Jonghyun lets out an exhausted groan and rolls from his back onto his stomach. His fancy memory foam mattress, which he and Jinki purchased per the doctor’s recommendation when he was diagnosed with insomnia, somehow doesn’t feel quite as comfortable right now. It was certainly worth the hefty amount of money they had to dish out for it though because he’s had hardly any issues sleeping since they bought it. Except now, all of a sudden, when he can’t seem to find a comfortable position and get to sleep. The blonde wiggles around in the sheets and closes his eyes once more, imagining relaxing images: the sun setting on the beach, puppies running around in a garden of daisies, rainbows and butterflies, Jinki.

            He sighs. Jinki. He looks to his alarm clock. 2:35am. It’s 12:35pm in the United States and Jinki should be at lunch right about now. If Jonghyun is lucky, at least. He rolls over and reaches blindly for his cell phone, plucking it from the nightstand in only three tries, and dials his boyfriend’s number quickly, lips jutting out in a pout as it begins to ring.

            Jonghyun and Jinki met in high school, when Jjong was a junior and Jinki a senior. Both boys were on opposing ends of the “high school spectrum,” but both shared a love for music, so they both chose choir as their fine arts elective. They were both placed in the tenor section, and Jonghyun found himself immediately drawn to the nerdy boy in glasses whose voice was smooth as honey and whose smile could compete with the sun itself in brightness. Much to Jinki’s surprise, the younger boy kissed him in the bathroom after their first choral concert; Jonghyun will never forget the shade of red on the older boy’s cheeks when he pulled away from him. They began dating shortly after that, and Jonghyun has been hopelessly in love with Jinki ever since.

            After they graduated high school, they both got their first part-time jobs so that they could save up and get a place together. After several long months of simultaneously working and attending classes, Jonghyun decided that college just wasn’t for him, and dropped out to work at the radio station full-time, which Jinki supported fully. Eventually the two were able to move into a small (and extremely crappy according to Jonghyun) one bedroom apartment together using the money Jonghyun made from working at the radio station and the money Jinki made as a pizza delivery boy while he finished school. Finally, after years of hard work, the big day came and Jonghyun beamed with pride as his boyfriend strutted across the stage and received his degree in engineering.

            And now here they are, two years later. Jinki has a well-paying job as an architectural engineer at a large company. They’re living in a much nicer apartment that DOESN’T have paper-thin walls, evil old lady neighbors, and mice in the closets. The only current issue is that Jinki himself, is not here. He’s in the United States.

            In the 8 years that Jinki and Jonghyun have been together, they’ve been practically inseparable. And, in the 4 years that they’ve been living together, they’ve never spent more than one or two nights apart. Three nights, tops. That’s why, when Jinki announced one day that his boss was sending him on a three week business trip to the US, the blonde boy was less than enthused by the news. The elder then went on to ensure him that he was far from happy as well, but that there was nothing either of them could do because he couldn’t exactly say no to his boss. The rest of the night was a blur of tears and “I’ll miss you” for Jjong, but Jinki promised him that they would talk on the phone every day, and that he would answer the phone whenever Jonghyun called, unless he was in a meeting, which Jonghyun really hopes he’s not right now.

            “Please be on lunch break, please be on lunch break…” he murmurs to himself.

            “Jjong? Are you okay?” Jinki’s voice answers, a slight panic to his voice.

            “Huh? U-uh yeah? I can’t sleep.”

            “What? Oh, okay. Gosh, baby. You scared me, calling me so late. I thought something was wrong.”

            “Oh, I’m sorry, I just, I couldn’t sleep and you said I could always call you, a-and you told me what time your lunch break was and I checked the time so-”

            “Jjong.”

            “Yeah?”

            “It’s okay.” He chuckles lightly.

            “Oh,” the boy relaxes at the sound, “good. So um, whatcha doing?”

            He can hear the smile in his boyfriend’s voice. “On my lunch break.”

            “Oh right.” An awkward silence looms between them for a short moment.

            “So you can’t sleep?”

            The blonde hums in response. “Insomnia.”

