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"WILL YOU FUCKING SHUT THE FUCK UP! IT'S TWO IN THE FUCKING MORNING I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THE ENTIRE FUCKING COLDPLAY DISCOGRAPHY."
Aaron had to say that he felt like an idiot, kneeling on his bed clad only in boxers and banging on the wall between his and his neighbour's flat like a madman. The fucking prick next door was playing Coldplay at 2am though, so really, what did they expect. The guy had moved in this morning, Aaron had assumed it was a guy anyway, he had walked past a load of dull furniture and a football table in the hallway this morning on his way to the garage, but no sign of the owner. He didn't want to gender stereotype, but he assumed their new neighbour was a sad, lonely bloke. At least Aaron himself had a roommate- Adam- but the lucky bugger was staying at his girlfriend Vic's house for the night, as he did quite often.
After a bit more consistent banging, aided by the car magazine he had lying on his bedside table, the music was finally turned down so it was nothing more than a muffled mumbling. The noise was soon replaced by what he assumed was his neighbour's voice. He hoped it wasn't a murderer who'd broken in after getting sick of the Coldplay and killed the guy, though to be honest, another half an hour and Aaron would have joined in.
"Shit, sorry! I'm used to living in a big house you see, but I just broke up with my girlfriend, Chrissie, yesterday- hence the Coldplay and I lived with her in her mansion, but you know, irreparable differences caused us to drift apart and I moved out..."
Aaron flopped back on his bed grabbing his pillow and shoving it over his head to muffle his screams. He didn't think it could get any worse than the Coldplay, but alas, his correctly assumed male- drunk off his ass by the sounds of it- neighbour was spouting his woes through Aaron's bedroom wall.
Fuckinggoddamnitshitmotherfucker.
*
When Aaron walked out of his flat the next morning, third coffee of the day secure in a flask for the walk to work, his neighbour was just locking his door, dressed in a sharp suit with his back to Aaron.
Aaron could feel the bags under his eyes getting heavier just by looking at the guy, and he quickly locked his door before stomping down the hall with the intent to rip the guy a new one.
"Oi! Chris Martin!"
The guy froze before turning sharply on his heels to look at the source of the shout. He had the decency to look guilty, the redness of his eyes and the woe-is-me look on his face softening Aaron's temper a little bit. But only a little.
"Oh, shit. Was I playing Coldplay last night? I'm really sorry, mate, I just had a break up and-"
"Yeah, yeah I know. After banging on the wall for a lifetime, Chris Martin's voice going on about heartbreak suddenly switched to yours."
The guy looked horrified at Aaron's words, running a hand down his face and muttering angry curse words to himself.
"Again, I'm really sorry. I was piss drunk. Won't happen again."
Aaron had to feel a bit sorry for the guy, he wasn't completely heartless and had been through a few shite breakups himself. Plus he was going to be late for work if he didn't leave now and he wasn't going to let this guy be the reason for Cain skinning him alive.
"Yeah, well it better not." Aaron grumbled, before giving the guy a quick glare and setting off towards the stairs. He was halfway down them when a shout was heard from above.
"I'm Robert, by the way!"
"Aaron!" He yelled back. Not bothering to stop as he took a sip of his scolding coffee and headed towards the door. He couldn't be sure, but he thought he heard a loud "It's nice to meet you!" following him out the door.
*
When Aaron finally made it home that evening he was presently surprised, if not confused, to see a large Jar of coffee sitting beside a six pack of beer. There was a note sitting on top.
'Sorry again about last night.
- Robert (your neighbour)'
Aaron had to smile.
*
The next time he met Robert properly was a few days later when there was a knock on his door half an hour after he got in from work. Aaron opened the door to find a smiling Robert holding up a takeout bag. Aaron blinked twice because a) why? and b) Robert looked different when he wasn't hungover and sleep-deprived.
"Hey, I bought Chinese to say sorry for the other night-" Suddenly, Adam appeared behind Aaron's shoulder, wanting to see who was at the door. "Oh. Hi, I live next door, I-"
"Aw, sweet, mate. I'm Adam, Aaron here's best mate and roommate."
Robert shook Adam's hand firmly. "I met Aaron the other day when I moved in, I didn't realise someone else lived here."
"I spend a lot of time at my girlfriend's place." Adam explained. "Just back today."
"Oh right, cool." Robert nodded along.
Adam looked between Aaron and Robert and the take away in his hand. "You met the other day, you say?"
"Yeah. We had an...encounter."
Aaron snorted at Robert's lame explanation, his embarrasment obviously wasn't completely gone then. He opened the door wider and motioned for Robert to come in.
But Adam got the wrong end of the stick. "Aaron, mate. You slept with the new neighbour already?" he sighed, heading towards the table with a shake of his head.
"What?! NO!" Aaron spluttered.
As he explained to Adam his rude awakening the other night, which Adam laughed all the way through, it was all he could do to be relieved that Robert had reacted to probably one of the strangest coming outs he'd ever had with a hidden smile, before butting in with his side of the story.
*
"He's hot though, right?"
"Fuck off, Adam."
*
Exactly a week on from the day Robert moved in, Aaron was rudely wakened- again- by Paradise being blasted from next door at two in the morning.
"ROBERT!!!"
The song was quickly cut off and the only noise Aaron was left with was the sound of Robert dying with laughter.
*
In the weeks following, Aaron and Robert bumped into one another in the hall quite a lot. Usually in the morning before work, when both of them were too tired to do much more than mutter a "hello" at one another, accompanied by a short smile.
