Jinki was leaning against the grocery cart, gazing at Jonghyun standing little ways in front deciding what type of premade cookie dough he wanted. After going home to change and get a few things, Jinki had driven them to the grocery nearby his apartment. The cart was full of things for them to make and eat the next couple days, but Jonghyun wanted to make cookies without all the hassle of making it from scratch. So here they were, Jonghyun looking cute with his tongue poking out the side of his mouth as he focused, big shirt on his frame covering his fingers when his arms were down by his sides. “You know we could just go get baked ones in the bakery.”

“But you can’t eat cookie dough if it’s baked already,” Jonghyun softly quipped, before he whined, “I can’t choose.”

With a soft laugh, Jinki walked around the cart to wrap his arms around Jonghyun’s waist and lay his chin on his shoulder. He lifted one hand to point at the sign just to the left of them. “They’re on sale. Get a couple Baby.”

“Fine.” Jonghyun huffed, but as Jinki returned to push the cart, Jonghyun was dropping a few into the basket with a big smile on his face. “I can’t wait to eat it.”

Jinki snorted, “Come on. We need to get fresh tomatoes and Basil Baby.”

“Oh and mozzarella!”

“Ah, yes.” Jinki flashed a smile as he turned back around to get to the dairy. “Thank you for reminding me.”

He reached down to get the cheese, but when he turned around Jonghyun wasn’t where he left him. He found him quickly over by the jello and he fondly shook his head when the younger man returned with strawberry jello parfait. Nothing was said when it was placed in the cart and Jonghyun began to whistle, looking everywhere but at Jinki.

Jinki smiled and kissed his cheek. Jonghyun turned slightly pink, “Let’s get the last few things and get out of here Baby.”

-----

Jonghyun slid down the wall to sit on the floor, staring at the huge pile of bags on the floor before groaning, “The one bad thing about groceries… you gotta carry them in and put them away.”

Jinki’s chuckle was muffled with how far he was leaning into the fridge. He straightened and gazed over at him. “Is my baby boy tired?”

“Slightly,” Jonghyun replied with a little pout. “I want to nap.”

“Help me finish this,” Jinki lifted the carton of milk off the ground, “And how does a movie and cuddles sound?”

Jonghyun had lifted the color of his shirt over his lips and tip of his nose. His voice was soft as he said, “Really good.”

“Then come on.” Jonghyun groaned at the words, but he pushed off the ground and shuffled over to start sorting through the bags on the counter.

-----

Jinki gazed down at Jonghyun when he felt him move. The man was laying on his head on Jinki’s thigh and from the slow, steady breaths he was sleeping. Jinki was moving his fingers through his soft hair gently, but his fingers stopped when he felt Jonghyun begin to move. Shortly the man was turned completely toward him and Jinki melted. His cheek was squished cutely against his thigh, legs spread out and barely touching the other armrest.

The movie hadn’t even been on for more than thirty minutes before Jonghyun’s soft snores could be heard. Jinki knew his insomnia acted up at random times and that lately, he hadn’t been getting much sleep. His thigh was tingling, falling asleep, but he wasn’t going to move it. He didn’t want to wake Jonghyun up. He resumed playing with his hair, heart warm and soft smile on his face as he paid more attention to his pretty boyfriend than the movie playing in the background.

Sooner or later he’d have to either wake him up to lay on him long ways to sleep on the couch or pick him up to carry him into the bedroom. Until then he enjoyed the softness of the experience.

When his phone rang he rushed to click the tone off. He frowned when he saw it was his ex-wife, but he tossed the phone off to the side. He’d call her back whenever he felt like it.

-----

Jonghyun turned, instinctively reaching for Jinki, and frowned when all he felt was still warm sheets. He squinted, opening his eyes slowly. He figured Jinki had carried him back here again, but that left him wondering where the man was. He slipped from the bed, big shirt falling to his down to his upper thigh. He found him on the balcony after feeling the cool breeze coming through the slightly open door. He grabbed the blanket from the back of the couch, wrapped it around his shoulders and shuffled over to the glass doors. He knocked on them softly to get Jinki’s attention. “Hey,”

Jinki turned quickly, surprised to find him being away, but then he softened, “Hey Baby. What are you doing up?”

In between his two fingers was a lit cigarette and Jonghyun frowned for a moment, “I could ask you the same question. I woke up and you weren’t in bed.”

“Oh, my ex-wife wouldn’t stop calling me, so I answered finally. Came out here to keep from waking you up.” He took a drag of his cigarette and he visibly relaxed.

“What did she want to talk to you so badly about?”

“The house needs something repaired and she still thinks it’s my responsibility.” He ran his fingers through his hair as he hung his head. “I’m not the one who put too much ing soap in the washer multiple times so the entire laundry room and kitchen floor needs replaced.”

Jonghyun softly moved his hand over the expanse of Jinki’s back, moving close with a gentle smile, “Hey, it’s okay. Don’t get worked up Babe.”

“I just-” He growled, “I gave her the house in the divorce. It’s paid off, her car is paid off, and she got more than enough in the settlement. I should be free to live my own life, but it’s like I never got divorced.”

“Are you going to do it?”

“If I don’t she won’t leave me alone and if I do it’s just reinforcing the fact I’m her thing to with no matter if there’s a ring on both our fingers or not.” Jinki took another inhale of his cigarette and frowned at it. “She’s still ruining my life.”

He covered Jinki’s hand holding the cigarette with his own carefully, making the man look at him. “You only ever smoke these when you have to deal with her. Don’t let her stress compel you to smoke these. I know you hate it.”

