Domesticity Is Harder than It Seems
Like Soap and Fabric SoftenerSehun stood with his head cocked to the side, his hands resting on his hips in an obvious display of irritation, and his bottom lip pulled taut between his teeth. He knew that the large bottle filled with blue liquid—the one he’d nicknamed Chanyeol, but was actually called fabric softener—was supposed to go somewhere into the machine in front of him, but Sehun had never actually tried his hand at doing laundry before so this was all sort of new to him. Glancing surreptitiously at the figure sleeping on the couch in the living room across from where he stood in the kitchen, Sehun released his lip and decided to just wing it. (That worked for him as a dancer—sometimes his best moves were when he went freestyle—so he was hoping he wouldn’t mess anything up too horribly if he didn’t exactly know what he was doing.)
Minseok was too tired these days; Sehun could tell that from the added lines on his lover’s face, and since Chanyeol seemed to be traveling even more than usual recently, Sehun was doing his best to help out where he could. (Hence his attempt at laundry.) After twisting the cap off the bottle, Sehun tried to read the directions on the side, praying that the laundry gods would somehow see his struggle and offer a boon of assistance. In that moment, though, Sehun came to the unfortunate realization that Minseok must buy imported softener because everything was in English and Sehun was completely lost. He did know that he was supposed to pour the blue stuff into the lid—he’d seen Minnie do it more than once—but he’d never actually paid attention to how much went in. Deciding that more softener must mean cleaner clothes, Sehun just poured the liquid until it almost reached the top of the lid, and tossed it into the washer, hoping for the best.
Sehun ce more to steal a look at Minseok on the couch, marveling at his lover’s ability to keep the house tidy and food made, especially since it was becoming increasingly apparent that Sehun’s level of domesticity capped at poorly done laundry. He didn’t think Chanyeol was much better—there had definitely been that one time in college when Sehun came home to a sheepish Chanyeol attempting to appease a grumbling Minseok over a blackened kitchen—but since Chanyeol was never home anymore, it wasn’t like he could contribute to the completion of household chores anyway.
Swallowing the unexpected uprising of bitterness at Chanyeol for being too hard-working and at Luhan for employing him in the first place, Sehun turned his attention to the next step of his laundry project. He sidestepped Minseok’s kitchen stool and put his natural height to good use, grabbing a seemingly familiar container from its place on the highest shelf. Sehun didn’t know what this one was called, but it was rounder than the fabric softener container—like Minseok’s cheeks, in a weird way—so, trying to make this whole laundry endeavor marginally more enjoyable by instituting constant reminders of the two loves of his life, Sehun decided to call this soap Minseok until he was informed otherwise.
At the very least, Sehun was knowledgeable enough to know that with laundry, a person needed both fabric softener and the clothes soap because one of them made the laundry clean, and the other made everything smell/feel nicer. (He wasn’t quite sure if Chanyeol was really the one who made Sehun and Minseok smell pretty, but since Minseok was the most domestic of the three and usually did all the laundry anyway, Sehun figured that label was true at least. Ish...But did that metaphor make Sehun the washing machine—or the dirty clothes?) Sehun pried the lid from where it was stuck on the container, and worked carefully to measure out an exactly full spoon of the Minseok cleaning powder, even getting a butter knife to smooth the top and make it beautiful precise.
He was startled from this task, however, at a puff of breath in his ear and a hello kiss on his neck; so startled, in fact, that Sehun dropped the filled measuring cup with a subdued shriek, watching forlornly as the product of his hard-work spilled haphazardly across the floor.
“You realize,” Chanyeol asked teasingly, “that you’re just going to dump all that powder detergent into the machine anyway, right? There was no point in making it look perfect.”
Sehun declined to point out that he was the type of person to fix his hair in the morning, even if he knew he wasn’t going to leave the house all day. (He also had a habit of making the bed before sleeping in it, and that quirk of his drove both Chanyeol and Minseok absolutely nuts because it wasn't like the bed would remain unmussed before the actually slept, anyway.) Instead, Sehun did his best to muffle his curses as he swept up the spilled clothes soap—no, detergent—not wanting to wake Minseok.
