neighbors!au

*

Now, I know this is technically cheating... But I'm stealing this story from one of my other books T^T (I added a bit of jaehyungparkian bc there initially wasn't any in the story... but stiiiill ;__; i cri). I'm so sorry, I've just been so confused, and I'm gonna try to write the sungwoon story that I'm meant to post as a special on Friday :) Hopefully this story is okay tho hehe

The concept was supposed to be fairies, which should add a bit of needed context to the plot line, lol

OR

In which dowoon's winx club theme song alarm wakes wonpil up every morning

(note: i adore dowoon's singing voice, so please don't think i hate it after you read this fic, lol)

***

"that's it. i'm filing a petition."

wonpil and brian were sitting at the wall connecting the brunette's apartment to the one beside his, their ears pressed to the plaster. the faint sound of a terrible voice singing could be heard from the shower next door, the deep voice barely catching any of the right notes in got7's 'if you do.'

"it's not that bad," brian tried to convince both himself and his frustrated friend. his lip curled up in distaste as the sound of a particularly butchered note entered his ear a second later.

"see?!" wonpil dramatically flailed his arms around and continued, "but it's worse in the morning! he wakes up at 4:30 — well I do — because his fucking Winx alarm blares on and on until he turns it off at 5:00!!! it's fucking doing things to me!!" the enraged brunette dragged a finger under his eye, dramatically tracing out the dark circle flanking it like a shadow. "i want him to just drop dead already, hyung!"

"now now, don't say things like that," younghyun eased, stroking his friend's shoulder to calm him down. "he's a bad neighbor, not a murderer—"

"he might as well be a murderer with how much he tortures my fucking ears with his shitty loud habits! that blaring alarm has deprived me of countless hours of sleep, and i feel shitty every day because of it!"

brian sighed out in defeat. there was nothing he could do — he wasn't the one getting blasted with the fucking winx theme tune every morning, now, was he?

a few minutes later, wonpil paced around his living/dining room while brian sat on his couch. "why don't we go meet him, first? then you can decide whether or not you want to get him kicked out, or whatever..."

wonpil stopped his pacing. "good idea, hyung. then i can rip his fucking head off on the spot!"

younghyun simply shook his head and stood up. "let's go." he pulled on his shoes and watched as wonpil grabbed his keys and did the same. then they were out the door and in the hallway. once he had politely knocked on the neighbor's door thrice, the multicolor-haired man turned to his friend. "do the other neighbors not complain?"

wonpil groaned and shook his head. "they were the lucky ones who got thick walls. the only wall that's thin is the one between our rooms, and that's because it's a makeshift one. our apartment rooms used to be a suite. the landlord made it into two singles when the suite was unoccupied for months..."

just then the door swung open a tad to reveal a confused face with messy, droplet-full hair billowing around it. "ah... hello!" the familiar low voice rang out along the hallway, echoing against every wall it touched. a wave from a beautifully-sculpted hand sleek with moisture from the shower ensued. then the door swung open all the way, and wonpil swore his heart didn't leap in surprise. the man standing before him was wearing a robe to cover his shower-kissed body, and his facial features radiated with a wide smile that made wonpil want to cover his eyes. he was not ready for this...

"hello, there! i'm kang younghyun." brian extended his hand for a shake, and the young man excitedly caressed it with his own after wiping the traces of shower water away on his robe.

"yoon dowoon." and there was that smile again, and there was wonpil's urge to hide...

"this is kim wonpil," brian introduced politely. "he's your neighbor from next door. he has some concerns he wants to speak about with you."

the smile immediately dropped off of dowoon's face. "oh no! i'm so sorry if i did something wrong!" he frantically beckoned the two guests inside. "come in! i'll put on some tea."

brian confidently walked in after sending the man with red ears a thank you, and wonpil followed him inside like a coward. What is wrong with you, Pencil?! he scolded himself. He's the guy who tortured you every day with his stupid singing and alarms! but the concern in the man's voice had been so real... the brunette couldn't bring himself to be angry with his pesky neighbor, no matter how hard he tried.

once all of them were seated on the couch, the tea cooling in the teapot at the center of dowoon's coffee table, younghyun spoke once more. "i'll get straight to the point. you're loud." brian sighed and added, "VERY loud..."

