Jaebum almost trips on his first step inside the door, just barely managing to catch himself on the shoe rack to his right. The cold metal stings his palm slightly, but Jaebum is unphased, kicking the door shut with his foot while simultaneously bending down to pick up the haphazardly-placed pair of slippers that had almost caused his downfall. He places them on the shelf without needing to even look, already preoccupied with slipping his own shoes off. It’s clear through the fluidity of his motions that this is a routine that’s been well-practiced, even the unexpected bits such as when Jaebum’s sock catches on an umbrella that definitely hadn’t been there that morning. He stumbles again slightly, but his expression is still unperturbed as he simply kicks it aside and back into place.

Jaebum doesn’t even need to think about it anymore, the tidying up he does as he slowly makes his way further into their apartment. Way back when, he used to get annoyed at these little things being out of place. He’d always been rather picky about how things were organized, especially his things. But after the most important “thing” went “missing” for a week after a rather intense, but petty argument (translation: Jinyoung is said “thing” who packed up and left to stay with Mark for a couple of days), somehow these little things no longer bother Jaebum so much anymore.

When he finally manages to make his way to the living room, Jaebum’s lips quirk up into a lopsided smile. The sight greeting him is quite amusing, after all; Jinyoung is sprawled out across their large leather couch, which is quite typical, but his current position is also unconventionally upside down. His legs are up and over the back of the couch, his back is against the seat, and his neck is dangling off over the edge. He’s humming under this breath, feet kicking lightly as he holds in his hands what Jaebum knows to be the third draft of his most recent novel.

“Reading upside down again?” Jaebum asks, not bothering to hide the amusement in his voice as he slips off his jacket, carefully placing it on the back of a chair. He gives the rest of the room a cursory glance, and is pleased to find it more or less spotless; Jaebum wasn’t the only one to make changes since the beginning.

“Uh-huh,” Jinyoung responds absentmindedly, eyes still firmly locked on the page he’s currently reading. Jaebum is patient though, simply approaching to sit down on the far side of the couch, smile slowly widening as he takes in Jinyoung’s appearance.

His hair is unkempt, but not unclean; it looks like he probably didn’t dry it properly again, letting his towel sit atop his head for too long as he became preoccupied with something else, not removing it until he remembered its presence much later. The result is this rather interesting “towel hair” Jaebum is all too familiar with. He has the urge to reach over and smooth out Jinyoung’s bangs, but he resists, knowing he won’t have much longer to wait. They’ve come a long way for this compromise, a reconciliation between Jaebum’s need to act immediately and Jinyoung stubborn persistence of finishing whatever is at hand first.

Eyes moving down from Jinyoung’s hair to his torso- or up, since Jinyoung is currently upside down- his gaze lands on the sight of one of Jinyoung’s favorite navy blue sweaters. Well, Jinyoung claims it’s technically still Jaebum’s since he bought it for him as a present a couple of years back, not to mention it’s also in Jaebum’s size. But even though Jaebum wears it occasionally, Jinyoung is the one that somehow ends up wearing it most. Not that Jaebum ever complains about it. They both know Jaebum secretly loves how the sleeves are just a little too long for Jinyoung’s arms, often coming down to his knuckles or even his fingertips; relishing in the fact that Jinyoung’s frame is just a little too slight to properly fill the clothes the same way Jaebum can. And perhaps that had been the initial intent of the present after all; for Jaebum’s aesthetic satisfaction, rather than practical usage. But of course, Jinyoung would ever admit to that, either.

Finally, the black sweatpants are actually Jinyoung’s own, normal and loose-fitting. Jaebum also notices Jinyoung has neglected to wear socks again, though, and resolves to to scold him on the matter later, what with how cold their wood floors were getting with winter approaching. Neither of them have particularly strong immune systems, much to Jaebum’s chagrin, but Jinyoung tends to be the slightly worse of the two. Though even after all these years Jaebum has yet to determine whether that’s by bad habit or due to other biological reasons. Either way, he’d rather not repeat the flu fiasco of last year, where they both alternated between being miserable and only slightly less miserable for a whole month.

By the time Jaebum finishes his “appraisal” of the state of things, Jinyoung has also finished the page he’s reading. Finally turning his head to get a good look at his boyfriend, Jinyoung’s face breaks out into a teasing grin, swinging himself upright in one smooth motion while setting down his papers on the coffee table. In the past, he wouldn’t have looked up until he’d finished the entire stack, god have mercy on anyone who tried to interrupt him in the meantime. So the ease with which Jinyoung manages to pull himself out of this state of focus now is only further testimony to how far they’ve come, the adjustments they’ve made to accommodate each other.

“Looks like someone got to keep the clothes from their photoshoot today.” The sparkle in Jinyoung’s eyes is all the warning Jaebum needs before his hat is plucked right off of his head. Jinyoung only grins at him, amused, toying with the piece of fabric in his hands. “A beret? Really?”

Jaebum only gives a half-shrug in answer as he scoots closer, and then they’re both automatically leaning in for a kiss. It’s not very long, but it's sweet nonetheless, and Jaebum feels the tickle of Jinyoung’s eyelashes against his cheek when they finally move apart.

