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Jeongguk and Taehyung have been dating for five years.
They met at the end of college, when their mutual friends Seokjin and Namjoon decided to set the both of them up on a blind date with each other.
Jeongguk was rather dubious about the idea at first. He couldn’t bring himself to agree to the idea of going out with some stranger; especially not on a date that he didn’t even get to plan for himself.
And if there’s one thing in this world that Jeon Jeongguk believes in more than binge-watching anime and munching on deep fried seaweed, it’s the great and underrated concept of meticulous planning.
From a very young age, Jeongguk always enjoyed making incredibly detailed plans for every, single aspect of his life. Lengthy to-do lists and well-organized calendars never failed to fill his heart with a sense of safety and comfort.
It’s weird, he knows. But having these plans lets him feel like he has some sort of upper-hand advantage over the unknown future (aka the main source of his day-to-day mini panic attacks).
Even so, the best and most well thought out plans can also fail, sometimes. Jeongguk is well aware of that.
Which is why he has plans B, C, D, E, F, and G to back himself up.
He always does.
Jeongguk is a perfectionist at hand and an idealist at heart. Unlike most guys, he’s had the picture of a perfect love life imprinted on the backside of his mind ever since he was 5. He’s got it all figured out: the age when he wants to meet his future spouse (28. Or 29 if his mechanical engineering career goes better than expected), how and where he’s going to propose (candlelight dinner by the beach—at sunset, obviously), the details of their intimate, family-only wedding and even the sketches of a house in the suburbs where he and his husband or wife can watch their children grow up together for years to come.
But all of that is still waiting for him in the far future. Right now, all 22-year-old Jeon Jeongguk plans to do is to keep his focus on the career path that he oh-so-carefully mapped out for himself ever since the age of 10.
But of course his beloved Seokjin hyung had to come along and ruin it all.
Jeongguk didn’t like blind dates, he made that pretty loud and clear. But his closest friend (and most annoying hyung), Kim Seokjin, knew exactly what to say to get his attention in an instant.
He used the magic word.
‘Perfect’.
“Trust me, Jeonggukkie. My highly advanced intuition-”
“For the last time, hyung, it’s not a thing!”
“Oh, well excuse you, but I’ve been living on this planet for five years longer than your little fetus ass has, so if I say it’s a thing, it’s a thing .”
“Aww, admitting out loud that we’re a fossil now, aren’t we?”
“BRAT.”
“Am NOT.”
“Ugh, anyways! As I was saying, before someone started being rude-”
“Hey!”
“-my highly advanced intuition tells me that Taehyung and you are going to be perfect for each other.”
“... perfect? R-really? How could you possibly know?”
“I just know.”
“You just... know???”
“Yes, brat! See for yourself then, if you don’t believe me.”
So that’s exactly what Jeongguk did. And though he’d never admit it out loud even if he’s held at gunpoint,
Damn. Kim Seokjin was fucking right.
---
6:00 pm at ‘Palette’; a small, art-themed coffee shop standing quietly next to the entrance of Hyehwa Station.
Jeongguk may have let Seokjin plan the time and place for their date but he sure as hell won’t let himself arrive there completely unprepared. He spends hours prior to their meeting time cooped up in his room studying Palette’s social media sites like the diligent student that he’s always been. He scrolls through photos, comments, reviews posted by different customers, and takes note of their suggestions (neatly, of course). Using a simple tally-counting system, it doesn’t take much for Jeongguk to figure out the shop’s top two bestselling menus:
Starry Night Milkshake and The Cake with the Pearl Earring.
This is good, he thinks.
This will definitely impress Taehyung.
But by the time that the date rolls by, Jeongguk doesn’t even get the chance to pull out all the information that he prepared from earlier.
“I’m not feeling so coffee shop-y tonight.” Taehyung whines as he and Jeongguk break apart from their awkward half-hug.
Jeongguk feels his cheeks burning bright with embarrassment. He expected their greetings to be followed by a friendly handshake, which was why his hand ended up caught between his and Taehyung’s crotches as the other pulled him in for an unexpected hug.
“Oh….um….would you like to go somewhere else?” Jeongguk asks, still slightly red.
Taehyung scrunches his nose and looks around the area, “This is such a boring neighborhood, don’t you think? Can we maybe go chill by the river or something, instead?”
Jeongguk rakes through the mental database in his brain for a few seconds, before replying to the other with full confidence,
“Sure! We can go to Yeouido Park by the Han. They have bicycles for rent there until around 8:00 pm, and the bike lanes pass by some really, really nice views,” he rambles enthusiastically, “Or we can go see the flowers at Jamsil Park. But wait, it’s not their season yet, so they wouldn’t be in bloom this time of yea-”
He’s cut off when Taehyung suddenly interlocks their fingers together.
“Meh and meh, I know a much more interesting place to go to.” Taehyung says with a flirty wink.
Jeongguk’s brain automatically shifts into high alert, police sirens blaring loudly in his ears.
Maybe it’s the fact that he suddenly has a handsome stranger holding onto his hand (very intimately too, might he add) or maybe it’s the fact that he has absolutely no idea where said handsome stranger is about to take him in this time of night. Either way, Jeongguk is panicking hard.
“Ugh T-taehyung? W-where are we going, exactly?”