"oh god..." dowoon's ears turned red, and the mad blush soon swam across his entire face. "all of the neighbors told me the walls are sound proof..." he murmured, nervously twisting his shirt around in his lap. "when i went to the welcoming party, they all said you couldn't hear anything from outside the apartment... oh my god, did i understand that wrong?! oh no!! i'm so embarrassed... i thought the apartment walls were soundproof!! i'm really, really sorry!"

"well, they are..." wonpil whispered out. "every one but ours, that is..." he hadn't been at the welcoming party because of his band gig that evening, and that's why he had never met dowoon. Shit... It's all my fault...

"oh!" the poor man's hands rose to his cheeks and he began to rub them as if he was trying to brush away the redness. "i had no idea! i'm so embarrassed...— ah, i thought nobody could hear me... this is so embarrassing~"

his hands were now reaching up to cover his eyes and his legs were rising so he could curl in on himself. unknowingly, he revealed his pokemon boxers to the two men watching him — one with wary eyes, the other with concerned. brian's eyes widened at the newfound sight. wonpil, on the other hand, found himself springing up and hugging the poor embarrassed boy, rubbing his cheek on his neighbor's damp hair. "it's okay, dowoon-ssi, it's okay. i just thought you were doing it on purpose to piss me off!"

dowoon unclasped his hands from his face to grasp wonpil's shirt and warbled into it, "i-- i just have band practice at six and it takes me half an hour to wake up and i have to set my alarm to something annoying so i have a reason to turn it off and i like to sing in the shower because my vocal coach says that i suck and because it makes showering more fun and i'm so sorry and i won't do it again—"

*

"i want to move in with him."

"what?!" brian looked at wonpil as if he was mad. they were now back in the brunette's apartment, eating bread with butter and sugar to get rid of the taste of the oversteeped jasmine tea clogging their throats.

"i WANT to MOVE IN with him," wonpil repeated. he took a bite of his bread and licked his lips in delight at the relieving flavor.

"but... why?"

"he's just a scared kid, and i want a dongsaeng to take care of. hell, maybe i can even be his vocal tutor, and then he'll be my hoobae, too! and it would cost less to share a studio apartment... besides, he's cute." the brunette smiled to himself and took a sip of orange juice to ease his screaming throat. "really, really cute..."

"i don't think you mean hoobae... i think you just want him as your bae," brian muttered out.

"what was that, hyung?"

"nothing. nothing, really."

wonpil looked at his hyung with eyes squinted in suspicion, then went back to eating. younghyun grabbed another piece of bread and hurriedly lathered it with butter, not even bothering to dust it with sugar before stuffing the entire thing in his mouth. "that's really gross, hyung," wonpil told him, getting the stink-eye in reply. and when the brunette reached for the last piece of bread, a hand beat him to it, following its victory off with a happy middle finger aimed his way. "hyuuung, come on!!"

"what? i need to stay healthy for my jae-bae!" younghyun smacked his lips in satisfaction. the doorbell was ringing like crazy.

"yah!! go open the door for your boyfriend!" wonpil was still bitter after his food had been stolen.

"my fingers are covered in butter."

"aaaaaaish...." the brunette was thereby forced to heave himself up and answer the door. the door swung open, and wonpil caught sight of a tall form whose crazy grin made up for all the commotion he had just caused.

"well don't you look sleep deprived, today," was jae's comment when he first caught sight of the shorter man.

"not up for your teasing today, hyung..."

jae's half-mouthed smile softened wonpil's heart a bit. "brian here by any chance?"

"ya. why you asking when you know it yourself?"

"just a force of habit." jae was now fully smiling, and the younger man couldn't help but smile along. "it okay if i come in?"

