Marco Phoenix stood before room fourteen B with a package under his arm feeling like a fool for being nervous when it came to meeting his neighbor. The blond man wasn't the most sociable person around and he knew he looked intimating to others, but he liked people (hard not to when coming from a large family like his) so his first meetings with fellow humans tended to either go really well or really bad. Like, avoid the general area that person tends to haunt bad.
He should just leave it at the door and not knock but he was worried someone else might take it if he didn't give it to the rightful owner in person.
Marco had been living in the apartment complex long enough to know that packages tended to "disappear" if left alone for too long. Heavens knows the delivery people didn't care what happened to them as long as they brought the boxes to the correct address. It was the home owner's job to be there sign for it and if they weren't then too bad, it wasn't their responsibility anymore.
It was just this guy's bad luck that they delivered it to the wrong apartment, His to be in fact, leaving the package at the door of room thirteen instead of room fourteen which was right across from each other. Marco had found it after coming back from his work, a little surprised but not suspicious of it since his younger siblings had the tendency of ordering stuff online and using his account to do so, especially Haruta. That girl loved to order herself some Doujinshis whenever she could and their Pops was always going after her for getting too much.
As the saying goes, it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.
It wasn't until he brought the box inside and caught up with his school work- he was in college- did he realize the box was addressed to someone else and though the address was the same it wasn't his. He called his family members to be sure but none had ordered anything and had no idea what he was talking about- Izo did mention he was planning on ordering some new kimonos but that would be after he got paid- so Marco knew that it must have been his neighbor's.
Which lead to him standing in front of said door the next day, debating on whether he should suck it up and knock or leave the package to whoever saw it first. He really didn't have time for this, he had a class in thirty minutes and the drive was at least twenty minutes long to boot. The guy might not even be home too and he could just be staring at an empty apartment door.
He was making excuses.
Marco sighed but raised his hand when he realized he wasn't going to be able to sleep at night if he left now. His conscious would never let him hear the end of it, especially since the person probably had thought the box was his yesterday and had left it alone. His previous neighbors hadn't been that generous.
He heard loud steps coming to the door from inside and he tried to look as friendly as possible once the door swung open for him. The guy that answered was a young man, probably no more than twenty, with golden locks and light blue eyes that sparkled with intelligence. He wore a polite if cautious smile, as he studied Marco from head to toe. "Can I help you?"
Marco realized that the guy didn't find him intimating and with a soft smile he held out the box. "Hi, my name is Marco. I believe the News Coo. brought me your mail by mistake."
The blond blinked before reaching out to take the package. He read the label briefly than his face light up with joy. "It's here! Thank you very much for bringing this to me!"
He clutched the box to his chest happily as he looked up at the older man who was rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly feeling a little awkward since he didn't know what to say. "No problem yoi."
The other male grinned at him. "I've been waiting almost four weeks for this and was just about to write the company a very strongly written email about where it was. You saved them from a horrible fate."
Marco laughed despite himself "Happy to help. No one should ever receive the wrath of a strongly written email. It is every worker's true nightmare."
The younger snorted "I'm Sabo by the way. I just moved in last week so I still need to get everything worked out at the News Coo office. Thanks again for bringing this over for me, I've been looking forward to using it."
"Your welcome. Hope you like living here. I'm sorry to run off on you but I got to get to my afternoon class." Marco nodded at him politely before turning away a hand rose in farewell. He didn't mean to run out but he needed to go or he would be late. He only had three chances to miss said class, but he wanted to use those for emergencies only. He hopes he didn't seem rude to the blond.
Sabo returned the action as best he could with a box under his arm, calling out just as Marco was nearing the stairs. "If everyone is as cool as you I think I will!"
A full two weeks passed before Marco saw Sabo again. Though they lived with only a four feet difference they rarely saw each other since their schedules were usually made them miss the opportunity. Sometimes he got a glimpse of the other blond here and there but never enough to hold a conversation.
Marco was fine with that. He didn't see a reason to seek out his neighbor and strike up a conversation. They weren't friends by any means so trying to force a conversation would be awkward at best. Even though their first meeting hadn't gone too bad Marco didn't want to risk the chance of hating his neighbor again.
Hating Shanks for being too damn loud was bad enough. That red head didn't understand the noise level rule much to the chagrin of Marco and had always tried to get him to join the parties he threw. Not to mention he was drunk half the time Marco saw him.
He was just glad the other blond wasn't annoying in any way. He keeps odd hours- probably a student as well- but he didn't make too much noise, keep his trash away from Marco's bins and didn't park in his spot.
As far as the older blond was concern that was a good enough reason to like the kid, even though they only spoke with each other once.
He wasn't expecting their second meeting to go anything like it did. But then again fate had a funny way of making things happen
It was a late Friday afternoon when someone knocked on his door that drove him from his school work. Marco glanced up at his kitchen clock surprise to see that his brothers were two hours early for their monthly game of Dungeon and Dragons.
