Work Text:
“long time no see.”
minhyuk stuffs his hands into the pockets of his navy letterman jacket and leans against the wall of mailboxes. he watches slender fingers stop flicking through the glossy pages of a magazine. slowly, his neighbor looks over at him through tired eyes.
he hasn’t seen hyungwon in a couple weeks, which is really nothing compared to the months it took for them to finally meet, but minhyuk still thinks it’s weird he never sees the other man. he’s come up with a couple reasons, like maybe hyungwon works the night shift somewhere, but that doesn’t make much sense considering he values his sleep. the winning theory is that his neighbor is a shut-in who only leaves for dire necessities like medication and mail and complaining about minhyuk’s washing machine.
minhyuk’s not still bitter about that. really. he isn’t.
“oh.” hyungwon blinks at him. he lets the magazine flutter shut as he straightens up. “minhyuk, right?” he doesn’t smile, but there’s something light and pleasant in his eyes that helps minhyuk feel less weird about greeting his illusive, zombie neighbor.
nodding, minhyuk glances at the metal mailboxes. he didn’t mean anything by the look, but hyungwon slams the open door of his mailbox closed and steps back.
“ah. go for it.” he waves at the box with minhyuk’s apartment number, 307, on it.
minhyuk shakes his head and smiles lightly. “how have you been? i haven’t been bothering you, have i?”
hyungwon’s brows rise for a second, like he’s confused as to why minhyuk is asking. “no? i would have told you if you were.”
the smile drops from minhyuk’s face at his neighbor’s bluntness.
but hyungwon either notices the change in expression or he just likes giving minhyuk whiplash because he softly continues with, “it’s nice of you to ask, though.”
“gotta be a good neighbor, you know.” minhyuk pulls his hands out of his pockets just to slip them back in. “well,” he smacks his lips, “are you going upstairs? i was going to catch the elevator.”
hyungwon glances at the elevator on the other side of the room, fiddling with the corner of the cover of the magazine. “yeah. i’ll ride with you.”
minhyuk goes to press the button and hyungwon follows behind him.
the silence between them isn’t awkward, but minhyuk still feels like he needs to say something.
“are you a student?” minhyuk asks, looking over at hyungwon.
the zombie doesn’t look away from the decreasing numbers above the elevator doors as he shakes his head. “graduated last year.”
the elevator opens with a ping and they step into the car. hyungwon presses the door close button before he pushes the one for their floor.
“so what do you do, then?” minhyuk tries to keep the conversation flowing.
hyungwon glances at the magazine in his hands and minhyuk finally looks at it carefully. it’s one he’s seen on the shelves before, but never paid attention to because it’s marketed to women.
he watches as hyungwon rolls it into a cylinder.
“i’m a parts model.”
minhyuk blinks stupidly. “a what?”
“a parts model. a model for specific body parts?” hyungwon says like he doesn’t understand why minhyuk is confused. “but at the moment, i just do hands.”
minhyuk politely ignores hyungwon’s attitude for the sake of their growing neighbor-ship. “that’s…definitely not what i was expecting.”
hyungwon curls his fingers and minhyuk notices that he does have really nice hands.
they arrive at their floor and step out of the elevator.
“and what about you?” hyungwon asks as they walk down the hall.
pleasantly surprised that the zombie is either polite enough or curious enough to ask, minhyuk grins. “i’m a daycare assistant. but only part-time because i’m not licensed yet. i also work at that ceramics shop near the movie theater. the one where you paint your own pottery.”
“that’s nice,” hyungwon says, sounding genuine. “i have a lot of respect for those who deal with demons masquerading as tiny humans on a daily basis.”
“i didn’t know ordinary humans were aware of the demon epidemic,” minhyuk continues the joke, laughter on the tip of his tongue. “maybe sometime i’ll show you my scythe.”
hyungwon laughs — rather, he giggles and minhyuk realizes he may need to reevaluate his neighbor’s cuteness percentage — and turns to minhyuk with a light, amused smile as he stops walking. “you passed your door. unless you wanted to come in?”
blinking rapidly, minhyuk looks down to where hyungwon is pulling his keys out of his pocket and then back up to the number plate beside the door. 305.
“oh.”
hyungwon shoves his key into the lock. “but my place looks like shit…” twisting the knob, he steps into his apartment. he turns around and meets minhyuk’s gaze, “so you can’t come in either way.”
the door shuts with a soft click.
minhyuk stares at the peephole, his jaw dropped in scandal.
“what the hell?”
the results are in. zombie boy is officially 100% rude.
minhyuk’s drawn out of bed on a saturday morning to the sound of knocking at his door. he literally rolls out of bed and stumbles down the hall to his front door without stopping to make sure he looks presentable. hiding a huge yawn into his elbow, he twists the lock and pulls the door open without checking to see who it is.
