A Matter of Perspective [Wolfe]

First inside came a deep barking of a large dog, followed by footsteps and the door locks sliding open, a muffled voice telling the dog to 'settle the fuck down' before the door swung open, showing a tall, well built tanned man with slicked back short, dark hair, a well groomed mustache and goatee, visible tattoos and a tight shirt that showed off that this guy must work out...a lot.

His eyes swept Grayson up and down as one hand held back the collar of a large, mostly black German Shepherd who was now eagerly pulling and sniffing towards the man in the doorway.

"Hey, you must be Grayson." He nodded. "I'm Wolfe...come on in." he stepped aside.

The apartment inside had a short entryway that opened into a spacious living room that was decorated comfortably but functionally, a couple couches and a large TV, some travel and movie posters up on the walls and what looked like a healthy collection of books, movies and games. The sliding glass doors opened out onto a decent looking patio and a glimpse of palm trees down below as they were the second floor up.

"So yeah, here's the front, shared space and all that...I can show you the rest."

There was always something weirdly awkward about this, showing his house around to strangers who might ened up moving in with him...at least thsi guy wasn't picking off his crazy-radar....yet...so that was a good start. Some started pinging before they even got inside.

Grayson had to quell the instinctive skin crawl at the large voice of the dog on the other side of the door, he wasn't cripplingly scared of large dogs, but several bad run ins with guard dogs during his stint as a wanna be criminal had given him an instinctive need to bolt when he heard them bark. He swallowed this down enough to not show it when the man opened the door, and his eyes looked over the man who greeted him at about the same time that Wolfe's eyes took him in. He felt a sudden intimidation, this guy was huge, in just about every way, and he was suddenly aware of what a mess he was. His face indicated nothing, but he was definitely shocked.

He shook these thoughts away though and nodded, "yeah, bit late...Got fuckin' lost on the way." He shrugged it off as he stepped inside, taking in the spacious room from top to bottom, getting a lay of what was where and orientating himself to the new place.

He glanced over at him when he mentioned showing him the rest, nodding and following after him, "sure, thanks." This guy at least seemed fairly well put together, which didn't help him feeling like a disaster, but at least it would maybe give him some balance.

The dog trotted over, tail wagging wildly as he sniffed Grayson over. "Eeh he likes you!" Wolfe grinned. "That's a start, he doesn't like everybody. Hey...go lay down!" He ordered the dog, pointing to a dog bed on the opposite wall of the living. "Go lay down, we'll go out later." There was a stern note in his voice, but underlying affection in his voice for his dog. The dog trotted off and laid down, but still watched the pair with dejected eyes, like he'd been sent into exile.

"Okay. So kitchen's through here." he stepped into the open plan kitchen, a small dining table tucked at one side. "Two shelves in the fridge are yours, you get a couple of the cabinets too and can use all the dishes and shit."

He stepped back out into the main room again, pointing to a door opposite him. "That's my room." Then pointed to the opposite door. "This one's yours." He went forward and opened the door to an empty room. "Get your own bathroom, walk in closet, this is your space to do whatever the hell you want with." He stepped aside, letting Grayson go in and take a look if he wanted to.

Grayson smirked as he glanced at the excited dog, laughing softly, "man first time I been around one of these guys and they weren't chasin' me down..." He could remember running from guard dogs, being pinned and bitten, this guy seemed friendly as hell but the memory was still there, "glad he likes me, woulda' been a bit disconcerted if he didn't!" He laughed, following the man through to the kitchen as he nodded along with his words. He was sure those spaces would be filled soon enough, he grinned at him, "did I tell you I'm workin' as a five star chef out here?" He smirked at him, "hope you ain't adverse to home cooked meals." It would be a good chance to practice, at any rate.

When he showed him to the large empty room that would be his, he whistled appreciatively, "dang...This room is bigger'n my whole fuckin' flat growin' up...Even has working plumbing!" He chuckled, turning to him with a curious look, "any do's and dont's I oughta know about? Ground rules?" He figured it would be polite to know the place before living here.

"Hey, if the dog didn't like ya, it'd be a deal-breaker...his house too." Wolfe smiled but he wasn't really joking about it.

His interest seemed caught when Grayson said he was a chef. "No shit? Yeah that's some pretty solid points in your favor, man." He agreed.

