina did.
“More.”
She did again.
“Hold. Don’t move.”
Click. Click. Click.
I had never seen Leah look more professional and less romantic in my life.
There was nothing horny in her expression at all.
Just focus.
Terrifying focus.
Rina held the pose for another second, then relaxed and looked over her shoulder.
“Did you get it?”
Leah checked the screen.
“Yes.”
“Excellent. Let me get out of this costume.”
Rina stripped naked, then carefully packed the costume away. She pulled out some normal clothes and got dressed in front of me like I was an inanimate object, not someone who was very much enjoying the view.
Leah took the SD card out of her camera and handed it to Rina, who slipped it inside her phone case.
“You got everything you need?” Leah asked.
“Keys to your old place, SD card, laptop for uploading and editing. I think I have everything. When are you back?”
“Thursday around midday.”
“And the work will be done by then?”
“If Malcolm can be trusted, it will.”
“So Thursday I move in here?”
“Yeah. We should have a room for you downstairs by then. Bed and everything.”
“Okay, I guess I’ll see you in three days, then. Try to stay safe.”
Rina walked down the stairs, and I heard the elevator close.
I looked around the room.
“I guess we live here now?”
“I guess we do,” Leah said. “You like it, right?”
“My gut is telling me no one should be able to live this well, but yes. My brain says this place is amazing.”
I looked around once more.
“What are you gonna do with the other two bedrooms?”
“The one on the far left is going to be my crafting room. I have people coming tomorrow to retrofit the whole thing. New floor, new air filtration. I’m really looking forward to that one.”
“And the middle one?”
“I’m thinking an office. Proper desk space, good chairs. I can’t do all my laptop work from the couch.”
“Can I get a desk?”
Leah frowned at me.
“Of course you can. This is your space as much as mine.”
“I think I want a PC too. I’ve been thinking about getting back into gaming. I used to play a lot when I was a teenager, but now my phone just eats all my time. I kind of want to see if I can still sit down and focus on a game like I used to.”
“We should ask Rina if she can build it for you. I remember she posted a video of herself building her rig. It went a bit viral.”
“Why?”
“Apparently the internet decided she was ‘Henrietta Cavill.’ I’m sure she’d love an excuse to make a sequel.”
I leaned to my left and rested my head on her shoulder.
“You know I love you, right? I’m not gonna leave if you tell me no?”
“My brain says that’s true, but my gut keeps telling me I can still fuck it up and drive people away.”
“We need to get you on some probiotics. My gut might be a socialist, but I can’t have a girlfriend whose gut is a conspiracy theorist.”
“It’s not easy. I don’t have many close friends. Rina might be the closest, and I still don’t think we could ever be roommates. Relationships have been... problematic, and I think I was usually the common factor when they went wrong.”
“I don’t think you’ve ever done anything that made me suspicious of you.”
There was a long silence.
“I fought to get a plus-one added to my gala invite. It was originally just for me.”
My eyebrows went up.
“So... the whole shopping trip, haircut, wax, everything. You did all that for what?”
“To spend time with you.”
I went quiet again.
“You could have just asked me out. I would've come anyway.”
“Yeah. I know that now.” Leah paused. “Also, for the record, I did not arrange the whole director thing. That part was not supposed to happen.”
“If you had arranged that, I might have broken up with you.”
She gave a short laugh.
“I hope you didn’t take the job for me?”
“Maybe a little.” Leah looked down. “I don’t think I would’ve accepted Mother’s offer without you. I would’ve fought her tooth and nail, and probably built my own company just to spite her.”
She looked back at me.
“But I don’t want you to have to live with that version of me. And maybe you made me see a different version of my mother too. One I don’t always need to fight.
We sat there for a while until Leah kissed me on the forehead and got up.
“I’m sticky and dusty. I need a shower before bed. Did you bring the toothbrushes?”
I nodded.
“Of course.”
She walked off toward the bathroom, and a few seconds later I heard the shower start.
Okay.
Time to claim this place as my own.
I stripped off my clothes and headed for the bathroom.
Steam rolled out the second I opened the door. Leah was already under the spray, head tilted back, water running in dark rivers down her back. She turned enough to look at me through the wet curtain of her hair.
“Took you long enough.”
I stepped in behind her. The floor was slick, and I put a hand against the tile to steady myself before pressing against her back.
She reached behind her without looking and found my hip.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Yeah. Just... need to test out the new shower. Make sure it’s safe.”
She made a small sound that might have been a laugh.
I slid my arms around her waist, palms settling against her stomach. I kissed the back of her shoulder, then the side of her neck. She tilted her head to give me more room.
“Mia.”
“Hmm?”
“You up for this, after Saturday?”
“I’m a big girl, Leah. I wasn’t ruined by some monster dick.”
I turned her around.
Her eyes were half-lidded from the steam when I kissed her. She still tasted faintly of ramen. Her hands came up to my face, then slid into my hair and pulled me closer.
The shower was big enough that we weren’t fighting for space like we had in the old place. I backed her against the wall, my thigh slipping between hers.
She made a quiet sound against my mouth and rolled her hips once.
I reached down between us.
“Like that?”
“Yeah.” She rested her forehead against mine. “Don’t rush.”
I didn’t.
I watched her face instead, catching the little changes again. The tightening around her eyes. The way her mouth opened when I got something right. The way her fingers curled into my hair.
She kissed me again, messier this time.
“Mia...”
“Don’t worry. I got you.”
I dropped to my knees.
Water ran over my face and down my back while one of her hands braced against the wall and the other stayed tangled in my hair. I kept the rhythm she liked until her breathing changed and her thighs started to shake.
“Fuck...”
She came with her head tipped back against the tile, one sharp breath followed by a longer one as the tension left her.
I stayed there until she tugged gently at my hair.
When I stood, my knees complained.
Leah pulled me into a hard kiss, then her hand slipped between us.
“Your turn.”
She backed me against the wall and took her time, watching my face the same way I had watched hers. Slow at first, then faster when I started moving against her hand.
“Leah...”
“I know.”
She kissed the side of my neck and kept going until my legs started trembling and I buried my face against her wet hair.
She held me through it, then kept going gently until I twitched and pushed her hand away.
We stayed there for a while, breathing, the water slowly cooling around us.
Leah eventually reached past me and shut it off.
“Towels are still in the bag,” she said. “I’ll get them.”
I stayed beneath the dripping showerhead for another few seconds.
Plastic somewhere downstairs. Empty rooms around us. My old bed sitting in a bedroom big enough to swallow it.
Somehow this was home now.
When Leah came back with the towels, I took one and wrapped it around her first. She did the same for me.
We dried off, brushed our teeth, and made our way into the bedroom.
The bed was made.
The sheets were cool.
We climbed in.
Outside the windows, the city kept going.
Inside, it was just us breathing in the dark.