A man was busy walking back and forth in a kitchen. Sliced vegetables were scattered on a green coloured chopping board and a rinsed chicken was left in a bowl. Wafting the steam from a pot, Jaejoong leaned down to take a whiff of smell of his cooking. A satisfying smile sat on his lips, pleased with his decision to settle with a fusion of Western and Korean dishes. 

It's the perk of growing up in a family with low income. At the age of just only six, his late mother had taught him how to cook. Since both of his parents were working until late at night back then, Jaejoong was used to cook for himself after getting back from school. He even attended several cooking classes, dragging Changmin with him so that all the female participants in the class wouldn't throw him a skeptical look. As he grew older year by year, his passion and interest in cooking grew with him as well. Jaejoong had tried cooking almost everything from every continent, be it Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Indonesian and Turkish. All the pennies Jaejoong had saved up to be spent on the classes were worth it, every one of it. It surprised him however that lots of things certainly had happened in the span of five years but he still got the knack. 

It was halfway through his cooking that Yunho came down from the second floor after taking a shower. Sporting another simple t-shirt and sweats, Yunho was effortlessly breathtaking. His hair was dishevelled, still partially wet. He was about to step into the living room to watch television but the tempting smell that had imbued the entire house made him swerve his journey to the opposite direction.

Jaejoong was however clueless to his existence, too busy taking care of the sizzling cooked meat on a pan. At times like this he really wished he had a superpower that could grow another extra pair or arms because what with the stew, the carbonara and japchae to look for. He was definitely in need of assistant. Jaejoong clamped a hand to his waist, stirring the spaghetti and inwardly cursing Yunho for taking too long under the shower. 

Yunho's nose twitched and his stomach began to rumble. He rounded the counter and stood closer to Jaejoong, too eager to peek into what Jaejoong was cooking. The promising sound and smell alone were going to do a great job at relieving the hunger he was suffering from hours ago. 

"Smells nice.” Yunho peeked over Jaejoong's shoulder to sniff the content of one of the pots on the stove. 

Jaejoong's shoulders jerked and his head whipped around to glance at the man behind. "ing hell. Can't you at least knock or clear your throat or some ?" The annoyance Yunho didn't expect was clear on Jaejoong's face. 

"Okay, sorry." Yunho raised a placating hand over his chest, apologizing. 

"Great now that you're here, help me. My hands alone aren't enough."

"You sure about this?" 

"Auntie Miseon isn't going to fly all the way from Seoul just to help me, right? So I'm 100% sure."

"What should I help you with?" 

"You must at least know how to fry an egg I suppose." Jaejoong chanced a glance at Yunho before he focused back on the spaghetti, but was he wrong. "I've prepared the ingredient for a rolled-egg. Just dumped them into the bowl-" Jaejoong digited to a bowl containing the eggs he had whisked. "And whisk the eggs again with the vegetables. If it's too hard to roll it, just make it into an omelette."

"Oh, okay." 

Jaejoong moved back to his previous spot in the kitchen once he was done giving out the instruction. Yunho took a moment to start, eyes kept stealing a furtive glance at Jaejoong. There was something bothering him but he finally opted to just keep it inside. Ten minutes later Jaejoong and Yunho found themselves leaning against the kitchen, staring at the black mush inside the pan on the stove. Jaejoong's hands were on his hips while Yunho seemed like he had a lot to articulate on why he even succeeded to burn the pan together with the eggs. 

"How did you even manage to burn the eggs?" Jaejoong gave Yunho a sideway look, eyes still staring at the mush and almost gagging at the notion of eating that pile of disgusting food. 

"Aren't well cooked eggs better than the half cooked though?"

"Is it? I want to see you eat this then." Jaejoong demanded irritably, mood souring fast. 

"But I prefer the half-cooked ones." Yunho gave a sheepish smile, an eyebrow arching. "There's a reason why I was banned from kitchen. I burned a pan before it could burn a food."

Jaejoong had half a mind to smack Yunho in the head but he was already too exhausted to commence another fight, so he soothed the anger like a civilized man he was. "It's not even well-cooked, you literally burned the eggs. But you know what? I'm not gonna simultaneously babysit a grown up man and cook so why don't you just sit there and wait? I will call you over once I'm done."

"You sure?" Yunho asked, surprised Jaejoong let him get away that easy. Jaejoong rolled his eyes so hard he thought he had strained himself. Yunho burst out laughing and before Jaejoong could hurl a pot his way he careened out of the kitchen. "Okay, honey. Whatever you want.” 

