Halcyon, adj.

-calm; peaceful; tranquil

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It was one of those rare days when Taemin and Naeun did not have any schedules or any plans to do. They lived for these days as they both wanted to know what it felt like to just wake up, without any problems or routines to follow, just go with the flow and do things as they pop into their heads. It was even better since they could do it together.

 

Taemin had had a schedule the night before that ended at around 3.30 in the morning. Naeun was already finished with her schedules by eleven o’clock and went to their apartment where she would wait for Taemin, and then spend the whole of the next day together. However, after making herself some ramyun for dinner (it was the only thing that they had anyway besides milk), she waited for Taemin for about half an hour before falling asleep on the couch.

 

When Taemin had walked into the apartment, he was not tired at all. He was excited because he thought that he and Naeun could watch a scary movie together and then cuddle on the couch, but his heart instantly melted when he found her asleep, mouth slightly parted and softly snoring hugging the Taemin bear. He gently pried away the stuffed animal, chuckling to himself that the thought of being jealous of a stuffed toy when she first got him the bear during their first one moth separation. Then he picked her up, not wanting to disturb her, pulled back the sheets on the bed and laid her gently down on her side. She was already dressed in her pyjamas and it was absolutely adorable. He quickly took a shower and put on his pyjamas that matched with hers. It was another superhero themed one, which she bought when she went overseas to Taiwan. She saw it at a store and thought of him and immediately bought it. His one was Batman and she had Catwoman.

 

Taemin got into the bed, moved closer to Naeun and then kissed her on her forehead, whispering a ‘goodnight’ and then spooned her from the back, arms tightly encircling her waist and then burying his face into her soft curls and falling asleep, hoping to join Naeun in her dreams.

They woke up quite early despite their schedules. It was late enough in the day that they should have been out, but early enough so that it was still morning and the meal that they would have could still be called breakfast. Naeun had woken up first, rubbed her eyes and washed her face before treading into the kitchen. She had wondered when Taemin had gotten home, but by the way he was completely on his front and snoring, she could tell that he was tired and needed more sleep.  Looking through their kitchen cupboards and in the fridge, she realised that they indeed had nothing and then made two cups of ramyun for breakfast, deciding that they should go to the local supermarket and go grocery shopping. She didn’t know why, but she was quite excited at the prospect of buying food supplies with her boyfriend. She put it on a tray, poured two glasses of milk and laid it on the bedside table.

 

Taemin was still snoring, but she wanted her boyfriend awake so she could have breakfast with him. First, she tried to shake him. Nothing. Then she tried to tickle him. She saw him smile but then quickly tried to hide it. Naeun smiled. Two can play at this game. Then she kissed his arm. Again, nothing. Then she pretended to think aloud by suggesting she wake him up with a kiss. She thought she almost saw his lips purse together to get ready for the kiss. Luckily, she had kept a bottle of water near the night stand and retrieved. She pretended to lean in to him for a kiss but then poured the bottle of water onto Taemin.  He yelped in surprise, grabbed her by the waist before she could react then wrestled her with tickles inevitable forcing the open bottle of water to completely tip onto the bed and make them both wet. The apartment was filled with laughter.

 

“Good morning…”

 

“Mmmm…morning…”

 

“Breakfast?”

 

Naeun turned around to pick up the tray and settled it in the middle between them.

 

“Sorry, that’s all we have.”

 

“Doesn’t matter…as long as it was prepared by you, I’m sure it’s delicious…”

 

They scoffed down the food, practically inhaling it and then drinking the soup out of the cup. They drank their glass of milk, taking turns to draw milk moustaches on each other’s faces.

 

“Oppa…I think we should go grocery shopping…”

 

“I think so too…as much as instant noodles is enough for a meal, we need real food…”

 

“Okay. Let’s go then. I’ll clean this up while you take a shower and then I’ll take a shower and then we can go…”

 

“It’s alright. You shower first and I’ll clean it up. It’s my fault anyway…my greed for a morning kiss got the better of me…”

 

Naeun gave him a quick peck on the lips.

 

“What was that for?”

