Work Text:
“See? I told you it was real!”
Four year old Hwang Hyunjin is on his tippy toes, sporting the most victorious smirk as he hands his mother the “engagement ring”. His engagement ring.
“Oh dear God!” Mrs’s Hwang’s face goes deathly pale in the span of 0.1 seconds as she rips the ring from the tiny hands reaching up towards her.
“How did you get this? Did you take it from someone? Oh my God Hyunjin, what did you do? Whose ring is this?”
“It’s mine! Minho gave it to me when he asked. I said yes, so the ring is mine. That's how it works, mom!”
The boy all but rolls his eyes at his mother’s denseness. Why must he explain such elementary things to her?
One hour later a couple of pouty boys are crouching in the corner of Mrs. Lee’s living room as Mrs. Hwang, barely breathing between fits of laughter, recounts how she’d been dismissing Hyunjin’s “engagement” and insistence that the ring is “real and so sparkly-pretty”, until the boy decided to prove it to her.
Hyunjin is sad. He liked the ring a lot, it was the coolest thing he’d ever seen. The big stone in the middle changed colors between blue, green and purple when he moved it around. He’d spent the last 2 nights in bed fiddling with it and marveling at how sparkly-pretty it was. Almost as sparkly-pretty as Minho's eyes. Almost.
Minho is sad too. He doesn’t understand what’s so funny about this whole situation. Yes, he stole his mom’s engagement ring to give to Hyunjin when he proposed to him 2 days ago at snack time. Yes, Minho knows stealing is bad and he probably shouldn’t have done what he did. He expected to be in trouble, it was a calculated risk… but he’s not in trouble. Instead they all laugh and throw endeared looks towards the two boys. He’s not sure why, but he really doesn’t like it. He’d rather be in trouble. Stealing is bad, but engagements are no laughing matter.
“Yeah so, suffice to say that my heart stopped when I saw it. Definitely not the gummy ring I was expecting.” Mrs. Hwang concludes to an equally laughed-out Mrs. Lee.
“We’re so sorry for the trouble, and for taking so long to return it. I really had no idea, I hope you didn’t get too worried about it!”
“Oh not at all! Please, don’t apologize. I honestly had no idea it was missing until you called. I rarely wear it these days and the ring is usually in my jewelry box, which is where my sneaky bunny fished it from. Didn’t you, bunny?”
Minho winces at his mother’s pet names and prays for this whole ordeal to end. He can only bear so much humiliation, especially in front of Hyunjin. He wishes he was a big strong adult so he could buy a sparkly-pretty ring of his own and give it to the boy next to him. The thought makes him want to cry a little. Just a little.
That’s when Hyunjin lets his head rest on Minho’s shoulder and whispers:
“It’s ok! Don’t be sad, ok? I still say yes even if there’s no ring, ok? I still say yes!”
Minho feels his tiny heart flutter in a way he hasn’t experienced before. It hurts a little but it’s exciting, kinda how fizzy candy feels on your tongue. Kinda like that, but more fizzly. He’s not sure what to make of the strange sensation so he settles for slipping his fingers in between Hyunjin’s.
“I’ll get it back for you one day, I promise!”
***
The ring debacle turns into the favorite anecdote that the Hwang and Lee families tell about how they got so close. It’s been years of holidaying together, sleepovers, shared past time activities and play-dates.
It’s been years and the story has been told so many times that it almost sounds made up at this point. It used to annoy the boys but they laugh about it now. Now that they’re grown.
They can laugh about how silly they were when they were kids and they can roll their eyes with superiority and condescension, as twelve year olds often do. They can say “remember when” and they can talk about it and it’s definitely not awkward. Why would it be? They were kids and kids to stupid things, don’t they?
They even tell their friends and all of them have a good laugh about it together, and then they go back to talking about girls. Who’s crushing on who, who got hot over the summer break. Typical bonfire discussions. Sung-Ho had run into a classmate of theirs a few weeks ago and she apparently started wearing bras. Minho and Hyunjin agree with the others that they can’t wait for school to start again so they can see for themselves. It’s definitely something they’d be interested in. Definitely.