Sometimes though, on the weekends, when Aaron was off to visit his mum or Paddy, and Robert was off to do his weekly shop, they'd chat away about football, what Adam was up to, where they were headed.
The most memorable time, though, was the last Sunday morning when Aaron left the flat to see Robert saying goodbye to someone at his door. A male someone. A male someone who's shirt was mostly unbuttoned and wrinkled, and who Robert seemed to be giving the cliché 'I'll call you' speech to.
As Aaron passed behind him to get to the stairs, he looked the guy up and down while Robert watched him, stopping to wink at Robert and give him a thumbs up.
Robert smiled and rolled his eyes in reply while the guy was shoving on a shoe, Aaron laughed silently before continuing on his way, silently glad that the walls were at least a bit soundproof.
*
The Wednesday following the Sunday, Aaron was slouching watching the football while Adam was on a date with Victoria when a hurried knock interrupted him.
"Please tell me you're watching the Liverpool game." A panicked Robert stood in front of him, dressed in a pair of sweatpants, an old t-shirt and only a pair of socks on his feet, a remote still in his hand. "My TV isn't working."
Aaron ushered him inside and they spent the full evening watching the game, drinking and eating pizza.
Aaron guessed they were probably officially friends now.
*
"Are you telling me you've never seen Game of Thrones?!"
"Should I have?"
"Aaron, for fuck's sake. Give me ten minutes to go grab the boxset and supplies. Free up your weekend, I'm going to fucking educate you."
*
Robert came over all the time now. They spent more evenings hanging out than not. Sometimes Adam was there, sometimes he wasn't.
They got to know each other, no topic was left untouched and their friendship grew stronger.
What also grew stronger was Aaron's ability to have a good night's sleep after he "accidentally" deleted Coldplay from Robert's iPod.
*
Three months after Robert moved in, Vic came over for dinner one Friday night.
Robert walked straight into the apartment, shouting for Aaron, when he stopped short at the sight of the three of them sitting at the table together. His eyes cut to Adam.
"You didn't tell me the girlfriend you spend so much time with is my sister."
*
For a full week afterwards, Adam either avoided Robert like the plague, well aware of his cunning and snarky side, or bugged him with apologies and "I didn't know!"s.
But Robert confided in Aaron with a smirk that he actually couldn't care less that the two were dating, and actually thought they worked well together. Aaron just rolled his eyes and shoved at Robert for toying with his best friend, laughter drowning out the noise of the talk show they were watching.
*
"I know you know he's bisexual." Victoria whispered to him as they did the dishes side by side, Adam and Robert watching TV not far behind them.
"Right?" Aaron gave Victoria a questioning look.
"And he knows you're gay, right?"
"Yeah...and?"
"...So?"
"So what?"
"Come on, Aaron."
"Seriously, what?"
Victoria finished washing the last plate, handing it to Aaron with a sigh and an unreadable look before walking off to join her boyfriend and brother on the couch, leaving Aaron standing with a sopping plate in his hand watching her go, wondering what the fuck just happened.
*
Another month later, and Victoria decided one Saturday night, as they sat on the couch drinking, that they should play truth or dare.
She was met with resistance, but somehow Aaron found himself learning the Hoedown Throwdown dance from Hannah Montana, Adam spilled about his first wet dream, Robert was locked out of the door until he could name all fifty states of America (they gave up on that one after an hour and a half when he'd only remembered twenty) and Vic was dared to declare her love out the window to the next person who walked past, who happened to be Pearl.
Just over two hours in and it was Robert's turn again, and this time Victoria didn't need time to think or ask for assistance in thinking of a dare.
"Robert, I dare you to kiss Aaron."
So he did.
*
They joked it off as them both being drunk and not passing on a dare, but the feeling of Robert's tongue sweeping across his bottom lip as his head was being cradled in his warm hands was something Aaron couldn't forget.
Just as the feeling of Aaron biting on his lip while tugging on the bottom of his shirt was something that Robert couldn't forget either.
*
Things went on as normal for another two and a half weeks, though they were tense at times.
Robert began watching Aaron doing mindless tasks: watching the way he would lick his lips every so often while he set the table or hoovered the floor; the way he would continuously fiddle with his hair if there was no gel in it; the way he would play with the zip on his hoodie when he was thinking.
And Aaron started taking notice of Robert: how he ran his hand through his hair when he was stressed or relieved; the look of adorable concentration on his face when he watched TV; the curve of his lips as they formed his signature smirk.
The night it came to a head, they were in the middle of an X-Men marathon when they happened to look at each other at the same time and suddenly their lips were crashing together messily, hands running through hair and down heated skin, tongues caressing and teeth biting, all over again.
As Aaron kissed his way down Robert's bare torso, heading towards his unbuttoned jeans, he'd never been so glad that Adam was hardly home.
*
This time, they knew what they were doing. There were no feeble excuses. Instead, when Aaron woke up the next morning Robert was at his side, whispering promises of tea and cooked breakfasts.
And it was over that cooked breakfast that Robert blurted out, "I think I'm falling in love with you."
Aaron lowered his fork slowly, watching Robert watch him. "Thank God, because I'm most definitely falling in love with you."
*
Vic was fucking victorious when she found out, Adam just smiled and said, "Well I never saw that one coming!"
*
A year later, they kicked Adam out into Victoria's accepting arms and admitted that Robert should probably sell his virtually unused flat.
The night before they moved in, Aaron assured Robert that they'd probably get on fine with their new neighbours...
As long as they didn't have a penchant for Coldplay.
The End .