Chapter Text
It starts as a mild inconvenience.
Sapnap's old neighbor was an elderly woman who was nearly deaf. She didn't mind when he practiced late at night -- he doubted that she had even heard him. It was nice to not have to worry about disturbing his neighbors.
When the woman had moved out, Sapnap had thought the worst thing he would have to deal with would be a few noise complaints. He'd handled those before, when he was a student living in the university dorms. Usually, he and his neighbors could work it out -- they would figure out each other's schedules, and Sapnap would do his best to practice at times when he knew that it would disturb the least amount of people.
Sapnap figured, worst comes to worst, he could meet with his new neighbor and figure out something similar.
What he's not expecting is how loud his neighbor is.
The first day, he doesn't fault them for this. Moving in means rearranging furniture, moving heavy boxes, and lots of loud talking with the movers or friends who come to help. Sapnap has been there. Sapnap wakes up to a loud crashing noise, followed by a muffled shout and what sounds like an apology. He's mildly annoyed at the sound, but reasons that it's about time for him to get up anyways. It's about 9:30 AM, and if he hurries, he can grab a breakfast sandwich from the nearby deli before they stop serving breakfast.
On his way out, he notices that his neighbor's door is open. Sapnap peeks into the apartment, and sees a lot of lighting equipment, as well at what looks like a green screen.
"Could you help me move the lights to the bedroom? Just put them with the cameras for now," a voice calls out. Sapnap turns to walk away, but not before catching a glimpse of his new neighbor. He had a boyish look about him, with messy brown hair.
As Sapnap walks into the elevator, he thinks about what had overheard. Cameras? Lighting equipment in a bedroom? He ponders over this for a moment, but then shrugs to himself.
If my new neighbor is a pornstar, it's not my place to judge, he reasons. Wonder what that's like. The elevator stops in the lobby, and Sapnap walks to the nearby deli. The worker there recognizes him, and brightens when he walks to the counter.
"Hey! Breakfast special on an everything bagel, and a medium coffee?" Sapnap nods. As the worker turns to make the coffee, Sapnap speaks up.
"Actually, could you make that two coffees today?" Sapnap asks. The worker gives him a thumbs up, and grabs two cups instead of one. Might as well make a good first impression, Sapnap thinks to himself. He shoves the sandwich into his jacket pocket, and walks back to his apartment building, holding both of the coffees.
His neighbor's door is still open when he returns, but it seems as if the movers had mostly left. Sapnap manages to knock on the door with his knuckles, which are still curled around the coffee cup.
-----
It starts with a cup of coffee.
Karl had been moving boxes all day, and it was hot. He had tied a bandana around his head to keep his sweaty hair out of his eyes. His white shirt was grimy from the dust on the moving boxes, and his arms already felt sore from moving furniture all day. He walks by his mirror, which is leaning precariously against a stack of boxes. Karl makes a face -- he looks like a mess.
He's interrupted from his thoughts when he hears a sharp rap on his door. Karl turns and sees what he thinks must be one of the most handsome men he had ever seen. He feels his heart stop, for a moment.
"Hey," Karl says, after he manages to get his heartbeat under control. He internally winces when he remembers how grimy he looks right now. Figures that I would meet someone so cute when I look like a mess.
"Hey, I live next door," the man explains, holding out a coffee cup to him. "Thought you could use a coffee. I know moving is tough." Karl smiles at the gesture, and reaches out to take the cup.
"Thanks man -- means a lot," he says, taking the cup. He moves the cup to his left hand, and wipes his right hand on his shirt, so it's less clammy. "I'm Karl," he says, holding his hand out.
"Sapnap," the man responds, shaking his hand. "Nice to meet you."
"Sorry, I'm kind of gross and sweaty, I couldn't figure out how to turn the AC on." Karl glances towards the wall, at the thermostat that had, in his opinion, way too many buttons.
"Oh, I can show you that, it's a little tricky when you first do it," Sapnap explains, walking over. "You have to change the settings before it will let you lower the temperature, and then you have to press this so it doesn't stop after an hour."
"Thank you," Karl says, trying to keep track of the buttons Sapnap presses. His gaze lingers for a bit at his hands, but Karl forces himself to look away. "I'm still getting used to everything. Anything else I should know?"
"The walls are really thin," Sapnap says. He talks with his hands, as well. Karl has to will himself not to stare. "You're probably going to be hearing a lot of footsteps."
"How bad is it?" Karl asks.
"I can usually hear talking, but it's not that bad that you can make out what people are saying," Sapnap explains. "We're the only two apartments on this side, so it's not so bad. Just as long as we're mindful of each other."
"I see," Karl says. He thinks about his streams, and frowns slightly. Sapnap seems like a pretty chill guy -- surely, he wouldn't mind if Karl was loud sometimes. He'd just have to be a bit more mindful.
"I'm a violinist," Sapnap says. "I practice at home, so you might hear me from time to time. If it's bothering you just knock on the wall, and I'll try to be quieter."
"Oh I don't mind too much noise," Karl says. "I stream for a living, and I make videos. Those can get noisy as well at times, and you can knock back if it bothers you."
"Yeah uh-" Sapnap's eyes flit over to the open bedroom door, where the film equipment is set around the bed. "I'll be sure to do that." His cheeks are slightly pink.
Karl realizes what this looks like -- all of his lighting equipment had been placed around the bed, with his film camera pointed straight to the middle. He probably thinks I do porn. Being a YouTuber and a Twitch streamer had definitely become more prominent in recent years, but Karl would still occasionally struggle with explaining exactly what he did for a living.
"I mostly play video games for people, stuff like that." There's a brief silence, and Karl can feel his cheeks grow warm. "I also do livestreams."
