5. Welcome

Alex nervously fumbled around with the plastic back in his hands while trying to encourage himself to follow through with his plan.

In his mind it had sounded so much easier then it actually was but now that he was actually standing in front of mister Schneider's door he was terrified.

The man was probably still angry at him for what he had done a few days ago.

With a heavy sigh Alex took all his courage together and rang the bell.

Nothing happened for a few minutes, making him slightly anxious

But having learned, from his previous experience that mister Schneider seemed to take a while before answering the door, he decided to wait instead of ringing again.

When a few more minutes passed Alex was about to except that the man was either wasn't home or didn't feel like opening the door but then he heard shuffling noises and shortly after the door was opened.

"You." The older man grumbled, his deep, raspy voice sending shivers down Alex spine.

"Me!" He overly cheerful said and almost facepalmed himself for the stupid reply.

But what he saw then almost gave him a heart attack. Mister Schneider was actually smiling at him.

Well it wasn't really a smile, it was more like one corner of the mouth was a tiny bit higher then the other one but that was for some reason more then enough to turn Alex brain into mush.

"Uhm... you wanna come in or are you planning on growing rudes?" Ed asked, feeling quite uncomfortable by how the boy was looking at him.

But the boy just continued to stare at him with his wide eyes and blushing face.

After not getting an answer Ed sighed and just walked away towards his kitchen, leaving the door open so the boy could come in when ever his brain started to work again.

When Alex finally realized that the man was gone he hesitated for a moment but then decided to go into the apartment. He took off his shoes and walked towards the livingroom, expecting the guy to be there but when he didn't found him there he got confused.

Thankfully he heard the mister Schneider call out to him, telling him to come to the kitchen.

"Are you hungry." Ed asked while crouching down with a bowl of cat food in one hand and the other hand peting the little kitten that was rubbing against his leg.

"YES!" Alex eagerly replied, feeling happy that the man would offer him anything because at least in his mind meant that mister Schneider had no problem with him staying for at least a little while.

The older man put down the bowl and stood up again. With a slightly amused look he then said "I meant the cat."

Alex heart dropped and he looked down, he felt stupid for thinking mister Schneider had meant him.

Ed saw how disappointed the kid was and was about to ask him if he was also hungry but then remembered that he had actually nothing to offer.

He screeched his stumbled chin and thought of what else he could do to turn that frown upside down but then realized he actually had no idea what to do.

So instead he just ordered the kid to sit down while pointed at one of the folding chairs next to the kitchen table, hoping this would give him more time to think and make the situation less awkward for the both of them.

Ed turned around and grabbed his pack of cigarettes from the counter. After lighting one and taking a long drag, the nicotine managed to slowly calming his nerves.

Remembering that the smoke probably would bother the kid he blew it out in the direction of the open window.

Then without much thought he then turned on the old radio on the window sill.

"You uhm... seem to be in a better mood today." Alex commented, making Ed realize that he was humming the melody of the song that was playing.

"Don't get use to it. " The older man said with a look over his shoulder.

There was a heavy silence between them before he asked, with another look over his shoulder "Do you want some coffee?"

Alex hesitated for a moment but then nodded.

"Oh by the way i brought some food for the cat." He said and held out the plastic bag.

He leaned back in the chair and took in his surroundings while mister Schneider put away the cat food and got two mugs from the cabinet.

The kitchen was strangely not exactly what he had expected. Sure it was old and the wallpaper had turned yellow from all the cigarette smoke but otherwise it was actually pretty tidy.

There where even some plants on the windowsill and little animal porcelain figures here and there.

Alex wondered if the grumpy bear had bought them himself or if someone had gifted them to him.

When he looked around more he noticed some mail laying around on the table in front of him.

Alex took a closer look at one of the envelopes and saw mister Schneider's full name written on it.

"So your first name is Edgar?" He asked with a smile, feeling happy for finding out the guys first name.

"Yes but I prefer Ed." The older man grumbled and gave Alex a cup of lukewarm coffee.

He took a sip of it and almost spit it out again. He hadn't drunken a lot of coffees in his life but he still was fairly certain that this was probably the worst coffee in the entire world.

"Yeah I get that I also prefer being called Alex." He mumbled while whipping the bitter tasting sorry excuse of a cooffe from his lips.

Ed raised an eyebrow and took a big gulp from his mug.

"Then what's your actual name?"

"Uhm it's Alexei... but most people don't really know how to pronounce it so yeah." Alex explained and shrugged with his shoulders.

Ed just nodded and took another sip from his coffee.

They talked for about an hour, mostly about meaningless stuff like the weather, politics and tv shows before Alex had to go home for dinner.

"So uhm... can i come back?" Alex asked while putting on his shoes.

Ed thought about it for a moment but then nodded. "Sure but not to often."

Alex happily jumped up and saluted. "Yes sir!" He had meant it as a joke but Ed didn't seem to find it funny.

"Uhm well I better get going." He awkwardly stammered.

Ed again nodded.

"Yeah."

When Alex opened the door and stepped into the corridor he called out to the grumpy bear one last time before leaving.

"Good night Eddy!"

The man rolled his eyes and with a slight chuckle closed the door.