Work Text:
Sanha is 18 years old when he sees him for the first time.
He’s sat in the library with Myungjun and Jinwoo, meant to be working on an essay for history class; the sound of poorly hushed laughter catching his attention.
The boy’s head is thrown back as he laughs, eyes crinkled into small crescents and hand over his mouth, as though it might offset the volume of his giggles. He appears guilty for the noise he’d created, there’s no doubt in Sanha’s mind that he and his two friends had likely been the source of the talking Myungjun had been complaining about, and definitely right to worry about the volume of his laughter.
He watches him return to his book, shoulders slightly hunched, as though he was now trying to be more inconspicuous, though now that Sanha had noticed him he was hard to ignore. Sanha watches as he stretches his arms out above his head, eyes flitting around the library, taking in as much as he can in his quick glance.
He stands out from the other people in the building, Not in a bad way, in a way that makes Sanha curious, wanting to know as much as possible about the handsome stranger sitting across the room.
He curls the fingers of his left hand over his right wrist as he stretches, fingertips paling slightly with the pressure of his grip.
Sanha watches as he leans back down, picking up a highlighter from somewhere next to him and beginning to drag it across the page in front of him. Then quickly pulling it back, retrieving the lid from where he had dropped it, and placing it back on the top.
He crosses his arms over his chest, furrowing his eyebrows as he reads the words in the book placed on the table, crossing one leg over the other beneath the wood as his eyes move over the page.
He seems deeply engrossed into what he’s reading, carefully scanning each and every word until he’s interrupted by one of his friends being much too loud once again.
“Minhyuk.”
Sanha is finally able to put a name to the boy, watching as his eyes jump from the page to the person who had called him, throwing his head back in laughter once again after they say something; and leaving Sanha to focus back on his essay, attempting not to stare at the alluring stranger any longer.
***
Minhyuk is 19 years old the first time he talks to him.
He’d noticed the boy a few weeks earlier when he’d been working on some homework with Dongmin and Bin in the library on campus, as he sat at another table with his friends typing something up.
He’d noticed him looking in his direction a few times that evening, and each time he’d been in the library since then too.
He didn’t know why he kept returning to the library each evening, he was mainly trying to get away from his dorm; the suffocating pressure of studying kinesiology beginning to wear on him.
Minhyuk hadn’t seen the boy on campus before, looked just this side of too young to be in university already, but nonetheless assumed that he must have been attending his university for him to be there, in the school’s library.
He glances at him for what felt like the millionth time as he makes his way over to an empty table. He’d picked up a few things about him over the last few weeks in his glances, and he was dying to know more; curious about the boy who spent every evening in the overcrowded library.
The first thing he picked up on was that he was into music, like himself, if the guitar he constantly carried around was any indication, a trait which was intriguing to him as he was always looking for people with his same level of appreciation for music; it was nice to see that the cute boy sitting in the library might also have that same appreciation.
Minhyuk had also noticed that he played with things in his hands a lot, twirling or knotting or twisting them over and over again between his fingers. It was endearing to him, the way he was constantly messing with things, likely out of habit, not out of wanting to draw attention to it.
He’d figured out his name the week before too, coincidentally, or not so coincidentally, deciding that he needed to look at a book at the same time one of his friends had come in. He’d listened intently when they’d said his name, clearly happy to be seeing him if the slightly excited lilt to their voice was anything to go by. He wondered how long he’d been oblivious to the cute boy with pastel pink hair and sparkling brown eyes.
For the last two evenings in a row, Minhyuk had been trying to work up the courage to talk to him, Sanha, as he’d learned his name was.
He was determined to talk to the boy he spent so much time thinking about. After sitting down at the table next to his, he noticed that he was reading from a biology textbook he recognized; one he’d used in his first year of university. He looked like he was struggling, so Minhyuk leaned over, hoping he could help him out.
“Umm, I’m really sorry to bug you, but you look confused, and uhh, I used that book in my first year, so I thought I might be able to help… If you wanted, of course.”
