Kyungsoo unlocks the front door to his apartment, and kicks off his shoes.

“Googly bear, I’m ho-ome!” He calls out, sniggering to himself.

“Screw you~!” Jongin calls back from the bedroom. Snorting, Kyungsoo makes his way through and crawls onto the bed, where Jongin is doing something on his laptop. On-screen is his sister, hiding her face with her hand to hide her laughter. Well that's a little embarrassing, but she already knew about their little pet name war, so it could be worse.

“Oh, hello.” Kyungsoo greets her, leaning into shot and waving.

“Nice seeing you, Kyungsoo.” She replies a few seconds later, waving back. “How are you doing?”

“Not too bad, my new assignment is pretty interesting.” He snuggles in closer, reading his head on Jongin's shoulder.

“What do you have to do?” She asks.

“I'm working on an agricultural spell that will only let water through and protect plants from, well, anything else. Bugs and other pests. That kind of thing.”

“That does sound interesting.” She hums, “so you're not focused on anything war related?”

“Not anymore, ever since the coup, I haven't really been needed for that. It's mostly negotiation support and supplies that they need.” A group of non-professional magic users in Hanju had banded together and protested the government's actions. It hadn't done much to start with, but after that, a vast quantity of the population had revolted, and Zhao Ying looks now to be struggling too much with issues within his own country to be worrying about the infidels to the south. Honestly, most people expected him to either be impeached, or for him to step down of his own accord.

“That's fair enough, you already basically saved the whole country.” She teases, causing Kyungsoo to hide in the hollow of Jongin's neck, whining. Jongin just laughs, rubbing his back.

“He's delicate, you shouldn't say things like that.” He scolds her.

“How did he survive having his picture on all the news channels?” She giggles, “you were practically a celebrity.”

“The answer is he didn't. You should have seen it; he left the room every time his face came up on screen, it was really funny. Luckily he wasn't on TV quite enough for him to get recognised. Well he was one time, actually.”

“Ugh.” Kyungsoo complains. That encounter had been awful; he'd been on the subway, by himself since Jongin had already started his new job by then, and the whole carriage had started staring at him. Someone had asked for a picture, too. Luckily it hasn't happened since.

“Poor thing.” Jongin teases, to his sister's mirth. Kyungsoo turns to him, one eyebrow raised, and Jongin backs down.

An orange cat pops up from the bottom of the screen. This one is the most troublesome of all of her cats. Kyungsoo has heard stories about this one. She picks him up and puts him on the floor behind her, where another two cats are curled up in a sunny patch. He doesn't stay there for longer than a second, and is already climbing across her sofa in the background to get back onto the desk.

“Sorry about that; he gets jealous when I talk to other people.” She jokes.

“That doesn't sound like a healthy relationship.” Jongin jokes, “maybe you should dump him.” She opens so as to make a comeback, but the cat interrupts her once again, his head blocking out her face. They share a look as they listen to her grumbling. The moment she tries to pick him up, he yowls indignantly, and he squirms in her arms.

"Look, sorry guys, I think I'm going to have to cut this short. Mr. drama queen over here isn't going to stop fussing until I feed him, and then I need to go pick up Rahee, anyway."

“That's ok, you do what you need to do. I’ll talk to you again soon, ok?” Jongin says, making a face. "That cat is so needy."

"Don't I know it. That's what I get for adopting a stray, I guess; all the others I have are much better behaved than you." she mumbles, her nose pressing up against the cat's even as it squirms away. She sighs loudly. "Alright, bye guys."

"Bye!" Jongin waves. "Tell Rahee I said hi."

"I will, she'll be so disappointed that she missed you. You too, Kyungsoo, she talks about you all the time. She keeps saying she wants to be a 'cool wizard like uncle Kyungsoo', it's adorable."

"Oh my goodness." Kyungsoo's smile is uncontrollable. He'd only met her one time, when they'd visited Yeong Si for the day, but to his and everyone else's surprise, the little girl had taken a shine to him. Aside from wanting to ride uncle Jongin's shoulders all day, she'd wanted to hold Kyungsoo's hand and hear all about magic. He'd tried to tell her in a way that didn't make it seem boring, but she had been very inquisitive, and pressed him for all the answers she could.

"I'll bring her up to see you guys again soon!" She promises. The cat struggles again, fighting out of her grip and landing on the floor. "Alright, I really have to go now- bye!"

