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It would be okay, he told himself. There wasn’t any sort of impending danger that he’d have to worry about, well, aside from the normal things that could happen to a person when they went out. It was relatively safe where they were and there hadn’t been any sort of reports of any violent activity recently. There was absolutely nothing to be worried about and he willed himself to remain calm and not obsess over the fact that his wife would be gone for most of the day as she went out with some friends she hadn’t seen in a while. A reasonable thing to want to do! Obviously she had a life outside of the RFA and obviously she would have wanted to keep up with that life now that things were all calm and settled.
What wasn’t as reasonable was the anxiety and nervousness that he was feeling—and somewhat denying—as he sat upside down on the couch as he numbly flipped through the channels. Meowy had taken a seat next to him but wasn’t saying anything yet. Saeran had long abandoned his brother for the isolation of his room after he pestered him to entertain him one too many times. Such a cruel baby brother! Abandoning him when all he wanted was to bond with him. He was so much cuter before, but Saeyoung didn’t want to push his brother too far. Things were more or less good now and he wanted to keep it that way. His brother may never go back to how he was when they were children but then again, he wasn’t the same either.
Still... He couldn’t help but play the role of obnoxious and needy older brother whenever it fit the situation, but he knew the restlessness he felt now wasn’t the ideal time to pretend to be needlessly overbearing.
Saeyoung pulled out his phone from his pocket, sliding further down on the couch and onto the floor, and sent a few text messages. A few to Yoosung to see what he was up to—maybe he could kill some time playing LOLOL with him; one to Zen to see if he was free for just anything. He sent two to Jumin asking him if he could come over and see Elly (the answer would most likely be “no” but maybe this time would be different!), and even one to Jaehee just to round out the list. He stared at his phone a while bit longer to see if anyone would reply to him right away and…nope. Or at least, not fast enough for him. He let out a huge sigh and continued to slide off of the couch and sprawl out onto the floor.
When the messages did come back, Saeyoung was met with rejections left and right. Yoosung had homework that he needed to take care of and a test to study for; it was amazing how much he had changed over a short period of time. Zen needed to meet with some fancy director about a new gig. Jumin, as expected, denied any and all access to Elly (Elizabeth the 3rd), and Jaehee told him to stop bothering everyone just because he had too much time on his hands. Some friends they were! He sighed heavily as he contemplated to send them back all replies.
But before he could, Meowy decided to act; it jumped down from its perch on the couch to continue being by his side before it spoke, “Don’t worry, meow! She’ll be back soon, meow!” Ah, being comforted by one of his inventions whenever he was feeling a little bit down sucked. He had made it for her to have as a replacement for him, but seeing that both of them made it out of there alive and well it acted as a pseudo-pet. Maybe he should suggest getting a real pet one day. Oh. All three of them could all go together—! It would be like a real family event! Wait, Saeran liked cats too didn’t he? They were twins so Saeyoung assumed he would but he should probably double check.
Despite his brother’s declaration to not bother him for anything even if the entire kitchen was burning because of something gone terribly wrong, Saeyoung really needed to know if his brother liked cats. Saeran didn’t have to like cats as much as he did, but just as long as he could tolerate them then it would be enough. His brother tended to give Meowy a wide breadth but he had assumed it due to the fact that it was programmed to act like 707. As expected, the knock on his brother’s door was met with prolonged silence. Maybe Saeran had taken a nap? No, he could hear the faint sound of clicking on a keyboard. So he kept pushing to get his brother to open the door.
From persistent knocking to scratching to howling at the door, Saeyoung tried them all and regretted how solid he made these doors. He was in the middle of caterwauling for his twin with half of his body pressed against the door when Saeran eventually gave in and opened the door with the most soured expression on his face. Saeyoung nearly fell forward and onto the floor but he caught himself at the last moment and stood upright and smiled brightly completely ignoring his brother’s expression.
“Saeran,” Saeyoung started brightly, “I have a question for you.”
