Jongin opened the keypad next to the door, his heartbeat increasing at the thought of punching in the numbers which would open the door to the rest of his life. He was going to meet his husband for the first time. He couldn't believe he was a married man. He had always imagined he would only get married once, and stick by that person through the good and the bad, growing old together. But now, it didn't seem like a possibility.

They hadn't had a ceremony or anything like that. Kyungsoo hadn't even been present. His mom had received the marriage certificate already signed from Kyungsoo's mom, and all he had to do was sign, stamp and hand it in at the registry. It was an oddly mundane and non-magical procedure. How could one sign away one's life so easily, just like that. Shouldn't there be some roadblocks, a test maybe that told you you were on the right path. It was a decision that concerned his future, the rest of his life, yet it took only five minutes to sign it over to a complete stranger. Scary.

Hesitant, he pressed the first number.

1

It made a sharp beep sound. He froze and listened whether he could hear any reaction from inside, before pressing the remaining numbers. It wasn't the catchiest of pin codes. He wondered if it was the birthday of someone Kyungsoo cherished.

2 1 7

The door made a click sound. Now there was nothing left, but to enter. His heart started a jazzy tune inside his chest, beating all over the place.

It was dark. Maybe he was the first to arrive. Their families wanted them to start afresh, so they had paid for a new apartment for them together. Kyungsoo apparently hadn't moved in yet. He was in luck. Just like in the animal kingdom, he could be the first to claim this territory as his own. Then he had all the power.

He waltzed inside, confidently throwing his bag on the couch.

“Ouch!” the couch said.

Wait...

“Oh, you're here.” a low, beautiful voice traversed the darkness.

“AHHH!!” Jongin screamed like a little school girl. How embarrassing. Kyungsoo had been so quiet, he had nearly given him a heart attack. What was he doing all alone in the dark? He was even weirder than he had thought.

Holding up his phone with the torchlight , he found a light switch and the lights. Kyungsoo was standing awkwardly beside the sofa, holding the bag he threw at him, looking like a lost little kid. He gave him a hesitant nod as a greeting to try and cut through some of the awkwardness that was building up between them, but it was no use.

He did a quick reconnaissance of the apartment, which had two bedrooms, one medium sized and one rather small. The living room was quite spacious, although the kitchen took up one corner of it, giving it a fancy studio apartment feel. It was actually not as bad as he had expected, except they only had one bathroom. That was going to be a major headache.

He decided that even though he hadn't been the first one to arrive, he was still going to draw a firm line so nothing would remain unclear.

“Okay, I'll take the big bedroom, since... I'm bigger.” he said courageously, realizing how awful that sounded as soon as the words left his mouth.

“Huh?” Kyungsoo wrinkled his eyebrow. “But I'm older...”.

“Oh. But I'm a dancer so I need the space to practice.” he retorted. Ah. Good one! He couldn't argue with that.

“Uh...” Kyungsoo mumbled something unintelligible.

“Look. We've got separate rooms, so let's just keep everything separate. You live your life and I'll live mine, okay?” he hurriedly said, grabbing his bag out of Kyungsoo's arms, borderline running to his new room, not waiting for an answer.

Despite everything, he slept surprisingly well. Yawning, he scratched his belly and headed to the bathroom. He came to an abrupt halt in front of the bathroom door. There was a big, laminated schedule taped to it that hadn't been there yesterday. In excruciating detail, it dictated when he could and could not use the bathroom. Kyungsoo had actually turned the bathroom into a timeshare, assigning himself the color black and Jongin the color blue. Actually, it was sky blue, his favorite color. How had he known? Could it be a mere coincidence? Regular blue was one thing, but sky blue?

After freshening up a bit, even though it wasn't his allotted toilet time (he was a total rebel), his stomach grumbled. He was almost late for class, but he was so hungry it was worth it to be a little late. But as he entered the living room, another laminated schedule caught his eye. Not only had Kyungsooo divided the entire week into blocks of black and sky blue for the use of the living room, but for the kitchen as well. He felt like he had just joined the army, having to live by somebody else's clock. He opened the fridge, finding every single object in there labeled 'Kyungsoo' with a sticky note. Not only that, but there were two shelves empty, labeled 'Jongin'. When did he have time to do all this? Had he not slept at all? This was insane. He couldn't live like this. Sure, he had suggested they live as if the other one wasn't there, but this was going a little bit overboard. Minus the little bit.

A week later he had not seen Kyungsoo once. He was starting to doubt that he was even real, maybe he had been a figment of his imagination. There had been one time, when he heard Kyungsoo's bedroom door slam shut the moment he entered the apartment, but that was the only sign of life he had seen.

“Mom, I can't live like this. Do we have to live together? Even if we don't, we're still married, isn't that enough?” Jongin tried to pout hard enough for his mother to hear it over the phone.

“What's wrong? Is he not treating you right? Is he rude?” his mom asked concerned.

“No.”.

“Is he a complete slob?” she continued her line of questioning.

“No, he's too clean! Creepy clean!” he complained.

“What is creepy clean?” his mom chuckled.

“He doesn't leave a trace... ever... it's like living with a ghost!” he shuddered.

“Isn't that exactly what you wanted, you're practically living alone already! So, why are you complaining?” his mom refused to see reason. He sighed, the air exiting his nostrils full of annoyance. He had no choice. He was just going to have to imagine Kyungsoo as a cute ghost, like Casper the friendly ghost. Well, he didn't really have to imagine very hard, since objectively speaking, Kyungsoo was pretty cute already. He kind of looked like a 12 year old choir boy with a dark, dark secret. Cute, but creepy.

Jongin stood in front of the door, trying to get himself to open the door. It had been the worst day. He had a show soon, but he was nowhere near ready and his body refused to listen to him. He was tired and down and all he wanted was a nice, relaxing place he could call his own, not this silent jail where the quiet threatened to suffocate him every second of every day.

The moment he opened the door, the most alluring scent attacked his senses, drawing him inside as if he was floating in mid air, not stopping until he stood in front of the kitchen table. There was dinner on the table. His mouth watered as his stomach tried its best to sing the national anthem, one grumble at a time. Should he dare steal a bite? Just one bite.

He sat down, careful not to make a sound, lifting the clear lid that was protecting the plate of food. Then he noticed it. There was a sticky note on the table, right in front of the plate.

'I just thought you might be hungry.'

So Kyungsoo had left this for him? He was so hungry, he had no time to question it. He dug in like a famished farm dog, not caring about anything but filling his tummy, shoveling the food into his mouth.

He stopped with his mouth full of food, both his cheeks bulging out like a hamster getting ready for hibernation. This wasn't just any old meal, this was the best thing he had ever tasted. He could feel all the irritation melt away as his heart stirred slightly. Had Kyungsoo made this especially for him? Where had he gotten it from? Had he gone to a five star restaurant, and asked for a doggy bag to bring home for him? He was so confused by this unsolvable puzzle, none of the pieces fit together.

Slowing down, he savored every single bite. It was the best meal he had ever had, hands down. It wasn't food, it was pure art. He had never tasted anything like it.

When he had finished, he felt like he should say thank you. After all, it was pretty sweet of Kyungsoo to think of him and bring him a feast for the taste buds. He stood in front of Kyungsoo's bedroom door, fist raised, ready to knock, but for some reason his hand didn't dare move. His heart knocked relentlessly on his ribcage, but his hand couldn't be persuaded to do a single knock.

Instead, he took the sticky note and put it on the fridge, writing a single word below Kyungsoo's message.

'Thanks.'