if these walls could talk ☆ kozume kenma x reader
synopsis: you think you're doomed to sharing a thin wall with your apartment neighbor, until you realize you both got off on the wrong foot. details: meet-ugly/misunderstanding that gets resolved┊apartment neighbors to friends/lovers ┊timeskip!kenma┊~3.6k words┊fem!reader┊dedicated to @marti-mp4 / @haikyu-mp4 for the secret santa fic exchange
It starts with a crashout.
No, not yours—your neighbor’s.
Look, you have your fair share of breakdowns here and there. Paperwork was a pain in the ass! It’s caused you to scream into your pillow and roll around on the floor.
(Actually, you’ve only been able to do that very recently, having just moved into your very own apartment. It was a huge relief after years of horrible college dorm roommates.)
So, you’re no stranger to the human phenomenon. You would have totally understood, except why the hell is your apartment neighbor yelling at two in the morning on a weekday?
It began as some garbled talking thirty minutes ago, which was usually tolerable. It felt like you were listening to a podcast or television show in the background as white noise. You didn’t mind it at first—maybe he was on call with friends, but why did they choose something heated and intense?
Unable to bear it any longer, you decide to knock on the wall separating your rooms, hard enough that you’re sure he’s going to hear.
And, it…works? He stops talking for a few moments before resuming at a bearable volume.
Satisfied, you lean back into your pillow, tugging your blanket closer to your body. Huh. That wasn’t so-
Another string of loud curses follows. Instantly, your eyes shoot open, and you sit up, enraged.
If this were another day, a less sleep-deprived you might have walked over to his apartment and calmly told him to keep it down. However, after working a few hours of overtime to cover for an incompetent officemate? You eventually decide that the best course of action is: “Hey, shut the fuck up!”
Your voice cracks a little from the sudden burst of volume, but you can’t find it in yourself to care.
“It is two AM, and I have to wake up in four hours for a whole day of work. I don’t know who the hell you’re talking to, or what you’re doing, but have some respect, dude!”
Your throat immediately feels tight when you finish, but at the very least, the frustration has rushed out of your body. You prepare for your neighbor to yell back or retort, if not apologize, but you’re met with silence.
You breathe steadily, ready to verbally defend yourself, but nothing comes. Did it work?
Five minutes pass. Ten minutes. Fifteen…
You lose track of time, lulled to sleep by the peace and quiet.
The next few days, you no longer hear any noise from your neighbor at the ungodly hours. Sure, maybe you hear the accidental bump of whatever furniture is positioned against your shared wall, but nothing more.
You want to celebrate a little, considering that you’ve probably driven your point home. Even better, that officemate of yours had been fired. It turns out that the one time they forced you to cover for them was the last straw for your boss. Apparently, they had taken advantage of the fact that you were a newcomer who had no idea of their work ethic.
That sucked, but at least you don’t have to worry about them anymore. You just want to celebrate the first two weeks you’ve spent at your new apartment.
To your luck, you get an opportunity to do so when you enter the lobby after a tiring workday.
“Hi, darling!” A middle-aged lady greets you enthusiastically. “Are you the new girl from 203?”
You stop in your tracks, trying to remember if you’ve seen her before. With how chummy she seems to be with the lobby staff, you figure she’s also a resident. “Good evening, yes, I am.”
“Great! I live in 206, just a few rooms away. I heard about a new tenant moving in from the manager, so I just wanted to welcome you.”
“That’s great, um…” You pause. “Sorry, I didn’t get your name…?”
“Shimura-san! Sorry, I can’t believe I forgot to introduce myself. I live with my husband and son down the hall,” she chuckles. “Anyway, we like to invite the second-floor residents over for dinner. We have monthly potlucks sometimes, if we’re not all that busy. Since you’re new, we’d like to invite you over sometime this week, if you’d like. Heck, if you’re hungry, you could come over in an hour!”
Your eyebrows shoot up. Come to think of it, you recall the apartment manager talking about a certain Shimura-san. This must be her, then.
“In an hour?! Oh, I don’t want to trouble you-”
Your stomach growls, cutting you off. Shimura-san laughs as your face heats up.
“Hm, I don’t know about that.” She shakes her head. “Looks to me like you’re in need of a good meal. We’re already preparing for dinner, anyway, so it’s not much trouble.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes! I’ve got my son helping out, don’t sweat it.” She waves a hand. “Seems like you just came from work, so go and freshen up, okay?”
You’re almost taken aback by this woman’s personality, but you smile, thinking about how she somewhat reminds you of your own mother. So, you nod and accept her invitation.
“Okay, see you later! I’ll just go to the konbini to buy a few things.”
With that, she waves goodbye, and you make your way to the staircase leading to the second floor. Hm, maybe you’ve got some pretty lovely neighbors, too.
