It had been a long day today. Brooklyn didn't know how she would have had lived through that shift if her store didn't have free coffee. Working at a grocery store in New York was awful; she thought it would have been slower but that was only wishful thinking; she was coming from a small town in Ohio, the stores there were never really busy but that was because she came from the middle of fucking nowhere. While the mornings were surprisingly slow here in the city, they were busy once five pm rolled around. That's when everyone got done with work and decided to come in at once.
Thankfully, she got off at five pm right when the rush came. If her co-workers didn't have her back, there she wouldn't have had left for another four hours. All Brooklyn wanted to do was to get into her pajamas and plop face down onto her bed.
As she looks for her keys to her apartment in her purse, she glances a bit to her door. Noticing its slightly ajar, she raises an eyebrow and wonders if she should call security but when she heard the door fridge open and make that repeated beeping noise to let you know the door had been left open for to long she huffed. No-one takes her food! Whoever was eating her food better not have been eating the left-over Chinese take out she had in the tupperware.
Brooklyn was one of those people who never made a sound to warn people she was near them or behind them. She made sure to stay quiet as she entered her own apartment, the door didn't make a squeaking sound as she slipped through it. She doesn't know if whoever was in here knew she was here or not, but she was surprised to see the microwave door opened and the TV was left on.
She was surprised, however, when someone wrapped a rather heavy arm around her neck and placed a hand over her mouth.
"Be quiet lass, I'll be outta your hair in a sec. Just need to take a lil' cool down—" Brooklyn didn't know who the hell lived in the apartment that had a cockney accent, but she was determined to get him out. Biting the palm of his hand, the man behind her retracted his hand and waved it a bit to shake out the annoying stinging that she left when she bit it.
Brooklyn didn't say anything when she turned around; two pairs of hazel colored eyes meet, one young and frustrated and one old and tired. She was going to drop kick him, she knew how thanks to YouTube, but she felt a little sorry for the guy. He was tall, much taller than she was, and had messy brown hair and a beard. She studied him a little closer and rose an eyebrow, he looked familiar. "Do I know you?" she asked, heart rate calming down.
He snickered. "For someone who almost got jumped you're very calm. The names Billy Butcher, I live two floors above ya." He pointed up to the ceiling, indicating that he was a neighbor.
Brooklyn mouthed an 'oh', understanding that he was a neighbor. At this point he was more of an intruder rather than a neighbor. "What're you doing in my apartment? I don't think you just came in here to eat my hot pockets..." Butcher forgot he had nearly ko'd the poor girl out with one hand while holding a lukewarm hot pocket.
He grabbed a napkin from her kitchen counter. Brooklyn was still processing why she hasn't done anything to kick him out as she watched him walk from where they were standing to the kitchen island to grab a napkin to place the half-eaten hot pocket on it. "Sorry 'bout the blood you migh' find on your couch there." He jabbed his thumb towards the girls' black couch in the middle of the living room.
Brooklyn furrowed her eyebrows. "Blood?" she repeated, making sure that she heard that right.
"Yeah, got into a lil' scrape not to far away from 'ere. Club soda should get that stain out." Great, just great, a guy that broke into her apartment was giving her advice on how to clean blood out of her couch. "Now I'll be outta your hair."
Before she let him leave, Brooklyn quickly asked a question she's been dying to know the answer too. "How did you even get in here?" that's what she wanted to know so that way she can improve her security. Honestly? Just leaving the door locked wasn't enough, even if you lived in one of the nicer apartments in New York.
"Found a key under your mat," he dangled the spare key she kept under her door mat – a mat that said Welcome, so he might have had taken that to heart – and rather than giving it back, he tucked it into his pants pockets. "Might come in handy again if 'm too knickered to walk up to my floor."
Before Brooklyn could protest that though, Butcher was already out the door. He didn't say anything else after that, figured he could let the girl live with the knowledge of this happening again. He found the face he saw amusing as he walked out. Her expression clearly read that she had no idea what had just happened, and he intended to keep it that way for a while if he can help it.
"The fuck just happened?" Brooklyn asks herself as the door closed behind her neighbor as he stepped out.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
a/n - this turned out better than the original chapter that i had for this story. i'm really excited to write brooklyn and butcher <3