“hel—” he flinches as a large box is thrust towards him, barely able to get a hold on it when half his muscles are still asleep. he peers up at the delivery man in his doorway with heavy, swollen eyes. “what is this?”
the man points at a slip of paper taped to the top of box. “sign here,” he says, robotically.
he holds out a pen and minhyuk shakily balances the box on his knee so he can reach out and take it.
minhyuk doesn’t remember ordering anything online or being told to expect a package, but he’s not awake enough to read the label on the box. if it’s a bomb or full of scorpions or full of cucumbers, then at least he can say he lived a pretty okay life these past twenty-two years. he even talked to his parents yesterday so he can die without regrets.
as soon as he scribbles his name on the slip, the delivery man rips the sheet off the box and takes back his pen.
“have a nice day.” he gives a slight nod and then quickly turns on his heel and walks away.
sucking his teeth, minhyuk heaves the package into his apartment and kicks the door closed. “he’s lucky i’m not alive right now or else i’d file the biggest complaint.”
he drops the box next to the coat closet and shuffles past it into the living room. crawling on his sofa, minhyuk pillows his head on folded arms and decides to handle the box later.
“fuck, what day is it?”
minhyuk scrubs his hand over his face, scratching at the bit of dried saliva at the corner of his lips. he pushes himself up and onto his knees, looking around his living room.
and why is he on the couch?
standing, he stretches his arms over his head and sighs when his shoulder pops. he trails toward the hall and toward the bathroom to freshen up.
it isn’t until he finishes his shower and is walking to his room for clothes, roughly towel drying his hair, that minhyuk remembers the package.
he takes his time getting dressed, picking out a pair of ratty sweatpants and a bright orange t-shirt he doesn’t remember having. finally looking like a human being again, he tosses the towel around his neck to the floor, leaving his hair to air dry.
“guess i should see what came,” he mumbles to himself as he pads to where he left the box.
crouching down beside it, he scans over the label. the first thing he notices is that it’s not his name at the top. it’s not his address printed there either. sighing, minhyuk stands.
he doesn’t really care about a simple mix up, although remembering the crappy attitude from the delivery person makes him a little annoyed. shoving on the first pair of sneakers he sees, and not caring if his heels press down on the back, minhyuk opens the door.
awake, the package doesn’t seem as heavy and he settles it halfway on his hip. at least the thing is addressed to hyungwon and he doesn’t have to go much farther than a few steps.
setting the box down again, he raps his knuckles against his neighbor’s door. he wonders if he’s at home or if he’s even awake. now that he’s thinking about it, he doesn’t even know what time it is.
a minute passes before the door opens and he’s greeted with the beautiful face of his neighbor, hyungwon’s lips pursed and eyebrows raised in confusion.
the zombie blinks at him. “minhyuk?”
“hey! i brought my scythe,” he jokes. it’s been a couple days but he hopes hyungwon remembers the joke.
it seems like he does because he scoffs out a laugh, rolling his eyes. “you’re lame.”
minhyuk slaps his hand over his chest in fake hurt. “harsh words, neighbor. and i just graciously brought over your package that was given to me by accident.”
hyungwon looks minhyuk up and down, obviously looking for the package, before he turns his gaze to the floor. “oh. thanks. sorry for the trouble.”
minhyuk bends down to pick it up, shaking his head. “it’s not your fault. it’s fine. do you want me to bring it in for you?”
“um, sure, if you’re offering.” hyungwon, surprisingly, steps back to let minhyuk in, holding the door open.
the apartment smells heavily of something burning but before minhyuk can ask about it, hyungwon explains.
“i didn’t realize the settings on my toaster were all the way up and i may have nearly set some frozen waffles on fire so…sorry about the smell. i was going to make some not burnt ones if you want one.”
he points minhyuk to a spot next to his flat screen and tells him to leave it there.
once his hands are free, minhyuk scans the room. it’s a nice place, a little messy and filled with a lot of color like hyungwon just picked furniture that he liked without caring how it would look together. minhyuk had gotten the impression that hyungwon was the meticulous, detail oriented type, but maybe he was wrong.
“i think that’s the most you’ve ever said to me.” minhyuk chuckles and looks at his neighbor.
hyungwon’s expression goes dead but his ears are red. “do you want a waffle or not?”
minhyuk puts his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants and rolls back on his heels. “why do you run so hot and cold?”
“so i don’t make the mistake of giving my waffles to people who don’t deserve them,” hyungwon quips. he shrugs quickly after. “it’s just how i am. i wouldn’t take it personally.”
minhyuk didn’t mind it that much but now he knows for sure that his awkward zombie neighbor doesn’t secretly hate him. he follows hyungwon into the kitchen where the smell of charred batter is thickest.
he must be making a face because hyungwon looks at him and blushes deeper, looking thoroughly embarrassed as goes to the counter where the box of frozen waffles sits.
grinning wide at the adorable display, minhyuk walks over to hyungwon and slides the waffles in front of him. “why don’t i make them?”
“shut up before i kick you out.”