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"Have you seen my socks?" Jeonghan calls from the kitchen. Seungcheol makes a quick sweep of the bedroom and finds three pairs of socks on the floor, four folded neatly in the dresser drawers along with his own things, and he can clearly see some brightly colored socks in his hamper that are definitely not his own.
"Which pair?" He asks, picking the socks up off the floor, Jeonghans voice becomes more distant.
"The green striped ones." He decides, the sound of cupboards being opened and closed is like music to Seungcheols ears seeing as Jeonghan's cooking is the best.
He grabs the wanted socks from his drawer and walks into the kitchen to see Jeonghan carefully preparing food, the smell of fresh chopped vegetables and the steam from the rice cooker means Seungcheol will definitely have something home cooked during lunch break today.
Jeonghan sees Seungcheol and eyes the socks, held like an offering in his grasp. "Thanks, Seungie."
He takes the socks and straightens Seungcheol's bangs with his fingers, nose wrinkling at the feeling of gel. While Jeonghan washes his hands and finishes preparing their lunch, socks tucked into his back pocket, Seungcheol enjoys the feeling of waking up and starting the day with someone. It gets lonely in his apartment, and knowing Jeonghan is around more often gives him something to look forward to.
They both attend the same University, but met in high school; both were part of the drama club. Now here they are together in a world that gets too overwhelming when you're on your own.
The soft ticking of the clock blends into the background until Seungcheol's watch lets out a startling beep; Jeonghan presses a container into his hand and Seungcheol is so grateful to him; getting lunch at the university between classes is never easy and he does enjoy Jeonghan's made-with-love cooking
"I'll see you later?" He asks, one foot already out the door, and Jeonghan kisses him once on the lips.
"Yes, now hurry up or you'll be late; again."
"Right, right I'm going." Seungcheol catches Jeonghan's smile once more before the door closes and leaves him with his thoughts.
Classes go by as they regularly do, and Seungcheol's lunch is the highlight of the day; each bite makes him forget that he's sandwiched between Junhui and Wonwoo. Their discussion on plant life doesn't interest Seungcheol in the least, but he thinks for a moment that Jeonghan likes plants, and that train of thought lasts well past Junhui and Wonwoo's conversation, to the point that Junhui snaps his fingers in front of Seungcheol's face in order to gain back his attention.
"Thinking about Jeonghan again?" Wonwoo asks, though he knows the answer.
"I thought your obsession would mellow out once he finally agreed to date you." Junhui comments, and Seungcheol wants to correct him because he makes it sound as though Jeonghan had finally been worn down by Seungcheol's persistence and didn't agree to date him simply from a mutual interest.
Okay so maybe that is sort of how it started.
"I'm free to think about whatever I want." Seongcheol insists, ignoring Wonwoo's eye-roll and Junhui's scoff.
Seungcheol kind of wishes Jeonghan's breaks matched with his because if he were here there's no way Seungcheol would be getting the third degree from Wonwoo and Junhui.
"So how is Jeonghan?" Wonwoo asks mercifully, because he's a good friend.
"He's good, he woke up early and made us both lunch." Seungcheol says, pointing to the neatly packed box of veggies and rice.
Wonwoo and Junhui look to each other, and then set their laser eyes on Seungcheol; he's suddenly nervous and he doesn't even know why.
"He stayed the night?" Junhui ventures, leaning a bit closer across the table and speaking quietly.
"And you left your apartment before he did?" Wonwoo adds, knowing Seungcheol's and Jeonghan's schedules by heart.
Seungcheol shrugs, because it's not like this is new, "It doesn't matter, he's got a key."
"He has a key?!" Junhui and Wonwoo both exclaim, Seungcheol shushes them with a glare as other people look up from their own lunches.
"Yes, he has a key; I don't see what the big deal is. He spends the night sometimes."
"Sometimes? If it's more than three times a week you should just move in with each other already." Junhui says, and Seungcheol's brain silently implodes because he and Jeonghan aren't living together, they're not at that stage yet, right?
"We're not at that stage yet." Seungcheol insists, five minutes before he needs to be in Lecture Hall D.
"Really? Then what else do you call that?" Wonwoo asks, pointing at Seongcheol's wrist.
On the opposite hand where he wears his watch, there are two black hair ties wrapped around his wrist. He wears them so frequently he's started to forget that he even wears them at all.
"Jeonghan forgets his sometimes." Seungcheol explains, "I don't think this has anything to do with whether or not he's moved in."
"Everything has to do with whether or not he's moved in." With Junhui's last cryptic words, Seungcheol shakes his head and parts ways, heading to his business class with a feeling of dread for the coming lecture.
As it turns out, the lecture is the least he has to worry about; as though it's not hard enough to take notes on a subject that can be very dry, Seungcheol's mind just won't let him focus. The gentle glide of pen against paper and the fast paced scratching sound of pencil, as well as the clicking of keys on a laptop fill the lecture hall and make it easier for him to zone out whatever the professor is teaching them; not the best policy but today is harder than most. What the hell had Junhui and Wonwoo meant? Just because Jeonghan spent more time at his place rather than going back to his shared apartment with Soonyoung and Jisoo, doesn't mean he's moved in.
Really, Jeonghan would have told him if he'd moved in, Seungcheol rationalizes. For the entire day, even on the walk back to his apartment, he reasons with himself that his two friends are just trying to confuse him by saying Jeonghan's moved in, as though Seungcheol couldn't tell if that were the case.
