Between the Walls (2)

[tcaramel]

Title: Between the Walls (2)
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Yongguk/Himchan, banghim
Summary: Himchan's had a long string of bad luck, and Yongguk's over worked and just looking for a good time. They become fast friends, but each night after work they go home to their apartments and unknowingly wage war against each other. Between the walls of their apartments, all bets are off.
Word-count: 3.5k

A/N: things get weirder

Himchan had laid awake in his bed for two hours, listening to the sound of his neighbor having sex - fun, energetic sex, the kind he hadn’t had in a while - and plotting how to try and run him out of the apartment complex. The dark rings under his eyes the next morning looked horrific; he had to put bb cream on just to go to meet his cute intern friend for coffee. He felt like shit.

“Jongup, I need you,” Himchan said over coffee and a warm muffin, his hands sticky with crumbs and warm brown sugar.

Jongup blinked, “You need…me? I have a girlfriend hyung.”

“No, no, no I don’t need you that way, I just need you to assist me with getting back at my neighbor.” What did Jongup take him for anyway? He wasn’t going after his young ass albeit it was a very nice ass. Jongup was a little too young and straight (not to mention taken).

He saw that Jongup appeared to be giving it some thought.

“What exactly does that mean,” Jongup asked after a few seconds passed.

Himchan swirled his iced coffee in its plastic cup. “Whoever lives there is obnoxious, I can always feel the floor vibrating from the bass of their stereo system, not to mention the loud music at night every now and then, and they think it’s perfectly acceptable to have loud sex right next to my bedroom wall.”

“You could just move -” The words barely got out of Jongup’s mouth before Himchan scoffed at the idea.

“Move? Do you have any idea where I live? I have the best view out of my apartment’s windows. Seriously, you can’t get a better view from any other building. Okay it was a bitch to move my furniture up the elevators, but it was so worth it.” Himchan paused to drink his coffee in a fit of irritation. “I just need to give that son of a bitch a taste of his own medicine.”

Jongup blinked, his face painfully blank, “Hyung, how is that even going to work?”

How is that even going to work? Himchan still had a lot of things to teach Jongup. Sometimes it was like talking to a blank wall, and other times it was like he was listening to Einstein, which frankly scared him.

“We’re going to prank that asshole, starting tonight. I hope you don’t have plans.”

“But -”

“Who has been taking care of you in the office?” said Himchan, hiding his glee behind a devious smile, “hyung has, haven’t I? You owe hyung.”

Jongup frowned, the corner of his lips turning down from his usual smile. “But -”

“Listen kid, I’ll buy you dinner.”

“Pizza?”

“Sure, whatever you want, just help me out here,” Himchan said, attempting to not make it seem like he was pleading too hard. He just really wanted a normal nights rest again.

It might be easier to knock on his neighbor’s door and speak to the noisy person face to face, but Himchan didn’t want to instigate direct confrontation with the person he had been seething with rage at for months. Noisy booze laden neighbor had moved in around the time Himchan’s most recent relationship had been falling apart, and that may have something to do with his foolish dislike of them.

Jongup set his coffee down on the table, “Okay I’ll do it.” He really didn’t have any idea what he was getting himself into.

Himchan smiled, now it was time to resume planning.

“Do you have everything?” Yongguk ran a hand through his mussed up hair, standing in the kitchen as his one night stand slipped her feet into black sling back heels. She had straightened herself out in his bathroom while Yongguk was slipping a t-shirt and shorts on over his boxers.

“I’m good,” she patted her jacket pocket and grabbed her purse, “I enjoyed myself, call me if you want to meet up again.”

Yongguk nodded and closed the door after her when she slipped out into the hallway. He was sure he had her number somewhere; she had written it down and pushed it into his hand when they were clubbing. Then again, Yongguk hadn’t been paying very good attention to what happened last night.

Somewhere along the line there had been a hasty taxi ride back, a too short elevator ride, and a hallway that was too long. There wasn’t much room for conversation when you were intent on hooking up. He thought he remembered her telling him she worked at a luxury brand store, which may explain the fancy expensive lace underwear lying at the foot of his bed.

He grinned; she must have left those on purpose. Yongguk threw them in his dirty laundry bin, along with his bed sheets.

In his closet, he had a box dedicated to the underwear left by past girlfriends and flings he just happened to keep (all washed of course). He liked women’s underwear, and it wasn’t a crime to own them.

