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theblueintheday2015-05-04 02:02 pm
bluedreaming) wrote in theblueintheday2015-05-04 02:02 pm
Entry tags:
[team five] laundry and coffee
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teatimetaemint !!
Written with the help of Inverted Island by Obfusc.
"Thank you," Lu Han said, and sighed.
Sehun shrank his chin into his shirt. He knew that the reds weren't supposed to go with the whites but was is it entirely his fault that Lu Han had tucked a red scrap of fabric in his shirt pocket?
"You're supposed to check the pockets Sehun," Lu Han said, and the worst was he didn't even sound angry, just tired. Sehun knew he was working really hard right now on the new line, and so he'd wanted to do just this little bit extra, even though Lu Han had told him to just worry about studying for his finals. I want to take care of you too. Guiltily, he tiptoed out of the laundry room as Lu Han stood and surveyed the damage, a full load of whites that would have to be soaked overnight in tubs of hot oxi-clean water and then bleached and rinsed with a dash of blueing before they regained their former white crispness.
He could hear Lu Han rummaging around on the shelves for the tubs; his shoulders twitched as he heard the plastic scraping against the wood shelves. I'm so sorry. Looking around for something, anything, his eyes fell upon the silver foil bag of personally roasted Yirgacheffe that Lu Han's best friend and college buddy had sent over as a sample—he tried not to feel bad about all of Lu Han's older friends, but four years was a lot sometimes, especially when he was feeling useless—Sehun gave his head a quick shake. Moping isn't going to help anything.
He got out Lu Han's manual coffee grinder and put the water on to boil in the kettle. How does he do this again? He could hear Lu Han filling the tubs of water and tried to go more quickly.
Chemex, he decided, brushing his bangs away from his face where the stress sweat was beginning to bead on his forehead. Less chance of messing that up.
He pulled the Chemex of of the shelf, rummaging around in the cupboard before managing to find the right paper after pulling out every other filter box, it's the white square paper right? Sehun was pretty sure, he did know how to pay attention some of the time, despite Lu Han teasing him that he was too single-focused. Single-focused on you.
Pouring the hot water into the copper pourover kettle, he remembered to pour a small amount through the filter and to warm the glass before carefully dumping it out and resettling the filter. The coffee grinder was set to medium-fine, Sehun hoped that was okay because he honestly didn't know how to change the grind. I think that looks right? he asked himself, surveying the small wooden drawer of rich brown ground coffee and crossed his fingers. Both hands. He could hear fabric swishing in the laundry room, Lu Han had probably pulled on the orange rubber gloves that covered his sensitive skin up to past his elbows and was swishing the clothes around in the bubbling oxi-clean water. Rush rush rush, he thought to himself.
Carefully pouring the ground coffee into the filter, Sehun took a deep breath. This is the tricky part. Carefully, he tried to pour a narrow stream of water in a clockwise motion, circling the grounds and trying to coax them into the beautiful bubbling lightness that Lu Han always achieved, Sehun sipping bubble tea as he watched, sitting at the counter and poking fun at the bitterness of coffee. Now he just wished he'd paid more attention, because it was so much harder than it looked. Lu Han always magically managed to get a perfect stream of water, but Sehun found that he kept alternating between pouring too fast and too little—he wrinkled his face up in frustration and tried to concentrate past the exhaustion of studying for hours and then trying to figure out the laundry machine and gather the laundry and sort it out.
When the coffee level reached the line in the glass, Sehun lifted out the filter and put it in the compost, wincing as the hot liquid burned the skin of his palm on the way because he didn't want to risk dripping on the clean floor. Wiping his hand on the towel, he got a porcelain cup from the rack, your favourite, and carefully poured in the hot coffee with slightly shaking fingers.
Crap! he thought right afterwards, smacking himself on the forehead with his palm, I should have pre-warmed the coffee cup. But it was too late, he could hear Lu Han peeling off the rubber gloves and knew that he would right now be carefully hanging them up with the little red and blue plastic pins to dry. Taking a deep breath, Sehun carefully picked up the coffee cup and headed for the laundry room, leaving the hopefully small mess in the kitchen behind him.
"Oh there you are," Lu Han said, looking up as Sehun came into view. "I got the whites—" he stopped, seeing what his boyfriend was holding in two hands.
