Jaehyun had no idea how did they allow themselves to come to this. 20 days worth of clothes piled in the laundry room, and that’s still not enough motivation for them to do their laundry. If not for the fact that Taeyong needed a certain outfit from that pile tomorrow, they might only remember that pile of clothes next month. If Jaehyun was living alone, he would had understood the mess but Taeyong was a well-known clean freak who liked to hand-wash his clothes. In short, Jaehyun had no idea how did they allow themselves to come to this.

“I’ll just hand wash my t-shirt and jeans.” Taeyong scrunched his face in distaste as he digged through the pile trying to look for the black shirt.

On most days, Jaehyun didn’t interfere with Taeyong when it came to hand washing shirts (he couldn’t even if he wanted to). But jeans were different, they were too heavy and it would take way too long before Taeyong could wring all the suds out of the pants.

“Why not we put them in a bucket and step on them?” Jaehyun suggested an alternative, the drama he was watching the night before giving him weird ideas, “Like in dramas?”

Taeyong rolled his eyes and Jaehyun knew immediately that it was a rejection for his idea.

To be honest, Jaehyun didn’t think that was a good idea. First, they didn’t have any pails at home that was big enough for the two of them. Secondly, he doubted stepping on clothes could actually clean them. Thirdly, it would undoubtedly create a mess and the thought of mopping the floor on top of doing those laundry was enough to deter him from it. But, he still wanted to help.

“Let’s just use the machine.”

“For a t-shirt and jeans? That will waste too much water, not to mention I can’t mix the two piece of clothing together.”

“Let’s just wash everything then. We have to do it sooner or later anyway.”

And that was how they got to work, clearing the 20 day old laundry pile on a Sunday afternoon.

At Taeyong’s insistence, they categorized the laundry into different colors and materials. It didn’t matter if the shirt is white or not, cotton could only be with cotton, and wool with wool. If Jaehyun was the one doing it, he would had dumped everything together, but he wasn’t, which was why he sat at the sidelines watching Taeyong be extra meticulous with the laundry (or rather waste water).

Laundry easily had a place in Jaehyun’s top five favorite household chore (Vacuuming is number one. They recently got a robot vacuum and all Jaehyun had to do was press Start before relaxing the entire hour away) if Taeyong wasn’t in the picture.

“No, this shirt should be in that pile.” Taeyong pointed to the pile at the furthest corner when Jaehyun tried to help is sorting out the clothes.

“But they are both blue.”

“Dark blue and sky blue are never the same,” Taeyong shook his head in disagreement and launched a mini lecture on the importance of differentiating colors, not forgetting to end with the important, “Pastels should always be with pastels,” reminder.

No, Jaehyun didn’t understand that but he wasn’t about to start disputing with Taeyong. When Taeyong was happy, he would be happier too.

A half an hour task stretched onto hours, turning the evening sky dark as Taeyong insisted on doing every batch of laundry twice.

“We need to make sure that all the suds are rinsed out properly,” He had said when he started the washing machine again, this time without the detergent and Jaehyun could only sigh in defeat.

Jaehyun had wanted to visit the Han River initially, the warm summer air making him crave for outdoor basketball games but staying at home wasn’t half as bad with Taeyong laying pliant in his embrace while they surfed through the channels.

“I’m hungry,” Taeyong complained as they were hanging up their 3rd batch of laundry.

Somehow, the hour clock had already moved past eight well beyond their usual dinner time.

“Do you want to cook or order?”

“Let’s order.” The other boy flopped himself onto the sofa and pulled out the latest delivery app.

“Honey Combo?” Taeyong asks.

“Okay. Ask for more radish.” Jaehyun finished hanging up the last pair of jeans and drops himself on top of Taeyong earning a loud protest from the smaller boy.

“You’re so heavy,” Taeyong grumbled but that didn’t stop him from circling his arms around Jaehyun’s waist.

It was comfortable enough, laying on the sofa with Taeyong under him and Jaehyun would had been willing to stay that way for the entire night.

“Go get the door,” Taeyong ordered when the delivery man arrived.

“No,” Jaehyun whines petulantly.

“Then get off me so that I can get the door.”

“No.”

“Jung Jaehyun,” Taeyong bit Jaehyun’s shoulder lightly, “I want my dinner.”

Admitting defeat, Jaehyun detached himself from Taeyong and dragged his feet to the door. It might be his imagination but Jaehyun could smell the chicken even from the other side of the door and he nearly regretted not getting up fast enough.

As expected, Honey Combo was super filling and by the time they were done with ¾ of the box, Jaehyun felt a food induced coma coming. The washing machine though, chose that exact moment to beep signalling the end of the wash.

Jaehyun would rather slouch on the ground and continue laughing at the ridiculous variety they were watching but Taeyong was looking at him with puppy eyes, and he got up with sigh, “I’ll hang the laundry.” He should stop spoiling Taeyong.

“Jaehyun ah,” Taeyong called out from the living room. His voice sounded affectionate enough, but Jaehyun knew better than to expect any gratitude, “Remember to wash your hands before touching the laundry. Twice.”

The number of hanging racks in their living room increased with every batch of the laundry and before long they were out of hanging racks and free space.

“Let’s hang them as closely as possible,” Jaehyun pushed all the shirts to the sides of the hanging racks, crumpling the material to make more space. It would take longer to dry this way and they would have to put in more effort in ironing but there’s no other viable options unless they wanted to overlap the hanging areas.

“We’re finally done.” Jaehyun pulled Taeyong onto the sofa, letting the other boy lay on top of him, “Want to watch reruns of Oh My Baby?”

“Nah,” Taeyong shook his head and snuggled even closer, resting his head on Jaehyun’s collarbones.

“Don’t fall asleep on me.”

“But you’re comfortable.”

Jaehyun imagined Taeyong pouting and he gave in immediately, “Okay, we can stay like this for a while more, but we’re going back to the room to sleep. Hear me?”

Taeyong mumbled a yes, soft enough that Jaehyun knows the other boy must be half-asleep but he didn’t bother shaking Taeyong up, instead running his hands through Taeyong’s hair soothingly, making it easier for the other boy to fall sleep.

He really needed to learn how to stop spoiling Taeyong.