The screech of a siren jolted Yoochun out of a peaceful sleep. Panic set in as his tried to find his pants. He prayed to every god that would listen that Yesung didn't do something insane. Like set something on fire.

 

It took him a moment to realize it was an ambulance, not a fire truck. “!” he cursed. I watched for a moment to see he EMT load a person into the back. He jogged out side to find out what was going on.

 

“Mr. Woo, what happened?” Yoochun was concerned. The Woos were a lovely elderly couple that had lived in the building since he was a child. They had become like second grandparents to him.

 

“Hyeonja fell and broke her hip.”

 

“I'm sorry, Mr. Woo. Is there anything you need?”

 

Yunho emerged from the side door moments later carrying a Ziploc baggie filled with pill bottles. “Your wife will be in my prayers tonight,” Yunho said as he handed the bag to Mr. Woo.

 

Yoochun watched the ambulance drive off. He turned to Yunho. “How did she fall?” He chewed on his lip.

 

“She trip over that loose stair,” Yunho spat out. “The one I warned you about a month ago.”

 

“It's on my list. ! I'll go to the hospital later and visit. I'll get started on the work orders.”

 

Yunho grabbed Yoochun's shoulder. “No. You are going to the office and calling a carpenter, an electrician and a plumber. You are going to hire them and they are going to professionally fix every problem in this building.”

 

Yoochun pulled away from Yunho. “I can handle this myself. I just need more time to get to everything.”

 

“When your grandparents managed the building work orders were completed within a day. You're slacking and now someone got hurt. Go!” Yunho shoved Yoochun towards the office. Yoochun had never seen Yunho angry. Annoyed, yes. But never angry.

 

Yoochun was angry with himself. And he was angry that Yunho was right. He sighed and pulled out his phone, looking for numbers for carpenters and electricians. He could always just call the plumber from yesterday back. He really wished he could get everything done himself. Just to save a little money. But he was quickly getting to the end of the list of things he could fix himself.

 

“Come in,” Yoochun called at the knock on the door. Yunho stepped in slowly.

 

“I'm sorry I yelled at you.”

 

Yoochun blinked up, confused for a moment. Yunho hadn't yelled, he got angry, but he didn't yell. At least not like a normal person yells. “It's okay. I know you're right.”

 

“Let me know if you need anything.”

 

“I think I got a handle on it.” Yoochun looked up at Yunho. “When are you leaving for your trip?”

 

“Tomorrow morning. I'll be gone for a week.”

 

“Kay. Do you need someone to take care of Taepoong while you're gone?”

 

“No. Heechul will be doing that.” Yunho turned to leave but stopped. “You're doing a good job. Your grandparents will be happy to see how well you are doing.”

 

“Thanks.” Yoochun turned back to his phone and chose a carpenter at random. He had too much work to do to be picky. He stretched backwards in his chair, making a list of all the problems with the building and trying to calculate the cost. An arm and a leg for sure.

 

Yoochun walked around the building to take notes of all the damage he could see. It didn't seem like it was anything but cosmetic, but he didn't want to leave anything to chance. He could feel another migraine forming.

 

Jaejoong walked into the office a few minutes later. “I know you said you wanted to stop fooling around, but you need to relax. Come up to my apartment. We'll relax and you can take all your frustrations out on me.”

 

“I don't know.”

 

“Well, if you change your mind, I'll be upstairs, .”

 

Yoochun knew he shouldn't have, but climbed the stairs to Jaejoong's apartment anyway. He had been too stressed out not to. He needed the warmth and comfort. And Jaejoong's body was so compliant.

 

They only had one rule for their trysts; no kissing on the mouth. Yoochun was fine with that rule. Jaejoong had plenty of smooth skin to kiss, nip and . Slamming into Jaejoong's willing body melted the tension from Yoochun's. He rolled off Jaejoong, panting and sated.

 

“You need to relax more. Everyone in this building is on edge because you're so stressed out.”

 

“Mrs. Woo got hurt because I... I don't even know why I didn't fix those stairs earlier.”

 

“Well, I hope you learned your lesson.” Jaejoong's voice was cold and harsh.

 

“I did. I called back the plumber. And an electrician and a contractor. They're coming tomorrow to see what needs to be done. Hopefully, it's not a lot. But they are going to fix every last problem in this building.”

 

“Good. You need to go now. I have to go to work soon.” Jaejoong sat up and pushed the blanket aside. He made his way to the bathroom. Yoochun stayed on the bed for a few moments, just until he heard the shower running.

 

Pulling on his pants, Yoochun sighed again. He really needed to stop this affair with Jaejoong. Not that there should have been any guilt involved. Sometimes he just felt that he was paying too much attention to Jaejoong and not enough attention to finding an actual, stable relationship.

 

Yoochun wandered around the building again, checking and rechecking areas the professionals might notice. He loved the building very much. It was practically his playground as a child.

 

Most of the building's residents were at work by the time Yoochun made his way back to his apartment. He was so bored. And all he could do was wait until someone needed something from him.

 

***

 

Junsu read the advertisement again; two bedrooms, one bathroom. Exactly what he needed. He hoped the apartment was still available. He needed to move out of his current apartment and away from his current roommate-yesterday. He called the number on the ad.

 

“Yeah?” a voice said after three rings.

 

“My name is Kim Junsu, I'm wondering if the two bedroom is still open.”

 

“Yeah. It is. You want to come over now and take a look?” Yoochun wasn't expecting another new tenant for a long time.

