“But it was supposed to come in this morning.” Yunho ran his fingers through his hair. “I really need this today, before tonight. I...” Yunho paused.

Yoochun raised a curious eyebrow overhearing him. It was rare to see his friend this stressed or stressed at all. The elder had been stressing out for the past couple of months. Of course he never showed it in front of anyone, except for Yoochun, Junsu, and Changmin who got to see him outside the public eye.

“Yes, I know. I... I understand.” Yunho sighed over the phone knowing that it’d be useless to argue, it wouldn’t change anything but make the situation worse. “By 6?” Another suppressed frustrated sigh reluctantly escaped his lips. “I’ll be here then. Thank you.” He finally hung up.

He leaned far back in his seat, sliding his hands from his face back through his hair.

“Is the Captain in distress?” Yoochun asked curiously.

“Not now Chun.” Yunho didn’t have time for his roommate’s teasing.

The younger shrugged, “What’s up?”

Yunho turned in the swivel chair to face the tall young man who was sat comfortably on the couch in front of their small TV. “The delivery for the package has been delayed. It won’t come in until tonight.” The news felt worse coming from his own mouth.

Yoochun cocked another eyebrow. “Don’t you need it before then?”

Yunho sighed again in confirmation, “And I have to wait for it to come in. If I’m not there, they’ll take it back. And I’m supposed to leave soon to meet Jaejoong.”

Yoochun furrowed his brow in thought.

“This ruins everything.” Yunho continued. “I should’ve waited. Had I been too ambitious?”

Yoochun could see the desperation in his eyes. He felt bad for him. His friend put so much energy into getting everything set up, but now it wasn’t going to happen due to one tiny but significant package. “We can watch your package.” He offered, hopelessly gaining the elder’s attention.

“I leave for work at 2, so I can watch it till then. I can tell Junsu when he gets back from his morning run. But he has to leave to pick Changmin up from the airport by 5, so there’ll at least be someone here till then.” He explained.

Yunho let out a 4th sigh, but this time it was out of relief. It was times like these he was grateful for his roommates.

The four of them shared a 2-bedroom apartment with two bathrooms. It was originally Yoochun’s and Junsu’s. Their parents hadn’t been too keen on their relationship. Junsu’s parents appeared to be supportive but kept pushing their own interest onto him. Eventually he grew tired of them trying to set him up with someone else and agreed to move with Yoochun. But his parents slowly began to get over it after his move and stopped their antics. They ended up liking Yoochun a lot.

On the other hand, no one knows what happened between Yoochun and his parents. He refused to speak about it.

However, being college students supporting themselves, it became too difficult for them to keep up with rent, bills, and other obligations. So, Changmin was glad to join them to help them with rent. He was the first one to move in. He was eager for the independence from his overly strict parents who continued to baby him (according to him). He stayed with them whenever he was home from school.

Yunho joined them a year later, after his parents recently kicked him out for dropping out of school. To them it had been both embarrassing and frustrating that they wasted so much money on him for school, however, he still kept in close contact with them. Yunho didn’t hold grudges and understood where his parents were coming from, after all he dropped out without telling them.

It was a different and new experience for them. Living with each other, allowed them to see nearly all sides of one another, thus causing them to get more and more annoyed with one another. But despite their ruthless bickering every now and then, they remained closer, if not, closer than before.

“You’ll really do that?” Yunho questioned in disbelief.

“Of course. This is a big deal. We’d do anything to help. We’d be ty friends if we didn’t help with something like this.” Yoochun shrugged as if it were obvious. “But you only have till 5, and then we’ll all be out the house after that.” He reminded.

Yunho nodded, “Hopefully it comes in before then.” He couldn’t see why it wouldn’t.

“Aren’t you supposed to meet Jae at the mall at 11?” Yoochun suddenly questioned.

“Yeah, why?”

“It’s 10:45.”

Yunho’s eyes widened. The mall was 30 minutes away and he still had to change and get ready.

-

Jaejoong quickly shuffled on his cloth tan boots, and matching leather gloves and jacket, preparing to head out the front door.

“Where are you going?” His older brother asked from the kitchen, munching on dry cereal while reading a fashion magazine.

Jaejoong turned to answer him but paused when he saw him eating a bowl of cereal without milk. He shook his head, not even bothering to ask. “I’m meeting Yunho at the mall. We’re going Christmas shopping.”

Heechul cocked his eyebrow, his eyes not once leaving the magazine. “Aren’t you mad at him?” He recalled the two fighting for over two weeks and the younger refusing to talk to his boyfriend a few days ago.

“No.” Jaejoong shrugged on his jacket and grabbed his keys.

Heechul curiously shifted his eyes to his brother. A knowing smirk stretched his lips. “Oh? You made up? You realized that you were being a dramatic bi-,”

“Shut up.” Jaejoong spat at him and quickly left the apartment before the elder could respond.

