When his phone began to vibrate at 8 Jonghyun cursed. He had only managed to fall asleep around 5. He grumbled as he rolled over to squint at the light coming through the crack of the bedroom door. When he pulled the thick comforter up over his shoulder it was then he remembered he wasn’t in his apartment. Jinki had invited him over. . He wasn’t going to make it to his first class on time after taking the bus home to get his stuff and change.

He scrambled out of bed and his cheeks turned a little pink as the shirt Jinki laid out for him reached his mid thigh, and the pants covered all but his toes. While ruffling his hair and gathering the courage to go face Jinki he caught the scent of bacon. His tummy rumbling was the driving force of opening the door the rest of the way and following the sound of sizzling breakfast meat. Down the hall opened the living room, which was completely dark, so he followed the light to the left. Through the small dining room he could hear Jinki softly humming, little mumbled words every so often, and Jonghyun’s heart swelled.

His happy sigh gave him away though and Jinki quickly turned around surprised. Both were blushing as Jinki asked, “How long have you been standing there?”

“Mm not very long.” Jonghyun gave a soft smile, pushing up on his tiptoes to see what the other man was making. “Can I have some of that?”

“Huh?” Jonghyun pointed at the stove and Jinki laughed, “OH! Heh, of course. I wasn’t sure with what you liked as a side so I went with a classic.”

“Never can go wrong there.”

“Sit! I’ll get you plate.” Jinki beamed over at him. “For once let me wait on you.”  

“I can’t stay too long,” Jonghyun softly said, “I didn’t wake up early enough to calculate the bus ride home to get my stuff in time to get to class before it starts.”

“When does your class start?” Jinki asked over his shoulder as he slid the omelet from the skillet onto the place in his other hand.

“11:30.”

“And how long does it take to change, get stuff together?”

“30 minutes or so,” Jonghyun ran his tongue over his lips quickly, confused, “Why?”

“I don’t think we need 2 and a half hours for me to get you to class on time.” Jinki answered as the plate was pushed in front of him with a smile. “You look very lost right now Baby, what’s wrong?”

Jonghyun had almost forgot about the proceedings the night before, and his brain short circuited for a moment before he remembered how to speak. “I assumed I was just going to take the bus like I normally do. And it’s usually an hour long bus ride from my apartment to the school.”

“Well,” Jinki laid his own plate on the counter across from him with a smile, “I owe you a ride home, and if I remember correctly you go to the same college my son did. It’s on the way to my work.”

“Oh.. well thank you.” His cheeks were a little pink as he moved his piece of omelet around with his fork. After eating it it dawned on him that Jinki usually was on his way to work now. “Speaking of work… shouldn’t you be in your suit and like leaving?”

Jinki softly chuckled, “I texted my secretary, informed him I wouldn’t be in much before noon. I wanted to make sure you got home okay and I wasn’t sure how late you sleep on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

“Oh..” Jonghyun’s face was warm as he cut more of his omelet off. “Do you have coffee?”

“AH, yes.” Jinki gave a sheepish smile. “I made it, but forgot about it. Its right over there. Help yourself.  Mugs are in the dishwasher. Cream is in the fridge and sugar is in the cabinet just above the coffee maker if you need it.”

“Thanks,” Jonghyun jumped off the stool and shuffled over to make him a cup. Jinki followed his movements with his eyes, a soft smile pulling at his lips at how cute the younger man was in his clothes. When Jonghyun glanced over and noticed he blushed and dipped his head. “What?”

“Nothing. You’re just really cute,” Jinki honestly answered, before heat rose to his cheeks as he said, “I like seeing you wear my clothes.”

“I like it too,” Jonghyun giggled softly for a moment. “They’re soft.”

Jinki could have probably looked at him for a little while longer, but Jonghyun wasn’t paying attention to getting his coffee knowing he was being watched. “Make your coffee quickly, your food is getting cold.”

“Okies~”

——

As Jinki put the car in park in front of Jonghyun’s apartment building he expected to just wait outside for him, but the man dipped his head back into the car after stepping out. “Do you want to come in? It’s a little cold out and I don’t want you needing to have your car running to keep warm.”

“Ah,” Jinki ran his fingers over his thighs, “Are you sure? I’m fine just waiting here.”

Jonghyun smiled sweetly, “Come on. It’s not great like yours, but it’s home.”

“Okay,” Jinki turned the car off and grabbed his jacket before slipping out of the car seat. When he rounded the corner Jonghyun curled their fingers together and led him into the building, “My ex wife lived in these in college.”

“That doesn’t seem like a good omen for me.” Jonghyun softly said with a laugh as he punched in the code to open his mailbox. He grabbed the couple envelopes before heading toward the stairs, “Elevator is broken.”

“Don’t tell me you live on the 9th level.”

“Ha! No, I don’t.” Jonghyun beamed over at him as Jinki was able to walk next to him on the stairs, “Just one floor up.”

As Jonghyun slid his key into the door Jinki quipped, “And she never stood a chance. I didn’t know I was gay then.”

“Ah,” Jonghyun opened the door just a little and turned to smile up at him, his back pressed against the door frame. “So I have a better chance to not become an ex wife?”

Jinki looked from his eyes to his lips for a moment, “Very much so.” His voice was low in volume and deep in tone.

“Hey Handsome,” Jonghyun whispered.

“Yes?”

Jonghyun’s hair was falling into his eyes as he looked up at him, “Can I kiss you?”

Jinki’s gaze was warm and his voice even more so as he took a step closer, hand coming up to hold Jonghyun at his waist. “Of course, Baby.”

It was slow, and hesitant, but Jonghyun pushed up to meet him. He pulled away quickly, a rush in his chest, but after a quick glance they were connecting again. His arms around Jinki’s neck as the man curved an arm around his waist to rest his hand on the middle of Jonghyun’s back. When they parted both were blushing, eyes avoiding contact for a moment. Jonghyun hummed then, “You’re a good kisser.”

