one more time, normal style

Jack holds out a hand — the same one with the pink leash still wrapped around it, and the neighbour’s brows furrow in amusement as he stares down at it, a slight uptick at the corner of his mouth. “I’m Daniel,” he says coolly, entirely too put together and collected for a man who’s just been kicked in the leg by a box, and he shakes Jack’s hand slowly. His skin is cold to the touch, and it’s more than a little distracting. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Oh, I highly doubt that,” Jack blurts out, and cringes back the moment he says it. Below him, Goldie whines, as though to signify that she, too, thinks he’s said the wrong thing again. “I just meant— Well, this can’t have been nice.”

“A simple hello would have sufficed,” Daniel says, and the slight smile widens into a full-out smirk, “but I suppose having boxes lobbed at me is sure to leave an impression.”

—

Jack Wilder still hasn't met the elusive new neighbour who's just moved in nextdoor. The first meeting does not go quite as planned — but they make it work.