It was late in the morning when Yunho rose from sleep. No orientation whatsoever, his eyes darted around the room. The curtains have been drawn back and sunshine filtered in the small chamber, dust dancing in the rays.

Nothing the sleepy man saw.

The only thing he noticed was the empty space beside him. There was supposed to be another warm body, lighting up his view. His hand over the cold sheets indicating the other person had left for quite some time. Upon that realisation he heard the unmistakeable clanking sound of pots and pans. It caused a smile on bow shaped lips.

Slowly, he raised from bed and made his way to the kitchen. The coll air caused goosebumps on his bare upper body. Not that he cared. There was something better to warm him up than clothes.

The nearer he came to his aimed location the clearer were the sounds which now were mixed with a song. The melody floated through the apartment, making it livelier.

Loud humming joined the music, only to be replaced by someone's distinctive singing.

He knew that voice so well. It made him laugh with those ridiculous stories it could tell. He craved for that voice all the time. It made him shudder with desire at night only to leave him with a need for more. He loved that voice so much. It made him want to lay down comfortable and listen to it forever.

And while he imagined that voice whispering endearments to him the owner of that voice came into vision. His heart fluttered when he saw the one person he loved the most busying himself by turning on the cooker and pouring hot water in a teapot. All while a content smile played around his lips.

Yunho stood there, satisfied in watching his lover. The gleam of the morning sun danced around the room, lightening black hair and making pale skin glow. There was absolutely nothing Yunho liked more than to gaze at the lovely figure of the man who had carved his place in his heart.

He tiptoed on the tiles. They felt cold under his bare foots. He should have worn socks...

Jaejoong squeaked in surprise when strong arms circled around him and a husky voice asked: “What are you making, chef?”

He smiled at the nickname and turned around to face the tall man with bed hair and clad in just a pair of shorts. If for him the man wouldn't wear anything else. Well, apart from a suit it is. It just seemed to fit those broad shoulders. Hug his well-built body in all the right places. Making him look confident and demanding. Suits must have been created to be worn by the man looking at him lovingly.

“Breakfast.” And wrapped his arms behind the other's neck. Their mouths were only a few inches apart, their breath mingled. “Your favourite” he added and pecked the bow shaped mouth that drove him crazy from time to time.

He had only an innocent kiss in mind but Yunho had other thoughts. He trapped the smaller man between the ceiling and himself, deepening the kiss. His tongue at the plush mouth, earning a bite on his lower lip.

“Feisty” he smirked. His lover stuck out his tongue he quickly captured. He loved Jaejoong's taste. It was addictive and nothing on the world could prevent him from tasting it again and again.

His hands sneaked under the thin white shirt of the other. Every time he felt the warm skin under his touch he marvelled how soft and inviting it was. “Mind if the menu for breakfast changes?”

“Not in a bit,” came the breathless reply. Yunho wasted no time and carried the smaller man out of the kitchen. His lover wrapped his legs around his waist and continued to kiss him

Yunho's favourite food can wait. Now he wanted to feel his favourite person under him.

“Who's singing?”

Jaejoong looked up to see his lover standing in the door frame, a foot crossed over the other at the ankle, eyes on him. “Hm?”

“The song.” Yunho gestured to the music box. Jaejoong cocked his head to the side as he listened. “Westlife, I think,“ he eventually answered. “Why?” The other's question was way off topic.

The taller shook his head. “Nevermind. What are you doing?”

“Baking a cake. For my sister's birthday.”

“Which one?” Yunho asked as he stepped behind his lover to watch his work. The man had way too many siblings. And to make it worse all female. It must've been hard. He sometimes went crazy with his younger sister. And he had only one.

“My oldest noona,” Jaejoong said and bent down to decorate the almost finished cake. “She's turning forty-eight tomorrow and getting restless because she's nearing fifty.” He chuckled when he remembered the distress his oldest sister was in when one of her nieces told her she's almost half a century. The little girls eyes had sparked with amazement while her target looked at the mirror in horror, searching for signs of her age. “She's using all kinds of anti-aging creams to prevent more wrinkles.”

Yunho nuzzled in his neck. “I don't mind getting old and wrinkly as long as I have you.”

Jaejoong felt a cosy warmth spreading through him at the words of the man standing behind him. Of course, he wouldn't show it. Yunho tend to sport this particular self-pleased grin on his face whenever Jaejoong let show how the man's words and action affected him. “Then I'm sure you don't mind me calling you wrinkly, right, Mr. Wrinkly?”

