Scratch. Scrape. Click.

Kumatora looked up from digging through her collection of gloves. She frowned… that didn't sound like a good noise. Was her dishwasher on the fritz again?

Scrape. Click. Click.

She sighed and got up, abandoning her post in front of her dresser and heading towards the appliance. If it was going bad again, she'd have to call the landlord, and it was after hours… damn stupid old machine.

However, when she approached it, the machine was only making quiet sloshing noises…nothing out of the ordinary.

"Oh, now you choose to behave, huh?" she asked it. The machine, of course, didn't respond. It just continued to slosh along. Not wanting to waste a trip all the way over there, Kumatora got down on her knees to make sure no water was leaking out the bottom.

The landlord had a FIT the first time that happened.

Scrape. Scrape. Click.

There it was again.

But.

It definitely wasn't coming from the dishwasher.

She stood up, mumbling, "Alright then, who's making that noise? It better not be the air conditioner because…"

Click.

"Hm," She moved towards the sound.

Scrape. Click.

It took her to her front door.

Scratch. Scrape.

Strange.

She heard a quiet rattle from the hallway.

Suspicious.

Kumatora looked through the peephole.

Even more suspicious. There was a man outside… someone she didn't recognize. He was hunched over her doorknob… doing something…

Scrape. Scratch. Click.

Waitaminute.

WAITAMINUTE.

This guy was trying to break into her apartment!

Well, she had to admit he had a lot of guts to try do this now of all times.

But if someone was trying to break in, she was going to break THEM.

Not allowing this to go on any further, Kumatora immediately yanked open the door and launched herself at the would-be burglar with a fierce war cry. The man straightened in surprise.

She connected hard with his midsection, knocking him off balance and sending them both crashing into the door opposite them.

BANG!

The man landed with his head and shoulders propped up by the door, Kumatora on top of him. She dug her nails into his shirt. Her knees dug into his sides. This man was not getting away.

But he wasn't struggling. He seemed a bit too shocked to even consider it. He merely stared up at her with a completely startled and bemused expression.

Kumatora's eyes blazed in livid fury, "Oh, you thought this was gonna be easy, huh? Just waltz right in and take a girl's stuff? Well I've got news for you, crapmaster! The only thing you're gonna be taking is a beating!"

He blinked several times before saying, "Wha?"

"You heard me! I'm gonna—"

Suddenly, the door behind them opened, and they toppled the rest of the way to the floor.

"Oh, I thought I heard something out here," a familiar voice said.

Kumatora looked up to see Old Man Alec, her neighbor from across the hall, looking down at both of them with a rather amused expression on his face.

"Good evening, Kumatora, Duster," he said, "I'm glad to see you two are finally getting acquainted."

The two just sort of stared at him, then Kumatora scrambled up and brushed off her dress.

"We're not getting acquainted, I was just getting ready to punch this guy's face in!" Kumatora shouted, pointing at the man, the would-be thief, she had tackled to the floor.

Alec's eyebrows rose.

The man, who Alec had called "Duster," picked himself up and awkwardly straightened his shirt.

"And why is that?" Alec asked, sounding genuinely curious.

"Because he was breaking into my apartment!"

Alec's eyebrows rose all the more.

"I was not!" The man cried out in his defense, putting his hands up, "I was just trying to unlock my—" he turned around and looked at Kumatora's door. His expression renewed its surprise before it faded into embarrassment, "…oh."

Alec's gaze went from Duster to Kumatora, "I see. Well, I'm certain you two can straighten things out. I'm just glad it was only you thumping around in the hall, unlike last time…" he paused and looked away for a moment before turning back to them and smiling, "Well, I have to get back inside. I really can't be up much later tonight… I gotta get up early tomorrow! Goodnight to you both."

"Good night," the hallway duo responded automatically.

With that, Alec closed his door.

"Duster" sighed and looked at Kumatora, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, "So… I guess I walked a little too far. I'm really sorry you thought I was trying to break into your apartment. I actually was just trying to get into mine."

"Oh yeah?" Kumatora asked incredulously, "Where do you live?"

Duster pointed to the next door to the right, "Right there. 555."

