Chapter Text
It had been your dream for years to finally move to Manhattan and have an apartment of your own, and now, it was being realized.
… for the most part, at least. It certainly wasn’t the best apartment building around. You supposed it could be worse, though; it wasn’t horrifically expensive, it seemed fairly clean, and you even had your own shower. Still, the entire place felt bland and sad. The apartments were only one room (plus the bathroom). Not a single one of the neighbors had said anything to you. In fact, you barely ever saw them, aside from some rowdy kids. You’d made mental notes of them all as you saw them.
Which was why you were so surprised to see someone who you hadn’t seen before.
You’d never seen the person who lived in the apartment next to yours, and had never heard a single peep from them either. You’d begun to suspect the room was empty until you came home from work to see someone fiddling with their keys.
He was short (shorter than you, even), stout, black-haired, and fairly well-dressed in a green sweater, dress shirt, and an orange bow tie. He was leaning over the lock and mumbling nervously to himself.
“Is everything okay?” You asked, suddenly worried he might be breaking in-though you had your doubts that someone like this was a criminal.
“H-Huh?”
He yelped in shock and practically jumped around to face you, and your heart skipped a beat.
He’s…
“Sorry,” you said, “I, ah, I live in the apartment right here-“
You gestured to your door.
“-Are you having some trouble?”
His eyes darted to the ground, and his cheeks flushed.
He’s cute…!
You shook your head. That was no thought to have about a stranger.
“I-I-I’m fine, I, ah, I just-“
He cleared his throat.
“I t-think my key broke.”
You looked at him again and noticed he had a white coat draped over his arm. Did he work at a hospital or something?
“I’m sure they can get you a replacement at the office.”
“I-I’m sure, but, I…”
“I can go with you if you’re nervous.”
He stopped stuttering and looked at you, and your heart began beating faster. He looked like a kicked puppy.
“You would… do that for me?”
“We’re neighbors after all.”
“T-Thanks…”
—
“See, what did I tell you, and they even had a spare ready,” you said.
“T-Thanks again, ah… wh-what is your name, anyway?”
“(Y/N) (L/N). And you, Mr…”
“D-Doctor,” he said, smiling nervously. “Um, it’s Otto O-Octavius.”
His name was as cute as him.
“T-thank you, but I should be getting to bed,” he said, the smile disappearing from his face. “G-Good night, Miss (L/N).”
And without anything else, he shut the door behind him, and you could hear him locking the door.
So that was who lived next door: a sweet little marshmallow man.
——
You didn’t see Otto for a few days after that, and you were worried you wouldn’t see him again. You listened carefully, and you figured out that he left for work very early, and often got back quite late. Perhaps that was why he always looked so downtrodden.
Would it be overstepping a boundary to get him a tiny gift? New York could always use more random acts of kindness, even if this wasn’t so random.
You’d always enjoyed baking, and people said you were good at it. Maybe Dr. Octavius liked cupcakes? That was a silly question, you told yourself, everyone likes cupcakes.
Still, when you found yourself actually knocking on his door one evening with a small tray of them, you began second-guessing yourself. You didn’t even know him, after all, and appearances could be deceiving; maybe he wasn’t so gentle and meek as he appeared to be?
Before you could ponder this point any further, though…
“H-Hello?”
He door opened, and when you saw the doctor’s bespectacled face, he opened the door wider.
“Oh, M-Miss (L/N), th-this is a surprise,” he said, looking to the side and blushing slightly. “D-Did you need something?”
You tried saying something but soon began stammering yourself. Maybe it was contagious.
“Uh, I made these,” you started, holding up the cupcakes. “But I can’t finish them, and there’s not enough room for them in my fridge… if you’d like one.”
He was silent for a moment and your heart began pounding.
Oh, God, he thinks I’m being so weird-
“Did someone put you up to this?”
“Huh?”
That wasn’t what you expected him to say.
“T-there’s a group of kids on the ground floor who are always teasing me. D-Did they put you up to this?”
“Doctor, no, I would never- do I really look that mean?”
And how would bringing him a snack constitute teasing?
“I suppose you don’t,” he said, and you offered him the tray.
You tried to subtly peek into his apartment as he took one, but couldn’t catch many details, except that there were takeout containers on his table.
