White Space
pairing: Hong Joshua | Kwon Soonyoung genre: Fluff words: 2.5k summary: "When will you come home? I miss you" "I miss you too, love...Soon I'll be home."
“Okay bye!” A noise combination of shoes being removed from the rack and a bag being slung over clothing echoed into the kitchen area, “See you Sunday night!”
Typically, Soonyoung would make a scene of him fake crying, clinging onto Chan’s soccer jersey or hiding his young son’s overnight bag in some obscure place like their neighbor’s storage cage. Props to Jeonghan for being consenting and doing the late-night requests of fetching said bag for said child. Joshua was never a fan of this strategy and often told Soonyoung to stop acting like a kid. This time was different as the door slammed shut from the rushed excitement, Soonyoung yelled back “be safe” from behind the cooling mug of tea in his hands. He would probably get a phone call later that night asking if he was okay from one of his many friends who were also dads to his kid’s soccer teammates. It gave him a mental note to set his phone to Do Not Disturb (with a single exception of his spouse) once he gets a confirmation text from Chan that he made it to the field safely.
“What do we do tonight, Simba?” Soonyoung asked into the seemingly empty, quiet abyss of the apartment. “Does a snack of tuna and cuddles while we watch Lion King sounds like a plan?” He spoke once again before finishing off his now cooled tea. The sound of paws making their way across the hardwood came from the hallway before it ended, and a small furry body appearing on the kitchen counter with a soft click. A meow came from the cat before it circled around Soonyoung’s arm resting on the surface of the counter, purring happily at his suggestion.
“Oh yes, that’s what I thought.” He gathered the animal into his arms and shuffled his socked feet across the hardwoods towards the sofa with hopes that Chan didn’t stash the DVD in his room.
Lion King was not in the living space’s DVD tower, hiding amongst any of the “cd’s without boxes” stacks in the storage cabinet or in Chan’s room. He checked in Chan’s desk, under his bed, in the dresser, and even the kid’s bathroom, twice. Soonyoung was stuck nonetheless. Simba circled around him, occasionally stopping to rub her face against his thigh. Normally he would think this was her method of consoling him when he was feeling down and out but then she always bit his hand when he tried to pet her as thanks. She totally just wanted to hurt him even more. Rude.
“Perhaps it’s in our room?” Soonyoung mused to himself, a hand scratching at his scalp. Simba meowed before she sauntered her way back toward the living space. Oh. Thanks for the help. Soonyoung poked his tongue in the feline’s direction. The male fixed up his son’s room despite it having already been a mess prior to him digging around, dusted his jeans off with a few quick swipes before dejectedly moving to the last location of this search. He could entertain renting it through the internet instead of going through all this work. Meh. Oddly, Simba hadn’t retreated from the hunt as the feline was sitting in front of the closet doors. Her black eyes followed Soonyoung’s movements as he entered the space.
“You think it’s in there?” He was skeptical, to say the least. It would be beyond weird for a DVD to end up in their wardrobe. Especially when it was home to just that, clothes. And maybe some of Josh’s stray design materials that were stored there instead of in the study where the rest of his sewing things were kept.
A cross between a meow and annoyed hiss came from the creature. Some sort of sign that yeah, it was in there, idiot. The male playfully huffed then reached to pull the doors back. In the time it took him to do both things Simba had fled from the scene. She was truly a great help. With a soft thump of his bum landing on the floor, the great search began once again.
“It’s not here!” The thud of Soonyoung’s back and upper limbs hitting the floor resonated in the room, or at least in his ears. Either way, something seemed to be mocking him. Kind of. Truthfully speaking he would do the same.
“I should have stopped Chan from abandoning me.” He mumbled while staring ahead at the off grey ceiling, “He would know where the movie was...” And I wouldn’t be alone. A moment passed till he garnered enough strength to heave himself up into his earlier sitting position. He gave one last glance before opting to just head to bed early (it was barely 8). No case was in sight. He softly shut the doors. Maybe another cup of tea would do some good.