After hopping in the shower and putting on a fresh change of clothes, Yongguk decided it was time to visit the grocery store. The only thing left in his fridge was a few cans of beer, half a carton of milk, and some left over noodles. Normally, he’d just go out to eat, or stop by the corner store and buy some ramen, but he really was out of anything edible.

As he was shutting his door behind him, Yongguk noticed a bright blue note stuck to his door. It had a strange drawing on it, what looked like an angry cat, or a dog, or some creature with ears - it could be an ugly human. The thing was holding a pitchfork and the words ‘this is war’ were written clearly in black ink below it.

Yongguk ripped the note off his door, staring at it for a few seconds, before crumpling it up in his fist.

Damn kids, always thinking they were funny.

Himchan sat on his couch and watched Jongup devour a pizza on his dining room table, feet propped up on his coffee table. He had a bowl of half eaten ramen sitting on his lap. “Jongup, have you ever had loud sex?”

There was a sound of uncomfortable loud coughing. Himchan raised his eyebrows slightly, “Hey, you okay over there?”

Jongup was hitting his chest with his fist and waving Himchan off with his other hand. “Just swallowed bad,” he answered, words strained and choked off. “What did you say?”

“Loud sex, have you had any?” Himchan stirred his cooling ramen noodles in his lap while he spoke, “Or do you know how to have it? You seem like the type.”

“What type?” Jongup sputtered, reaching for a glass of water.

“You know, the type to get all into it and get lost in the moment.”

Jongup set his water glass down, “Himchan hyung this is getting a little weird, and no I don’t get all into it.”

Really, Himchan thought. Jongup seemed the type that would get over excited and grunt since he had to be hiding something behind that dazed and smiling exterior. Himchan refused to believe that Jongup was the type to enjoy regular old sex positions with a body like that - or his girlfriend was missing out. “Seriously? You guys don’t -”

“No, nope, nope, nope not going there.”

Himchan prodded further, “Not even -”

“Hyung, I don’t want to tell you about my sex life.” Jongup’s face appeared absolutely mortified at having to respond to Himchan’s questioning.

But Himchan didn’t want to scare him off because he needed him after all. “You use a condom at least?”

“Yes hyung of course,” Jongup said, “I’m not stupid.”

It did take him four tries to figure out how to use the copy machine, but Himchan wouldn’t hold that against him. The copy machine was fussy, and there were all together too many options to press and grimy buttons to push.

Himchan rubbed his hands together after setting his ramen aside, thinking up a way to verbalize his plan to Jongup. While Jongup sat finishing his pizza, completely unaware of what Himchan was going to put him through, Himchan knew he’d have to treat him to numerous meals to get back on his good side.

As he had told Daehyun, he was investing in Jongup’s future.

He cleared his throat and took the plunge. “When my neighbor gets home from wherever he goes during the day, probably his job as a street thug, you are going to help me recreate the bedroom sounds I hear frequently through my walls.”

Jongup was licking his greasy fingers, “You really have it in for this guy, what did he ever do to you?”

“Ruins my sleep, hosts loud parties, makes the hallway reek of alcohol and smoke, and I just don’t like him,” Himchan answered. He pulled his legs up on his couch, resting his chin on his knees. It was an irrational reason to dislike someone, but Himchan didn’t care.

“But, don’t you like some of those things too?” asked Jongup; probably remembering those times Himchan took him around to bars after work with coworkers.

Himchan shook his head, “Stop being the voice of reason you’re too young.”

Jongup blinked, “Alright, let’s get that bastard.”

“That’s more like it!”

Yongguk was exhausted; his feet were all that was left carrying him out of the elevator, down the hall, and into his apartment having mentally checked out an hour ago. After kicking off his shoes, he flopped down on his bed and rubbed his tired eyes.

He could really use a long nap, but he hadn’t changed his sheets from the other night when he had sex with Eunmi or Eunjung or Eunhee. Well, he was probably not going to be calling her back anytime soon (not that the sex wasn’t good). All he had done was thrown his blankets back on top of the mattress after stripping off the dirty ones.

It had been a long day. Yongguk had woken up with a slight headache, caused by alcohol, bought groceries, brought groceries back, unpacked groceries, went to the gym, and met up with his brother for dinner. All the while functioning off six and a half hours of sleep, a change from his usual eight full hours. There was an hour and a half deficit he needed to fill.

Yongguk turned on his stereo system with a few clicks of a remote, and got himself comfortable on his bed. The music relaxing him as he set his laptop on his thighs, browsing the daily news before looked into what his friends were up to on the Internet. After about ten minutes of intense reading, Yongguk began to hear a rhythmic thudding noise coming from the wall behind his head.

