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It’s been a couple of months since Yoongi moved in to this apartment, and he hasn’t had a chance to meet his neighbor yet. The only thing he knows is that the guy – or girl, who knows – listens to music on full volume when he is home. And thank God they have similar taste, otherwise it would be torture.
Yoongi doesn’t listen to it a lot though. He usually makes something to eat and sits down on his computer with noise canceling headphones to work on music.
The first time they meet is a day when Yoongi comes home in the morning, exhausted, after spending the night out working – deadlines suck. He heads to his mail box and finds the most gorgeous man he has ever seen standing there.
As he approaches the box with his apartment number on it, he realizes that the man is rummaging the box next to his, which means that the stunning human is no other than his neighbor. Maybe this was the universe’s way of rewarding him for being such a hardworking man.
“You have really good taste in music,” Yoongi says, grabbing his mail.
The guy looks up at him a little startled, cheeks flushed.
“Thanks…” Yoongi nods and is about to go his way when the guy calls him.
“Wait!” Yoongi turns to him “I- I can turn it down if it’s bothering you…”
“No, it’s okay. I meant what I said,” Yoongi smiles and the guy smiles back.
“I’m Kim Seokjin.”
“Min Yoongi.”
“Nice to meet you. I have to go, but… See you around?” Yoongi finds Jin’s uncertainty adorable. They are neighbors, of course they will come across each other again.
“See you around.”
-
A couple of weeks later Yoongi is sitting in front of his computer, absolutely frustrated. He’s been working on a song for God knows how many hours now and it’s not coming together as he wished. Nothing he tries seems to fix the problem, the harmonies are all wrong, there’s something missing in the beat, every new sound he adds makes it awful. It’s like he has a music block.
He takes his headphones off and throws them on table. He is going insane.
Running his hands through his face, he decides to take a shower – maybe that will clear his head.
When he enters the bathroom he hears the sound of water running. Apparently, besides having thin walls all over his apartment, his bathroom shaft also allowed him to know what was going on at his neighbors place. This is the first time they “shower together”, so Yoongi never noticed before.
As he gets under the shower, Jin starts singing. His voice is sweet. Silky and smooth, yet so powerful. Yoongi doesn’t know if it’s the warm water falling on his skin, Jin’s singing or both, but he is able to relax.
Jin is about to finish his forth song when Yoongi realizes it had been a while since he'd finished washing himself up, and he is just standing under the water with his eyes closed, listening to his neighbor for the past not so few minutes now.
He would love to keep listening to this private concert, but he has work to go back to. So he turns off the shower, puts clean clothes on and goes back to his computer. Yoongi plays the song he’s heard about a million times once again, but this time inspiration hits him like a giant wave.
-
After that day, Yoongi can’t take Jin’s voice out of his head. He wants to listen to it again, but every time his neighbor is blasting music he can’t hear him sing, and Yoongi doesn’t get the right timing to Jin’s showers again.
Yoongi starts working on a new project to see if his mind focuses on something else, but the track calls for some vocals, and that makes it impossible not to think about Jin – especially when his tone is perfect for it.
He works on it for most of the day, and when the time comes to take a break, he orders something to eat and goes to the toilet. To his surprise, his longing comes to an end as hears Jin singing again. He fumbles in his pockets for his phone, but he must have left it on the desk, so he makes a run for it. He didn’t know how long Jin had been singing for and he really wanted to record it, so he needed to be fast.
Luckily, when he goes back to the bathroom, he manages to record a few verses before Jin’s voice fades away in to another room. With a big smile on his face, Yoongi puts the phone away and gets to what he went there to do in the first place.
Once he’s back on his desk, Yoongi copies the recording to the computer and plays it. The acoustic isn’t the best, but the soft voice filling his ears is even better than in his memory. He listens to it a couple more times before trying to mix it in the track.
Although the tone and melody are great, Jin’s lyrics – the ones he’s singing anyway – don’t match Yoongi’s at all. He sighs. It’s such a nice recording though. Yes, he could enjoy just the vocals – and he’s not saying he won’t do that, especially when he needs inspiration or something to calm his mind –, but it would be such a pity not to add that voice in a song.
So, in next few days, Yoongi opens a new file on the music program and starts working on something from scratch. He adds beat after beat, creates a harmonizing melody and when he’s done arranging the instrumental part, he focuses on writing lyrics. When he’s satisfied with how they blend with the lines Jin sang, Yoongi records it.
After mixing and giving the final touches, the song is done and Yoongi couldn’t be more pleased with it. A smile spreads across his face when he listens to the track from beginning to end without stopping.
Yoongi plays the song at least once every day and the need to show Jin his masterpiece grows a little more each time. The thing is, he doesn’t really know how to do that.