Chanyeol seemed to have no such qualms, though, because after leaning down to press a quick kiss to Sehun’s lips, he made his way across the room to kiss their other lover awake from his much needed nap. Sehun thought that Chanyeol was probably doing his best to be quiet during his approach, but effort didn’t really mean a lot when all 185 centimeters of Sehun's taller lover was long and gangly and didn’t exactly lend itself to maintaining silence. From where he remained crouched on the floor with a broom in hand, Sehun cringed at a loud crash and the yelped “Ow!” that followed, and figured that if Minseok hadn’t already woken up yet, that certainly did the trick.
“Chan-ah?” Sehun heard a groggy Minseok say questioningly. He could hear the tentative hope in Minseok’s voice, and felt a reemergence of the earlier bitterness because Sehun knew all too well what it felt like to think Chanyeol was finally home, only to find that he really wasn’t.
“I’m here, baby,” Chanyeol whispered lovingly.
Sehun heard the unmistakeably wet sound of exchanged kisses, and turned from his place in front of the washing machine to find Chanyeol's mouth devouring Minseok's in a way that spoke to their two week separation. It made Sehun realize just how much he had missed Chanyeol, and how much he'd also missed the comfort of seeing Minseok and Chanyeol together. He blinked suddenly, surprised by the tears that threatened to spill and chocked his sudden emotion up to disappointment over his failure with the detergent. Picking up the measuring cup from where it had fallen, Sehun began again, eventually measuring what he thought was the right amount and throwing that in the washer too.
Finally, the clothes. Sehun didn't think it mattered, really, because if you could wear clothes together that were different colors, couldn't you just wash them the same way? He grabbed the clothes from the two nearest hampers, stuffing them all haphazardly into the machine before closing the door with a satisfied slam and watching the automatic system start the wash cycle all on its own—thank God. The noise jolted Minseok and Chanyeol from where they were sitting with their foreheads together, trying to catch their breath from the earlier make out session that Sehun had witnessed.
"Sehun-ah," Minseok inquired, getting up off the couch curiously, "what are you doing?"
Sehun tried his best to look anything other than sheepish—he knew that he had no business trying to be domestic, but he really had wanted to help—and stepped forward a few steps to meet his lover half way between the kitchen and their living room. "Nothing," he muttered, sounding less than convincing to his own ears. Minseok, though, seemed to accept Sehun's answer, choosing to collapse tiredly into Sehun's arms instead of questing further.
Chanyeol decided their hug needed another addition, and removed himself from the couch, following Minseok's footsteps to the center of the room. Since he had the longest arms of the three, it's was wonderfully easy for Chanyeol to wrap himself around an embracing Minseok and Sehun, sighing in exhausted contentment as he rested his chin on Sehun's shoulder and gently kissed Minseok's hair. "I thought I heard a noise, though," Chanyeol said, half to himself.
"Mhmm!" Minseok agreed eagerly, as if suddenly remembering that he'd had a better reason for getting off the comfortable couch than Sehun's apparent "nothing" would suggest. The shorter man leaned his head back to gaze into Sehun's face, piercing the latter with a look that left no room for lies.
"Laundry," Sehun admitted finally with a loud exhale. Chanyeol chuckled in surprise and Sehun felt his cheeks flush in embarrassment. "I was trying to wash some clothes, okay?" he clarified for a confused Minseok. "I wanted to help out because you're so tired all the time and I know this stuff takes a toll on you and Chanyeol's never aro—" Sehun stopped himself before he could say something too hurtful, but the damage had already been done. That was evident in the way Minseok gasped in shock and Chanyeol pulled his arms from around Sehun as if he'd been slapped.
"I'm sorry," Sehun said quietly, emphasizing his apology in the hopes that Chanyeol would understand Sehun hadn't meant it. Not really. Sehun knew Chanyeol couldn't do anything about Luhan's whims, and that the reason Minseok only had to work when he wanted and Sehun got to dance for a living were because Chanyeol worked hard enough for all of them. "I didn't mean it, Yeollie, you know that."
Chanyeol's face softened, a small smile replacing the hurt frown that Sehun had unintentionally inflicted. He looked at Sehun with such love when he apologized too—for working so much. For not being around when they needed him to be. For not being able to help out around their house and leaving Minseok to do everything with little help from an incompetent Sehun.
For making Sehun and Minseok feel like it was just the two of them in this relationship, without a third person to balance them out and make everything better.
