1. Kindergarten

"Alright, everyone, wear your apron before we start painting!"

A young woman smiled at children scattering all over the small room, some were staring at their apron blankly while some were staring at her cluelessly. She giggled at her cute students and approached them to help them wear the apron. Many children lined up in front of her to let her put on the garment except two boys: brown head and black head. She looked at them and snorted in fondness. Those two really lived in their own world! She didn't want to disturb their peaceful bubble so she turned her attention back to helping other children first. After making sure that all children wore their aprons, she finally approached the two boys sitting together in isolation at the farthest corner of the classroom. Currently, the brown-haired boy was glaring at his blue apron fiercely, probably trying to figure how to put it on. The black-haired boy was holding his red apron above his head and tilted his head curiously. Then, the black-haired boy put the apron around his head and, after some failed attempts because the apron completely blocked his vision, turned to his friend and spoke up happily.

"Gyu, look! I did it! I wear appon!"

The brown-haired boy, Kyu, frowned at his friend. The little boy pulled down the apron from his friend's face but then refused to let his friend's hands go.

"Woonie, that's wong! That's not how you wear appon!"

Kyu then proudly showed his friend how it was done. The brown-haired boy put his arms in the red apron and wore it correctly. He grinned confidently at his friend who was gasping in admiration, and she couldn't help but smile at them too. As she expected, she had nothing to worry about these two—

"WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Kyu suddenly cried after he just smiled confidently not long ago. However, she had not even the slightest intention to console him, because it happened so often that she already knew how it would go. As she thought, the black-haired boy, Woonie, started to cry too when he saw his friend crying. After seeing Woonie's tears, Kyu slowly stopped crying while shedding his tears furiously. After his cry was reduced to only a hiccup, the brown-haired boy held his friend's hands while trying to soothe the black-haired boy.

"Woonie, don't cry"

"But Gyu sad... Woonie sad too..."

"Am not sad!" Kyu grinned at his friend despite his reddened eyes. "See! Woonie, smile!"

It took a while but Woonie did stop crying. Both boys grinned at each other, still holding their hands firmly. She seized this opportunity to approach the boys after she was confident that they wouldn't cry again. Kneeling down beside them, she carefully wiped their tear-stained cheeks with a napkin while asking Kyu why did he cry.

Kyu pouted, "my arms too short. I can't put on my appon... I wanna help Woonie wear it but..."

With that said, the brown-haired boy bit his lips as if he was holding back his cry for his sensitive friend. She quickly averted the boy's attention before he might cry again. Who knew if the whole class would cry with him or not but she didn't want to risk it.

"Kyu-ah, why don't you let Woonie tie the strap for you? Of course, you can do the same for Woonie!"

Both boys looked at her as if she was their savior before quickly following her request. Kyu finished tying the apron strap for Woonie without any problem. Woonie, on the other hand, was struggling with tying a knot but refused to ask for her help so she just watched him with a small smile.

"Woonie?"

"Yep?"

"Will you do this for me for-ep-fer?"

"For-ep-fer!"

Woonie shouted excitedly while finishing tying the strap. Kyu looked at his neatly-worn apron before looking up at his friend with a teeth-gap smile. Then, the two boys joined the rest of the class to wait for her to teach them how to draw with crayons. Looking at Kyu and Woonie, she couldn't help but mourn the fact that she couldn't keep watching Kyu and Woonie anymore after they moved to elementary school. The boys were so cute and she was genuinely curious how they would end up together. What a shame!

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2. Elementary school

Kyuhyun was staring at his classmates in boredom. Today, their teacher had them clean their classroom to learn about basic house chores (which was really silly in his opinion, their school probably didn't want to hire a janitor!) That was why he was procrastinating as a smart boy would. It wasn't only him anyway. Just like him, most boys were lazing around while the girls were busy cleaning the classroom, well, most boys except one.

"Jongwoon, you're really kind, unlike those lazy donkeys!"

"I always help eomma so this is nothing at all!"

Kyuhyun sneered when he saw the girls going crazy over his friend's bright smile. These girls, they didn't learn their lesson! Woonie belonged to him and him alone! He looked around himself trying to find any excuse to get the girls away from his Woonie. To his right, he saw a ceiling broom lying unattended and he grinned devilishly. He picked it up and pretended to clean the ceiling diligently, but when no one paid attention to him, he purposely swept a spider web and made a spider fell down from the wooden ceiling. As soon as the hairy creature fell down in the middle of those girls, they screamed and ran away in every direction. While the whole classroom was in chaos, Jongwoon bravely scooped the spider up in his palm and walked to a window where he released it. While his friend was saying goodbye to the spider, he whistled in a good mood and stood behind the shorter boy, before tugging the boy's apron strap undone.

