Work Text:
There was something really wrong with his neighbour. Chishiya hadn’t met the guy other than spying the back of an unfairly tall frame vanishing into the apartment next door, but there were signs. The four large boxes filled with instant ramen that the delivery driver had insisted on leaving with Chishiya, for example. Chishiya himself wasn’t the best cook (okay, he was terrible), but at least he had a varied diet thanks to takeout. He couldn’t imagine how emaciated his neighbour was if he survived solely on noodles.
Not wanting to deal with whatever flavour of creep lived on instant ramen, Chishiya hauled the boxes in his genkan across the hallway, leaving them piled outside the apartment. Then, for reasons unknown to him, he ventured back into his own place and found an apple, large and vibrantly red, which he placed with some satisfaction on top of the ramen tower. Content that he’d done his job as a doctor and neighbour, Chishiya shut himself back into his own apartment and hoped never to deal with the guy again.
Things could never be that simple, though, and, unfortunately for Chishiya, he’d forgotten one of the other reasons his neighbour was terrible. Not even two days later, having gotten home from a sixteen-hour shift, all Chishiya wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep. Apparently, that was too much to ask for. From behind the thin wall he shared with his neighbour came the occasional yell and swear of an inconsiderate asshole who didn’t have to be awake at 6 am. Chishiya slammed his palm against the wall twice, then burrowed back down into the comfort of his duvet. Fortunately, his neighbour didn’t make another peep. Perhaps not quite as inconsiderate as Chishiya first suspected, but still an asshole just the same.
The following week, Chishiya was enjoying an afternoon off when a fist slammed on his door. Unearthing himself from his blanket sofa fort with a grumble, Chishiya’s scowl had fully formed on his face by the time he yanked open the door. The guy standing, fist raised, ready to knock again, was tall and rough around the edges, with short, dyed hair and a glower.
Chishiya said nothing as he waited for his intruder to speak. He hoped he got to the point quickly before his spot on the sofa got cold. Chishiya had put a lot of effort into being warm and cosy.
“Did you leave Arisu an apple last week?” the man finally demanded, irritated, when he realised Chishiya wasn’t going to speak.
“If Arisu lives across the hallway, then yes.” There was no point in denying it.
“Right.” The man turned on his heel and strode away. Chishiya tilted his head, watching him go, then shrugged and returned to his cocoon, ready to resume doing nothing. Unfortunately, he’d only just gotten comfortable when there was another knock at his door, gentler this time. Chishiya seriously considered ignoring it. It was his day off, and he had plans. Plans that involved moving as little as possible. He’d even lied to Kuina so she wouldn’t bother him all day. Getting up to answer the door to his inconsiderate neighbours was not a part of his plan.
The gentle rap sounded again, and Chishiya sighed. It was almost definitely his neighbour, apologising for his friend—or, perhaps, insulted by the apple—in which case he knew Chishiya was there. If he was inconsiderate enough to yell at night, he was bound to be inconsiderate enough to knock repeatedly until Chishiya answered. He might as well get it over with.
This time, Chishiya took the blanket with him, swaddled over his shoulders like a cape.
Arisu wasn’t quite as tall as his friend, but he still towered over Chishiya. He had bad posture, unruly hair and the prettiest eyes Chishiya had ever seen. Chishiya wanted to slam the door in his face.
“What do you want?” he asked instead, boredly.
Arisu rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Uh, hi. I’m Arisu. I live just over there.” He nodded his head towards his apartment. Chishiya just stared, expression not shifting. Arisu’s smile faltered. “I just wanted to, uh, apologise for my friend, I guess.”
“Okay,” Chishiya said, waiting. Arisu blinked his large doe eyes and stared, uncertain, until Chishiya lowered his chin, his intense gaze suggesting Arisu should continue speaking.
“Oh! Okay, yeah. I’m sorry. Karube is a dick.”