He unlocks his front door and sets his bag next to his desk, which has Jeonghan's laptop charging on it. The little light is green so Seungcheol unplugs it and goes into the bathroom to wash his face, there's a strong scent of lavender coming from the bar of soap in his dish and he could have sworn the last time he bought soap it was scentless...when was the last time he bought soap? He wonders as he dries off his face, the hand towel is soft against has skin and it's grey color throws him off for a few minutes. The last time he really looked at his towels they were a mixed array of striped and polka dotted, most even had stains from cleaning supplies on them, but these towels (not just his hand towel, but the bath towels too) are a soft fresh looking grey color.
It's then that he really takes it in. The bottles of shampoo and conditioner in his shower, the lotion sitting on the bathroom counter which makes Jeonghan smell like wildflowers and vanilla, there's a lime green toothbrushes in the holder next to Seungcheol's, hair ties are strewn about, and there's a blow dryer in one of the drawers that Seungcheol doesn't remember buying; he's content to let his short locks air dry. For a moment, he thinks that maybe the Jeonghan-ness is just confined to the bathroom, but when he strips out of his clothes and tosses them in his laundry basket there's a clear mix of Jeonghan's clothes with his. Seungcheol gets a pair of jeans and a shirt out of his dresser drawer only to find Jeonghan's clothes neatly folded beside his own; even his jackets are hung up next to Seungcheol's in the closet.
There's a book sitting on the nightstand, on the side of the bed where Jeonghan sleeps when he spends the night. A pair of slippers are also resting by Jeonghan's bedside, and there are yet again more hair ties on the nightstand. When Seungcheol walks out to survey the rest of his small apartment, he comes to the realization that there are pieces of Jeonghan's everywhere. There's a coffee mug sitting on a coaster on the end table next to the couch Jwonghan helped pick out. His bookshelf in the living room is significantly more full than when he last checked, and there are small Christmas themed decorations on his mantel that scream Jeonghan. There's a row of shoes by the door that have Jeonghan's shoes mixed with his own, his calendar magnetized to the fridge shows important dates for Seungcheol as well as Jeonghan.
All of these things should come as a shock to Seungcheol, he should be nervous or upset that Jeonghan has been slyly moving in for the past who-knows-how-long; but he's not. Instead, there's a warm spread of happiness throughout his body that travels from his toes to the very crown of his head.
When Jeonghan gets back from class, he looks more handsome than Seungcheol remembers from this morning. The long day shows through Jeonghan's messy hair that's windswept, and the soft tiredness in his eyes, the faint traces of sweat on his forehead, and his slightly wrinkled clothes. This is when Seungcheol loves him the most, because he's the one Jeonghan chooses to come back to, he lets himself look worn out because he knows Seungcheol will take care of him.
Seungcheol pulls Jeonghan close to him, arms wrapped around his waist as soon as Jeonghan locks the door. His nose presses against the column of Jeonghan's neck, and his chin rests on his shoulder, Seongcheol only pulls away so he can look at the smile he knows is on Jeonghan's face.
"What's for dinner?" Seungcheol asks, and Jeonghan swats him away as he gets out of his jacket and loosens his hair out of its ponytail.
"Your mind's always on food, isn't it? Maybe you just keep me around because I can cook." Jeonghan ponders, smiling at his own joke before kissing Seungcheol on the cheek as he moves into the bedroom, their bedroom.
"Well, not just because you can cook." Seungcheol says, starting to gather ingredients at random from the fridge, "But I'll admit, your cooking skills do make it hard to leave you."
"Not that you'd want to." Jeonghan calls from the bedroom, voice muffled as he slips into more comfortable clothes.
"Not that I'd want to." Seungcheol agrees.
He doesn't say anything that night, about their obvious living arrangement, he waits another month but pays close attention to all the differences. Jeonghan continues to leave things at Seungcheol's, and the apartment looks even more like theirs and not just his.
When Jeonghan starts suggesting that Seungcheol paint the living room, that's when he gets his chance.
"If we paint the living room we'll have to paint our bedroom too." Seungcheol says evenly, arm draped across Jeonghan's shoulders as they sit on the couch.
It's a Saturday morning and the chill outside and the frost on the windows can't reach them as they enjoy their morning wrapped in a blanket, hot mugs of tea are set on their coffee table and the smell of Ginseng and honey is subtle and warm. Jeonghan stills, mug halfway to his lips, he turns his head to see Seungcheol's face.
"Our?" He asks tentatively, his eyes glimmering with the hope that Seungcheol's words bring.
"Yeah, I think if I wait any longer you're going to run out of things to subtly move into the apartment."
"I still had another box." Jeonghan says, head resting back on Seungcheol's arm.
"Then move it in tomorrow."
"Only after you officially ask me to move in with you, it's what every boy dreams of." Jeonghan says, deliberately.
"Yoon Jeonghan, will you move in with me?"
"Ah, very romantic, I'd love to."
The funny thing is, things don't really change. Jeonghan moves his last box into the apartment, their apartment, and everything stays the same. Seungcheol makes breakfast nowadays, and Jeonghan handles lunch, it's really a toss up between take-out restaurants for dinner. Honestly, the most excruciating part of this whole ordeal is having to admit to Junhui and Wonwoo that they were right. But, some losses are worth the the end result; especially if that means he gets to wake up to Jeonghan curled against him in bed each morning, and kiss him each night. Living with someone you love is special in and of itself, this Seungcheol knows completely now.