 

“You didn’t earn my morning kiss by not waking up but you definitely earned my appreciation kiss for offering to clean…”

 

“Ahrasso…palli…go shower or I might just kiss you again…”

 

“Naeun practically ran into the bathroom, which earned a pout from Taemin.

 

“Are my kisses that bad?”

 

Naeun popped her head out of the door.

 

“Ani…your lips are very kissable…”

 

Twenty minutes later, Naeun was out and dressed, waiting for Taemin to emerge from the bathroom. Once he came out, Naeun took some time to admire her boyfriend. He was wearing a simple blue wife beater, and dark brown chinos that he paired with some white converse. He was wearing a couple outfit with Naeun who wore a white shirt, black skinny jeans and red converse. They both put on their sunglasses. Naeun wore a fedora while Taemin wore a red LA snapback and they got into Taemin’s car and drove to the supermarket.

 

Once there, they got a trolley and started wheeling through the aisles one by one. They had passed the bread and dairy fairly quickly, stopping to grab some more milk and sliced bread. They wheeled even faster through the fruit and vegetable section, buying some lettuce which would eventually accompany the meat that they spent ages browsing through in the meat section.

 

“Naeun-ah…let’s buy this…”

 

Taemin pointed to a very expensive looking beef set.

 

“No…let’s buy the samgyupsal. It’s goes with the lettuce.”

 

After bickering for ten minutes, they decided to buy both and then some more.

 

But, the section they spent almost fifty percent of their shopping time on was the snacks section. Both seemed to be on overdrive: Naeun would browse through the left hand side and Taemin would browse the right hand side. The used the their free hand to push the trolley down the aisle as the other was busy plucking off packets of cookies, chips and more off of the shelves and into the trolley. When they finally reached the checkout two hours later, they ended up paying almost $200 on the food altogether. They each had four bags in each hand that they had to bring to Taemin’s car.

 

“That was fun…”

 

“I think so too…”

 

They drove off, with big smiles on their faces thinking about all the snacks that they would eat together. Taemin unloaded all of the groceries from the car and helped Naeun put them away on the shelves in the kitchen. They picked out eight packets that they wanted to eat during the movie marathon that they were about to embark on and then put away the rest. Admiring they handy work, they gathered all their provisions and went into their lounge and Taemin set up the movie. They were going to start of light, with a comedy, then move into the romance genre and end the marathon with the horror movie that they were meant to watch. The only time they left the lounge was to go to the toilet, which wasn’t very often as they were both engrossed in what was happening on the screen.

 

They laughed to their hearts content during the comedy, Taemin even trying to imitate the actors, which Naeun found hilarious that she hit the floor, she hit Taemin, hit the couch and then accidentally hit herself. Naeun playfully tried to cover Taemin’s eyes during the kiss scenes in the romantic movie, which Taemin used to his advantage, grabbing Naeun’s hands tightly so that she could’nt swat away his face when he leaned in for a kiss. Almost five hours later, all their snacks eaten, and tummies filled, they got around to the horror movie. Taemin and Naeun moved off of the floor and onto the couch, where they sat with Taemin’s arms around Naeun’s shoulder and a blanket to cover them both. As the scenes got scarier, Naeun started to watch with her hand covering her eyes and taking a peak through the gaps she makes with her fingers as Taemin just stared at the screen enjoying it thoroughly. It was nine o’clock when they finished.

 

They decided to have an early night and sleep. Both had a quick shower and dressed in their pyjamas and climbed into bed.

 

“Naeun-ah…you can’t sleep?”

 

Naeun nodded her head.

 

“It’s alright…Batman will protect his Catwoman…”

 

Naeun laughed.

 

“Mhmmm…Oppa is right!”

 

“Oppa will always protect Naeun-ie…”

 

Taemin pinched her nose.

 

“Did you have a good day?”

 

“The best…”

 

“Jalja Naeun-ah…”

 

She responded by moving further into his arms. Taemin turned off the bedside lamps and dozed off, dreaming about the many other days in the future when they would be like this; everything at peace within their world.