It's nearly three in the afternoon before Hitoshi's looming guilt about leaving his neighbor in such a state pushes him to grab his stuff and head back up the elevator.
(He isn't afraid that the old baba might come back with more crazy stories before he's had a chance to fully parse how much truth is embedded in her dramatization. He can admit, however, that waiting for another day to collect more gossip just might be better for his mental health.)
He takes a deep breath by the door marked '2' and thinks long and hard about what he's about to do. He's not here to make friends , but he's also not here to ignore someone who might need a smidgen of help. This kind of help he has some experience with.
After the crazy in the café, though, he's really hoping that a little outreach might snag him some usable intel on the other tenants. If he's lucky. And hopefully with less embellishment.
He knocks.
A minute passes in silence. He shifts his weight and looks down the empty hallway toward the elevator and stairwell. He hadn't seen his neighbor leave, so unless he's used the fire escape, he should still be inside.
He knocks again, and then, feeling like an idiot, clears his throat to call out, "Neighbor."
This is ridiculous. He knows the guy's name from the owners' rental documents, but he doesn't like to reveal his hand before absolutely necessary.
There's a heavy sigh from somewhere beyond the door accompanied by shuffling footsteps. No less than three locks click —and Hitoshi has a moment of confusion at that detail— before the door swings open to reveal his neighbor, half-awake and rubbing at his eye with sleep-mussed hair. There's a clear impression of knuckles across his cheek, like he fell asleep using the back of his hand as a pillow.
Hitoshi blinks down at the (adorable) sight and forces back his amusement with a firm reminder to himself: He's injured. Don't laugh. He somehow retains a straight face long enough to say, "I was just stopping by to make sure you hadn't died."
His neighbor blinks up at him with a bleary gaze, wincing when something pulls in his face.
Hitoshi looks him over, his worry easing that he'd done some self-treatment. There's a suture strip across the worst of the split in his lip and it's no longer oozing blood. An oddly-straight line of bruising has bloomed beneath his eye in the hours since he'd seen him last.
"Hmm," he rumbles in reply, heaving a deep sigh. "Thoughtful," he adds, hanging onto the doorframe to stretch in a full-body arch, an arm thrown out to one side.
Hitoshi thinks he looks ridiculous and has to bite back a smirk. "Occasionally."
There's a long, peaceful moment between them as his neighbor leans against the door frame and sleepily blinks up at him. Hitoshi isn't sure what else to say, but then the silence is suddenly broken by a crash from the down the hall and the unmistakable sound of a cat yowling.
Hitoshi grimaces and glances in the direction of their madness. He's not looking forward to seeing whatever they've destroyed. (He hopes they haven't scattered the paper copies he'd stacked so nicely on the folding table.)
His neighbor shifts, and Hitoshi looks back in time to see the bruised cheek twitch like he wants to smile but knows that's a terrible idea. "You have a cat?"
Hitoshi nods. "Two. I'd invite you over to meet them, but it's almost dinnertime."
His neighbor is not sure what he's getting at there and tilts his head in confusion.
YOU ARE READING
the cute guy next door (might be a villain) // ShinZuku
Fiksi Penggemar[BNHA/MHA] [M/M] Quirkless, young adult Midoriya Izuku has a problem. Namely, he has a crush on his purple haired, tired-looking neighbor. They keep running into each other and the guy is actually pretty nice under that deadpan façade, has a sense o...
