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“Eun-ah called today.” Changbin’s tired voice cut through the soft silence. “She and Eun-ho have been talking about moving us in with one of them. They’re getting worried about us living alone.”
Seungmin chuckled quietly, puffs of his warm breath tickling Changbin’s chest where his head rested. “They worry too much. They must have gotten that from you.” His fingers played with Changbin’s chest hair, teasing. This had been one of Seungmin’s favorite things to do from the moment Changbin had stopped lasering his body hair. So many nights, he had soothed himself to sleep carding his fingers through the curly strands. “Do you feel like we need to move?” he asked.
“We’ve been taking care of ourselves for a long time, jagi,” Changbin replied thoughtfully. “I guess it might be nice to have others take care of us for once.”
Seungmin scoffed. “What are you talking about? There were decades where nearly everything was handled for us. We had multiple managers and assistants doing all the boring stuff so that we could focus on the music. Do you remember the first time we actually had to deal with an emergency on our own?” His chest shook with silent mirth. “What a disaster that was.”
Changbin laughed and thought back to that first house in the countryside. They had been so excited to move out of Seoul with Eun-ah and Eun-ho. The anticipation of the quiet life had all four of them vibrating with glee as they unpacked the car, carrying the belongings too important to trust to the movers into the solitary farmhouse. The kids had run screaming through every room, so excited to finally let loose and not worry about disturbing the neighbors.
Changbin remembered sitting on that porch with his arm around Seungmin, drink in hand, enjoying the sunset, and the sight of his children racing their dog across the yard. They had been blissfully alone, utterly unobserved, for possibly the first time in their adult lives. It was scary, but it was them against the world. He couldn’t remember ever being happier.
And then they’d woken up a week later to their basement flooded with sewage. Changbin and Seungmin, typically intensely capable men, had been completely at a loss. They had called every plumber they could find within a 50 mile radius, and nobody would come that far out into the countryside. Changbin had tried to throw money at the problem, promising huge sums to anyone who would come help, to no avail. His last resort was to drive into the nearest town and use the cringey ‘don’t you know who I am?’ on the local plumber. He did not, in fact, know who Changbin was, but his son did, and that did the trick.
Changbin could still smell the shit that he was forced to trudge through with his shop vac, sucking up every last drop, and then scrubbing the concrete floor clean before the plumber would agree to come downstairs. Seungmin had kept the man happy with snacks and tea upstairs, so that he wouldn’t get back into his van and leave.
The whole new homeowner experience had been eye opening. As competent as they thought they were, they learned very quickly how little they knew. But they had learned things together — watching Youtube videos late into the night and laughing like maniacs at the utter failure of their first tries.
“God, we were terrible first-time homeowners, weren’t we? How did we even survive that first year?” Changbin smiled fondly into Seungmin’s hair. “Everything that could have gone wrong with that house, did, and we were completely on our own. Not even Innie would agree to come out and help us.”
Seungmin wrapped the arm he had been using to stroke Changbin’s chest hair around his middle instead and squeezed tightly. “I was already sure of my decision to spend my life with you before we left Seoul, but that first year in that house together really really solidified everything for me. I was right all those years ago when I told everyone you would make the perfect husband.” He stretched up and kissed Changbin on the cheek.
“We really have had the best life, haven’t we?” Changbin asked quietly. “We raised amazing children, we made brilliant music together, and we sure fucked a whole lot.” He reached down and gave Seungmin’s ass a teasing pinch.
“So much fucking,” Seungmin confirmed. “I can’t imagine having lived this life with anyone else but you. How boring that would have been.”
“My little chaos puppy,” Changbin cooed. “I can say, in all honesty, that you made every single day interesting.”
“Do you remember when I convinced you that we needed to fuck in our basement studio to test out the soundproofing?” Seungmin giggled.
“And then we couldn’t get the lock open and were late picking up the kids from school,” Changbin chuckled. “I don’t even know how you convinced me to do that. There was no one home and we didn’t even set up anything outside the studio to check for noise.”
“You were happy enough to play along with any scheme I hatched, as long as it meant you got to fuck me.”
“Not a word of a lie,” Changbin said with a smile. “I’ll never forget when Eun-ah got married and you were so upset that you forgot to bring the handcuffs. You dragged me to every sex shop within a mile radius of our hotel to search for the right ones. Never mind that we were there for our daughter’s wedding. You weren’t going to be without your handcuffs.”
“They were for after the happy couple left for the honeymoon, and you know it!” Seungmin defended. “I wasn’t going to fly all the way to Paris and not take advantage of a few extra days in the City of Love. That hotel had the perfect view of the Eiffel Tower and everything.”
“I’m not complaining!” Changbin said soothingly. “We just stood out like sore thumbs. Two 50-something men wandering into Parisian sex shops in search of restraints.” He shook his head, remembering the mortification when one of the store owners had recognized them. He had been surprisingly cool about it, reassuring them in broken English that he would keep their visit a secret.
“It was worth it, though,” Seungmin huffed. “Those were probably the best orgasms of my life.”
“Fuck, I love you, Minnie,” Changbin whispered. The fatigue was creeping up heavily on him now. “All these years and it still feels the same. No matter what was happening around us, my love for you is something that never wavered.
Seungmin burrowed his face deeper into Changbin’s neck and sighed contentedly. “We really did defy all the odds, didn’t we? Two scrawny, ambitious teenagers finding each other out of all the idol hopefuls, out of all the companies. I think Channie hyung must have had some sort of magic for finding soulmates and bringing them together.” He smiled fondly. “And to make it all of these years together and still be so blissfully happy? I am so blessed.”
The two men hugged each other even tighter, breathing the same breath and enjoying the memories of a life well-lived. Changbin’s eyes slipped closed, a soft smile ghosting his face. His strokes along Seungmin’s spine became lighter and slower as he relaxed into his fatigue. “Thank you, Minnie,” he whispered hoarsely.
Seungmin’s tired eyes fluttered shut and he stretched up to feather one last kiss to his love’s cheek. “I love you, Changbin. Always,” he sighed.
They drifted, breaths gradually slowing until their chests stilled, and the only sound in the room was the faint ticking of the clock.