Half of Yunho's body was hanging precariously over the armrest of the couch in the living room. He would steal a glance once in while towards the kitchen but when there was no sign that Jaejoong would finish cooking, Yunho deciced to shift his attention on the rerun of his favourite korean drama playing on the television at the moment. His eyes drooped when it was only halfway through the third episode and Yunho scratched his belly to fight the sleepiness. By the time it reached the end of the episode, Yunho had sunk lower into the couch and his gaze drifted to the ceiling up above. Another delicious smell spread inside the mansion and Yunho closed his eyes, nose twitching as his belly began to rumble. Truth be told, he was having a one-man battle with his hunger for the past 40 minutes and it well-nigh drove him half insane. He wrapped his arms around his stomach and sighed. It might have been louder than he thought it was as Jaejoong shifted around the slightest to arc a brow at him. "It's almost done. You can come here."

Yunho sprung to his feet, nearly stumbled over his own legs and fell face first but he managed to find his balance again. Jaejoong who had two plates in his hands, in the middle of transferring them onto the dining table shook his head at Yunho's antics. 

“Wow, you cooked all of these in one hour?” Yunho picked up a fork to taste some of the dish laid before him. His brows shot up at the taste of Jaejoong's cooking. "I don't know you are such a great cook."

“What you think all of these fell from heaven? Of course I cooked them, I wasn't swimming in the kitchen." Jaejoong sneered, tone taking on an acidity he'd been trying to keep at bay all day. 

"You're welcome, Kim Jaejoong." Yunho replied with a glare, tone heavy with sarcasm. 

"What you wanna poke mama bear right now? That seems like a good idea."

"What? I was literally praising and asking you nicely." Yunho's shoulders sagged in frustration. "Can't we just eat? I'm hungry." He proceeded to ignore the intimidating stare Jaejoong was giving him and pulled a chair to sit down. "Please? I know you are tired and starving too. We can continue our squabble later when we are fully recharged with food. That way you can even hit me when I cross the line. Okay? Let's just eat for now."

Jaejoong his nape, trying to lose the knots while agreeing to Yunho's idea. "Okay, let's do just that." It was funny to see Yunho yield over food for he knew Jaejoong had the upper hand in this situation. Another word, he was going to really die of starvation that night, in his own mansion even. Yunho practically inhaled the hot food like a vaccuum cleaner despite the way they made his tongue burn and leave his nose runny. Snorting, Jaejoong handed a glass of plain water to Yunho when he saw the man struggle to cool his mouth down with big breaths, jaw slacked. If Jaejoong was proud to watch the man enjoy his cooking, he didn't say anything about it. 

Yunho shoved down the water in one gulp though it did a little at soothing the pain. A hand reached up to wipe the remnant of water splashed on his lips in his haste to cool his tongue down. He slammed the glass onto the table and said all of sudden, breaking the silence. "But seriously. These are really good. I mean it."

Jaejoong's shoulders jerked up and his head whipped up to Yunho. "Uh, th-thanks?"

“Thanks for the food, Jaejoong.”

Their dinner was boring, an uneventful occasion. The next seconds and on passed by with only the sound of food being munched. 

...............................

Yunho voluntarily offered himself to wash the dishes to reciprocate Jaejoong's effort after all the hassle the man was going through in the kitchen hours ago. His offer received a raised eyebrow at first but after successfully convinced Jaejoong, Yunho set off to the nearest drawer to search for a pair of rubber gloves. Once found, Yunho sheathed his hands into the rubber gloves while shoving Jaejoong away when the guy was still persistent with his idea to split the chore or watch him carry out the duty.

"It's just cleaning right? What could have gone wrong? I can handle this. Now go take a rest." Yunho playfully nudged Jaejoong away with his hip.

"There are so many things can go wrong if you're not careful enough, Yunho."

"Come on, put some faith on your husband." The words slipped out before Yunho could even bite his tongue.

Jaejoong wasn't expecting Yunho to use the word husband again after their argument. Heat rising to his cheeks and face heating up as the word sunk in. "O-Okay, then. While you're at it, could you clean the surface as well? The counter, sink, and kitchen. I'm gonna take a shower." 

"Yeah. Go on."

"Are you sure you can do it by yourself?" 

"Why? You want to wait until I finish so we can take a shower together?" 

Jaejoong let out a shriek and threw a rag at Yunho's chest. "Stop it, okay!" 

Yunho laughed and rounded the kitchen counter to stand right before Jaejoong. As he grinned, his hand reached out to pinch Jaejoong's cheek, the touch was somehow affectionate. "You're kinda cute when you're embarrassed."

When the realization dawned on him, Yunho's hand froze as he tried to assess whether he had crossed a line. A long, pained groan escaping Jaejoong's lips as he pushed away Yunho's hand. "J-just clean."

............

The shower was longer than Jaejoong had intended. By the time he went downstairs, Yunho was already slouching like a star fish on the couch in the living room, head tilting up on the head rest while his eyes were shut tight. 

"You did a great job." Jaejoong slumped next to Yunho and began. 

Yunho's eyes slowly popped open and his head turned to Jaejoong. "Yeah?"

"Hmm." Jaejoong's voice was quiet. 