When you arrive at the Shimuras’ place, you’re welcomed warmly.
“Welcome! Please make yourself comfortable.” She opens her arms wide. “My husband just had some overtime tasks to deal with this evening, so he’ll be coming a little later. My son’s over in the kitchen.”
You nod, taking in their living space. It definitely seems very lived in, with all the personal belongings and decorations.
“Hey, Takashi! Come say hello to our guest!”
His head pops out from the corner, and he gives a small wave.
“Ah, that boy.” Shimura-san snorts. “He’s sometimes shy with strangers, but he’ll warm up quite fast if he decides he likes you.”
“I see.” You smile as he disappears back into the kitchen. “I used to be that way.”
“Ah, then you understand. Great!” She waits until you’ve taken your shoes off and points to the spare slippers at the side. “You know, a part of me wishes that the boy from 204 would warm up too. He has yet to come over for dinner. I’m just glad that he accepts any leftover food we bring to him.”
“204?” You whip your head up.
“Yes, your neighbor. Have you met him?”
You nearly make a face. Sort of.
“No…”
“I see. The other neighbors haven’t seen him much either. But, of course, he could just be a really cautious and shy person.”
Didn’t seem that way when he was crashing out!
“So, whatever the reason, we just give him the space he needs.” Shimura-san sighs. “Anyway, enough of that, let’s eat!”
You’re guided to the dining area, where a fresh spread of colorful dishes lines the table.
“Wow!” You can’t hide the surprise that hits you. “That’s…aw, I haven’t had a homemade meal like this since moving here.”
“I figured.” She directs you to your seat. “Work takes a lot of energy, and so does cooking. That’s why I chose the latter for our family.”
You smile at her. “And you do it really well.”
“Do I get credit for boiling the edamame and popping them out?” Her son pipes up as he brings a final dish to the table, drawing out a laugh from you.
“Yeah, of course you do!” Shimura-sun ruffles his hair as he takes a seat. “Anyway, this is Takashi. He’s in his last year of junior high school.”
“Oh, so you’re about fourteen now?”
He nods in response. For some reason, his eyes linger on you for a while, only stopping when his mother asks him another question. You pretend not to notice, though; maybe he’s just trying to figure out if you’re someone he’ll get along with well.
You say thanks for your meal before trying a bit of each dish.
The rest of the hour goes by quickly without you realizing. There’s really something magical about Shimura-san’s cooking and Takashi’s assistance; you tell them so.
“Finally, someone who remembers!” Takashi comments, raising his hands in the air, while Shimura-san swats him playfully. “I think he has a favorite,” she comments.
“By the way, we do have some extra desserts. They were gifts from my husband’s clients, but there’s still too much for us to finish. You can pick whatever you like and take them with you.”
“What? Are you sure?” Your eyes widen.
“Yes, very sure.” She stands to get them. “I’ll bring them over, just give me a moment to gather the new ones.”
As she leaves the dining area, her son suddenly turns to you. “Sorry if this is a really random question, but I just wanted to ask…”
You tilt your head at him. “Um, sure.”
“Can you say this suuuper specific phrase for me?”
“Super specific phrase.” You blink at the teen, trying to process his request. “Okay, um, what is it?”
Takashi grins at your agreement. “Say this.” He pauses for a moment before continuing. “‘Can you shut the heck up, it’s two in the morning!’”
Hang on.
A silence fills the kitchen, but it’s broken by Shimura-san’s gasp. “Son?”
“Wait, okaasan! I swear she sounds like the girl in Kodzuken’s stream. There’s this video that went viral this week!”
Kodzuken’s stream?
Takashi pulls his phone out, seemingly forgetting about his request for you.
“Hey! Go over there! Get the shields up so you can distract- agh, Tighnari!”
You stiffen at the familiar voice.
“Are you kidding me? Move! Then hit the- I need to aim!”
“Sorry, sorry!”
Whoever’s saying sorry doesn’t sound one bit apologetic.
“Dude, we are not defeating the boss like this! Come on!”
You sit there awkwardly as the mess of sounds from the game continues to play from Takashi’s phone speaker.
“This is stressing me out!” Kodzuken groans as his partner laughs. “Why did I agree to a co-op with you?!”
“Hey, shut the fuck up!”
And…oh god. That is your voice. That’s how audible it was?
Kodzuken goes silent, and his co-op partner immediately starts laughing. “Wait? Who is that? Is that coming from you?”
“What the,” you hear a whisper as your anger-fueled tirade continues in the background. “Uh-”
“Yo! You have a woman at home?”
“No, I don’t.” Kodzuken hisses. You can hear the sounds of his game continuing, and by the sounds of the characters, they sound like they’re getting hit in succession.
Kodzuken’s partner continues giggling. “Did you piss someone off? Oh! Hey, where’d you go? Guys? Guys, Kodzuken just left the stream? What the hell? Who was that?”