“I’m also endorsing their brand right now, remember? Of course they have to give me their stuff to wear. I’m a walking advertisement.” Jaebum raises an eyebrow when Jinyoung turns his attention to his shirt, bright red with simple horizontal back stripes, his fingers taking up the hem and inspecting it with a furrowed brow. Jinyoung’s serious act only lasts for a few seconds, however, before he’s bursting into laughter.

“Honestly, I don’t get the difference between this shirt and the what, hundreds of other shirts exactly like this you have already?”

Jaebum shrugs again, but he’s smiling, teasing as he takes the beret back from Jinyoung.

“Well, some people care and some people can tell the difference, so I just do my job, right? Besides, isn’t owning a lot of clothes practically in the job description of being a model?”

Jinyoung is about to respond, probably with something snarky, but is cut off when Jaebum’s fingers come up to his bangs, finally working to straighten out the mess that he wanted to the second he walked into the room. Not that the messy look isn’t cute on Jinyoung or anything, because it is, but it’s much more satisfying to watch Jinyoung squint his eyes shut as he waits impatiently for Jaebum to finish.

“Okay, enough,” Jinyoung slaps Jaebum’s hand away when he realizes Jaebum’s just combing through his strands without purpose now, lips forming a grimace that more resembles a pout. He opens his eyes to Jaebum’s smug grin, and that’s all it takes before Jaebum’s being pushed down onto his back, breath being released in a woosh as Jinyoung attempts to forcibly kiss the smugness away.

This time when they part, they’re both breathless, panting slightly as they stare at each other, faces glowing. It suddenly feels a little too warm, their cheeks a little too flushed, their grins too sly.

And then Jinyoung is darting away, laughing as Jaebum’s hand just barely misses the sleeve of his sweatshirt. Jaebum sits up, shaking his head with exasperated amusement as he watches Jinyoung slide into into the kitchen, whooping at his successful escape.

“I’ve already cooked! There are leftovers from what you made yesterday, too, we just need to heat stuff up and dinner will be ready!” Jinyoung calls from around the corner.

“Okay, I’m going to go take a quick shower!” Jaebum calls back, rising from from the couch to make his way to their bedroom.

~~

By the time Jaebum steps into the kitchen, hair damp but mostly dry, Jinyoung’s already started to eat, the draft of his novel in front of him as he reads and chews at the same time.

He doesn’t even notice Jaebum’s approach, that is, until Jaebum snatches the papers away from right under his nose.

“Hey!” Jinyoung jerks out of his focused state, nearly poking himself in the eye with one of his chopsticks. One stern glance from Jaebum, however, has him wilting in his seat.

“So what did we agree on, about reading and eating at the same time? Hm?” Jaebum raises an eyebrow.

Jinyoung knows better than to argue on this one, only sighing as Jaebum sets the papers down on the counter behind him.

“And you started eating without me, too?” Jaebum still has his serious face on, but this time they both know he’s just teasing. Jinyoung rolls his eyes, swallowing what’s already in his mouth before responding.

“And who took so long to shower? I don’t remember the last time you waited for me before you started eating.”

“I had to get the laundry started before I could shower!”

“So? You could’ve chosen to do it later.”

Jaebum makes a face, but doesn’t argue any further as he takes the seat next to Jinyoung, picking up his chopsticks.

“See? I’m right.” Jinyoung has his own smug smile on, and Jaebum kicks him under the table for it. Jinyoung, clearly just as mature as his significant other, retaliates by kicking Jaebum right back.

The icy cold sensation of Jinyoung’s toes against Jaebum’s ankle makes Jaebum jerk backwards reflexively, nearly tipping him out of his chair. Jinyoung bursts out into laughter, his eyes crinkling with his signature eye smile as one hand comes up to cover his mouth.

Jaebum, remembering his earlier conviction, isn’t so amused.

“I thought we talked about wearing socks?”

At this, Jinyoung freezes, and his boisterous laugh immediately transforms into a more sheepish grin.

“It’s not that cold yet...and you know how much I hate socks…” Jinyoung tries to explain feebly, but he trails off when it’s clear Jaebum isn’t buying it.

“I swear to god, Park Jinyoung, if you get sick again this year, and then make me sick, I am going to--”

“Okay, okay! I’m going to get socks! Right now! At this very moment!” Jinyoung springs up before Jaebum can finish his very-much-not-idle threat, and takes off towards their bedroom. As he gets further away, Jaebum can hear him beginning to mutter under his breath, almost definitely unflattering things about Jaebum as a person, but Jaebum is satisfied.

With his biggest distraction out of the way, Jaebum is finally able to properly dig into his meal. A glance to his right reveals that Jinyoung had almost managed to finish altogether before Jaebum had come out, and Jaebum is determined to catch up.

Jaebum doesn’t make much progress, however, before an exasperated yell comes from the bedroom.

“IM JAEBUM how many times do I have to tell you the laundry needs to be separated by not just color but ALSO BY MATERIAL?!

~~

After Jinyoung finishes nagging about the laundry (Jaebum’s learned by now the best thing to do is just to nod along), they manage to finish dinner with minimal additional banter.