There was his voice. Again.

Jeonghan groaned. Yes, his next door neighbor’s voice was nice to listen to, but why did he have to sing 24/7?
Annoyed, Jeonghan started singing loudly in retaliation, some dumb song he’d heard recently over the radio.
He thought it’d worked-the singing next door stopped for a moment. Then the owner of the voice started singing along. 
Jeonghan resisted the urge to pull his hair out. 
“UGH!” he yelled loudly. He could’ve sworn he heard giggling on the other side of the wall and was tempted to walk over and give his neighbor a piece of his mind.
He got dressed and rushed outside, deciding to just go to work and forget about all this.

“Again with your neighbor?” Mingyu snickered. “I swear you never shut up about him.”
Jeonghan rolled his eyes. “Cuz HE never shuts up. Doesn’t he have a job? Why’s he just sit in his flat singing all day?”
They were currently at a cafe and Jeonghan was wiping the same table for 5 minutes, lost in thought. It was a slow day for business, giving him plenty of time to vent his annoyance about that sickly sweet voice on the other side of the wall.
The door to the restaurant jangled open and a customer entered. Jeonghan didn’t give it much thought as he just listened in absentmindedly to the customer’s order that Mingyu was taking.

“Is there anything here to soothe your throat?” asked the soft voice. “I’ve been singing all morning and it’s started to get a bit husky.”
That caught Jeonghan’s attention. He eyed the male customer closely.
“Singing all morning?” he repeated.
The guy smiled. “Yeah. My neighbor doesn’t seem to like it though. It’d be nice if we could meet, but we’re both so busy.”
Jeonghan started to feel a growing sense of foreboding. “Do you happen to live in the apartments across the street?”
The other male nodded.
“Apartment complex 17?”
Another nod.
“Room number 1704?”
The male’s eyes widened as it all clicked. “You’re my roommate?” he asked, his voice still soft.
Jeonghan groaned. Of course his “annoying” roommate had to be extremely cute and gentle sounding. Great.
Jeonghan nodded reluctantly. “Do you just sing all day?” he asked.
The latter nodded. “I’m a solo artist. I write, compose, and perform my own music. Oh, I’m Joshua by the way.”
Jeonghan sighed. “I’m Jeonghan. You have a nice voice, but you’re always singing. It drives me crazy.”
Joshua laughed. “You can just sing loudly and drown me out if you want.”
Jeonghan bit his lip. “I’m not a good singer like you,” he pointed out.
Joshua turned a little pink from the indirect compliment. “Sure you are. Just try.”
Jeonghan rolled his eyes. “Your order’s done, drink up and go back to singing all adorably.”
Joshua flushed and picked up his drink on the counter. “It was nice to finally meet you,” he murmured before leaving.
Mingyu smirked over the counter. “He was cute though. If you don’t want him I’ll take him.”
Jeonghan groaned. “Shut up Mingyu.” He gave one final swipe on the spotless table he’d been cleaning and sighed.
“Okay, so he was a little cute…”

Jeonghan arrived at his apartment, eyeing the door next to him before entering his own flat. It was quiet for once, and Jeonghan decided the sunset outside was pretty so he went out onto the balcony to eat his dinner.
He sat there quietly chewing on his food when he heard a velvety voice float through the air.
Ah, he’s singing again, Jeonghan thought. Rather than annoying, he found it soothing, like a lullaby. Jeonghan closed his eyes and lay his head against the railing of the balcony, absorbed in the rhythm.

He was lost in reverie when he heard a hushed laugh. Jeonghan looked to the side and saw Joshua on the balcony next door to him, watching him in amusement.
“If you sleep out here you’ll catch a cold,” Joshua noted. “Were you out here to avoid my singing? Sorry, I’ll turn it down then.”
Jeonghan quickly shook his head. “No, it sounded nice, I was listening,” he explained. Joshua looked surprised. 
“Really? Thank you. Um…I wanted to hear you sing again, actually…” Joshua said sheepishly. Jeonghan shook his head again.
“I have an awful voice.”
“Oh come on.”
“No.”
“Worried that you’ll lose to me?” Joshua said challengingly. Jeonghan pouted.
“No way.”
“Then sing!”
“Fine!”

Jeonghan started singing the song Joshua had been earlier, his voice quietly echoing the melody.
Joshua watched quietly, then sang along, smiling.
“You have a lovely voice,” Joshua insisted after Jeonghan stopped. “I want to do a duet with you, if possible.”
Jeonghan looked at Joshua to see if the latter was pulling his leg but he seemed completely serious. 
Well, what the heck, why not? Jeonghan grinned. “Okay, fine.”
Joshua’s face lit up. “For real? Thanks!”
Jeonghan smiled. Joshua was so passionate about music, and it was endearing to watch.
They made plans about when they’d be free and finally decided on tomorrow after Jeonghan’s shift.