They sneak back out after curfew and meet by the swings, as they always do. Minho pushes as Hyunjin sqees with joy and asks for “higher Minho, higher”. It smells like fall already and that’s a little sad, but it’s their last night at camp and damn it if they’re not gonna make the most of it.
“Come on, let’s give it a try. I promise it can still hold us both!”
Minho is standing on the swing, reaching out his hand. They’ve done this before, almost every summer since they started coming here. Riding the swing with both of them standing face to face. It was exhilarating.
Hyunjin grabs Minho’s hand and pulls himself up hesitantly. The swing had always been sturdy enough to support them both and the seat was big enough to fit both of their feet comfortably. They’re bigger now though, so it’s a risk.
But what are last nights and summer ends for if not for taking risks.
It’s as fun as they remember it to be, even if they’re way more careful with how high they’re pushing it. Hyunjin’s hair is also longer this time and it moves like a dream as each gust of air created by the swing hits it just the right way. It’s so beautiful that Minho’s chest throbs. Like fizzy candy, but more fizzly.
“Look at the moon behind you, Hyunjin-ah!”
Hyunjin stretches his head as far back as he possibly can as the swing propels them forward, and he sees it. It’s a crescent moon and Hyunjin loves crescent moons. For no reason at all. Definitely not because Minho has always told him that’s what his eyes look like when he smiles and how cute it is.
“Ohhh, so sparkly-pretty” he hums.
“Isn’t it?” Minho agrees.
Almost as pretty as your eyes.
***
In 30 minutes Hyunjin’s sixteenth birthday will be officially over. His birthday will be over, and he hasn’t seen Minho at all. Actually he’s barely seen him all week and to be honest, he’s been seeing less and less of him over the past 6 months. Ever since he got a job.
“Job, right!” Sung-Ho snickers. “Yeah, no boy our age is that diligent about a job if he can afford not to. Minho’s parents are doing alright for themselves so if you ask me, he’s definitely seeing some chick and he’s probably not ready to tell y’all losers about her so you don’t embarrass him.”
The rest of their friends agree and Hyunjin smiles. He feels like throwing up and howling at the moon and punching walls and flipping tables. He’s felt like that on a daily basis ever since “Minho’s secret girlfriend” has become a running gag in their friend group. He’d like to think it’s just their friends being stupid but he can’t deny the fact that Minho’s absence from their past time activities due to his “job” has coincided with him distancing himself from Hyunjin. These days they can barely look each other in the eyes and the awkwardness of their interactions is overwhelming.
Of course their friends are oblivious to the change, as they’ve been oblivious to the silent complicity that was always there before. But nonetheless, Hyunjin is drowning. He’s drowning because he feels like he’s losing his best friend and because he’s hopelessly in love with said friend.
Yeah, it took years but he’s finally managed to piece together that friends don’t feel about each other the way he feels about Minho. He sometimes wonders how he could have such clarity as a 4 year old and then somehow completely lose the plot for over a decade. It’d be funny if it wasn’t so frustrating. He also wonders if somehow Minho sensed the shift that happened when Hyunjin came to terms with his feelings and that’s why he started pulling back.
Or maybe it’s just the job. Or maybe it’s just a girlfriend.
Hyunjin turns around in his bed to find a side of the pillow that hasn’t been soaked in tears yet.
25 minutes till midnight.
His friends left half an hour ago, after a pretty chill celebration with pizza and video games. It’s all he wanted. This, and Minho. But Minho didn’t come like he promised.
“I can’t come earlier but I get off work at 9 so I can be there by 9:30.” he said.
And now he’s 23 minutes away from missing Hyunjin’s birthday, for the first time ever. It really must be a girlfriend, Hyunjin thinks. He wouldn’t miss his birthday for a freakin job so it’s settled. Minho is in love with someone and that someone is not Hyunjin. The claw in his chest prods around demanding more tears but at this point Hyunjin’s all cried out. He’s cried out and exhausted and numb.
