Author's Note: Written for OCDdegrassi for the Pi Day Exchange. Hope you like this!

Also written for…

Weekly AU Competition. Prompt: Neighbor!AU

PayDay Competition. Prompt: "Will it fit?!"

Being Neighborly

There wasn't much Percy loved than a nice, quiet morning at home. He had so few of them since his promotion that he reveled in the time he got to spend reading the paper over a breakfast that didn't consist of a drive-thru, or relaxing in the garden with a good book.

He was looking forward to the summer for that exact reason. He'd saved up all his vacation time until the weather was nice enough that he could spend an entire day outside without shivering once, then took a month off work.

The first few days had been spent visiting with his parents and siblings, and now that they weren't hounding him with calls and texts, he was finally prepared to sleep in and avoid as much human contact as possible.

:-:

The sound of a truck backing up woke Percy early in the morning. He groggily stumbled out of bed and poked his head out of the open window, watching bleary-eyed as a moving van backed into the driveway of the house beside his. He groaned, roughly shutting the window and heading back to bed.

The next four hours were filled with a variety of bangs and crashes and shouts of "Will it fit?!" emanating from next door, and Percy spent every minute of it staring at his bedroom ceiling, seething with anger.

:-:

The rest of the week hadn't gone much better. The mornings would be quiet, but the afternoons were filled with shouting and hammering, and the evenings brought loud music.

The ninth day started out well enough. Percy enjoyed a peaceful breakfast before heading into the back garden with a glass of lemonade and his latest mystery novel.

He hadn't even been outside for ten minutes before a football came whizzing over the fence, hitting him in the chest. He rolled off the lounge chair onto the grass, groaning loudly.

"Sorry!" shouted a male voice. Percy thought he detected a Scottish accent.

He looked up in time to see a hand waving wildly over the top of the fence. "Mind tossing the ball back when you get a moment?"

He would've rather thrown the ball in the garbage rather than put it back in such dangerous hands, but he wasn't up for a confrontation while on holiday. So he trudged over to the fence with the ball in hand while his other hand rubbed his sore chest.

"Watch where you throw that thing," he said sourly, dropping it over the fence.

"Right, thanks!"

Percy rolled his eyes, heading back to retrieve his book and glass that had been tipped over in the commotion. He spent the rest of the day inside with an ice pack.

:-:

The next time Percy came in contact with a football, it was flying through his kitchen window while he was making dinner.

He dove through the doorway the moment he heard the glass break, afraid of a wayward bird or someone throwing stones. When a minute passed without any more attacks, he emerged to survey the damage. Glass shards littered the counter and floor, he'd accidentally knocked over the salad he'd just finished making, and there was a football in his sink.

He snatched the ball and stomped out the back door, trying to decide whether he was going bounce it off his neighbor's head or give it to the pit bull across the street.

"Hi, excuse me, I think you've got our ball."

Percy dropped the ball and jumped back against the door, surprised by the black woman sitting atop his fence.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you." She smiled at him, hopping down from the fence and picking up the ball. "I was just heading over to see about the ball-"

"It went through my window," he said angrily, jabbing a finger in its direction. The woman shook her head at the empty window frame.

"Sorry," she said again. "We're training a new center forward. I'll tell her to ease up. And I'll send Ollie over to deal with your window."

Percy didn't get a chance to question who Ollie was before the woman was up and over the fence again.

He trudged back into the house and started sweeping up the mess before he was interrupted by a knock at the front door. He wasn't expecting the woman again – clearly everyone from that house was opposed to using the front door.

The man at the door was young and lean and shirtless, and Percy could stop himself from taking notice. The man also seemed very familiar…

"Hey, I'm Ollie. Angelina said we took out your window?" He had a Scottish accent.

"Uh, yeah." Percy squinted at him. "Ollie?"

"Yeah, your new neighbor? Sorry, I guess I should've come by to introduce myself sooner. Been so busy with training it slipped my mind." He smiled, leaning on the door frame.

Finally Percy's brain started working again, putting together all the pieces. Oliver Wood, the new superstar goalie that all of Percy's brothers seemed to be obsessed with, if their ramblings were anything to go by.

"I, um, I'm Percy," he stuttered, smiling awkwardly.

"Well, nice to meet you, Percy. Now how about we get this window business sorted out?"

Percy led the man through the house quickly, and very carefully. He couldn't take his eyes off the bare-chested athlete standing in his kitchen.

Oliver whistled, inspecting the window. "Jeez, I'm really sorry. I keep telling Katie to ease up on her kick." He turned back to the redhead. "I'll cover the cost to replace it, of course. Just send me the bill."

"Right, thanks." Percy was about to make an attempt at being neighborly and offer Oliver water or tea when there was shouting and banging next door.

Oliver glanced at Percy guiltily. "Have you been getting a lot of that lately?"

Percy shrugged. "It's not that bad."

"Don't sugarcoat it, please. We must be horrible. The team's been over all week – they helped me move in, it was only fair. I'll have them out tonight, I promise."

"Tell you what: go out to dinner with me tomorrow night and your friends can stay as long as you like." He wasn't sure where the sudden burst of confidence had come from, but he was sure Fred and George would be proud. They'd been trying to get him to be more outgoing for years.

Oliver grinned at him, crossing his arms over his chest. "And the window?"

"We can talk about that over dinner."

"Well, I don't see how I can say no to such a generous offer."

Percy chuckled nervously. "Just being neighborly."