Summary: He's the worst person. Honestly. He's been living in her apartment building for three weeks, yet he thinks he owns the building. AU One-Shot. LP.
AN: So apparently this is what happens when you've been writing emotional LP for months; you write the silliest LP once you've finished the emotional one. It's just a simple one-shot, LP as neighbours. I hope you like it and thank you for reading!
Kaleidoscope of Loud Heartbeats
He's the worst person.
Honestly.
He's been living in her apartment building for three weeks, yet he thinks he owns the building.
He's a morning person, which really, is already enough to piss her off. He keeps padding through his place at six in the morning, moving chairs and making breakfast and what not, completely ignoring the wellbeing of his downstairs neighbour in the process.
Plus, he snatched her newspapers for a few days when he first moved in. As if she telling him she only reads the paper in the evening gave him permission to take it in the morning and deliver it on her door mat by noon.
And his friend, at least that's what she thinks he is, keeps making eyes at her whenever she sees him in the hallway.
She's also pretty sure he stole a cab from her once, though she has to admit that she's not entirely certain he saw her leaving the building. But still.
He's the worst. Absolute worst.
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.
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Her staircase is narrow, almost too narrow for two people on it to pass each other comfortably.
It's only logical that he moves back into a hallway when she's climbing the stairs and he's going down, right?
Except that he's carrying a heavy box and just really wants to get downstairs as quick as possible, but somehow, she's too stubborn to realize that as she stares him down.
"Are you even serious right now?" He mutters under his breath, moving out of the way.
She realizes it too late, starts an apology but he's already passed her, a frustrated never mind thrown her way.
She thinks he could've at least accepted her apology.
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Brooke's at her place one evening, trying to persuade her best friend to go out.
"Come on, P. It's Saturday evening and we're living in New York. Do you really wanna stay in and rant about your stupid neighbour all night?" She asks, shaking her head at Peyton.
She's not ranting about him, she's sure of that, but whatever.
And, honestly, is it her fault that she keeps bumping into him and that he always, always has that stupid smirk on his face. God knows why he does it, but she can't stand it.
Eventually, they do leave and of course they walk into him. She practically does every time she leaves her home these days. Peyton starts on another rant as soon as they are out of view.
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She's in the couch, watching reruns of Friends when there's a knock at the door. She hopes to God it isn't her upstairs neighbour standing in front of her door.
It isn't. It is, however, the guy she's seen him with about a dozen hundred times.
Peyton tilts her head a little, "Hi?"
The man smirks back at her and she swears that smirks looks exactly like the one her neighbour wears all the time. "Hi. I'm Nathan, Lucas' brother."
So that explains the smirk.
"Okay?"
"Yeah, so this is gonna sound incredibly lame, but… Do you maybe have some sugar you can lend us?" He asks and Peyton's eyebrows shoot up. This feels like the biggest cliché ever. Nathan elaborates before she can answer, "You see, my wife and my brother decided to make dessert or whatever, only to realize that the idiot was out of sugar, like halfway into making it."
Peyton shakes her head a little in disbelief before opening her door for Nathan, "I'll get you some. Come on in."
He smiles at her, "Thanks."
She walks into the kitchen to get some sugar, Nathan sort of trailing behind her. She just gotten the sugar out of the cabinet when she remembers something he just said,
"You have a wife?" She asks, only realizing how that sounded after she blurted it out.
He looks at her in confusion, "I do. Why?"
She shrugs, "You always like, almost stare at me whenever we cross each other in the hallway. That combined with the smirk that seems to be a family trademark seemed, you know…" She lets her sentence trail, makes a vague gesture with her hand.
He laughs loudly and she can't help but roll her eyes. "God no. I mean, you look great and all, but I am very happily married. It's just… I keep wondering why Lucas hates you so much. I guess that's why I seem to stare sometimes, I'm trying to figure it out."
Peyton raises her eyebrows, "He hates me?"
Nathan chuckles. "Are you surprised?"
She is, actually.
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Peyton stumbles upon the cosy book shop by accident.
She's just been wandering through her neighbourhood, waiting for Brooke who was running late and not wanting to go back to her place.
It's a complete surprise when she notices Lucas standing behind the counter, helping out a lady with her purchase.
She's tempted to simply turn around and walk out, but she's pretty sure he's noticed her already and that would just be too rude. She dislikes him, but she's decided not to make it too obvious anymore.
He leaves her to roam the place in silence for about five minutes, then he's shows up next to her,
"Can I help? You want any advice on what to pick?" He asks, and smiles at her.
She tries for a smile back, "I'm good, thank you. Just looking around."
He simply nods at her and lets her wander around some more. Eventually, Peyton picks up a Toni Morrison novel and walks towards the counter. She can't really leave the shop empty-handed, buying a cheap novel is the least she can do.
"I didn't know you worked in a book shop." She says while she pays for her book.
He looks at her and shrugs a shoulder. "Own it, actually. Besides, there's a lot you don't know about me." He replies, a bit cheeky, and watches her let out a scoff.
"I know you hate me. That seems like enough to know."
He doesn't know why she thinks he does, because he doesn't, really. She's annoying, sure, but she's also sort of interesting. And well, he's not going to lie, she's hot as hell.
