Chapter Text
It started on a day like any other.
Carrying his enormous camera in his over-the-shoulder bag, Felix fumbled with his apartment keys to unlock the beaten-down door. He slammed the door behind him with his foot, and collapsed on the tiny couch in his living room-- and it was quite literally his living room, based on the fact that everything except his bed was crowded into its space.
Felix stared up at the ceiling with unfocused eyes for about three seconds before getting uncomfortable with the lack of stimulation. He got up and decided to take a shower, pulling out his phone to start his favorite sing-along playlist. He usually never took a shower in the evening, but today he was feeling rather numb. Honestly, Felix had no clue why he felt like taking a shower, but at this point he had no clue why he felt like anything recently.
The water pressure on his head was heavenly, especially when he turned the temperature up to a scalding heat. The steam in front of him and the scent of his shampoo mingled together to create a pleasant cloud caressing his body, while the song playing from his speaker floated through the air like a--
Thud.
Felix’s fingers froze in the midst of massaging his head. He turned towards the sound, which came from the shower wall on his right. He waited a second to see if he would hear anything else, but nothing happened. Resuming his ministrations, Felix wondered what on earth could have caused that noise.
I wanna be myself, I don’t care,
Yeah I gotta be myself, just don’t care
Getting lost in the music, Felix forgot about the weird noise. “And now that your weight’s come off my shoulders, I realize that I can fly,” he sang, closing his eyes.
Felix’s eyes flew open. Was he going crazy, or did he just hear someone’s voice singing along with him?
He paused his singing and listened once again for any weird noises. He hadn’t ever thought there were ghosts in his apartment, but right now he was seriously questioning this belief.
Nothing.
And then, just to see what would happen, Felix started singing along with his music again.
“I’m like the autumn leaves don’t know which way I’m blowing, but it--”
“-- don’t matter if it’s raining or it’s snowing,”
Felix caught the tail end of another, very different voice singing the rest of the line. It was clearly coming from the same shower wall from which he heard the noise from before.
At this point Felix had concluded that the voice was coming from an actual person, not a ghost. And he suspected that it was someone on the other side of the wall next to him. He traced the layout of his apartment and realized the shower wall was most definitely shared with his neighbor.
Incredulous, but extremely intrigued, Felix paused the music and waited for a second. He placed his ear against the wall and heard vague sounds of movement, but nothing identifiable.
“Uh. Hello?” he said, the words echoing in his bathroom.
Again, no one responded. Felix was now sure that whoever was on the other side (probably his neighbor) was purposefully ignoring him unless he was singing. Now a bit self-conscious, Felix finished his shower in silence and hastily left the bathroom.
Whoever my neighbor is, he’s clearly a creep, he thinks. I hope I never have to see his face.
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The next morning, Felix is ready for work faster than normal. He wanted to make sure he didn’t accidentally run into his neighbor. It did strike him as odd that they had never met before; Felix had previously assumed that whoever lived next to his apartment was just always away from home. But after last night, Felix was definitely on edge, and he hated it.
He left and closed the apartment door behind him, as softly as possible with a five-year-old, squeaky wooden door. He stared at the adjacent door for a minute. Nothing happened. His frustration grew at his neighbor for causing him this kind of stress, on top of the emptiness he already felt in his life. Tempted to kick the door, Felix caught himself just in time as he heard the elevator door open behind him. He hurried in and tried his best to forget about his stupid neighbor for the rest of the day.
---
This time when Felix came home, he was ready to pass out on the couch like normal. As he was about to drift off, something nagged at his brain. I wonder if my neighbor sings in the shower normally.
What was his voice like? What other songs did he like?
Groaning in disbelief at his own idiocy, Felix got up and jumped in the shower, once again abnormal for his usual routine. He played the same playlist as before and sang along, almost purposefully louder than normal.
"Where you going? It’s hard to keep up, you’re moving so fast leaving me behind," he sang.
Nothing happened for a while, and then out of nowhere he heard the most beautiful harmony join him.
And now I’m walking on my way, all alone, I’m feeling so cold, not getting anywhere I feel like I’m in slow mode.
Felix stopped as chills went down his spine at how their voices mingled together. How does he know every single song on my playlist. he thought. This is kind of scary, but impressive.
That night, Felix fell asleep with his neighbor’s voice ringing in his head.
---
Felix had a plan. He needed to get rid of his annoying neighbor. Because if he didn’t, soon enough it would lead to him spiraling into obsession with the voice behind his wall. And that was not something he needed in his life at the moment.
After work, Felix dropped his camera on his living room couch and marched over to his neighbor’s door. He lifted his hand to knock, then hesitated. What if he’s nice, Felix panicked. I don’t want to be mean to him. Or what if he’s really ugly? Or… what if he’s pretty? Actually, either way it’s better for me to forget about him today.
With one final deep breath, Felix knocked on the door.
He waited. It felt like minutes, but it was probably only a few seconds when footsteps could be heard approaching the door.
Felix’s heart was racing. Don’t be nervous, he’s probably some random creepo who happens to have a nice voice--
Oh.
His neighbor was not ugly.
In fact, he was the exact opposite. The first thing Felix noticed was the man’s arms. Which, looking back, was not normal. But what is a guy supposed to do when presented with such a specimen like Felix’s neighbor? Act normal?
Not only was his neighbor wearing a muscle tank, but he was also wearing grey sweatpants. And his beanie showed a peek of brown hair. Felix was this close to drooling. Internally, of course.
And that arm was so distracting, propped up on the door frame as the man leaned into it. Felix’s eyes traveled to his hand, entranced by its tapping against the wall.
“Uh… can I help you?”
Felix snapped out of it and looked at his eyes (finally). Thankfully, it seemed like he had only been weirded out by the small pause, and hadn’t noticed Felix’s very obvious… perusal of his body.
This is so unfair, Felix thought. How is his face pretty too?!
Flustered but still determined to carry out his original purpose, Felix forced himself to say something. “Yes!” Okay, that was too loud. His neighbor cringed a little. “Uh, yeah, you can help me.”
There was a slight pause, in which the brunette looked very confused. Oh, maybe I should keep going.
“Can you not stalk me in the shower like a weirdo? It’s an invasion of privacy.”
“Wait, what?” said the neighbor. He was ignored.
“Like I get singing in the shower, but why would you sing when I’m singing? Without saying anything beforehand?” Felix was on a roll now, unaware that he was making no sense. “At least introduce yourself before you do something so… so weird.” He trailed off a little at the amusement in the other’s face.
“I mean, you didn’t introduce yourself before yelling at me about showers. I’d say that’s pretty weird, actually,” said the man, holding back laughter (although not very well).
Why am I even alive anymore. He has dimples. DIMPLES.
Felix was taken aback by how nonchalant his neighbor was acting. He was kind of hoping to antagonize him so that they both would automatically never speak with each other, by nature of a hate-hate relationship.
But instead Felix was left dumbfounded, as the infuriatingly attractive man in front of him smirked.
Get yourself together, Lee Felix. You can’t let him win. You know what’s at stake.
“Well, I’m Lee Felix, your neighbor, and I’d appreciate it if you stopped listening to me in the shower. Thank you very much,” he said, spinning on his heel to march back to the safety of his own apartment.
As he was about to close his door, he heard a voice behind him call out, “You have good taste in music.”
Felix whirled around and slammed the door before he could do something stupid, like run back over and either punch or make out with his neighbor. He honestly wouldn’t be able to tell you which one he wanted to do more.
He took a deep breath. He had just made his problem a lot worse.