Today was definitely not Minhyuk's day, and it was only 9 am.

As he did every day, he'd been woken up by the same harsh alarm at the same too-early time of 6 am to eat the same boring breakfast of cornflakes and a cup of apple juice. Like every Monday, he hadn't slept well because of the same empty space in bed beside him. He missed Kihyun dearly, but he couldn't allow himself to stop and think about it. That would interrupt the routine, and Minhyuk's routine couldn't be interrupted. He was like a child; if one little thing happened that wasn't according to his schedule, he would be disoriented the entire day.

Once Minhyuk had finished his mundane breakfast, he'd rush to make himself lunch because as always he'd forgotten to make one. He'd grown accustomed to Kihyun being there to make it for him, and now that his boyfriend was gone he had to grow up and learn to do it himself. The fridge was looking rather vacant, and so he threw together three slices of cheese with a wilted piece of lettuce onto the last two slices of bread before stuffing it all together into a paper bag. As always, he forgot to add any side items, and as always he was five minutes late leaving the house. In his hurry to leave, he was wearing hot pink running sneakers with his work suit.

The bus got to his work building 10 minutes late, and he sprinted into the building while holding up his work id to the apathetic security guard in front. He was an editor for the local newspaper, doing proofreading in a tiny cubicle all day long. It was exactly as boring as it sounded, and when you had no workplace friends a day could drag on for what seemed like years.

Heaving a tired sigh, Minhyuk sank into his desk chair and flipped on the monitor. Surely it had to be at least 9:30 by now, right? The clock on the wall above him seemed to laugh, informing him that it was in fact only 9:03. He let out a barely audible groan, only to be shushed by the middle aged woman who worked next to him. Ever since Aesook had gone through her divorce, she had become a self-proclaimed man hater and Minhyuk often caught the brunt of her hatred because of his close proximity to her. He rolled his eyes at her. "Turning your hearing aids off, please."

She gave an offended scoff in response, but said nothing more. Minhyuk took a moment to gather himself before he reached for his pile of work to start on for the day. It was the usual columns about DIY projects and tips for better parenting, and he barely paid attention as he sorted through the papers. His mind drifted a bit as he skimmed over them, floating to memories of weekends spent with Kihyun working on planting flowers or decorating their front sidewalk with colorful chalk to make their house stand out just a little bit more than the rest on the block. Just before Kihyun had left, they'd scraped together every spare cent they had to buy themselves a nice little brick house in a decent suburb outside of the city. It was cozy, and just big enough for the both of them. Since it was just Minhyuk now, though, it felt empty and slightly daunting. Sure, Kihyun had bought him a puppy right after they'd moved in, but even Nora wasn't really helping with keeping Minhyuk from feeling lonely anymore.

The clatter of someone spilling their cup of coffee dragged Minhyuk back to reality in his little cube, and he glanced at the clock. It was noon. Only 3 more hours to go until he was able to leave early. He bit his lip as he debated whether he should take his lunch break, thinking it might help time pass by a little quicker to occupy himself with some food and his tablet. It wasn't like their boss was hovering about, so what did it matter if he slipped off for an hour or so? They wouldn't miss him.

Minhyuk stood up and grabbed the bag that held his crudely made sandwich, making a face at the plain brown paper. If Kihyun had made it, the bag would have been decorated with colorful sharpies and at least one hand-written sticky note. Before his grouchy work neighbors could say anything, he escaped to the break room. A few of the interns were in the room, their boring chatter mingling with the atonal buzzing of the fluorescent lights above them. They were fresh out of high school, and gave off the same snobby air that the popular cheerleaders used to when Minhyuk was at school. They were mean, having the notion that they were better than everyone else in the office, and they were quick to gossip about anyone and anything they could find out. He chose a table in a corner as far from them as he could get, ducking his head so as to avoid their judgemental gazes while he unwraps his pitiful lunch. It was only as he lifted the sandwich to take a bite did he notice the greenish mold blooming along the crust on one of the pieces of bread. Great. He'd forgotten to go grocery shopping again.