As Chanyeol spoke, Sehun could see tears creating slow tracks down Minseok's precious cheeks, and he hated himself for changing the mood so abruptly. Minseok had been so happy about Chanyeol's homecoming, and Sehun had ruined it. Once Chanyeol finished, Sehun apologized for that, too, but a silently crying Minseok shushed him immediately.
"Shut up, Sehunnie," Minseok hiccuped through his tears. "Your happiness makes me happy. Chanyeol's too. And it's always been like that for us, right?"
Sehun nodded guiltily because he knew that Minseok was going to say something totally correct and convicting, but Sehun just couldn't help himself sometimes. "Well," Minseok continued, "the opposite is true too." He cupped Sehun's face in his hands, and Sehun felt instantly comforted as Chanyeol stepped forward to slide his arms back around Sehun's body.
"So wise," Chanyeol teased, "our Minseok." The giant grinned suddenly, and just like that the mood in the room shifted to jovial again. "When you're sad," he leaned around to look at Sehun, "so are we. What he said," Chanyeol agreed, gesturing to Minseok, who blew a kiss in response. "But you're happy now, aren't you?" he asked Sehun over the increasingly loud noise of the washing machine.
Sehun thought about his emotional state in that moment, comparing it to how he'd felt a few moments prior, before smiling his own equivalent to Chanyeol's enormous grin and nodding happily. It didn't matter than Chanyeol was gone so much, because Sehun and Minseok were going to be there when he got back, every time. That thought comforted Sehun greatly, and Chanyeol's hurried kisses along his neck probably didn't hurt either.
Sehun groaned in frustration, recalling that all he'd gotten was a brief brush of lips, while Minseok had gotten prolonged contact. He turned around in Chanyeol's arms and eyed his slightly taller lover, watching as Chanyeol his lips in anticipation for the promise on Sehun's face. Both leaned in, years of practice making their actions smooth and instantaneous, the fit of their lips exact and wonderfully familiar. Sehun felt Chanyeol's lips open against his own, and grasped Chanyeol's shoulders in an attempt to steady himself as he probed Chanyeol's eager mouth with his tongue.
Things were becoming increasingly heated between them when Sehun realized that Minseok was no longer in the living room. Chanyeol's face filled much of his vision—they were still kissing—but Sehun could see enough from his limited vantage point to notice that Minseok wasn't on the couch either. His next thought would logically have been a wonder about his other lover's whereabouts, but Sehun's mind didn't get that far.
His thoughts—and their kissing—were interrupted by a sudden wail as the washer chimed to signal it was finished and Minseok pulled the wet clothes out to find that Sehun had neglected to sort by color before putting everything into the machine.
"Sehun!" Minseok wailed again, startling Sehun into action. He pulled a woozy Chanyeol into the kitchen to face a distraught Minseok who held a pastel button up in one hand and looked absolutely livid. "Why is my white dress shirt pink?!"
Sehun tried to explain that he'd known about adding Chanyeol—the softener—and Minseok—the powder detergent into the washing machine—because you needed all three to do laundry properly, just like Sehun thought life wouldn't be right if he didn't go together with both his lovers. When it came to the actual clothes though, Sehun admitted to an appalled Minseok and an amused Chanyeol that he hadn't thought of a relationship metaphor and as such hadn't exactly known what he was doing.
"Aw," Chanyeol let out adoringly, his happy virus clearly evident. He pinched Sehun's cheek and got a blush and an annoyed swat for his troubles. "He's so cute!" Chanyeol said of Sehun. "Don't you think, Minnie-baby?"
Minseok, evidently still upset, took a deep breath to calm himself before saying to Sehun, "I think that next time you want to help, maybe ask for help before you do."
Sehun gulped, but nodded, vowing aloud that he'd never try being domestic ever again. That prompted a pout from Chanyeol, who complained that he'd really been looking forward to coming home to Sehun doing laundry and Minseok cooking dinner, both wearing aprons—and not much else.
"Oh," Sehun said lowly, an idea forming as he spoke. "You have more than one apron, right, Minnie?"
Minseok nodded with a sly grin as Chanyeol looked between his two lovers, realization slowly dawning on his face.
"Besides," Sehun continued, grabbing Minseok by the hand and inching toward Chanyeol with a teasing smile on his face, "It'd be such a shame to let good laundry go to waste, don't you think?"
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