Tally Marks- soulmate au

Chapter Twenty-nine: Normal is Boring

“So what’s going on with you and that model?” Wonwoo asked from across the table.  He and Junhui were seated at their usual table for lunch when Wonwoo brought up the topic. 

    “Nothing. There’s nothing going on.” Junhui responded, rather quickly and with a light blush. 

    “Yet.” Wonwoo added.

    “What do you mean ‘yet’? Nothing can happen. First of all, I’m his boss, that would seem like I’m taking advantage of him and using him because I have the money too, which I would never do. And on top of that, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’re both men.”

    “Well it worked for us, mostly.”
   
    “Not really. I mean, yeah it was nice, but we never got to do anything that real couples do. We never got to be a part of society the way others can. We never got to be normal.” Junhui said with a sigh.

    “Who wants to be normal. Normal’s boring. Plus, we may not have been able to do things that other couples could do, but we got to do things that other couples can’t. We started a business together. Normal people don’t do that.”

He had a point. 

    “What, so you’re saying I should start a business with Minghao. Is that how same sex relationships are supposed to work.” He chuckled. 

    Wonwoo smiled. “No, I just mean that you might need to get a little creative. Find ways to do things that normal people do, but don’t do them the way normal people would. “

    “Like what?”

    “Well, normal people go out to eat right? They go out to restaurants. Instead of going out, you could bring the restaurant home. Cook for him and set up a big fancy dinner. Maybe set it up in the backyard with lights and candles and soft music. Or, people go out to movie theaters. You could set up a giant projector movie on the side of your house, or just watch DVD’s from the television in your living room or even your bedroom. Make a blanket fort. You could even cook together. Bake cookies. There are so many options for you that you’re not even thinking of because you're too worried about what society is going to think of you.”

    Junhui was a little speechless, but Wonwoo was right. If he really wanted to make this work. If he really wanted to give the butterflies in his stomach a purpose, then he’s going to have to work for it. And after a few moments of silence, he responded. 

    “You know what, I think you’re right. I think I’m gonna try something.”

That evening, he got home and started making a plan. He really liked Minghao and he wanted the small thing they had going on to grow into something more. He wanted to water the flower that was their relationship. Minghao was already the sunshine in his life and in order to make sure this flower didnt dry out, he was going to need to put some effort into it. So he planned and planned and planned, and when he had finally finished up with the last detail, he set down his notebooks and picked up the phone. He dialed the numbers that he now had memorized by heart and listened as the phone rang. 

    “Hello?” Minghao’s clearly sleepy voice rang through the phone. 

    “Oh, I’m sorry, did I wake you?” Junhui looked over at the clock and realised it was nearly 1 am.
   
    “Jun? Is that you?” 

    “Yeah, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. I didn’t realize what time it was.”

    “No, no it’s okay. What’s up.” Through the phone Junhui could hear minghao shuffling around a bit. 

    “It’s not that important, I’ll just let you go back to sleep.”

    “Jun.”

    “Yes?”

    “I’m already awake, don’t worry about me. What did you want to talk about?”

    “Are you busy tomorrow?”

    “No, why?”

    “Keep your schedule open.”

    Minghao yawned on the other end of the phone. “What are you planning?”

    “You’ll find out tomorrow. Just make sure to keep your schedule open.”

    “Whatever you say, sir.”

    For some reason, that made Junhui’s heart skip a beat. He wasn’t quite sure why, but hearing Minghao’s tired, raspy, voice saying “Sir” just sent him into a daze. 

    Minghao giggled. “You still there?” he paused. “Sir?”

    “Stop that.” Junhui replied, clearly affected by what Minghao was saying. 

    This caused Minghao to burst out into full on laughter, which caused Junhui to smile. 

    “Oh shut up.” Junhui started. “Just go to bed already. And don’t make plans for tomorrow. Goodnight, Hao.”

    MInghao’s laughter had died down into giggles. “Goodnight, sir.” He then hung the phone up before Junhui had a chance to respond. 

    Junhui smiled at the phone and thought, ‘I’m so going to get him back for that.’ And then he fell asleep, with a smiling gracing his lips and thoughts of minghao’s giggles ringing through his ears. And that night, he had one of the best sleeps he had had in a while.