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Jeongin enters the apartment he shares with Chan, and a weight is lifted from his shoulders. He had a couple of incredibly stressful days, so getting home feels extra special. He takes off his shoes and jacket, puts his keys on the hook, and his wallet on the shelf. He opens his bag while walking towards the kitchen, surprised to see some dirty dishes still sitting in the sink. Jeongin adds his bento box to the other dishes.
“I'm home,” he calls carefully, then listens for a response. If the dishes are still dirty, Chan is probably still awake. But there is no response. Maybe he’s just listening to music with his headphones on. That wouldn't be unusual at all.
So Jeongin walks towards their shared bedroom and smiles softly at the sight that greets him; the TV screen is pitch black, but it is clear that Chan fell asleep while watching something, waiting for Jeongin to get home. The lamp on Chan's nightstand still glows, He's still dressed in a tanktop and joggers, sitting against the headboard with his head dropped in a position that can't be comfortable, but apparently not uncomfortable enough to keep him awake.
Jeongin gets closer and places a soft kiss on his head. Before he can try to reposition Chan without waking him up, he notices the smell, then the dark spot in Chan's crotch. Right away, Jeongin's concern increases. He's aware that they have both been stressed, but he didn't think things were this bad for Chan. He doesn't usually just fall asleep, not without cleaning the dishes and religiously following his night routine, including the necessary bathroom break.
“Channie hyung,” Jeongin says softly, nudging his side. As much as he wants to just let him sleep and get some rest, he has to get Chan showered and change the bedding.
Chan stirs, then shrieks awake. He calms a little when he sees Jeongin, who presses another kiss to his head. “You're back.”
“I'm back,” Jeongin smiles. “And I'm so sorry to wake you, love, but we should take a shower.”
Chan frowns for a split second, then groans when he realises what had happened. “Fuck.”
“It's okay, hyung. I'm back now, so you can just go through your routine and then we can go to sleep, yeah?”
Chan nods and gets out of bed.
“Do you want me to do the bed, or would you rather do it yourself?” Ideally, of course, Jeongin would love to do this for Chan, take some work off his list, but he's aware that Chan might prefer to do this himself, to clear his mind of the accident.
“Could you do it?” Chan asks, and Jeongin smiles proudly.
“Of course. Go clean up now, take your time.”
Jeongin starts removing the dirtied bedding while Chan gets in the shower. Technically, that's all he really has to change, but Chan would go crazy if he doesn't do the whole set, and would insist on doing it himself.
Jeongin enters the bathroom and puts everything in the washing machine. Chan isn't singing like he usually does in the shower, and Jeongin tries not to worry too much. Of course he would be upset over this. He had fallen asleep completely against his will, without going through his routine, and woke up to having peed himself, which understandably still hurt his pride, albeit not as much as it used to.
Jeongin barely remembers the last time that even happened. Chan works incredibly well when he can follow his routines and just exist in his safe space—and starts malfunctioning when he can't follow those routines. His awareness of his own body has always been an issue for him, from what he told Jeongin over the years. There are many external sensations he struggles with; certain fabrics, foods, temperatures, so he prefers to stick to the things he knows, avoids what he can avoid. Then there's the internal things; he often forgets to eat and drink, and doesn't know when to stop when he does remember, so he plans everything beforehand; he heats up easily but can't stand the feeling of sweat on his skin, so they keep the apartment relatively cool, or just forego clothes altogether; and he struggles to feel out when he needs to go to the bathroom, so he includes it in his routines: first thing in the morning, after meals, before and after working out, before going to bed.
Jeongin finishes making the bed and joins Chan in the bathroom to get ready for bed, too. Chan has finished his shower by now, brushing his teeth with a towel thrown over his shoulders. Jeongin has seen his boyfriend's naked body hundreds of times before, and he's still impressed every time he sees it.
“Hi, pretty,” he smiles as he appears next to Chan in the mirror. “Feeling better?”
Chan nods. Jeongin starts brushing his teeth, too, leaving them in relative silence. He's still trying to figure out if he missed anything, any signs that Chan was having a harder time than usual, but Jeongin was also very busy over the past days, so he couldn't pay as much attention to his boyfriend as he would've liked to.
Jeongin watches from the corner of his eye as Chan puts his toiletries aside, cleans his side of the sink, first just with water, then takes out some of his cleaning supplies that Jeongin isn't too familiar with. They used to have more evenly split chores around the house, but at some point Chan had just claimed cleaning-related chores for himself. In return, Jeongin took care of not only the trash, but their mail and other things that stressed Chan.
He finishes brushing his teeth and puts his toiletries on the side, too, to give Chan space to clean.
“Do you want me to take a shower?” Jeongin asks, already halfway undressed. “I showered this morning.”
Chan hums as he scrubs the already-clean sink. “It's fine,” he says eventually, and smiles back at his boyfriend through the mirror.
Jeongin proceeds changing into the pyjama pants he had grabbed from their bedroom, staying close to observe Chan a bit longer. At some point, as far as Jeongin was concerned, his stress-cleaning habit had turned into something akin to a compulsion, but he didn't know how, or if, he should point it out. Chan was coping, he was doing okay, so why should he take that from him? Still, he kept an eye on the development of it all.
Jeongin brushes his hair, now slightly past his shoulders, and considers getting it cut. As cute as he thinks it looks, the length tickles his neck when it's not curled, which he doesn't really have the time for these days. Either a perm or a cut, he needs one of them, and soon.
Finally, Chan starts putting their toiletries back on the sink, in the careful order and placement he had established to be the one correct option.
“You can go to bed,” Chan says after having adjusted everything. “I'll clean the dishes and then I'll join you.”
“But I like looking at you. You're so pretty.” Not the full truth, but definitely an important reason to keep watching his boyfriend. “I can wait a little longer.”
They walk towards the kitchen, Jeongin in his shorts, Chan still naked except for the towel keeping water from dripping onto his back, and Chan puts on a pair of rubber gloves before he starts on the dishes.
It's not a lot, never is, because it's part of Chan's routine, and he gets antsy when dirty dishes stay out overnight. Usually, the dishes are pretty much the first thing he does when he starts getting ready for bed, with his shower following suit.
“Can I do anything for you?” Jeongin asks from where he's standing at the counter behind Chan, loud enough to be heard over the running water. “Now or in general.”
“I don't know,” Chan pouts. Jeongin can hear it. “Just feeling weird. Exhausted.”
“It'll get better. It always does, right?”
Chan nods and cleans Jeongin's bento box. He wishes he could help Chan even half as much as Chan helps him, just by being himself—he cooks, cleans, takes care of their laundry, even irons their clothes. All Jeongin does is hang the laundry out to dry, because Chan hates the feeling of the wet fabrics.
He keeps watching Chan until the dishes are cleaned, dried, and at their right spots. Jeongin steals another kiss from Chan and gently pulls him towards their bedroom, fingers interlocked.
“I love you.” They're standing just inside the room, in front of each other, and Jeongin steals Chan's towel from his shoulders. “Go sit on the bed. I'll dry your hair, yeah?”
Chan does as he's told, sitting criss-crossed on the freshly made bed after cleaning off his naked feet, and Jeongin starts gently drying his hair. At least he can do that for Chan.
“Love you, too, Innie.”