"Woonie," he called his friend. His smile automatically softened at those beautiful black eyes staring at him. To his friend who tilted his head at him, he pointed at a red apron on that thin body and said: "your apron strap is loose."

Jongwoon frowned and glanced over his shoulder to look at his back. Indeed, his apron strap was loosely tied around his waist. The boy sighed at his dirty hands and pouted at his friend; "Kyu, can you tie it for me?"

"Gladly!"

Kyuhyun grinned (too) enthusiastically and stepped into his friend's personal space. Instead of walking around his friend, he pulled the black-haired boy into his arms. With his chin resting on Jongwoon's thin shoulder, he put his arms behind Jongwoon and casually tied the strap. Even after he was done with his task, he still hugging his friend and refused to let him go. Eventually, Jongwoon couldn't help but point it out.

"Kyu? Are you still not done tying my apron strap?"

"Yes. I'm attempting a complicated knot so it's gonna take a while!"

"If you say so."

Shrugging nonchalantly, Jongwoon hugged his taller friend back and leaned his head on his friend's shoulder. At the same time, he sneakily rubbed his dirty hands on Kyuhyun's white uniform to get rid of dust.

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3. Middle school

"There are a bunch of clubs so why did you have to choose the most boring and tedious one? Huh? Woonie?"

"Kyu, you're the one who volunteered to help me with planting these sunflowers. If you don't want to do it then you can leave. I can just call Siwon and ask him—"

"No. I'll help you. You don't need that many people to plant sunflower seeds so don't ever call him."

"Whatever. Fine by me."

Jongwoon shrugged while carefully covering the seed with soil. The gardening club he was in got tasked to plant flowers that were expected to bloom on graduation day. There weren't many people in the gardening club so each member had to take care of each field by themselves. His designated field was a flowerbed behind the library that was too large for him to do alone. At first, he thought of asking Choi Siwon, his classmate and the kind-hearted student council president, to help him with the task. He knew that his best friend Kyuhyun hated labor tasks so he didn't bother bringing it up to his friend. However, Kyuhyun somehow found out about it himself and volunteered to help him. Jongwoon didn't mind who helped him. He just wanted to complete his given task. Still, if he knew beforehand that Kyuhyun wouldn't stop complaining, he'd have asked Siwon to help him instead.

"In the first place, who thought it's a good idea to plant flowers from scratch and stupidly hopes that they'll bloom on the graduation day? If you want flowers then just buy it from a shop!"

"Kyu, are you insulting my club that we can't properly take care of flowers?"

"No, Woonie, I know everything you pour your heart into will turn out beautifully just like you. I was merely insulting whoever came up with this stupid idea."

"Sigh, since when did you become a nagging grandma?"

"How can I not be? I'm planting flowers under the scorching sun of summer. I got all sweaty and sticky and some sweat is about to get in my eyes but I can't even brush it off because my hands are covered in dirt."

"Jeez, grandma, just tell me that you want me to brush those sweats off for you! No need to complain like you're ninety years old!"

Jongwoon rolled his eyes in annoyance but temporarily stopped his task. He was about to brush sweats off of Kyuhyun's forehead but then noticed that his hands were also covered in dirt. He looked at his apron, thinking of rubbing his hands on it but frowned. Somehow his red apron had become dirtier than his hands! He glanced at his best friend who was digging a hole in the flowerbed while still complaining non-stop. As expected of the perfectionist and clean-freak Cho Kyuhyun, his friend's blue apron was still as clean as ever.

"All of this is downright pretentious! Wasting a lot of school fund on flowers that you never know if it'll actually grow or not only for just one-day ceremony—"

Kyuhyun's nagging was completely shut off when his dear friend suddenly placed his dirty hands on his apron. The black-haired boy then rubbed his small hands up and down repeatedly, from Kyuhyun's chest to his slightly chubby abdomen and back upwards. The brown-haired boy's hands stopped working while his bright brown eyes almost popped out from shock. He stared quietly at his beloved friend who rubbed his soft hands on his body so casually. After he was satisfied cleaning his hands, Jongwoon smiled and gently brushed sweats off of Kyuhyun's forehead with his hands. Then, he rubbed his damp hands in circles on Kyuhyun's apron again to get rid of sweats.

"There, no sweats will get in your eyes now— huh? Kyu? Your face is really red? Oh no! Are you having a heatstroke!!?"

