- Songbird  -

jinyoon

There it was, his favorite alarm bell. 

Never before in his life had he looked forward to being woken up in the morning, but ever since moving to his new apartment that had changed. 

Every morning at 6:30 did the same stranger pass by his bedroom window singing. It was a new song every other day, but it’s not the song that’s important. It’s the singer, because it is the purest, most beautiful singing voice Seungyoon has ever heard. 

Now it’s become a habit to lay in bed and wait every morning just to hear the song of the day. 

It was after several weeks of enjoying new songs by the beautiful singing voice he had discovered one evening when he had gone to bed early that the singer sang when he returned home too. 

It was just as his fever was about to sweep him away into dreamland he heard the softest lullaby pass by the window. Jolting up right in bed he swept his sweaty bangs out of his eyes as if that would help him to listen better. 

As he did had the strongest urge to sneeze erupted, unable to withhold it he let out a sneeze so loud startled birds could be heard taking flight outside. 

By the sound of the ruckus happening outside his window had he not only startled birds. 

Jumping out of bed, pulling on a pair of pajamas pants he opened the front door onto the landing outside. A young man was picking up his groceries which had rolled everywhere. 

    "I’m sorry, I’m sorry" he repeated as he rushed to help. It was only after helping to pick up everything he realized who it was he had just helped. 

    "Oh, hello songbird" he said cheerfully. Happy that they had finally met. 

The stranger blushed a little and didn’t meet his eyes, but his smile was so lovely Seungyoon didn’t even notice the awkwardness hanging around them in the air. 

    "It’s nice to finally meet you!" he burst out, reaching out his hand, only to retract it again seconds after. "Don’t shake it, don’t shake it. I’m sick you see" he explained stuffing his hands into his pajamas pockets sniffling a little. "Hence the sneeze" he began explaining. 

The man was still smiling and nodded at him silently before saying: 

    "I’m Kim Jinwoo, I live in apartment 9C" he said pointing down the landing. 

    "Kang Seungyoon" he replied and nodded towards his open door "And I live over there. Sorry to have startled you" 

Jinwoo only shook his head lightly as to say not to worry. He doesn't say much this one, Seungyoon thought intrigued. He was wondering if he should mention the singing. He didn’t want to make things weird between them, but he really really wanted to hear Jinwoo sing one whole song some day. 

    "I was about to go to sleep when your singing surprised me" he admitted. Watching for Jinwoo’s reaction before continuing. "It was so lovely" he continued suddenly feeling a little nervous. He had fallen for for the strangers voice alone, but being faced with the fact that the rest of the man was equally lovely, well it was almost too much. 

Jinwoo only blinked at him. 

    "You like my singing?" he asked sounding a little surprised. 

    "A lot" Seungyoon admitted feeling butterflies erupt suddenly but violently in his stomach making it impossible to stand still.  

The silence between them grew thicker by the seconds, so much so that actual crickets could be heard in the distance making it all almost comical. He felt another sneeze brewing, deciding it was time to let Jinwoo go home now he nodded and smiled a little before saying:

    "I should get back to bed before this cold gets worse. I’m sorry to have startled you" he gave a small nod and turned to walk back to his apartment. 

Crawling in to bed he could only hope his comment had not made Jinwoo self-conscious of his singing. He would be more than a little heartbroken if the singing stopped after that night. 

Having slept maybe for an hour he heard gentle knocks on his bedroom window. 

Wobbling to the front door still half asleep he opened it to find Jinwoo holding out a bowl with something steaming in it. 

    "Brought you soup" Jinwoo said simply. Seungyoon took the bowl into his hands and stared into the steaming liquid. Jinwoo smiled at him and nodded before taking a step back onto the landing. 

    "Get well soon" he said gently while Seungyoon rubbed his eyes a little, unsure of what had just happened. 

    "Thank you" he replied in a low voice. 

He couldn’t help but to look out the door at Jinwoo’s broad shoulders and straight back walk away slowly in the evening light from the lanterns lining the apartment landing. 