"Oh, that sounds fun," Sapnap says, his tone polite.
"Yeah, I really enjoy it," Karl responds. Another pause. Karl takes a sip of the coffee. Sapnap clears his throat before speaking again.
"Well Karl," Sapnap says, "it was nice to meet you, but I'll leave you to it."
"See you around," Karl says. "Thanks for stopping by." He watches as Sapnap walks out of his apartment and into his own. Karl walks over to his front door and shuts it. He leans against it for a little bit.
I like the way he says my name, he thinks. Karl smiles, and rolls his eyes at how cheesy he's being. He then turns to the nearest box and opens it, continuing to unpack.
-----
That night, Sapnap can hear Karl talking through the wall. He can't make out exactly what is being said, but the muffled sound is a bit distracting when he's trying to practice. It's not terribly loud -- Karl is speaking at a decent volume -- so Sapnap just pointedly ignores him in favor of practicing.
Karl doesn't seem to mind much either. At each pause in playing, Sapnap listens for the telltale knock on the wall, but it never comes. He's quite relieved -- he's taking care to not play too loudly tonight. Better to ease his new neighbor into the sound and let him get used to the noise before playing louder pieces.
The rest of the night passes with nothing much of note, and Sapnap soon adjusts to the white noise of Karl's muffled speaking.
If this is as loud as he gets, it shouldn't be a problem, Sapnap thinks.
Later on, he would think back to this moment, and realize just how wrong he was.
-----
He runs into Karl the following afternoon on his way to get his mail. Sapnap stands by the elevator, absently scrolling through his phone, when he hears a familiar voice.
"Hey, I heard you practicing last night," Karl says. Sapnap looks at him, searching for any trace of annoyance, but finds none, only a polite smile.
"Yeah, I was just going through my scales," Sapnap says.
"Scales?" Karl asks.
"Like musical scales," Sapnap says. Karl gives him a confused look.
"What does that mean?" Karl asks. Sapnap is a bit puzzled at the question, but does his best to hold back any judgement. Not everyone has been studying music since they were a kid, he reasons to himself.
"Scales are like, sets of notes that you practice," Sapnap explains. "They're in order from ascending pitch or descending pitch," he says. "It's good to practice them, they help with a lot of things, like rhythm, and intonation." He's interrupted by the elevator doors opening. Sapnap walks into the elevator, and Karl follows him.
"It's also just a good warm-up before you start with an actual piece," he continues. "Start with something really familiar, and then move into the newer stuff." Karl hums at this, and Sapnap realizes he's been rambling.
"I heard you stream last night, I think," Sapnap says.
"Oh yeah?" Karl says.
"Couldn't make out what you were saying, but I heard you talking," Sapnap says.
"Yeah, I was streaming," Karl says.
"How did it go?" Sapnap asks.
"It went well," Karl says. "I hit my sub goal." Sapnap doesn't know what this means, but doesn't question it.
"That's cool," Sapnap says. The elevator door opens again, and they step out into the lobby.
"Well, I guess I'll see you," Karl says.
"Yeah, I'll see you," Sapnap replies.
In the mail room, Sapnap pulls out his phone, and looks up what a sub goal is.
Huh, he thinks. Good for him.
-----
Karl doesn't mind listening to Sapnap practice. Really, it's nice most of the time. The muffled music makes for great background noise when he's editing. When Sapnap is playing a piece that he is familiar with, it's incredible: the sound gives him chills.
But when Sapnap is learning a new piece, he has a habit of going over the same parts over, and over again.
This makes sense: working through a piece from the beginning to the end until you are familiar with all of it seems to be a good way to learn. But when it's been the same line, for an hour straight, it's enough to drive anyone crazy.
Karl gives up on doing his work, and decides to start to stream. He says hello to his chat, trying his best to talk over the sound of Sapnap's playing. Thankfully, his mic doesn't pick up the sound, but Sapnap can definitely hear him talk.
When Karl speaks, he notices Sapnap stops playing. Sapnap tries to repeat the same phrase again, and Karl, feeling a bit spiteful at this point, starts to talk louder, more excitedly.
It went on like this for a while: Karl trying to be louder than Sapnap whenever he starts to play the same bar again. He feels a little bad, but he reasons to himself that Sapnap should take a break. He's been practicing the same thing for a while, and it was getting late, after all. Karl glances over to the time. Who practices the violin at 1:30 AM anyways?
Karl supposes he's not one to judge. I'm streaming at 1:30 AM, who streams at that time anyways? He pushes these thoughts away in favor of reading donations, and talking to his chat.
Eventually, the music stops for the night, and Karl knows that he's won this battle.
-----
Sapnap definitely knows that Karl was talking over him playing on purpose. Not that he minded -- he had been stressed over that one section, and taking a break was probably the right move. But now, it was a matter of spite. A few days later, when Karl is streaming and Sapnap needs to practice, he tries a different approach.
He can hear Karl speaking, talking to his stream. Sapnap glances towards his laptop again, where he has sheet music open. The tune is simple enough. He waits for Karl to quiet down a bit, for a lull in the stream.
When it comes, Sapnap raises his bow and starts to play the Mii Shop theme as loud as he possibly can. At the first rest, he pauses, and listens. He smiles at the stunned silence that follows.
He waits until he hears Karl try to speak again, then plays the next phrase. The speed at which Karl stops talking is comedic. Sapnap bites back his laughter. He waits for a bit longer, this time: Karl is speaking for quite a bit before he interrupts him again.
He does this a few more times. Each time, he has to bite his tongue to keep from laughing.
Was it a bit obsessive to play a meme song as loud as possible just to be louder than Karl? Probably.
Was it funny? Absolutely.