Chapter Text
Jill Valentine has had enough.
Slamming her laptop shut, she took ten steadying breaths before standing. Jill had been trying to write her lesson plans for the coming weeks and was doing considerably well until the clock struck eleven. She ignored it at first, dismissing the obnoxious stomping to the angry neighbour that lived above her.
But then it got worse and it didn’t stop.
She endured it for an hour, pulling at brown locks until the words on her laptop screen no longer seemed coherent. She grabbed her nearest shawl, shucking on her boots before leaving her apartment, keys stuffed in her pocket as she stormed towards the elevator.
She’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. She could’ve been a little shit and complained to the landlord first thing tomorrow morning, but she chose to go to her neighbour first hand. She’ll be a reasonable adult tonight, Jill mused, using her knuckle to call the elevator. She won’t yell, she won’t be rude, she’ll be polite, she told herself, repeating her mantra even as the elevator let her off on the fifth floor.
Polite, polite, Jill’s mind echoed, feet carrying her over to apartment 516. Polite, polite, her mind pleaded, hand raising to knock against the dark surface of the door before pausing, the unmistakable giggle of a child stopping her. It didn’t last very long though, and she knocked twice.
A muffled groan came from behind the threshold. Jill placed her hands on her hips, waiting for the door to open.
She expected a rowdy teenager or a child who was up way past their bedtime. Nothing, however, prepared Jill for the bulk of a man behind the door, smiling sheepishly at her when he opened it.
He had shaggy dark brown hair that was too unkempt and unruly but seemed to do him just fine, complimenting the stubble he boasted. Her icy blue eyes met his darker pair, and Jill found herself being pulled into the abyss that was his gaze.
And then he cleared his throat and she remembered herself.
“You’re making a lot of noise,” she quipped, frowning up at him. The man had the audacity to look bashful, glancing over into his apartment before looking back at her.
“And I’m really sorry,” he replied, frowning at something inside. “It’s just my daughter recently decided she loved staying up past her bedtime, so I’m trying my hardest to get her -- Ximena!”
Boundaries forgotten, Jill jumped, starting after him when he left the door. There in his living room was the source of the noise, a bright eyed toddler who jumped on the floor right above her own common area. The man scowled, picking up a cup that had fallen and spilled.
The warm smile that he had when she first saw him pulled at his lips again, the idea of her being in his apartment not bothering him too much.
“Again, I am so sorry. Ximena is hard work to take care of,” he said, picking up the toddler. Jill tried not to frown, smiling at the sight of the child’s face next to her father’s. It was scary how much she looked like him.
“Don’t worry about it,” she said, shaking a hand as she tightened the grip on her shawl. “Toddlers are hard work, especially cuties like this one,” Jill added, smiling when Ximena giggled at the face she pulled. Her neighbour watched the exchange carefully, smiling at her enjoyment. Jill turned to meet his gaze again, anger dissipated as she met the warm brown eyes of the man before her.
“I’ll take my leave then,” she said, waving at the baby. To her joy, Ximena waved back.
Her father laughed, shaking his head as he followed Jill to the door. She turned to look at him once she was outside, giving him a dry thumbs up. “I’d hope I won’t have to come up here again, neighbour,” she said jokingly, and the man smiled.
“We’ll see about that,” he said smartly, and Jill could’ve sworn she still heard his laughter even as she returned to her own apartment.