"I'm really sorry," Sehun said again, and he didn't choke up a little, he absolutely did not, to see Lu Han looking so tired. "I made you some coffee. . ." Before he lost his nerve, because he absolutely did not know anything about coffee and he'd probably messed everything up and it probably tasted terrible and—
Lu Han stepped forward through the doorway, carefully shutting the laundry room door and with it the strong smell of oxi-clean and detergent. Suddenly it was possible to smell the rich vibrant smell of coffee in the hallway, and Sehun could see his boyfriend take a deep breath before reaching for the cup.
Lu Han brought the porcelain to his lips and took a sip, as steam wafted upwards and blurred the expression on his face for a moment. Sehun couldn't tell what he was thinking, as Lu Han lowered the cup and caught Sehun's eyes with his electrifying gaze that seemed to peer right through his eyes and into his soul.
And then he smiled, as the tenseness in his shoulders relaxed and the tiny scrunching lines around his eyes smoothed out and he stepped forward across the wood parquet, the hand that wasn't holding the coffee cup reaching up to Sehun's neck to pull his head down gently as their noses touched, eyes staring right into each other's and so close that Sehun blinked.
"Thank you," Lu Han said, and it was the exact same words he'd said before but this time they sounded like "I love you" and Sehun couldn't help the tiny tears that beaded up, hopefully inconspicuously, in the corners of his eyes.
Lu Han didn't say anything else, but he pulled Sehun's head down to rest on his shoulder, his fingers stroking a soothing pattern on the back of a neck that was stiff from leaning over books and studying. Sehun let himself sink into Lu Han's warmth, smell his comfortingly familiar smell, sweetness and coffee and the faintest undernotes of organic dyes and mordant, and feel his heart beating beneath a thin layer of t-shirt.
"Thank you," he whispered into the soft skin of Lu Han's neck, and he meant, "I love you."
lattelotus is being ordered by this fierce catbear to study and rest, so I'm tagging goodbyelover
teatimetaemint !!Written with the help of Inverted Island by Obfusc.
"Thank you," Lu Han said, and sighed.
Sehun shrank his chin into his shirt. He knew that the reds weren't supposed to go with the whites but was is it entirely his fault that Lu Han had tucked a red scrap of fabric in his shirt pocket?
"You're supposed to check the pockets Sehun," Lu Han said, and the worst was he didn't even sound angry, just tired. Sehun knew he was working really hard right now on the new line, and so he'd wanted to do just this little bit extra, even though Lu Han had told him to just worry about studying for his finals. I want to take care of you too. Guiltily, he tiptoed out of the laundry room as Lu Han stood and surveyed the damage, a full load of whites that would have to be soaked overnight in tubs of hot oxi-clean water and then bleached and rinsed with a dash of blueing before they regained their former white crispness.
He could hear Lu Han rummaging around on the shelves for the tubs; his shoulders twitched as he heard the plastic scraping against the wood shelves. I'm so sorry. Looking around for something, anything, his eyes fell upon the silver foil bag of personally roasted Yirgacheffe that Lu Han's best friend and college buddy had sent over as a sample—he tried not to feel bad about all of Lu Han's older friends, but four years was a lot sometimes, especially when he was feeling useless—Sehun gave his head a quick shake. Moping isn't going to help anything.
He got out Lu Han's manual coffee grinder and put the water on to boil in the kettle. How does he do this again? He could hear Lu Han filling the tubs of water and tried to go more quickly.
Chemex, he decided, brushing his bangs away from his face where the stress sweat was beginning to bead on his forehead. Less chance of messing that up.
He pulled the Chemex of of the shelf, rummaging around in the cupboard before managing to find the right paper after pulling out every other filter box, it's the white square paper right? Sehun was pretty sure, he did know how to pay attention some of the time, despite Lu Han teasing him that he was too single-focused. Single-focused on you.
Pouring the hot water into the copper pourover kettle, he remembered to pour a small amount through the filter and to warm the glass before carefully dumping it out and resettling the filter. The coffee grinder was set to medium-fine, Sehun hoped that was okay because he honestly didn't know how to change the grind. I think that looks right? he asked himself, surveying the small wooden drawer of rich brown ground coffee and crossed his fingers. Both hands. He could hear fabric swishing in the laundry room, Lu Han had probably pulled on the orange rubber gloves that covered his sensitive skin up to past his elbows and was swishing the clothes around in the bubbling oxi-clean water. Rush rush rush, he thought to himself.