“Can’t tell you, it’s a surprise,” Taehyung chirps, a boxy-shaped smile plastered onto his small face.
He’s so cute.
Jeongguk panics even more.
“I-I’m not really good with surprises…”
“Yeah, I can tell,” Taehyung chuckles as he raises their interlocked hands, “You’re literally sweating balls here.”
Jeongguk immediately pulls his hand back, his entire head probably flushed red as he gives Taehyung an apologetic look.
He didn’t expect Taehyung to laugh.
He also didn’t expect to find the sound of Taehyung’s laugh so goddamn adorable.
But after the longest 30 minutes of his life, following Taehyung down the narrow road to God-knows-where, Jeongguk finally recognizes the famous Yanghwa Bridge standing tall in front of them. They seem to be headed towards the direction of a small island in the middle of the Han, dark and unassuming, but also peacefully calm.
“This used to be an industrial water plant, but they turned it into an ecological park a few years ago,” Taehyung explains, “Not many people know about it too, which is part of the reason why it’s one of my most favorite places in Seoul.”
Seonyudo Park.
Taehyung tells Jeongguk that the name means “spending time idly in scenic heaven”, and man, the place really does live up to its name.
They take their time strolling together along the beautiful, wooden walkways lined with colorful lights and giant trees that swayed gracefully in the summer wind. The sounds of running water from small streams underneath their feet break into the silence of the night like a soft whisper. From one side of the island to the other, the water runs in countless parallel lines, clear enough to spot the schools of little fish swimming inside, vibrant colors shimmering like gemstones under the soft waves.
For the first time that night, Jeongguk and Taehyung finally exchanged basics beyond their names. (They didn’t talk much on the way there because Jeongguk may have been busy losing his shit over the sudden change of plans). But after calming himself down a bit, Jeongguk actually finds that Taehyung is very easy to talk to. Lots of weird questions, yes.
“Do you think there are rabbits on the moon?”
“Would potatoes really grow on Mars?”
“You ever wonder if there are mermaids in the Han?”
But Jeongguk found it rather refreshing to talk about these odd topics as opposed to the same, boring conversations that he used to have with other dates before Taehyung.
He didn’t expect to enjoy hanging out with Taehyung this much.
He also didn’t expect to want to stay for as long as possible.
They stop by a tiny waterfall on the west side of the park. Without hesitation, Taehyung kicks his shoes off and climbs the rocks on all fours until he reaches a large boulder in the center of the pool. He taps the space beside him with a grin and gestures for Jeongguk to follow.
“Ooh, I have an idea!” Taehyung exclaims as he fishes something out of his shirt pocket.
It’s a block of leftover bread wrapped neatly in a restaurant napkin. Taehyung begins tearing out tiny pieces of bread and tosses it into the pool.
Jeongguk looks down to see a bunch of koi fish splashing at the surface of the water, fighting each other for that little piece of bread. Taehyung tears a bigger chunk off the block and hands it over to Jeongguk.
“If this were a coin,” Taehyung tilts his head curiously, “and that were a wishing well, what would you wish for?”
Jeongguk knits his eyebrows tight, puzzled, “But….this is a piece of stale bread and that is a waterfall.”
Taehyung rolls his eyes and throws a piece of bread at Jeongguk’s face.
“Just imagine it, Jeonggukkie,” he insists, some kind of light sparkling in his eyes, “If this waterfall were a magical wishing well that could grant you anything, anything in the world, and this piece of bread were a coin for you to throw into said well, what would you wish for?”
“Uhh….well….” Jeongguk considers it for a moment, “I umm….I asked my internship supervisor to write me a recommendation letter by next Friday, so I could attach it to my job application that’s due the Friday after that so….I….hope he gets it to me in time???”
Taehyung throws another piece of bread at his face, a bigger chunk too this time.
“Gosh, you’re making me waste my fake bread coins here,” Taehyung mumbles under his breath.
“S-sorry,” Jeongguk scratches his head, more confused than before.
“Just….okay, tell me about something that you’ve always wanted,” Taehyung offers him a gentle smile,
“Tell me about the things you think about when you daydream into infinity.”
Jeongguk hums in thought, “Well….umm….I guess I’ve always wanted to be the perfect person for someone?”
He’s surprised when Taehyung’s (beautiful) dark-brown eyes light up with curiosity.
Jeongguk decides to continue, “I want to be able to give someone I love anything that they want. I want to inspire them to laugh and smile and I want them to know that someone in this world appreciates them. I want to be the perfect person who can make someone feel so happy to be loved by me.”
Taehyung’s lips slowly part into a smile as he hands Jeongguk a piece of bread and gestures his chin towards the waterfall. Jeongguk throws it into the water without a second thought.
He didn’t expect himself to do that.
“Didn’t take you as a sensitive guy.” Taehyung teases.
Jeongguk snorts, looking down at his dangling feet, “You mean a hopeless romantic?”
“Nah, I think where there is love, there is hope. If believing that makes people call you a hopeless romantic, then I must be one too,” Taehyung says with a little shrug.
“So,” Jeongguk sneaks a glance at the other’s profile, “What’s your wish, Taehyung-sshi?”
“My wish?” Taehyung muses as his hands mold the leftover pieces of bread into a single ball, “I want to travel the world with someone I love. Go anywhere and everywhere, especially the places where people don’t really know about. I want to have the whole ‘you and me against the world’ kinda relationship, you know?”