            “But you hadn’t had any problems with that in so long…”

            “Yeah well…” The silence returns. Jonghyun begins to pick at a loose thread on the comforter. “Jinki?”

            “Yeah?”

            “I miss you.”

            Jinki sighs softly. “I miss you too, baby.”

            “I can’t sleep without you here.”

            “Baby…”

            “Not without your arms wrapped around me.”

            “It’s only been three days, Jjong.”

            “I know.”

            “I’ll be home before you know it.”

            “I know.”

            Jonghyun hears a soft ‘aha!’ on the other end of the line. “I have an idea! Put me on speaker, and lay the phone next to you on the bed, okay?” The younger man hums in affirmation and follows his boyfriend’s instructions, turning on speaker and laying the phone on Jinki’s pillow. “Now lay down and close your eyes.” Jonghyun does. “Are you doing it?”

            “Yeah.”

            “Good. Now, I just want you to imagine,” the elder speaks in an impossibly soft voice, not quite a whisper, “that I’m with you. We’ve both had a long day of work, so we’re exhausted. We’re lying in bed, and I’m right there next to you.”

            “I wish you really were.” Jonghyun whispers, his voice cracking as a tear runs down his cheek; with the phone laying on the pillow it’s almost as if his boyfriend is next to him. Jinki swears he can feel his heart literally breaking in half at the soft sound of his boyfriend beginning to cry. He wants nothing more than to be there to comfort the younger man, to hold him against his chest and kiss away the tears.

            “I know baby, me too. Please don’t cry. Please.”

            “I’m trying not to.”

            “Just focus on my voice, okay? Relax, baby.” Jonghyun nods, even though his boyfriend can’t see him. “I wish I could hold you right now too, baby, but I’ll be home before you know it. These three weeks will fly by, just you wait. For now though, try to imagine, okay? Imagine getting all cuddled up and cozy, so we can both drift off into a sleep full of sweet dreams…”

            Jinki continues to soothingly speak to Jonghyun through the phone, not eating lunch that day, and at some point Jonghyun drifts off to the sound of his boyfriend’s deep voice.

**********

            When the three dreadful weeks finally pass, Jonghyun can hardly contain his excitement to see Jinki. He barely slept in three weeks his boyfriend was gone and is running on two cups of coffee as he stands in the middle of the airport awaiting Jinki’s arrival. He checks his phones for time once more. 7:30pm. Jinki’s plane should be here any minute. The blonde practically vibrates with excitement as watches the people entering through the gate.

            After a bit more waiting, and several more checks of his phone, he sees him. Jinki trudges through the entryway clad in jeans and plain blue sweater. His reddish-brown hair is fluffy and unfixed; he didn’t do anything to it before getting on the plane, and Jonghyun thinks he’s the epitome of perfection. He finally notices Jjong, and that sunshine smile appears as he lifts his hand in a tiny wave. That’s when the blonde decides he can’t take it anymore, and as soon as his boyfriend crosses the line that he’s permitted access to, he stomps up to him and crashes his lips to Jinki’s plump ones.

            Jinki jumps back slightly in shock, reminiscent of their first kiss, but immediately relaxes and wraps his arms around the shorter man’s waist. Their lips meld together as they savor the feeling and taste they’ve both been starved of for three weeks. Jonghyun breaks the kiss, only to pant out, “I’ve missed you so much.” Then kisses Jinki hard on the lips before the older man has a chance to respond. However, he manages to pry Jonghyun’s eager lips from his own, chuckling at his puppy-like lover.

            “I missed you too, baby. I’m so happy to be home. It was cool to visit the US and everything, but there’s no place like home, you know?” He smiles. Jonghyun nods and presses his lips to Jinki’s once more, unable to keep himself from doing so when the older man is smiling at him like that. The elder indulges for a moment, but pulls away, face as red as a beet as he looks all around them. “Let’s get home, hm?” He pats Jonghyun on the shoulder before taking his hand and dragging him towards baggage claim. Jonghyun finally looks away from Jinki at this moment and looks around, noticing the dirty looks that they’re receiving. They are “that couple,” the one being all lovey-dovey in the middle of the airport, in front of everyone. The blonde smirks, realizing he doesn’t really mind being “that couple” all that much, but he supposes that Jinki has never been quite as keen towards public displays of affection as he has. He just likes to show off his amazing boyfriend, so what?