Yunho pinched him in the side. Shocked Jaejoong let the piping bag he used to decorate his creation fall. The rest of the whipped cream splattered on the table and on his clothes. The plastic tip stuck in the cake. “Yunho!” Jaejoong exclaimed upset and stared at the mess. “Look what you did! My poor cake. All the effort gone. I can't present something like that to my sister. I'm so sorry, cake. It's the fault of that idiot behind me.”

Yunho stifled his laughter at the sight of his lover apologizing to the cake. It was a freaking cake. It wasn't like it had emotions. He shook his head in amused disbelieve. The accident reminded him of another similar one. And he voice it out.

“Remember the time we first met?”

Jaejoong stopped in his attempt to safe the created mess and turned to him. He was too bewildered to shot daggers at Yunho. “What?”

“I asked if you remember the first time we met,” Yunho repeated his sentence. His lover frowned. “How the hell came you up with that now? Seriously, people tell me I'm totally random but you're worse. Asking me how we first met when I'm in the middle of preventing the biggest catastrophe-” He stopped, eyes wide. He glanced at the ruined cake and back at Yunho who had a twinkle in his eyes. Slowly, a smile spread on his face. “So, do you remember?”

“What, you mean when you bumped into me and my poor cake I'd carried with me?” Jaejoong replied teasingly. Yunho pouted. “I was short on time. And you were more worried about the cake than me!” He tried hard to look offended. It made Jaejoong laugh.

“Well, I'd put great effort in baking it,” he hummed. “It was for the wedding of a close friend, after all. It was supposed to be the highlight of the after party.” Now it was his turn to pout. “I had to buy a cake from a store. Do you know how embarrassed I was? To show up with a bought cake...” he shuddered. His anger long forgotten. Yunho decided it was safe to approach the smaller man and circled his arms around him.

“If I'm honest, I'm glad you fussed more over your ruined dough than me or else I probably hadn't decided I wanted to see you again,” Yunho confessed, a stupid grin on his face.

Jaejoong raised an eyebrow. “Never knew you had masochistic tendencies,” he teased, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“The impact on my bruised ego was huge,” Yunho shrugged and brushed a strand of hair out of his lover's face. He could never get tired of admiring the flawless beauty. “To be ignored and cast aside for a cake is pretty humiliating.”

“Oh, my poor Yunnie,” Jaejoong cooed. “Should I make you feel better?” He folded his arms behind Yunho's neck. He pecked the bow shaped lips and leaned back a bit. Their eyes met. Jaejoong's breath hitched at the raw display of emotions in the man's gaze. The desire to touch, the love for him, the gratefulness he was here, and also fear. The fear to lose him.

Jaejoong leaned his head on the broad shoulders of his lover. “You will hear me call you Mr. Wrinkly,” he whispered. He heard the rumble in the man's chest as he get the giggles.

“I'm looking forward to that time,” Yunho said when he'd calmed down. “I really do.”

The wide area was filled with childish laughter and screaming.

“Uncle! Uncle!” A little girl at the age of seven with brown hair in pigtails ran to a middle aged man sitting on a blanket and reading a book. “Ahjussi is chasing me. Hide me!”

Jaejoong turned to her just in time to catch her as she jumped into his arms. Her wide smile and sparkle in her eyes filled him with fatherly happiness. She wasn't his daughter, nor were his others nieces and nephews. But the time he spent with them made him feel like one. And it was a comforting alternative for he and Yunho weren't allowed to adopt.

“We can't let that happen now, can we?” he grinned and motioned for her to lie beside him. He covered her with his and Yunho's jacket. “Stay still, ahjussi is coming.”

His niece obeyed and Jaejoong reached for his book again when a hand snatched his glasses right off his nose. “Yah!” he shouted and faced his lover who grinned at him playfully. “Give them back.”

Yunho shook his head. “I saw that little devil running in this direction.”

Jaejoong looked at him innocently. ”I didn't saw her. And if I remember correctly the meaning of her name means lily flower not little devil. You must be getting old, Yunho ah.”

There was muffled laughter. Yunho raised an eyebrow and stepped forward. His lover hold him back by the wrist, finger on his lips. He shook his head, a playful glint in his eyes. The tall man sighed. “Oh my. Where can she be?” Yunho mused, eyes set on the moving pile of clothes. “Jaejoong ah, Nari disappeared. I can't find her. ”

“Too bad. Then you have to keep searching,” Jaejoong replied nonchalantly and managed to get his glassed back. “I'll go back with the kids and cook dinner. You can join us when you have found our lost little lamb.”