“This is… incredible,” he said, sounding genuinely shocked. “You made these?”
“Yeah. I’m glad you like them so much!”
He finished it, and for the first time, a genuine smile crossed his face-the sweetest, most gentle smile you’d ever seen-and he adjusted his glasses.
Then his smile fell.
“If those k-kids didn’t set you up for this… then w-why are you being kind to me?”
You knew you couldn’t say ‘because I think you’re an adorable little marshmallow’. You needed a better excuse, fast.
“Uh, well… you look so sad every time I see you. I thought you could use some cheering up.”
“Some… cheering up?”
His posture changed then. Every other time you’d seen him, his shoulders had been hunched defensively, and he was always slouched, as if terrified that someone would pounce on him any second.
He let his shoulders relax, and he looked right at you, and then his eyes darted away.
“I-I suppose I-well, never mind that. Um, thank you.”
His shoulders scrunched upon again, and as he was about to retreat into his apartment…
“… m-may I have another one?”
“Of course.”
You went to grab it for him right as he did, your hands touching, and his face turned horribly red.
“M-M-My apologies, Miss (L/N), he stammered, almost dropping the snack, and as he went to say more, he wound up simply slamming the door shut.
You thought that went pretty well.
——
You found yourself getting up earlier these days, even though your shift wasn’t until noon, just so you could see Dr. Octavius off to wherever he worked. Your excuse was that you were going for a walk before work, or that you wanted to get there early. At first the doctor was surprised at you saying hello to him, but before too long, he was smiling and greeting you back.
You’d been at your apartment for about a month, and you caught Otto just as he was walking into the building.
“Hello, doctor,” you said cheerfully.
“Ah, hello, Miss (L/N),” he said, and he smiled at you, but you noticed how upset he looked.
He’d been looking guiltier and guiltier every day, it seemed like. What was happening at his job?
“Is… is everything okay, doctor?”
“Everything’s fine,” he said absently as he walked through the door, and he nimbly dodged a ball being thrown at him.
“Oh, no…” you both said in unison.
You both had no idea who these kids on the bottom floor were, and in fact, you realized then that you had never seen their parents. They were always down here at night, being loud and making inappropriate comments at the other denizens of the building. It was a marvel none of them had been kicked out yet.
Otto tried to shrink himself as best as a man of his size could, and braced himself as he headed upstairs.
“Nice dodge, you fat fuck!”
You groaned as you grabbed Otto by the arm and practically began dragging him upstairs.
“Hey, who’s your girlfriend?”
“Hey lady, careful he doesn’t crush you when you’re doing it!”
You felt Otto tense up under your grip.
“Just ignore them, just ignore them…”
The kids continued to jeer at the both of you until you were at his door. His hands were shaking too much to use the key, so you gently grabbed it from him (blushing as you touched him) and opened it for him.
Before you knew it, you were following him into his apartment, despite not being invited in.
“Doctor, are you okay?”
“I’m used to it,” he said coldly. He took off his lab coat and hung it up on the coat rack, right next to an oversized brown trench coat.
“Oh, s-sorry, I shouldn’t be in here,” you said, suddenly realizing what you had done. “I’ll get go-“
“Please don’t.”
Your entire thought process stopped.
“I mean, ah… please don’t leave yet.”
You looked at him, and you swore his eyes were watering, but he didn’t cry.
“Is everything okay at work, doctor?”
“It isn’t,” he said, sitting down. “I can’t tell you more than that.”
You looked around the apartment as he spoke.
Most of the furniture looked cheap and generic. To your right was his kitchen area; the fridge had a few magnets on it, nothing indicative of a personality, just ones with phone numbers for plumbers and pizza places. Work schedules were taped to the side.
To your left was his bed, which had blankets the same shade as his sweater, but you didn’t exactly look for long. Your thoughts took an embarrassing turn when you saw his bed.
Overall, you were surprised at how tidy it was, considering he was a man who lived alone.
“S-sorry, let me get you another chair,” he said, and he went to go get another. You noted the other one was caked in dust.