“Wow,” Jeongguk chuckles, “a hopeless romantic indeed.”
Taehyung shrugs, “I’ll always hope. Catch me 5 years from now sipping expensive wine in some fancy ass hotel in Europe with the man I love,” he smirks as he throws his last piece of stale bread into the magical wishing well.
Jeongguk cocks his head to the right, amusement on his lips as they spread into a toothy smile,
“I’ll take your word for that.”
On that night, when the two of them escaped the city into a small park on an island in the middle of the Han River, Jeongguk and Taehyung had their very first adventure together.
Little did they know that it would only be the first of many greater adventures to come.
---
It’s five years down the road and Jeon Jeongguk’s life is nothing like he thought it would be when he first graduated from college. After dating for a year, he and Taehyung moved into a cozy 1-bedroom apartment in the outskirts of Seoul, close enough to Taehyung’s workplace for a comfortable commute. The space is quite small, and their stable jobs could actually afford them a much better place, but both Jeongguk and Taehyung preferred to spend their money on something else that they came to love throughout the years,
Traveling the world.
Traveling became a tradition for the couple. They promised to take at least three trips together each year, near or far. Doesn’t matter if it’s a short road trip to the mountains in the north or a 17-hour plane ride to a whole other continent, what matters is that the two of them are together every step of the journey.
Their entire living room wall is covered by the outlines of a world map, hand-painted by Jeongguk and Taehyung themselves when they first moved in together. A small house is painted on the spot where South Korea is, and pops of color are scattered here and there across the map, filling in every country that they’ve travelled to together.
Each place with a memory of its own.
Yellow for Las Vegas, Nevada. Where Jeongguk and Taehyung got stranded in the middle of a desert at 3 in the morning because the bus that they booked never showed up. It’s safe to say that the meticulous Jeon Jeongguk lost half of his sanity in the desert that night.
They eventually hitchhiked a ride back to the city, and even though Taehyung slept soundly the entire way, Jeongguk kept himself awake in complete and utter fear that the grubby truck driver might turn out to be some sort of serial killer.
Pink for Lyon, France. Where Jeongguk managed to get drunk on French wine on their very first night there. He actually pre-planned the night beforehand, calculating his body weight to alcohol content ratio just to know for sure how many drinks he should be able to take. But Jeongguk can’t help it that the wine kept tasting better and better the more he drank, and he can’t help it that he eventually lost count somewhere along the night.
He also doesn’t remember doing this, but Taehyung constantly reminds him about how he started professing his great love for Taehyung right in the middle of Place Bellecour.
“You were so loud that someone asked me to translate what you were screaming into English because they just had to know what you were so goddamn passionate about.”
That story always gave them a good laugh.
Blue for their road trip along the southern coast of Iceland,
Green for their hike up Machu Picchu in Peru,
Purple for their camping trip in Ahuriri Valley, New Zealand,
And many more shades of the rainbow that littered across their living room wall like some sort of abstract, Picasso-esque piece of art.
Unfortunately, even though Jeongguk and Taehyung promised each other to take at least three trips a year, they hadn’t been able to travel anywhere together at all in this past one.
Money was becoming short, for both of them. Taehyung is spending more time working on his PhD dissertation than actually teaching at the university, and Jeongguk himself had been running low on cash because ‘my brother needed to borrow some money for an investment’.
Or at least that’s what he hopes is convincing enough for Taehyung to believe.
The truth is, Jeongguk had actually been saving up extra money to buy Taehyung an engagement ring.
Yes, Jeongguk is planning to propose to his boyfriend.
And being the perfectionist that he is, Jeongguk had been spending more than a year to prepare for the perfect proposal, just like the one he’d always wanted. A 4-page long, color-coded checklist and a couple of marked up calendars; nothing short of Jeon Jeongguk’s personal field of expertise.
He’d known that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Taehyung since the first few months that they dated. And despite the fact that it throws off his entire ‘meeting-my-future-spouse-at-the-age-of-28-or-29-if-my-mechanical-engineering-career-goes-better-than-expected’ plan, Jeongguk is more than happy to make a fresh set of plans that involves Kim Taehyung in his life.
Everything is in place, and Jeongguk has finally bought the ring.
If it all goes according to plan, which hopefully includes Taehyung saying ‘yes’, Jeongguk just knows that he’s about to be the luckiest man on Earth.
---
Everything most definitely does not go according to plan.
“Fuck, Seokjin hyung! I can’t believe I fucking messed up my fucking balance book!”
“Language, brat!” Seokjin hisses as he flicks Jeongguk’s forehead twice, “This is exactly why I keep nagging you about opening an online bank account. It’s the 21st century, for God’s sake. Who even writes their own balance book anymore?”
“Well I don’t trust those machine thingies, okay! What if someone hacks into their database? Or what if the system catches a virus that messes up all the numbers or something?!” Jeongguk grumbles, crossing his arms over his chest, “I think I’m perfectly capable of keeping track of my own money, thanks.”
Seokjin snorts, “Well apparently not, kiddo. You just messed up BIG TIME.”
“Ugh, I KNOW! I can’t believe I wrote down 5,000,000 won instead of 500,000!” Jeongguk wails. “Now the entire plan’s messed up! I can’t even afford to buy our plane tickets to Portugal anymore.”
