Note: I'm going to have to change the name of this collection with all of these long stories I keep writing for it. I'm still surprised I managed to finish this in a couple days when I've started so many things I have no idea how to continue or finish. Although the pairing is hogyu, there's a bit more woogyu in this than I anticipated. They're just friends, though. I'm planning on writing more to this because I think Sunggyu deserves a chance to redeem himself after the end of this.

Return to Sender

Pairing: Hoya/Sunggyu

Prompt: mail keeps coming to the wrong address

"Who the hell is Lee Howon and why do you have so much of his mail?"

Sunggyu pauses in toeing off his shoes to glance at where Woohyun is leafing through the small pile of envelopes. He's been meaning to do something about that, like send it to the right address or return it to the post office. He keeps forgetting, though, and now he has a bit of a collection. "I think he's my neighbor," he replies with a shrug.

Woohyun looks at him with a smirk. "So you're not actually leading a double life?"

"I spend half of my days with you. When would I have time to live a double life?" Sunggyu finally finishes taking off his shoes and moves past his friend to get to the living room.

Woohyun follows closely behind him, still holding the envelopes. "The other half, obviously."

"I'm asleep for the other half."

"Maybe you're sleepwalking."

Stretching out on the couch, Sunggyu turns on the TV with the remote. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Of course it does," Woohyun insists. He drops the stack of envelopes onto the coffee table before sitting on the couch (and Sunggyu's legs). "What doesn't make sense is you keeping some guy's mail for no apparent reason."

"There is a reason: I'm too lazy."

Woohyun snorts. "Yeah, that's why." Resting his elbow on the back of the couch and his head on the palm of his hand, he fixes Sunggyu with another smirk. "I bet he's hot. Does that make you nervous?"

"I've only seen him for, like, a second," Sunggyu responds, keeping his focus on scrolling through the channels. "And that was when he first moved in two months ago." As odd as it sounds, Sunggyu really hasn't seen much of his next-door neighbor. They seem to be living completely separate lives. They’re rarely awake or at home at the same time. He sometimes even forgets that there's someone living next to him. And then he hears music in the middle of the night, low bass and words he only occasionally understands seeping through the wall. Or he'll be in the middle of pulling on his shoes in the morning and the soft sound of his neighbor's door opening will come through the space at the bottom of his own.

Sunggyu would never admit it to Woohyun, but he gets a little lonely sometimes when he's by himself in his apartment. So it's reassuring, in a way, to know there's someone close by. Even if he never actually sees or talks to that person. He just likes feeling like he's not alone.

"I think I know what I need to do," Woohyun says, nodding decisively.

"Get the hell off of me," Sunggyu suggests. He wiggles his legs a bit in the hopes of prompting the other to get up. Woohyun only shakes his head.

"No, not that—well, kind of."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Instead of an answer, Woohyun (finally) stands up. He picks up the stack of envelopes and Sunggyu spends a moment wondering why he would need those before he realizes Woohyun isn't heading towards the kitchen. (He'd been silently hoping his friend would cook for him.) Woohyun is actually going back to the front door. It takes Sunggyu another moment to connect the dots, but when he does he nearly falls on his face as he scrambles off the couch.

Woohyun's still in the foyer when Sunggyu reaches him and the older man doesn't waste any time trying to keep him there. He stands in front of the door, blocking Woohyun's way. "Don't you dare," he warns him.

"It's for your own good." With that, Woohyun uses his hip to try to push Sunggyu out of the way as he attempts simultaneously opening the door. He manages to open it a little bit, but then Sunggyu pushes back and the door slams shut. Woohyun lifts his arm over his head when Sunggyu reaches for the envelopes. He's not at all tall enough for it to be effective, so he uses his other hand to push at Sunggyu's face. While Sunggyu sputters and curses at him, Woohyun keeps at it until the other is out of the way of the door. He swings it open and rushes out onto the porch with Sunggyu right on his heels.

They both freeze, Woohyun with the envelopes clutched to his chest and Sunggyu with a handful of Woohyun's shirt, when they notice Sunggyu's neighbor standing in front of his own door. He seems to have been in the middle of unlocking his door when he stopped to stare at the two of them. After a moment of silence, Woohyun speaks up first.

"Are you Lee Howon," he asks Sunggyu's neighbor.

The guy glances at Sunggyu before looking back at Woohyun. "Who wants to know?"

Sunggyu's almost completely sure Woohyun doesn't know the meaning of the word embarrassment. In fact, it's probably not even in his vocabulary. With a grin that Sunggyu can only describe as devilish, Woohyun slaps the stack of mail to Sunggyu's chest and pushes him towards the other man. "He does," Woohyun says. He squeezes Sunggyu's shoulder when his friend tries to flee. Work with me here, the look he sends Sunggyu seems to say. His eyebrows dip as his grin becomes strained.

Sunggyu sends him a look right back, his eyes narrowed and mouth in a straight line. I'm going to kill you after this.

"Good luck with that," Woohyun whispers to him before hurrying back into Sunggyu's apartment. Although he shuts the door, his ear is most likely glued to the other side.

Sunggyu shifts awkwardly in front of his neighbor. In his haste to stop Woohyun he'd forgotten to put shoes on and now he's barefoot on cool concrete. He can't imagine what this other guy must think of him.

"Uh, you were looking for me?"

Bringing his eyes up to meet his neighbor—Howon's, Sunggyu mentally curses. Damn, Woohyun had been right. The guy is kinda hot. Dark brown hair parted down the middle, thick eyebrows, a sharp jawline. He's only wearing jeans and a gray t-shirt, but Sunggyu thinks his biceps add a nice touch to the outfit. Clearing his throat, Sunggyu considers the least creepy way to explain himself. "Yeah, well, I've, um, I've been getting some of your mail." He holds out the envelopes for Howon to take. Hopefully he doesn't notice how shaky Sunggyu's hand is.

"That's a lot of mail." It's not exactly an accusation, but Sunggyu still feels his face (more like his whole body) go red. Howon accepts the mail from Sunggyu, his expression unreadable.

"It's been happening for a couple weeks now." Sunggyu feels the need to defend himself. He doesn't want his neighbor to think this was intentional.

Howon starts flipping through his returned mail, a tiny, almost nonexistent smile on his face. Sunggyu can't tell if he believes him or not. "Well, it's mostly junk," Howon concludes once he reaches the bottom of the pile. His minuscule smile grows when he meets Sunggyu's eyes again. "I'll try to sort this out, but let me know if you get any more."

"Like, put it in your mailbox?" Howon gives him a funny look and Sunggyu realizes a moment too late that that's not what his neighbor had meant. (He's also certain he hears a muffled groan from the other side of his front door.) "O-oh, right. I'll, uh, let you know." Sunggyu swears he's not always so dense. Or awkward. "I'll just come by and, you know, tell you." Oh my God, stop talking. Sunggyu can't tell if he thought the words or Woohyun screamed them at him through the door, but either way he takes the advice.

Howon's still looking at him weirdly. "I guess I'll see you around then," he says, though it comes out a bit like a question.

Sunggyu only nods, lest he make an even bigger fool of himself. He'll probably die of embarrassment after this and his only regret will be that he never got the chance to kill Woohyun for putting him in this situation in the first place.