However, before Soonyoung made his way across the room, a white material caught his eye. He shuffled over to see a white button up that had probably been unceremoniously dumped only to be forgotten till…well now. Now that he thought about it, it had been there awhile. Catching the great Joshua Hong was often difficult with his busy schedules. His spouse was truly too busy for his own good. Whenever there was a spare moment, rare as they were, a pleasant exchange occurred. That was if Soonyoung didn’t freeze up halfway. That’s another story though.
The raven-haired male collected the once crisp material into his hands. His thumbs slowly ran along a section of the cloth. As if he was hit by one of Chan’s stupid foam soccer balls, a wave of longing hit Soonyoung. Sure, Joshua was busy all the time, but he still got the male every night even if it was to just sleep. But when the elder left for trips without him, his heart was heavy.
Sure, Joshua had left for a few days (read: weeks) to visit his family in the States. His parents were coming upon an important wedding anniversary and they wanted to renew vows. When they got wind of the event Soonyoung had tried his best to request time off to go. He ended up denied while Joshua offered to not go since he couldn’t leave his SoonSoon behind (he remembered about Chan, but Chan had soccer and school, he would be fine this time). Soonyoung refused with the excuse someone had to take care of Chan and well, Joshua couldn’t miss something so important to his parents. Joshua knew that too. Occasionally the elder sent messages as a sort of update on how he was doing, what he did and maybe a dorky selfie or a picture he took that day. In addition to Josh’s messages, Soonyoung also received picture messages from Mrs. Hong. Those were candid of her son mostly. He cried when she had sent him a picture of Josh K.O. in the family den, cuddling the wolf plush. No one knows about how he cried in the kitchen that morning except Simba, maybe Myungho. Who knows. Not him.
Soonyoung brought the shirt up, gently rubbing the fabric against his cheek before nuzzling his nose into it. There was a faint aroma of cologne, a hint of pine most likely from an office place freshener. But really, it just smelled like home. Not the home he was currently in or his childhood home. No. His home that was in Joshua’s arms. Somewhere he could hear Myungho gagging at this thought. His theoretical pride didn’t care as he nuzzled a little more into it for another moment. The weight that had been previously on his heart lifted even a little.
Soonyoung quickly shed himself of his hoodie to replace the article with a quiet rustle of Joshua’s button up. Slowly his tiny fingers slotted the clear buttons through their respective places. Unknowingly a meaningful grin grew onto his lips as his extended his arms out to give himself a look over. When the smaller turned toward the mirror positioned beside the door, the grin shifted into a shy smile at the view. The material hung off Soonyoung’s frame in places where it would have sat perfectly on its owner. Joshua’s broad shoulders, few cm longer torso, and long arms did Soonyoung no justice, but it humored him. With a small flap of his arms, the sleeves swooshed quietly against the air. A loud laugh escaped from the male, followed by a content sigh. At that moment he could vividly picture the elder grinning at him, maybe chuckling at Soonyoung being a dork, maybe helping him take the article back off.
“I miss him.” His reflection mimicked the words silently. He puffed his chest up a bit, held his hands out in the air as if he was holding a teacup. A kind of posh aura floated around his pose.
“Good day, mister Hong.” Soonyoung greeted the reflection. Not even a second later did he crack into laughter. This is dumb but-Right as he was about to open his mouth to respond back Back Hug sang off the walls of the apartment startling the small male before recognition ran through him and he broke into a sprint to find the source of the music.
As if Satan had a plan for Soonyoung’s end, his mobile was being hidden under the soft of Simba’s body. His mind was racing. A solid thirty seconds had passed since the ringtone began. If he recalled it right Joshua wouldn’t wait beyond a few rings, five at the max incase Soonyoung was busy and he didn’t want to burden the younger with a silly call. The only method to free his mobile was to just move his feline wife. Hopefully.
“Simba, shoo.” The male lifted the hissing creature off the device, careful to tuck her into his side so he could retrieve his phone. Satan’s worker could jump back up onto the table which would lead to a vicious cycle he didn’t have the time for this time. His heart couldn’t handle that. With quick movement, he accepted the call, placed the device to his ear with no care about what type of call he was receiving.
