Hey, Neighbor! Chapter One: New Faces
Rodrick Heffley x Alt! GN! Reader
Kicking Bill out of the band after the talent show caused löded diper to need a new guitarist, luckily Rodrick just got a new next door neighbor
Chapters: One, Two, Three, Four
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Wc: 2k
The quaint town of Plainview didn’t seem to have much to offer, and that fact remained true as you looked out the window while your mom drove. Turning onto Surrey Street (as the sign read), you were met with the same scenery that seemed to repeat in this suburban town. A small sigh escaped you, and your mother cast a small glance, reassuring smile gracing her features as she picked up on your growing discontent.
“ I know, it’s not too exciting, but I’m sure you’ll find something to do, people to hangout with.”
You grumbled in response, thinking back to the bright lights of the city, and the people you left there.
“ I guess, but nothings gonna beat the city.”
You lamented, your phone’s chime catching your attention.
“ I don’t know, it seems kinda nice here.”
Your younger sibling chirped from the backseat. You opened your mouth to retort, but the car rolling to a stop caused you to look out the window instead. It was your average two-story house, looking similar to the rest of the neighborhood.
“ Go pick out your rooms, you two.”
Your mom’s words seemed to spring you both into action, hand reaching for the door handle. Not even bothering to close the door behind you, you raced up the steps, and they were hot on your heels.
“ Be careful!”
You could faintly hear your mom call from the car as the both of you squeezed through the front door. You were met with more stairs once you got inside, on the second floor, you saw a curious staircase at the end of the hall. Deciding to take a gamble as you could hear your sibling scour the area behind you, you went up.
You thanked god that you did, you were graced with an attic, it had a window overlooking the house across from you, and it was big. The rapid stomps up the stairs caused you to look at the source of the sound.
“ Woa-”
You cut off your sibling with a smug grin,” It’s my room, got here first.”
They rolled their eyes, an exaggerated groan escaping their mouth,” Fine, my room’s gonna be cooler anyways.”
“You wish!”
You exclaimed as they trudged down the steps. Getting a sense of where you wanted to put things, you roamed around the shell of a room before you went back outside to help your mom. She spotted you as you walked over, transferring the box from her arms into yours.
“ Oh, Sweetie! Perfect, now the movers should be here soon, but you can bring your boxes up to your room.”
Nodding at the instructions, you asked your mom if she needed help with anything else before you went back inside. You were already sweating once you got back up to your room, and you grimaced at the thought of having to do this a few more times, before inevitably helping with the rest of the move.
You grew to appreciate the cool winter weather the times you were outside when moving the various boxes between the truck and the house. Eventually you had to then direct where the movers should put what, and you didn’t even want to think about unpacking once the sun had set.
It seemed the rest of your family had the same idea as when you walked down to the second floor, you overheard your sibling asking your mom what you guys were gonna eat for dinner.
“ I don’t know, what do you guys want?” She questioned, looking between the two of you.
“ Pizza!”
“Takeout!”
Both you and your sibling exclaimed before looking at the other.
“ C’mon, you know the pizza won’t be what you're expecting it to be!” You stated before looking back at your mom.
“ There’s no way you can mess up pizza, besides you’re just being annoying about the city!” They shouted before you could get the words out.
Opening your mouth for the rebuttal, it quickly snapped shut once your mom began to speak. With a sigh and hands on her hips, she looked at the two of you disapprovingly.
“ Well, I want pizza, so we’ll get pizza tonight, maybe takeout tomorrow if I don’t make dinner.”
Fighting the urge to run across the hall at your sibling who stuck their tongue out at you, you went upstairs telling them to call you when it gets there.
There wasn’t much to do in your in progress room, boxes still packed to the brim with your various belongings left you staring at your empty walls. Despite not wanting to, you dragged over the nearest box and ripped it open. You were met with the decor you had haphazardly dumped in, and while rummaging through the box you found that much to your relief, nothing was broken.
Attempting to find a place for everything was hard, despite all the furniture you had put in here, it seemed there was no place to put a trinket or two. Eventually though, you got into a small groove, picking through the items, and putting things you knew where you wanted them to be.
The box was practically empty once you heard your name being called from downstairs. Racing down the steps, you quickly stopped once you reached the first floor. Someone was in your house, and you could overhear a few more as their voices floated through the silence you found yourself in.
“ Uhm…hi.”
Said the brunette awkwardly, and he shifted in order to lean on the wall next to him as a means to appear cool.
“ Hey…?”
You trailed off, silently cursing your mom for not letting you know there were guests, someone your age too, and a glaring point that you could not ignore, was that he was exactly your type.
“ I’m Rodrick! Rodrick… Heffley.”
He cleared his throat after he spoke, looking around the entrance as he ran a hand through his hair.
Introducing yourself, you began to walk towards the kitchen.
“I’m gonna go get pizza.”
You informed before you disappeared from the front, and walked into the living room. You could hear him trail behind you a few moments after, and once you got into the kitchen you were met with three new faces.