Jeonghan basically skipped his way to work the next day, and Mingyu looked at him expectantly.
“Why’re you so happy? Something happen between you and the cute guy?”
Jeonghan turned pink. “W-well-no…”
Mingyu crossed his arms. “You’re lying.”
Jeonghan sighed. “Okay, so maybe he invited me to his flat today so we could collab on a song together-”
Mingyu squealed like a puppy. “Seriously? So you’re already going on a date?!”
Jeonghan coughed. “It-it’s not a date-”
“But you so want it to to be a date, don’t you?”
Jeonghan looked down. “Okay, a little…”
Mingyu laughed. “Go for it, then. Maybe make out with him or-”
Jeonghan tossed the rag he’d been using to clean the table towards Mingyu’s face. The latter shrieked.
“My beautiful face!”, Mingyu complained, while Jeonghan rolled his eyes. 

He felt unnaturally nervous as he approached Joshua’s room. He gave a tentative knock. The door swung open almost immediately.
Joshua looked even better than yesterday. He was wearing a button up shirt and his hair was styled to one side, exposing his forehead. Jeonghan suddenly felt rather underdressed. 
“Hi,” he said simply.
Joshua gave a warm smile back. “Hi, thanks for agreeing to this, sorry my place is a bit of a mess, oh and I hope you aren’t allergic to cats or anything because I have one but I have no clue where she went-”
Jeonghan chuckled. “Nah, it’s all fine.” Joshua gave a relieved sigh and Jeonghan found it awfully cute.
“Okay, so this is my studio. Well, not really a studio but oh well. Here’s my guitar, I do acoustics by the way.”
Jeonghan eyed the guitar. He loved the way it sounded through the walls whenever it was played.

“Okay, so there’s this song I’ve always wanted to cover but you need two people, but I wanted to make sure you liked it first,” Joshua explained in a rush.
Jeonghan smiled, wanting Joshua to not feel so anxious. Joshua showed it to him, watching Jeonghan nervously. Jeonghan could feel Joshua’s eyes on him and felt his heart flutter a bit more than it should’ve.
“Oh, I know this song, actually,” Jeonghan said. “I really like it.”
Joshua looked delighted.
“Oh? That’s great! It’ll make it a lot easier. Okay, so here’s how I wanted to divide the parts…”

They spent the evening singing and laughing, and Jeonghan had to admit it was a lot better than he’d expected. Joshua no longer looked antsy, in fact he became totally outgoing the rest of the time.
They finished the song, and Joshua gave a contented sigh.
“Wow, this sounds great. Ah, really, thanks for helping out.”
Jeonghan waved a hand dismissively. “No problem. That was really fun, actually.”
Joshua looked away shyly. “Um, do you wanna stay for dinner?” he asked hopefully.
Jeonghan immediately agreed. They ordered takeout and sat around, waiting for the food to be delivered.

“So…” Joshua started, as they sat in the living room. It was quiet and Jeonghan felt tense as Joshua locked eyes with him.
“I probably should apologize for always bothering you with my singing,” Joshua went on. “So, sorry about that. I’m actually going to be singing in an official recording studio starting next week, so you don’t have to worry about it anymore.”
Jeonghan knew he should feel glad about that but he found that he’d grown to like the guy’s soft voice reverberating through the thin walls.
“Do you have to?” he found himself replying before he could stop himself.
Joshua looked taken aback. “Uh, don’t you want me to?”
Jeonghan bit his lip. “Well, I don’t mind your singing that much, it’s nice to wake up to.” 
Joshua blushed slightly. “Oh, um, thanks…”

Jeonghan gaze dipped towards Joshua’s lips which were pressed together as if pondering what to say next. He suddenly found himself drifting closer to them. Joshua’s eyes met Jeonghan’s and there was something about them that made Jeonghan want to get even closer.
Before he could scream at himself to stop he’d closed the distance between him and Joshua and his lips met Joshua’s soft ones.
There was a melodic silence before Jeonghan broke away, realizing what he’d done.

“Oh my god I’m so sorry I have no clue why I did that okay so maybe I have some clue but just because I sorta like you I know I shouldn’t have just kissed you like that-”
Joshua smiled and swooped forward and returned the favor, his lips lingering briefly before meeting Jeonghan’s eyes.
“Funny, I like you too,” Joshua replied, his face scarlet but looking determined. Jeonghan gulped.
“Wait, seriously?”
“Yes…”
“Then will you go out with me?” Jeonhan blurted.
Joshua’s face brightened even more. “Of course,” he replied, looking at Jeonghan shyly.

The doorbell rang, signaling that their food had arrived. Joshua came back with it and they devoured the meal before Jeonghan noticed the time.
“Oh, I should be heading back. Promised to help a friend with their homework,” he explained.
Joshua nodded. “Um, c-could I have your number?” he asked.
Jeonghan whipped out his phone. “Right, of course. Here’s mine.”
They exchanged numbers and Joshua looked elated.
“I’ll see you tomorrow then?” Jeonghan asked.
Joshua nodded. “I’d like that.”
Jeonghan quickly leaned over and kissed Joshua once more before taking a few steps and entering his flat.
He couldn’t wait for tomorrow. Sure, there was Mingyu’s gossip loving face to deal with, but that wasn’t really relevant.

Later, he fell asleep to a melodious voice echoing in the background.