A/N: This first chapter is dedicated to dar_n_ell as you guys were the ones to encourage me to write this idea! Hope you enjoy it :D
Stiles
Being organised had never been one of Stiles' strong points, and this was only becoming more evident as he tried to unpack the unlabelled boxes filled with completely uncategorised items. His new apartment was fairly spacious, with an open plan living room and dining area, a bathroom, bedroom and kitchen.
All he really wanted to do was put his posters up and find his comforter and pillows and put them on the new bed he'd bought. Unfortunately, it was only four in the afternoon so he'd have to stock his kitchen with cutlery, plates, glasses and the like.
He also hadn't actually assembled the bed, and the mattress lay in the middle of his bedroom surrounded my random pieces of wood and bags of screws. He'd taken one look at the instructions, thought 'nope' and left everything as it was. He could sleep on the floor until he got Scott to help him build it.
As he extracted his batman glasses from the newspapers he'd carefully wrapped them in, he heard a banging sound next door. He paused momentarily to listen, but nothing happened so he continued. A few minutes later there was another bang, "Shit!" He yelled in fright, nearly dropping the last batman glass.
He set it carefully in the cupboard and decided he'd do the cutlery, should the banging continue it wouldn't matter if he dropped the knives and forks as they weren't breakable.
An hour later, the kitchen was fully equipped and clean. Stiles decided to make a start on the living room, he'd already put the pillows on the couch, including the one that Scott had had their faces printed on as a birthday present. He found the red rug Allison had bought him as a housewarming present and unrolled it across the centre of the floor.
He commended her choice, it added a much needed dash of colour to the room and consequently made it look more homely. He began lining his comic books, games and movies on the bookcase, putting them in alphabetical order despite the fact he knew within a week they'd be messed up.
The next logical step to Stiles was to set up his TV and gaming system. Something that should have been relatively simple, quickly became complicated when once all the right wires were in place, none of the apparatuses would turn on. Stiles checked he had wired it all correctly, and when he was certain, he came to the conclusion that it might have something to do with the mains.
He tested this by attempting to turn on the lamp he'd placed on the small table by the couch. The bulb flickered to life, indicating that the issue was the specific plug he'd intended for the entertainment related electronics. Stiles straightened up, sighing in frustration. He'd call the land lord about it in the morning.
His stomach rumbled angrily and he decided it was high time he ate. He opened his fridge then smacked himself in the forehead, remembering he hadn't been to the store. His watch informed him that it was six and he couldn't be bothered to go after the tiring chore of setting up an apartment. He grabbed his phone and dialled his usual pizza delivery place.
It was strange how the little things were slowly forcing the realisation that he'd really moved out into his mind. For example, when the man taking his order had asked for his address, he nearly relayed that of his childhood home where he'd lived with his father up until that day.
On the plus side, his building was closer to the pizza place, therefore the much anticipated knock on his door came 10 minutes earlier than usual. In his hungry state, it didn't register that the delivery guy hadn't needed to be buzzed in and Stiles jumped up from the couch and rushed to the door.
However when he opened it, it wasn't the usual fresh faced delivery kid who'd been a few grades below him in high school. Standing in the hall was a tall, muscular and rather intimidating looking man. He scowled intensely at Stiles and shoved a pizza box in his general direction.
"I didn't know Donny's had a new delivery guy." Stiles chuckled nervously, taking the box from him, he could smell the delicious food already.
"Do I look like I deliver pizzas to you?" He growled, thick eyebrows knitted together.
Stiles looked him up and down, he certainly didn't look like he did. He was wearing black jeans and a matching long sleeved cotton shirt.
"Well you did just hand me a pizza." Stiles joked, the man didn't even crack a smile.
He let out a small puff of air through his nostrils and rolled his eyes at Stiles.
"They delivered it to my apartment by mistake genius."
"Ah sorry about that buddy, so we're neighbours?" He set the pizza box on the dining room table then returned.
"I'm next door." He muttered in response, as if reluctant to share the information with him. Stiles held out a hand.
"Stiles Stilinksi." To Stiles' surprise, after a moment of hesitation, the man shook it. His grip was uncomfortably strong and his hands were rough.
"Derek Hale." And with that, his neighbour stalked off back to his apartment.
"Talk about anti-social." Stiles muttered, locking his door and taking the pizza to the living room and digging in.
Derek
There was a reason Derek always went to the store early in the morning, and that was because there was never many people there. He'd almost gotten everything he needed minus a tube of super glue.
Just as he was about to push his cart into the aisle he'd find the glue in, a voice called out his name.
"Hey! Derek!" It sounded vaguely familiar, he turned to see a slender guy in his early twenties walking towards him.
He recognised it to be his sarcastic new neighbour he'd met a few days ago. Derek wasn't sure how to react, so he simply stood still, face blank. He remembered his name was Stiles, it's strangeness had stuck in his mind for some reason.
Stiles approached him, an irritatingly cheery smile on his face.
"What's up?"
"Nothing." For some reason Stiles found his reply funny.
"You're kinda blunt, y'know?" He observed.
"I've been told." Derek replied coldly. "I have to go, I have things to do." He attempted to excuse himself but Stiles wasn't having it apparently.
"Like what? I always hear weird noises coming from your apartment and your carts filled with random stuff, made me wonder what you do." He chatted.
"That's none of your business." The guy's nosy manner annoyed him, but Derek's rude response didn't seem to phase Stiles much. He raised his hands in an action of innocence.
"Hey, I was just curious."
"I repair stuff." Derek muttered, and without so much as a good bye, he turned and walked off back on his original course.
"See you around!" He heard Stiles call after him. His friendly demeanour was highly irritating.
*
Back in his apartment, Derek found his mind drifting back to his conversation with his neighbour that morning. It was strange, almost everyone was repelled by his stand-offish nature and consequently, he didn't interact with people much. On the other hand Stiles appeared to find him amusing and had actively tried to talk to him.
He was dragged from his thoughts by a crashing sound coming from next door, followed by a yelp. Derek simply shook his head and continued working on his latest project. Minutes later there was a knock on his door but he ignored it. Within seconds, whoever it was knocked again, much louder.
He breathed deeply to contain his anger and stomped to the door, yanking it open. Stiles stood in the hallway, hand poised ready to knock another time and a sheepish smile on his face.