Work Text:
Jin-Woo eyed the edge of his blade as it cut through the air and slices apart the body of another ice elf with clean and accurate precision. The sound of metal tearing into flesh and cutting down another barrage of elves as easily as if he were cutting through water was basically background music to his ears. His body moved swiftly alongside his shadow army who picked off stragglers that managed to slip by him, body after body piling up and waiting to be harvested for materials and crystals by the shadow ants. He flicked the accumulated blood and gore off of his blade with a quick snap of his wrist with a sigh to no one but himself.
“Everything alright, my liege?” Beru asked from his right.
“Of course.” He responded coolly.
It’s all easy, almost too easy. They made their way through the dungeon in the direction of the boss with leisure. He’d almost wished there was an option to turn up the difficulty level of domains in his window. He disregarded this thought and went back to organizing his mental schedule and the checklist of tasks he had been assigned by Jin-Chul and some that he had given to himself as well.
Vacuum the living room
Fold the laundry
Dust the bookshelves
Grocery shopping
Complete daily workout
He calculated the time in his mind, the dungeon was more than a little boring, and if he managed to clear it within the hour and within the timeframe of his schedule, that would be very much appreciated above all. He should still have time to get home and get started on the braised beef and clean up the living room in time. He hadn’t gone to the market and haggled down the price with the aunty trying to rob him blind all for nothing after all. This dish would be completed one way or another.
He had been on his way home from the grocery store when he stumbled across a domain that seemingly was missed by the hunters association radar. They would probably pick up on it in no time but he could also get away without getting into too much trouble for it if he was fast about it. With that thought, he had looked over his shoulder to ensure no one was paying any attention, assigned a shadow to watch over his grocery bags, and then he slipped into the dungeon.
Thankfully, as it usually went, nearing the boss area became obvious when the opponents became stronger by just enough for his mages to struggle on their own. He called in more backup with iron and they picked up the pace from there. The dungeon boss seemed more interested in starting his monologue and, Jin-Woo being as kind as he is, let him go for as long as he could bear to listen while he went over the recipe to the braised beef recipe in his mind until he finally became bored and cut him down. It proved to be all too easy, leveling up his mages and attaining new skills and clearing the dungeon. He stepped right out of the dungeon and it closed up behind him like neither of them were even there.
He pressed a silencing finger to his lips when a little boy biking home with a heavy looking school bag on his shoulders stared at him with open mouthed awe. He retrieved his bags and continued his journey home without a hitch and he was right on schedule too, thankfully.
Beru cleaned up the bookshelf for him, which proved to be a mistake because the shadow ant occasionally earned himself a scolding when he would become too immersed in the books themselves. Jin-Woo kept an eye on him while the rice cooker did its thing and the beef simmered away slowly on the stove. He made quick work of vacuuming the living room, tidying the throw pillows on the couch and putting things back in their place. While he was at it, he decided to change the curtains and match the throw pillows to the new colour. He went back and forth preparing the side dishes and finishing up the final laundry cycle before summoning Igris to help him fold and put away the laundry while he prepared a quick after meal dessert. The clothes were clean and the house smelled heavenly and Jin-Woo couldn’t help the pleased grin that spread across his face when he looked at the results of his hard work.
He was finishing up a mixed drink when he could hear the familiar sound of the keycode being put in at the front door. He perked up and called his shadows back, not before Igris gave him a knowing look. The insect shadow had expressed to him once that Igris intends to tell him that he resembles a dog waiting for its master to return at the end of the day on occasion. He turned his nose up at the thought and brought the drink with him to the door to welcome his lover home.
Jin-Chul is hardly even inside before the fussing starts.
Jin-Woo took his briefcase for him, helped him out of his coat, handed him the drink before kneeling and unlacing his shoes and placing his slippers down on the ground for him all before the older could even utter the words. “I’m home.”
“Welcome home, hyung.” Jin-Woo finally greeted with a peck to his lips.
Jin-Chul looked tired, he probably felt that way too. The wrinkles between his eyebrows were more pronounced today, and his hair was slowly becoming more undone from how Jin-Woo had recalled watching him style it in the morning. His eyes especially looked a little dull in contrast to their usual sharp appearance. He was completely exhausted. So Jin-Woo made quick work of herding him to the living room and urging him to take a seat on the armchair. “How was your day?”
