Chapter 1
Home for the Holidays - a Jongyu holiday drabbleIt was nearly 6 am, the sun would be up at any moment and Jinki hadn’t slept a wink. He and Jonghyun also had conflicting schedules which meant he would only see him in the wee hours of the morning and Jonghyun likewise would getting home and ready for bed when Jinki went out to drive his taxi. Jinki couldn’t for the life of him remember the last time they had spent a holiday together. Being in the taxi business, Jinki rarely got any days off and Jonghyun worked all day at an arts high school as the piano and music theory teacher. Jonghyun was lucky to get his holidays paid but Jinki was never around on the actual day so they tended to celebrate later or earlier in the month. It wasn’t a big deal. They’d eat breakfast or late dinner, exchange gifts. Then they’d go on about their days as usual.
Not this year though. Oh, Jinki was so excited to surprise Jonghyun. He’d finally gotten a call from a university lab. The offer: he was now their newest molecular biology research assistant. He was finally going into the field he wanted and luckily had saved enough from his taxi job that he’d quit that night. He would finally get to spend a Christmas with the man he loved plus an extra two weeks since the job at the university didn’t start until after the new year.
Jonghyun comes home frazzled, paper bags full of groceries. He dumps them in the kitchen, his eyes wild and his hair wind blown as he looks at Jinki who sat perched with his knees under his chin, playing video games in their living room.
"Get up! Now. I need you to help me with these groceries and I need a proper table cloth for the ING table and would you put some pants on?!? Hurry!” He urged, clapping his hands and snatching the bag of chips from Jinki’s hand, tapping his foot impatiently.
”Um…okay…nice to see you too, honey. What’s wrong?” Jinki frowns, wanting his bag of chips back.
”My mom and sister are coming for Christmas. Which I wouldn’t have known if Dasom noona hadn’t ing called me. They’re coming in tomorrow night. Which means we have-“
"A day to cook a feast for your family. Jonghyun! You couldn’t call me?! I haven’t even showered today." Jinki complains, trudging off to their bedroom to change and rushing out to the car to help his frenzied boyfriend with the rest of the groceries.
"Wait, do we mash the potatoes BEFORE we boil them or after?"
"Good question." Jinki goes to his laptop, quickly looking up a recipe for easy mashed potatoes. He could talk science and molecules all day but cooking was a science neither he nor Jonghyun were rather good at and of course, Dasom had requested an American dinner instead of a traditional Korean one that they could have picked up already prepared.
Jonghyun huffs angrily, slamming the slab of ham down on a pan and throwing some pineapple and honey on it, shoving it in the oven.
"An AMERICAN dinner! That’s what noona wanted. Because she just couldn’t get enough when she was in New York studying abroad." He grumbles, thankful that Jinki had suggested that his family go out for a movie while he and Jonghyun prepared dinner.
He feels a strong set of arms around him then, steadying his hands as they knead dough for the rolls.
"Hey now, not too rough. It’s just dough." Jonghyun huffs again, his lips set in the scowl he’d been wearing since his family had arrived.
The nerve of them to show up so last minute and request a full meal. He was fully prepared to just order pizza and snuggle up with Jinki after they exchanged gifts but here he was, a hot, sweaty, nervous wreck. And there was his man. He was so calm, so collective. He was holding Jonghyun and reassuring him that they’d get through dinner just fine. Jonghyun had already cried and nearly burnt the green beans in a frenzy. Their home was a wreck, his mother was calling every half hour to check their progress. Was she even watching the movie? He’d asked finally. He was a wreck and they hadn’t had since the day his mother had called.
"You boil the potatoes, then mash. By the way, that apron makes you look y," Jinki says, placing kisses along Jonghyun’s shoulders and squeezing his waist once before donning an apron of his own, getting to work on another side dish.
"Jonghyun tells me you just got a job at the university. For…chemistry, was it?"
"Molecular biology, mother. He was a taxi driver till now."
Jonghyun shot Dasom a look. The way she said taxi. As if it was some dirty work. Something below her standards.
"Yes ma’am, and the taxi driving was only temporary while I applied to various positions. It was a rough three years but your son has been nothing but understanding and I couldn’t have done this without him. Dasom, would you like more wine?" Jinki offered politely, a smile on his face and his hand squeezing Jonghyun’s thigh under the table.
Jonghyun loved his mother and sister but he had spent the day with Jinki slaving over dinner and here they were, making snide remarks and bothering him in his home. He couldn’t wait for them to get out of his hair.
They were just getting into bed. It was just past midnight and it had only been two hours since they’d dropped off his family at the train station. Jonghyun was dead on his feet, his hair was still a mess and he could swear he saw wrinkles on his forehead forming after spending two days with his mother and sister. Jinki sat up in bed, pulling the other’s legs closer, massaging them slowly.
"You poor thing, you look like hell."
"You try having your family over last minute, see how you like it. All I wanted was you, pizza, and an anime marathon. Instead all I got was my family, an iTunes gift card from my sister and if I eat anymore ham I’m going to burst," Jinki laughs softly, massaging his boyfriends shoulders now.
"Well the holidays aren’t over yet." Jonghyun’s eyebrows furrow. He was so sick of the ing holidays. Jinki reaches behind him, offering Jonghyun a small white box, two plane tickets, and a card.
Jonghyun is weeping not two minutes later, his body trembling as he throws himself on top of Jinki.
"You…I hate you. No. I love you. You can’t propose like this. Where’s the romance? Where’s the balloons? The champagne? No. I hate it. No, I love it. , I love you," he babbles, his arms holding onto the older man so tightly that Jinki embraces him as well and they stay in that position for some time until Jonghyun finally loosens his grip.
"I love you too. Merry Christmas, Jong. I figured we could make it official before I start the new job. How do you feel about Colorado for New Years, without your family?"
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