Chapter Text
'Apartment 3B is falling apart.'
That's the first thing you think as the bottom of the box threatens to give out halfway up the stairs.
Sweat slips down your neck and the hallway smells like someone microwaved old takeout - again.
You give the box a final shove with your knee, but it only makes it tilt more dangerously.
Then a voice, low and flat speaks to you.
"Yer gonna drop that."
You jump.
You may only have moved into this apartment complex a few weeks ago, but you already know the man the voice belongs to.
He's your neighbor, his apartment door right opposite of yours.
You don't know his first name, you haven't even spoken to him yet since he seemingly is barely home, but the name plate on his door is gracious enough to give you his last name.
Riley.
He's tall, hulking, the kind of presence that fills a space just by existing in it.
His door is open just a crack, just enough for him to watch - his face concealed by a black surgical mask and a cap deeply pulled down into his face.
You force a polite smile.
"Yeah, well, I'm trying not to."
He steps out without another word, grabs the box like it weighs nothing and carries it up the last few stairs leading to the third floor your, and his, apartment is on.
No grunt, no ask, just does it.
"Thanks." you say as you follow behind him, fumbling for your keys.
"I think it has my coffee maker in it, I didn't want to risk breaking it..."
He doesn't respond and just sets the box down in front of your door before he already turns around to take the three steps in the hallway leading to his door.
"Hey - wait!" You try to keep your voice light, friendly.
"Can I offer you something as a thanks? It's the least I can do."
Mr. Riley glances over his shoulder, eyes like wet gravel.
He looks you up and down for a moment, his sharp brown eyes making you uncomfortable as they take you in.
Then he just turns back around, vanishes in his apartment as he closes the door shut without uttering a single word.
You're left standing in the hallway for a moment as you process what just happened.
Right. Okay then.
You blink, shift your weight, then turn back to your door and drag the box inside.
It lands with a thud that echoes in the silence of your mostly unfurnished apartment.
You shoot one more glance at his door across the hall.
Nothing, not even footsteps.
You close the door behind you, lock it.
Inside, you wrestle the coffee maker out of the box.
No damage, miraculously, despite your struggle to get it up several flights of stairs in great effort since the elevator is out of order ever since before you moved in.
You tell yourself he probably just doesn't like people.
That's fine.
You don't need to be best friends with the guy next door.
Still, you chew your lip as you set up your machine.
You're not sure what bugs you more - the coldness, or the way his eyes didn't blink when he looked at you.
He made you feel like you were something hanging on a hook in a butcher shop.
You wash away the weird feeling his gaze left on your skin, and the sweat clinging to it, under a hot shower.
The water turns cold after only a few minutes though, leaving you with cold water to finish showering before you turn into a block of ice.
At least your sheets are soft when you lay down for sleep a few hours later so you have enough energy for work the next morning.
Being a secretary to an asshole of a boss wasn't your first choice job wise but it was all you managed to get in this brutal job market.
You even had to move out of your small town to live in the big city or at least the outskirts of it which doesn't seem to make rent any less expensive.
But that doesn't matter now, at least not for a few more hours, because you're off work and home - until tomorrow morning.
You pull your blanket further up until it's right below your chin, cold sweeping in through the cracks of the old wooden window frames.
Outside, late autumn wind whispers in the streets - occasionally pressing a few stray leaves against the windows in your apartment or swaying some raindrops against the glass.
It's cold outside, it has been for weeks.
Occasional rain muddies the street, making fallen leaves stick to any surface they can.
It makes your way to work even more unpleasant than usual, forcing you to take an umbrella with you every morning while hoping you will never have to use it.
Due to the weather, you ended up entering the office with wet feet from puddles more often than you'd like to admit and feeling so cold every morning that you'd shiver involuntarily at the warmth the office provided.
But for now you can enjoy your blanket warming you up, gathering your body heat under it.
You can enjoy the warmth, enjoy the feeling of your muscles relaxing on top of your soft mattress while your eyelids grow heavier.
Soon enough you fall asleep.
After your alarm clock rips you out of your sleep the next morning, you get ready and enjoy a hot cup of coffee from your new coffee maker before you exit your apartment.
You lock the door securely, though you are sure if someone tried to break the old door down it wouldn't take too much effort.
Another resident, one from a story below, tries to stop you in the stairwell - again.
He's probably two decades older than you and hasn't really seem to have gotten the hint that you are not interested in him.
He's tried to ask you out and make advances on you ever since you moved in, you always excuse yourself by saying you're in a hurry even if you're not.
That guy is just a creep and you only want to avoid him.