-

Jaejoong arrived at the mall first and waited in the parking lot for his boyfriend’s message of his arrival. He couldn’t help the nervousness that pricked the back of his mind. He was still somewhat embarrassed of the crazy assumptions he made a few days ago, he had been close to believing that Yunho was cheating on him and wanted to break up with him. It was a stupid accusation.

He knew Yunho better than that and should’ve at least spoken to him about it if he had any suspicions instead of shutting him out. But as always, Yunho was patient and understanding of him.

He quickly shook his head, not wanting to think about it. All that mattered was that it was all resolved, and things hadn’t turned out for the worse.

He checked the car clock. 11:05am.

He probably got caught in traffic. 5 minutes isn’t a big deal.

But Jaejoong couldn’t help the creeping fear that he won’t come. Their last two dates ended with the younger never showing up.

He waited 10 more minutes in the car before heading inside the mall. He texted Yunho his destination, in case he already arrived.

Jaejoong frowned as disappointment gripped him tighter with each daunting minute that passed, until 20 minutes finally went by.

His shoulders fell. He was being stood up again!

He quickly in a sharp breath and straightened up. He wasn’t going to let the day go to waste. He’s still going to go Christmas shopping like planned and Yunho can just expect a lump of coal thrown to his face.

“Jaejoong!” A breathless voice called his name just as he was recovering his pride from another failed date.

A wave of relief washed over him as he turned around. A small spark of delight flickered within him at the sight of a breathless Yunho running to him. But the moment was brief as his sharp eyes narrowed coldly at him. “You’re over 30 minutes late.”

“I know. I’m so sorry Jaej…” Yunho paused when he saw the hurt look in the elder’s eyes. His chest dropped as he let out a long sigh after catching his breath. It was his fault. He had no excuse, but the elder was still waiting for an explanation.

“Something came up this morning…concerning work…and it took longer than I thought.” He confessed. But the elder wasn’t impressed. In fact, it seemed that his explanation made things worse.

“Is work more important to you than your other commitments?” Jaejoong questioned with a deeper frown.

Yunho didn’t understand how everything he was planning only ended up hurting the other, but he had to. It was going to be worth it, right? He silently promised himself that once this is all over, he would make it up to him. “Of course not. It’s…” But for now, he had to figure out how to clear any misunderstandings. He didn’t want to hurt him any further, but he couldn’t give the complete truth either. He’d have to give up another truth that he was hesitant in telling anyone. “…I’m just trying to get ahead…”

He took a deep breath. It wasn’t something he anted to reveal, but he didn’t have a choice. He couldn’t tell him his other truth. He subconsciously rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly unable to make eye contact.

Jaejoong studied him closely at his uncharacteristic behavior.

“People don’t think I’m going to get far since I quit school…but I really think this is the path I should take. I’ll finish school later…but…I don’t want you to have the same doubts. You’re going to graduate in a year, and I want to be able to have something to offer then.” He finally said. It was something that plagued the back of his mind that had been balanced with another detail he had to leave out for now.

“Yunho.” Jaejoong stared at him.

Yunho could barely decipher his expression, it was something between sympathy, relief, sadness, and assurance.

“You’re lucky you’re you.” Jaejoong finally said catching him off guard.

“Otherwise I would’ve broken up with you days ago.” He teased.

Yunho let out a small smile, glad to see the elder’s sweet smile return to his lips.

“I don’t doubt you Yunho.” He said getting serious. “I know whatever you do, you’ll be successful in. But I don’t care about that. I’m dating you because of the person you are and not what material things you can offer. Plus, you already offered and given me much more than you think.” Jaejoong assured him.

Yunho couldn’t help but let his smile grow larger. Jaejoong’s words gave him more confidence, but not just for what the elder might’ve thought.

“But you should’ve at least texted me that you were going to be late.” Jaejoong returned to his scolding.

“I left my phone at home when trying to rush out.” Yunho smiled sweetly.

Jaejoong shook his head but was over his initial disappointment. “Come on.” He wrapped his arm around the younger’s. “We have a lot of ground to cover, and I have a long list to get through.” He said, already leading them to their first store.

Jaejoong created a list of the stores he wanted to go to. He did all his research to find what items were sold in each store to avoid going into every store. The mall was huge after all. There was so much to do and so many places to shop at. It even had foreign shops that couldn’t be found anywhere else. They could end up trapped there for days if Jaejoong hadn’t been prepared. He even created a list of stores for Yunho as well, for the things he needed to get for his friends and family.

Every now and then they detoured to look at the intricate holiday decorations and gifts that they didn’t know they needed. Yunho was almost tricked by the flashy advertisement but Jaejoong dragged him out the store before he could think about grabbing it. But the tables turned when they shopped for their baby cousins.