He paused his music, and turned his head and stared at the wall, the noise continuing for a few seconds before Yongguk couldn’t hear it anymore. Shrugging, Yongguk resumed play - his neighbor was probably moving the furniture around again. For two weeks Yongguk had been unfortunate enough in hearing his neighbor on one side repeatedly move objects around.

When he had moved into the reasonably priced and well-kept apartment building, Yongguk hadn’t been expecting to get a unit that had such thin walls against one side. It hadn’t bothered him much; only the occasional sound came through. Yongguk’s bedroom probably faced his neighbor’s living room if his neighbor had that much furniture to move.

It wasn’t long before the thudding noises came back.

Yongguk lowered the volume of his music, perhaps too much sound was leaking through to his neighbor’s apartment. It was only courteous, but he had yet to receive any complaints about it. He adjusted his laptop and settled back into a comfortable position.

It was a Saturday night, there was absolutely nothing he had to do, and he could just lie on his bed and relax.

Were those moans?

His laptop slid off his lap onto the mattress beside him as he turned sharply to put his ear up against the wall.

Shit, those were moans.

“Wouldn’t it be easier to just play porn over your laptop speakers?” Jongup said while he rocked the simple bed frame Himchan had which kept his mattress off the floor.

Himchan had his hand cupped over his mouth and was focused on emulating the noises he heard in cheesy porn videos - he himself was rather quiet during sex. It was a new concept, and it made him feel raunchy. He paused, “That would be cheating, plus porn noises are so noticeable.”

Even over the sound of his fake heavy breathing Himchan could still hear Jongup mumble, “Well you’re the one who asked me for help…”

“Stop whining and make some noise too,” said Himchan, resuming his loud sex noises and slamming himself against the wall to make it sound like he was engaged in an intense fit of passion. Although he may have a few bruises on his legs later, it was worth the pain.

Jongup made some sounds from the back of his throat that vaguely resembled a warbling cat. Well, Himchan reasoned, at least Jongup hadn’t been lying to him earlier.

Whatever was going on next-door was loud and vulgar, the cries filtering through the wall made even Yongguk, who dabbled in odd sexual fantasies, raise an eyebrow.

Yongguk had to lower his music even more, this is the first time he had heard some actual voices - sex noises - coming through the walls. He snorted; whomever his neighbor was banging sounded ridiculous. Actually, both of them did. There was some painful sex going on next-door, and Yongguk was tempted to print out some how to please your partner techniques and slip them under his neighbor’s door.

“Congratulations man, sounds like a real catch,” Yongguk said under his breath, returning to his fallen laptop. He assumed his neighbor was a man because he had heard a male’s voice in the hallway next to his room enter the apartment on multiple occasions.

He turned his music back up and pressed his head further into his pillow. If he didn’t try to ignore what was going on, then he would end up thinking lewd thoughts about his neighbor’s sex life (who could very well be a forty year old man).

Himchan knew it wasn’t working as planned when he could hear and feel the vibration of the music next-door increase in strength once again. He banged his fist against the wall and dropped down on his bed, kicking his legs out into the air behind him. “It’s not working!” Himchan said curling his lips back disappointedly.

“How do you know that?” asked Jongup as he stopped bouncing on the bed and sat down next to Himchan’s chest.

“Because he turned the music up again, for a second there I swore we had him.”

Jongup’s weight shifted on the bed, “Well, isn’t that a good thing? Doesn’t that mean that he heard it and tried to drown it out by turning the music up?”

“I guess,” - Himchan looked up at the ceiling - “I suppose it would be more odd if he turned the music off completely.”

“Then he’d be a pervert,” Jongup added.

Himchan rolled over onto his side and reached up to pinch Jongup’s cheek. Jongup flinched and tried to avoid Himchan’s grabbing fingers by jerking backwards.

“Jongup you’re a genius, I know exactly what to do next.” What Jongup had said had inspired Himchan to come up with something he had never even thought of before. It was going to take some guts, but Himchan wasn’t one to back down from a challenge.

“What did I say?” Jongup looked sincerely confused, somewhere along the way Himchan had lost him.

Himchan rolled up on his knees and patted Jongup on the shoulder; “It’s okay, I’ve got it from here.”

“Just…please don’t get yourself arrested hyung.”

He was running late that day, between searching online for obscure fetish manga and trying to formulate a plan of attack, Himchan had completely forgotten to pack a lunch. Now he had to go to the company building’s cafeteria and buy something. This would be the third time he had ever bought lunch at the cafeteria, mainly because he wanted to save up his money to buy designer clothes.

