Chapter Text
There were snags to living in apartment buildings. First of all, your downstairs neighbour will almost always be complaining about your dinosaur-like rowdy antics, and you're held accountable for your every move and squeak of the floorboards. But you can understand, since you feel the same way about the neighbours directly above you. Your straight-across neighbours are usually the ones you awkwardly stare at when you leave the front door at the same time, mumbling a belated "hello" way after you realize you look stupid staring.
Your neighbours on either side of you; though, are the most critical, because your relationship will be more intimate. Intimate because on more than one occasion they'd heard your shenanigans through the paper thin walls and vice versa. Or, if you are the case of Kaneki ken, your neighbour likes to sing in every corner of his home and there is no choice but to listen through every lyric of it. Most of the time it's in the shower. Kaneki will be running a toothbrush through his mouth when he hears the water hit the tub behind the wall, and the muffled concert begins.
The first week he'd moved in, he'd been exasperated. When the voice didn't shut up one particular Friday for a whole fifteen minutes, he'd thrown pants on, strutted out shirtless to make a point of his frustration, and abused the doorbell. He had an entire no-bullshit-will-be-taken speech cooking to add on to his odd tousle of white hair and brooding eyes, opening his mouth as soon as the door swung open. He hadn't expected to be caught off guard, and instead his mouth remains creaking open and he stands there in a small daze.
A blond blinked back at him expectantly with an in innocent grin, a pair of headphones sitting around his neck, and a pretty splatter of gold in his eyes.
A moment ensues. His neighbour's eyes subtly flick over him, only a hint of hesitation in them."Hi." He prompts, and Kaneki then realizes he was the dumbass at the door. He finally gets his jaw cracking, trying not to let his confusion be evident.
"I'm...your new neighbour." Was what comes out instead, to his utter horror.
"Oh! You just moved in, right?" He picks up easily, leaning against the doorframe."Sorry, I meant to drop by sometime and introduce myself, but I forgot. Call me Hide." He extends a hand, and Kaneki feels his face muscle twitch a bit.
Smooth fucker, eh?
But, his mother had taught him some manners, so he reaches out and shakes it."Kaneki ken."
"Lovely meeting you. I like your style." He adds, jokingly gesturing towards his bare chest.
Kaneki gazes at him with a raised eyebrow, asking this happy piece of shit to try him again. His shit eating grin widens. "Thanks, but I wasn't trying to impress you."
He gets a chuckle.
"If you hadn't noticed, your, you know," Kaneki makes an uncommitted motion. "aspiration to sing has been driving me up the wall."
"Ah, shit!" He blinks, looking surprised. He had the nerve to look surprised."I'm, I'm sorry. No, actually, I can get carried away a little. I'll try to tone it down. Don't worry about it, man."
"Great." He says dryly."Night."
"Come by sometime, okay?" Is called after him.
"Of course." He mutters with a roll of his eyes, stepping home again. There was no singing that night. Or the day after. Kaneki honestly felt just a little bad. But it picked up soon again, and whatever guilt he'd felt dissipated.
At first, he ground his teeth together and tried to wait it out. Later, though, he found himself immersed in a book or something of the sorts, and in his cleared up state of mind he listens when he sings. Picks up on the lyrics, his near perfect melodic rises and falls, sometimes interrupted by a breath or whatever was occupying the boy.
He started hating it a little less. Just a little.
One time, while he carried a light laundry basket in hand, he finds the cute idiot with his ass hanging out of the washer, the laundry room being empty and quiet minus the said singer and his voice while he rocked to some upbeat tune through his headphones. Kaneki deliberately leans against the doorframe and quietly waits till his presence is noticed, a subtle smirk on his lips that might've looked mean with the uncommitted look in his eyes.
Hide practically swings himself up, slams the washer door shut, and swivels around. He freezes mid word, stares at Kaneki for a split second, and fumbles for the player in his pocket.
Kaneki couldn't help but thoroughly enjoy his mortification."Don't mind me." He says as he walks to the now empty washer, tossing his blacks in.
Hide chuckles awkwardly and jams his finger against the dryer set of buttons."Kinda hard to."
"You swing your ass wherever you go?" Kaneki throws in conversationally. He laughs softly when Hide's neck turns a deep red."Just kidding."
He doesn't expect to be gunned with soap.
He has a moment to gasp and flinch back, feeling the green liquid drip from the side of his head and on to his shoulders. When he directs his glare at the blond, his grin is so satisfied Kaneki could punch it in for him.
"Sorry, I couldn't help it."
Fuck him and his cute face. Although, in retrospect, it was Kaneki's fault for being an asshole.
He grabs the nearest jug of Tide, swiftly uncaps it, and hurls the entire four litres of detergent in Hide's general direction with abnormal strength.
He squeals, tries to dodge it last minute, but couldn't slip away from the heavy rainfall and ends up getting soaked. For every action is a reaction, and Hide understood, so he raised his hands up in surrender.
"Man, I didn't even get that much on you!" He complains, still sitting in the puddle of green goo.
Kaneki to this day regrets not taking a picture of that masterpiece. The landlord demanded a refund, and they each bought a jug of detergent to make up for it.
He never would have thought that standing there in the shower and watching the soap accumulate in his drain, while listening to Hide practically drown in foam and Tide from the bathroom connected to his, would make him warm up to the dork a little more than he'd intended.
When Hide lets out a particularly pained groan, he grins in amusement and gets soap in his mouth. He sputters and coughs, then hears a laugh.
Those bloody thin walls will be the death of him.