“Joongie,” Yunho whined and made puppy eyes. “Tell me where she is, please? Don't be mean~”

His lover stayed unaffected. “Either you continue your search or you give up.”

Yunho slumped down. Of course he knew where the little girl was. But he knew his niece would get upset if found. She hated to lose in hide and seek.

Suddenly, the pile of clothes were thrown to the side and Nari appeared, a broad smile on her face. “I'm too good for you, ahjussi!” she announced proudly.

“Who's an ahjussi?” Yunho asked and managed to look offended. “I'm not that old!”

“You are,” Nari insisted. “Thirty nine is old.”

“Don't let that hear your mother,” Jaejoong chuckled. “She's older by six years.”

“But mama looks still beautiful,” his niece argued. “Like you, uncle. And she said with age comes wisdom. Ahjussi just ages.”

Yunho stared at her open mouthed while Jaejoong laughed out loud. The daughter of his youngest sister truly was cheeky. “Why you little...” his lover gritted and caught the little girl. Jaejoong watched fondly as Yunho tickled her and she tried to wriggle out his reach. “Uncle, help me,” she begged between giggles.

“Hm, I let you the precedence,” he declined and started to pack their things together. Yunho lifted Nari up and carried her on his shoulders. With an after thought he added: “Ahjussi needs practice. Or else he gets wrinkles.” He had just finished the sentence when he found himself howled off the ground, head facing his lover's back. “Oi, Jung Yunho!” he yelped. “Put me down. What are you doing?”

“You said I need practice,” he heard Yunho say.

“Not me,” Jaejoong protested. “Too late,” the other replied and slapped his . He let out a surprised gasp. “Yunho!”

He heard his niece giggle and turned his head to the side. “Help uncle out, darling. Please?” But the little girl just then decided to swap with her evil doppelgänger. “You didn't rescue me before. It's payback, uncle.”

Jaejoong felt Yunho's shoulder shake with suppressed laughter. Astonished he stared at her. “When did you learn that?”

“I heard you say that to ahjussi when you were in the kitchen yesterday. You said ahjussi won't get nice treatment this night because he left you in the morning. What means , uncle?” she asked innocently and stared at him with big eyes full of curiousity.

Jaejoong choked on his spit, horror displayed on his face. “Oh my god. Your mother will kill me! Nari, darling, forget that word, okay? It's a bad word. Nothing pretty little girls like you should use.”

His niece nodded slowly. “Okay. And I won't tell mama or else she scolds me for using a bad word. But, uncle, you need to be scolded for using such a bad word.”

“Don't worry, I take care of that,” Yunho answered and a shiver ran down Jaejoong's spine. He was absolutely sure his 'scolding' will involve a lot of teasing.

“What exactly includes your punishment?” he asked as soon as they were in the safety of Jaejoong's old room. The kids were being entertained by their mothers and fathers. And Jaejoong's parents.

“Let me show you?” Yunho half said, half asked and pushed him on the bed. He crawled over him and traced a finger from his lover's forehead to his chin and back to those pouty lips. “I really don't know why I said I wanted twenty-five kids,” he murmured. “Fifteen are already a handful. And I don't see them all the time.”

Jaejoong chuckled and at the thumb tracing his lower lip. “I'm sure you could've handled. You would make a wonderful father.”

“I should threaten more often to punish you. You compliment me more.”

Jaejoong grabbed the man's shirt and pulled him down. “To boost your ego more? No thanks.” He chuckled at Yunho's jutted out lip. “I can destroy one of your cakes from time to time,” the man suggested and earned himself a light slap on his shoulder. “What? We both know it works wonder to deflate my ego.”

“And I would've lost more than I gained,” Jaejoong pointed out. “But I could always punish you for intruding in my realm,” he added, lips brushing against his lover's.

“I gladly accept that,” Yunho stated and connected their lips in a heating kiss. “And now let's focus on your punishment.” Jaejoong's husky laughter made him smile. “Your misbehaviour suffice for a lifetime.”

“You think so?”

“I do.”

“Hmm, my thoughts exactly. I need to raise you properly and it'll take forever, I fear.”

“I don't mind,” Yunho hummed. “I intend to stay by your side till death.”

