Work Text:
ONE
Jinyoung was sitting there, a puzzle in front of him that has been long since abandoned, instead, his entire focus was turned on Jaebum next to him who was still trying to work on the puzzle. "Hyung, we should get married, I can be your wife and you can be my husband."
"Are you asking me?"
"Yes "
Jaebum looked up then and sighs, "Fine, only if you'll be my husband, not my wife."
"And you will be my husband?" Jinyoung asked hopefully as he grabbed Jaebum's hand.
"Yes."
Excited, Jinyoung jumped up and started tugging on Jaebum's hand. With a big grin on his face as he called out "Teacher! Teacher!"
They came to a halt right in front of her desk, and he watched as she looked at them, her eyes going straight to their interlocked hands, and then back up to their faces. "Yes Jinyoung?"
"Me and Jaebum are going to get married!" he announced proudly, holding up their hands as if that proved it.
She was quiet for several seconds, before a smile broke out on her face as she shook her head and chuckled. "How cute Jinyoung-ah."
"We're going to be husbands," he continues, wrapping an arm around Jaebum's shoulders. "Will you go to our wedding?"
At this point, her smile was long gone as she gave him a look, similar to how his mother gave his older sisters whenever they said something inappropriate. "How about getting married to Jisoo-ah over there?" she points over to the girl in the corner laughing as she plays with a group of friends.
"Why would I get married to her?" Jinyoung frowns, nearly offended now. "I've got Jaebum-hyung."
"Boys can't marry boys Jinyoung," she explains, her tone all too soft for the harsh words that had left her mouth.
Wondering if Jaebum had heard that, or was the least bit of upset as Jinyoung was, he turns to glance at him, before turning back to their teacher. He felt tugging on his hand, and he knew that it was Jaebum, but Jinyoung couldn't move, as he stood there like a statue with tears in his eyes. "Why not?"
As if it made perfect sense, she said, "Marriage is a boy and a girl."
(That day Jinyoung went home and cried, much to the concern of his worried mother)
TWO
Mark was sitting across from Jinyoung, completely ignoring the sheet of paper they were suppose to be doing. "No one would ever want to marry you."
Taken aback, Jinyoung blinked at Mark, wondering where he got the idea that Jinyoung would be an unlikable man to marry. Scoffing, Jinyoung leaned back in his chair, "Wanna bet?"
"You got a deal Park. Five bucks says no one will say yes if you ask them to marry you. But you can't tell them about the deal first."
He crossed his arms, "And if I find someone who says yes?"
"I owe you five bucks."
Smirking, Jinyoung got up out of his seat, glad that the teacher was outside the door talking, or else the entire class would have been scolded ages ago, he walked to where Jaebum was sitting.
When Jinyoung got there, Jaebum looked up at him with a smile on his face, most of his sheet of work done. "Hey slacker. What brings you to this side of the room?"
Seeing the way Mark was peering at them, clearly listening to every word they said, Jinyoung took a deep breathe as he relaxed his shoulders. "Hyung, would you marry me?"
"Of course I would," he doesn't hesitate, seemingly bewildered as to why Jinyoung was asking out of nowhere. Softer, he added, "You know that."
With a triumphant smile, Jinyoung marched back to the table, sat down and held out his hand. Rolling his eyes, Mark dug threw his bag to place the money. "I still think you cheated."
(After class got out, Jinyoung skipped up to Jaebum and linked their arms, "I'm buying lunch today. It's my treat.")
THREE
Fiddling, Jinyoung messed with the box in his hand. He's had the ring for weeks now, but every single time, he felt himself chickening out from giving it to Jaebum.
He was sitting at the picnic table at the park, waiting for Jaebum to show, going over everything he wanted to say.
Twenty minutes later, the two of them were sitting by the river and Jinyoung took in a deep breathe and then presented the little black box.
Stunned, Jaebum looked at it with wide eyes, "Is that-"
"No," Jinyoung cuts hims off. "It's not an engagement ring. It's a promise ring. Because we can't get married yet, so that's the next best thing. I promise to always be there for you, and I promise to always love you, and I promise to some day marry you."
Breathing in, Jaebum grabbed the box and opened it to see the ring. It was simple, a silver, with a tiny blue jewel at the center. "It's gorgeous," Jaebum croaked through his tears. "God I fucking love you so much."
