Noisy Fucking Neighbors

"Tomorrow for sure?" he pressed, staring into his soul.

Angel tried to smile but failed miserably. He probably looked as scared as he felt.

"...maybe," he replied. "Okay bye, before I'm late," he insisted, hurrying to the door before Tiger could say anything.

-x-

Tiger was glowing with happiness for the rest of the day; though his date with Angel could have gone better, they were going to meet again, and that was better than any of their other conversations had gone.

He friended Angel on facebook the moment he got home; that evening, he kept his phone in his pocket at all times, constantly ready in case Angel replied to his messages.

He turned on his TV and went into the kitchen to fix himself a snack, when he heard loud moans. He raced into the living room to turn off his TV, ashamed he had left it on the porn channel again; to his surprise, it was just a rerun of Ellen. He stared for a moment, dazed, until he heard the moans again.

His face contorted with disgust; the noise was coming from upstairs. For months now, his upstairs neighbor had insisted on having loud sex, no matter what he did; yelling, banging on the ceiling, and even turning up his music to obnoxious levels did nothing.

Perhaps emboldened by the day's earlier success, he pulled on his sneakers and stormed up the stairs to his neighbor's apartment. He banged on the door with his large fist, creating a racket barely louder than the moans.

"Quiet the fuck down!" he yelled. "You live in an apartment, jackass--we can all fucking hear you!"

"Fuck off!" came the oh-so eloquent reply. "Unless you want me to come out there and kick your ass!"

"Come out here and fucking try!" he shouted, banging on the door again. "I'm fucking sick of this--keep it the fuck down!"

After a few moments of banging around, the door opened and a very bedraggled man with short, messily dyed red hair appeared. He was wearing a pair of boxer shorts, but only barely.

"Look, fucker--" he began to say, before he looked at the so-called fucker in his doorway and froze. If he wasn't going to get the shit kicked out of him before, he certainly was now.

For once, Tiger was so surprised that all the aggression eft his face, and not even nervousness remained. His eyes widened and he went slack-jawed, and suddenly all the irritation and anger that had been driving him fizzled out like embers in rain.

He tried to think of something clever to say, but all that came out was "Oh."

He stared at Angel with a mixture of sheepishness and horror, his head hung so low that he looked a full three inches shorter.

"I, um...please keep it down," he mumbled, glancing down the hallway. He thought of running, but that seemed more embarrassing than staying still.

Angel glanced back at the man in his bed, smoking a cigarette and looking thoroughly annoyed. Then, without even thinking, he yelled, "See you tomorrow!" and slammed the door.

Why the fuck had he said that?! He wanted to scream. Oh God he hoped Tiger left soon so he could die.

He wanted to die so hard.

Angel was going to die anyway, he realized. Tiger was going to kill him. For sure now. It was set in stone now.

-x-

Tiger showed up at the coffee shop, as planned. He wore a sweater that had hoped said casual, but it looked as awkward on him as he felt in the shop, waiting with a small cup of black coffee in his hands. He kept glancing out the window, hoping Angel would show up soon and dreading it all the same.

He couldn't get the image out of his head. He had never seen so much of Angel and, to his chagrin, it only made him want to see more. Now, whenever he heard anything from the upstairs apartment, his ears would burn.

Worse yet, Angel had been with a man. Tiger had only glimpsed him, but there was no mistaking it--the person waiting inside and smoking had been male. Just thinking about it made his stomach churn; he had never imagined Angel was gay. For the first time, he felt like he had a chance, and it scared him to his core.

Angel showed up but he looked more reluctant than ever.

"So," he said, as soon as he sat down. "Let's work on our project."

Angel brought out his laptop, a sleek black model with a stickers on it. He cleared his throat, praying Tiger just went with it and didn't talk about anything else.

"...So, uh, nice weather, huh?" he began awkwardly, his voice unintentionally harsh.  "Nice weather for coffee...do you want a coffee?  THat is, would you like one?  Is that what you'd like?"

He sighed heavily. Great. Of course things couldn't just be awkward in a way that wasn't so...awkward. 

"...look, all I want is to finish this project relatively unharmed, okay?" he dared to look Tiger in the eyes.

"...Well, I want to finish it too," he mumbled, glaring at the window.  "I just...I don't know.  Never mind, I guess.  Do you want a coffee?"

"No, I'm fine. Let's just work..." he insisted.

"...Are you sure you don't want anything?" he mumbled, visibly dejected.