Seokjin sighs, “Can’t you just take him somewhere else closer to home?”
“I can’t, hyung! He said he wanted this and I just want to be able to give him whatever he wants and….”
“He asked you to take him to Portugal?” Seokjin interrupts, eyebrows raised high.
“Well, he actually said Europe, so I guess anywhere should be fine but-”
“He actually asked you to ‘take him to Europe to sip expensive wine at some fancy ass hotel with the man he loves’???” Seokjin air quotes, eyes wide in disbelief.
“Okay, okay! He didn’t ask for that specifically, but he mentioned it once on our first date and I just wanted to make it happen for him,” Jeongguk whines.
“Also, we’ve never been to Portugal, and this hotel I found has the most beautiful view of the Serra de Estrela. I looked up photos of the mountain range at sunset, and hyung, it would’ve been the perfect place to propose!” Jeongguk complains, throwing his face into both hands defeatedly.
Seokjin pats the younger’s head, comforting him, “Listen, Guk. Knowing your relationship with Taehyung, he probably wouldn’t even care if you proposed to him in that tiny little apartment-”
“Hey, stop dissing our apartment!”
“It’s a fucking wormhole! But as I was saying, it doesn’t matter where you propose to him. He knows that you love him, and you know that he loves you. I think that’s already enough, kiddo.”
“But I want him to remember that moment forever, hyung. I want it to be one of the most special, most perfect moment of our lives,” Jeongguk groans.
“Okay, then think about it like this for a sec. If he were the one who suddenly popped the question to you, would you really have minded if he did it in your hamster-sized-”
“Hyung.”
“-big, spacious kitchen?” Seokjin gives him the Look, “No! Am I right or am I right?”
“Yeah, you’re….right.” Jeongguk replies through gritted teeth.
“Exactly! Just like when I-”
“Not this again.”
“told you back then th-”
“Hyung, I SWEAR TO GOD-”
“-that Taehyung would be perfect for you! I. WAS. RIGHT!” Seokjin claps his hands together and coos at himself, “I’m always right,” he pats himself on the back.
“Who the hell PATS THEMSELVES ON THE BACK?!” Jeongguk screams.
“Smart people who are always right do, you wouldn’t relate.” Seokjin wiggles his eyebrows playfully.
“Did you just call me stu-”
“But look where we are now,” the elder lets out an audible sigh and leans across the table to cup both hands around Jeongguk’s cheeks, “my little Gukkie is-”
“Don’t call me that.”
“-GOING TO PROPOSE TO HIS BOYFRIEND AWW!” Seokjin yells, ignoring Jeongguk’s look of protest as he pulls the younger in for a tight hug.
“I hate you,” Jeongguk grumbles.
Seokjin pulls away and gives the younger a mischievous smile, “My highly advanced intuition tells me that that actually means you love me very much.”
Damn it. Jeongguk thinks.
He hates it when Seokjin’s right.
---
So here he was again, changing one of the biggest plans of his life for the one and only Kim Taehyung. Jeongguk doesn’t mind though, he’d make plans A-Z and include alphabets from 3 other languages if it meant that he could make the love of his life happy.
He’s thinking about a restaurant at Taejongdae Park in Busan where he and Taehyung celebrated their first anniversary together. The restaurant is situated over a cliff with the view of Busan’s emerald-green ocean surrounding them from all directions. Jeongguk remembers that the place looked absolutely stunning during sunset. It would be a pretty good place to propose.
Jeongguk wants to see if he could possibly book the entire place for that evening, so he asks Seokjin to head down to Busan with him to check out the venue. After much persuasion, which included Jeongguk offering to do the elder’s laundry for a whole month, Seokjin complies with an evil smile.
What Jeongguk doesn’t expect is the big, red ‘CLOSED FOR CONSTRUCTION’ sign that greets them the moment they turn their car into the parking lot at Taejongdae Park.
Jeongguk wants to jump off the fucking cliff.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO,” he wails, falling to his knees dramatically and throwing air punches at the sign.
“GOD HATES ME!” Jeongguk screams. He throws a fit (casual reminder that this man is 27 years old), kicking the trunk of a nearby tree out of frustration. Jeongguk yelps out loud when a sharp pain shoots up the side of his right leg.
“Stupid,” Seokjin mutters with a shake of his head. He grabs a can of soda from the cooler in the back of the car and hands it over to Jeongguk, “Press it on your foot, it’ll help.”
“Thanks,” Jeongguk mumbles, wincing slightly at the pain.
He waddles over to a bench and sits himself down carefully, looking up at Seokjin with sad eyes and a pout.
“I had it all mapped out in my head, hyung. The picture of how it would be like to propose here,” Jeongguk feels like crying, but he won’t.
Seokjin sighs heavily, “Is there really no where else?”
“I can’t think of anywhere else! We went on that Okinawa boat cruise for our 2nd anniversary, freakin’ Sydney, Australia for our 3rd, and then this island in Palawan for our 4th. I can’t afford to take him back to any of those places!”
Seokjin smacks him in the head.
“Ow! What the hell, hyung. I’m gonna need another soda can…”
“Shut up,” Seokjin deadpans.
The elder reaches into his pocket and pulls out a piece of yellow notepad that Jeongguk immediately recognizes.
