Chapter Text
Clouds drifted by, floating aimlessly in the deep blue sky. Every so often, a chattering bird would fly overhead, disappearing into the trees that hung over the riverbank. Even with the shade from the dark green leaves, the heat from the sun still made his skin sticky. Only the breeze that came every so often gave a sense of relief that made it bearable enough to sit outside. Suguru promised himself he'd read while he had a moment of time, but he found it hard to even pick up the book that lay unopened. It was hard to silence his curious mind sometimes and the changes to come did not help.
In the distance, he could hear a large moving truck pulling up next to the small flat he stayed in. The sound of a heavy metal door rolling open echoed all the way to riverbank, making a few birds fly out of the trees again. This was the third new neighbor that Suguru has had in the past three months. The university often housed the interns in one spot because it was more cost-effective. Making friends with them was too emotionally taxing at this point. They always leave and the bond created goes along with them. Suguru was here for a good while, working closely with one of the best philosophy professors in the world. He wasn't planning on going anywhere anytime soon, either. After the first two interns, Suguru didn't feel up to making friends with the third. He worked better alone, anyways.
Yet, he did find himself curious about who would be living beside him.
He stood up, dusted himself off, and made his way up the hill. Sliding the backdoor of his flat, he stepped inside into his nicely air conditioned living room. It was small, like the rest of the flat. Knick knacks from travels and such cluttered the tables and shelves to bring a little personality to the place. He ventured on into his kitchen that had a window that gave him a clear view of everything going on outside. He kept his kitchen fairly clean and organized for this very reason—he could see out so obviously everyone could see in. All he could see outside was big burly guys hauling furniture into the neighboring flat, some bickering about not holding something correctly. No sign of whoever might be living inside.
...
The day turned to night pretty fast, but that was typical when he kept himself busy. He checked the kitchen window a few times when he'd pass by, but not much could be seen. If he looked directly towards the adjacent flat, he could see inside the opposing kitchen. He never caught a glimpse during the day and he was beginning to wonder if the neighbor even existed at all. Suguru restrained his curiosity by working on his research, though. Like any other philosopher, he'd ponder the hard questions and dig deep into his soul to come up with answers. He'd type for a while and then repeat the same process. To keep his mind sharp, he'd frequently take coffee breaks every so often. By 2AM, his sleepy mind was starved for sleep. He was too enthralled in his research, finding himself in the zone and fearing to step out of it. Coffee was absolutely essential now. He could sleep when he was dead.
Standing over the kitchen sink, he began the process of cleaning out the old coffee residue so he could fill up the pot again. Out of curiosity, he peered out of his window again to look into the other apartment. A light was on inside, indicating some sort of life was around. The water slowly filled up cup by cup as he stared out the window. He wasn't sure what he was expecting to find or see. His best guess was just another geeky grad student like the rest. There was nothing wrong with that, of course. It was just typical at this point.
A shadow finally danced along the wall of the other flat. Suguru held his breath, oddly excited to finally see if his guess was right. Appearing into the adjacent window, stood a man with a slender build. His hair was so fair, practically white as snow. It was messy and Suguru could only assume it was from constantly running his hand through it, just as he was doing now. He was fit, too. He wasn't wearing a shirt and from what Suguru could see, he was wearing gym shorts that hung low on his hips. The man was looking around for something until he finally spotted whatever it was that he was looking for. Suguru tried to look closer, curious to see what he'd be doing at this late hour.
Coffee. It looked he was making coffee, too.
Suguru hated to be wrong most of the time, often feeling superior with his ideals. But right now? He was kind of glad to be wrong about his guess of another geeky grad. This guy was strikingly attractive. The kind of attractiveness that makes you do a triple-take, rather than a double. If you saw him on the train, you'd think about him for weeks and have little curiosities about his life. Suguru couldn’t manage to take his eyes off of him. Beauty like that was rare to see.
It seemed like the man finally noticed a pair of eyes looking at him, though. He raised his head to find Suguru in the opposite apartment. A small smile curved on his lips as a silent response to show that he could see him, too. Suguru's breath hitched and he jumped out of sight from the window in one swift move. The full pot of water in his hand tumbled onto the ground, spewing water all over his kitchen tile.
"Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck," Suguru whispered sharply to himself.
He frantically gathered a rag that hung on his stove's handle and began to wipe away the mess. Heat gathered on his cheeks as he relived the past few seconds in his head. He prayed that it was a fluke, but he knew better than that. His neighbor definitely saw him peeping through his window and he definitely saw him drop a whole pot of water onto the floor. It was humiliating.
Once the water was wiped off of the floor, Suguru slowly inched himself back onto his feet. He leaned just a bit to peek out of the window again, relieved to find that his neighbor was gone and the light was off. At least he could restart the process of making coffee in peace and get back to his dissertation.
Until Suguru's eyes widened. "Fucking hell."
He slammed his palms onto his kitchen counter in defeat. A deep sigh left his lungs, releasing a load of frustration.
"I lost my fucking train of thought," he cursed to no one else but himself.
Suguru wasn't used to many distractions, but surely his body was grateful for it. Reluctantly, he left the unfinished coffee and sulked to his room. Sleep came a lot sooner than he had wanted. Maybe he'd remember in the morning once he had a fresh mind. It's unlikely, but he'd like to hope. However, instead of racking his brain to figure out where he had left off in his thoughts, his mind wandered off into thoughts about his new neighbor. Lots of little ideas popped into his head about who this guy could be. It went against his stance about avoiding friendship, but who could pass up a guy that looked like that?
That seemed to be the philosophical question for tonight.