Chapter Text
Jeongin and Seungmin had been living together for quite a while when they first went to the beach together.
It was a cozy summer afternoon. The sun was shining, but not too hot, thanks to the light sea breeze. Jeongin was out swimming with Chan and Changbin, while Seungmin and Minho watched the whole scene from their lounging chairs, taking in the warmth of the sun on their skin.
Minho looked ridiculous. His sunglasses had a tangerine motif, and he was wearing white swim shorts and a pink hawaii shirt. Matching with Jisung, of course, who also had tangerine sunglasses and white swim shorts, but his hawaii shirt was green. Jisung was plashing with Felix in the water close to the shore, and besides the shirts, he and Minho were also wearing matching rings.
Seungmin stared at the ring on Minho’s finger, glistening in the sunlight.
“That’s a nice ring”, he noticed.
Minho huffed a laugh. “Jealous?”
“Yeah, kind of.” Seungmin stared into Minho’s eyes when he turned to look at him. “I hope Jeongin proposes to me soon.”
“Have you considered... proposing to him first?”, Minho suggested.
Seungmin made a pfft sound with his lips and turned away.
“I’m serious, Min. Just ask him.”
“I can’t.”
“Because you still don’t have a ring?”
“I have one”, Seungmin said as he pulled it out of his pocket. It was silver, rather than gold, to go with Jeongin’s necklace. Without any fancy details – something Seungmin wouldn’t have minded wearing himself. “But I don’t know if he’s ready yet.”
Minho looked at the ring. Then at Seungmin. Then at his husband, Jisung. He was pulling Hyunjin from the shore, where the dancer had been letting the waves hit his ankles, further into the water.
“Yang Jeongin really loves you, Min”, he said. “Trust me, I can tell. Just stop worrying about it too much and get it over with.”
Their silence was interrupted by Hyunjin yelping when Felix splashed water in his face.
“How did you propose to Jisung?”, Seungmin asked.
Minho turned to look at him.
“I didn’t”, he replied and smiled down at his ring as he fiddled with it. “Or rather, we both did.”
“At the same time?”
Minho nodded and giggled. “We went out on a date, and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity – but I guess I wasn’t the only one.”
“That’s very...” Seungmin leaned back and sighed. “Very you.”
“I know.”
Right on cue, Jisung came running towards them, water dripping from the hem of his shirt.
“What are you guys talking about?”, he asked cheerfully.
Minho turned to look at Jisung and his face lit up. “Sungie. We were just talking about you.”
Seeing the soft look in Minho’s eyes, Seungmin wondered if he himself looked at his boyfriend like that, too.
“Let’s get you some dry clothes to wear”, Minho said quietly and wrapped Jisung in a towel.
Once he was dry, Jisung started burying Minho in the sand, and Felix soon came to join him. Not long after, Hyunjin also came out of the water and threw himself on the lounge chair next to Seungmin.
“Ahh, that hits the spot!”, he sighed. “Nothing beats drying off in the sun on a beach day!”
“I can imagine”, Seungmin said with a smile and looked out to the sea, where Jeongin was still out swimming.
“You’re waiting for him to come back?”, Hyunjin asked when he saw.
Seungmin nodded.
“I might propose to him.”
“Aww, right here at the beach?” Hyunjin turned to lie on his stomach and let the sun dry his back, as well. “That’s so romantic. He’ll love it.”
“You think so?”
Seungmin let out a sigh when Hyunjin nodded. The ring burned with heat in his clenched fist, probably greasy from his sweat by now.
“I hope you’re right about that”, he whispered.
✩
The sun was already painting the sky pink when Jeongin came back from his swim, and his shorts were still dripping wet when Seungmin pulled him by the wrist to a more remote corner of the beach. Who gave a fuck that there were barely any people around anymore, anyway, right?
“Pup, what’s wrong?”, Jeongin asked. “Can’t I at least dry myself off before listening to—whatever you have to tell me?”
Seungmin hummed and shook his head with a smug expression.
“I need to tell you now. While the sun is still lighting up your eyes.”
Jeongin furrowed his brows and formed slits with his eyes, but they widened when Seungmin went down on one knee.
“Yang Jeongin”, he began. “Rich boy. Innie. Sweetheart. Whatever you want me to call you. You know, we’ve been living together for a while now.”
His hand trembled, but went into his pocket and pulled out the ring. He held it between his thumb and index finger to present it to Jeongin.
The light reflected on the silver ring, and it almost blinded Seungmin, but he took a deep breath and continued. The same words that he’d been rehearsing with Minho.
“If you’re ready for the next step, I’d love for you to be my husband.”
