i really love your writing !! you deserve far more recognition than what u're currently getting :( i havent seen anyone requesting anything to be written so i guess ill take the plunge and b the first one hehe
could you write me a lil something with idol!soobin being really sweet with the reader and thanking them for being so supportive? idk i dont rlly have a whole idea but im soft for soobin rn and id love to read your portrayal of sweet idol soob :((
omg omg HI HELLO MY FIRST REQUESTER <3 <3 i am thrilled to write you a lil sweetie soobin fluff!! it kinda (really) got carried away all on its own (i SWEAR) and it became angsty too but I PROMISE IT IS FLUFFY AND CUTE! hope you like it and its up to par with what you had in mind <33 ALSO I DID MY BEST TO MAKE THE READER GENDER NEUTRAL <3
☆ word count: 2.9k ; warnings: angst, i cried a lil ; unedited because i edit as i go
Every time Soobin was able to come home to you, spend a night cuddled up beside you, you never failed to cook him a delicious and healthy meal. He wasn’t sure how you did it every single time, especially since some days he didn’t even know he would be able to make it home that night. You didn’t really answer him when he asked how you knew he would be home to eat the meal you cooked, and at the time, he let it slide, thinking you simply must have been too tired to give him all the details.
You looked so tired, every night that he came home to you. He knew you slept better when he was with you, and as he wasn’t always able to do so as he prepared for his comeback, you must not be sleeping well on the nights you spent alone. Even with your makeup on from a day at work, even with your bright smile, Soobin could tell you were tired. You never let it be obvious, or at the very least you tried to keep it that way, but after being together for two years, Soobin had picked up on the tiniest mannerisms you had.
He knew that if you were humming while doing the dishes, you were really trying to keep your mind off the projects you had going on at work. He knew that if you were laying down on your back on the couch, you had a headache, but if you were laying down on your back on the bed, you were feeling nauseous. He knew that if you were playing with whatever jewelry you had on - rings, bracelets, necklaces- then you were fighting with your sister. Soobin loved you dearly, and he did his best to understand you and your feelings so that he could always take care of you when you needed it.
What he hadn’t noticed though, was that you didn’t just so happen to cook him a meal randomly for him to show up every time, but that you were doing this every single night. There were times he would come home for a few nights in a row, for one or two, and there were times when he wasn’t able to come home for days on end. Even if you had no idea if tonight he would be sleeping at the dorms or in bed with you, you cooked him dinner.
You knew how busy he and the rest of the members were as they prepared for what Soobin called their “best comeback yet”. With more time in the studio than ever as they worked with producers to make their music, more time practicing choreography to make sure it was perfect, and even more time spent doing the confidential things he wasn’t allowed to tell you, you knew how hard your boyfriend was working. While you couldn’t help ease his workload or keep him away from work, what you could do is do what you can to take care of his health.
You thought the easiest task of taking care of his health would be cooking him yummy food that had the nutrients he needed. But, as you never knew when he would make an appearance, you began cooking every single night, just in case he managed to make it home. You never made more food than you had to, as you wanted Soobin to always come home to freshly cooked food and not leftovers. You hated the thought of the man you love falling ill or injuring himself because he wasn’t taking proper care of himself or he wasn’t eating well, and you hated the thought of him coming home to take out even more.
You would do your best to cook different meals as often as you could, but it was difficult to find new recipes that would provide Soobin with all of the nutrients his body needed. You were worried Soobin would grow tired of eating the same meals, but you never heard him complain. He never once mentioned how you had cooked this last week, or that he had eaten this specific meal three times over the past month. He was grateful you were cooking him such wonderful food, and you were grateful he was enjoying it.
You were spending far more money on groceries than you ever had before, and while initially you had no worries about the extra expenses, the longer the preparations for comeback took (it was longer than the last comeback), the less money you had available to spend on yourself. You and Soobin treated each other financially as equals, even if he earned way more money than you, and together you split the costs of everyday things and all your necessities. Soobin paid the rent for your apartment, you paid the utilities, internet, and video streaming services. What one of you paid for, the other would pay another thing that was of similar value.
Soobin was also primarily in charge of paying for groceries, which he had argued for as one way to repay you for not being able to be at home every night. If you were going to be alone in your shared apartment for even one night, he would be damned if you didn’t have good food for yourself. When you began cooking for him every night, you didn’t want him to realize that you truly were cooking every night, so you began shouldering the costs of all the ingredients of every meal you would cook.
