Twenty-Two
Push-ups
When Jinki entered the house after a long day at work, the lights hadn’t been switched on yet. He waded through the dark kitchen and found the only source of light in the dark living room- the television- and he could see the silhouette of his husband on the couch. He switched on the lights and called out for Taemin. The boy came running from upstairs where his original room was (which was actually more of a playroom at the moment), shouting cheerfully, “Jinnie!” He hugged his legs and Jinki chuckled, ruffling his hair. Taemin let go of his legs to let him walk and skipped behind him, humming before he ran off again, to continue playing. Jinki walked to the couch and found Jonghyun wearing a pout as he absentmindedly stared at the screen, sitting cross-legged and hugging a huge pillow tightly. There was something off with him because usually he would greet him with a kiss and start babbling about what had transpired in the day.
“Jonghyun?” Jinki softly called out to him and Jonghyun’s daze broke. He looked to Jinki, blinking as he resolved his expression, “Hey, sorry I didn’t notice you come in.”
“What’s the matter?” Jinki asked right away, realizing that the smile now Jonghyun was wearing meant he was definitely hiding something that was affecting him greatly.
Jonghyun was caught off-guard by his question but he sighed a few moments later, resting back and burying his face in the pillow, “I couldn’t get that week off.” He answered in a muffled voice, “You worked hard to get a whole week off next month so we could plan a vacation…I planned everything, prepared everything, I had that whole week free, everything was on schedule…but there’s that stupid golden jubilee anniversary event of the company being planned out of the blue and everything got pushed forward…” He took a breath, his voice breaking, “I’m so sorry, Jinki. You were so excited and even Taemin…I feel so terrible.”
Jinki just sighed, “That’s it?” He dropped down beside Jonghyun, “You know right, we can have a perfect vacation even at home. Don’t beat yourself up about it.”
“But it is my fault.” Jonghyun looked up from his pillow, eyes teary, “I agreed to be the host of the special show without checking the dates…!”
“Jonghyun, babe,” Jinki shifted closer, taking his hand, “It’s fine-”
“It’s not!” Jonghyun grumbled and Jinki realized finally due to their proximity why Jonghyun was being so difficult.
“Were you drinking?”
Jonghyun’s eyes widened and he hugged his pillow tighter, “It was a sip- okay, two. We are out of soda. I have proof; I kept the beer can back in the refrigerator…it’s almost full, you can check it.”
Jinki chuckled, “You know I don’t need to.” He leaned closer, kissing Jonghyun’s cheek before getting up, “I’ll make dinner. What do you wanna eat?”
“I’m already full.” Jonghyun spoke dully, “With regret and guilt.” He sunk into the couch and reverted to glaring at the TV. Jinki sighed because he knew this would only be solved if Jonghyun slept it off.
He freshened up and then walked to the kitchen to fix some dinner, calling out to Taemin, who came dashing down, hopping into the tiles and showing it to Jinki as Jinki started cooking. When everything was in the pot, Taemin skipped towards the closet, to dress as Jinnie’s helper.
“Jinnie?” Taemin called out as he dragged his little red stool towards the stove, wearing his apron and little chef hat.
“Hmm?”
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