episode 1

There’s something soft underneath his cheek, something both oddly soft but firm as well. Like the skin of a peach, but without the fuzziness. Blearily, head pounding a vicious drumbeat in his head, Jeongguk opens his eyes, grimacing at the stickiness this action brings about. There’s crust around his eyes and dried drool at the corner of his mouth, and Jeongguk feels really gross.

“I think we drank a little too much last night,” Jeongguk mumbles against the firm chest below him. He brings up a hand to clutch at his head as it spins around at a dizzying pace, stomach whirling uncomfortably.

There’s a muffled groan from below and lazy arms reach up to wrap slowly around Jeongguk’s waist, tugging him back down to nuzzle against a broad chest. “I hate alcohol,” Jimin curses lowly under his breath as he buries his nose in Jeongguk’s mop of brown hair and inhales deeply, taking in the smell of roses and chocolate and home.

“So do I,” Jeongguk says, too out of it to come up with a witty comeback like he usually does when Jimin says something stupid.

They doze for a few minutes, drifting in and out of uneasy sleep, both too tired to move, and then the alarm on the bedside table goes off and splits the air with a screech that makes the pain in Jeongguk’s head ten times worse.  

“Turn it off! Turn it off!” He shouts, sitting straight up in bed to wave his arms around wildly as if doing so will somehow make the alarm stop making that horrible sound.

Jimin surges up in one desperate movement and lunges halfway across the bed to reach the bedside table, slamming his hand down on the alarm so hard that it falls off the table and clatters to the floor, effectively stopping the shrill sound from splitting Jeongguk’s head in half. 

“Thanks,” Jeongguk says, chancing a look at Jimin. His husband’s eyes are glazed with sleep, his hair is matted on his head in a mess of orange tangles, and his pink lips are pliant, stretching wide with a yawn. Beautiful, Jeongguk thinks. “Let’s take a bath,” he suggests. “I feel gross.”

Jimin nods, rubs at his eyes with two fists and smiles drowsily at Jeongguk. “Yes, please. A bath sounds nice.”  

They stumble to the bathroom and somehow manage not to collapse along the way. Jeongguk leans on Jimin’s shoulder and wonders why they thought it would be a good idea to drink half of the beer in the household. His head feels fuzzy and warm and he’s only so glad to fill the bath with hot water and sink down to his chin in soapy bubbles, sighing in relaxation when his tense muscles begin to loosen up. 

His eyes slide closed as behind him, Jimin sponges his back in circular motions, scrubbing him down and making him feel so good. I married an angel, he thinks. And then aloud, “I love you, Jimin.”

Jimin giggles and the sound is so big and bright and bubbly and fills up the whole room with the type of happiness only Jimin can bring that Jeongguk finds the corners of his mouth pulling up into a smile,  his first one of the day. “I love you too, Jeongguk.” Jimin presses a kiss to his nape and murmurs against the skin, “so much. I love my boo so much.”

Jeongguk’s heart jolts and for some reason, he feels shy. His cheeks are stained a rosy red as Jimin continues to pepper kisses to the back of his neck. He squirms slightly in Jimin’s grip and knows that his blush has spread to his ears when Jimin laughs again and plants one kiss to both of his ears.

“You’re precious,” Jimin declares with a soft look in his eyes he only ever gets around Jeongguk.

Jeongguk hides his face behind his hands and mumbles, “I think you’re precious too.”

-----

They clean up around the house for a bit after the bath, picking up discarded underwear and empty bottles and dirty socks. Jeongguk cringes when he sees a sticky mess of dried beer on the floor, it obviously had spilled at some point during the night and hadn’t been picked up, so now the floor is covered in dried beer and someone needs to clean it up. Jimin catches a glimpse of the mess and mumbles something about “bathroom” and Jeongguk rolls his eyes, knowing he’s going to have to clean it.

He heads to the cabinet under the sink for cleaning supplies but groans aloud in frustration when he comes to the realization that there are no supplies. They’ve run out a while ago and now he needs to go to the store for more. This is turning into a long process and Jeongguk is not up for it but if he doesn’t do it then no one will.    

“I’m heading over to the store!” Jeongguk calls out. Their house is relatively small so he’s certain Jimin can hear him from any room in the house. “Want anything?”

“Chips please!”

“Ok!”

He pulls on one of Jimin’s oversized hoodies, stretching the black material tight around him, and locks the door on his way out. It’s a nice day today, the sky is blue and the clouds are puffy and white, they almost look like a painting and Jeongguk stops to snap a quick picture of them, sending it to Jimin who replies with a, “pretty!😍”

Jeongguk smiles and his body feels like it’s floating, high on joy. Sometimes, he still can’t believe that Jimin is his husband. It’s surreal to wake up to a warm body beside him, to chat over breakfast about nothing and everything, to return home after a long day knowing that Jimin is waiting for him back at home with open arms and a warm smile. He doesn’t know how he ended up so lucky, but he’s not going to question it.

He imagines Jimin cuddled up on the couch watching cartoons and waiting for his chips and hurries the rest of the way to the store, swinging his arms as he jogs, eager to get back home.

The store is busy on the weekend and Jeongguk ducks and weaves through the throng of people as he heads to the cleaning aisle. He picks up the materials needed, throws them in the basket without looking, and makes a beeline to the snacks section. There aren’t many choices left since there are so many kids swarming around, but Jeongguk manages to find a bag of potato chips in the very back of the shelf as well as a box of chocolate goodies, and he cheers inside of his head as he heads to the checkout station.   

He takes a look at the chocolate box and tries to count how many are inside, and isn’t looking up when he collides with another body and goes tumbling to the floor. His box flies out of his hand as well as his basket, and he groans, rubbing at his ankle, which he had landed on quite harshly.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***