You were beginning to struggle with how much money you were suddenly spending on groceries, and you had to cut out unnecessary expenses such as eating out with friends and going out for a drink with your sister. You had canceled your monthly book club, which would send you 5 new books in genres you enjoyed every month, and you had canceled your gym membership. Whatever activity required money, you found an alternative. Wanted to watch a movie that you would have to rent? Watch something else. Want to buy yourself a new dress for work? Borrow one from a friend.
Work had begun piling on more projects as you had been working harder, completing your tasks quicker than normal, trying desperately to earn as much extra money as you could. So when your boss noticed how efficient you had become with your work, they thought this meant your workload needed to be increased so you would always have work to do. So you were working harder and working more than you ever had been, but you did not complain.
Soobin was working so hard, it was the least you could do to provide him with healthy meals. So you did what you had to do in order to continue doing this. Soobin noticed you looked tired, but truthfully you were exhausted. You were working overtime, coming home later than usual, and would immediately begin cooking for Soobin. You weren’t even sure when the last time you had even read a book for enjoyment was. Even during the weekend, when you would usually be relaxing and enjoying a break from your job, you had begun working so you were on top of everything you needed to complete.
What you were doing was not healthy at all, and you were aware of this, but you didn’t want to trouble Soobin with the truth of the meals, of your work schedule, anything. The comeback was soon, and then things would go back to normal, that’s what you kept telling yourself.
The question of how you always managed to have a freshly cooked meal ready for Soobin whenever he made it home, was something that Taehyun had brought up during practice one day. Soobin had mentioned it the day before, how you were always able to have food ready for him even on nights when he didn’t tell you he was coming on.
“Dude, you’re fucking stupid,” Taehyun didn’t bother sugarcoating his words as he gaped at his older friend. “You really think they just have this magic ability to cook on any random night only for you to always show up?”
“I didn’t say it was magic,” Soobin grumbled. “I do think they have this incredible girlfriend power or something, where they can just tell that it’s going to happen.”
Across the room, Yeonjun and Beomgyu were focused on teasing Hueningkai, their shrieks and shouts of joy providing enough noise to keep the conversation between Soobin and Taehyun private.
“You wanna know what I think?” Taehyun asked, sitting on the floor of the dance room beside Soobin, who sat sipping his water. With a five minute break to give them some time to rest, Taehyun had approached Soobin about the situation after he had realized what Soobin had failed to. Soobin nodded to Taehyun, giving him the go-ahead to continue. “I’m pretty sure they’re cooking meals for you every single night, whether you’re going to show up or not.”
Soobin rolled his eyes, not believing Taehyun’s theory. “There’s no way, this has been going on for almost four months now, there is no way they have been cooking every single night.”
“Ask them and see what they say, then.”
Despite not initially believing Taehyun and his theory behind your cooked meals, Soobin found himself thinking about it more and more. It would make sense, why there was food for him every single time he made it home to you. The grocery bills hadn’t increased, though, as he had checked. You spent roughly the same amount of money on groceries every week. Soobin wasn’t home often enough to worry about what was in the fridge, but the next night he was able to come home to you, he planned to check the fridge to be sure Taehyun was wrong.
When he arrived home to a freshly cooked meal, still hot, he wasted no time in finding you and thanking you for cooking. You had fallen asleep on the couch in the living room, your laptop resting on the table, screen still on and showing the document you had been working on. This made him furrow his eyebrows in confusion, as it was Friday night, and you should have been watching a movie or spending time with your sister, not working. A ping from your laptop caught his attention, stilling his movements from how he was going to wake you up. In the corner of your screen was a chat messenger open between you and your supervisor, and the latest ping had come from a message you received.
Soobin wasn’t looking to pry or spy on you, but he was concerned that you were working on a Friday night, and that your supervisor was apparently also working still. So, he read the message. “You say you’re working as hard as you can, yet you keep falling behind on your tasks. You were the one who asked for more work and you can’t even handle it. Finish everything you have overdue this weekend or you’re fired,” Soobin softly read the message aloud, tears springing to his eyes when he learned that you were working far more than you had ever let on. Why didn’t you tell him what was going on at work?