A knock on the door. Probably his mom making sure he’s ok. She’s sweet but he really can’t deal with putting on a brave face for her right now.
“Go away! I’m sleeping!”
Another knock and the door opens slowly.
“You sound pretty awake to me.”
Hyunjin feels a jolt of electricity as he jumps up from the bed.
“Minho…”
“Didn’t think I’d miss your birthday, did you?”
He’s using his soft voice, the one he only puts on when he’s interacting with cats or when he’s comforting Hyunjin.
“You did miss my birthday. Everyone’s already gone.”
There’s little effort to disguise the disappointment in his tone.
“I’m so sorry, Hyunjin-ah! I really messed up, didn’t I? Nothing went according to plan tonight but I swear I was gonna be here on time. It’s just that the last delivery sent me in the middle of nowhere and then of course I got lost and on top of that my bike broke.”
Hyunjin folds his arms and grunts, still unsure of what to make of it all.
“But,” Minho continues, “even though I knew I’d missed the party completely, I just had to come see you and…”
He starts fiddling around with his pockets and pulls something out. There’s a slight tremor in his hand as he reaches it out.
“And give you this. Give you your present.”
Hyunjin, arms still folded but slightly less defensive than before, directs his attention to the object Minho is trying to hand him. It’s a box. A tiny velvet box. He unfolds his arms, letting his sweaty palms fall in frustration.
“I didn’t need a present Hyung, I needed…” his voice breaks.
I needed you here. I missed you. I miss you every day. I can't do this anymore.
“I know, but please… please! Please open it!”
Hyunjin sighs. He takes the box from Minho’s grip and opens it, only to be met with some very familiar purple, blue and green sparkles. A tiny stone encircled by a silvery crescent moon, attached to a necklace so delicate that it was barely visible in the dim lighting of Hyunjin’s bedroom. The stone however, the stone was shining like it had been put under a spotlight.
“Happy brithday Hyunjin-ah!”
His voice is tiny. The tiniest it’s ever been.
“Min… what the hell! How... where… how…”
Words. What are they?
“I didn’t steal it this time, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Minho lets out a hesitant giggle.
“But then, how? We’re not kids anymore, I know how much alexandrite costs and especially a piece that looks like this. How…”
Hyunjin’s eyes grow big with the sting of impending tears at the sudden realization. His hand shoots up to cover his mouth as he’s met with Minho’s fond but tired smile.
Not girlfriend. Not girlfriend at all. Job.
Minho’s dark circles, his absence, him falling asleep in class, all of it starts playing on a loop in Hyunjin’s mind. Minho has been working like crazy for the past 6 months, all so he could…
“Can I put it on you?” he asks sheepishly.
Hyunjin nods in slow motion, still too shocked to form a coherent sentence.
Minho picks up the box from Hyunjin’s limp hands and unhooks the necklace. He reaches around, bringing their faces impossibly close as he maneuvers the dainty clasp. His hands linger once the job is done, unwilling to detach themselves from Hyunjin’s neck.
“Ok, here goes!” Minho starts whispering, almost as if hyping himself up. There’s urgency in his tone and although their faces are centimeters apart now, his gaze is fixed downwards.
Hyunjin holds his breath and closes his eyes.
“I love you Hyunjin-ah! I’m in love with you and I’m pretty sure I’ve always been in love with you. And I’m so fucking tired of pretending like I’m not, when all I want is to be with you an…
Hyunjin closes the distance between them before Minho can finish his little speech and revels in the surprised squeak he muffles out of the boy’s lips. In all the years he’s been imagining his first kiss, Hyunjin never once saw himself as the one initiating it, but here they are. Here they are because he couldn’t last another second without knowing what having Minho’s lips on his felt like. He’s waited long enough.
One. Two. Three. Four seconds.
