Chapter Text
“you know,” jisung spoke up, glancing at minho who was trying very hard to look like he knew what he was doing, “if i knew we were going to struggle this much, i would’ve just accepted chan’s offer instead of yours.”
minho huffed, a scowl clear on his face as he tried to decide whether they really needed such a large assortment of knives or if they would survive with just a couple. his wallet opted for the latter but the more reasonable part of him guessed that a butter knife and a slightly bigger knife would only do for so long.
“don’t act like this is completely hopeless, we already got a good amount of shopping done.” minho retaliated, gesturing at the cart in front of them.
“minho, this was supposed to be the easiest part, it feels like we’ve been here for hours !”
maybe the situation was a little less than ideal, but minho wouldn’t admit that, not if it meant keeping his cool for a little longer.
albeit minho being the one to come up with the idea of them moving in together after he graduated from college, he was nowhere near as prepared as he thought he was. the apartment they bought was simple; two rooms, one bathroom, a kitchen, a living room, and a tiny room for laundry and things alike. minho prided himself in finding the place, jisung seemingly as content as himself with the choice. they thought the hardest part would be finding a place to begin with, and while it was nowhere near easy or simple, the rest seemed to be exactly as complicated. they had decided to go grocery shopping first, both buzzing with excitement as they made their way to the nearest grocery store in minho’s brand new car. in essence, grocery shopping wasn’t exciting, and it wasn’t the first time they had gone together either, but it was the first time they went to get groceries for their apartment, and that was definitely something to be excited about.
the feeling hadn’t lasted very long. when it came to food they were fine; their tastes were fairly similar so they didn’t have trouble deciding what they should bring and what they shouldn’t. the real trouble began once they realized that this time, food wouldn’t be the only thing filling their cart. they weren’t planning to get anything fancy yet; they wanted to get somewhat settled before they began shopping for more long term items. yet, they still needed to buy things that would be useful for them in the meantime. tableware and cookware were their main priority at the moment, but what should’ve been a quick buy became a series of small arguments that ultimately lead to absolutely nothing .
“i just don’t understand -” minho said, jisung groaning loudly from behind him. “why do we need so many different things?”
“minho, you can’t just go on with your life with only a pan and a spatula. you simply can’t . ”
“is that a dare?”
in other situations, jisung would’ve happily indulged his boyfriend. not because it was a good idea, but because he usually enjoyed watching the other struggle. this time, though, he very much wanted to punch him. at the same time, he didn’t want to get arrested for causing havoc in a grocery store, and he was pretty sure the ice cream he had placed in the cart was starting to melt by now, so instead he settled for verbally threatening his oh-so-lovely partner.
“listen, if we don’t get out of here within the next fifteen minutes or so, there will be hell to pay.”
“ fine , let’s just get the rest later.” minho said, dropping whatever he had taken from the shelves back in its place. “i hope you weren’t planning on cooking tonight, i don’t even think we have gas yet.”
jisung sighed. “let’s just order food for tonight, yeah?”
although getting all the groceries from the car was a hassle, jisung was definitely in a much better mood by the time they arrived at their apartment, happily shuffling around the small kitchen as he began organizing everything they had bought. minho watched jisung with a small smile, eventually entering the kitchen and hugging the younger from behind as he placed some cans on the counter.
neither said anything for a while, both just enjoying each other’s presence then. it was something they tended to do often; there was just something intimate about being able to convey emotions without actually needing to voice them out. it was nice, and it only proved the fact that they were both stupidly smitten for each other further.
“what do you want to eat?” minho was the first to break the silence, placing a quick kiss on jisung’s cheek before letting his hands drop from their spot at his waist, letting the younger move freely again.
“anything’s fine,” jisung offered him a small shrug.”as long as it doesn’t take too long to get here, i’m actually kind of hungry.”
minho nodded, moving to seat himself on the counter as jisung continued putting what was left away. again, they settled into a comfortable silence, the only thing audible being the sound of jisung walking from one side of the kitchen to the other, along with the occasional sound from either the apartment above them or the one next door. the fact that they now officially lived together still felt surreal, but in the best way possible.
they had been dating for around a year now, pushing two soon. it was safe to say it had been one of the best years they had, despite the constant stress and struggles they had to go through because of college. minho was happy to finally be able to put college behind him, and although jisung still had some time left before he officially graduated, they were both equally as excited for what the future may have in store for them. they knew there were still challenges they’d have to overcome, that much was obvious, but it didn’t make it any less exciting. jisung would definitely miss seeing minho around campus, but coming home to him every night was definitely better.
that reminded jisung of something.