To his misfortune, they haven’t crossed ways ever since that first meeting, so the chances of him delivering a copy in person are pretty much nonexistent. He could just ring the doorbell, but how would that conversation even start?
The good thing about meeting in the building’s hallways was that he could deliver and escape, the perfect plan. If he knocked on the door he would have a lot more explaining to do, and would probably need to make small talk before getting to the point – then the chances of embarrassing himself in front of his handsome neighbor were too high.
He finds a solution to his problems when he comes home from work one day and Jin is blasting music in his place. Nothing unusual, but this time it lights a bulb in his head.
It’s not long until Yoongi’s day off comes and his plan is set. He spends the day rearranging his music equipment closer to the wall he shares with Jin and testing to see if everything is working properly.
He doesn’t truly know Jin’s schedule, but he knows he works in the usual Monday to Friday work hours and is definitely home by eight – that’s the time he hears music playing most of the days. So all Yoongi has to do now is wait.
But waiting isn’t going as smooth as he had planned. Throughout his day Yoongi manages to keep himself busy, but once the clock hits six o’clock all his attempts to keep his calm are gone.
He starts checking the time more often and making lame excuses to walk around the living room, just so he could look for signs that his neighbor was home. Around seven he hears keys jangling afar and runs to peek through the peephole, catching a glimpse of Jin entering his apartment.
Yoongi takes a deep breath. Okay, now all he has to do is press play. Easy.
He stars biting his nail.
…Maybe he should give Jin a couple more minutes, he just got home after all – it’s not that Yoongi is nervous.
A couple of minutes pass before he walks to his computer.
“Press play. Just press play. Easy. You’ve produced this entire track, Yoongi, you can press play,” he says to himself.
“Okay. Here it goes…”
With another deep breath Yoongi finally presses play and lets the speakers to their job to amplify the sound, praying that it’s loud enough to be heard on the other side of the wall.
As the song plays and Jin’s angelic voice fills the room, Yoongi relaxes a little. He did a good job, it’s a great song.
When the track is almost over, Yoongi starts fidgeting. What now? He has no idea what was the outcome he was expecting when he came up with this plan. He’s not even sure Jin was able to hear the song or if he paid attention to it.
The song comes to an end, but before Yoongi has time to dwell on his previous thoughts he hears a muffled voice coming through the wall.
“Was that me?” He sounds surprised.
“Yeah…” Yoongi answers, scratching the back of his neck.
And so there’s silence. It’s brief, but to Yoongi it seems to last an eternity. He doesn’t grasp what’s going on when there’s the sound of a door opening, then closing, and suddenly his doorbell is ringing. So when he gets up and answers the door, he is surprised to see Jin standing there.
“Hi,” Jin says. “That was great!”
“Thanks,” Yoongi replies, a little mesmerized by Jin’s beauty. Apparently, his memory was unreliable when it came to do justice to the real thing – first Jin’s voice, now his looks. Yoongi might be more doomed than he thought.
“How did you get a sample of me singing?” Jin doesn’t sound alarmed, just curious, which is good.
“You sing in the shower.”
Yoongi regrets the moment the words come out. That probably made him sound like a creep.
Jin’s eyes widen and his face turns pale. Yoongi starts freaking out.
“Look, I swear I’m not some sort of creep, it’s just-“
“Please tell me that’s the only thing you’ve heard.” Jin turns his gaze away from Yoongi, ears burning red.
And then Yoongi gets it.
“Yes, that’s only thing I’ve heard.” He looks the other way, with a light pink on his cheeks.
Jin sighs, relieved, and an awkward silence follows.
“So…” Jin says, making Yoongi look at him. “Can I hear the song again?”
“Sure! Come in,” Yoongi says and leads Jin inside.
“Nice set up,” Jin says, pointing to Yoongi’s sound equipment pointed to the wall. Yoongi laughs softly.
“I wanted to make sure you would be able to hear it.” Jin smiles at that and Yoongi grabs another chair for him to seat.
Yoongi plays the song one more time, and while Jin closes his eyes to enjoy the music, Yoongi watches his reactions closely.
When it’s over, Jin asks, “Did you record my part before or after you wrote the rest of the lyrics?”
“Does it make a difference?” Yoongi raises an eyebrow, intrigued.
“Not really. It’s just that the lyrics fit so well, it got me wondering.”
“Before.” Yoongi smiles coyly. “I tried to fit it in another song first, and your voice fit perfectly, but the lyrics got a bit weird.”
“Can I hear it? The one you tried first?”
Yoongi nods and plays him the version without his vocals.
“Wow, I really like your sound!”