Lips still locked, Hyunjin wraps his arms around Minho’s waist and pulls him closer. They break the kiss for a split second, only to go back in with slightly parted lips and movement. Hyunjin wonders if everyone feels like this during their first kiss. Half of their brain hyper-aware and overthinking every movement while the other half gets completely immersed in the overflow of new sensations.
He finds himself wishing Minho would be the one to push things a little further, and gets his wish mere moments later, when the older boy hesitantly takes advantage of Hyunjin’s parted lips, deepening their kiss. Soft and muffled whimpers fill the empty air inside the dimly lit room, and it takes a while for Hyunjin to realize that they’re coming from him. He’s the one making those noises. How strange!
All of this feels so strange, and wet, and scary, but in the best kind of way. And most of all, real. It feels so real. Like the way Minho’s chest rises with an inhale every time he pushes his tongue a little bit deeper. The way he tightens his grip around Hyunjin’s hair at every faint moan he utters. The way his warm mouth tastes like mint and cherry cola. And the way…
The old pendulum clock down the hall strikes midnight, making the boys flinch and pull away, startled by the sudden noise. But not before one last and particularly violent teeth clash.
“Fuck, I’m so sorry!” Hyunjin covers his mouth. “I have no idea what I’m doing!”
Minho rubs his front teeth and chuckles through the pain.
“It’s ok, me neither! But I think we did pretty ok for the first time, didn’t we?”
They both beam at each other briefly then burst into joyous and manic giggles.
It’s 00:01, and Hyunjin’s birthday is officially over.
Hours later, after Minho’s already texted home to let his parents know he’s sleeping over at Hyunjin’s, and after quite some time spent kissing the life out of each other, they finally simmer down. The nervous energy of the past few hours has settled into warm and quiet comfort, as the boys lie in bed facing the ceiling, fingers laced together and limbs entangled.
“Did you always know, or did you forget, like I did?” Hyunjin asks softly.
“Know what?”
“That we love each other. That we’re in love with each other.”
Minho sighs, raises their entwined hands, and places a tender kiss on Hyunjin’s middle knuckle.
“I think it’s a little bit of both. I’ve always known but also I kinda forgot for a long time. And then at some point it all just came tumbling back in and hit me in the face but like, it was never not there. You know?”
“Yeah, actually, I know exactly what you mean. But Min, you do know I didn’t need this… this whole thing.”
Hyunjin gestures towards the pendant, that he’s since removed from his neck and he’s now dangling above them in bed, like some sort of hypnosis tool.
“All I’ve ever wanted was you, Hyung. Just you!”
“I know, but… I think I did. I needed this.”
Minho pauses, carefully pondering what he’s about to say.
“When the feelings all came crashing down on me, I got pretty scared of how big everything felt. And so I latched on to the only thing that felt familiar and safe. I’d done this before. I felt big feelings, bigger than I knew how to process, and then I made a grand gesture. And everything worked out... well, almost” he chuckles. “But still, you reciprocated.”
Hyunjin gently squeezes Minho’s hand, silently approving of the always present reciprocity.
“So I became obsessed with recreating that moment, and telling you how I felt with some grand gesture. I was so scared that I’d blurt everything out to you before I had the chance to make it all perfect and so I…”
“You pulled away from me.” Hyunjin whispers, unable to hide the sadness in his voice.
“I did!” Minho chokes up a little. “I pulled away and I hurt you. It never crossed my mind that you’d end up thinking that I didn’t care about you or that I had a freaking girlfriend of all things. In chasing what I needed in order to process my feelings, I ended up completely disregarding yours. I am so sorry I hurt you Hyunjin-ah, but if you’ll let me, I’ll make it my life mission to make sure that every single day you know exactly how much I love you. I love you! I love you so so much!”
“I love you too, Hyung!” Hyunjin sighs, “but I need you to promise me you’ll never pull anything like that ever again. No more bottling things in, no more hiding, no more pushing me away. Whatever happens, we talk it out and work through it. Together! Deal?”
“Deal!”
