Forbidden Things || Cobra Kai

01 Neighbors

Thursdays never got enough credit. They were overlooked and simply seen as another day in the week. It wasn't as popular as Friday and not as noteworthy as Wednesday. Thursdays were the bridge to Friday, referred to as Friday Eve if someone wanted to sound super cool. But that still didn't give Thursday the credit it deserved. However, who even knew what day it was over summer vacation?

Well, one Demetri Alexopoulos did.

So it was a normal, summery Thursday as Demetri sat at home. Though it was only the beginning of summer, he was already bored. He'd go out with his friends, but Miguel and Eli were knee deep in karate training. Despite winning their tournament, they seemed to be hyper focused and he hadn't seen them since Saturday for their little victory celebration. He'd texted with them, but it was nothing very substantial.

Which led Demetri to playing video games in his room, but even that was starting to wear on him. He could only play so much Crucible Control before it got boring. It wasn't all that fun without friends and it appeared he was steadily losing them to the karate craze.

Just as he was about to get up and find something else to do, there was a knock on his bedroom door and his mother announced herself before letting herself in. "Demetri, honey, why don't you come downstairs and meet the new neighbors?" Her voice was kind, but he knew by the way she said it, it wasn't really a suggestion.

However, despite his wishes for companionship in his time of boredom, he didn't feel like meeting new people. He hardly remembered his mother telling him anything about anyone moving into their quiet little neighborhood. "New neighbors?"

"Yes, I told you they finally sold the house next door," she said, smiling at him. Her eyes scanned his room, much like they always did because she found all his collectibles interesting to look at. She didn't know what any of it actually was, she couldn't name one Doctor Who character to save her life, but he thought it was fun that she thought it was fun. "Come on, I saw them pulling in a couple of hours ago and made them dinner."

At least that explained the smell of chicken that had filled the house. "Jeez, mom, they haven't been here a day and you're already cooking for them?"

"They just moved in! They have no groceries! I thought it would be nice for them to have a home cooked meal their first day in their new home! Now come down and help me take it over there."

She was out the door before Demetri could fully process what she had said. "Wait! How much food did you make for them?"

He quickly pulled on some shoes, understanding that he was expected to follow her rather than meet her down there. When he got to the kitchen, he saw an assortment of large dishes packed with food and ready to go; grilled chicken, zucchini fritters, Mediterranean pasta salad, Greek salad, and chicken kebabs. Demetri could only stare at the filled counter space, eyes wide, before turning to his mother.

"How many people live there?"

"I think only three."

With her chipper attitude, as cooking always made her happy no matter what her mood had been previous, she loaded his arms with glass kitchenware and he precariously followed her over to their new neighbor's house. It was the same house that had been on the market for months. They'd seen potential buyers come and walk through the place every now and again, but he'd hardly noticed when a big SOLD sign had been stuck in the front lawn.

The only difference he saw when walking up to the house was the SUV in the driveway. Otherwise, everything looked much the same. His mom had told him about the moving truck when it had arrived, but that was a couple of days ago and he hadn't been home to see it. Not that he thought watching a bunch of movers take boxes from a truck into a house would be something fun to do anyway.