            The two of them finally reach baggage claim and have no issues retrieving Jinki’s luggage (thank goodness!), then head for home.

**********

            “Ah! Home at last!” Jinki exclaims as they enter their apartment, dropping his luggage by the door. Jonghyun flops down on the couch. He leans back and yawns, the coffee from earlier beginning to wear off now.

            “Are you just going to leave that there?” He calls.

            “Yep! I’ll unpack tomorrow,” Jinki shuffles towards the couch, “but right now,” he throws himself down next to Jjong, wrapping his arms around the small blonde’s waist and nuzzling his face into his neck, “I just want to spend time with my boyfriend. Cause I’ve missed him so much.”

            Jonghyun giggles as Jinki leaves feathery kisses in the crook of his neck, over the moon to finally have him back. He reaches down and locks their fingers together firmly. “Well what do you want to do?” He pauses as another yawn works its way through him, “We’ll do whatever you want, babe.”

            Jinki catches the blonde’s yawn and yawns as well, then looks to his boyfriend with an amused smile. “Sleepy?”

            “Hm? No, I mean maybe a little because I had some coffee earlier and it’s wearing off, but I’m fine.”

            Jinki nods as if he believes the younger man, but he isn’t stupid; clumsy sometimes, but not stupid. He’s well aware that the blonde barely slept during the three weeks they were apart. A few nights during that time he was able to talk to Jjong over the phone until he fell asleep, but on the nights (or days, for him) that he didn’t receive any calls, he knows that Jonghyun chose the option of not sleeping rather than “bothering” him. They’ve been dating for 8 years; at this point, he can read the younger man like an open book.

            “Hmm, anything, huh?” Jinki places a few more kisses to his boyfriend’s neck. All he gets is a hum in response. “Well, then I choose sleep. It’s bed time. Let’s go.” He promptly stands up, Jjong’s hands in his. The blonde looks up at him with wide eyes.

            “What? No! I’m not even tired, I swear! Jinki, I’m serious!”

            “And so am I,” he tugs on Jonghyun’s hands, “I haven’t slept since yesterday, so that I could get used to Korean time again, and on top of that the plane ride was awful. I know you’re tired too, so let’s just sleep, Jjongie. We have tomorrow and the rest of our lives to do other stuff. For now, let’s go to bed, okay?”

            Jonghyun falters as he sees the sincerity in Jinki’s chocolate eyes and feels what’s left of the coffee drain from his veins. He nods and get up. “Okay.”

~~~~~

            The couple drags themselves to bed, wearing nothing but boxers because neither has the energy to put on their PJs. They lay facing one another, with their arms wrapped around each other and legs tangled together. Jinki lifts his hand to Jonghyun’s head affectionately, from the top of his hair down to his jaw. His hand lingers though, cupping the blonde’s cheek gently. Jonghyun looks up at his boyfriend, meeting his loving gaze. The elder pulls his forehead to rest against his own.

            “I’m never leaving you for that long again.” He speaks softly.

            Jonghyun giggles. “That’s sweet, but you can’t just-”

            “Shh. I’m not doing it. Never again.”

            “But what if your boss wants to send you on another business trip?”

            “Then I’m taking you with me. There’s no way we’re doing this again, okay?”

            “Okay, my love.”

            They share a smile, both clearly in agreement, then Jinki places a kiss to Jonghyun’s forehead.

            “Get some rest, baby.”

            “Okay, you too. Night, Jinki. I love you.”

            “Night, Jjongie. I love you too.”

            Jinki pulls his boyfriend closer, and Jonghyun begins to wiggle around in his hold until he finds the most comfortable position. Once he relaxes in Jinki’s arms, the older man ask, “Do you think you’ll be able to sleep tonight?”

            Jonghyun smiles sleepily and buries his face in his boyfriend’s chest, replying with a muffled, “Definitely.”