"Wait… you're my neighbor?"

"Well, for the past month, yeah," Duster said, slightly limping over to his door and fishing around in his pants pocket, "I just moved in and I… dang it, where did it go?"

"Where did what go?"

"My…" Duster's voice trailed as he turned towards Kumatora's apartment. He limped back, his eyes trained on the floor, "Aha!"

He bent down and picked up what appeared to be a little piece of metal. A lock pick?

Kumatora ran up and snatched it from Duster's hand, "Alright, let me get this straight. You live here, you're my next door neighbor, but you use a lock pick to get into your apartment? Something's not adding up here! How do I know you're not just a thief that's just breaking into the next place in line?"

Duster seemed to flinch at the word "thief." He looked away, his face turning red as he grabbed at the hair on the back of his head, "I… forgot my key and locked myself out of my apartment."

"And you just so happened to have a lock pick on you?"

"I always carry one… it's kind of a habit from when I was younger," Duster said uncomfortably, "That probably doesn't make anything better. Um…" He looked up, "Well, Alec knows me… and if you're really not convinced by that, I guess I could show you the copy of my lease."

He looked at his apartment door, "…I'm gonna have to get in to show you, though."

He held out his hand for the lock pick, looking at Kumatora almost pleadingly.

After a few seconds, Kumatora grudgingly handed the little piece of metal over.

Duster accepted it gratefully and quickly started picking the lock. Kumatora hovered over him with her arms crossed, watching the whole procedure intently.

Scrape. Click. Scrape.

Click. Click. Scratch.

After a little bit of this, there was a light click and the door drifted open a few centimeters, "There," Duster breathed out.

He shuffled inside, then turned to Kumatora, "So, do you want to see the lease?"

Kumatora simply looked at Duster. Though she didn't quite trust him, Alec did seem to know him, and the reason why she never saw him around could be because he's new, so…

After a bit of internal debate, she shook her head, "Nah… if Alec trusts you, I guess you're alright. But you better watch your back. If I find out you really are a thief, I'm not going to go easy on you."

Duster laughed a little too awkwardly at that, "Alright. Um, I guess this is goodnight then… Kumatora, right?"

"Yeah. That's me," she said with an awkward nod, "…goodnight."

And that seemed to be the end of it. For a couple weeks, there were no more confrontations. No more mixed up locks.

Life was returning to normal.

So therefore, on an evening a month or so after the incident, Duster was doing normal life things, such as attempting to straighten up his living room.

It was then he heard a knock on his door.

Who could that be?

Rent wasn't due yet, was it?

Did he already miss a payment?

Well, if he did, he probably should answer the door. No use in hiding from the landlord.

He made his way over and looked through the peephole. Well… it wasn't the landlord. Just his pink-haired neighbor… and she was not looking too happy.

He opened the door slightly, still a little wary of her since their first meeting so many weeks ago, "Yes?"

Kumatora looked at him, and her hand crept up to rub the back of her neck, "Uh… look. This is awkward, and I know I was all angry at you for having it before, but… I was wondering if you still had that lock pick."

Duster frowned in confusion, "Yeah…?"

She looked down, obviously embarrassed, "Er, I was wondering if you could help me out… I uh, locked myself out of my apartment."

Duster smiled a little, "Sure, no problem."

Kumatora blinked in surprise, "You mean it? You'll help me even though the last time we met, I tackled you and called you a thief?"

His smile wavered just slightly, but Duster came out into the hall anyway, "No, it's fine. You calling me a thief doesn't change how much I'm willing to trust you, right? It only changes how much you're willing to trust me. Though, you have to promise you won't attack me if I successfully break in."

Kumatora grinned, "I promise. But if you ever try to break in without my blessing, you're in for a world of hurt."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Author's Note: What's this? Yet another?

Yep! This fic is also inspired by one of Tumblr user surprisingly-alive-redshirt's ideas: "i thought someone was breaking into my apartment but it turns out you just forgot your key and thought this was your place" AU

I have a lot of ideas for fics about these two... sorry to say. Yeah, these surprisingly-alive-redshirt ones aren't very shippy, but I like to write first meeting stories for AUs. Thanks for reading!