"Bye!" Jongin and Kyungsoo chorus, waving until the screen turns black, and the app icon pops up. Their reflection is displayed in the monitor, Jongin looking fondly down at Kyungsoo. He smiles sweetly back, relaxing into his chest.

"How was work?" Kyungsoo asks, after a momentary silence. It took him about three weeks, but Jongin eventually found a decent paying job in a secretarial position. He's still looking for something better, though.

"It was alright, nothing to write home about." Jongin says, stretching his arms out above his head. Kyungsoo hums contemplatively. Maybe he should have stayed on as Kyungsoo's assistant for a little longer, to find something better. Or maybe Kyungsoo just wishes he was still in his office every day.

"How long have you been home?" Kyungsoo asks, unbuckling his belt so he can change into pyjamas. Jongin's eyes lock onto the motion, and Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. "Answer the question?"

"Oh, uh- maybe an hour or so? I didn't check the time when I got in."

"That long?" Kyungsoo purses his lips.

"Yeah, well that's the normal time most people get home." Jongin puts his laptop aside and lays across the bed, inviting Kyungsoo to cuddle. "Why are you even doing overtime? This spell isn't crucial, is it?"

"No, but it could help a lot of people-"

"You know what else would help?" Jongin interrupts, having heard this spiel a hundred times before. He's looking at Kyungsoo like he knows what he's about to say might get him smacked.

"What." Kyungsoo rolls his eyes, half expecting what will come out of his mouth next.

"You could kiss me?" Of course that's it. Even so, he's so cute when he does this, it's hard to resist.

"I thought your kisses were for helping others?"

"Oh, well, yeah . But I have to get energy from my boyfriend. Otherwise I'll die."

"Right." As much as Kyungsoo wants to keep a straight face, he just can't. He makes a show of how much Jongin is inconveniencing him by asking for a kiss, but it's no secret that he loves it as well. Kicking off his pants, he crawls across Jongin's lap, leaning over his prone body. Something inside of him always feels... soft whenever he looks at Jongin and when he's looking up at him like this, all eye-smiles and love, that feeling only intensifies. Jongin's hands run down Kyungsoo's back, cupping his as Kyungsoo dips down to give him his kiss. Jongin hums against his lips,

"Wait." Kyungsoo pauses, pulling away and leaving Jongin to stare up at him like he just took away his candy. "Before I forget; Chanyeol asked me if we'd like to go on a double date sometime. He said it like he wanted to have a double date that wasn't a disaster, but I think he actually misses you. Jongdae too, actually. It's still weird not having you around in work, my office is so lonely."

"I'd love to go on a date with you. And Sehun and Chanyeol, I guess. Tell them I miss them too?"

"I'll let Chanyeol know tomorrow, then. We can make plans." His hands play at Kyungsoo's hip, but he doesn't seem to be trying to rile him up. It looks like Kyungsoo's completely derailed him.

"Speaking of Chanyeol, how is he doing?" Jongin asks, concerned all of a sudden.

"He's doing fine. Still thinking of working in Jongdae's department once he graduates which is honesty a miracle, all things considered. Jongdae is obviously over the moon, and won't shut up about it."

"Does he look ok now?" After being released from the hospital, the poor kid become very aware of all the stares, and not it the 'wow, you're the one who fought off a bunch of Hanjurian soldiers!' kind of way. It didn't take long for him to book a restoration magic appointment, to help reduce the scarring.

"Yeah, that second spell session really helped, you can barely see the scars now, unless you know what to look for."

"That's a relief. I bet Sehun is happier about that now, too."

"I don't think he minded as much as said he did." Kyungsoo muses. The only reason he would have cared is because looking at him reminded him of how it happened. Or because it made Chanyeol uncomfortable.

"How is Jongdae-"

"You can always come in and visit, if you want." Kyungsoo reminds him, smirking. "During your lunch break? You're not that far away."

"That's true." Jongin mulls it over, considering whether it might be worth potentially losing out on food or not.

"We're getting sidetracked." Kyungsoo reminds him, laying one hand on Jongin's stomach, smiling suggestively. The corner of Jongin's mouth ticks up, and he takes hold Kyungsoo's wrist, pushing his hand down lower.

"Oh yeah?” He says, his deep voice pooling hotly in Kyungsoo’s gut, “I guess we should fix that."

once again, if you made it to the end of this monster, then thank you! i hope you enjoyed it :>

i apologise for being absent from writing basically all summer- i was writing this ! and from now on i have to focus on writing my dissertation and uni work, so i dont think ill be back here very much :(( only on certain occasions. im gonna miss u guys a lot ;;