“Sorry, I do not have company very often,” he said, and then muttered under his breath, “Or ever…”
While he did, you walked into his kitchen, noting there were some framed pictures on the wall. He was in all three of them-one was him with his arms around an older, bald white man with a bird-like nose, one was with a middle-aged black man, the two of them holding some kind of trophy, and the third was with… well, you were pretty sure you knew who this man was, you’d seen him on the news before. What was his name?
You were so invested in trying to remember that you didn’t even notice the strange black-and-green arms coming out of his back in one of the pictures.
“I-I actually don’t like any of those pictures,” came Otto’s gentle voice very suddenly.
“Oh! … why not?”
“W-Well, first off, I’m not fr-friends with any of them anymore,” he said sadly.
“Not even this guy?” You said, gesturing to the one where his arm was around the bald man.
“W-Well, I’m not really sure. A-Adrian gave me quite a scolding for- well, never mind that. Besides, I won’t be seeing him for a while, I don’t think.”
You looked at the picture a little longer, and shuddered once you made the connection.
“Y-Yes, my old friend Adrian was on the news recently,” Otto said, and you saw he was sweating a little bit. “The V-Vulture, they call him.”
“He certainly looks like one.”
“I-I guess that picture’s not so bad. B-but the other two… I hate these pi-pictures because… well, I’m so…”
“I’ve never seen you smile the way you do in these pictures, doctor. You have a beautiful smile.”
“H-Huh?...”
He started blushing profusely.
“What were you saying just now, anyway?”
“Goodness, I was so thin in some of these old pictures,” he said.
Your heart sank a bit hearing him say that. You didn’t want him to be self-conscious, on top of everything else.
Otto cleared his throat.
“I-I really shouldn’t be talking about work.”
“Well, you don’t have to.”
“I’ve just been having a lot of very bad days.”
There was a pause.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
——
You wound up fixing dinner for Otto, and the two of you settled into his meager dining area.
“… I can’t say much, but I work for O-Oscorp” he said.
That explained that other picture, then. You now remembered where you’d seen that skeevy-looking man before: he was Norman Osborn!
“I figured you worked in a hospital.”
“N-no, I’m not that kind of a doctor. Um. I, I’m a physicist.”
“Oh, that’s interesting.”
“You’re not just saying that?…”
“Certainly not.”
“B-but I work with- I mean these people are-“
He sighed. You could see him getting worked up and then immediately backing down. How much pent-up frustration did he have?
“I don’t wish to talk about it anymore. It gets my blood boiling just thinking about it.”
He finished eating and sighed.
“Thank you kindly for making me such a nice meal, (Y/N)- oh, s-sorry-“
“It’s fine, you can call me by my first name,” you stammered. “Um, if I can call you O-Otto?”
He gasped, as if he hadn’t heard his own name in a long time.
“Oh, y-yes, I love-“
He looked away and began blushing again.
“I would love that.”
There was a silence again, and you found yourself looking about his apartment once more, trying to spot anything that would give you some more insight into his personality, his hobbies. There were dusty cookbooks atop the fridge, a shelf filled with books on physics (and, oddly enough to you, animals), and framed posters from different stage shows-you noticed Fiddler On The Roof and Evil Dead: The Musical before your attention turned back to him.
Not what I expected him to be into, he’s so gentle… I thought blood would terrify him.
“I-I think it’s time I went to bed,” he said nervously. “It’s awfully late, and y-you should be resting, too. Don’t keep yourself up on my account, (Y/N).”
You looked around for a clock, and fell upon the one on his dresser, by the bed.
“Goodness, it’s so late! .. hey, is this a picture of you?”
“Oh, d-don’t-“
“Aww, baby Otto! You had a bowl cut!”
“I-It’s embarrassing!!” He said, but he began laughing.
“O-Otto, I’ve never heard you laughing before,” you said, trying to hide how flushed your cheeks were. You swore he could hear the pounding in your chest.
He blushed and looked away from you.
“I-I appreciate your company, (Y/N),” he stuttered. “G-Good night. I-I’ll see you out.”
He walked you over to the door.
“Good night, Otto. … and be careful at work.”
“Careful?”
“I worry about you is all,” you say to him. “Oscorp’s a shady company. Anyone can have an accident, Otto, please be careful.”
He swallowed and blushed.
“G-Good night, (Y/N)-“
He was stopped short when you knelt down and gave him a kiss on the cheek, leaving him stammering before you left.