⊂ apartment thirteen ⊃ hazy rays of sun spilling through the blinds, the soft whirring of an electric fan, and two overworked souls exchanging sleepy kisses; or, an afternoon in the lives of jk and jm within the acid wash walls of apartment thirteen.

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡ important tags ⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ — short #jikookau threadfic — self indulgent fluff — ages reversed — abo — alpha businessman jk — omega ballerina jm — interactions are welcome

life in mandeok-dong is slow going. it’s a distant world away from the hustle and bustle of the city center, and it’s an even farther cry from the chaos that is seoul. in mandeok-dong, there are only rows upon rows of suburban houses and families living quiet lives within them.

jk has spent all of his childhood in this neighborhood and it seems he’ll be living the rest of his life here too, if his little dove has any say in the matter.

despite jk’s ceaseless efforts to buy him a bigger place, and offer him a fancier life, perhaps in one of the bigger cities, jm absolutely insists on keeping their cozy studio unit in this rundown part of town. “this is home, hyung” his angel always says.

jk’s footfalls echo around in the empty stairwell of their apartment building and he’s mightily tempted to start bounding up two or three steps at a time if it means seeing jm sooner. in fact, he probably would have already if only he were in his heavy black stompers.

instead, he’s in a pair of black oxfords and tailored slacks, reading glasses still perched on his nose. today is a thursday and he’s usually meant to be at work at this hour, but in a surprising turn of events, the client that he, yg and nj had been slaving away at for months

finally sealed the deal with them leaving the rest of their afternoons free. he immediately drove home hoping to surprise jm who should be back from teaching his children’s dance class. his ambered sandalwood scent bursts with happiness at the thought of seeing his omega.

once jk finally hits the third landing, he fishes around in his prada messenger bag. when he feels soft yarn on his fingertips, he tugs gently until he gets his spare key out along with its adorable crocheted keychain. he smiles fondly knowing jm carries around a matching one.

he swings the front door open carefully and is immediately greeted by jm’s pomegranate scent which is thick and potent in the air around him. immediately all the tension from work seems to roll off of his shoulders. “baby?” he calls out gently. no one replies.

he pulls at his laces and quietly toes off his shoes before padding further into the apartment. what he sees melts his heart. there, nested on top of the fluffy pink duvet covers, is a softly slumbering jm.

his angel must be so, so tired. jm is lying face down on the bed with his arms underneath him, tucked close to his heart. it looks as if the omega barely even made it to the bed— his legs are half off the edge and he didn’t even bother taking off his pointe shoes.

jk is never home this early so he’s surprised to see unmade sheets and jm’s duffel bag for work lying in a heap on the floor— is his angel always this exhausted when he gets home? his heart melts at the thought knowing jm still has a meal ready for him in the evenings anyway.

he gingerly sits down on the bed, careful not to wake the sleeping omega. jm’s cotton candy pink hair is sticky with sweat from practice, but he could care less. he brushes his omega’s fringe away from his forehead and runs his fingers through the strands.

“babylove?” he whispers jm’s brow furrows and his pout deepens but that doesn’t wake him up quite yet. jk’s wolf howls at the back of his mind. ‘our omega is so beautiful even when he sleeps.’ as he gazes at jm, jk can do nothing but agree and grow more and more emotional.

“minnie,” jk tries again, leaning in closer this time. “babylove, im home.” this time the omega seems to finally hear him. jm’s eyes blink open slowly and his head raises slowly off of the bed. the alpha internally mourns the loss of jm’s pout and squished-on-the-bed cheek

but what happens next makes up for it. “ggukie?” jm wonders aloud, blinking up at him with bleary eyes. when the alpha kisses his cheek softly in response, the younger finally registers his presence fully.

“ggukie hyung” jm whimpers, pulling his arms out from underneath himself and hastily wrapping them around the alpha’s neck to bring him down and closer. jk comes willingly. “love you so much angel,” jk whines in return, nose and cheeks running along jm’s scent gland furiously

sandalwood marries with pomegranate around them. primal instinct drives jk to scent his mate with such desperation and fervor you would have thought they’d been apart for months. “missed you,” jk mumbles, voice cracking at the end. “i’m so, so lucky to have you, you know that?”

he doesn’t know when the tears spring into his eyes but they’re there. he blinks repeatedly to keep them from falling as he peppers jm’s face with more kisses. jm makes him feel things so forcefully and so passionately that it scares him on some days.

his alpha commands him to swallow down the sob building in his throat so they can address a more pressing concern. “you’re so tired baby, let alpha fix it, yeah?” he whispers, sitting up and properly removing his bag strap from where it rests across his chest.