“Thanks,” Yoongi chuckles, “You’ve only heard two songs though…”
“Then show me more!”
Jin’s excitement is all the convincing Yoongi needs to play him some of his works.
As the tracks play, they talk about parts Jin liked the most, how did Yoongi came up with the lyrics and how a track reminded Jin of another song with similar style – all while enjoying the music.
When the playlist restarts, Yoongi moves to pause it and Jin stops him.
“Do you mind if we listen to this one again?”
“Not at all,” Yoongi says and leans back on his chair again.
The track that’s playing again is the one Yoongi originally tried to fit Jin’s recording in.
“These instrumental parts in the middle of your rapping are where the vocals are supposed to go?” Yoongi nods.
“It’s supposed to be the chorus.”
“What were the lyrics supposed to be like?”
Yoongi fumbles through the papers on his desk until he finds and hands it to Jin. “Like this.”
“Can I…?” Jin points at the computer.
“Sure!”
Jin plays the chorus parts a couple of times while mumbling the lyrics and when he is pleased, he listens from the beginning one more time.
“Okay, I think I’ve got it.” He whispers.
The song stars playing again, but this time, every time the chorus comes, Jin sings the words on the paper.
Yoongi stares at him in awe.
“It’s… Wow! It’s better than I imagined! Seriously! It’s just… Wow!” Jin smiles brightly. “Do you mind if I record it?”
Jin shakes his head and they proceed with it.
They record the chorus and some ad-libs, and by the time both of them are satisfied with the samples, Yoongi has the biggest smile on his face.
“Thank you, Jin! Thank you so much! Honestly, you have no idea how long I’ve been trying to make this work.” Yoongi says, holding tightly to his chair armrests so that he doesn’t throws himself on to Jin and kisses him as thank you.
“No problem,” Jin answers, and it’s hard to tell which one of them has the bigger smile.
The moment is interrupted by Jin’s stomach grumbling. “Hey, I haven’t had time to eat yet-”
“Sorry!” Yoongi interrupts him and gets up. “I’m taking too much of your time, right? I’ll let you go now.”
“It’s okay, really.” Jin gets up as well. “I was about to ask if you would like to join me?”
“Yes! Definitely!” Yoongi says a bit too excited. Jin chuckles.
They decide to eat at a small restaurant nearby that Jin goes to sometimes. The date (is a date right? To Yoongi it is, and he hopes to Jin is too) goes incredibly well, is easy being in each other’s company.
They talk more about music in general, and eventually Jin asks how Yoongi decided to pursue a music career, which leads to them talking about Jin’s job and they end up on what are their hobbies. Then the food arrives and they start talking about their favorite foods and the ones they can’t stand – they have a pretty similar taste at that too –, and Yoongi finds out that Jin likes to cook, but usually orders delivery because he is lazy on weekdays.
They have a great time.
On the way back home, Yoongi can’t help but think how badly he wants to hold Jin’s hand. By the time they enter the building, he’s thinking that he can’t wait to spend time with Jin again. And when they stop in front of Jin’s door, all Yoongi can think about is how Jin’s lips look incredibly tempting.
“So… This was really nice,” Jin says, playing with his keys.
“Yeah… We should do this again. Soon.” Jin nods, and both of them smile shyly.
“I should…” Jin points back, to his door, but his gaze remains focused on Yoongi – and Yoongi has this feeling that Jin might be holding back, just like him.
“Me too… Good night, Jin.”
“Good night, Yoongi.”
They wave awkwardly and enter their respective apartments.
Yoongi leans on the closed door and sighs. He should have kissed him.
He is about to go to his bedroom when he hears a frustrated scream coming from the other side of the wall.
“Goddamnit, Seokjin! Why are you such a coward?! You should’ve just kissed him like you wanted to!”
Yoongi’s heart starts pounding and a relieved laugh escapes his lips.
The next thing he knows he is back in front of Jin’s door, ringing the doorbell. Jin opens the door surprised.
“You know, the walls are thin, in case you haven’t noticed yet.”
Jin’s cheeks flush pink and Yoongi’s gummy smile grows.
Yoongi rest his hands on Jin’s cheeks and pulls him in for a kiss. It’s slow and sweet, and Yoongi has no idea when Jin’s arms surrounded his waist, but between those arms is exactly where he wants to be for a long time.
“Do you want to hang out tomorrow?” Yoongi asks, with the stupid grin that won’t leave his face. Jin nods enthusiastically. “See you tomorrow.”
“Bye, Yoongi.” Jin says, pecking Yoongi’s lips before going in.
-
Laying on his bed that night, Yoongi can’t help but feel thankful to the person who decided to build this place with such thin walls.