Smiling, Jinyoung wiped at Jaebum's cheek, "I love you too."
(And Jaebum promised those words to him, over and over, searing them into his skin with his lips.)
FOUR
It's not that Jinyoung doesn't like Jackson, because he does. Just... Jackson asks a lot of questions. And they were walking together in the hallway, and he waved at Jaebum and instantly Jackson was interrogating him about the hot guy.
"Who is he? Come on Jinyoung please?" he whines, batting his eyelashes like a dog.
Sometimes Jinyoung wished he didn't over to help the foreign exchange students. Shouldering his bag he replied, "That's my boyfriend, Jaebum."
At that Jackson stopped. "Boyfriend. Him?" Jackson whistled. "How long have you been dating?"
"Since Kindergarten, I don't really know," he admits. They kind of admitted to liking each other then and they've just... "We've always been together."
"Seriously?" he asks, mouth open. "No official anniversary?"
"Nope. We don't mind."
"Never broke up?"
"Never."
"And you guys haven't been with other people?"
Jinyoung shot him daggers. "No. We've remained perfectly loyal, thank you very much."
"And you guys like what? Plan to be together forever?"
"Yup. We plan to get married."
Jackson looked away, "Huh. Does he really want to get married to you?"
For what felt like the billionth time, Jinyoung rolled his eyes.
They were sitting outside and they had already finished their lunch, and so Jinyoung and Jaebum sat there, holding in to each others hands, swinging them around. "Hey hyung?"
"Hmm?" Jaebum hums, turning his eyes from the clouds back down to Jinyoung's face.
"You still want to get married right?"
"I do," he smiled, leaning forward to give him a quick peck before a teachers sees them and yells at them.
From behind Jaebum, Jackson was fake gagging, but Jinyoung only stuck his tongue out.
(And when Jaebum asked why he brought it up, Jinyoung just replied that he likes to hear it aloud sometimes.)
FIVE
The one good thing about going to the same college was that they could just share an apartment instead of having to worry about dorms.
Midterms were over, and the two of them were taking the time to relax from the week long hell. "Remember that time I proposed to you when we were like five?"
Jaebum nods, his hand rubbing down Jinyoung's bare spine. "I do. You were so upset when teacher said we couldn't get married."
"I'm pretty sure I went home crying that day," Jinyoung laughed softly.
"So probably did," Jaebum agreed as he tickled Jinyoung's side. "My baby used to be a crybaby."
Squirming, Jinyoung giggled and buried his head into Jaebum's chest. "It's true, but you shouldn't say it." Several more minutes passed, and Jinyoung ran his thumb across Jaebum's hip bone, "For what it's worth, I still want to marry you."
Jaebum was silent, but his hand squeezed the back of Jinyoung's thigh. "I think that's worth a lot."
"Maybe we will."
("And for the record," Jaebum states while he is hovering over Jinyoung. "It's not a maybe," he runs his hand down his side, lips touching the shell of his ear. "It's a matter of when.")
PLUS ONE: SIX
Being an adult wasn't as fun as Jinyoung had always thought it would be. And neither was going on thirty.
With a sigh, he took off his glasses and rubbed at his eyes before turning to look back at his laptop. Just a little bit more and then he will go to bed...
Two hours later he was still there.
"Hey Jinyoungie?"
"Yeah?"
"Will you marry me?"
Jinyoung wants to shake his head and laugh, the question and the memories it brings is enough to bring a smile to his face. "What do you-" he spun around in his chair, stopping the second that he saw Jaebum kneeling, a box open in his hand as he present a ring.
"Park Jinyoung, you have been dead set on marrying me for pretty much your entire life. You promised me, over twelve years ago that you would marry me, and here I am, holding you to that word. If you would still like to that is."
"Of course I would!" Jinyoung explains as he grabs Jaebum's face. "You're insane, you know that?"
"Insane for you, yeah."
"Ah, stop being greasy."
"Greasy?" Jaebum pecked Jinyoung's cheek. "I just proposed to you, I think I have the right to be greasy."
"It's okay," Jinyoung wrapped his arms around his shoulder. "I secretly like it."
"I know you do," Jaebum snickered.
(Later that night, as the two were lying there, Jaebum wrapped his arm around Jinyoung's waist and whispered, "Just think, soon you'll be my husband. And then we can send a copy of the photos to anyone who ever doubted us.")