"N-No, I'm fine, just feeling a bit thirsty... Wait, Woonie, is this how you clean your hands? Rubbing them on other people's apron?"

"Why did you sound like you're angry all of sudden? But, no, I only did it with you. I mean, who would rub their hands on people they aren't close to?"

"Good. But just to be sure, promise me that you'll only do that with me alone."

"Alright, I promise."

Jongwoon made the promise because he just wanted them to finish their task. However, it literally went nowhere after that because Kyuhyun just kept whining at him to help brush off his sweats. In the end, they finished planting sunflower seeds later than they expected, and Kyuhyun's apron got so dirty beyond washing. So, he suggested throwing it in a trash bin and offered to help take it off. For some reason, his best friend refused to take off the apron in front of him and did it himself alone in a restroom.

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4. High school

"Why did I have to help you clean the basement? Your house's basement?"

"Because you have a heart of gold, Woonie."

Kyuhyun smiled fondly at his (future) wife boyfriend who didn't stop working even once despite his complaint. Jongwoon was diligently wiping the middle and lower shelves while he took care of the upper shelves. Under normal circumstances, neither of them (especially him) would care about cleaning the abandoned basement of the Cho household. However, both of them would graduate from high school in a month and moved out to live together at an apartment located near their college. So, his mother asked him to clean the basement before he left. The place wasn't that large but he still dragged his friend here to help him. He would be an idiot if he didn't seize this chance to spend time with his crush alone, together, in a dimly lit room. Kyuhyun gulped thirstily as he looked at the black-haired young man from the top of a portable ladder he was sitting on. Right now, he had the best view of his (future) spouse's round bottoms because Jongwoon was kneeling on all fours wiping the lower shelves. His hand holding a feather duster barely moved because he was too busy gawking at his gorgeous crush. He watched the smaller male scrubbed the lower shelf clean, watching a bead of sweat forming on his forehead, watching him rubbing his hand on his forehead to get rid of sweats, watching him...

"Pfft...!"

"What?" Jongwoon glanced up at him with a daggers glare. "If you have time to laugh, why don't you hurry up with the top shelf and help me with the rest?"

"W-Woonie, your face... your face! Hahaha!!"

"My face...?"

His (future) boyfriend blinked confusedly (and adorably). Then, he looked down at his small hands and groaned after seeing how dirty they were. Currently, his palms were painted almost black from dust and spider webs, and he just used this hand to wipe his face...

"Woonie, you look just like a stray puppy! Look at how messy your hair is and how dirty your face is!"

"Whose fault do you think it is!!?"

Jongwoon threw a dirty rag at him but he easily dodged it. Grinning teasingly, Kyuhyun gently hit that black head with his feather duster which made the shorter young man get even angrier. However, to him, those pouting lips and puffing cheeks were just too cute! Really, his (future) boyfriend looked cute whatever he did!

"Give up Woonie! I have the high g—"

Kyuhyun choked on his own words when the shorter man suddenly tackled him. Jongwoon hooked his arms around Kyuhyun's waist firmly before rubbing his stained face on his friend's clean blue apron. Heat instantly crept up starting from Kyuhyun's neck to the tip of his ears. He had absolutely no problem with Woonie using his apron as a handkerchief. Problem was, his (future) boyfriend's face was dangerously too close to "that" part! Basically, Jongwoon was nuzzling his face against his lower stomach, just a bit lower and his beloved friend would notice that...

"Ha! Now you're the one who got dir—"

"Woonie, move!"

Kyuhyun gently pushed the smaller man away and jumped down from the ladder. He ran past Jongwoon and headed to the stairs without stopping, not even when his dear friend shouting after his back.

"Woah!! Kyu, where are you going?"

"Bathroom!!"

Kyuhyun almost ran into his older sister on his way to his destination. Luckily, the blue apron did amazing hiding that "thing" so he easily made his way to the bathroom safely.

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5. College 

Jongwoon looked at his canvas proudly. Finally, after straining his back and legs by standing for four hours straight, he finally finished his masterpiece! All left to do was coating it and submitting it to his professor, but he wanted to show it to his best friend first! Humming in joy, he called his handsome friend and showed off his artwork to him.

"Kyu, look! I've created a masterpiece!"

A tall man knitted his brows before putting down a paintbrush and palette on the floor. Then, the man stood up and moved to stand (very closely) behind the black-haired man. The brown-haired man rested his chin on his friend's shoulder while hugging him loosely before making a comment.

"Red-colored bananas and pink-colored oranges? Seriously? Woonie? And I haven't talked about these rainbow-colored triangle grapes yet!"