Still, though, he replies, "Likewise."
She rolls her eyes at him and leaves his shop.
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He's about to leave for work, grabbing the last of his things, when there's an insistent knocking on his door.
When he goes to open it, Peyton stands before him, all flustered and worked-up.
"Peyton? Everything okay?" He asks, though it's clearly not.
She's about to snap, asking him whether he thinks she looks okay, but instead shakes her head and takes a breath. "I have an important meeting in twenty minutes and my apartment is this close of flooding." She says and holds her fingers a few inches apart.
"Your apartment's flooding? What do you mean? What happened?"
She throws her hands up in the air in frustration, "I don't know! All I know is that my sink started leaking and now it's about to break down and destroy my apartment. I called some of my friends but none of them can help me right now and I really, really need to get to that meeting, but I also really, really don't want my apartment ruined. So," She says and takes another deep breath, "can you help me?" She asks, and adds a please for good measure.
He nods and motions for her to lead the way to her apartment.
He studies her sink for a few moments once they're inside, Peyton impatiently tapping her fingers on a nearby table.
"Can you fix it? Or do I need to call a plumber?"
Lucas shakes his head, "No, I can fix it, I think." He tells her. He's not an excellent plumber or anything, but he knows his way around and this doesn't seem too difficult. "It's gonna take me more than a couple minutes, though."
Peyton groans in frustration. She needs to be on time for her meeting; she can't miss out on the contract with this new artist at her gallery. She honestly does not have time to wait until Lucas is done fixing her sink.
He speaks up, "Look, I know we don't get along well and you have no reason to trust me, but I promise you that you can leave for your meeting right now, I'll fix your sink, close up and when you get home, you can just pick up your key at my place. I won't touch anything. Except for, well, your sink, of course." He says, scratches the back of his neck, and looks expectantly at her.
She contemplates it for a moment, thinks that if she leaves right now, she can make it to the gallery just in time. She nods at him and starts grabbing her things.
"Don't touch anything. Make sure everything's locked up when you leave." She says and starts scribbling on a piece of paper. "This is my number, call if there's anything."
He smiles at her, "Got it."
She nods again, "Okay." She says and Lucas turns his attention backs towards the sink. She calls out for him right before she leaves, "Lucas?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you. Really."
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She picks up her key later that day, her sink all fixed up.
She thanks him again; he simply smiles at her and tells her she's welcome. Still, she says, she owes him at least a drink for helping her out like that.
He has plans that night, but makes sure to tell her that he'll take up on that offer some other time.
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He knocks on her door three days later, hopes that her offer still stands.
She's in her PJ's already, and she really doesn't feel like getting changed again and leaving her home. She does, however, invite him in and offers him a beer.
He doesn't say no to that.
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"So, why do you think I hate you? Is it just because you hate me?" He asks, after a couple minutes of small talk, both nursing a beer.
She ponders it for a moment, "I don't hate you, you fixed my sink." She says sweetly and he has to let out a laugh at that. She continues then, "Your brother told me."
"Nathan told you I hate you?" He asks, his eyes squinted.
Peyton nods, "He did."
"Well, I don't."
"No?" She asks, getting more comfortable in her spot on the couch and tucking her legs beneath her.
He smiles, "No. You're annoying, absolutely, but I don't hate you."
Her eyes go wide, "I'm annoying? How about you, Mr. I-wake-up-at-six-and-annoy-all-my-neighbours-every-morning."
Lucas just laughs at that. See, annoying. "You sometimes forget to shut off your alarm and it keeps going until noon, how's that for annoying?" He retorts.
"That happened like, twice!" She exclaims, getting all worked-up. Lucas, on the other hand, is practically cracking up and soon, she can't help but match his laughter.
When they've both sobered up a bit, he asks,
"Now that we've both established that we at least don't hate each other, what was your urgent meeting about the other day?"
She smiles at him and starts telling him about her gallery and the new artist who will soon exhibit some of her art there.
He stays until one AM and yeah, she doesn't really hate him anymore.
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"What's on your mind, P. Sawyer?" Brooke asks, getting Peyton's attention by digging her toes in the blonde's thigh.
She's been at Peyton's place for about two hours now and her best friend has barely said anything. Granted, they started a Modern Family marathon, but she's noticed that the show hasn't been able to keep Peyton's attention either.
Peyton smiles and answers, "Nothing. Just watching TV."
Brooke scoffs, "Yeah, right. I did not leave my comfy bed and my boyfriend for you to not tell me what's going on."
"You're such a good friend, you know, leaving Julian and all that just for me." She laughs. Brooke only gives her a look that means as much as speak up, now. "It's really nothing. I've just been thinking about Lucas a little."
The brunette's eyebrows raise sky-high, "Lucas, the annoying neighbour? The one you called, and I quote, 'the absolute worst'?" She asks with an amused smile.
Peyton sighs, "Yeah, that one."
It's honestly nothing, she tries to convince herself. They had a couple drinks and yeah, they had a nice evening. But that's it. The fact that she's been thinking about him pretty regularly doesn't mean anything, really, even if it's not in the usual my neighbour is so goddamn annoying kind of way.