Carefully pouring the ground coffee into the filter, Sehun took a deep breath. This is the tricky part. Carefully, he tried to pour a narrow stream of water in a clockwise motion, circling the grounds and trying to coax them into the beautiful bubbling lightness that Lu Han always achieved, Sehun sipping bubble tea as he watched, sitting at the counter and poking fun at the bitterness of coffee. Now he just wished he'd paid more attention, because it was so much harder than it looked. Lu Han always magically managed to get a perfect stream of water, but Sehun found that he kept alternating between pouring too fast and too little—he wrinkled his face up in frustration and tried to concentrate past the exhaustion of studying for hours and then trying to figure out the laundry machine and gather the laundry and sort it out.
When the coffee level reached the line in the glass, Sehun lifted out the filter and put it in the compost, wincing as the hot liquid burned the skin of his palm on the way because he didn't want to risk dripping on the clean floor. Wiping his hand on the towel, he got a porcelain cup from the rack, your favourite, and carefully poured in the hot coffee with slightly shaking fingers.
Crap! he thought right afterwards, smacking himself on the forehead with his palm, I should have pre-warmed the coffee cup. But it was too late, he could hear Lu Han peeling off the rubber gloves and knew that he would right now be carefully hanging them up with the little red and blue plastic pins to dry. Taking a deep breath, Sehun carefully picked up the coffee cup and headed for the laundry room, leaving the hopefully small mess in the kitchen behind him.
"Oh there you are," Lu Han said, looking up as Sehun came into view. "I got the whites—" he stopped, seeing what his boyfriend was holding in two hands.
"I'm really sorry," Sehun said again, and he didn't choke up a little, he absolutely did not, to see Lu Han looking so tired. "I made you some coffee. . ." Before he lost his nerve, because he absolutely did not know anything about coffee and he'd probably messed everything up and it probably tasted terrible and—
Lu Han stepped forward through the doorway, carefully shutting the laundry room door and with it the strong smell of oxi-clean and detergent. Suddenly it was possible to smell the rich vibrant smell of coffee in the hallway, and Sehun could see his boyfriend take a deep breath before reaching for the cup.
Lu Han brought the porcelain to his lips and took a sip, as steam wafted upwards and blurred the expression on his face for a moment. Sehun couldn't tell what he was thinking, as Lu Han lowered the cup and caught Sehun's eyes with his electrifying gaze that seemed to peer right through his eyes and into his soul.
And then he smiled, as the tenseness in his shoulders relaxed and the tiny scrunching lines around his eyes smoothed out and he stepped forward across the wood parquet, the hand that wasn't holding the coffee cup reaching up to Sehun's neck to pull his head down gently as their noses touched, eyes staring right into each other's and so close that Sehun blinked.
"Thank you," Lu Han said, and it was the exact same words he'd said before but this time they sounded like "I love you" and Sehun couldn't help the tiny tears that beaded up, hopefully inconspicuously, in the corners of his eyes.
Lu Han didn't say anything else, but he pulled Sehun's head down to rest on his shoulder, his fingers stroking a soothing pattern on the back of a neck that was stiff from leaning over books and studying. Sehun let himself sink into Lu Han's warmth, smell his comfortingly familiar smell, sweetness and coffee and the faintest undernotes of organic dyes and mordant, and feel his heart beating beneath a thin layer of t-shirt.
"Thank you," he whispered into the soft skin of Lu Han's neck, and he meant, "I love you."
lattelotus is being ordered by this fierce catbear to study and rest, so I'm tagging goodbyelover
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OMG I'M SO HAPPY YOU HAVE NO IDEA
THANK YOU SO MUCH
Do you know how tense my shoulders got while reading this? I felt so bad for Sehun (and Luhan). I know how much it sucks to try to be useful and just create more work for the person you want to help instead. It's the worst and you wrote Sehun's disappointment and frustration with himself so convincingly, I just wanted to reach out through the screen and hug him. But he shook it off and tried again and it doesn't even matter what the coffee tasted like, the second Luhan smiled all the nervous tension just drained out of me and I was grinning like an idiot. Luhan understood Sehun, he realized that he just wanted to make things a little easier for him, he honestly tried his best and that moment in the end was so incredibly heart-warming, I'm still flailing happily. It was such an 'ordinary' moment, but that's what made it even more meaningful to me. Their love for each other basically radiated off the screen and I couldn't be happier right now.
You didn't need to write about loud declarations of love or big gestures. Their feelings were there in Sehun's attempt to give Luhan something he loved (a good cup of coffee), it was there in Luhan's smile, it was in that embrace and every eye contact and their 'thank you's and I'M FEELING SO MANY WONDERFUL THINGS RIGHT NOW!
Thank you so so much for writing this for me. I absolutely love it and will reread it whenever I need a bit of Selu happiness! >////////