It was autumn. Outside the trees were shaken by the strong wind howling around them. It looked unpleasant. Inside, a cosy fire warmed the living-room in which a aged man sat, pictures on the table and his hands. A soft smile played on his lips and the wrinkles around his eyes deepened when he detected one picture that was very dear to him. There were several shimmers cast by the fire in his dark hair that had strains of white in them.

“Getting nostalgic, Jae?”

He turned his head to look at an equally aged man coming in the room. A lovely smile curved his lips. “Did Mr. Wrinkly manage to escape his granddaughters complains?”

There was a playful glint in the other's eyes. “Mr. Wrinkly, huh?”

“I promised I call you that some day.”

“I'm surprised you remembered it.”

Jaejoong chuckled and took the hand reaching out to him. “As if I could forget something like that. And, what did our lovely granddaughter want?”

“She wants to come over the weekend and I said no. I need time alone with you. It feels like ages since I had you in my arms.“ Yunho pouted.

“You have me since we're young, ahjussi,” Jaejoong replied and laughed at the expression on his lover's face. “Nari was here way too often,” the man concluded, a frown on his face, accentuating his sharp features. Even now, marked by life, he looked outstanding. “She and her damn ahjussi. I'm fifty nine, damn it. Where is the respect for elders?”

“You like it. Admit it.”

Only a huff. “What were you looking at?”

Jaejoong raised an eyebrow. “Smooth, Yunho ah, very smooth.” But he answered: “Looking at our twentieth anniversary picture. You haven't changed much apart from the wrinkles,” he teased.

“Look in the mirror, Jae.”

Now it was the seated man to stuck out his tongue. “The pot calling the kettle back, I guess. Come here and look.”

The other obeyed and leaned over his shoulder to stare at another picture Jaejoong had picked up. It was yellowed for being shot thirty decades ago. He and Jaejoong were at the ocean. He had an arm around the smaller man while his lover stared up at him, a hand placed on his chest and a lovely smile on his lips. At that time Jaejoong had his hair at shoulder-length so he looked more like a woman than a man from certain angles. That was what the elderly couple who took that picture also thought. “Our fifth year together,” he said absent-mindedly.

Jaejoong kissed his cheek. “You've got a good memory, ahjussi.”

“You still look as beautiful as you did back then.”

He watched in content as the man's cheeks pinked. “Don't be silly, Yunnie,” Jaejoong mumbled. “I aged and have wrinkles like you. I once heard the twins calling us wrinkly couple.” Light amusement swung in his voice. The twins were Nari's sons. They were up for mischievous all the time. Like their mother. They loved them nevertheless.

“Wrinkly or not your beauty hasn't faded,” Yunho insisted. “Inside and outside.” And it was true. At least for him. The older Jaejoong got the lovelier he became. He did everything for the family and cared for whoever was in need. And despite the deep furrows signing his pale and former flawless skin the stunning eyes were still the same, the shape of his mouth hadn't changed and he still walked with his head held high.

Jaejoong met his lover's gaze. “Say it a few more times and I might believe you,” he smiled and ran his hand through Yunho's thick hair. Still the same, he thought. No matter how much time passed it couldn't take the handsomeness the man portrayed. His youth may have faded but the confidence Yunho carried himself with became stronger year for year. “My handsome man,” Jaejoong said tenderly. “I'm really glad to get old with you.”

Yunho moved and kneed in front of him. He took those hands that were still soft and kissed the back of them. “You may haven't known but the moment I bumped into you all those years ago the first thought that crossed my mind was I wanna grow old with you. It was strange and totally random but I believed it was right. That thought turned into a wish into reality. I love you, Kim Jaejoong. And will till I die. Preferably in your arms,” he added cheekily.

Jaejoong covered his mouth, eyes filled with mirth and love. “You're impossible!” he exclaimed.

“Only for you.”

“I love you, too, Yunho. And I'll make sure you'll hold your word.”

“Is that a promise?” Yunho asked as he tugged the other out of the room.

“A declaration. So be prepared.”

“When it comes to you no preparation helps,” Yunho admitted. “But I wouldn't want it any other way.”

“You really know how to sweet-talk me,” Jaejoong huffed.

“I'm gonna grow old with you,” his lover declared and hold him close. “That's a promise.”

Jaejoong smiled. He wondered how his life would've turned out if he hadn't met this wonderful man that embraced him. He wondered about it and knew he won't get answers. But what he knew was he didn't regret his choice to spend his life with Yunho. He never will.

“I wouldn't want it any other way,” he replied in a whispered tone and kissed his lover affectionately. He really wouldn't. There was no other man he wished to grow old with. That was certain.