Jin-Chul took a sip of the drink and wrinkled his nose just slightly, it was so inconspicuous that the average person would not even notice, but it alone was enough for the younger to catch it. Too strong. Jin-Woo noted mentally. He busied himself putting Jin-Chul’s briefcase in the study and hanging his coat on a hanger.
“Long and exhausting.”
Jin-Woo smiled at him with mostly his eyes. “You worked hard today.” He commented warmly.
“The most curious thing happened, though… a dungeon pinged on our radar but then disappeared after just a few minutes. Downtown.” He stated, pulling his tie off and unbuttoning the first three buttons while he leaned back in the seat, stretching his long legs and sighing out in comfort, and Jin-Woo struggled to keep the drool in his mouth, “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that now, would you?”
“Well my day was wonderful,” Jin-Woo cleared his throat and disregarded his questions with a charmingly disarming smile, “Did some spring cleaning, visited my mother and came right back home after grocery shopping.”
Jin-Chul looked him right in the eye with a smile he couldn’t hide and a roll of his eyes before downing the rest of his drink. “You’re so silly. Do you know who has to try and come up with an explanation when these things happen, dear?”
He raised an eyebrow and Jin-Woo’s heart fluttered a tiny bit before he cleared his throat and untied the apron from around his waist before folding it over the crook of his arm and making a show of checking his wristwatch. “Oh, won’t you look at the time, darling? Dinner is just about ready now.”
“You’re going to be the death of me.”
“You’ll be the death of yourself if you keep working so hard. That's why I try to help.”
“Oh, so you admit that you did have something to do with that vanishing gate?”
“I haven’t the clue what you’re talking about. Come, wash your hands.”
Dinner was perfect, maybe a little on the almost salty part for the stirfried vegetables, but he made a mental note to measure his seasonings more carefully for next time. The braised beef was most perfect though, and the sound of Jin-Chul moaning around his chopsticks was almost more enjoyable and pleasing than the dish itself. The meal returned some of the color to his cheeks and some life to his complexion. Jin-Woo mentally patted himself on his shoulder, and poured Jin-Chul another drink.
By the end of dinner, Jin-Chul sat across from him and listened intently as he told him a little about his mother and sister and some weekend plans they made together. He nodded along and asked follow up questions and engaged in the conversation well, but the underlying tiredness was still there.
“We should go on a date. It’s been a while, hmm?” He offered over a tired yawn.
“Where do you wanna go?” Jin-Woo reached across their small dining table and took his free hand, thumbing over his knuckles before pressing a soft kiss to his bony appendage.
“What do you think about the beach?” Jin-Chul grinned and pinched his chin, pulling his hand back and stacking the dirty dishes on the table to clean up.
“That sounds lovely. For now, how about I run you a bath and you can enjoy that while I clean up here.”
“Nonsense, you’ve already made dinner. The least I can do is help clean up.”
Jin-Woo smiled wide and sickeningly sweet. “I’d be much happier if you left this for me and go relax in the bath a bit while you put together our beach day plans.” He snatched the chopsticks out of the other’s hands and piled them on the dirty dishes and took them to the sink.
Jin-Chul surrendered with a defeated sigh and a grumbled out fine beneath his breath. But he took Jin-Woo’s advice and headed for the bath.
Cleaning up was easy for the most part. There wasn’t much to begin with. So he dried his hands when he finished and fiddled with the thermometer for the central ac unit and turned down the temperature by a few degrees along with dimming the lights and pouring a cup of spiced whiskey for himself and another mixed drink for Jin-Chul, this time being mindful of the proportions. This time it should be perfect.
Jin-Chul steps out of the shower along with a cloud of steam and a more relaxed slump in his shoulders. He wore a soft knitted jumper that complimented the colour of his hair nicely, and pajama bottoms that have probably seen better days but Jin-Woo doesn’t doubt their comfort. His hair is down, and almost dry. Like he had started the blowdryer and gotten the process going before ultimately giving up along the way. A healthy flush settled over his cheeks from the warm water and he looked so warm and cozy that Jin-Woo wanted nothing more than to just wrap him up and put him to bed.
Instead, he gestured to the seat next to himself and invited the older man to have a drink with him. Slipper clad feed obediently made their way over, but instead of taking the seat to his left, Jin-Chul seemed to have another idea.
