The pile of papers on Yoochun's desk was threatening to topple, making Yesung a little nervous about breathing too heavily in the office. Not that having Mr. Park scream at him would make his week any worse than it already was.

 

“So, why did you get kicked out of your last apartment?” Yoochun asked. He grabbed half the stack of papers, thumbed through them and put them in a drawer.

 

“It's really very complicated, actually. You see, my little brother came to visit; he's in college right now, studying marine biology. And he didn't want to go home right away, so I told him he could stay with me for a couple of days. I missed him a lot and I don't get home much myself, so I figured we could spend the weekend catching up. So, I left the key under my mat. I had to go to work. Well...” Yesung stalled. Yoochun was staring at him.

 

“Is there a point in there somewhere?” Yoochun asked. He had never had someone talk so much.

 

“Yeah, sorry.” Yesung blushed. “Uhm... Basically, my brother came to visit and accidentally, sorta, set the pool on fire.”

 

“WHAT?!” Yoochun screamed. Yesung flinched. He should have told Mr. Park the whole story, probably a bit quicker.

 

“Okay, back up just a tiny bit. How did your brother set the pool on fire?”

 

“It was closed for cleaning. There was some kind of algae taking over and a special chemical had to be used. Well, Jongjin, my brother, set a loaf of bread on fire in the oven. My apartment opens- I mean opened up to the pool area. So he threw the bread into the pool. The chemical caught fire. And, here I am.”

 

“The good news is we don't have a pool,” Yoochun said.

 

“The bad news?” Yesung was almost afraid to ask.

 

“The only open one-bedroom apartment in across from mine. Just promise not to destroy anything.”

 

“You're gonna rent me an apartment! Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!” Yesung jumped up from his chair and threw his arms around Yoochun's neck. “I could kiss you right now!”

 

“Oh, please don't.” Yoochun pried Yesung's off him as gently as he could. “You can start moving in whenever you'd like. The laundry is in the basement. The courtyard is open for every so be respectful. It's really small.” He handed Yesung the key to the apartment, hoping he didn't just make the biggest mistake of his life.

 

“Of course. The fire was just a freak accident. Nothing like that will ever happen again, I can promise you that much. And if you need...” Yoochun pressed his fingers to Yesung's mouth.

 

“I need you to stop talking now. I have a pile of work orders to get through. Have a nice day.” Yoochun ushered Yesung out of the office.

 

Yoochun collapsed into the chair and sighed. If he hated being the manager before, he had a feeling Yesung was going to make it worse.

 

He sighed and pushed himself out of the chair. He grabbed the nearest pile of complaints and read the first one.

 

“, , ,” he cursed to himself.

 

Yunho's apartment was on the top floor and he always seemed to have the same problem; the garbage disposal was always backed up. Yoochun hated climbing the stairs and hated dealing with Yunho. Yoochun always thought of Yunho as a bit of a priss.

 

In reality, Yunho just worked too much and too hard. So, when things in the apartment malfunctioned, he stressed himself out.

 

Yoochun pounded on Yunho's door, sighing to himself. Yunho opened the door quickly. “Hi, Yoochun. I'm sorry I had to put in another work order, but if you would just replace the disposal.”

 

“I know. . I really didn't want to have to. What the hell are you putting down there? Rocks?”

 

“No!” Yunho shouted, offended that Yoochun would accuse him of sabotaging his own apartment. “All I use it for is fruit peels.”

 

“Sorry. I know. I know you are super careful with everything. I'm gonna unclog it for now. Try not to use the sink and I'll call the plumber out to fix. I'll call you when I know when he'll be here.”

 

“You're going to have to let him up. I'll be out of town all next week.”

 

Yoochun sighed for what felt like the millionth time that day. “Okay. I'll be here. I'm always here.”

 

Yoochun unclogged the disposal. A couple handfuls of orange rinds later, the water swirled down the drain. He washed his hands then pulled out his list. Siwon's radiator, Jaejoong's wall, Junsu's sink. He was never done. And he had a feeling the repairs were going to cost an arm and leg.

 

He was half way through repairing the hole Jaejoong's wall when his cell phone rang. “Yeah?” he said, trying to balance the the phone against his cheek.

 

“It's Yesung. I don't want to complain, because you're letting me rent, even after hearing what happened at the other place. And I know you're super busy. But there might be a tiny problem in the bathroom.”

 

“Oh, for 's sake Yesung! Just tell me what's wrong.”