He looked up at Jeongin and managed a weak smile, his eyes tearing up as the last rays of sunlight of the day hit his face.
It might have been the fading light, but Jeongin’s face seemed to pale as he stared down at the ring in Seungmin’s hand. His breathing was heavy, but slow-paced and steady. Strange, Seungmin thought, considering he’d been swimming for two hours. In fact, his body was still noticeably wet, even when the sun was no longer there to shine on the drops of water running down his chest, and his necklace stuck to his skin.
“Kim Seungmin.”
Jeongin’s voice tore Seungmin out of his thoughts.
“What is it, Innie?”
“Stay here”, he demanded and stormed off, but turned his head as he ran. “Do not move”, he added.
Seungmin looked after Jeongin as his thoughts trailed off. Where was he going? What was he planning to do? Was this a yes or no to Seungmin's proposal?
He wrapped his hand around the ring in his hand again. Damn it.
Whatever Jeongin was doing seemed to take a while, and eventually, Seungmin got back up on his feet again. After he’d finished wiping the sand off his leg, he looked up again to see Jeongin right in front of him.
Hastily dried up and dressed in a casual, but fashionable shirt, necklace dangling in his cleavage.
Standing down on one knee.
Holding out his hands to present a ring to Seungmin.
It was a beautiful gold ring, a star-shaped, red gemstone embedded in the rim.
“Kim Seungmin. Puppy. Minnie. Darling. Whatever you want me to call you.”
Tension left Seungmin's body, and he almost dropped the silver ring in his hand.
“We’ve been living together for a while now”, Jeongin continued, and his shock was the only thing stopping Seungmin from falling onto his knees and throwing his arms around his boyfriend’s neck.
“I’m ready for the next step.” Jeongin smiled, with dimples and squinted eyes and everything else that made his smile so beautiful and endearing. “I’d love to be your husband.”
The shock wore off, and Seungmin embraced Jeongin with tears in his eyes.
“Oh my God, yes”, he huffed against Jeongin’s shoulder, then pulled away slightly to press kisses all over Jeongin’s smiley face – forehead, eyelids, nose, cheeks and lips. Jeongin giggled and returned the gesture, still grinning with each kiss and wrapping his arms around Seungmin’s waist as he kissed him on the lips.
It felt warm and wet and comforting. Not the least bit drunk, like their first kiss had been. Seungmin hummed in satisfaction and licked Jeongin’s lips before he pulled away.
“Wait, I almost forgot”, he blurted, light-headed from the kiss. He let go of Jeongin and opened his hand, ring in his palm. “Let me put it on.” With his free hand, he reached for Jeongin’s.
Jeongin smiled as Seungmin slid the ring on his ring finger, and raised his hand to look at the ring against the moonlight.
“It looks so simple for an engagement ring.”
“Oh, shut up!” Seungmin pushed him playfully. “I only picked this one because it would go with your necklace!”
Jeongin laughed softly. “You know me so well.”
He held out his hands, gold ring sitting in the right, the left one ready to take Seungmin’s.
“My turn.”
Jeongin’s hands were warm, and so was the ring when he slipped it on Seungmin’s hand. And it fit perfectly.
Seungmin looked up from the ring at his fiancé and felt like he could have burst into tears again.
“Fuck, Innie, why are you so beautiful? I wanna marry you right now.”
Jeongin smirked and pressed another kiss to Seungmin's lips.
“That makes two of us.”
✩✩✩
They picked out their wedding rings together.
Seungmin would have been perfectly fine with just using the engagement rings for the ceremony – they were more than good enough, as far as he was concerned – but Jeongin had insisted that if they had one gold and one silver, it would have looked imbalanced, and that they both needed to wear one of each after the wedding.
“You’re not just saying that because you didn’t like the ring I got you?”, Seungmin teased him.
“Come on”, Jeongin laughed as he pointed out a sleek silver ring. “I thought I told you enough times already. The one you got me is perfect.”
Seungmin looked at the ring his fiancé was pointing to and nodded, humming in approval.
“There’s nothing special about this one, though”, he muttered as he ran his hand over Jeongin’s ring finger.
“But you gave it to me”, Jeongin whispered back, interlacing their fingers together and smiling softly. “That’s all it takes for it to be perfect.”
“Shut up.” Seungmin hid his face with his free hand, a dumb grin on his face. “God, you’re still so damn cheesy. It’s getting annoying.”
“You don’t look annoyed.”
“Trust me, I am. Very annoyed”, Seungmin laughed, playfully slapping Jeongin on the shoulder, which made him smirk.