He leaned against the doorway as the other man looked around. "Don't think the last guy clogged it up, so it should work." he laughed, but the comment caught his attention, wondering what sort of life he'd come from, maybe they had a bit more in common than first met the eye. There were mannerisms about Grayson that kinda reminded him of the people he grew up around and with...there were some things you didn't forget, some things you couldn't help but notice.

"House rules...eh, they basically boil down to don't be a fuckin' dick. If you smoke, do it outside. No drugs, you wanna get trashed drunk pass out in your room...you wanna bring people home I don't give a shit, do it in your room...and keep the porn sound effects to a minimum...and don't do shit like try to move a random person in there with you...eh...clean up after yourself and don't trash the main rooms, stay outta my room, I'll stay outta yours...rent's due the first of the month..." He ticked things off on his fingers as he went, then shrugged. "Think that about covers it. You know, just don't be an asshole roomie..." He tried to be a pretty easy guy to live around, he did his own thing and was happy to let whoever lived with him do theirs, as long as they weren't an obnoxious slob about it.

He chuckled, "that's fair, dog's are good at sensing that kinda shit anyway right?" It was endearing how much is sounded like this man loved his dog.

He perked up a bit however and nodded eagerly, "yeah! You tell me what you want and I can make it happen!" He chuckled, "went to school and everything, might as well put it to use here, right? Good practice at any rate!" It would keep him from ever getting rusty on his time off, plus he just had fun doing it.

He looked back at him with a wry smile, "hey man I grew up having to use the bathroom nearly a block away. This shit's luxury livin'." He didn't want to make himself sound like too much of a low class hooligan, but he couldn't deny where he'd come from for anything, it had left scars on him that ran miles deeper than the apparent ones on his body.

Grayson nodded as he listened to the man speak, making sure to take careful mental notes of his words, he knew he was likely to make little trouble, but it was nice to know where they stood and what he should be mindful of, "cool! Well I don't plan on making a nuisance of myself!" He chuckled and ran a hand through his hair, "so like...I told you stuff through email...But I don't really know you...Stands to reason we oughta not be strangers, right?" He offered a crooked grin and tilted his head.

"Hey." Wolfe held up a hand. "Growing up wasn't all rainbows and shit, I get it...kinda nice to have all the bells and whistles like real fucking people."

Grayson seemed to like the place, and both current residents of the house seemed to like him so it seemed as good a fit as they were likely to find over an internet ad sight. "So you like the place? Can have you sign the new lease re-up thing and all that shit and we'll be good." He just needed to actually hear from the other he wanted to do it. "YOu'd be able to start moving in early as today if you wanted, you like it it's yours."

He stepped out of teh doorway back to the kitchen where paperwork was if Grayson wanted it. "Eh I'm usually not home a lot. I tend bar about half the week, usually go out the other half of the week. Go for runs with the dog...he's Caesar by the way..." He shrugged slightly. "I mean that's the basics...what else you wanna know about me?" He was willing to be a reasonably open book, made for a better living situation if they weren't keeping important stuff from each other, and found out now if either of their lives held any crazy dealbreakers for the other.

He let out a soft chuckled and nodded, "understatement of the century." He did feel a little embarrassed being so enthralled by such basic things, he supposed that was strange to most people, "not squeamish right?" He chuckled and pulled his shirt up a bit to show him the scar that even years later looked a bit like hamburger, "I worked hard as fuck to get here. You ain't gotta worry about me blowing that." If he wanted to prove anything to this guy, it was that he was a hard worker.

He nodded and dropped his shirt back down when the man asked if he liked the place, "yeah! Definitely more than I expected from Craigslist!" He laughed at this, "but seriously, I'm good to sign whenever, thanks for giving me a chance, Wolfe." He'd need to get all his junk together and get everything else moved in, but his prospects in Vegas were already looking better.

"Ceasar, meant to ask his name!" He ran a hand through his hair, "you work bars?" He tilted his head, "like what kind?" He chuckled, "used to help my ma' out at her's...But that was a hole in the wall joint, imagine you work them fancy places here." He looked thoughtful, "think my gig's about thirty minutes from here? Big ass fancy place...Kinda nervous..." He laughed softly, "but excited!" He smirked, "like I said, you wont ever have to cook with me here, can promise you that!"