Jinki looked over at him, eyes soft and vulnerable, for a moment before he looked back at the cigarette. A moment later he was ripping it in half and dropping it off the edge of the balcony. He was almost whispering as he said, “You’re right.”

“Next time you’re stressed or uncomfortable, tell me about it instead of turning to these.” He pushed up to kiss Jinki’s cheek. “I love you, and I want you to live as long as you possibly can. These won’t help you do that.”

When the first sob broke free of Jinki’s barely held together walls Jonghyun was surprised, but it didn’t take him long to turn Jinki completely toward him and wrapping his arms around him tightly. Jinki curled around him. His nose was in Jonghyun’s neck, fingers tight in the blanket on his back. Jonghyun didn’t mind the tears smearing on his skin. “Come on Babe, Let’s go to bed. You can let this all out there.” Jinki sniffled roughly when he pulled away, but then he silently nodded and Jonghyun led him back in with soft fingers curled around his wrist.

-----

Jinki woke up when he felt the dip in the bed. “Baby Babe, wakey wakey.”

“Huh?” There was an awful pain in his head, and his throat felt clogged in a way.

Jonghyun’s soft laughter could be heard and Jinki peeked at him over his blankets. “I brought you something small to eat and some pain reliever for your headache.”

“I just realized I had a headache,” Jinki mumbled, “How did you know I had one?”

“You were crying and I know how someone feels after crying like you did,” Jonghyun ran his hand over Jinki’s hip, “Come now, sit up!”

Jinki did as he was told with a soft groan. Once he was settled Jonghyun placed the tray on his thighs after placing the tiny bottle of juice on the table next to him. There were cut up strawberries and a banana in a bowl, and a piece of toast. It wasn’t much, but then again he didn’t really feel like much. “Thank you.”

“Eat this and take the painkillers, and then you can take a shower before you have to get ready for your conference call. I set up a little office type space for you at the dining table.”

“You didn’t have to do that Baby.”

He patted Jinki’s knee, “Let me take care of you.”

“Okay,” Jinki relaxed against the headboard and popped a piece of fruit into his mouth before he noticed the paint on Jonghyun’s fingers. “How long have you been up?”

“A few hours. It’s almost noon.” Jinki’s eyes widened almost comically and Jonghyun laughed, “I know! You slept past the crack of dawn Babe. I’m so proud of you.”

After a few moments, Jonghyun moved to go back to his painting and let Jinki have some peace and quiet, when the older man spoke up, “Thank you.”

“You said that already Babe.”

Jinki shook his head gently, “I meant for last night. I didn’t mean to break down like that in the middle of the night. It means a lot to me... The way you were there for me.”

“Jinki… Babe, that’s what being in a relationship is. You’re there when they aren’t their strongest and help them get back to themselves. I love you.”

“I just-” Jinki sighed, looking down at the fruit for a moment before gazing back up at him. “I never had the support you gave me last night, and though we’ve been dating around 6 months I… I’m just a messy bundle of feelings, and they’re good feelings caused by you.”

“You’re making me into a messy bundle of feelings,” Jonghyun’s cheeks were pink as he avoided eye contact. He kissed Jinki’s hair and softly said, “I’m gonna go paint now before I melt into an actual puddle.”

-----

Jonghyun quietly painted in the living room area while Jinki did his conference call. He was highly amused when Jinki came out wearing a dress shirt and tie, but his lower half only in boxers and socks. The call ended up taking about three hours from start to finish. Once it was done Jinki undid his tie, tossed the shirt somewhere and wrapped a blanket around himself before plopping on the chair to watch Jonghyun paint. The smaller man had taken a break to get a snack about an hour before and just began again. He smiled over his shoulder when he heard the shuffling of Jinki moving over the fabric of the couch. “How’d it go?”

“Well, 3 hours later and I still have to fly to Japan in a couple weeks.”

Jinki looked up concerned when he heard the clunk of the thick paintbrush landing roughly in the can of paint. Jonghyun was looking at him sadly, “You have to go to Japan?”

“Oh!” Jinki laughed a little at himself. “Silly me. I didn’t tell you.”

“No, not at all. How long will you be gone? I’ll miss you.” Jinki’s smile was throwing him off. “Why are you smiling about this?”

“Why would you be missing me if you’d be coming with me?”

“What?” Jonghyun squeaked out.

“I have to go for a few weeks, like 16 days or something like that, and as long as you have a passport I was hoping you’d come with me.”

“Go with you?” Jinki nodded, “To Japan... With you?”

“Yes Baby.”

“I’ve never been to Japan.”

“I know,” Jinki was still softly smiling, head back against the plush couch cushion. “I’d have a few meetings and work to do with a client, but for the most part, it’d be like a vacation. Our first together.” Jonghyun swallowed thickly, running his tongue over his lips nervously. Jinki recognized something was the matter and pushed off the couch to cup his cheek and make him look at him. “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to, but it’s 16 days in a nice hotel, in a beautiful country, and you get to spend it with me. Do you want to go?”

“Of course!” Jonghyun coughed to make his squeaky voice go back to normal. “Usually when people go on their first trip together it’s like a 2-hour drive into the forest for a weekend. Not to a completely other country.”

Jinki shrugged. “Why go to a cottage in the woods when I can take you to wine and dine you in a nice suite paid for by my work?”

Jonghyun slowly smiled, “You really want to take me to Japan?”

“You just have to have the time off, a passport and  a bag packed by the end of May.”

The smaller man squealed, startling Jinki. “I can’t believe I’m going to Japan.”

Jinki muttered, “I can’t believe I thought I’d need my hearing.”

“Sorry,” Jonghyun whispered.

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