She's also pretending that she hasn't noticed how damn good-looking he
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She should've known better than to tell Brooke that she's come to the conclusion that Lucas may actually not be the absolute worst.
Brooke keeps mentioning it, and she keeps pushing Peyton to ask him out.
As she has told her best friend multiple times now, that's not what she wants at all, but Brooke doesn't seem to care much about that.
She's just come home from the gallery, and it's so hot in her apartment, first thing she does is open the window that leads to the fire escape. She didn't expect to see Lucas standing on the fire escape, a storey lower. She swears she sees him all the time now, it's not even normal anymore.
He hasn't seen her, though, as he's talking to someone sitting on the window-sill. Peyton can't really hear what they're saying, so she's not exactly eavesdropping, but still. She knows she should probably get back into her apartment. Only, then, he pulls up the girl sitting on the window-sill and wraps her up in his arms.
The hug seems so intimate, it feels wrong to look at them for too long.
She didn't know he had a girlfriend. She tries not to be disappointed.
For a while after she gets back in her kitchen she's tempted to grab a bucket of water and pour it down on him, but she has to admit he didn't really do anything wrong and she doesn't have much of a reason to do such thing.
It's not like she even really likes him, anyway.
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A couple days later, she crosses him in the hallway when she comes back from work, but barely looks up from her phone to greet him. It's only when he reaches out a hand to catch her attention that she really looks up.
"Hey, I'm glad we run into each other, I just went by your apartment. You obviously weren't there." He says with a silly smile.
Her brow furrows, "Why were you… Do you need something?" She asks, confused.
"I uh, I just wanted to see how you were doing." Lucas says and tries to catch her eyes, but she's looking everywhere but at him. "And I was wondering if you, maybe, would like to go out some time. Like, for a drink or something. Or dinner. You know."
That makes her look at him. "Why? You have a girlfriend." Peyton says before she can catch herself. Why does she keep blurting out stuff like that? Though, really, why is he asking her out when he has a girlfriend?
Lucas' eyes go wide, "I'm sorry?"
Peyton closes her eyes for a second. She can't believe this. "You have a girlfriend, right? I saw you. On the fire escape. A couple days back." She's aware that she basically sounds like an idiot right now, and she would actually really give money for him to just walk away now and never talk to her again.
Of course, that's not what happens.
"Um, yeah, I think that's Haley that you saw. She's my best friend and Nathan's wife, actually." Lucas explains and she really feels like an idiot now.
"Oh."
"Yeah."
She embarrassedly mutters something he can't understand and walks away before he can say something else.
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Peyton's inside her apartment for about five minutes when there's a knock on the door.
She's really, really tempted not to open it.
She does, however, and she feels like the craziest person in the world when she faces Lucas. He only smiles, though, and asks her again how she feels about a drink or dinner.
She rolls her eyes at the whole situation and tells him that yes, she'd like dinner.
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"So, how does this work? I walk you to your door now?" Lucas asks, grins really, while he holds the door of their building for her.
She laughs, "That does seem like the gentlemanly thing to do, yeah."
He lets her lead the way into the building, but stops when he notices something in the hallway,
"Hey, your newspaper's still here." He says and hands her the paper when she turns around.
"Yeah, I forgot to pick it up when I got home. I didn't have time to read it yet, anyway." Peyton tells him and sees an idea forming in his head. "Just because I read my paper in the evening does not mean that you get to steal it again. I haven't forgotten."
He laughs and follows her onto the staircase. In his defence, he only did it a few times, only because he knew she didn't read it until the evening, and only because his own subscription hadn't started yet.
They reach her apartment, and she's suddenly nervous, though she probably shouldn't be. She keeps reminding herself that it was just a simple dinner, and he's still her annoying neighbour, but really, who's she kidding? He's sweet, and funny, and smart, and yeah, well. She's not yet saying that he's not absolutely annoying anymore, but you get the picture.
Peyton looks at him expectantly, wonders what he's going to say, but instead he smiles softly, leans in and kisses her. She's not really surprised, and kisses back, her hand coming to rest on his arm.
She smiles back at him when they break apart and asks him if he wants to come in. He wants to, really, but he has an early morning tomorrow and he knows he shouldn't make it late. He tells her so and she nods, tells him that she understands and that she's sure they'll see each other soon enough anyway.
He kisses her once more before he leaves her in her apartment, "I'll be seeing you, neighbour."
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Peyton notices her newspaper's gone when she leaves for work the morning after, and she's ninety-nine percent sure Lucas stole it again.
When she comes home in the evening, the paper's in front of her door, a message from him written on the front page.
She can't believe she's contemplating dating such a dork.
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They've gone on a few more dates since their first one, and they've been hanging out at the other's apartment quite regularly. The fact that they live in the same building has never been so convenient.
Right now, they're watching a movie at Lucas' place, her legs resting in his lap.
He looks at her, twenty minutes into the movie, and says, "I can't believe you used to dislike me with a burning passion."
She laughs, but answers, "Who says I like you now?"
Lucas only rolls his eyes and pinches her ankle. And Peyton has to admit; he's not half bad actually.