Disgusted with himself for being so bad at being an independent adult and disgusted by the thought of almost eating fungus, Minhyuk stood and dropped the entire meal into the trash before walking back to his desk. A break had been a nice idea, but apparently the universe didn't want him to have nice things. He heaved a sigh as he slowly collapsed back into his chair, looking for any sort of distraction he could find at his rather bland desk.

A corner of a neon pink sticky note was peeking out from under his keyboard, and curiously he grabbed it to pull it out. He already knew what it was; Kihyun had had a very strict organizational system for everything, and all of his notes were color coded. The pink ones were reserved especially for Minhyuk. The sight of the familiar handwriting sent a pang of longing through his heart as he read over it.

"Dear Minnie Mouse- I hope your day is as nice as your flat little . Love, Kihyunnie."

The sweet note had a smile tugging at his lips, and Minhyuk carefully taped it to the wall behind his monitor so that it was in plain view whenever he looked at his computer. That one little scrap of paper seemed to brighten up the entire space, and Minhyuk couldn’t stop the flutter he got in the bottom of his stomach. Maybe he could just slack off the rest of the day. All of his work was done, so why not right?

Without stopping for a second thought, he plugged his phone into his computer and pulled up the videos folder. A dozen thumbnails, most of them containing Kihyun's smiling face, greeted him. Minhyuk smiled back out of habit and clicked on the first one to watch it. It wasn't anything special, just a clip of Kihyun making macaroni in their kitchen, with Minhyuk giving commentary from behind the camera in an exaggerated Gordon Ramsey impression. To anyone else it would be stupid, but to Minhyuk the sound of Kihyun's laughter was exactly what he needed to brighten up his day.

He clicked through all of the videos in the folder, and before he knew it the alarm on his phone was going off. It was 3 o'clock, and he shot out of the chair as if he'd been burned by something. All three of his cubicle neighbors complained about the noise he was making as he shoved all of his things into his bag, but Minhyuk ignored them easily. He was much too excited to get out of here to let the old hens get to him. Once he had all of his belongings he sprinted towards the elevators, slapping the janitor an exuberant high five as he passes. The older gentleman leaned on his broom and smiled as he watched the other rush off. "Is today the day, Minhyuk-ssi?" Minhyuk grinned and nodded in confirmation before practically skipping into the elevator, hitting the ground floor button multiple times in his hurry to get out of here.

The grey weather of that morning had cleared, and as he exited Minhyuk was greeted with the crisp scent of autumn while the sun shone brilliantly in a bright blue sky. The leaves had begun to change colors, adding a lovely pop of color to the scenery. His luck appeared to have changed, because he arrived at the bus stop right as his bus pulled in, and he had just enough change for fare. Once he'd paid he stepped on and plopped down in a window seat, humming a happy tune while his fingers tapped out a rhythm on his thigh. Unfortunately he couldn't hurry the speed of the bus along, so he forced himself to be patient as the bus began to drive in the opposite direction of where Minhyuk lived.
Traffic was busy as always, but the bus arrived at the correct destination in a decent amount of time. Minhyuk cheerfully said goodbye to the driver before disembarking, his eyes already scanning the crowd. The airport was busy as always, seemingly too busy for a Monday afternoon, but he didn't particularly mind. He hummed to himself as he stood in one place, bouncing a little.

After what seemed like an eternity, Minhyuk spotted what he was looking for, and his breath caught in his throat as he was swept with a sudden wave of emotion. A soldier had just exited the airport doors, carrying a rucksack that was nearly as big as the soldier was. Minhyuk dropped his own bag on the ground without hesitation before sprinting towards the man in uniform, tears starting to form as he slammed into the man for a tight hug. The shorter of the two hugged Minhyuk back tightly with a huge smile that stretched from ear to ear. "Minnie, I love you."

Minhyuk laughed through the sudden rush of tears, pulling back from the hug just enough to kiss his soldier. "I love you, too. Welcome home, Kihyunnie."