“Are those my-” Jeongguk tries to snatch the paper away but Seokjin steps back and continues to unfold it emotionlessly.
He takes a deep breath and begins to read, “Kim Taehyung, ever since we met-”
“WHAT THE HELL, HYUNG! THOSE ARE MY PROPOSAL NOTES!” Jeongguk screams, eyes wide open and arms flailing in an attempt to grab the paper out of Seokjin’s hands.
Seokjin shoves him back onto the bench and steps on his throbbing foot to keep him in place.
“Ow! I-”
“Ahem,” Seokjin clears his throat, “Kim Taehyung, ever since we met, my life has been one hell of an adventure.”
“Hyung, those are personal!” Jeongguk cries.
“We’ve travelled all around the world together, anywhere and everywhere, just like you said you wanted on the first night that we met. But the thing that I’ve come to realize throughout the years is that you are the true adventure,”
Seokjin snickers, “ Babe.”
“HYUNG!”
“As long as I’m with you, I’m happy no matter where we go.”
Seokjin looks up, once again giving Jeongguk the Look.
Roughly handing the paper back to Jeongguk, Seokjin says, “That’s all I wanted to remind you.”
“I don’t get it,” the younger takes his notes back with knitted eyebrows.
Seokjin sighs, “Must be hard to not to be born with highly advanced intuition like m-”
“I will PUSH YOU DOWN THIS HILL, HYUNG.”
“RUDE!” Seokjin snaps. “I found that on the backseat of your car so one , be more fucking careful. And two , you said it yourself that life with him is an adventure.”
Jeongguk nibbles his lower lip in thought.
“Answer this, what makes life with him an adventure?”
“Just….him,” Jeongguk answers in an instant.
“Yes, Jeonggukkie. You don’t need these special places and expensive restaurants to tell Taehyung how much you love and appreciate him. You just need him, and he just needs you. It’s the two of you together, remember?”
Jeongguk stares at the ground as realization hits, “It’s you and me against the world…” he murmurs under his breath.
“It’s Taehyung and me against the world.”
“Exactly,” Seokjin smirks before adding, “Babe. ”
“Ughhh I swear to God and the creator of deep frIED SEAWEED-”
“Oh do you, now? DO YOU, NOW?”
“-GET BACK HERE HYUNG!”
“The creator of DEEP FRIED SEAWEED WOW I’M SHAKING IN FEAR-”
“I’M GONNA THROW YOU OFF THIS CLIFF!”
“Can’t catch me with a busted foot~”
“GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!”
But despite all the bickering, and despite the fact that Jeongguk has to come up with a whole new plan yet again,
he knows that as always, Kim Seokjin was fucking right.
---
“Hey babe, since we’re both free tonight, you want to go out for dinner together?” Jeongguk asks, hands reaching up to brush the bangs away from Taehyung’s eyes.
Jeongguk loves Taehyung’s eyes.
“Sure, Gukkie! Where do you want to go?”
Jeongguk tries his best to hide how nervous he is to say this, “A-anywhere, you pick.”
“Hmm...we could get some ramyeon by the river? It’s easy and cheap, so we can save up for our next trip too!” Taehyung replies with a bright smile before turning around to pack the rest of his stuff for the day.
Jeongguk’s heart nearly breaks into a million pieces. He swears to get his sorry ass on at least two more part-time jobs so he could earn back twice the money that he used. He’ll take Taehyung all the way to the fucking North Pole to see Rudolph the rednose reindeer if he could.
They kiss goodbye and the moment Taehyung leaves for work, Jeongguk dives right back into his planning headspace. Now that Taehyung has given him a place to work with, Jeongguk can finally map out the rest of the night as he liked; proposal included.
He checks the weather forecast before anything else, notes down the exact time when the sun will set (5:40 pm) and makes sure that the view of it will be visible from their usual spot by the Han.
Next, he prepares his speech (edited more than 32 times to absolute perfection, by the way).
Jeongguk despises technology, everyone knows. He refuses to trust his phone with any information that he could’ve handwritten safely onto a notepad himself. But desperate times call for desperate measures and Jeongguk is so paranoid about losing his speech tonight that he decides to snap a quick photo of it to keep in his phone as an extra copy.
Just in case.
He unlocks the bottom drawer of his desk and pulls out a small, Tiffany blue box with a silver ribbon wrapped around it. Jeongguk takes the top off, pulling out a smaller ring box and runs his thumb slowly along the smooth, black velvet. He carefully opens it and takes one, last look at the silver band inside.
Jeongguk smiles.
This is it, he thinks.
This is the first day of the rest of our lives.
Placing the ring box into the safety of his inner jacket pocket, Jeongguk grabs his wallet and keys and heads out to the location to take care of the second-to-last thing on today’s checklist.
The last being proposing to Taehyung.
He visits their favorite ramyeon vendor and asks the owner to save them two bowls of Shin Ramyeon XL for tonight. Their favorite brand, but also the favorite of more than half of Seoul’s population, which is why it often run out by mid-afternoon everyday. After a few suspicious looks at Jeongguk’s extra-fidgety self, the old man finally complies; without any charges too, luckily.
It’s a few minutes past 5 in the evening when Jeongguk and Taehyung arrive at the park. The sun is already descending towards the horizon, the blue in the sky blending into a gradient of soft oranges and yellows.
