Kyuhyun woke to a loud thump from the apartment next door and groggily looked at his alarm clock.  It was a little past eleven in the morning and, for most people, was a perfectly acceptable time to make noise.  Most people had already started their day by now…but not Kyuhyun.  Kyuhyun was a video game designer and fell asleep whenever he was tired and woke when he was rested.  There was no such thing as a regular schedule.  There wasn’t even a need for an alarm clock to begin with, except he liked to know what time it was in the middle of the night without turning on a light. 

            Kyuhyun sat up and got out of bed.  Clearly the apartment manager had finally found someone to rent the apartment next door and they were busy moving in.  Kyuhyun hoped that this time it wasn’t someone with young children again, so he wouldn’t have to hear crying and yelling at all hours of the day and night.  An older couple or someone single would be perfect.  He could deal with that.  As long as his peace and quiet remained intact most of the time, he would be happy. 

            Making his way to the kitchen, he started up his coffee maker.  Then he dug into his bag of bread to make some toast for breakfast, only to find it molding and threw the whole thing in the trash.  He then checked the refrigerator for anything to eat and found nothing but milk (which was miraculously still good), cans of soda, a few bottles of wine, a box of take out that he didn’t feel like checking at that point, and some soy sauce.  He then dug through the cupboard and found a box of cereal.  Kyuhyun poured himself a generous bowl of cereal and filled it with milk until it was nearly spilling over.  By then, his coffee was ready and he poured himself a mug before heading into his office.

            He sat in front of his computer and flipped it on.  The date at the bottom corner of the screen read August fifteenth and the temperature was already scorching outside.  Kyuhyun had the air conditioner on, but he could still feel the humidity in the air.  He read through his emails, hearing the occasional bump and thud through the thin shared wall for the better part of an hour and then he heard little else.  When he was done responding to emails, he headed downstairs to get his laundry.

            When he first moved in, the other residents would get angry that he’d leave his clothes in the dryer overnight and would stack his clothes on top of the machine.  Then they met him.  Kyuhyun wasn’t an idiot, he knew that he was good looking and could be very charming when he wanted to.  Most of the people using the laundry room were women, so they warmed up to him quickly enough and as long as he left his basket downstairs, they would now just put it into the basket for him.  In turn, he just didn’t think about them touching his underwear and the erted thoughts they had over it.  After all, he was completely gay and they could wish and dream all they wanted, but it would do them no good.

            As his apartment was on the third floor and the laundry room was in the basement, he had to go down four flights to get there.  In the middle of the third one, he nearly ran into someone trying to carry up a towering bookshelf.

            “Whoa!” Kyuhyun said, stumbling at bit in his effort to stop running down stairs and veer off to the side. 

            “Ouch!” the other man responded, losing his balance a little and inadvertently letting the bookshelf smack into his shoulder. 

            “Sorry!  I didn’t know you were there,” Kyuhyun apologized, looking over the tiny man and the bookshelf that was taller than him.

            “Oh, that’s okay.  I’m sorry that I’m taking up so much of the stairway.”

            “Are you trying to carry that up?”

            “Yeah,” the man said, grunting as he lifted it up another step and set it down.  “It’s a slow process.”

            “Here, let me help you up with it.”

            “Really?  Are you sure?”

            “Yeah,”  Kyuhyun said, climbing up a few steps so he could get a grip on the top of it.  “Which floor do you need?”

            “The third.”

            They both lifted it up at once and carried it with ease up the rest of the way.  Kyuhyun already knew that this must be his new neighbor