INTRODUCTION.

Morning crept slowly into the room: inching bright sunshine along the foot of the bed until it caressed the sharp line of the man’s jaw. When it finally reached his eyes, he muttered unintelligibly into the stillness before rolling over, tugging the blankets up over his head. He wiggled slightly to the left, his body seeking the familiar heat that always kept it company on Saturday morning. But, instead of soft flesh, his body encountered the dry crinkle of paper. One eye immediately shot open, and the offending piece of paper was lifted for examination.

Hey Love,

I had to go into the office to finish a project. If I am not back by the time you wake up, know that I love you! And I left you breakfast from our favorite bakery on the table. I should be home in time for lunch. Be good!

                        -Daesung

An immediate pout found its way onto Seunghyun’s lips at the sight of the note. Who worked on a Saturday? He knew the answer to that without trying; Daesung worked far too hard for his own good. Rolling over, he snagged his phone off the nightstand and checked to see if he had any messages. The first one he opened was a picture from Daesung: His beautiful lover was pouting playfully at the camera. Seunghyun chuckled and sent back a picture of him lying in bed, his lips tugged into an even more exaggerated pout. The second message in his phone was from Ji-Hyo, his childhood best friend and Daesung's older sister. She had simply reminded him that Daesung’s birthday dinner was that night and they simply could not be late. Daesung’s sister was very fierce when she wanted to be; Seunghyun knew better than to upset Ji-Hyo – especially when it came to big events. He quickly texted back that he promised to be on time, no matter how good Daesung looked in the new suit Seunghyun had bought him for his birthday. After checking through his emails, Seunghyun rolled out of bed and crawled into the shower. Somehow it seemed like a good idea to clean up for the big day.

Once freshly showered and dressed, Seunghyun wandered out to the kitchen and smiled at the veritable smorgasbord of pastries Daesung had left for him. Considering the fact it was Daesung’s birthday, he certainly was doing his best to spoil Seunghyun. Typical Daesung, the man thought with a bit of a chuckle. He had made it halfway through his cup of coffee before a second message came in from Daesung. Instead of a pout, this picture featured Daesung pretending to be buried underneath a stack of papers. Seunghyun snorted. His boyfriend was the most ridiculous creature under the sun. In response, he sent a picture of his empty plate, which was covered in delicious crumbs. Almost immediately, Daesung sent back a picture of him grinning and giving a thumbs up.

“I love you, Daesung,” Seunghyun replied. “Can’t wait til you come home so I can sing you Happy Birthday and give you the sort of hello you deserve.”

“I love you too, Seunghyunnie. Always and always and forever. I should be home in an hour.” Seunghyun smiled to himself at the amount of sunshine Daesung managed to pack into one little text message. His lover was one of a kind.

After cleaning up – putting the pastries away in plastic containers so they would not go stale – Seunghyun sauntered into the living room and his favorite classical mix. He then settled onto the far too fancy winged back chair Daesung had managed to tuck into the brightest corner of the room and opened the book he had been working on for the past week. Lost in the pages of The Book Thief, he did not even notice that an hour had melted into two. His stomach giving a sudden grumble of protest brought Seunghyun’s attention from the pages of the book and back to reality. He blinked. Brow furrowing, he picked up his phone and frowned at the time. “Still working on your project?” he texted.

A couple of minutes later, Daesung replied: “Yeah. Hit a snag. Sorry to be so lame.”

“You’re not lame, love,” Seunghyun sent immediately. “Just come home soon. I miss you.”

With a sigh, Seunghyun returned to his book and kept reading. But, only ten pages in, he began to feel restless. Shutting his book with a thud, Seunghyun frowned. He hated that Daesung was trapped at work on his birthday. That was it. Maybe Daesung needed a birthday intervention. The book was happily tossed aside as Seunghyun surged to his feet. His keys, wallet, and phone were quickly stuffed into the pocket of his favorite jacket before he wormed into his shoes. All set, he walked out the door with a wide grin on his face. Whether or not Daesung liked it, he was going to let that silly project wait until the weekend was over. He had walked halfway to the subway station when the sight of his and Daesung’s favorite bakery slowed his steps. “A cupcake might help my cause,” he mused. Nodding to himself, he pushed the door open and stepped inside.

“Seunghyun!” The normally cold baker broke out into a wide smile at the sight of the other half of his favorite couple. “Daesung was here this morning. Did you already finish everything he took with him?”

Seunghyun chuckled and inclined his head slightly. “Not quite, Taehyun. But, I am going to surprise Daesung at work. It’s his birthday, so I thought one of your double chocolate cupcakes might make my smiling angel feel better.”

“It’s his birthday?” Taehyun rolled his eyes, and immediately his normal sassy expression was firmly back in place. “He should have told me. If I had known, I would have given him a discount or snuck a surprise in the box for him.” The young man sighed heavily – acting for all the world like he was a disappointed father – and went to get a cupcake. “Did you want extra chocolate curls on it and a candle?”

“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble,” Seunghyun said easily.

“Tch, you two are anything but trouble. If anything, you help keep my business afloat. Though, I have no idea how you two eat so many pastries and stay so skinny.” He eyed Seunghyun as though he could figure out where the man hid his extra fat.

“Daesung makes sure I work it off every night,” he said with something of a naughty grin, which just made Taehyun laugh.

“Well, tell Daesung happy birthday for me.” Taehyun packed the cupcake into a little container, the candle taped to the top, before passing it over to Seunghyun. The man reached into his pocket to pull out his wallet, but the baker scoffed. “My compliments. Leave before I change my mind.” He pretended to glare at Seunghyun, but his laughter followed the man out the door.

As Seunghyun was walking down the steps to the subway, his phone began to ring in his pocket. Rather than continue his descent, the man turned around and darted to the surface. His phone hated the subway, and it was almost always too noisy to hear down there anyway. He rolled his eyes a little at the sight of Ji-Hyo’s name on the caller id; she was such a nag. “Hello?”

Silence.

“Ji-Hyo? Are you calling me about the party tonight, because everything is-“

“-It’s Daesung.”

His blood chilled at the strange crack in her voice. “What about Daesung?”

The cupcake fell to the ground – splattering inside its container.

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So today you'll get the introduction and the first chapter later this evening. Woo. This should be an adventure.