The video ends, and you want the ground to swallow you whole. Shimura-san looks back up at you with a shocked expression.
I’m not making a very good first impression here, am I?
“That’s…the kid that lives in 204. And that does sound like you…”
Takashi blinks. “Wait.”
“Uh, that’s…” You start, clearing your throat. There was literally no way you could lie to her about this. “It was a bad time. I’m not usually like that. Um-”
“Well, wow, I didn’t know you had that in you!” Shimura-san cuts you off, but she doesn’t seem extremely bothered. Maybe. You don’t know. “You did sound really mad though, when did this happen?”
“A few days ago,” you sigh nervously. “That was right after I was roped into overtime.”
“Oh, because of that officemate.” She grimaces, recalling your tale from earlier. “Yeah, my husband can get cranky when something like that happens. I get it.”
You sigh. “I cannot believe that got recorded. I really just thought he was calling his friends or something, not streaming to a public audience.”
“Huh, you’re not the only one that’s surprised.” She huffs. “Hard to think a kid like him did those kinds of video things. Maybe that’s why he’s so private.”
“That…would make sense.” You glance over at Takashi, who looks like he’s about to explode. “Hm. Maybe I should’ve been nicer about asking him to keep it down.”
Shimura-san pauses to think. “Well, it’s not too late to talk to him, if you want to sort things out. You had a point, after all. It would be good to set some rules since you’ll be neighbors for some time.”
You nod, considering her suggestion. “Yes. I think I’ll do that. Thank you, Shimura-san.”
“You’re welcome. Oh, to be young.” She shakes her head. “Anyway, don’t forget about picking out your desserts-”
“Okaasan, you’re telling me the Kodzuken lives down the hall?!”
For the rest of the evening, you couldn’t stop overthinking the incident. What was meant to just be one moment between you and your neighbor has apparently been publicized to the entire world.
Honestly, you’re just thankful Shimura-san didn’t seem to think of you any differently after that. She still sent you off with a few boxes of desserts and sweets, and an invitation to come over another time.
You even found yourself apologizing to Takashi—you knew how teenagers could be with their favorite celebrities. Luckily, he just laughed it off, finding it cooler that you were able to personally “interact” with Kodzuken.
But, that had you wondering…you weren’t in the wrong for reprimanding him, right? No one should be disobeying the noise level rules in this apartment.
Still, your insides twist when you think about how you handled it. You never really liked the person you were when you were angry. Considering that you haven’t even met your neighbor face-to-face, you’ve probably soured things with him.
Oh god, what if he’s secretly plotting something to get back at me…
You sigh into your couch cushions, feeling a pit of regret forming in your stomach.
With nothing better to do, you check Kodzuken’s socials, curious if he’s said anything about the matter.
That was the only post he’s made since that day. You scroll a bit further, and all you see are some random thoughts he has shared and a bunch of announcements.
Sighing, you check the replies under his latest announcement. If that clip went viral, then other people definitely had something to say.
Suddenly, you don’t know if checking was a good thing or not; now you feel restless.
Is he getting hate because of you? The handful of replies you checked were just a fraction of everything. Not to mention, all the opinions people shared about your actions—whether in favor or not—made your chest tighten.
They’re just strangers. They didn’t know the full context. It shouldn’t matter.
Yet, it bothers you. You throw your phone towards the opposite end of your couch and slump even further.
His name rings in your head—no, not his streamer name, but his real one.
Kozume Kenma.
It’s an odd feeling, really. Shimura-san thinks of him as the shy boy from 204. Her son knows him as a streamer. To you, he’s your apartment neighbor.
What were you to him? The apartment neighbor who could potentially ruin his career?
“Nononono,” you groan, rubbing your hand over your face.
He could bounce back, right? Would people forget? It’s not like he committed a crime…
Is he waiting until things blow over? What if he really got sick? And did he get sick from the stress? That I caused-
No. It’s not like I intended to…
Ugh!
The itch in your bones won’t go away. You need to fix this.
Retrieving your phone, you sigh in disbelief. How ironic that you feel like losing sleep over this silence.
And so, you do the last thing you ever expected to do in your life.
Your Sunday is dedicated to running to the grocery store and hoping that you don’t burn your kitchen down.
Yeah, you could’ve bought an apple pie to save you from the hassle, but there’s something about the sincerity in a homemade pastry that convinces you. (Shame on you if you didn’t learn a thing or two from the Shimuras yesterday.)
It takes you the entire afternoon and an emotional support call from a friend, but eventually, you make something that looks and tastes pretty delicious.
When evening arrives, you’ve placed half of the pie in a small container that your neighbor can keep. You set another half aside, a gift of gratitude for the Shimuras.
