Living Next Door to the Dunphys (Modern Family)

"I'm home," Mathew called out to his empty home. He waited a few seconds, but he was unsurprised at the lack of an answer. Frowning, he closed the front door and walked into the kitchen to make himself a sandwich.

Coming home to an empty house wasn't new to Mathew. Due to his parents demanding careers, it was a normal occurrence for neither of them to be home until the later hours of the night.

Normally, this would have caused a sense of neglect in any normal child or young adult, but Mathew had the mental fortitude of a reincarnated person. He understood why his parents worked so late, and he didn't fault them for it. He was glad they could do what made them happy.

Once his sandwich was eaten, Mathew took a quick shower and winced as the hot water and soap burned the minor scratches from today's fight. "To think I'm going to train in Harrison Davis's boxing gym. One of boxing's legends!" He said as he dried his hair and began to dress himself. "Man, what a day!"

Raising his hand to his bruised nose, Mathew frowned. Despite him and Natalia winning the fight, he was unhappy at the fact that Drake managed to land a hit on him. While Mathew did knock him out quickly after that, he still wasn't happy that an untrained, sloppy fighter like Drake was able to hit him.

"I've treated boxing like a hobby for so long. If I had dedicated myself more when I was growing up, I wouldn't have been hit by that scrub," Mathew sighed as he pulled out his homework from his backpack. "Hopefully, training in Mr. Davis's gym will help improve my skills so that it never happens again."

Leaning on his chair, he stared at his homework with disinterest. "Wait! I completely forgot about today's reward!"

[You have (x1) Mystery Box available! Would you like to open it?]

"Yes," Mathew closed his eyes to avoid the bright flashes of light. When he opened his eyes, Mathew saw a floating red and white gift box. "What do you have for me today?"

He pulled off the ribbon from the box and watched as a long white-grey hoodie appeared over his hands. It had an old vintage look to it, while the hood portion was lower than most modern hoodies.

[You have won Altair's Assassin Hood! While wearing this, your presence will be harder to detect!]

"Altair? From Assassins Creed?!" Mathew grinned at his reward before slipping it on. The hoodie fitted perfectly, as if it was specifically tailored for his body. He moved around in it and found that the fabric didn't restrict any of his movements.

Pulling the hood over, he was happy to find that his vision wasn't obstructed at all. "So cool."

Placing his new hoodie in the infinite space within his backpack, Mathew was about to get started on his homework when he heard yelling from next door. "Alex?"

Standing up quickly, he ran to his window and slid it up. The screams grew louder.

"Ew! What did you do to my room?" A new voice yelled from behind Alex's window. Mathew watched as two shadows moved back and forth from behind the curtains.

"Well, it's not exactly your room. It's mine." Alex said.

"This goes. This goes. I hate that. This is ugly."

"Haley, stop! Mom!"

"Mom!"

Haley? Alex's older sister? Wasn't she off at college? Mathew thought.

Hearing that the chaos was from a family squabble and not a home invasion, Mathew breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Alex! Everything okay?!" Mathew poked her window with a pool stick that had a small plastic glove on the end.

"What was that?" Haley said with a jump.

"Hold on," Alex quickly moved and opened her window. "Yeah! I'm fine- oh my god, Matt! What happened to your nose?!"

Mathew chuckled and pointed at his nose. "This? It's nothing. Just a little training accident. What's with all the commotion?"

Alex inspected his nose and nodded at his answer. Before she could answer, Haley pushed her out of the way.

"Oh, hello!" Haley smiled as she looked Mathew over. Her eyes focused on his injured nose before shrugging. "I'm Haley."

"Mathew. It's nice to meet you, Haley." Mathew said with a smile. "Alex has told me a lot about you. How's the college life?"

"Oh! Well… great! So great!" Haley's eyes moved around in discomfort as she played with her hair. Alex pushed her out of the way with a small smug look. "She was kicked out."

"Alex!"

"What? It's the truth."

Mathew watched as both sisters entered another argument. Feeling his gaze, they quickly stopped and acted as if they weren't just exchanging insults with one another. Alex brought her hand up and coughed. "Haley. Mathew is our new neighbor. He and his parents moved here from Chicago two weeks ago."

"Chicago? Wow! That's so interesting. So, tell me, Mathew. How do you like LA so far?" Haley batted her eyelashes as she leaned on the window sill.

Beside her, Alex felt uncomfortable as her sister eyed Mathew like she would any attractive guy she came across.

"It's pretty nice. It's more open than my old city, and the people here are a lot more friendly." Mathew motioned to Alex. "I even made several good friends already. Oh! Right. Alex, Congratulations on getting to compete in the Academic Decathlon!"

"Aw, thanks. As a returning champion, it's only right that I get invited to compete again." Alex said smugly, causing Haley to groan and roll her eyes. Not appreciating that the main topic of the conversation wasn't her.

"Ugh! Do we really have to talk about your little nerd tournament now?" Haley huffed before glancing around her old bedroom again. Her eyes then settled on a collection of connected white styrofoam balls. "What is this, a solar system?" She asked, holding the small display up.

"It's molecules."

"They're nerdy balls."

Mathew chuckled at the two sisters as they began another argument. He closed his window, sat down at his desk, and started working on his homework. Before diving into his assignments, he felt compelled to learn more about Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed, his excitement growing as he discovered that both boxing legends were, in fact, real in this world.

After a few keystrokes of his computer, Mathew quickly found an extensive article focusing on the Philadelphia-based boxer.

"Let's see. Robert "Rocky" Balboa, Sr. Retired heavyweight boxer and former Two-Time Heavyweight Champion..."

In the Dunphy sister's room, Alex frowned as she watched Haley begin shoving her stuff into a box.

"This goes! This too. Oh, especially this!"

Alex knew her sister well. She was no fool. She knew Haley would always go after any boy that caught her fancy. And by going off the way she gave Mathew her iconic flirtatious stare, Alex knew it would be a matter of time before Haley entraps Mathew.

How could she not?

Haley was, in her opinion, leagues ahead of her in beauty. It would only be a matter of time before she gets her new friend under her thumb.

I won't let that happen. Alex thought with resolution. She wouldn't give up, Mathew. Not without a fight.

"What's this big ugly poster?! A menu?"

"It's the periodic table!"