“Uhm, love?” Joshua’s gentle voice filled Soonyoung’s senses. Were those tears prickling in the corner of his eyes? “Love, as much as I love your ear I would like to see the rest of you.” What- Soonyoung pulled away to squint at the screen until he saw a familiar eye smile that he loved to the bottom of his heart. Jesus, he’s whipped.
“Hello there, love.” Joshua greeted with a laugh into the camera, a small wave going with it.
“Hello, love.” Soonyoung softens even more. He flops his body onto the nearby loveseat and brings his legs up to almost cross them on the chair. Joshua waits patiently as he watches.
“Are you busy?” The latter questioned. His own camera jumps a bit as he made himself comfortable as well. The background looks like the dining space he once spent Thanksgiving at years before. Lighting was kind of dark, most likely due to the fact it was early morning, but Joshua still came out in high quality despite it.
“It took you a while to answer so if-,” Soonyoung shouted, little to his own control, a ‘no’ before the elder could finish. The latter jumped a little at the outburst. He muttered a quick apology.
“Simba was claiming my phone as her own.” He informed while frowning at the feline that had rounded the corner upon hearing her name. Joshua chuckled at him, commenting that Simba would get jealous of him for stealing Soonyoung away during what was to be their alone time. The younger rolled his eyes.
A comfortable silence enveloped them for what seemed like an eternity (he was delusional, shush) until the elder broke it.
“That shirt looks good on you.” Soonyoung sheepishly scratched at his cheek, the sleeve dropping down his arm. Another moment passes as he tried to collect his emotions, thoughts and overall comprehension because for fuck sake he just got wearing the elder’s clothing. It wasn’t a bad thing just, wow could Soonyoung be even more grossly domestic. He could actually, be more domestic that is but instead, he wanted to thank Joshua for the compliment amongst other things like how everyone was doing, if the preparations were going well, if he was sleeping and eating enough. If he was stressed out to just mellow out and listen to his favorite artist. If he called Chan yet but none of that came out. How could it when all he truly wanted to do was soak up all that was the elder before him. Skin that was gradually becoming more tanned from the LA sun, mused hair from probably having been frustrated that morning, eyebags that clearly answered his lack of sleep question, tired but amazingly bright smile. Oh god. The eyes that Soonyoung would purposely get lost in every second of his life. If it were possible to even reach through the small screen, he would hold the elder’s face in his palms and place the gentlest kiss on Joshua’s lips.
In his dreams because instead, a hushed “when are you coming home?” came out followed by an even quieter “I miss you.” And with that, any sort of happy environment crashed with those words. Joshua’s warm, loving expression remained but with a hint of apologetic behind his eyes. Soonyoung felt guilty now.
“I miss you too, love…” the male gently muttered, “Soon, I’ll be home.” And Soonyoung believed what he said, he always did. It may have helped that Joshua assured him each time. Preparations had finished up so by Monday at the earliest he was free of family obligations. Soonyoung’s heart rose with the news, even if for a second because the elder continued to say he was going to stay a few more days to catch up with friends. He tried to not show his disappointment, but his shoulders deflating made it obvious.
“I’ll do my best to call every morning and night.” Joshua tried to appease the younger. He was beyond thankful for that. “I need to go, SoonSoon.” Phrases of English were exchanged of to the side with who Soonyoung assumed was one of his parents.
“Have a good night and sleep well when you do.”
“I will, I will.” Soonyoung sniffed, “Bye Josh. Have a good day as well, love.” The elder gave one last smile before he disconnected the call that sent Soonyoung’s phone into black. The male sunk down the cushions and sighed aloud. Soon, he reminded himself. In the meantime, he pulled the collar of the shirt up, so he could drown in home before his eyes fell shut, sleep taking over his senses— Sometimes you gotta be bold, just rock the world. booYAH!! ARE YOU HAPPy HUH??
Soonyoung gripped his phone in his hand and placed the device to his ear. Groaning obnoxiously into the speaker, “What is it, Seokmin?”
“Are you okay? Chan got here on time and without tear stains on his jersey—” The elder of the two hung up and turned the device off. Now wasn’t the time. Sleep was the time.
Soonyoung waved the mobile in the air before tossing it back onto the table, “Simba! You can have my phone now!”