This one is the shortest one yet I think, but I had such a hard time coming up with anything to write for this prompt that I hope that it will do.

#11 – Odds and Ends

Kibum hummed mindlessly and determinedly did not check the clock for the tenth time in the last five minutes (or so he would claim were anyone to ask him). 

He took a dusting rag and a can of pledge and set out to clean the woodwork in the apartment. 

Just one month ago Taemin and he had been living here together, really appreciating the time that Taemin had home after his first year away at his American university.  Kibum had quickly gotten used to the man’s constant energy and boisterous questions again and had loved every minute of it just because it was pure Taemin.

But now the younger man was back in the U.S., in his new off-campus apartment, studying and working hard.  Kibum often worried if Taemin was taking care of himself, taking care of his apartment.  He wondered idly for a moment if Taemin dusted his apartment and kept everything neat and tidy like Kibum did here?  It was just too quiet here without him, the apartment seemed to have grown literally duller in the absence of the vibrant man. 

The newly hired designer shook his head and cleared that thought from his mind – Taemin hated cleaning; only doing it out of necessity.  Besides the man was at school most of the day and doing assignments or hanging out with his new American friends when he wasn’t in class or at a dance practice (the man just couldn’t seem to stay away from his passion for dance and had joined a dance team at the school this year).    

Kibum mindlessly polished their coffee table for what was actually the fourth time before the smell of artificial lemons became too much for him to handle and he finally gave up, acknowledging the table on dust-free.

He moved to the kitchen, putting the now dry dishes from the strainer away in the cabinets and scrubbed out the sink.

He searched through the apartment, trying to find something to clean or straighten but his slightly OCD nature had left him with nothing else to do. 

Kibum sighed – only thirty minutes killed.

*****

Taemin paced the hardwood floor of his apartment.  He had sorted through and started the laundry and straightened up the living room.  Dinner had been cooked, eaten and cleaned away, dishes soaked, scrubbed and now laying drying on the counter-top strainer. 

He grabbed up his school bag and gone through his assignments for the class, sorted out what needed to be done tonight and what he could put off until later.  He made a good-hearted attempt on his assignment from his Intro to Journalism class but his mind refused to stay on topic and he found himself having read the same page six times before he gave up and closed the textbook, placing it back on his desk before shoving his fingers through his hair and looking around his apartment trying to find some guidance. 

He wandered over to the couch and tried to watch some TV.  He flipped through the mindless “reality shows” and passed the numerous CSI-style knock-offs.  No matter what he did, he couldn’t manage to interest himself in the offers on the over 100 channels that came in on his TV.  He eventually gave up and clicked off the TV and lightly tossed the remote down on the couch, getting up to pace the floor once again. 

He glanced over at the digital clock on his wall, at the bright red numbers glaring out from the clock on his wall – still have an hour.  

*****

Kibum swore he was losing his mind.  Every Saturday he and Taemin arranged time to do a webcam chat with each other.  It was truly the only thing that made the month’s long separation when the younger man was away at school bearable.  However, because of the time difference it was a little difficult to arrange times to actually speak to each other.  So what was Saturday morning for Kibum was actually Friday evening for Taemin.  It wasn’t the same as holding his lover close, but being able to at least see his face and hear his voice, to watch his face break into that smile that was reserved solely for him – it made it all okay.  For those few minutes the ache that seemed to be a constant presence in Kibum’s heart would go away and he knew that he must be lighting up like a Christmas tree but that was alright with him, because it was for Taemin. 

Today was Saturday.  And although the agreed-upon time was 10AM, Kibum had woken at 6 in the morning like a child on Christmas morning – too excited to fall back to sleep.  Now he found himself wandering around their apartment, an hour still left to kill and having no other inane odds and ends to fill his time before he could speak to Taemin.

*****

Taemin moved through the kitchen, using a can opener to cut into a can of cat food for his new kitten.  The cat of a friend of his had had kittens and he had been given a beautiful little female kitten whose fur was a wild mix of gray, black and orange with one white ear.  He thought that she was the cutest little thing but he couldn’t think of what to name her. 

He put the food in the new bowl and placed in on the floor in the kitchen where the little fur-ball skidded into it on his linoleum tiles. 

“Oh, you’re so cute,” he muttered, scratching her lightly behind the ears and hearing her gentle mewling as she paused slightly in her eating to enjoy his attentions.

Taemin sighed and let the kitten get back to her dinner and he glanced at his watch again – twenty minutes…maybe Kibum woke up early?  And he moved over to his computer to log on to Skype and see if he could talk to the older man, or at least have everything ready for when he finally signed on because he just couldn’t distract himself anymore.

*****

“Woohoo!” Kibum shouted to himself logged on to Skype at exactly 10AM.  And there was Taemin’s name on the side, just waiting for him to click and he did so immediately.  As Taemin’s image pulled up on his screen Kibum felt his entire body relax and felt the corners of his mouth pull up in the largest smile he’d had all week. 

“Hey baby,” he sighed out.

Taemin graced him with that brilliant smile, “Hey Bummie, how’s tomorrow looking?”

Kibum laughed a bit, “Not bad so far, how are you?”

The conversation went on with them, hours of talking in which Kibum was introduced to Taemin’s adorable kitten that pawed the screen in an attempt to seemingly pet Kibum’s face.  The older man squealed like a school-girl and insisting on helping name “their baby.”  They decided on Abby (since the mother’s name had been Tabby) and when it came time for the call to end as Taemin was just too tired to continue, she seemed just as sad as the others for the call to end.

“We’ll talk to him again next week cutie,” Taemin assured the cat that meowed mournfully as it was placed on the floor. 

“Love you Bummie,” Taemin said softly, running his fingers down the image of Kibum on the screen and wishing that it could be in person.

“Love you too Tae, now go to sleep and take care of yourself and Abby.  You hear me?”  Kibum charged, reminding Taemin of the nagging Umma that he used to be known as.

“Will do. Have a great day!”

“Good night!”

And they ended the call.

It was a series of events that happened every week as both men missed each other desperately but went through their lives as they needed to knowing that they were both still there for each other and that the other is waiting on them. 

So, I'm not entirely satisfied with this one, but I didn't know what else to do...it kinda felt a little weird to me at the end.

Anyway, so if any of you are interested in just how my writing is progressing you can now see if you look at the chart in the forward that has all the prompts.  It's now color-coded so you can see what prompts are finished writing, which ones I've started doing some writing for and which ones I am having trouble coming up ideas for the prompts.  So please check it out and if you have an idea for any of the prompts that I am struggling on, please share your thoughts with me (or for any of the other prompts that I have not started writing for) and I will dedicate that one-shot to you should I use your idea.