Perfect. Jeongguk thinks. Now all they have to do is find a nice spot by the river and everything will run according to plan.
He’s looking around for a free table when Taehyung’s voice chirps up from somewhere on his left,
“Gukkie, look!”
Jeongguk turns around to see his boyfriend playing with-
Oh no, is that a-
“Puppy, Gukkie!” Taehyung beams as he ruffles the puppy’s golden fur.
It’s okay, it’s okay, maybe he’ll only play with it for a minute or two.
The fluffy Retriever licks Taehyung’s hand excitedly and scurries its way onto his lap where it sits quite comfortably. Taehyung coos.
Nope, we’re fucking stuck here.
Jeongguk freaks out (internally), but he tries his best to rationalize the situation for the second-to-best outcome. Maybe he can propose first, then they eat?
Don’t panic, Jeon. Everything will be okay.
“Hey babe, can I borrow your phone? My battery ran out,” Taehyung asks before bending down to press his nose against the puppy’s forehead.
He’s so cute I want to cry. Jeongguk takes a quick second to swoon.
He’s about to hand the phone over when he suddenly remembers the picture of his proposal speech sitting inside his Camera Roll. But fear not, Jeongguk has a back up plan. He uploads the file into his cloud drive (password protected; and no, unlike everything else, he doesn’t use Taehyung’s birthday for this one. He’s not an idiot. Come on.), swiftly deleting the photo off both his Albums and Recently Deleted. Like a pro.
Good job, Jeon. Jeongguk nods, smirking with satisfaction at how fast he managed to pull that together.
“Here you go, babe,” He says confidently before sitting down beside his boyfriend, hands reaching out to scratch the puppy’s ears.
Taehyung takes the phone with a boxy grin and snaps photos of the dog, himself, Jeongguk, the dog, himself, the dog again. He’s taking some videos too, trying his best to trick the puppy into looking straight at the camera by wiggling a stick in the air to get it’s attention.
This goes on for a while, but Taehyung’s smile and laughter is enough to make Jeongguk forget about all his worries from before.
Taehyung looks through the photos in the album, giggling at the funny ones and showing the pretty ones off to Jeongguk.
“Can I send these to myself?” he asks.
“Sure babe, anything you want.” Jeongguk replies, brushing his boyfriend’s bangs away adoringly.
Taehyung mumbles a quick thanks.
“Ah, there’s no wifi here. Can I use your data?”
Jeongguk panics. His low-tech ass only has a few gigabytes of 3G left and if that shit runs out he won’t be able to access his drive. Patting the pocket of his jeans nervously to check whether his notes are still there (they are), Jeongguk decides to let Taehyung do whatever he wants.
Taehyung hands the phone back to him after a minute or two,
“Here,” he says, “but don’t close the app yet, okay? Some videos are still sending.”
“Mhm,” Jeongguk licks his lips nervously. He looks down at his phone and sees 27 ( TWENTY-FREAKING-SEVEN?!) videos pending to be sent. Jeongguk may have let out an unmanly squeak.
But Taehyung’s saying goodbye to the dog now ( Thank you, Jesus) and he finally looks like he wants to go somewhere else.
“Come on, Gukkie let’s go eat,” Taehyung hooks his arm with Jeongguk’s and starts skipping his way towards the rows of vendors that line up along the side of the river park.
Jeongguk feels slightly better, until-
‘CLOSED’
“WHAT THE F-”
“Wah, I can’t believe our favorite ramyeon shop is closed,” Taehyung pulls a sad face.
Jeongguk wants to comfort him, he really does. But he’s too busy picking the remains of his jaw from the rest of the garbage lying on the ground.
“I- what- how-”
“It’s okay, babe. We can eat something else!” Taehyung pats Jeongguk’s head in comfort, “Ooh, that shop looks interesting!”
“But- I- how-”
Taehyung pushes a horrified-looking Jeongguk towards the seating area and asks him to find them a spot while he buys them dinner at ‘Cheesy Toast’. Jeongguk drags his feet over to an empty table, mind blank. He can’t get over the fact that the old man at the ramyeon vendor had the audacity to betray him like this, but maybe cheesy toast is a cute proposal meal too. He tries to stay positive.
Until Taehyung returns with two pieces of plain toast.
“They ran out of cheese.”
Jeongguk does a mental double-take, “They WHAT NOW?!”
“Cheesy Toast ran out of cheese.”
“ Cheesy Toast ran out of fucking CHEESE ?! ” Jeongguk yells, a little too loud.
DID I KILL SOMEONE IN MY PAST LIFE TO DESERVE THIS OR-
“Yeah….” Taehyung confirms with a sheepish smile.
“So it’s just….toast?”
“Just toast.”
“Well! Okay. Alright. Then. I guess we’re having toast for dinner!” Jeongguk is crying tears of defeat on the inside, maybe today isn’t a good day to propose after all.
---
Jeongguk decides to ditch the plan.
Everything just feels so off that he couldn’t make himself go through with it. Maybe planning a somewhat spontaneous proposal isn’t the right way for him to go. He can't believe he's gotten himself into this mess. All because he accidentally wrote down 5,000,000 instead 500,000 in his balance book. Stupid.
