Baby (Boy) Toy at 2229 Custody Lane -- (Author) ThickNCrinkly

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Author: ThickNCrinkly
Timestamp: May 12, 2025 at 7:53 AM
Content: IRL context: I've never written a story before. This is just a fun idea I was thinking of. The first Chapter is just a raw cut. I'll edit and refine, would love to hear your additions and advice. Let's make it a community story!! I have some ideas for future chapters...if y'all are into the story I'd love to collaborate

Story context: A 20-something male looking for housing. He finds an opportunity with 3 women and a specific landlord.

Chapters:
Chapter 1 - The Application
Chapter 2 - The Introduction
Chapter 3 - The Folly
Chapter 4 - The Insinuation
Chapter 5 - The Inspection
Chapter 6 - The Plan

Chapter 1 - The Application

“I never thought it would be so hard to find a place to live with this salary,” I thought to myself as I looked through Craigslist listings for housing. “Surely a 9-5 remote job paying me $120k would afford a decent spot in the city…”

“Near the metro…check”
“Near a Trader Joes…check”
“$2,500 per month? Ugh, no!”
I explored potential apartments for weeks without success until suddenly…’This could be perfect!’ I thought to myself.

~~Three high achieving recent grads seeking new roommate in 4 bed//3 bath apartment downtown. Rent is super reasonable as long as you’re not weird! $900/month; must be friendly and CLEAN!~~ read the listing.

I immediately requested to view the unit and met Tammy, Liza, and Rachel at their apartment at 2229 Custody Lane. They were very open to new applicants and after reviewing my career as a software developer, desire to move to the city center, and vegetarian status, invited me to tour the apartment.

I was shocked as I walked into the seemingly brand new unit; fully furnished with brand new amenities, a sauna, a hot tub (!) and parking.

Liza made a point of dipping my finger into the hot tub to show me it worked as she said “We love having parties out here with our friends, you’ll love it! Tammy and Rachel and I love relaxing out here, you could join too!”

As Tammy showed me around the kitchen and utility room she noted how the laundry was ultra efficient. “We try not to waste too much water and energy…are you ok limiting your laundry?”

“Of course,” I replied, hoping to win their favor and get a spot in the apartment.”

Rachel helped show me around the basement, which was mostly storage but had a few seeming baby play-pens and mobiles. “These are mostly from the previous tenant,” she said. “But the storage down here is awesome! If you have any big things to store we can put them down here!”

“And here is your bedroom,” as Rachel concluded the tour. It was a quite although small room, seemingly without a bathroom. “This would be your room,” she said with a smile, while rubbing my arm!

I glanced around the reasonably large room, which seemed painted an oddly childish pastel blue. I noted “there isn’t a bathroom in this room, like you all have?”

“Oh yes or course,” Rachel said. “This bedroom doesn’t have a bathroom. It’s not a big deal, you’ll just share with us!”

“Wait so you all have a bathroom and I don’t?” I began to inquire…suddenly Tamy and Liza swung their head around the door. “You love it, don’t you?? We cant wait to have you move in!!”

Their blatant enthusiasm convinced me, especially given the price, and I eagerly signed the lease for the move-in next week.

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Author: ThickNCrinkly
Timestamp: May 12, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Content:

Diaperman0723 said:

I can't wait to see what kind of trouble comes up in this story.

[End of quote]

Plenty of trouble planned, don't worry!

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Author: ThickNCrinkly
Timestamp: May 12, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Content: Still looking for guidance, here's a bit of chapter 1 beefed out. Is it too much? Sometimes I feel like stories pre-amble too much... maybe I got carried away....

I never thought it would be so hard to find a place to live with this salary,” I thought to myself as I scanned through Craigslist for housing. “Surely a 9-5 remote job paying me $120k would afford a decent spot in the city…”

“Near the metro…check”
“Near a Trader Joes…check”
“$2,500 per month? Ugh, no!”
It had already been weeks of searching for an apartment without success and I was getting desperate. I know I was late to the housing search but COME ON! Surely there must be something decent left. I was about to look at long-term rentals on VRBO or AirBNB when suddenly I saw a new posting…’This could be perfect!’ I thought to myself.

~~Three high achieving recent grads seeking new roommate in 4 bed//3 bath apartment downtown. Rent is super reasonable as long as you’re not weird! $900/month; must be friendly and CLEAN!~~ read the listing.

I immediately requested to view the unit through an Craigslist address, identifying myself exactly as they would hope for – a totally normal young professional male, friendly and outgoing, but looking for low cost housing. Less than an hour later I received a response.

