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ch 3 . food is not the only thing I want him to eat, really w.c. : 2.1 k
Their first week of cohabitation goes smoothly, much to Jihoon's surprise. He's always known that Soonyoung is a night owl, but somehow failed to consider how that would impact their domestic arrangements, which feels like yet another oversight on his part.
Every day, he wakes at his usual 7 am, stretches, eats a small pre-exercise snack, feeds his cat, unpacks the dishwasher, goes for a workout at the gym, comes back, showers, breakfasts, and then meditates, all before Soonyoung is out of bed.
With the semester yet to officially start, there's nothing pressing on his schedule, and by the time Soonyoung invariably emerges around 10am, Jihoon is either watching anime, playing the piano, or finding some other pleasant way to amuse himself, luxuriating in this last little bit of calm before his postgraduate career commences.
Around 10:30 am, when Soonyoung is finally wrapping up his own, bleary-eyed ritual of coffee, shower, coffee, clothing, and coffee, Jihoon heads out to undertake whatever task he's appointed himself for the day that means leaving the house. It was something he promised Seokmin to be sure of doing;back when his brother first moved out: he was worried that, left to his own devices, Jihoon would coop himself up inside, and so he now makes an effort to do otherwise.
The most regular task is shopping, picking up fresh produce - from the farmer's market, where possible - along with other sundries. It would be easier, more expedient, to order online and have his food delivered, but he has promised his brother that he will go out everyday to see the sun at least once.
The first day he goes, he considers asking Soonyoung if he wants to come, or at least if there are any basics he wants picked up, but in the end, he decides against it; talking about money is clearly a sore point, and Jihoon wants to give him time to settle in before raising it again. But he soon forgets, as they don't seem to eat on the same schedule, either; in fact, they're constantly missing one another.
Whenever Jihoon comes back from the shops or wherever else he's been, Soonyoung is invariably on his way out the door, smiling brightly as he assures Jihoon that he's job-hunting. Jihoon acknowledges this with a courteous nod, fixes lunch for himself, then spends the rest of the afternoon as he usually would, until 7pm rolls around and he starts his preparations for dinner.
It doesn't surprise him in the least that Soonyoung prefers to eat later, seemingly around 9pm or so - at a time when Jihoon is usually busy showering, petting his cat, or engaged in making some new music. He sometimes hears Soonyoung in the kitchen, the rattle of cupboards or the ding! of the microwave, but the sounds are never disruptive, and whenever he comes back out again, whatever utensils have been used in the process are already packed in the dishwasher.
It's a small domestic courtesy that Jihoon finds... not touching, as it constitutes the bare minimum, but somehow more than he expected from Soonyoung, who he'd more or less assumed would take over his house like a colorful, paint-spattered cyclone. True, from the glimpses Jihoon has caught through the open door, he keeps his room in the expected state of semi-disarray - the cardboard box hasn't even been fully unpacked, but rather left open on the wardrobe floor, its mysterious contents peeping out above the flaps - but none of the chaos ever makes it out to the common areas.