“you take care of me.” jm mumbles matter of factly, one small hand clutched around the fabric of jk’s white undershirt. “‘course i do,” the alpha replies turning back to slide his arms underneath jm, one supporting his neck and one on the curve of his spine.

“you’re mine.” in one swoop, he manages to lift jm up and drop him gently higher up on the bed so his dainty feet no longer dangle over the end. the omega seems to be succumbing back to sleep but it’s no matter when jk is around. he’s safe with alpha.

jk proceeds to gently raise one of jm’s calves onto his lap so that he can remove the ribbons of jm’s pointe shoes. he is careful and delicate as he unravels the silk, knowing how much the omega adores the pink slippers. after all, he gifted them to jm on their last anniversary.

they were, for the most part, similar to regular pointe shoes in color and appearance. initially, jk had considered getting their vamps hand painted or embroidered but he worried that it would interfere with functionality for the omega.

instead, he settled for having a neighbor (who was also a talented seamster) embroider a simple yet subtle design into the ribbons of the shoe. on the right ribbon was the inscription “05.13.15 - forever” and on the left were the words “jk’s forever dancer” in dark pink thread.

looking at them now, jk thinks they were worth all the teasing and eyebrow wiggling he’d received back then from said neighbor (who’s name may or may not be jn).

once he has them completely off, with the ribbons rolled just as jm taught him, the alpha ducks down to slide them underneath their bed with care, not wanting either of them to trip on the pair later on.

as soon as that’s done, he crawls back over jm’s frame, mindful to support his own weight on his forearms and knees. “minnie,” he whispers again, bumping jm’s nose gently with his own “don’t you wanna shower, baby?”

a small pout forms on the omega’s mouth even though his eyes remain shut. he shakes his head side to side: no. jk laughs quietly at the response before slowly lowering himself down and letting small hands wrap around his back.

he feels jm clutch fistfuls of his dress shirt again, rumpling the fabric. it’s one of the younger’s endearing habits. “we’re disgusting,” jk mumbles into jm’s neck where he’s chosen to settle for the time being “and on your nest too. you’re going to be so pissed at me later.”

“i won’t be if you wash my hair when we shower.” jm says smacking his lips together and trying to snap himself out of his sleepy stupor. “oh?” jk says, already grinning.“we?” “hmm. save water.” “deal.”

this is a visualizer i made of the song that inspired this entire thread. it’s a non-english song but i made sure to include my translations of the lyrics. give it a chance because it is very much what i imagine to be playing in their apartment for the last few updates

if you want to listen to the entire thing: https://open.spotify.com/track/5CUQnKjA6nlteCnxMKsjIu?si=E4oCCG2ARBuffXH76zqoUA…

they bask in the dwindling rays of afternoon sun for what feels like hours. jk exhales soft puffs of air against the omega’s neck and jm, almost fully awake now, slowly traces patterns onto the alpha’s back. “i love you, hyung,” jm mutters at some point.

for a while more they just lie there. just breathing. just being.

jk knows that in another universe somewhere, some other version of themselves made different choices and led more exciting lives than this jk and jm did.

maybe they travelled the world instead of staying in a snug little provincial apartment.

maybe there is a jm out there who made a career for himself in some other way, and a jk who has never had to see the inside of an office cubicle.

maybe those versions of them never have to cram themselves into a small shower stall as he knows he and his baby will have to later. maybe.

but as he pulls back to gaze lovingly at the two small scars he’s left permanently on jm’s neck, as his mind supplies him with images of jm playing with pups at the studio and adjusting tutus on his precious little ballerinas,

and as he looks back on the life they’ve shared together as mates thus far, loving each other so freely, so openly,

he can’t help but thank whatever gods there are out there for letting him be the version that gets to love the angel behind the doors of mandeok-dong’s apartment thirteen.

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡ fin ⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ

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