They meet up at each other's houses to play, rotating between who was hosting by who had arrived last. It was a family tradition, Marco, as the oldest, had started because he found he really enjoyed that fantasy game after giving it a try back in middle school. He was a giant nerd and no one outside the family needed to know that.
It was also a perfect excuse to get everyone together again, though with fourteen family members it wasn't really realistic that everyone could make it each time. Marco himself was guilty of missing quite a lot, especially with the new semester starting, after missing out on three nights in a row. Which was why he offered to have this month's game at his place.
He glanced at his unfinished pile with tired eyes, slightly wincing as he spotted the dishes in the kitchen sink. He had though he would have had more time to tidy up a bit before anyone showed. Maybe he should make a mad dash to clean up before opening the door…
The knocking grew louder and obnoxious which lead Marco to believe it was Thatch who shown up first. His younger brother didn't understand the word "patience" and sometimes- like now- that pissed him off quite a bit.
He wouldn't care though if his apartment was a little filthy at least.
With a put out sigh, he stood from his table that was nearly overflowing with papers. The blond had managed to get a decent amount done and he was glad for the break. There was a chance he would have to stay up a little later on Sunday to make sure everything was ready for his morning classes on Monday but it would be worth it.
Frankly, he was tired of sitting there and reading chapter after chapter until the words blur before his eyes. He would come back to this assignment when it made sense.
Stretching a bit as he stood the blond let out a small groan as his back popped loudly. He grimaces as the knocking coming from his front door gets louder, his guest no doubt using both their hands to violently hit the wood.
Probably just to piss him off.
He wanders over to the door not bothering to cover his bare chest. He hates having to wear a close shirt, so whenever he was home the college student tended to forgo a shirt altogether. His family was used to seeing him like this, every since he developed the habit of not buttoning his shirt way back when.
They liked to joke it was because he was secretly a bird inside and thus couldn't "be cage in the cloth, but was meant to be as free as the Phoenix within"
What could he say? He came from a family of dorks. (Even if they weren't blood retaliated at all)
The knocking turned into someone kicking his door. The frame shook with each hit. If it broke he was going to have to pay extra for the monthly rent, not to mention how much it would cost to get it fixed.
Marco almost saw red. He swung the door open a hard glare in place, mouth already opened ready to rip his brother a new one.
"Damn it, Thatch, stop-" Marco cut himself off as he realized three things.
One: This wasn't Thatch
Two: He didn't who this guy was.
And three: The man was not expecting Marco at all, looking like a deer caught in headlights.
His anger vanished when the last fact registered in his head. Well, this was interesting.
He leaned against the door watching in amusement as the other gaped at him, which was honestly flattering a bit, and discreetly observed the other as well. He liked what he saw.
The guy was younger than him, probably about twenty with raven locks licking at his jaw. His face was covered with freckles and his silver eyes were wide as they stared up at the blue ones. He seemed to be frozen in shock as if though he wasn't expecting someone to answer the door, or more accurately for Marco to be standing there.
The one he had been abusing a few seconds ago. His anger returns though it wasn't nearly as large as before. More like an annoyance.
The other was lucky he was cute.
Marco gave him a few seconds to recover before sending him a light frown. While his impression of a fish was hilarious it didn't excuse him from kicking his door. "Can I help you yoi?"
The guy blinked at him, before glancing down at a scrap piece of paper. "I, um- Is this, Moby Dick Lane 324?"
Marco hummed unimpressed "Yes, it is. Why the hell were you kicking the door?"
The guy winced a bit before mumbling "S-Sorry. I didn't mean to, interrupt you guys, um c-can you tell Sabo that I brought his-"
"Sabo?" Marco cut the other off, eyes lighting up in understanding. The stranger at his door was shifting side to side taking glances at his bare chest ever every now and then- probably scared he was some gangster because of his ink. A lot of people surprisingly had something against large tattoos around here- and nodded almost shyly.
"I swear if I knew that you would be over I would have waited for the time he said to meet up. The guy never told me he was seeing anyone-" Marco fought to keep his amusement from showing on his face. He made sure to keep his expression perfectly blank, as the other waved his arms around a bit in a panic matter.
His eyes seemed to be glued to the blond's chest. Marco tried not to puff up at that, while the other seemed to be unable to continue his line of thought.
Freckled cheeks burn as the raven haired male sighed defeated, before thrusting out his hand at the blond with a cold smile. "You break my brother's heart and I'll be sure to break you. By the way, my name's-"
"Ace?" Sabo called from his door, watching as his supposed brother froze solid in shock "What are you doing?"
Marco couldn't take it anymore and busted out laughing as the horror creep up into the silver eyes before him. "I think you have the wrong room, yoi."
Yes, the second time he spoke to his neighbor was when his brother got the wrong apartment number and made quite the first impression.