“Mmm,” you let out a quiet moan as you woke from your nap. Stretching your limps out, you thanked yourself for the small rest time. It was time to get back to work, though. Your eyes opened as you shifted in your seat, expecting to see only the screen of your laptop. To your surprise, however, your boyfriend was kneeling on the ground in front of you, his eyes watery. “Honey, what’s wrong? Did the food get cold? I’m sorry, I’ll heat it up.”
Soobin shook his head, his hands grabbing yours to pull you into his embrace. “Why didn’t you tell me you’ve been having to work so much more? I ask you about work every day,” Soobin rested his head on the top of yours, cradling your body against his as best he could given the awkward positioning.
Your eyes widened in surprise at Soobin learning of this. “I, well, honey, I didn’t want to worry you or bother you when you’re under so much stress and you’re working so hard. I didn’t want anything to mess with your comeback,” you whispered against his chest, tears welling up in your eyes as finally talking to him about it made everything going on, suddenly so overwhelming.
Moving to sit beside you on the couch, Soobin’s arms never let you go, only helped the both of you find yourselves in more comfortable positions. “Darling, nothing about your life, good or bad, could mess with my comeback. When I’m with you, I leave work at work. You take such good care of me, and right now I’m not fully able to do the same for you, so you have to talk to me when things aren’t going well,” Soobin brings a thumb up to brush away your tears that have started to fall. “Please, talk to me. Is there more going on?”
If he had looked in the fridge earlier, he would know that Taehyun was right, but he was glad that he instead found you so you could tell him. “I haven’t just been cooking on random nights and you happen to come home every time, I’ve been cooking every night so that if you do come home, you’ll have a healthy meal. I know you’re not great at taking care of yourself....”
“Every night?” Soobin feels his heart break a little at the truth. “You cook every night? H-how? The grocery bills have been the same, and you better not have been neglecting yourself just so you could cook for me-”
You cut Soobin off with a shake of your head. “No, no, I used my money to pay for all the ingredients. I didn’t want you to ever know that I’ve been cooking every night,” you smiled sheepishly at your boyfriend.
“Is that why you asked your boss for more work? So you could earn more money to pay for all the ingredients?” Soobin asked, helping you move as you scooted back from his embrace in order to properly see his face. With your stunned silence confirming his question, he sighed and placed his hands on both your cheeks, leaning his forehead against yours. “Ingredients are expensive, love... how have you been able to afford to keep this up for so long?”
You bit your lip nervously, not wanting to tell him the truth, but knowing he would probably find out anyway. “I cut back on things I didn’t really need to spend money on, like the gym and my book club. I can go running and I can just read the books I already have. And my sister and I have been having drinks here instead of going out. It really wasn’t much but it’s helped.”
Soobin knew how much you loved your book club, and he knew how much you loved your weekly outings with your sister. To hear that you had given up on them and found alternatives to keep yourself happy, this made him cry. You frantically began wiping away his tears, placing kisses on his cheeks as you comforted him. “I love you, so much. You have always sacrificed more for me than I have for you, because you are too stubborn to ever let me take it easy and not work as hard for my dreams. But you’re my dream too. So you can’t do this anymore, love. No more cooking every single night, no more spending your money on all these ingredients, no more sacrificing the things you love for me.”
Soobin placed his lips on yours, pulling you towards him as he kissed you so gently, so softly, that he hoped expressed just how much he loved you. And it did, just like every kiss you shared did. Soobin was never anything less than the sweetest with his kisses, even when the kisses were passionate, he always made them equally as sweet.
“You’re so supportive of me, and you do so much for me, but I don’t want it this way. I don’t want you hurting yourself or putting yourself in a bad situation just to take care of me. Please, never again, baby,” Soobin was basically pleading with you at this point. You nodded your head, sniffling as both of you shed more tears.
“Never again, I promise,” you whispered as you pressed your lips against his, tasting the saltiness of both his and your tears.
The sweet and salty kiss was ended by Soobin as he pulled away to tell you, “I love you.”
And so for the rest of the preparations for the comeback, you did not cook Soobin a single meal. Well, you did, but you cooked enough for both him and you and leftovers. You did have to use the ingredients you had bought, after all. But when these ingredients ran out, instead of buying more, you bought healthy drinks for Soobin to drink to balance out the takeout the two of you would eat.
Even if he would come home late, he made an effort to come home every night so he could sleep next to you, and when he could, he would bring you home a new book he thought you would like. With his love and never-ending adoration, and with your constant support and care, the two of you would soon find yourselves celebrating his comeback, but your promotion at work.
