June awoke that Saturday morning to the delightfully dramatic sounds of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, the third movement. It took her sleep-addled brain a moment to decipher what she was hearing. Piano music? Nearby? Last she checked, none of her neighbors had a piano...

In a sort of fugue, she hauled herself out of bed to see what the matter was. Ciel was already out of her dad’s room (he had taken over temporarily), clearly awoken by the same sounds. He stared at the door with vague recognition on his face, and he didn’t respond to June’s questioning looks. So, still in pajamas, she opened the door. The sounds were coming from the apartment directly across from them.

June knocked on the door, interrupting the piano music abruptly. The piano player took several moments before they opened the door, and June gawked at who it was.

“Hello,” Simon said.

“Wha- you- live here?” June stammered out.

“Well, now I do.” He shot a look behind June, probably at the similarly shell-shocked Ciel visible behind her. “I decided it would be easiest to keep an eye on that guy if I moved in.”

All June could think to ask was “What about Mrs. Croburg???”

“Who? The old lady who lived here? Oh. I gave her some money and she moved far away, deep into the quiet country.”

“...Is that a euphemism?”

“I didn’t kill her.”

“WH-WHY ARE YOU HERE!?” Ciel had broken from his stupor and ran up to Simon, pointing angrily in his face.

Simon looked at Ciel’s finger as though he was considering snapping it in half. “I’m just doing my babysitting job your parents assigned me, relax. This is totally normal.”

“Normal!? How normal is it for your ex to move in next door? This is horrible! Do you know what this does to someone? I’m going to smash my head into the wall!”

“Go ahead.”

“GRGRGRAHGH!” Ciel said incomprehensibly.

June shook her head. It’s too early for this shit. “Alright, alright, break it up guys, before we get evicted. Simon, you should probably avoid playing the piano so loudly, you’re going to get noise complaints. Ciel, let’s just... go back.”

June dragged him back to the safety of their apartment and closed the door. She sighed as the piano music started back up again. She looked pointedly at Ciel.

Ciel was grumbling on his own, kicking at nothing on the floor, when he noticed her staring. “What?” he demanded.

“Can’t you guys just, I don’t know, get along..? I mean you were childhood friends right?”

“You don’t get it, it’s... it’s... he’s annoying, okay? Why should I have to deal with him, huh? Why can’t he go away and deal with himself!?”

“That doesn’t even make any sense...” June rubbed her forehead. “Can’t you guys at least tolerate each other?”

“...I don’t need him here... no one asked him to come here...” Ciel continued quietly. Great, June thought. He’s pouting now.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

There was a knock at the door suddenly, and June prayed silently that it wasn’t Simon. Thankfully, it was Jack.

“Hey June! Where were you yesterday?” Jack let himself into the apartment, ignoring the sulking Ciel on the couch.

“Ciel got kidnapped by his ex-lover/childhood friend,” she stated.

“What?”

“Yeah, it was a whole misunderstanding... and now uh, well as you can probably hear, that person moved in next door.”

“Ohhh, so that’s what the piano music is about! They’re probably going to be kicked out soon, huh?”

“Yeah, he probably will be...”

“Anyway, I’ve got yesterday’s homework for you! Where should I put it?”

“Oh really? You didn’t have to! But um, on the coffee table maybe? The kitchen table is still a mess...”

“It’s no problem-”

“Jack!!!” Ciel cried out, startling both of them. He crawled over and gripped Jack’s sleeve like a dying man. “You have to help me! That, that, that guy is taunting me! With his music!”

Jack shook Ciel off. “Why do you keep going to me for help, I barely know you!”

“He thinks he’s so much better than me... he’s hanging around on purpose to taunt me!” June noticed Ciel was almost trembling with emotion.

“Woah... you’ve got issues man,” Jack said. “But this does make me kind of curious to meet this guy...”

“Why don’t you go ahead and meet him then?” June said. The request was a bit awkwardly worded, but June felt that she should probably talk to Ciel about this alone right now. Luckily, Jack took the hint.

“Huh? Ah... Yeah, maybe I will... I’ll be back soon!” Jack set down the homework on the coffee table and left. June turned to Ciel, lowering herself on the ground in front to him. Ciel looked up back at June; his usually clear, sky blue eyes were gloomy.

“Where did you ever get the impression that he thinks he’s better than you from?” June asked.

Ciel hesitated for a moment before replying. “Well... you weren’t there when we were kids... A lot of my talents and skills went completely unnoticed! His parents constantly doted on him, and he always passive-aggressively lorded it over me! You know how humiliating it is for someone so below you to treat you like an idiot!? So of course I had to cut him off! And now he’s acting all superior like he was in the right this whole time, when he’s... he’s...”

“Is that why you broke up?” June prodded.

“... I guess... Yeah... Yeah! I lowered my standards for him, and he still kept acting like... like...”

“Okay, I see it now.” She touched her hand to his shoulder gently. “You’ve got such a big ego it loops right back around into insecurity.”

“Huh? Huh?? Huh!? How’d you reach that conclusion!?”

“You put all of your worth into how superior you feel, so of course when someone who has skills you don’t comes along, you compare yourself. You think he’s taunting you, but in reality you’re just taunting yourself.”

Ciel was at a loss for words. June rubbed his back soothingly. It was an odd combination with her blunt words, but the gesture wasn’t unwelcome. It took a moment for her to realize what she was doing was a little odd, like someone comforting a frightened kitten during a storm, or a parent comforting their sulky toddler, and she quickly let her hand drop out of embarrassment.

She cleared her throat. “You see what I mean though right? It’s an easy trap to fall into! You feel bad about something, you naturally look for places to displace the bad feelings y’know?” June knew she was rambling a bit at this point, mostly to coverup the awkwardness of the back-rubbing. Ciel didn’t seem to notice.

“So, so... what do I even do?”

“I think, you need to apologize?” June posited. “If you guys can at least resolve this all amicably, instead of leaving everything all... messy and uncertain, then maybe you guys can at least tolerate each other!”

“...I suppose that makes sense... but...”

“Take your time with it!” June assured him.

“Yeah... I guess... I guess he hasn’t... really done anything...” Ciel had started mumbling at this point, which June took as her cue to leave him alone with his thoughts.