It’s alright, Jeongguk comforts himself. He knows that he’ll come up with an even more spectacular proposal plan than this one.
He always does.
They end up strolling along the river until it’s completely dark out. Hand in hand, Jeongguk listens to Taehyung talk about his research piece on using Art Therapy to help relieve the symptoms of patients with mental disorders and illnesses. It’s all Taehyung ever talks about nowadays, but Jeongguk doesn’t mind. He loves watching the way that Taehyung’s eyes light up whenever he starts getting a little too deep into the topic of his dissertation. And Jeongguk loves the way that he seems to lose track of all time and place whenever he’s with Taehyung.
The world around them disappears, including Jeongguk himself too. All he can see in the dark of night is Taehyung’s ash brown hair blowing in the wind and the cute, little freckle on the tip of his perfectly-sculpted nose. His unique, rectangular smile that reaches all the way up to his beautiful almond-shaped eyes, happy crinkles in the corners.
Jeongguk can look at Taehyung for hours.
He doesn’t even realize until a while later that they’re heading towards the waterfall on the west side of Seonyudo Park.
The same one from their very first date.
“Nothing’s changed here….” Jeongguk comments as they’re sitting down on the same boulder in the center of the pool.
“I think there’s more fishies,” Taehyung chirps, “they look hungry too, don’t you think?”
Jeongguk doesn’t think much about it, hums in response.
Taehyung starts fumbling with something in his jacket pocket and to Jeongguk’s surprise, he pulls out some leftover toast from dinner and starts throwing small pieces of it into the water for the fish to eat.
“Nothing’s changed at all.” Jeongguk chuckles, hand reaching up to poke at Taehyung’s soft cheek.
Taehyung laughs.
“Guess what, Jeonggukkie?”
“Hmm?”
”I have something to confess to you.”
Slightly taken back, Jeongguk stares at Taehyung questioningly, eyes wide.
“I’m the one who added the extra 0.” Taehyung sneaks a quick glance at him, eyes barely holding back his mirth.
Jeongguk frowns, confused, “I’m sorry, what?”
Taehyung bites his bottom lip playfully, “In your balance book. I added the extra 0.”
“You- what?”
“500,000 to 5,000,000 is a BIG difference, isn’t it?”
Jeongguk is completely dumbfounded.
“W-what the hell is going on, T-Tae, I don’t-” Jeongguk stutters. He doesn’t know if it’s shock or fear that he’s currently feeling, maybe it’s both.
“You’re not the only one who's good at making plans, Jeon Jeongguk.”
“I-”
“Let me tell you a story,” Taehyung grins, turning around to take both of Jeongguk’s hands into his.
“It all started when I found you asleep in front of your computer with pictures of ‘sunset at Serra de Estrela’ left on Google Images. I didn’t think much about it at first, just assumed that you were planning another trip for us like you always do. But a few days later, I found one of your notes crumpled up underneath our sofa and-”
“No, NO, NO-”
“Shh,” Taehyung gives Jeongguk a quick peck on the lips to shut him up, “just listen to the story, babe.”
Jeongguk has never panicked harder in his entire life. He literally wants to drop dead on the spot.
“So of course I read the notes, you know how curious I get sometimes. It was labeled ‘Proposal ver 1.2’, which I thought was the most classic Jeon Jeongguk thing ever. You’re so fucking cute.”
Taehyung gives him another peck, on the nose this time.
Jeongguk doesn’t remember how to fucking breathe.
“I realized that the reason why you’ve been spending so much less is because you were planning to propose to me. But here’s the thing,”
Taehyung leans in close, whispers teasingly into Jeongguk’s ear, “I was planning to propose to you too.”
“What-”
“Ah, ah, ah, no. Just listen.” Taehyung puts a finger on Jeongguk’s lips.
“So I started by adding that extra, little 0 into your balance book. Just a little sabotage, so I could make sure that I get to be the one who does this. And even though it took a few months for that 0 to come into action, I had the extra time to plan for everything else.”
Taehyung winks.
“Seokjin hyung helped me a lot on the next part. He told me that you guys were heading down to Busan together and I immediately knew that you were going back to see that restaurant in Taejongdae Park. So guess who took a train there a couple of hours earlier than you guys? Me!”
Jeongguk feels like he’s about to faint.
“I was the one who put up that fake ‘CLOSED FOR CONSTRUCTION’ sign in the parking lot. All I asked Seokjin hyung to do was to keep you from going inside, because then you’d know that the restaurant was actually opened as usual.”
Jeongguk is definitely going to faint.
“But luckily, your adorable ass managed that all by yourself. Kicked a fucking tree.”
Taehyung flicks Jeongguk softly on his forehead, “Idiot,” he scoffs.
Jeongguk smiles sheepishly.
“I was the one who gave your notes to Seokjin hyung, and I was the one who told him to read those first few lines to you. I really wanted you to understand that it doesn’t matter where this happens, because I just want it to be you and me together, babe,” Taehyung smiles warmly and reaches up to play with Jeongguk’s earrings.
He loves it when Taehyung does that, it seems to calm him down somehow.
“Breathe, love. Your face is as pale as a ghost right now,” Taehyung leans in and kisses Jeongguk again, deeper this time.
Jeongguk breaks away slowly, trying to steady his voice as he speaks, “That’s only making it harder to breathe, babe.”