"Pat my head." There was an innocent lull to his voice. 

Jaejoong scoffed and took a second to reply. "But I can give you something better."

Eyes crinkling to a playful smile, Yunho's grin widened. His left hand reached out to rake his fingers trough Jaejoong's damp fringe. "Ooh, are we already on that level?" 

As if on instinct, Jaejoong slapped away the hand. "Can't you please be innocent for once?" 

"I'd been innocent for so long now is the time to unleash whatever this feral soul residing inside me"

Huffing heavily through his mouth, Jaejoong scooted away. "Oh forget it. You're disgusting." 

"Come ooooon." Yunho groaned aloud, pushing his own hair back. "That was a joke. So what is it?" 

"Nevermind. You're such a killjoy." 

Yunho scooted closer however. "Seriously? Come on. What is it? I wanna know." 

“Massage.” The word came out as a mumble but it didn't go unnoticed by Yunho. 

"Massage?" Yunho parroted, shifting his body sideways to look at Jaejoong's exhausted face directly.

It was only when Jaejoong murmured "Y-yeah. I can give you a massage." that brought Yunho to sit up straight. 

"I'd love that. Should I take my shirt off?" 

“No! NO. Not really. You can keep it on."

"But that's how the professionals did it right?" 

"I'm not a professional and we don't even have ointment so keep it on."

As soon as he finished, Yunho whipped around and laid flat on his stomach on the couch, getting comfortable. Unlike Yunho, Jaejoong was shifting uncomfortably, having an internal debate on where should he start working on Yunho's knotty muscles and inwardly slapping himself for having such loose lips.  Jaejoong closed his eyes and gritted his teeth but was brought back to reality when Yunho peeked over his shoulder and clasped his wrist. "What's wrong?"

"I-"

"It's okay. You can straddle me if this couch is too small for you to move."

A pin-drop deafening silence followed Yunho's words. Both of them froze with Yunho's mouth was hanging open. Jaejoong took a deep breath as the words washed over him, slamming into his brain as uneasiness filled him. 'That seriously doesn't sound so wrong on all levels.' His eyes drooped out of the exhaustion that had been invading him. Jaejoong was so tired and he swore that he could doze off any minute from now and he definitely didn't have the energy to entertain another Yunho's purely unintentional jest. He shuffled forward and straddled Yunho's back. "Let me know if my weight has finally become unbearable for your back."

Jaejoong cracked his knuckles and began to move his fingers, hovering just above Yunho’s shoulders. The beginning was always the hardest but once started he could get a hang of it. Jaejoong was undeniably good. The last thing Yunho woud expect from his marriage was to enjoy a massage from the husband he didn't love. He tried hard holding back a moan  when Jaejoong's magic hands were skilfully working on his shoulders, each finger was sending a wave of relaxation along his nerves. Yunho had been lulled to sleep but when Jaejoong's hands went lower southward, he accidentally made a soft moan in the back of his throat as he pressed his face against the couch and -

Oh

Yunho's head whipped around so fast he thought he had twisted a muscle. Jaejoong tensed and his eyes went wide before his hands froze altogether. His heart jumped to his throat and stayed there when a realization dawned on him that his knees were brushing softly against Yunho's sides while the other realized with mortification that his was half hard. If Yunho wasn't looking downright terrified as he stared at his own wood, Jaejoong wouldn't have realized the predicament the man was dealing with. He quickly got off of Yunho's back as a reflex, stumbling backward and all but fell off the couch. Yunho got out of his stupor and rushed forward to catch Jaejoong but ended up falling on top of the guy, blanketing Jaejoong with his bigger frame. 

"Ow!" Jaejoong squinted and held his head. 

"Sorry! I was trying to save you." Yunho's forearms supported his weight as he looked down at Jaejoong. "Are you okay?" 

"No you don't, you're just trying to kill me. What are you, a bull or something? Move! You're choking me with your weight."

Yunho felt somewhat disappointment flood his body as his throbbed. "We really can't have romantic in this house, can't we?" He dismissed Jaejoong's protest with something that would make the man sputter.

Jaejoong's eyes enlarged a fraction, stuttering. "Ro-rom- why do we have to be sappy?! I don't want it! Now move, Yunho!"

"Goddamn, you're not romantic at all." 

"OH MY GOD! WHAT'S WITH YOU AND THIS ROMANTIC ?? GET OFF ME! YUNHO, ONCE AG-" His words were cut short when Yunho was already leaning in and Jaejoong felt the man's breath against his mouth before he felt Yunho's lips on his. It was unexpected but it wasn't messy or uncomfortable either. In fact, Yunho seemed to be an expert at kissing as he managed to find a perfect angle to slot his lips with Jaejoong's in such circumstance. Jaejoong however broke the kiss before it even progressed and shoved Yunho's chest away.  “W-what are you doing?” He whispered, voice ti