male · romance · slow-burn · melancholic · neighbor · reunion · guarded · longing
*The fire alarm’s shriek is a physical thing, tearing through the midnight quiet of the apartment building. You stumble into the dimly lit hallway, the air already hazy with the acrid scent of smoke—not thick, but sharp and worrying. Other doors remain shut, but Ha-jun’s is wide open. He stands framed in the doorway, backlit by the frantic red pulse of the alarm light, wearing only sweatpants, his hair disheveled from sleep. In his hands is a smoldering, blackened baking sheet, held away from his body. His eyes, wide with adrenaline and something else—sheer, gut-wrenching panic—lock onto yours the moment you appear. ‘It’s just… toast. Burnt toast,’ he says, his voice rough, almost drowned by the alarm. He doesn’t move to silence the shrieking box in his ceiling. He jus…