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Choi Yoon looks himself over in the bathroom mirror and his own nervous refelction looks back at him. It’s still odd to see himself without a clerical collar, his hand reaching up to fiddle with the dark fabric where, only three months ago, it had still been sitting. The black button down shirts had stayed, much to Hwa Pyung’s approval. He says Yoon doesn’t look like Yoon without them and he is happy to indulge him. In the mirror he can see himself smile at the memory.
He really hopes he doesn’t always look this much like a lovesick puppy when Hwa Pyung is concerned, though Yoon has the faint suspicion that he does. He also really hopes Gil Young doesn’t get jealous when he looks at her boyfriend like that. Or, well, future boyfriend to be exact, but it's only a matter of time. His two closest friends are very obviously head over heels for each other and it’s fine, he's happy for them. It’s fine. It's not like he ever planned on doing anything about –
About the feelings he is harboring for both of them.
At least he’s ready to admit them to himself now. And that with those feelings being what they are he really, in good conscience, couldn’t have stayed a priest. After all that happened two years ago – between him and Hwa Pyung and then between him and Gil Young in the year when they thought Hwa Pyung had died – he had passed the point where he could lie to himself to the degree that he could pretend that he wasn’t desperately in love with both of them.
Which, again, is fine.
His phone vibrates once, alerting him to a text message. It’s Gil Young telling him she’s about to pick up Hwa Pyung now and then drive by his place. Yoon knows he shouldn’t be nervous about this, he’s hung out with them many, many times, but he is. Gil Young really didn’t have to make whatever she had planned for the day so official. It had almost sounded like-
This is not a date just because you want it to be, he tells himself.
>*<
This is a date, Hwa Pyung is like seventy percent sure.
Gil Young has made it very clear that this is an official something and he can’t help feeling kind of nervous about it. He trusts her completely to have a plan, asking both him and Yoon out like this, even if he can’t fathom what it is. He’s pretty sure she knows how gone he is for both of them and he at least suspects that she might like him back, but he has no idea how she feels about Yoon and a part of him is worried that at the end of today she is just going to make him choose between them. And he knows he could never do that.
If it’s not that, which at least he thinks it isn’t – Gil Young would never be that cruel – he is down with whatever she is trying to achieve here as long as it maybe resolves all this pining after his two best friends that he’s doing. God, he hopes she has a plan.
He feels like he is worrying about five different things at once, his thoughts jumping from topic to topic, and he really needs to calm down a bit. With a deep breath he checks his reflection in the bathroom mirror. He looks flustered and vaguely nervous and he really hopes he can shake both before he sees Yoon. At least for him going with the flow is not something he struggles with but he is very aware how hard exactly that is for Yoon. The man has just left the clergy and Hwa Pyung is worried that any move Gil Young might make is too much too soon.
The doorbell to his apartment rings and he almost falls over his own feet in his scramble to the door. He takes a moment to feel embarrassed, then he presses the button for the speaker system.
“Hello?” he says despite knowing who’s down there.
“It’s me,” Gil Young’s voice says through the speaker. “Come down.”
With a last look around the apartment he grabs his jacket with his keys and wallet, swallows hard and then heads down for his maybe-a-date with Gil Young and Yoon.
>*<
It’s one hundred percent a date, it’s so much a date Gil Young would be embarrassed if she wasn’t so done with her idiots. The stolen glances, the hidden blushes, the instant worry for the other, the shy smiles, the fucking leaving-the-church-bit Yoon innocently pulled three months ago, the whole lot of it. The way they are so obviously in love with each other and are both too stupid to realize it has reached ridiculous levels and if they’re not gonna fix this she will just have to do it for them. All of them. Hence, the date.
Of course, there is a part of her that is nervous about this, but those feelings are completely overshadowed by how much she needs all the pining to end and just be able to kiss her as-of-right-now-almost-boyfriends. They’re gonna thank her when it’s over.
Fucking idiots. God, she is so done. She loves them but, she is so so done.
She checks her reflection in the rear view mirror, checking if the lipstick she put on for the occasion hasn't smeared. With slight annoyance she can detect some nervousness in her expression. Well, she is going on a date with the two loves of her life, it’s probably normal.
The car door opens and Hwa Pyung slides into the passenger seat. He smiles at her, definitely trying to go for warm and happy, and Gil Young takes some satisfaction from the fact that he looks way more nervous than her.
“You look nice,” Hwa Pyung says, trying his best to act normal.
“You too,” she says with a smile, pretending that he’s succeeding.
