Apartment 332 | [ VIXX ravi/ken/leo ]

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Lee Jaehwan had known Kim Wonshik for about 8 years, and he wouldn't change that for the world. Wonshik had been his very first friend when he moved back to South Korea after spending 4 scary years at an American school. He decided to come back about halfway through what would have been his last year in high school in Korea.. and it was hard. No one wanted to talk to him, he was the new kid, and everyone in his grade was too focused on just graduating. It seemed like no one had time for friends.

But Wonshik had found him cute, apparently. Those were his first words to him, Jaehwan would never, ever forget. He was sitting alone at a lunch table, and Wonshik had just approached him with this look of fondness and just said, "You're so cute!" It was weird. Especially considering Wonshik was a grade lower than him.

He sat down with him, they ate lunch together, and that's just how it was from then on out. It had turned out that Wonshik was pretty popular, so after that, he was sort of introduced to the little clique he had. But everyone knew not to mess with Jaehwan, he basically belonged to Wonshik. And no one really wanted to fight him, he was always pretty built.

So that's how they met. Whenever Jaehwan graduated, he went straight to college, and was very pleased to find Wonshik attended the same school the next year. After four years of college, they decided to go in on an apartment together while they worked jobs, work towards get a house together in the future, since they both were helplessly single for the foreseeable future. They were practically married, except for the fact that they didn't share romantic feelings for each other. At least they didn't think they did. They tried not to think about it for the most part.

But anyhow. They'd had this particular apartment for about two years, apartment 333. It was a nice place, and the rent wasn't bad at all. They didn't have any problems paying the bills, and they usually had a bit of money to put in the bank towards their 'house fund'. It was nice, too, the neighbors weren't awful. They'd never had any issues at all. So far.

***

"Jyani, did you check the mail today?" 

Jaehwan whined and pouted, rolling off the couch. "No, I haven't. But I guess I will.. I'll be back."

"Thank you!" Wonshik yelled from his bedroom, and the other male just shrugs, putting on his slippers and walking down the stairs ; three flights downwards to get to the mailboxes. Wonshik had told him nearly four months ago that the elevator was out of service because someone had dropped some sort of acidic chemistry experiment and just melted the entire floor of it. Of course, Jaehwan had to wonder why someone had such a dangerous thing to begin with, and in an elevator none the less, but he didn't question it. He just took the stairs.

Luckily, Jaehwan and Wonshik lived on the third floor.. but the building went fifteen floors up. Those poor people. When did they plan on fixing the elevator?

Anyhow. Jaehwan walked down to the mailboxes, pouting the whole way down. Of course, there wasn't anything important in the mail, but Wonshik was waiting on something important so he made Jaehwan check the dumb mail every single day. Even Sunday, when the mail didn't even come.

He walked back up the flights of stairs, crumbling the junk mail as he whistled to himself. As soon as he'd reached the third floor, he was winded. You'd figure after all this time of walking up and down stairs, he'd be used to it, but that last flight always got him. He didn't think he'd be able to manage fifteen flights of this. He'd just move, honestly. 

He stopped at the top of the stairs, leaning against the wall to catch his breath for a second. He closed his eyes, only opening them when he heard a loud thud. He squinted, assuming the noise came from the black-haired person at the end of the hall, who seemed to have dropped the couch they were trying to carry.

Jaehwan quickly ran over, coming to a halt when he saw the person's face. It was a man, an incredibly attractive man at that. He had the softest looking hair, and these high cheekbones.. he had the look of a sleek black cat, but also something like a moody prince? God. Jaehwan could feel his heart beating faster. Don't mess this up. "U-Uh, need any help?" He asked, smiling and pointing to the couch. 

"No," The other man said immediately, kicking open his apartment door, avoiding Jaehwan's eyes as he dragged the couch inside. He struggled with it quite a bit... it was a bulky-looking couch, pastel blue and very plush. It seemed heavy. 

But he said he didn't want Jaehwan's help, so he wasn't going to just pick up the guy's couch and walk inside of his apartment without permission. He shrugged after watching him struggle for a full minute before he actually managed to pull the couch inside and slam the door shut. 

Jaehwan shook his head at the strange man's behavior, turning to walk back to his apartment. He raised a brow when he realized he was already standing in front of it. 

Apparently he and Wonshik had a new neighbor.

He walked inside his apartment, shutting the door and staring the ground in thought. It wasn't till he heard Wonshik speak that he looked up.

"What's wrong, Jyani?"

He gave Wonshik his trademark pout, throwing the ball of paper he held in the trash. "It was just junk mail." 

The other man chuckled a bit, raising a brow. "There's something else. What's wrong?" He asked again, sitting up on the couch to make room for Jaehwan.

He sat, letting out a long and dramatic sigh. "I think we have a new neighbor? Or maybe he's helping someone move in, but anyways, I bumped into this really hot guy in the hall-" He threw his head back, groaning. "He dropped the couch he was moving and he wouldn't let me help him move it! He seems really bratty but he's hot, Shikkie. Really hot! He's got these eyes.." He sighed. "So pretty."

Wonshik just stared at him, listening to his little rant. "Did you try to talk to him, or did you just pull a Ken?" He smirked, eyeballing him. Ken referred to to Jaehwan's English name from when he was a transfer student in the US, but it had also come to be a term for when he acted goofy. Which was very frequent. Like, more often then not. Especially any time he tried to interact with a human who was not Wonshik. He'd just blank out and either scream or do the whole aegyo thing. 

Jaehwan pouted. "All I did was ask if he needed help! He said no and dragged the whole couch in the apartment. He obviously needed help. It was a really big couch and it took him like a whole five minutes just for him to pull it inside!" He paused. "Now that I think about it.. how did he even get it up here? There's no way he pulled it up three flights of stairs."

Wonshik stared at him. "Jaehwan.. you do realize the elevator is a thing, right..?" 

Jaehwan raised a brow. "But it's out of service. Acid spill, remember?" 

Wonshik slapped his forehead, laughing as he rolled his eyes. "Aish, really, hyung? I was just kidding! You're so gullible! That wasn't even believable, how did you fall for that?" He laughed, getting even louder when Jaehwan chopped him in the back of the neck. 

"I've been taking the stairs for months!" He yelled, pulling a pout again. Wonshik just continued to laugh at him.

"At least you're in shape?" He shrugged, wearing a bit of a smirk. Jaehwan sighed. "Ugh. I guess. Anyways!! The new neighbor is cute and he hates me already."

Wonshik pinched Jaehwan's cheek with a hum. "I'm sure he doesn't hate you. Just try again tomorrow." 

Jaehwan sighed dramatically. "I can at least try, I guess. Hopefully he won't try to murder me or something." 

"He won't. You're too cute to kill." 

Jaehwan stuck his tongue out and winked at him, making the younger man laugh and shove his face away. "Like I said. Too cute. Let's go make dinner."

He nodded, following Wonshik into the kitchen. But even as they made dinner, he couldn't stop wondering about the pretty man next door, he couldn't get his baby voice out of his head. He just seemed so soft. Jaehwan wanted to know everything about him. And he was determined to learn.