“Noted.” Chishiya went to shut the door, but Arisu panicked, calling out for him to wait. Chishiya sighed. He really regretted getting up for whatever this exhausting interaction was. His neighbour being pretty didn’t change anything.
“The apple made me laugh,” Arisu said. “I mean, I do eat fruit, so, like, you don’t need to worry about my health—you’re a doctor, right? Sorry, that’s weird that I know, seeing as we’ve never spoken.”
“My apartment is literally labelled ‘Doctor Chishiya Shuntarou’,” Chishiya deadpanned.
Arisu flushed. “Yes. Well, there’s lots of different types of doctors. But the walls are thin, so I guess I can hear you come and go, and your hours seem to fit some kind of surgeon or—” He cut off abruptly, growing even redder, and dropped his gaze.
Chishiya was impressed. His inconsiderate neighbour had keen observation skills that many people lacked. That made him slightly more interesting, at least. The urge to slam the door shut and climb back onto the sofa dissolved just a little.
“Pediatric cardiovascular surgeon,” he said, taking pity on Arisu.
“That’s really cool.” Arisu looked up again, his face embarrassingly genuine. It should have annoyed Chishiya, but instead seemed to have the opposite effect. The urge to slam the door shut returned, if only to hide the way his body was betraying him around Arisu. So his neighbour was cute and observant, that shouldn’t mean shit. It wasn’t like Chishiya was interested in getting to know him. He didn’t get to know his neighbours, and he certainly didn’t date. The world was too full of stupid, selfish people for that. Chishiya simply didn’t have the time or patience.
So why couldn’t he close the door? Why was he still standing talking to his smiling neighbour when the comfort of his sofa and mindless trashy TV was calling him?
There was just something about Arisu’s smile, though. The way it made his doe eyes light up was captivating enough to keep Chishiya rooted to the spot as Arisu rambled about how awesome Chishiya’s career was or something (honestly, Chishiya was hardly listening, instead focusing on memorising the soft curve of Arisu’s cupid’s bow. Had he ever paid so much attention to somebody’s lips before?)
Chishiya frowned as those lips fell, and he clocked disappointment fall across Arisu’s features.
“Sorry,” Arisu said sheepishly. “I’ve kept you too long. It was nice to meet you finally, and I’m sorry again for my friend.”
Apparently, his silent staring had been perceived as boredom. Usually, it would be, so Chishiya couldn’t blame Arisu for the assumption, especially when he knew well enough that his resting face was barely discernible from his bored one. ‘Resting bitch face’, Kuina so aptly called it. It had never put her off, unfortunately, but it seemed to with most others. Apparently, Arisu wasn’t as different as Chishiya had thought, and he found himself surprisingly disappointed to realise so. Which was, of course, ridiculous.
“No problem,” Chishiya said stiffly, internally berating himself as Arisu’s face fell further. His clipped tone had to do with his own internal struggle, but it came across as annoyance, and Chishiya didn’t know how to change that. Wasn’t even sure he should want to change that. He didn’t know Arisu, didn’t owe him anything. So what if his first impression made him seem rude and unapproachable? It’s not like they were going to be friends. Chishiya already had Kuina, and she was more than enough friend for him.
Then again, Chishiya’s initial reaction to Arisu wasn’t platonic. Chishiya reminded himself that he didn’t date, though, so it was irrelevant.
He watched as Arisu turned to leave, then hesitated and turned back to face him, his puppy dog smile miraculously restored. “I’m sorry,” Arisu said again. Chishiya arched an eyebrow, wondering where this was going. “You’re hard to read, and I think I may have just misread you.”
Huh, well, would you look at that? Chishiya certainly hadn’t expected Arisu to pick up on what so few others did. Again.
“What did you misread?” Chishiya tilted his head, genuinely curious.
Arisu’s smile grew, apparently taking Chishiya’s question as confirmation that he was right. “I thought you were just about resisting slamming the door in my face, but actually, you strike me as the kind of person who would have done so almost instantly if you weren’t willing to humour me.”