And he does look nice, for once, wearing an unrumpled button down shirt and with somewhat less messy hair. The obvious effort he put into his appearance today makes her heartbeat pick up and for a moment all she can do is smile at him. He smiles back.
“Now we get Yoon, right?” Hwa Pyung looks both filled with anticipation as well as positively scared.
She can’t really fault him for that, since she is pretty much feeling the same.
Today is the day, she thinks. Today we figure this out.
And with a deep breath, more shaky than she’d care to admit, she drives off.
>*<
Choi Yoon doesn’t know what he expected but for some reason a picnic to look at the stars wasn’t it. Aside from everything else it just doesn’t seem like something Gil Young does. Yet here they are, out in the countryside, the setting sun behind them as they set up a blanket to sit on, as well some torches for light and the honest-to-god woven basket with food inside Gil Young has prepared. The sunset is painting them all in orange and Hwa Pyung and Gil Young look so breathtaking that for a few seconds Yoon doesn’t even question how explicitly romantic this all is.
For a couple of minutes after their arrival the mood is strained by their shared nervousness until they eventually fall back into old patterns. It’s just so easy with them, just letting go. Not overthinking. When they’re all together like this, Yoon feels like he could take on the world and at least in that he knows he’s not alone. Maybe Gil Young just needed a moment like this, away from the city and whatever case she is working right now. Just them, Hwa Pyung telling stories, making them all laugh, him and Gil Young losing themselves in one of their tangents of who can say the more ridiculously mundane thing to the other, Gil Young sharing police horror stories. Yoon doesn’t say much, he’s happy to listen and just be with them, the two people he fell for.
They’re both so good together.
The thought is there before he can stop himself but it's fine. It's fine because they are. And it's not like he's going to lose them when they eventually start a life together. Still, the smile he couldn’t suppress a second ago at Gil Young lecturing Hwa Pyung about his insistence that he can still drive even with one eye drops from his face. It’s back in the next second but what had been easy a moment ago has become an effort.
He needs himself to be fine with this; and he is, he should be, he will be. Or maybe he isn’t, maybe he can’t and maybe he won’t.
>*<
Hwa Pyung notices the fake smile right away. He knows Yoon and he can see in the slight strain of his smile and the spark of sadness in his eyes that something has just upset him and that he doesn’t want them to know. Which means it can’t be his own completely valid claim that, yes, even without depth perception, he can drive. Gil Young needs to get off his case about it. And she does, which means that she has noticed the mood shift as well.
Should he say something? Yoon is a rather sensitive person, way more delicate than he’d ever admit and calling him out on his sudden air of repressed sadness might be the worst approach. Then again maybe he can help? Just when he’s about to open his mouth, Gil Young gets up abruptly.
“Stargazing time,” she announces and swiftly gathers the remaining boxes of food into the basket and carries it to the car. When she comes back she extinguishes the torches, leaving them in almost utter darkness, illuminated only by exploding suns billions of light years away. Maybe it takes Gil Young by surprise as well exactly how dark it would get, because a second later Hwa Pyung hears her stumble into Yoon.
“Sorry,” she says and even if Hwa Pyung can’t see her smile, he can hear it. “Could you scoot over?”
“Oh,” Yoon just says, surprised. “Yes, sure.”
And then he’s suddenly in Hwa Pyung’s space, almost falling over as he’s making room for Gil Young. Hwa Pyung wraps his arm around him as a reflex more than anything and as a pile of limbs and laughter they all let themselves fall back onto the blanket, the starry sky above them. Somehow Yoon’s head ends up resting on Hwa Pyung’s shoulder and Hwa Pyung can feel him try to move away but there is no space left as Gil Young has more or less wrapped herself around his other side. Or at least that’s what Hwa Pyung thinks is going on, his eyes are still adjusting to the darkness.
“It’s getting cold,” she says and suddenly Hwa Pyung knows that this had been her plan all along. If there was any sure way to improve Yoon’s mood, it’s non-obvious physical affection, because Yoon is a dork who can’t admit to needing any kind of help.
>*<
Gil Young had been having such a nice evening she had almost forgotten why she brought her two idiots out here. But now, cuddled together her objective is clear in front of her again.
The night is young, the sky beautiful and cloudless, she’s resting comfortably against Yoon’s side, her shoulder draped over his, now all she needs to do is casually board the topic that all their problems will be solved if they can all just date each other and be happy.
Only she has no idea how to actually do that, she realizes. She has been so frustrated with the pining and the longing and the tension, she hadn’t really thought this far ahead. ‘Get them to a romantic spot, kiss them both’ had kind of been the extent of her plan. Well, it’s not like she ever thought of herself as especially smooth anyway, no need to pretend she is now.