Jinki’s heart soared a little. “I’m a little out of practice.”

“If that’s you being rusty I don’t know if I can handle you when you’re a well oiled working machine at the top of his performance.” Jinki swooped down to give him one more and Jonghyun smiled, “I like this.”

“Practice makes perfect right?”

Jonghyun grumbled about how rude and attractive he was as he pushed open the door all the way and let Jinki into his apartment. The place was small, but it was warm and colorful. Everywhere Jinki looked he could see something that told him more about Jonghyun. The white, blank canvas across the room against the wall, the paints on the small dining room table, the curled up apron on the coffee table covered in art media, and the finished pieces on the wall that he could see Jonghyun’s name signed at the bottom. He walked over to the one closest to him to the left of the door. Jonghyun softly spoke behind him, “I painted that after seeing the koi fish at the pond in front of the art building at the school.”

“It’s gorgeous Jonghyun.”

“It’s not my best work.” The man admitted, “The colors are all wrong. It was my first time using oil paints.”

Jinki hummed, “Well, I think it’s amazing,”

“Thanks,” Jonghyun rocked on his feet for a moment when Jinki looked back at him. “You should see what I can do now though. It’s a lot better than that.”

“You should teach me some day.”

“To paint?”

“Yeah,” Jinki gazed over at him, “I might end up as me just watching you paint, but I’d enjoy that a lot too.”

“Maybe next week sometime.” Jonghyun ran a hand through his hair flustered, “I’m going to go get changed now… make yourself at home.”

——-

Jonghyun walked around the car and was about to walk into the building when he turned back and jogged to Jinki’s window. With a big smile he waited for the window to be brought down. Jinki looked concerned for a moment before Jonghyun was leaning into the window and pressing a kiss to his lips. “Have a good day Babe, I’ll text you after ceramics.”

“O-Okay.” Jinki stuttered. He smiled up at him and took a deep breath. “Bye Baby.”

He waited until Jonghyun was in the doors before pulling from the curb. Minho was expecting him in 20 minutes to go over things. He didn’t want to keep him waiting for longer than he already had.

—–

When Saturday rolled around it ended up snowing a lot more than anticipated and when Jinki showed up at Jonghyun’s apartment to pick him up to go to the Zoo’s light show neither were looking forward to padding through the thick snow to look at lights. Jonghyun pouted slightly as he hugged his sweater tighter to his frame anxiously. “I don’t know what else we could do. Most places are closing because of the snow.”

Jinki slowly smiled and asked hopefully, “We could stay in. You have to have something in the kitchen we can make for dinner.”

Jonghyun’s face brightened, “Is that okay?”

“Maybe we could nap,” Jinki beamed, proud of himself for his joke, “I’m old remember, I need my cat naps.”  

“We’ll see,” Jonghyun giggled as he took Jinki by the arm to lead him into the kitchen to look for dinner options. “After food.”

“Of course. Best time to nap is after you’re full.” Jonghyun shook his head fondly before letting Jinki’s arm go. “So what’s the chance you have chicken in that fridge of yours?”

“None,” Jonghyun snorted. “I’m a broke college student. I live off packaged ramen and what milk I can get from the school’s cafeteria.”

“Don’t tell me that,” Jinki scrunched up his nose. “I’ll be over in the morning with a car full of groceries.”  

“Oh no no no,” Jonghyun waved his hands in front of his face, “Don’t worry about me. I eat a lot at the diner.”

Jinki squinted at him. “Don’t tempt me.”

“Just look in the cabinets for me hmm?”

“Okay.” But when Jinki opened the cabinets the top two shelves in each weren’t being used and he couldn’t help but laugh.

“What?” Jonghyun’s voice was muffled with how far he was in his freezer.

“Nothing, just really amused at how you don’t use the top shelves.”

“Hey!” When Jinki turned to look at him Jonghyun had both hands on his hips, brows furrowed. “I’m a tiny man and I don’t feel like it’s necessary for me to have a step stool in my own home.”  

“Duly noted.” Jinki chuckled, “Did you find anything to eat? There’s spaghetti makings in here.”  

“All I have is left over pizza from about a week ago that probably is a science experiment right now.”

“Spaghetti it is.”  

Shortly they had the water boiling on the stove and Jonghyun slid the noodles in. Jinki poured the sauce in a pan and slowly stirred it while the other man softly asked, “What type of movie would you want to watch?”

“Anything you want to.”

“You’re not making this easy.”

Jinki leaned over and gently kissed Jonghyun’s hair, “I know.”

—–

They found a movie halfway done after dinner. Jonghyun was sitting up, flipping through the channels as Jinki leaned back against the couch to get comfortable. Once something was found Jonghyun fell back against the cushions, but he was still considerable amount of space away. “Hey Baby?”

The petname still caused butterflies to happen in Jonghyun’s stomach, “Yes Handsome?”

“C’mere.” Jinki lifted his arm until it was laying on the back of the couch, opening up his chest and side for Jonghyun to curl against. “You’re too far away for movie and a nap.”

“Ah-Okay.” With a little wiggle Jonghyun hesitantly curled up next to him. His head was on his chest and when Jinki’s arm fell around his waist his heart thumped. “You sure this is an okay date? You’re having fun right?”

Jinki’s face was so pretty in the dim light from the table lamp across from them as he smiled down at him, and taking his hand with his left one. “I’m spending time with you. You’re all I need to have a good time Jonghyun.”

“Don’t stay stuff like that so suddenly,” Jonghyun whined, “It makes me very emotional.”

“It’s true.”

Jonghyun grumbled, “Watch the movie.”

——–