Psyching yourself up, you make your way to 204’s front door, cradling your peace offering to your chest. After maybe a few minutes of just standing there, you eventually gain the courage to knock.
It’s not long before the door opens, revealing the figure of someone who seems to be close to drowning in their hoodie and sweatpants.
Kozume-san looks awful.
“Hello,” he says in a meek voice, as he rubs his eyes. When you look behind him, you notice the rest of his living space is dark, save for some colored lighting from an assortment of lamps. “Have we…met?”
Instantly, there’s a wary look in his eyes once he realizes that you’re a stranger. You immediately clarify your purpose of being here, not wanting him to think you’re some stalker fan that has finally figured out his address.
“Hey. I’m, uh…your neighbor from 203. Just moved in two weeks ago.” You also tell him your name, hoping that it could make you seem more trustworthy in the meantime.
Though you’re not surprised when his eyes widen—he almost looks like a startled cat. He hides behind his door a little more, prompting you to speak up.
“I just wanted to apologize-”
“I’m sorry for disturbing you-”
The two of you freeze at your simultaneous apologies.
“Um, sorry, you first-”
“I didn’t mean to interrupt-”
And again, you both go silent. Thankfully, it breaks some of the tension in the air.
“Wait, why are you apologizing to me?” He opens the door a bit more.
“Because I should’ve talked to you politely, instead of resorting to more aggressive measures. Sorry.” You scratch the back of your neck. “And, I didn’t know you were a streamer either. I didn’t realize that my yelling would end up making you go viral…for better or for worse.”
“It’s…” He starts, but he seems unsure of how to continue. “It’s okay. If I were you, I think I would have gotten angry too. I was just used to 203 being empty, so when I got really worked up, I didn’t realize you were…well, there.”
He shrugs, trying his best to make eye contact with you for a few seconds, before his eyes dart away. “I’m really sorry. I wasn’t trying to disturb you on purpose.”
With the way things are going, you’re honestly so glad that you made the decision to talk it over with him.
“I understand now…so, you had no idea that I had moved in at all?”
“No, sorry. I don’t really stay updated with things around the apartment. Safety. And, well, people can be a lot…if you can believe it.”
You nod. “I can. It’s okay. As long as it doesn’t happen again.”
“It won’t.” He shakes his head, the ghost of a smile on his lips. “Um, actually, if you don’t mind me asking…”
“Yeah?”
“Do you have a preferred schedule for absolutely no noise? Besides late evening or early morning…”
“Oh, hmm.” You tap your chin, vaguely reminded of his last announcement on social media. To be honest, hearing his voice wasn’t all that bad.
“You know, when you’re not yelling at someone, you actually have a pretty nice voice.”
He blinks at you. “What?”
“There were a few times I could hear you talk through the wall at a bearable volume. It felt like listening to those podcasts or audiobooks, you know?”
“Really?”
“Yeah. So, I guess it depends on what you’ll be doing. If you do end up streaming at odd hours, all I ask is that it’s something calm. Anything crazy would be best in the afternoon or evening.”
“Are you…sure?” He tilts his head.
“I mean, the whole gaming and streaming thing is your source of income, right?” You shrug. “It seems unfair to just impose everything on you. We can compromise or find a win-win solution.”
The corners of his lips tug up a bit. “Thank you for understanding. Again, I am really sorry.”
“Don’t sweat it.” You wave a hand dismissively. “Anyway, I hope this isn’t weird, but it’s true that you like apple pie, right?”
“I…yes?” His eyebrows furrow a little. “Why?”
“Um, I baked some earlier as an apology.” You hand the small container out to him.
“You…what? You-” He sputters, hesitating to take the pie from your hands. “Really?”
“Yes. I had to look it up online, after finding out who you were and realizing what had happened. I didn’t mean to cause all this mess for you.”
He slowly takes the container, his fingers brushing against yours for a few seconds. “Oh, um…thanks.”
“You’re welcome, Kozume-san. I hope it’s to your liking.”
He peers inside the transparent container.
“I…” He presses his lips together. “You…”
“Me?”
“You can, um, call me Kenma.”
You gasp. “What? Just like that?”
“It’s always been weird when people call me by my surname.” He grimaces. “The other option is Kodzuken, but…”
“It feels more like your work persona?”
“I guess so.”
“Alright,” you exhale. “Kenma-san.”
“No honorifics, either.”
“Oh?” You laugh. “Okay. Okay. I got that. Kenma.”
His shoulders sag a little in relief. “Thank you.”
“Of course. Anytime.” You bow at him in preparation to leave. “By the way, if you’ve got any comments on that pie, let me know. I need to master the recipe.”
“Comments?”
“Yep. No one better than the pie lover to tell me what I can improve on.”
“Okay.” He hums. “Do you want me to…slip a note under your door?”
“You could yell through our wall.”
And for the first time, you hear Kenma laugh out loud.
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