 

“I'll be there by three.” Junsu hung up and hopped off his bed. He dressed quickly and made sure his cat was securely locked in his room before leaving. The apartment was on the other side of town from his job, but the rent was cheap and it was far away from his roommate.

 

The building was old, Junsu noticed as he walked up the steps to the manager's office. A young man met him.

 

“Hi. I'm Yoochun. You Kim Junsu?”

 

Junsu nodded. “The apartment is on the top floor? Is there an elevator?”

 

“It's out of commission at the moment, but it should be fixed soon. I'll be here to help carry stuff if you need it.”

 

“Thank you. I need the apartment immediately.” Junsu followed Yoochun up the stairs. “By the end of the week if it's acceptable. You do allow pets, right.”

 

“As long as they are under 50 pounds.” Yoochun unlocked the door to the apartment.

 

“I have a cat, Tigger.”

 

“That's fine. The bathroom is towards the back of the apartment.”

 

Junsu walked around the apartment, inspecting everything. “How thin are the walls?”

 

“Why? Planning on having wild parties?” Yoochun quirked an eyebrow at Junsu.

 

“No,” Junsu said flatly. “I'm a composer and I don't want to bother people.”

 

“Oh, okay. The walls are okay. I wouldn't practice late at night, but most people here work during the day. Jaejoong lives below you and he has some crazy hours sometimes, but I don't think you'll bother him too much.”

 

“Alright. And rent is $550 a month? Why so low?” Junsu stood in front of the windows.

 

“My grandparents set the rent and won't raise it more that a few dollars. They care more about the tenants than profit. Which is fine, as long as I have enough to maintain the building and feed myself. So, how does the apartment measure up?”

 

“I'll take it. I'll begin moving in on Saturday.”

 

“Great! Let's go fill out the lease and I'll give the rundown.”

 

 

 

A few hours later, Junsu was back at his apartment. His roommate, soon to be former roommate, still wasn't back. Tigger was curled up on a pillow, sleeping calmly.

 

Junsu pulled his suit case out of the closet and began packing his clothes. He wasn't looking forward to telling his ex-roommate that he was taking the sofa, TV and piano. There was going to be a week long fight about that and Junsu just wasn't in the mood to care.

 

Once his clothes were packed he moved into the living room to pack his CDs and movies. It took forever to shift through the collection and pack his belongs into the box. He hid in his room for the remainder of the night.

 

Everything had been so perfect for the longest time. Junsu was living with his best friend and they were composing music.

 

Then everything went to when Eunhyuk started working at a bar and began bringing home a new person ever night. And stopped paying his half of the rent.

 

Junsu was a trust-fund kid. His parents left him with more than enough to cover the rent, but that wasn't the point. The entire point of living together was to be normal, young adults trying to make their own lives. Sure Junsu kicked in extra money so the starving part of “starving artist” wasn't so literally. But Eunhyuk still had to pay his share.

 

He sighed and rolled on to his back. Try as he might, he knew he wasn't going to get much sleep.

 

 

***

 

The amount of work he had left before his trip was staggering and Yunho was tempted to throw everything into a file and deal with it when he got back.

 

But he knew he couldn't do that. The work would only pile up and he would be even more overwhelmed when he got back. Yunho leaned back in his chair and moaned as his back popped. He had been sitting for far too long and every muscle in his body ached. He had to call it a day.

 

His apartment was dark and quiet, meaning Taepoong was asleep somewhere. All he wanted to do was eat something then crawl into bed.

 

But Yunho needed to pack for his trip. He sighed and ambled to his bedroom. Taepoong was fast asleep on the bed. He pulled a suitcase out of the closet and set it on the bed, careful not to disturb the puppy. Taepoong lifted his head, yawned and settled back down.

 

“You lazy mutt,” Yunho said with a gentle laugh. The Westie puppy lifted his head again. He stood and stretched before padding over to Yunho. Yunho scratched Taepoong's head and smiled. “Heechul's gonna be visiting you while I'm gone. I'll be back in a week. Please be good for Heechul.”

 

Taepoong yipped happily as he laid back down on the bed. He watched Yunho intently. The puppy was very well behaved, despite being so young and Yunho rarely had to scold the pup.

 

Yunho felt guilty. This was the three business trip he had had to take since he got the puppy four months ago. He hated leaving Taepoong alone during the day as well. But he was too lonely not to have the dog with him. Before he got Taepoong there was no one to talk to. No one to greet him after work.

 

He sighed. There wasn't much he could about the trips for the time being. At least he could trust Heechul to take good care of Taepoong while he was gone.

 

Yunho moved the suitcase to the living room next to the sofa. He made himself a quick dinner and climbed into bed. He had to leave early the next morning and didn't want to over sleep. Taepoong curled up next to him and the pair drifted to sleep peacefully.

 

 

 

 

The building was quiet as Yoochun sat in the office finalizing paper work and going over the books for the month. Tomorrow was rent day and honestly his favorite and least favorite day of the month. He hated taking money from his tenants, but he loved getting a chance to visit with them for a few moments. And he loved the fact that he never had a problem with any tenants' as far as rent was concerned. Everyone always had the rent ready for him when he stopped by or it was taped to the door if no one was home at the time.

 

He realized he really needed to stop stressing himself out about every little thing. Yoochun knew he had a good life going for him. And relatively few problems. If he could make it through the repairs with his sanity in tact he would be more than fine.

 

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Super short update because I've been busy with the holidays and a new boyfriend and life. I'll be on a more regular schedule soon. Remember to follow me on tumblr serenitygracethings.tumblr.com