“youngjae? i’m heading out, okay?” jaebum called from the door as he held on to his training bag. youngjae ran out from their shared room and crashed into jaebum, his arms snaking around the taller male’s waist. “bye!” he squeaked. jaebum chuckled and patted the top of youngjae’s blonde head.

“remember your meals, don’t wait up for me,” jaebum smiled and pecked youngjae’s lips. youngjae nodded. “stay safe!” youngjae hollered after jaebum as he left the apartment. youngjae pouted as he closed the door. he padded into their shared room and sat down on the bed. he stared at the wall opposite him, photo frames lined up neatly on the wall. his eyes zoomed in on one picture.

two young boys standing side by side, grinning widely with their arms around each others shoulders. youngjae stood from the bed and gently unhooked the picture from their wall. he traced the outlines of the boys faces lightly with his finger and let out a fond smile. he flipped the frame over and at the back of the frame wrote, “im jaebum and park jinyoung! forever!” youngjae let out a sad sigh as he hung the frame back.

he glanced at his clock. it was soon to be seven in the evening and youngjae was already starving. he headed to the kitchen and looked into his fridge. ah what to cook tonight? he scanned his fridge, and his eyes landed on the bag of tomatoes lying on one of the shelves. he picked the bag off the shelf and shut the door of the fridge. they had been lying on the shelf for a week now, might as well cook them before they turned bad. spaghetti it is, youngjae thought.

youngjae was not the best cook, but at least whatever he cooked was edible. jaebum had told him not to cook for his dinner, so youngjae only took out ingredients enough for a person’s share. he reached down to the drawer under the stove to take the packet of raw spaghetti, his eyes flittered to the inside of his wrist. would jinyoung have eaten? youngjae scratched the back of his head and sighed. might as well, if jinyoung didn’t want it, jaebum could eat it the next day.

half an hour later, two lunchboxes sat on the dining table in jaebum’s and youngjae’s shared house. youngjae picked the two boxes up and grabbed his keys before leaving his apartment for his neighbour’s. as he stood outside jinyoung’s house, he nervously combed his hair back with his hair. he raised his arm, fist poised to knock the door. youngjae remained in that position for a while, as if frozen, before retracting his arms back. he wiped his sweaty palms on the fabric of his grey bermuda shorts and took a deep breathe before raising his hand to knock on jinyoung’s door. it was only six seconds after that youngjae garnered the courage to knock on the door.

jinyoung was standing in his kitchen when youngjae was outside his door, nerves getting the better of him. he stared into his freezer, his eyes slightly bloodshot from his work. a soft knock echoed in his empty house and jinyoung wondered who it was, in his mind wishing it wasn’t im jaebum again, but his heart hoping it was jaebum that was standing outside, with warm food in his hands to fill jinyoung’s empty stomach. jinyoung peeked into the eyehole, his heart falling a bit that the figure outside wasn’t anything close to im jaebum, but at least the person was holding what seemed to be food. he pried the door open gently, eyes carefully scanning the boy in front of him.

“how can i help you?” jinyoung asked curtly.

“hi!” the blonde boy squeaked, his brows furrowed cutely as he cleared his throat. “uhm, hi,” he tried again. jinyoung nodded impatiently.

“my name is youngjae, i’m jaebum’s,” youngjae hesitated for a while, jaebum’s warning to not reveal himself as jinyoung’s soulmate too early ringing in his head. jinyoung tapped his foot impatiently and made an action to close the door on youngjae.

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