“Hello, this is the landlord on behalf of the tenants. They would like to meet you in person before consummating the lease. -Bic”

Knowing how infrequent it was to find housing, especially at this rate, I agreed to meet immediately and rode the bus out to the address, 2229 Custody Lane. While walking from the bus to the apartment I admired the gorgeous cul-de-sac seemingly magically nestled in the heart of the city. I walked by a dozen restaurants, bars, and and convenience stores in the ¼ mile walk from the bus station to the apartment, dreaming of my life here at such a price.

The ‘apartment’ itself was anything but. I had seen photos of the interior but it was actually a clearly freshly-constructed duplex. As I walked to the front door I noticed a full pool and hot tub in the back yard, as well as a plot of land for a garden. The house itself was beautiful, standing three stories tall, with four small porches on the 2nd and 3rd story of each side of the house. The lavender colored trim accenting the white siding was a bit ‘Spring’ for my taste; but who am I to complain?

I had arrived a few minutes early and knocked lightly on the door to see if anyone was home. Hearing no response I sat down on the bench porch and waited for a few minutes while playing a game on my phone. Although I was still three minutes before I agreed to meet with my prospective new roommates I decided to knock on the door again, a bit more forcefully.

At the third knock I almost threw myself forward as the door barged open; a middle-aged woman seemed startled as I almost fell into her. I quickly recovered and explained myself, “Hello! Pleasure to meet you, I’m the prospective new tenant. The landlord asked that I meet you all before signing the lease! Sorry I’m a few minutes early!”

She responded, “No need to apologize hun, I’m the ‘landlord,’” she said, mocking my intonation. “You’ve been knocking on the wrong door unfortunately! I’m sure the gals are up at this hour, let me introduce you!” She grabbed my hand and pulled me across the porch to the other door of the duplex.

Caught off-guard I followed behind her, answering “Oh thank you miss…?”

“Ohh you’re too cute. You can call me Miss Tracy,” she grabbed my hips and forced me in front of her as she rapped her knuckles on the door. “They’re going to love you,” she whispered in my ear. “Hands behind your back like a gentleman now!” Miss Tracy grabbed both of my wrists and tucked them behind my back as the front door of the other side of the duplex opened.

As the door opened I heard a light voice laughing as they said “this must finally be him!” A blonde-haired face with a smile peered around the door as it opened and they said “Oh hello Miss Tracy! I didn’t realize you were chaperoning our prospective new housemate!”

“Oh sorry, no Tammy. No chaperoning today. He was just knocking on the wrong door and I brought him over to you. I have some errands to run, but just let me know if you’re satisfied with him. I’ll be back in an hour to sign the lease!” The exchange caught me in a bit of shock, when suddenly Miss Tracy gently pushed me into Tammy, who instinctively caught me as I lost my balance. “Ok we’ll let you know how he does Miss Tracy! He feels like a keeper!” Tammy grinned at me after catching me and whipped me into the house, swiftly closing the door behind her.

Tammy deftly guided me through the door and into the front hall. In my shocked state at the exchange which just occurred and beauty of the unit I let her position me facing the house, gently grabbing my shoulder to keep my hands behind my back as Miss Tracy had them. I admired the grand staircase with elegant molding along the baseboards and chestnut floorboards extending to the second floor above. As my gaze rotated to the rest of the view I took in the grand chandelier, fairly modern with LED bars rather than incandescent bulbs located in the midst of the two floors. There was also a hallway extending to the rest of the house through which I could see two doorways on my left and a kitchen. “Wow…this place is nice,” was all I could muster.

Tammy giggled and said “it has that effect on a lot of people!” She grabbed on of my hands and circled in front of me, tugging me down the hallways toward the second door. “My roomies will be down in a second, they’re just getting ready. We’re going to interrogate you in the common room, come on!”

As Tammy tugged me forward I lost a bit of my shock at the beauty of the apartment, stammering “I-interrogate me?”

Tammy turned her head briefly, blonde hair lilting around her head as she grinned, “I just mean we’ll ask you a few questions silly. Nothing serious!” She turner her head back forward as she led me into the common room, saying “We really like you’re profile! A young coder like you, whatever that means…looking for a calm place in the middle of the city!” Tammy gently placed me down on the couch.

I was somehow more in shock after sitting down and taking in their common room, which was anything but common. I was sitting on one of two large sofas, complete blankets and throw pillows. Their enormous TV sat on an elegant stand, laden with books. As I sank into the couch I noticed how their blankets felt immediately familiar to my childhood waffle-knit blanket.

“Don’t forget vegetarian!” chimed in another voice. “I’m Liza,” I heard as a beautiful auburn-haired face peeked around the corner. “And we love a veggie-boi,” she concluded. “Rachel should be down in a minute for our house meeting. Sorry we’re so disorganized!”

“Oh don’t worry about it!” I said instinctively.

“I told you we’re a mess!” joked Tammy in response.