"'course."

that's how jae and brian ended up eating all of wonpil's rice snacks while laughing and secretively whispering in each other's ears. but it was okay, because all wonpil could think about was how he could possibly get closer to his cute neighbor, the one who made his heart frantic even though he had only witnessed a snippet of the man's personality.

*

the next day, there was no alarm. wonpil still woke up at 4:30 from habit, surprise and confusion settling in his groggy mind instead of the usual annoyance and frustration. he tried to go back to sleep, but his efforts were futile. he tossed and turned until 5:00, then decided to get up. it was no use just lying around. he yawned, his lips smacking together afterwards, and then his hand found his way to his sleepy eye while he groggily stumbled to the bathroom to wash his face. he dressed, he ate a piece of bread with nutella and bananas, he brushed his teeth. it was now 5:20. and yet, no sounds were audible in the other apartment.

the nervous brunette grabbed his keys and walked out to the apartment beside his. his hand found the door on its own and he knocked three times, clearly, but also quietly enough not to disturb the neighbors.

there was no answer.

he knocked again in the same way as before.

still no answer.

wonpil groaned. the kid probably hadn't woken up without his alarm... he would miss practice if wonpil didn't help him. so, of course, the brunette grabbed his phone and pressed on the new contact he had just entered yesterday: 'dowoonie.' the screen lit up with the calling functions, and the man pressed it to his ear. all the tones passed, and still the boy did not pick up. the voicemail dialogue began, and wonpil twitched in annoyance. he clicked on the 'call again' option and impatiently tapped his foot as he waited. he couldn't hear if dowoon's phone was going off or not because the door wall was thick like the rest of the building. it was sound-proof, and pressing his ear to it to listen in would be useless. he did press three more knocks to it, though, just in case. his ear was soon met with another voicemail message, and he huffed out a breath of frustration. "fuck, dowoon, answer your phone —"

he was cut off when the door quickly swiveled open and swallowed him, closing behind him. he was now pressed to a wall, held there by a warm body.

wonpil gulped and whispered out, "um... dowoonie?" the boy looked... terrible. there were tired purple bags under his eyes. his face itself looked fatigued, and his body slumped from exhaustion. "did you not sleep?"

the young man shook his head and stepped back to give wonpil space. he quietly slurred, "i didn't want to wake you up, so i stayed up all night listening to music on my phone. it just died."

"oh." the brunette's eyes got wide in surprise. "i'm used to the alarm by now. you can keep it on... i don't want you to die from sleep loss..."

"shh...~" dowoon shushed him, and led him to the couch. "hyung, the neighbors might wake up if we speak too loudly."

wonpil looked at him in disbelief as they both sat down on the soft cushions beside each other. "you know i'm the only one who can hear you, right? only the wall between our rooms is a makeshift one so if two people want to move in together, they can take the wall off and it will become a studio. so you don't have to worry about the other neighbors."

the black-haired boy stared at him, stumped. then he burst out, "mianhaeyo, hyung!" and hugged him tight, accidentally sending him back into the couch.

wonpil gasped as he was engulfed by dowoon's body and then hugged him back, rocking him a bit. "it's okay, dowoonie. i'm not mad anymore. but... i have a few requests to make."

the black-haired man nodded and held him tighter. "anything for you, hyung."

"move in with me."

"move in?" dowoon moved back to look in his hyung's eyes for a proper explanation.

"we can live in the studio together. that way, i can wake you up in the morning instead of those stupid fairies. and we'll still have our own rooms."

"that sounds like fun," the younger man murmured with a soft smile.

wonpil smiled back and leaned into his side, because the morning was cold, dowoon was warm, and he wanted to get closer to the man he would be moving in with. "and... i want you to stay here today and get some proper sleep."

dowoon nodded in agreement and wrapped his arm around wonpil as his eyes drooped closed on their own. "...thank you. hyung."

and wonpil allowed the boy to lay down and cuddle him into his chest as they both drifted off into a sound sleep, for once not interrupted by the sounds of fairies tackily singing about their hair.