Chishiya’s lips twitched at that. Arisu wasn’t wrong. “I was curious,” Chishiya admitted. “Besides, I wanted to put a face to the person keeping me up at night.”
Arisu flushed, suddenly horrified. “I’m so sorry about that. I get carried away when I game and didn’t realise—”
“Oh, that’s what you’re doing.”
Arisu’s blush deepened. “What did you think I was doing?”
Chishiya gave an innocent shrug, enjoying himself greatly. “Well, I don’t know. There’s often a lot of groaning…”
Arisu buried his face in his hands, mortified. “That’s not—I—” He cut off with a groan, and Chishiya decided he was even cuter when flustered.
“I was joking,” Chishiya said, taking pity. If he teased Arisu too much on their first-ever interaction, he couldn’t be sure they would ever have a second. Chishiya was quickly hoping there would be a second. And a third. Perhaps even a fourth and fifth…
What was wrong with him? He didn’t get schoolboy crushes. And liking someone so quickly? That was unheard of. Chishiya still wasn’t sure if he liked Kuina, and she had been his friend for years now. He wondered what she would say if she heard he finally spoken to his neighbour, only to be infatuated within minutes.
Infatuated? Chishiya almost scoffed at the thought. That was certainly far too extreme. No, what he was experiencing was mild interest and nothing more. Yes, Arisu was cute, but more than that, there was an obvious sharpness to him so apparent that Chishiya had spotted it in the few minutes they interacted. Chishiya had been longing to meet someone as astute as he, and in Arisu, perhaps he just may have done. Only time would tell, and Chishiya’s desire for more interactions stemmed simply from testing that hypothesis.
Infatuated. What a ridiculous notion.
“Right, yeah, of course. I knew that,” Arisu bumbled, flustered. He recovered quickly, offering a lopsided smile that snatched the breath from Chishiya’s lungs.
He had to escape this interaction before his body betrayed him further. He knew that, yet his body seemed reluctant to comply, his mouth refusing to cut short their conversation, his hand unwilling to click shut the door between them. It was almost as if he wanted to humiliate himself in front of Arisu.
It was infuriating. Chishiya hated the loss of control, but apparently not enough. Not enough to slam the door and avoid further interactions with Arisu. Not enough to do the sensible thing and camp out at Kuina’s for a few weeks until his unnecessarily complicated feelings passed, and Arisu went back to being a faceless giant who disrupted Chishiya’s sleep occasionally.
Would that really be too much to ask for?
The way Chishiya lingered in the doorway, staring at Arisu’s smile as his heart palpitated in his chest, suggested that yes, yes, it was.
Fuck.
He should have just ignored the knock. His life had been less complicated ten minutes ago.
There was no going back now, though. And, truthfully, Chishiya wasn’t sure he’d want to go back to a world without that smile. That sucked as much as it excited him, and Chishiya hated the conflicting feelings that raged within him, like the sea in a storm.
Still, perhaps that was precisely what he needed to shake things up in his life. Chishiya liked a good challenge, and challenging himself to face his feelings and not run away seemed like it would present an interesting one.
A slow smirk unfurled across his face. Maybe getting to know his neighbour wouldn’t be so bad after all.
Chishiya looked forward to finding out.
“As a doctor,” he said slyly, “it feels like my obligation to ensure you really do eat real food.”
“Oh, yeah? What are you suggesting? That we go out to dinner?”
Chishiya arched an eyebrow challengingly. “And if I were?”
Arisu’s smile widened. God, Chishiya was glad he’d answered the door. “I’d ask if you were free tonight,” Arisu said.
Maybe there were some pros to getting to know one’s neighbours, after all.
Chishiya found himself thanking his past self for being a bit of a dick and leaving the apple. Who knows if Arisu would have come knocking otherwise? Chishiya didn’t date, but rules were made to be broken.
His smirk widened.