"Got any problems with my creativity?"

Jongwoon looked over his shoulder and pouted at his friend. Kyuhyun quickly shook his head while tightening his hold around the shorter man's waist.

"No, Woonie, you're a genius! It's just... Your painting is too amazing beyond my comprehension..."

"Hey! At least mine looks better than yours! What is it with that monochrome tone? We're painting fruits not a funeral! Too depressing!"

"I prefer it that way. Anyway, are you going to submit your painting now?"

"Nope, let's go together after you're done! I'm gonna take a break now~"

Jongwoon couldn't help but frown when his friend had an obvious disappointed look on his face after he stepped out of the man's embrace. Nevertheless, Kyuhyun just sighed without saying anything and went back to his station. He frowned deeper. His best friend's actions after they got in college had been really strange. Kyuhyun always looked like he wanted to hold him but also looked afraid to do so at the same time. Moreover, people always looked at them and sighed wherever they went to. It was almost as if they were getting tired of something. He couldn't help but wonder if Kyuhyun noticed those weird gazes or not. Stealing a glance at his handsome friend, Jongwoon was thinking of ask—

"Pfft— oops, ahem, Kyu, you got some paint on your face!"

"What? Where?"

Kyuhyun frowned while rubbing the back of his hand on his face but it only made the paint spread further.

Jongwoon giggled, "here, let me wipe it off for you."

He pulled the hem of Kyuhyun's blue apron up and used it to gently wipe his friend's cheek. However, the paint strain was more persistent than he thought. So, he had to cradle Kyuhyun's face and used more force to rub it. He also leaned in until the tip of their noses were basically touching to see the paint clearer. He had a hard time trying not to laugh while doing so because Kyuhyun was staring intensely at him, his brown eyes as wide as an ostrich egg. He held back laughter but smiled brightly while continuing to wipe his friend's cheek until it was clean.

"There! You're all clean now—"

Kyuhyun tugged Jongwoon's red apron and kissed him.

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6. Post-graduation

"Woonie, I'm back!"

"Welcome back, Kyu! I'm in the kitchen."

Kyuhyun literally kicked off his shoes and threw his coat on the hanger to hurry into the apartment. Stepping into the kitchen, he smiled seeing his boyfriend standing in front of the stove, probably preparing dinner. He hugged the black-haired man from behind and gently kissed his chubby cheek.

"Dinner?"

"Yep! I'm making spaghetti with our favorite sauce and toppings. It should be done soon. You can go ahead and get change."

"Hmm... Will I end up with a stomachache again?"

"Hey, I'm not that bad now! I mean... at least I didn't burn the kitchen this time..."

Kyuhyun snorted. He still remembered that time his beloved clumsy boyfriend almost turned them homeless, so he always felt a bit nervous seeing Jongwoon in the kitchen (Jongwoon in an apron is cute though). For that reason, he decided to stay put and keep an eye just in case. He kept hugging his boyfriend while humming softly by his ear. Occasionally, he rocked the smaller man's body and kissed the back of his ear, earning a quiet giggle from his boyfriend.

.

.

.

Soon, Jongwoon was done making the sauce and preparing toppings. He only had to boil spaghetti and the dinner was done. Since it was clear that his boyfriend was doing fine, Kyuhyun decided to find something more interesting to do; something like teasing his beloved boyfriend...

He grinned mischievously and tugged the apron strap undone.

"Woonie, your apron strap is loose~"

"Huh? Since when...? Oh well, Kyu, can you tie it for me?"

Kyuhyun happily nodded. Then, he turned his boyfriend around to face him.

"Kyu? What are you do—"

Kyuhyun sealed those tempting lips and kneaded them with utmost love. Gently nibbling the bottom lip, he skillfully tied the apron strap and finished it in a few seconds. However, he still prolonged the kiss and fondled Jongwoon's waist until the shorter man was left breathless. If only it wasn't for the sound of water boiling, he would have advanced their loving kiss to something more intense.

"Jeez... stop catching me off guard already..."

Jongwoon murmured with a crimson blushing face. The black-haired man went back to cooking while his boyfriend started to set up a table. Suddenly, the shorter man stopped his hand and turned to stare at the taller man with an incredulous look.

"Wait... don't tell me... the reason why your method of tying an apron strap is different from other people is because... you want to cuddle with me...?"

"And I thought you'll never find out~ Congrats, hun."

Kyuhyun kissed those luscious lips again but he didn't forget to turn off the stove this time.

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7. Marriage 

"Kyu! Dinner is ready!"

"I'm not hungry! Go ahead and eat without me."