 

“There's about 6 inches of water in the bathroom and I can't turn the faucet off,” Yesung said quickly.

 

“What?” Yoochun dropped the phone. Yesung was still rambling when Yoochun picked it back up. “Just... I don't know. Give me a minute. I'll be right up.”

 

“New tenant?” Jaejoong quirked an eyebrow at Yoochun.

 

“Yeah. It's gonna be an adventure. You can finish this right? It just needs to be sanded.”

 

“I got it. Go deal with the newbie.”

 

Yoochun pushed open Yesung's front door. There was a growing puddle across the carpet. “Tell, very quickly, what happened.”

 

“I went to wash my hands and the faucet won't stop,” Yesung said as if he was counting words in his head. He knew he talked too much. Especially when he was nervous. He really didn't want to bother Yoochun.

 

“Okay. I'll call the plumber.” Yoochun couldn't take it much longer. His head was going to explode from all the stress. He called the plumber.

 

Eight hundred dollars and a migraine later, Yunho and Yesung's apartments were in perfect working order.

 

Yoochun put the work orders aside after checking to make sure there was nothing pressing or life threatening. He poured himself a double scotch and closed the blinds. He groaned at the knock at the door.

 

“I'm ing dead!” he called, not wanting to get up.

 

“Fine! No cookies for you,” Jaejoong called back.

 

Yoochun stood up. “No wait. I need cookies today.”

 

“I'm sorry you're having a day,” Jaejoong said. He set the plate of cookies on the desk. “Do you want to fool around a bit?”

 

“Not today. I think we should stop doing that.”

 

Jaejoong pouted, but agreed. “You're right. Anyway. You know where I live if you need anything. Don't eat all the cookies in one sitting. You'll get sick.”

 

“Thanks, Jae.” Yoochun stood up and gave Jaejoong a quick hug. “We'll hang out tomorrow.”

 

“See ya.”

 

Cookies and a glass of scotch wasn't Yoochun's preferred dinner, but he was too tired to really fix anything else. Yoochun swore loudly at the knock at the door.

 

“What?” He flung the door open.

 

“I'm sorry.” Yesung stood int the doorway holding a Pyrex casserole dish in his hands. “Mom made this for me, so I have something hot o eat that wasn't take out. And it's really too much for me to eat alone. And you told me you lived across from, so I was wondering if you ate yet.”

 

“Come on in.” Yoochun stepped aside and let Yesung in. “You moved in quick.”

 

“Yeah. The other place was completely furnished, so all I had to get was clothes and personal possessions. Not that I wanted most of that crap anyway. Mostly, I wanted my CDs.”

 

Yoochun perked up. “You like music?”

 

“Yeah. I breathe music. I have almost one thousand albums. I play piano and bass.”

 

Yoochun laughed. “I think that's the shortest you've given me.”

 

“I talk a lot. It's worse when I'm nervous or stressed. Mom is always warning me that talking too much repels people.”

 

“It's refreshing. I was cross with you earlier. I'm just stressed out.”

 

“I would be too. You look really young to be running an apartment building.”

 

“27. My grandparents left it to me.”

 

“That's kind of cool. Not that your grandparents are gone, but that you own a building. Grandparents are really important... I'm gonna shut up now.”

 

Yoochun couldn't stop laughing. “My grandparents are still alive. They live down on the coast. I could have explained that better.”

 

Yesung flushed bright red. “Sorry.”

 

“It's fine. Really. Thank you for dinner. I really need to spend more time the tenants here. Get to know everyone better.”

 

“The last place I lived everyone pretty much kept to themselves. The pool fire was the most exciting thing that happened in a long time.”

 

“Please don't set anything on fire here,” Yoochun groaned. “I can barely handle a broken sink. I don't know what I would do if anything caught on fire.”

 

“Sometimes it feels like disaster is following me around.”

 

“I hope it doesn't follow you here.”

 

 

 

Yoochun and Yesung talked for a while after they finish. Well, Yesung talked. Yoochun listened. He was pleasantly surprised. Yesung was a blast to hang out with, after he got over his nervousness.

 

It was almost midnight when Yesung excused himself. Yoochun made him promise to visit again when he had time.

 

Yoochun downed another glass of scotch and stripped down to his boxers. He had a long list waiting for him in the morning.

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I'm not sure how this story is going to lay out, but I found a list of prompts about apartment living and most of them made me laugh. I'm going to keep the couples a surprise for right now.