    "I wish you wouldn’t have left so soon" he mumbled into the soup bowl, the warm steam caressed his face gently and made his sinuses feel a hint better as well. 

Unsure when the last time someone had cooked for him last he sat down by his small kitchen table to eat the soup. He always felt so lonely eating alone at night, but that night his spirit was a few notches higher than usual. 

The soup was good, a little bland maybe, but good. He didn’t want to season it, because it was just how Jinwoo had intended it to be and he didn’t wish to ruin that. 

Sitting alone, eating in the darkness he felt question after question about Jinwoo  pop up in his mind. 

As soon as he was recovered would he approach apartment 9C with his empty bowl and his heart full of questions. 

Over the course of the next couple of days had he tried to decide what to say and do to make sure his one excuse to approach Jinwoo wouldn’t simply be him handing back the bowl. It felt all consuming trying to come up with something at first, but after a few days obsessing over it he decided honesty would be his best strategy. 

Honesty and returning the favor. 

That day he quit work an hour early and stopped by a grocery store on his way home. He very rarely cooked anything for himself, not because he couldn’t, but because it was depressing to only cook for one. It was more trouble than it was worth. 

Having picked up everything he needed he hurried home. He wanted to return the bowl, with hot food in it. Simply returning the favor, but he had come up with a tiny plan he hoped would work because he was simply so smitten. 

Taking out another bowl for himself he turned down the heat on his soup and went to his bedroom to finish the work he had brought home seeing as he had left early that day. 

He didn’t usually work in his bedroom, he would bring his work with him into the living room, with the tv or the radio as company. Today he sat in silence, listening carefully for signs of his favorite songbird returning home. 

Jinwoo returned home earlier than normal, which Seungyoon was delighted about. 

As soon as he heard him he got to his feet abandoning his work right away. He hesitated for a moment in the hall before deciding to go with his original plan after all. 

Pouring his soup into both bowls he walked carefully down the hall and out on the landing. 

Watching the apartment numbers slowly increase as he approached 9C he felt so nervous the soup wobbled in the bowls from his hands shaking. 

He rang the bell and waited. 

    "Yes?" Jinwoo’s head poked out through the opening of the door.

    "I’m here to return the favor" he replied cheerfully. 

    "Oh, come in" Jinwoo said opening the door for him. 

It was as easy as that. For some reason had this seemed a lot more complicated in his head, but walking down the narrow hall of Jinwoo’s apartment he wondered why he had thought this to be so difficult. 

    "Excuse the mess. I’ll get us something to drink, what do you want?" Jinwoo said gesturing for him to sit down by a small table by the window. It was already dark outside, but the distant view of the city was a nice view on its own.

    "Whatever you are having" he replied simply, focusing on putting down the bowls on the table. He didn’t want to seem demanding asking for anything specific, but he didn’t want to seem boring going for plain water either. 

He had just sat down when he noticed something moving in his peripheral vision. 

    "You got a pet?" he asked, hoping with everything he got it wasn’t a rat he had just spotted. 

    "Yeah, two cats, but they are a bit shy around strangers. Did you spot one?" Jinwoo asked taking place opposite him by the table. 

    "I thought I saw something moving yeah" he admitted while silently gesturing thank you for the soda can Jinwoo put down in front of him. 

    "They’ll come out eventually. It’s rare for me to have visitors so I’m sure they are curious" Jinwoo said before continuing to thank him for the meal.

Jinwoo had been right, it didn’t take long before the cats dared come closer. He thought they were odd looking at first, no fur, pointy ears and with a constant skeptical expression, but watching as one snuck up into Jinwoo’s lap he kinda understood their charm too. 

Actually did he find that a small part of him was a bit jealous of them. He was sure they knew a lot about Jinwoo that he didn’t. Surely cats had the mental capacity to know great things about their owners. 

Just as he was about to ask their names had the other cat begun approaching his leg under the table. 

Leaning down to pat it gently he found it a bit odd to touch, but still nice. Deciding to shift his focus to his soup again he was just about to swallow another mouthful when the sneaky creature jumped into his lap. 