Kyuhyun shouted back without looking away from a vast canvas in front of him. After opening his own gallery, his paintings had gained popularity to the point that he couldn't stop working. The gallery received so many orders that sometimes Woonie took a break from his cafe to help Kyuhyun paint. Obviously, no matter how busy he was, he never chose work over his beloved wife and always found time to spend with him. Unfortunately, his life motto had changed after this recent client. He was hired by an affluent business man to paint his huge family and pets in exchange for a large sum of money. He wanted that money for Woonie to expand his cafe branch so he had been working really hard. In fact, he had been refusing to have meals with his wife for quite a while now. It frustrated him to no end but he needed to stay focused, and spending time with his Woonie was the quickest way to lose focus.

"Kyu... we haven't had dinner together for a week already..."

Looking up at where a cute familiar voice came from, Kyuhyun almost lost his resolve seeing Jongwoon peeking over the door with a pout and puppy eyes. He quickly turned away before his heart (and his lower head) voiced out a protest.

"Sorry, but I really can't leave now. I promise that once I'm done with this request, I'll stick by your side and never leave you again!"

"Alright..."

His heart twisted painfully in his chest just hearing that dejected reply. Nevertheless, he turned his attention back to the canvas and continued painting quietly. He got to work ten or so minutes more before his partner called him again.

"Kyu? Are you sure that you don't want to have dinner with me? I even prepare a dessert for you!"

"I'd love to, really, but I can't—"

Kyuhyun's jaw dropped at what he saw. His beloved Woonie was standing at the door wearing only a red apron. Smiling mischievously, his wife teasingly lifted the apron up until his flawless thighs were revealed for a second before they were covered again immediately. Jongwoon his lips and stared at him with a pleading gaze before purring affectionately "so...?"

"Can I skip the meal and have dessert instead?"

"Nope~ Good boy got the dessert as a reward only after he has dinner~"

"Then let's go. I just realize how starved I'm now"

Locking his gaze with his gorgeous partner, he threw the paintbrush to the side and left his work without glancing back.

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8. Extra

"Although you two aren't biologically related, he really takes after you, Woonie."

"What are you talking about? Kyu, Hae-ah definitely takes after you! You two are my handsome little angels~"

"Little?"

"Well, not you, but you're still my beloved handsome angel~"

Jongwoon smiled proudly at their adoptive son who was focusing on painting some clownfish on a canvas. Kyuhyun who had his arm hung loosely around his beloved wife's waist pulled the man closer and kissed his temple, causing the black-haired man to giggle lightly. The couple then kept watching their son with a fond smile. Today, their son's elementary school allowed parents and guardians to observe the children's art class. Every kid had fun painting and many of them didn't even know what they were painting, but not Kyuhyun and Jongwoon's son. Although Donghae was only seven, the boy was taught by the famous artist Cho Kyuhyun himself so his skill was evidently better than most children. So, it only made sense that the boy's classmates would be excited about his painting. One thin boy especially took great interest in Donghae's painting. The dark brown-haired boy who worked beside their son kept glancing at Donghae's canvas every once in a while. Eventually, curiosity took over the little boy and he approached Donghae.

"Hey, your fish is really cute!"

"Thanks! Daddy taught me how to paint since I was three!"

Replying enthusiastically, Donghae used the back of his hand to rub his cheek and grinned at the other boy, not knowing that he just got paint on his face. Jongwoon was about to go to their son and wiped the paint off but Kyuhyun stopped him. The taller man gestured with his mirthful gaze at the brown-haired boy and silently shook his head. Sure enough, the little boy immediately noticed the paint and pointed it out to Donghae.

"You got paint on your face."

"Hmm? Really?"

Looking at his occupied hands, one holding a paintbrush while the other holding a palette, Donghae pouted with knitted brows before turning to his new friend. Then...

Jongwoon gasped.

Kyuhyun smirked.

Donghae suddenly rubbed his strained cheek on the brown-haired boy's apron. When their son pulled away, the little boy was basically turning beetroot red but it all went unnoticed by Donghae. Their son beamed at his new friend before turning his attention back to his painting, not knowing that the brown-haired boy still kept staring at him.

"I told you. Hae-ah takes after you more than me."

"...Was I really that oblivious?"

Kyuhyun sighed, "yes, yes you're, my dear Woonie."

Luckily, I have one hell of godly patience.

Sighing again, Kyuhyun left a quick peck on Jongwoon's cheek before turning back to look at their son who (unintentionally and unconsciously) made the little boy fall for him, just like what Jongwoon did to him years ago.