“ Oh, there you are! This is my eldest.”
Your mom introduced you upon entry, looking towards an older woman with glasses who was holding a small toddler.
“ Hi, I’m Susan, we’re neighbors, I see you’ve met Rodrick.”
She smiled, and you mirrored her expression, gesturing to the baby in her arms, she went on to introduce the rest of the family. Saying hi to the rest of them, your sibling promptly stole Greg away from the kitchen and went into the living room.
Going over to the pizza box, you grabbed yourself a slice, and you found upon turning around that your path was blocked by Rodrick.
“ So what kinda music do you listen to?”
He asked while chewing on a slice of pizza. You leaned onto the counter, deciding to get comfortable as it seemed he was set on his spot in the kitchen, and you couldn’t exactly get past him.
“ Everything honestly, but mainly rock, metal, stuff like that.”
You listed offhandedly, taking a bite of pizza yourself before you continued the conversation.
“ You?”
You had asked, after you finished chewing, much unlike the boy in front of you who had somehow managed to inhale half the slice in your short exchange.
“ The same, but less of everything honestly, more into the heavy stuff.”
You nodded, suddenly becoming painfully aware of the adults in the room as you saw them not-so-subtly glancing over at you two.
“ Wanna go to the living room?”
You asked, looking over to the two mom’s who started to chatter once they had realized you picked up on their stares.
“ Yeah sure.” Moving through the doorway, you found both of the younger siblings conversing on a topic you couldn’t care less about on the couch. Sitting on the armchair while Rodrick sat on the couch cushion closet to you, you observed his obviously home-made shirt.
“ What's on your shirt?”
It was a logo, you could tell that much, but not from anything you could recognize, the bleached lettering that read Löded Diper was lost to you, but Rodrick perked up at the question.
“ My band’s logo! Loaded diaper, I play drums, you should totally listen to us. We play music so loud we actually make eardrums bleed.”
“ Yeah from how terrible it is.”
Your attention quickly got stolen despite your growing interest in the conversation, and him, you were always a sucker for a guy who played instruments. But nevertheless, you had to bite back a laugh at Greg’s snide introjection from the other end of the couch.
Rodrick glared at the boy, and looked quite similar to how you would when your younger sibling would make a similar comment.
“ Shut up Greg.”
He hissed, careful to not let his voice carry to the kitchen where the moms resided.
“ I’ll shut up when you stop torturing me with your shitty music.”
Greg continued to retort, and you couldn’t help but be amused by the exchange.
“ Shitty? Oh I am so telling mom you said that.”
Rodrick smirked, body beginning to face the kitchen as he appeared to get ready to shout. Greg’s eyes widened in horror as he rushed to speak.
“ Wait! Wait! Fine, I’ll shut up.”
He grumbled in defeat, and Rodrick’s expression was smug as he turned back to you.
“ Don’t listen to him, at this talent show a few weeks ago we got to play, and the crowd loved us.”
He bragged, pride oozing from his words, and you couldn’t even get annoyed by it as you would do the same.
“ I’ll be sure to give you guys a listen then, you play any other instruments or just drums?”
Rodrick shook his head, “ Nah, I only like playing the drums really, the only thing I’m good at.”
Just as Rodrick was about to ask you a question, Susan exited the kitchen, telling the boys to get ready as they were going to leave. Walking them all out to the front door, you bid farewell, stating that it was nice to meet them all.
With that, you shut the door, and decided to get ready for bed. Heading up the stairs, and into your room, you initiated your night time routine despite it being a little early in the night.
Laying down in the dark, it appeared you couldn’t sleep, it was quiet, much too quiet for your liking at least. Having grown too used to the constant noise of the city, the peace and quiet had ironically done nothing to aid in getting rest. Sighing as you sat up in your bed, you looked out the window that was right next to it.
Pulling it open, you decided to try and get a glimpse at the stars, surprisingly, they glittered amongst the navy blue, and you graciously took in the sight. That was one thing to appreciate about moving to Plainview it seemed, the light pollution not as horrific as the city’s.
The cold air did nothing to relax you though, the harsh winds of winter worse during the night. Hugging the blanket around your shoulders tighter, you decided to shut your window, the cold becoming much too unbearable for you to admire further.
Laying back down, you were still restless, but not as awake as before. The sudden clatter of drums caught your attention, and you couldn’t help but smile in amusement knowing who was the source of the noise. You listened along, silently impressed as Rodrick was certainly no liar when it came to his skills.
It wasn’t obnoxiously loud either, the volume just the right amount of noisiness as you could feel your eyes growing heavy, Rodrick unknowingly lulling you to sleep despite how many others would probably be kept awake in your shoes.
Just as you began to slip into unconsciousness, you could hear the sudden stop, and a muffled yell. Huffing in amusement at how he seemingly got in trouble, your eyes finally closed as you drifted off to sleep.