Taehyung throws his head back, laughing, “Still? After five years?”
“Always,” Jeongguk whispers, biting down on a smile, “I love your kisses.”
“I love yours too. Make sure you give me lots of ‘em after the story is over, okay?”
Jeongguk nods, cheeks burning red like it’s their first date all over again.
“Anyways, I’ve been messing with you all day today. I knew you’d have a specific time planned for your proposal, you always do. So, I intentionally spent some extra time playing with that puppy. I also knew that you’d have an extra hard copy of the notes on standby, but I used up your phone data just to mess with you for fun,” Taehyung giggles.
“I gave the ramyeon Ajusshi 2 tickets to a BTS concert tonight, that’s why his shop was closed. I knew he’d go too, because everytime we go there he’s always rapping to their songs while he makes the ramyeon,” Taehyung laughs again.
The sound is like an instant cure to Jeongguk’s anxiety.
“Oh! And Cheesy Toast didn’t run out of cheese either, I just wanted to keep the leftover bread to do this-”
Taehyung tears off a piece of bread and hands it over to Jeongguk (who’s looking really confused again at this point).
“We work well together, Jeon Jeongguk. You with your meticulous plans and me with my random spontaneity. We’ve travelled the world together, gotten lost and found ourselves again in countless adventures throughout the years. We’ve left pieces of our hearts in cities all around the globe, and we’ve taken pieces of those places back with us as well. I wouldn’t imagine it any other way. And I’m copying off your notes here, but I promise that I feel the same when I say that my life with you has been one hell of an adventure.”
Taehyung caresses Jeongguk’s cheek, eyes glimmering with lights brighter than the moonlight above.
“It’s all because of you, babe. You are my adventure.”
He reaches for Jeongguk’s hand, the one with the piece of bread in it, “Five years ago, we sat together right here at this imaginary wishing well, threw some pieces of stale bread into it and hoped that our wishes would come true. I guess they actually did,” Taehyung giggles.
Jeongguk smiles, nostalgic. He tries to swallow the lump in his throat.
“Today, I want to make another wish,” Taehyung breathes in sharply, “and you get to decide whether it comes true or not because DAMN these waters have some magical shit in them or something, so-”
Taehyung takes another deep breath, “Jeon Jeongguk. I wish, to spend the rest of my life inspiring you to laugh and smile and to make you know that I appreciate you no matter what. I wish, to be the person who can make you feel so happy to be loved by me, and I wish, to continue travelling the world with you. Go anywhere and everywhere with you, especially the places where people don’t really know about. Because we have that whole ‘you and me against the world’ kinda relationship, you know?”
They’re both laughing and crying now.
Jeongguk can’t believe he’s repeating their exact same wishes from all those years ago.
“So,” Taehyung sniffles, “will you make my wishes come true, Gukkie? Will you marry me?”
Jeongguk can't help but burst into tears. His trembling lips mutter a thousand little yes’s, his arms reaching out to pull Taehyung in for a kiss, but the other stops him midway.
Taehyung glares at him, lips pursed in a disapproving pout.
“Come on, Jeonggukkie! Let the hopeless romantic inside me live a little, for fuck’s sake!”
“W-what? I-I-”
“THROW THE DAMN BREAD COIN INTO THE WISHING WELL!”
“R-right, okay!” Jeongguk exclaims as he throws the piece of bread, full force into the waterfall.
They stare at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter. Taehyung throws his arms around Jeongguk’s shoulders and pulls him in for a tight hug. Jeongguk wraps his arms around Taehyung’s waist in return. They stay like that for a long time, soft giggles and cries echoing through the silence of the night.
It’s just the two of them together in this world, no one else.
“I’M GETTING MARRIEDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!” Taehyung suddenly hollers. He’s jumping up and down, dancing on the boulder and Jeongguk is suddenly on panic mode again because he’s afraid that Taehyung might fall into the pool.
He decides to get up, arms swiftly pulling Taehyung in by the waist to keep his body close. Safe.
They stand together quietly, foreheads touching.
“We’re getting married.” Jeongguk whispers before closing the distance between them. He can feel Taehyung’s lips curving into a smile as they finally share a kiss.
And just as Jeongguk had always hoped, it was truly one of the most special, most perfect moments of their entire lives.
---
“Can I ask you something, Gukkie?”
“Anything for my fiancé.”
“Ayy, I like that. Call me that more often from now on.”
“Of course, babe.”
“Hmph!”
“ Fiancé .”
“ Good . Anyways, I was wondering what you named your final speech.”
“My final speech?”
“Yeah, the one you were gonna read to me tonight.”
“Oh….um,”
“Come on, don’t be shy! Tell me!”
“It’s um….it’s….’Proposal ver. 32.4’”
“THIRTY-TWO POINT FOUR?!”
“What’s wrong with 32.4?!”
“THIRTY-TWO POINT FOUR IS A WHOLE FUCKING LOT!”
“IT’S NOT THAT MUCH, OKAY?!”
“You’re such a nerd.”
“How does th-”
“I love you so much. Nerd.”
“I love you more. Fiancé ”
“Ayy, it’s so hot when you call me that.”
“Yeah? Do you see me using it during our....cozy conversations?"
"Hmm, my highly advanced intuition tells me that-"
"OH FUCK NOT YOU TOO!"
End.