Chapter Text
the seoul skyline always had been beautiful. jungwon let his gaze drift over the lights in the distance through the glass in front of him. there were a few faint colourful hues hanging around the horizon line and blocking the true night’s sky from view. the boy smiled lightly before shutting the curtains and blocking out the man-made light.
he glanced over to the clock then and saw that it had just passed eleven, only one more hour and then it would be another new year.
jungwon found himself trying to imagine how everyone else was feeling. he imagined the fireworks that would soon soar into the sky and the cheers from the people below in the city as they watched them with wonder and hope. new year’s eve was always a beacon of hope.
perhaps sometimes though it didn’t need to be, jungwon wasn’t quite sure that he wanted a new beginning in the next year, not when the previous one had been so perfect. he felt arms wrap snugly around his waist then and a light kiss be pressed to his cheek, “why are you staring at some closed curtains?” the voice asked, jay asked and jungwon positively beamed before turning around to face him.
“just thinking about how i’m going to have to clean up all this mess when everyone leaves,” he huffs jokingly before glancing over to where sunghoon and sunoo were playing a game of beer pong, “he’s just like you, letting sunoo win all the time.”
“winning makes you happy, doesn’t it?” jay asked as if it was an obvious explanation for his behaviour.
jungwon simply responded by placing his hands on top of jay’s where they were rested on his stomach and grinning, “i guess it does, especially when i’m against you.”
jay only laughed at this before letting go of jungwon’s waist and interlocking their hands instead. he reached out to open the curtains again and the younger tossed his boyfriend a confused glance to which jay only smiled.
“i want to see the fireworks, don’t you think that’s the best part of new year?” he asked and jungwon stared at him as if he’d gone crazy.
“i thought you didn’t really like fireworks, you told me that before, that’s why i shut them in the first place,” the younger questioned but jay only laughed softly.
“people can change.”
it seemed that jay knew that better than anyone.
jungwon’s life had changed so dramatically over the last two years that almost nothing was the same. he’d quit his job and joined the entertainment company that niki had set up as their in-house therapist, jay had found a new job in the company too and with all of them working together (and a bit of help from jake and heeseung as they were business graduates) they’d managed to successfully train up a group of trainees and have them ready to debut. it seemed that their friends were very multitalented and even sunoo had gotten involved, taking the photos for the album jacket.
of course, his friends were still the same people underneath everything. niki still acted like he was one of the trainees, always messing around and pulling pranks even though he was the ceo of the company. it seemed to work out pretty well for him though and his antics had already sent him and the pre-debut group viral causing the amount of applications for the company’s auditions to skyrocket. jungwon and sunoo still met every single week for dinner to gossip about jay and sunghoon and anything else they’d heard from their respective jobs. it seemed that working in the idol industry really meant that you got a lot of insider information.
and jay. jay still had a tendency to overwork himself, there were still some nights where jungwon had turned over at 4am to find the other side of the bed still cold. yet old habits die hard and after those nights jay always woke up to an angry text from niki saying i am literally your boss, if either of you two come into work today rather than spending time with each other you’re both fired so it was all fine and they had seemingly infinite amounts of time to spend together.
so all in all, jungwon was happy, unbelievably so and his love for jay had gotten even stronger which he had never even considered would be possible. he liked to think that jay was happy too and if the way that jay was looking at him, a familiar sparkle of adoration in his eyes and an awe-struck smile on his lips, meant anything then jungwon knew he was right.
“it’s nearly 12,” sunghoon’s loud voice came from across the room, he was obviously drunk and probably from purposely losing so many games of beer pong to sunoo but jungwon supposed that love always had made people go crazy.
“what time is it?” jay asked then and jungwon turned around to set eyes on the clock behind him.
“there’s five minutes to go,” he beamed and a part of him thought about this exact time two years ago, he huddled himself up in a cold, lonely apartment and cried himself to a bleak sleep only to wake up in a past he hardly knew anymore. times were awful back then, he hardly saw jay, they hardly spoke and jungwon was desperately trying to cling on to something he was losing fast.
“one minute!” sunoo’s excited voice rang out.
that was when he’d thought about leaving jay, thought about giving up the best thing in his life and jungwon, although knowing that jay was neglecting him then, still hated himself for that thought. he still regretted how everything happened, still wished he’s just talked to jay and they could have-
“won,” jay’s shaky voice came just as jungwon heard screams of happy new year and the first firework illuminated the dark sky. he looked away from the city and towards the person he loved more than anything else and his world stopped.
jay was on one knee, nervous eyes gazing up at jungwon’s desperately trying to gauge some kind of reaction. in his hand was a black box and a silver ring with a few diamonds making a heart shape in the middle and jungwon was so unbelievably in love.
“won,” jay spoke, more confidently this time, “i know we’ve had our ups and downs we’ve had our struggles but none of that has ever changed how deeply my love for you runs, you’re everything for me. you’re the first thing i ever want to see when i wake up, you’re the last thing i ever want to see before i fall asleep and i want you to be there with me for every second for the rest of my life, you’re my priority, you’re the one i would put before anything else without a second’s hesitation, i can’t even say that i love you because those words will never come close to being strong enough to tell you how i feel because it’s reached so beyond love, jungwon will you marry me?”
jungwon was stunned. his heart was beating faster than he had ever known and his hands shook while tears began to gather in his eyes. nothing else mattered in the world, there was only him, jay and that question, that offer of being each other’s everything forever and jungwon would be the world’s biggest fool if he said anything other than
“yes! yes! of course yes!” jungwon all but shrieked as jay stood up and wrapped his arms so tightly around the younger that he felt as if he was going to suffocate, “i love you so fucking much,” he all but sobbed on to jay’s shoulder.
“i love you so fucking much too,” jay laughed as they pulled away from the hug and jungwon looked up to see that his boyf- fiancé was crying too, “let me put the ring on you.”
jay slid the delicate piece of metal on to jungwon’s finger and the younger beamed as he stared down at it. it was so much more than it looked, so much more than an expensive piece of jewellery. it was a deal and a promise and declaration that jay would love him until the end of time.
“congratulations!” jungwon heard a voice, undoubtedly niki, yell followed by the sound of someone popping a bottle of champagne open.
“my best friend is getting married!” sunoo shrieked as he ran over, “if i’m not your best man i’m going to sue you and sunghoon is a lawyer so just know i could do it.”
“that’s not how law works babe,” sunghoon grinned down at the younger boy, “but whatever i’m so happy for you two, you deserve this so much.”
“thank you,” jay replied first as he let himself be bro hugged by sunghoon. jungwon was content for the moment just to let everyone talk at him as he tried to let it all sink in. he was marrying jay, jay was marrying him, they were getting married.
“we’re getting married,” he spoke out causing jay to turn and look at him with a curious yet adoring gaze.
“that’s correct,” he giggled, “we are.”
jungwon thought that he’d never heard any words that sounded better.