He looks up at him, eyes widening as he wasn’t expecting Minhyuk to speak to him, “Umm, actually, that’d be really great,” he answers with a slight blush on his cheeks.
He switches tables, sitting down in front of him and holding out a hand, “I’m Minhyuk. Park Minhyuk.”
“Yoon Sanha. It’s nice to meet you.”
“You too.”
***
Sanha is 19 when Minhyuk asks him on their first date.
Minhyuk had first talked to him two months earlier, asking him if he needed help with what he was learning in one of his biology classes. Sanha had accepted, grateful to have someone who might be able to help him understand, and also extremely excited that the young man he’d been so curious about had finally spoken to him. He’d felt overwhelmed and in over his head in the biology class for a while before then, but just a few short tutoring sessions with Minhyuk later and he was right back on track.
From that first discussion, they had become quick friends, having a lot of similar interests and opinions.
Study sessions had turned into hangouts and now, hangouts into dates. Sanha had been waiting, almost since the day he’d first seen him, for Minhyuk to ask him on a date, and finally, after two months of awkward flirting and getting to know each other, he had.
Nervously, he got ready, comforted by the fact that they would be going to the cafe that had now become their meeting place of choice; just down the street from Sanha’s dorm and Minhyuk’s apartment which he shared with his friends Bin and Dongmin. It was comfortable, familiar, and it only made sense for their first real date to occur in the one place they could easily call “theirs”.
Sanha arrived 10 minutes early, finding Minhyuk already there. The date felt familiar yet also unfamiliar, it embodied the line they’d officially crossed, their relationship was no longer platonic but somehow fit better now than ever before, made more sense.
It sounded crazy, that Minhyuk could already mean so much to him in such a short amount of time, but sometimes people are meant to find themselves in places and situations they aren’t exactly expecting. And Sanha definitely wasn’t expecting to find Minhyuk, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t grateful for it.
They talked for hours, only stopping when the shop owners mentioned they were closing up and they left, apologizing profusely for staying after close; not that the owners minded, in a weird way they’d always kind of hoped the two would get together.
Minhyuk holds Sanha’s hand as he walks him back to his dorm and he swears his heart is skipping beats. He feels like a child, giddy and high on life, or more accurately, high on Minhyuk and the feelings he gave him.
“I don’t want this night to end,” Minhyuk mumbles as they finally reach Sanha’s building.
Sanha smiles, cheeks turning slightly red as he turns to face the older boy, “Me neither, but I have class tomorrow at 8:00 so I’d better get some rest.”
He makes no moves to leave despite his words, still standing and staring down at Minhyuk as he did the same, the two of them just taking one another in. Sanha takes the first step, sighing as he leans down and presses a kiss to Minhyuk’s cheek before whispering goodnight.
It’s Minhyuk’s turn to blush as he does the same, bidding Sanha a goodnight before watching him walk inside his building and wave one last time before entering.
Sanha smiles widely to himself, thinking that if nights like that continued, he would definitely fall in love with Minhyuk.
***
Minhyuk is exactly 20 years old when he asks Sanha to be his boyfriend.
He’d done it on the week of his birthday, the day of actually. It was midnight and Sanha had arrived at his apartment with cupcakes, a few balloons, a small gift, and a smile, cheeks flushed in excitement and hands cold from the weather.
“It’s a tradition in my family! The birthday boy or girl gets wished happy birthday at exactly midnight on their birthday, of course it’s necessary,” Sanha had argued when Minhyuk had told him he should be sleeping, preparing himself for the 7:30 shift he knew Sanha had in the morning.
Minhyuk shakes his head but lets the smile form on his face anyway, pulling him into a hug and pressing a light kiss to his lips, “Thank you, love.”
Sanha’s cheeks turn red as he does, the two of them still learning one another, and themselves, romantically. It had been awkward, and uncoordinated, and jumbled, like young love should be. It had been imperfectly perfect, exactly like the two of them in so many ways.
Minhyuk unwraps the box Sanha had brought with him, the covers of two albums he had talked about wanting to buy staring back at him.