“hey, you know how you’re going to start teaching the kids at the studio soon?” minho hummed, nodding his head as he continued looking at his phone “how late will you be coming back then?”
minho thought for a second. he had gotten a new job as a dance teacher for kids and teens at a nearby dance studio. assistant dance teacher, technically, he still had to go through a training period before he could teach a class completely on his own, but those were minor details.
“i’m only helping with the earlier classes for now so i shouldn’t be later than five. you? you’re working full shifts now, right?” minho asked, redirecting the question to jisung, who nodded.
“yeah, i’m working the night shift, though it doesn’t really go into the night that much. i’m working twelve-thirty to seven-thirty so i should be back by eight.” he said, nodding along his own words as if to prove his point further.
“sounds tough.”
jisung smiled lightly. “maybe a little. i’m trying to make more money so paying rent won’t be a hassle, at least during summer, which is now. i’ll go back to my shorter shifts once school starts.”
“oh, it feels weird knowing i’m not in school anymore but you are.” minho said, humming a little as he ran the idea over in his mind.
“does it make you realize that you’re a hag?”
“ha. very funny, sung.” jisung only laughed at the other’s monotone voice, clearly enjoying teasing him. their age difference wasn’t noticeable most of the time-it wasn’t like they had a huge gap in between them to begin with-but jisung still liked to poke fun at the fact that minho was, indeed, older.
“jokes aside, it will be a little weird not seeing you around on campus.” jisung stopped moving around for a little as he imagined what it would be like to go to college without minho. they had already gone through this when chan graduated, so he didn’t expect the whole experience to be any different, though this time they had lost both minho and changbin, so there might be a slight difference still.
he’d have to endure it either way.
“don’t be too sad about it, you’ll still see me every night, or at least almost every night.” it was minho’s turn to shrug, finally placing his phone down after placing an order from their favorite sushi restaurant.
jisung scrunched up his nose slightly, an expression close to disgust apparent on his face. “i said it would be weird, not that i’m sad about it.” he said, squinting at minho for a few seconds before moving from his spot, instead settling next to the boy on the counter. he leaned against him, a soft sigh escaping his lips as he stared off into the kitchen. “you better be here most night’s, i don’t want you waking me up because you come home late.” was jisung’s version of i know, i really like the thought of coming home to you and they both knew it, despite jisung’s slightly aggressive tone.
“mhm, whatever you say. love you too by the way.” minho said cheekily, earning a slight shove as jisung rolled his eyes.
“gross.” was all that jisung said before wandering off again, leaving minho in the kitchen as he sauntered over to what was now their room, or at least for the time being. they had yet to buy proper furniture, so all that laid in said room was a mattress that was barely big enough to fit both of them (which had been a strange but very useful gift from chan), but that was something they could gloss over; they were no strangers to waking up tangled with each other, after all.
he landed on the mattress with a soft sigh, closing his eyes momentarily. regardless of how much the two bickered, jisung really was happy with their current situation. nothing was perfect by any means, yet he wouldn’t have it any other way. it was one thing to occasionally spend whole days together in the midst of their studies, but knowing they would always be waiting for each other at the end of a long day was a whole new thing, and it filled jisung with a mix of feelings he couldn’t describe as anything but love. awfully cheesy, but true.
he allowed his thoughts to wander for a little before shifting on the mattress, eyes still closed. he could hear minho moving somewhere in the apartment, although which room exactly he didn’t know. he felt somewhat heavy but in a good way, more tired than anything else-they had been out for quite a while in that day alone. the sound of minho’s footsteps was enough to lull jisung to sleep if he allowed it to, and after a very short-lived battle with himself, jisung came to the conclusion that a nap wouldn’t hurt.