He lowered himself onto Jin-Woo's lap with a heated kiss, his knees settled on either side of Jin-Woo’s hips and he wrapped his arms around the younger’s shoulder as he bit his pout and slipped his tongue into Jin-Woo’s mouth. Jin-Chul’s body was just as warm and comfortable as it looked. The older’s body was a comforting weight on top of him, and this would be accepted and even reciprocated on almost any other day. So Jin-Woo let him have his fill for a moment or two more before he ultimately pulled back right before he could get his hands under Jin-Woo’s shirt. Jin-Woo pulled the chilled fingers to his lips instead and kissed them sweetly. “You’re tired, dear.” He stated so matter-of-factly that it made Jin-Chul recoil in confusion. The little wrinkles between his eyebrows became more prominent with his little frown.
He huffed, eyebrows knitted together in even confusion as he tilted his head to the side like he would understand Jin-Woo better from a different angle. “Wasn't this your plan all along? Feed me and get me drunk before fucking me?”
Jin-Woo dropped his hands to Jin-Chul’s lap and pinched the top of his thigh. “Not necessarily.” He admitted blandly.
“Oh…” He said dumbly. “Then what’s the special occasion today?”
“Nothing, I just wanted to.”
Jin-Chul looked him in the eye, studying the left and right one individually to find any sort of deception in them. Obviously there would be none. So with a snort, he slid off his lap and settled next to him on the sofa instead. Snorting before picking up his drink again, he downed almost all of it in one sip, this time without even a flicker of a grimace. “Well then I guess I prepared myself in the shower for nothing.”
The way he said it was far too casual for what he had just been doing on his lap, and Jin-Woo bit the inside of his cheek so hard, blood flooded his mouth and he tried to steady his heartbeat so that all the blood wouldn’t flow south as he summoned every bit of self control his body could muster as he shamelessly provided himself with so many racy images of the other in his mind. He willed the thoughts away with a mantra he repeated over and over again in his mind. He’s tired.
“Thanks for cleaning up the bookshelf for me, by the way. I’ve been meaning to get to it but… no time,” he yawned and Jin-Woo pretended to ignore the way Beru blinked up at him from the faint shadow cast on the ground with big accusing eyes.
Jin-Chul placed a pillow on Jin-Woo’s lap and plopped his head on it. Soft clean feathery strawberry blond hair splayed over the fluffy throw pillow in an organized mess. He grinned up at Jin-Woo and cups his face in his palm before guiding him down for another kiss, this one much tamer… chaste even. “Then if you’re not gonna fuck me, read for me at least.”
Jin-Woo tangled his fingers in his hair and scratched at his scalp lightly with his nails. He peppered a few more kisses over Jin-Chul’s cheeks before pulling back and studying their bookshelf for options. “What would you like to hear, young master?”
Before he could respond, his mouth stretched wide in a sleepy yawn as he turned on his side, cuddling closer to Jin-Woo. He pulled the throw blanket off the back of the chair and laid it over Jin-Chul. “Can you read The Happy Prince?”
Jin-Woo should not have asked, he should have known. It’s the story Jin-Chul always chose after all. He had told him once that it was a childhood favorite. Lord knows why.
“Of course. Beru!”
The eager shadow ant burst forth from the shadows and appeared on his knee with a claw to his chest. “Stop bowing and just get the book already.”
“Yes, my liege.”
Jin-Chul’s eyes had already begun fluttering tiredly when Jin-Woo started the story. But he held the book open with his right hand and flipped the page with his thumb, his other hand busy massaging Jin-Chul’s scalp and playing with his hair. By the time he got to the swallow kissing the prince and the prince’s heart breaking, Jin-Chul had all but fallen asleep on his lap. He’d always hated that part of the story. He had no idea why Jin-Chul liked it so much. But he had accumulated an audience with the multitude of eyes blinking back at him through the shadows, so he continued reading the next page before stopping to study the illustration of the lead heart and the dead sparrow in the hands of the angel. He wrinkled his nose and shut the book before turning to Jin-Chul.
He slept so peacefully. An arm tucked to his chest and the other holding onto Jin-Woo’s thigh, as if making sure he wouldn’t go anywhere. The wrinkles in between his eyebrows were gone, and his relaxed face made him look far younger. He breathed steadily through parted lips and his long eyelashes brushed the top of his cheekbones. There were tiny, almost unnoticeable freckles that dotted his cheeks near his nose and some dusting over his high nose bridge. Jin-Woo’s heart soared and swooned and he resisted the urge to lean down and kiss every one of those freckles, where to start and how many were there? Maybe that would be a project for another. But for now…
“To bed we go, dear prince.”