If there was one thing Sanha was it was a good listener, despite how much he talked, always paying attention to what Minhyuk was saying and remembering it for later. He showed his affection and appreciation for Minhyuk in actions, while Minhyuk showed his in words.
They were starting to get used to that and somehow it worked, somehow they worked, in an inexplicable way, the awkwardness had molded into something that made sense. Sanha with his actions, and Minhyuk with his words, differences blurring as bonds were formed and relationship built.
Neither of them are really expecting him to say it when he does, they’re sat enjoying cupcakes, the room silent, the words falling from his lips as soon as he has the thought because there’s no way he can hold them back any longer, “D’you want to be my boyfriend?”
Sanha blushes for the third time that night, nodding his head as he stutters out an answer, “I’d like that.”
The answers are quiet and stumbled but it’s Minhyuk and it’s Sanha and it’s them.
And it’s not 10 minutes later but Minhyuk is pulling Sanha into his chest as they cuddle on fall asleep on his couch, and Sanha may be slightly late to work, and Bin and Dongmin may walk in on them the next morning, but they don’t really mind because they’re spending the time with their soulmate; even if they don’t know that just yet.
***
Sanha is 25 years old when Minhyuk proposes.
He does it on their six year anniversary, and it’s so cliche and predictable and unnecessary, but Sanha secretly loves it. And he may have almost fallen over getting on his knee but maybe they can leave that part out of the story when they tell other people.
And they don’t plan a wedding between Minhyuk’s 9:00 to 5:00 appointments at his practice, nor do they do it as Sanha nears the end of teaching for the year.
Sanha is happy either way, and can’t really believe that he’d met Minhyuk in the library at their university. Not quite sure how he had ended up with the boy he’d watched curiously for so long.
They don’t say any vows, nor do they any large crowds of guests. They don’t have a cake and Sanha doesn’t give a wedding speech.
Their proposal is only for them, really; representative of the love they share and their promise of it never ending. It holds meaning for them, the rings laid on each of their left hands; and even if it’s not official, the whispered words when they come home each night or wake up in the morning are enough.
Their friends still throw them a party, anyways, congratulating them on their engagement; on their plans to spend forever together. They mingle cautiously around Jinwoo and Myungjun’s living room, fingers locked and elbows bumping just slightly as they walk around and thank everyone for coming.
Somehow they get roped into a speech and Minhyuk urges Sanha to deliver it; unknowingly deciding that it’s time for the one who speaks mainly in actions to talk.
Sanha’s speech starts with 11 words, “I was 18 years old the first time I saw Minhyuk.”
People seem to be hanging onto his every word and Sanha’s hands are shaking slightly and he holds onto Minhyuk’s left hand tightly with his, the metal on their fingers sliding against each other as they do.
And Sanha tells a quick story about two boys who fell in love over coffee and biology and had their first date in the same cafe they spent every Tuesday evening in, who were shy and quiet around one another for the first few months of their relationship, whose anniversary is on the same day as one of their birthdays because he couldn’t hold back from asking him in that moment. He tells the story of a couple who shower at opposite times of day, and still go to that same cafe every once in awhile. A relationship where one of them doesn’t really say much but puts all of his love and affection into actions, while the other does the opposite, throwing all of his fondness and adoration into his words. He explains how they work, in some twisted, jumbled bit of fate, they’re perfect for each other.
Sanha’s speech started with 11 words but it’ll finish with 25, “I was 18 years old the first time I saw Minhyuk and somehow I still feel the same way around him as I did then.”
And then those three important words are muttered and someone begins clapping as Minhyuk presses a kiss to his lips. And it’s hours later when the party's over and they’re laying in bed preparing to leave for their “honeymoon” the next morning and Minhyuk whispers across their sheets, “Did you really mean that earlier?”
“Mean what?”
“That you still feel the same way around me as you did at 18.”
Sanha nods, cheeks red, still flustered and giddy around him even after seven years.
“I love you, Sanha, so much.”
“I love you too.”
And more kisses are shared before they’re drifting off to sleep and preparing for their short vacation, and all they can think is that their 18 year old selves would never have believed they could be so happy and so in love.