Unbelievable… There might be something that could be said about the way Saeyoung seemed to bounce between moods and completely ignore obvious social cues but who really knew how much of it was a carefully practiced act. Nevertheless, Saeran was tempted to shut the door in his brother’s face but knew if he did, the noise would just continue again if not be louder than the first time and so he humored his brother. “Which is..?”
Oooh! He replied! Saeyoung had half expected him to slam the door in his face; guess they were making real progress after all. And without skipping a beat, Saeyoung replied both playfully and seriously, “I need to know if you like cats!”
Silence.
The only reply that Saeyoung got from his dear twin was a door being slammed in his face. It took a half a second for Saeyoung to even realize what his brother had done before he was pounding on the door again telling him how it was a serious and real question! He needed to know for very important and specific reasons! But as he kept insisting the urgency of the answer, Saeran continued to ignore his brother. The only reply he gave him was to go play with the robot cat he had made and to stop bothering him just because he was anxious about his wife being away. Thinking about getting a pet was just something his mind came up with to distract him from her being away.
Well, if Saeran wanted to stop Saeyoung from pounding on his door, it certainly worked but he didn’t leave. Instead he sat down and leaned against his brother’s door and pulled out his phone to look at it. He really was just coming up with inane things to distract himself from the real problem. It was silly and stupid too—he was completely fine whenever she went off to work but as soon as it came down to something as asinine as going out with friends or even to the store, he would start to feel anxious. Perhaps it was because, unlike her work, there was no set schedule of when to expect her back or when he knew was acceptable to contact her?
He didn’t want to encroach on her personal time. Everyone needed their own space just for themselves. Saeran had his room, Saeyoung’s was his computer room, and her’s…was outside spending time with people who weren’t part of the RFA.
“Just call her if you’re going to be like this,” Saeran called out from his room. Saeyoung hadn’t said anything but he guesses that his brother knew what he was doing—that twin funny business. He let out a half-hearted laugh at his brother’s suggestion. This wasn’t fair.
“I can’t do that!” Saeyoung replied with mirth in his voice, “good husbands let their wives have their own lives and don’t bother them whenever they go out to have fun with their friends.”
“Then be a terrible husband,” Saeran’s reply was immediate and sounded a lot closer than it was before. Had his little brother moved away from his desk or whatever else he was doing in there? (Hopefully it was nothing illegal; Saeyoung didn’t want to use his talents anymore if he didn’t have to.) “You’re insufferable as you are right now.”
A click and this time when Saeran opened the door to his room Saeyoung did end up tumbling onto the ground. His twin stood above him and looked down at him with a less annoyed but still put-out expression. Meanwhile Saeyoung looked up at him with a bit startled. “If you just told her you missed her she’d understand, right? It’s not really my concern to know too much, but she seems like someone who wouldn’t get mad if you bothered her even if she was doing something.”
There’s an awkward silence that follows as Saeyoung continues to look up at his brother as if he had grown another head. It wasn’t as if he said anything particularly ground-breaking or weird, no, it was more like he stated the most obvious fact that he had forgotten. If she was the “run-of-the-mill” woman then they wouldn’t be where they were now. This was the woman who, despite everything, has stuck with him and showered him with love. It also wouldn’t be the first time he called her just to hear her voice either…
“I’m…going to call her.” Saeyoung’s movements are stiff as he sits upright and pushes himself off of the ground to move towards the bedroom. He doesn’t think that there would be anything worth hiding from his brother since it would just be a harmless call but he wanted to be alone. Saeran watched his brother robotically open and close the door to the bedroom he shared with his wife before shaking his head and sighing only to notice that Meowy was at his feet. He gave it a nudge with his foot before turning back to his room. It seemed to not understand the cue and instead helped itself into Saeran’s room—not that he seemed to do anything about it.
“As soon as he hears her voice, he’ll go back to being his normal idiotic self.” What a pair.