Startled he shook his spoon as he jumped in his chair, spilling soup down the entire shirt front of his white t-shirt. 

Jinwoo began apologizing furiously, but he didn’t mind. It wasn’t as if he got burned or anything. The poor cat however got showered in soup, but was still seated firmly in his lap. 

Pulling of his shirt he used it to wipe of the cranky cat. He knew that the cat approved because he could feel the needle-sharp claws retract out of his thigh moments later. 

It was only when he shifted his focus back to his soup he noticed Jinwoo’s slightly flustered expression. Unsure of what to do he looked to his shirt on the floor which the other cat was currently claiming as it’s new sleeping spot. 

    "Sorry, how rude to undress while we were eating. Should I go get a new shirt? I don’t think it will give it back just yet" he said apologetically. 

Jinwoo just waved his hand as if to say forget it, but he couldn’t be sure so he leaned forward slightly to see Jinwoo’s face properly. Peering up into one of the cutest expression he had ever seen in his entire life he couldn’t help but to smile. 

    "What?" he asked trying to keep his voice innocent. Had he known him undressing would have this effect on Jinwoo he would have done it sooner. 

    "Nothing" Jinwoo replied while staring very determined out the window.

They finished their meal making small conversation about cats, weather and cooking. Neither of them were particularly good cooks, but they had somehow agreed on meeting up to cook together the next weekend. 

How Seungyoon had managed to get Jinwoo to agree to that he weren’t even sure of himself, but his heart was dancing in his chest at the thought. 

Jinwoo quickly cleaned up the two bowls while he hunched down to try to coax the beige cat of his t-shirt. It was no good though, it clung to it with several sharp claws. 

    "I guess it’s fine" he mumbled to the cat smiling a little. Having something of his in Jinwoo’s apartment, it felt nice to think about it. It weren’t as if it was a particularly cherished shirt anyway. 

    "Thank you for the meal" Jinwoo said handing him the two empty bowls. 

    "Thank you for having me" he replied, putting on his shoes before taking the two bowls in his hand. 

He didn’t want to leave, the weekend felt too far away. Trying to think of something to say he smiled sheepishly at his feet. He was already so happy, why couldn’t his heart be content with the progress he had already made. 

    "I’ll see you this Sunday then" Jinwoo said finally breaking the silence between them. 

    "Most definitely" he replied.

Jinwoo opened the door for him and he stepped outside into the cool evening air. 

Turning in the doorway to say his final goodbye he slightly miscalculated exactly how close Jinwoo was standing and they were suddenly standing very close. 

Staring wide eyed into each others eyes they both stood frozen in place. He could feel Jinwoo’s warm breath on his cheek. 

    "So beautiful" he heard Jinwoo whisper, blushing furiously as he realized what he had just said out loud. 

    "That’s my line" he replied, still doubting what he had just heard. 

Jinwoo laughed a little at that, but still hid in his hands from embarrassment. 

    "Can’t believe I said that out loud" Jinwoo mumbled more to himself probably, but Seungyoon couldn’t help but to smile widely at this. 

Waiting for Jinwoo to remove his hands from his face he got impatient. Moving in ever closer he reached out and grabbed Jinwoo’s hands with his free hand, pulling lightly at them to reveal Jinwoo’s still slightly blushing face. 

He didn’t know where the courage came from, but while still holding both of Jinwoo’s hands in his hand he asked very gently:

    "Is it okay if I kiss you?" 

Jinwoo’s already wide eyes blinked at him, but he didn’t say anything. Instead Jinwoo leaned in slowly, placing the smallest of peck-like kisses on his lips. Smiling into the kiss he hummed slightly. 

Who would have thought Jinwoo would kiss him first. 

authors note: I tried to capture jinyoon's subtleness and softness with words while staying true to their very honest way of communicating. Did I succeed? I dont know. I wrote most of this seriously sleepdeprived.. might have missed the mark completely o.o

Thank you for reading though <3