Wolfe let out a low whistle at the sight of the scars Grayson showed him, a newfound growing respect for the man forming...anyone who could survive something like that, no matter what caused it, and keep fighting...it was impressive. "Shit, man...that's a hell of a thing there."

He handed papers over, indicating the couple of spots Grayson would need to fill out. "YOu're not straight up striking me as some kinda crazy person...so yeah, we'll see how this goes." He said good naturedly, going to the fridge and returning with an energy drink can, which he cracked open.

He laughed and shook his head a little when asked about what kind of bar he worked in. "Nah man, I've worked little shit hole places before, but this is one of the fancy Ultra Lounge kinda places...you know, bottle tricks and neon lights and good looking girls doing acrobatic tricks on ropes up off the ground...you know...Vegas level stuff."

"Yeah we're about twenty minutes off the strip here. Close enough to go out, far enough away it's not in your backyard...works out pretty good...oh yeah, you get a parking space too, I'll show you which one is yours after this."

He nodded and laughed dryly, rubbing over the spot through his shirt, "I'm missing most of my guts now, or at least large portions of them..." He ran a hand through his hair with a frown, "take more pills in the morning than a fuckin 90 year old man. Least I'm kickin' though, eh?" Or attempting to, he realized, there was more to him than pills that he wasn't quite ready to share with this guy he'd just met, he'd figure it out on his own eventually anyway.

Grayson took the papers and nodded, slipping a pen from his shirt pocket to lean against the counter to start filling out the indicated spaces, "good to know." He smirked at him with a dry laugh, "I'll try and keep it that way." He promised, handing him over the papers when he'd finished signing them, feeling better now that it was all official.

He chuckled, "yeah, good location, I kind of dig being in this perfect middle ground!" He looked interested when he mentioned a parking space, nodding, "Oh yeah! I just parked in the first place for now, but show me where it is and I'll move!"

"Hey, that's saying something, man...known guys who didn't survive half as much as you did there." There was no mistaking the respect in Wolfe's voice now, no matter where else they ended up standing on other matters, someone who was as much of a survivor as this guy was deserved at least that much respect.

He took back the pages and set them on the counter. "I'll walk 'em down to the office, already told them I was renewing, but with a new guy here...so not gonna be any weirdness there." He knew some people tried shady shit, he didn't want Grayson to start out worrying about that kind of stuff off the bat.

"Yeah, come on, wanna walk out with me?" He gestured towards the door, grabbing up the paperwork again and heading for the doorway, grabbing a dog leash off the wall as he did, Caesar perked up instantly, trotting over to join Wolfe at the door, sitting expectantly at his feet, his tail wagging eagerly.

"I can show you around, where shit is." he offered, as he clipped on the leash.

Grayson shrugged it off, but couldn't help a small glow of pride at the respect in the man's voice, he wasn't used to it, "I'm never going to just lay down and fucking die." He smirked, "no matter how many holes you put in me." That gutshot hadn't been the first time he'd been shot, though no other time had been nearly as devastating as that, it had been the moment that turned him away from that life completely.

He nodded, feeling a bit of relief that Wolfe seemed to already have most of this bit straightened out, it took a load off of his own mind since he'd never roomed with another person before, much less one where he was living in someone else's space, "Cool! I wasn't too worried, but that is definitely a load off." He nodded in agreement.

At the offer he nodded, liking the idea of getting a proper tour of the place, "sure! Sounds good!" He eyed the dog that approached eagerly and chuckled, "be kind of cool living with a dog, I was never really able to have one growing up." There had been barely enough space for himself and his mother, much less adding a dog into the mix.

"I'm not planning on putting holes in you...but good to know." Wolfe chuckled a little bit.

He reached down, scratching behind the dog's ears as his large tongue lolled out happily, before springing to his feet as Wolfe opened the door, stepping out on the landing and holding it open behind him for Grayson.

"I didn't really have pets growing up either...there were the guard dogs...but you didn't pet 'em unless you wanted to be known as Ole Nine Fingers, y'know? This guy, he's a good guy...he didn't wanna be all aggressive, other guys didn't have a lotta use for him. So I took him with me." He shrugged a little. "He's got a big bark, that's usually enough."

He headed down the stairs into the bright sunlight, squinting a little against it. He pointed directly across at the covered parking, one spot sitting empty. "That'll be you, space number 53."