“So you won’t pick out a ring for me?”
Seungmin rolled his eyes, still grinning, and looked at the gold rings in the glass showcase.
“This one.” He pointed to one that looked similar to the one on his own hand. A star-shaped, blue gemstone embedded in the rim.
“We’ll match”, Jeongin noticed and smiled. “I like it.”
✩✩✩
The wedding was perfect.
Seungmin was walking down the aisle in a white suit, Jeongin in a black one, waiting at the altar with a fond smile and tears in his squinted eyes – both suits were designed personally by I.N. The venue was decorated with blue silk and red rose petals, and all of their friends were sitting in the front row. Jeongin and Seungmin recited their wedding vows, which both of them had sneakily rehearsed in front of the mirror in separate bathrooms at home.
“This isn’t even close to the traditional Christian kind of wedding my younger self imagined for us”, Jeongin began. “Honestly, he would probably pass out if he saw me standing here like this”, he added with a laugh.
“My parents had three rules for my future: don’t become an artist, don’t have sex before marriage, and don’t marry a man. As of today, I’m finally breaking the third and last one.”
A laugh escaped Seungmin, and he would have kissed Jeongin right away if it hadn’t been for the vows.
“I’ve always dreamed of marrying a rich guy”, Seungmin said, still grinning as he looked softly into Jeongin’s eyes. “Of a huge wedding, with everyone we know as our guests. The whole place decorated with silk and rose petals. Me in a beautiful suit, standing in front of my groom.
And that dream is coming true”, he added. “Though the man I’m marrying now is not just some rich guy. He’s the love of my life, and he’s beautiful.”
He wrapped his arms around Jeongin and whispered into his ear.
“Not as beautiful as I am. But still, it counts for something.”
They were both shaking with laughter as they slipped the rings on each other’s fingers. One gold, one silver, just like their engagement rings had been.
Everyone clapped when they kissed, but none of them were as loud and enthusiastic as Seungmin’s best man, Minho. Although Hyunjin, who was standing next to Jeongin, was a close second.
“You know, there’s one thing I’m still curious about”, Seungmin said during the dance party, one hand on the back of Jeongin’s shoulder, the other intertwined with his husband’s.
“What is it?”
“Did you also have an... oh moment?”
Jeongin tilted his head. “A what?”
Seungmin’s cheeks heated. “Like... a moment where you realized your feelings for me. Something that made you stop and think to yourself, ‘What is this thing I’m feeling?’ or whatever.”
The words bubbled out before he could stop himself. Jeongin laughed quietly.
“Of course.”
“So what was your oh, then?”, Seungmin wanted to know.
“Uh-uh.” Jeongin removed his left hand from Seungmin’s shoulder and put it on his own lips instead. “I’m not telling you unless you tell me yours.”
Seungmin opened his mouth to protest, but couldn’t think of anything to say, so he kept quiet.
Then, after a while–
“The fashion show.”
“Hm?” Jeongin tilted his head again.
“After I texted you about the fashion show”, Seungmin explained. “When you said you’d be there, I made a note in my calendar.” He could feel his face getting red as he kept talking. “With hearts around it.”
“Shut up. You didn’t”, Jeongin laughed, almost missing a step in his disbelief.
“I did”, Seungmin squeaked, belated embarrassment rushing in.
He cleared his throat. “Well, what about you, Innie?”
“I think mine took a bit longer”, Jeongin pondered, and a smirk spread across his face. “Right – it was at the fashion show – when you were taking all those photos of me. I must have realized how much I loved the attention. Your attention.”
Seungmin gave in to the laugh that bloomed from his chest, traveling all the way to his shaking shoulders and tearful eyes. Jeongin caught the laugh as well, and they stumbled into an absolute mess of a slow waltz.
“We’re so bad at this”, Seungmin laughed after their dance, still grinning widely as he rested his head on Jeongin’s shoulder.
“You mean dancing?” Jeongin grinned softly. “Or our relationship in general?”
Seungmin pushed his lips out and hummed as he thought about it.
“Both.”
They both started laughing again.
“Well, both are things that just about anyone can do”, Jeongin murmured and turned towards Seungmin to give him a peck to the top of his head. “It just takes dedication to do them well.”
Seungmin lifted his head to look into his husband’s eyes.
My husband. He repeated the words in his head like a playlist on loop, smiling to himself.
“Then I’ll dedicate myself to loving you so much that it makes you sick”, he whispered, nuzzling Jeongin’s neck and printing kisses all over him.
His husband giggled under the contact and ruffled Seungmin’s hair.
“I don’t think you’ll ever be able to make me sick.”