“So who here knows what polyamory is?”, she asks.
“What?” Hwa Pyung asks back. “Is this the trivia portion of the evening?”
She would hit him but she can’t reach him properly. Yoon next to her chuckles.
“It’s when you’re in a consenting non-monogamous relationship with more than one person,” she says and takes some satisfaction in the fact that both of them immediately go very quiet. “A whole bunch of people do this and are living happily, there are books about it. At least according to the internet.”
“Like,” Hwa Pyung says hesitantly. “Like being in love with more than one person and…” He trails of, still stuck on that part. She can relate.
“And not having to choose,” Gil Young finishes. “That could be an arrangement.”
It can also be very much arranged right now, she doesn’t add.
Yoon is awfully quiet. He seems to just be lying there, as still as possible, and if Gil Young focuses she can feel his rapid heartbeat under her shoulder. She really wants him to say something, but maybe he can’t just yet.
>*<
Choi Yoon's mind is reeling, leaving no room for any coherent thought whatsoever.
>*<
Hwa Pyung has trouble wrapping his mind around how suddenly all contradicting pieces of his life fall into place, leaving an outlook on something he didn’t think would ever even be a possibility. He wants to ask a million questions, and he will. Later. For now he can hear what Gil Young is saying and it’s almost too good to be true.
“I knew this was a date,” he blurts out, unable to stop grinning.
Gil Young sits up and hits him, which is fair.
He complains, but he’s probably not very convincing, since it's very likely to be undercut by what feels like the most sappy smile he is currently unable to keep from his face. His eyes have adjusted to the darkness surprisingly well, since he can see her face clearly now, smiling back at him with happy mischief. Then her eyes grow kinder as she turns her face to Yoon, who is still frozen in place. Hwa Pyung watches as she slowly and deliberately takes his hand into hers.
“I’m in love with you,” she says. “Both of you.” Her fingers are drawing small circles onto the back of Yoon’s hand. “And I can understand if that’s a lot or if you need time-”
Suddenly the warm weight of Yoon’s head is gone from Hwa Pyung’s shoulder as Yoon sits up with a start, positively lunges forward and kisses Gil Young.
Hwa Pyung isn't even the one being kissed - something he plans on changing very soon - and yet he still feels like time seems to slow down. All he can do for a second is stare in awe at Yoon’s back, slightly hunched over, his hands framing Gil Young's face. Filled with nervous anticipation he is unable to remain lying down so he sits up as well, just in time for them to separate.
Yoon blinks, coming back from wherever his mind went during that kiss. Arriving back in his body, his eyes widen and he turns his head to look at Hwa Pyung, like a deer caught in the headlights. Hwa Pyung grins at him and he is relieved to see Yoon visibly relax somewhat at that.
“Me next,” Hwa Pyung says, only half joking. His heart is beating so fast he's almost feeling a bit dizzy.
Gil Young laughs and then throws herself into his arms and it’s everything he always dreamed it would be. Her hands are in his hair immediately, combing through it with purpose, as if she had thought about doing exactly that many times over. And maybe she has. His head is tilted upwards because Gil Young is on her knees as her lips are pressed onto his, moving together. He lets his teeth scrape over her lip and she leans in approvingly and with a surprised sound he can feel himself falling backwards. Yoon catches his flailing arm, stabilizing them both and Hwa Pyung is sure, no one has ever loved two people more.
>*<
Fuck yes, Gil Young thinks, detaching herself from Hwa Pyung. Fucking finally.
Neither of them can stop grinning.
She watches in satisfaction as Hwa Pyung takes the hand Yoon saved him from falling with, and entwines their fingers. He looks at Yoon like he is the best thing that ever happened to him and Yoon holds his gaze with wonder, as if the moon and stars they have come out here to see are not up there in the sky but in Hwa Pyung’s eyes. They don’t look like they could even handle a kiss right now and that’s fine, they have all the time in the world. For now they seem content gazing into each others eyes like the idiots in love they are.
Literal minutes pass in which Gil Young watches them in amused silence. Then Yoon lets out a shaky breath, making a noise between laughter and sobbing, and lets himself fall forward into Hwa Pyung, burying his face in his neck.
Gil Young pats his knee. She understands.
“That was an interesting round of trivia,” Hwa Pyung says and Gil Young hits him again.
>*<
Yoon kisses Hwa Pyung for the first time a couple of days later, on Gil Young’s couch during their third date night, so hard that they both fall off it.
Gil Young does not let them live it down and probably won’t for the rest of their lives.