A man had to look good.

Daehyun had been more than thrilled to accompany Himchan to the cafeteria, and Himchan suspected that he was getting some kind of joy out of his misfortune. Usually, Himchan ate with his coworkers in his office, or went down a floor to visit a friend who worked in marketing. Himchan liked his lunch arrangements, it was comfortable and all his good friends brought their lunches too.

Today he had to eat in the cafeteria with Daehyun, who ate everything under the sun and never seemed to get fat. Himchan was only a little bit jealous of Daehyun’s giant mouth.

“We can sit with Yongguk hyung, you know the guy that was at my party last week?” Daehyun said as he steered Himchan to the seating area. “I like to eat lunch with him when Youngjae isn’t around.”

This was good news. Himchan had liked Yongguk from when he first laid eyes on him. Though, he was surprised to be seeing him again so soon, but they did work for the same company.

“Really? I was hoping I’d run into him at work to ask him about music, I didn’t get a chance to last week.”

Daehyun pointed to the far end of the cafeteria towards a table near the windows. “He always sits right there, hurry up before he runs away.”

They walked over to Yongguk’s table, a small hop in Himchan’s step as he felt his heart flutter. He couldn’t help it; Yongguk was attractive in an odd way. Yongguk’s face had a kind look to it when he was smiling, and although the man was skinny as a stick he had some well-defined biceps.

Daehyun set his tray down next to Yongguk, who didn’t even look up from his bowl of soup and rice. “Hyung, I brought someone special with me today.”

“Did you?” Yongguk asked, his eyes flicking upwards. “Oh, it’s Kim Himchan right?”

Himchan knew he shouldn’t be this happy that Yongguk remembered his name. “Yes, it’s good to meet you again.”

“Himchan wouldn’t stop talking about you after karaoke, what did you do to him? Put him under some spell?” Daehyun chuckled, breaking his wooden chopsticks in half.

Under the table, Himchan stamped on Daehyun’s foot, relishing in the sharp cry of pain he made.

“I did not. I’m sorry about Daehyun, he has no brain to mouth filter.”

Yongguk laughed, an amused expression crossing over his face when he turned to look at a pouting Daehyun.

“Hey don’t look so sad,” Yongguk said to Daehyun, “you know it’s the truth.”

Daehyun whined, “Why did I introduce you two?”

Breaking his own set of Chopsticks, Himchan stuck just the tip of his tongue out of his mouth at Daehyun since Yongguk wasn’t looking. He knew that Daehyun was trying to embarrass him for being a fanboy when he was at his weakest - drunk and babbling as Daehyun helped him into a taxi. Today, Himchan was not going to let Daehyun have that satisfaction. He was the elder, and that meant he should be the one doing the teasing.

“Because you’re stupid,” said Himchan, bonking him on the back of his hand with his soupspoon. Daehyun grumbled and rubbed his hands together.

Himchan let Daehyun chatter for a few minutes so that he could eat, noting that Yongguk seemed to like to eat his food with careful small bites. So, Himchan tried to eat more elegantly as opposed to his method of shoving everything together into his mouth.

While Himchan was chewing his rice, Yongguk was stirring the remainder of his soup, looking like he had something to say.

“Is there something on my face?” Himchan asked, feeling a bit like he was being watched.

“No, no, no,” said Yongguk, “it’s just your eye bags look painful.”

Himchan set his chopsticks down and reached up to touch his eyes. The lack of sleep he had gotten over the weekend had carried over, yet he thought he had applied enough makeup to make them less noticeable. They must have puffed up when he had been struggling to stay awake before Jongup went to buy him coffee.

He frowned, “Do they look that bad?”

“You can’t really notice them,” Daehyun said, chiming in at Himchan’s moment with Yongguk.

Himchan sighed, “My neighbor is really noisy. And I can hear them through my walls when I’m trying to sleep.”

“Really? Maybe you should move,” commented Daehyun.

“No, and you’re the second person to say that. I love my apartment and I’m not moving.”

Moving would only happen when he got really desperate and if he couldn’t settle this issue with his neighbor.

“You should let your neighbor know about it,” - Yongguk gave him nod - “I can hear things sometimes at my apartment, you know how noise travels.”

Himchan smiled and agreed with Yongguk, laughing it off as if it wasn’t that big of a deal.

But it was, and Himchan would let his neighbor know about it.

Just maybe not in a conventional way.