“babe, wake up.”
jisung knew that it was him being called-if the constant shaking of his shoulder was anything to go by-but he couldn’t bring himself to open his eyes just yet. he didn’t know what time it was, or how long he had been asleep for, but he did know that he wanted whoever was bothering him to stop, and let him get a few more minutes (or hours) of sleep in.
“if you don’t get up soon i’m eating your sushi.”
maybe not.
jisung rolled onto his stomach with a small groan, squinting up at a slightly amused minho. he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before sitting up, his back against the wall as a yawn ripped through his body. he hadn’t slept for very long, that much he could tell. food delivery took an hour at most, so he calculated that he had slept for at least forty minutes, if that. or maybe minho had gotten the food earlier and had decided to wake jisung up just now, but that seemed unlikely as minho usually liked to eat the food while still hot instead of putting it off for later.
minho couldn’t help but chuckle as he watched his boyfriend come out of his unconscious state, clearly trying to figure something out as his brows furrowed and his bottom lip jutted out ever so slightly. he looked adorable then, and it made minho want to kiss him.
so he did, leaning down and placing a soft peck on the other’s lips before moving back and standing up right once again, patting jisung’s slightly messy hair down as he tried to coax him into coming to eat.
“sungie, the food got here a few minutes ago, let’s go eat before it gets cold, yeah?” he took hold of the other’s hand and tugged, smiling as he watched the barely-awake boy stumble off the mattress. he led them back to the kitchen where the food sat, still in the delivery bags as minho had made no effort to take the food out earlier.
they were quick to organize their somewhat early dinner, each taking their respective dish and placing the extras in the middle for them to share. despite jisung being fully awake by the time they actually started eating, not much words were exchanged, each too focused on their food for the time being.
it wasn’t until jisung asked for a bite of minho’s food that the silence was broken, both unsurprisingly breaking into a small round of bickering. it ended with minho feeding jisung some of his food and jisung doing the same back, murmuring something or other about feeling bad now that he had taken a single piece of minho’s food. minho melted a little at that, but decided not to comment on it as he knew jisung would take it back as soon as he pointed it out.
the two found themselves tangled with each other once the food was all gone, content with their dinner for the night. jisung had suggested going back to the mattress after they ate, claiming it to be the comfiest spot in their apartment at that point. while he wasn’t necessarily wrong, minho suspected that jisung just wanted to go back to sleep. it’s not like he’d stop him, of course, but he found it funny how the other tried to appear like he just liked sitting on the mattress because it was comfortable.
jisung had his leg over minho’s own as he spoke, fingers tangled in his hair as he played with a few strands here and there. “you should let me dye your hair.” he said randomly, minho only humming in response at first.
“why? i like my hair the color it is now”.
“yeah but we could dye our hair together! go for a change, you know.” jisung tried to reason, the idea seemingly becoming more and more appealing as he thought more about it.
“jisung, we’re both starting work soon, we can’t just dye our hair randomly anymore.” minho took jisung’s hands away from his hair, pulling him closer and hugging him loosely. jisung sighed as minho wrapped his arms around him, nodding his head lightly at minho’s statement. “i mean, i work at a café, i’m pretty sure i’d get away with it,” another small sigh was heard, “but yeah, i guess as a dance teacher you can’t really just dye your hair whenever anymore. plus, i don’t wanna do it alone.”
minho nodded, rubbing soothing circles all over the small of jisung’s back. “why don’t you do it with felix? i’m sure he’d be down.”
“he already did! did you not see? he has grey hair now.”
“oh, well, maybe next time.” minho shrugged. jisung only nodded back, muttering a small yeah, next time before tightening his hold on minho slightly, but not enough for it to be noticeable.
from an outsider point of view, there was nothing special about the two at that moment. but for them, every single moment they had shared up until now was as special as the last. from when minho accidentally texted the wrong number to their first i love you s to moving together; every single moment had been perfect in their own way. time had no effect on their bond, only making it stronger as they discovered more and more together. saying they were happy was an understatement; they were in pure bliss whenever the other was present.
it wouldn’t be all smooth sailing from here, but they’d manage. as long as they were there to back each other up, there was nothing that could bring them down.
as long as they were together .
fin.