This is it. They’ve talked things out, they’ve kissed, they’ve confessed to each other. They’re doing this. They’re finally doing this for real. Holy shit!
Minho turns his loving gaze towards the boy next to him, who’s still dangling the necklace above their heads, ever so mesmerized by the color-shifting gem.
“Is it sparkly-pretty enough?”
“Mhm!” Hyunjin hums happily. “Almost as sparkly-pretty as your eyes.”
***
“Soonie, baby, I can’t pick you up. I’m wearing my good black shirt. Pleaaase understand!”
Hyunjin bends down and aplogelticaly pets the loud creature that’s tangling itself inbetween his legs.
“The baby should go inside anyway, it’s about to get pretty loud here.”
Minho steps out onto the terrace holding a bottle of chilled champagne and two glasses.
“Oh boy!” Hyunjin sighs, picks up some of the plates from the table and heads towards the kitchen.
“Come on Soon, let’s go inside and you can have some leftovers.”
“No, he can’t! He just ate his dinner an hour ago, stop spoiling him!” Minho yells from outside, still fiddling with the bottle of champagne.
“Shhh, don’t listen to him. Here you go baby.”
Hyunjin places the leftover salmon in Soonie’s food dish and steps back outside, closing the door behind him.
“Here” Minho hands him the bottle, frustrated.
“You do it!”
“No fucking way, I can’t deal with the noise, it’s too fucking scary. You do it!”
“I’m scared too! But I always end up popping the champagne, you have to pick up the slack sometimes, babe.”
“Next time, I promise!” Hyunjin lies through his teeth, passing the bottle back to Minho.
“I’ll hold you to that!” Minho lies right back.
It takes a while but he finally pops the bottle, almost knocking down the fairy lights that adorn their spacious terrace. If Minho were to be honest about it, the lights had always been kind of a hazard anyway, since the cats made it their personal mission to mess with them every time they sneak outside. But Hyunjin refuses to take them down.
The huge terrace was the biggest selling point when they ended up choosing their otherwise cramped apartment. So Hyunjin was adamant that he wouldn’t give up on his moonlit dinners surrounded by magical fairy lights, no matter how much the cats may antagonize him.
“Here you go, baby!”
Minho hands him a glass, somewhat avoiding his gaze. His ears are red. Like, extremely red.
Interesting, Hyunjin thinks, raising his glass to meet Minho’s.
clink
“Happy 24th birthday, Hyunjinnie!”
“Happy 8 year anniversary, my love!”
Hyunjin feels them before he sees them. The purple, blue and green sparkles at the bottom of the glass pierce through his half open eyes as he’s sipping the champagne. He freezes for a second, then pulls the glass away.
There it is. A ring. THE ring.
He looks back into his boyfriend’s oh so shiny and slightly misty eyes. It will never not take his breath away how much love he always finds in them, but tonight, tonight there’s something more. There’s love and comfort and adoration but also, just a little bit of pride.
“I told you I’d get it back for you one day.”
“That you did, my love. That you did!”
Hyunjin swats away the solitary tear that’s already halfway down his cheek and downs the rest of the champagne.
“Put it on me!”
Minho gingerly picks up the ring and slips it onto Hyunjin’s finger, sealing it with a kiss.
There’s no big confession, no talk of the future, no promises or demands. Everything that needed to be said has already been said many times throughout their 8 year relationship. Now it’s just the two of them, staring at each other and fighting back tears, bound in the quiet understanding that everything is both as it should be and as it’s always been.
And the question? The question has been asked and answered decades ago. They’re just finishing what they started.
“So, this may be redundant but…”
“No, baby, I didn’t steal it this time. Are you gonna ask me this every time I give you a piece of jewelry? My thieving days are behind me, you know that! The ring has been lovingly offered, and some happy tears were shed in the exchange as well. Mom also helped me find a good jeweler to resize it after one of your own rings.”
Minho smirks mischievously.
“Which you didn’t even notice has been missing for weeks.”
“Aha! So your thieving days are not completely behind you.”
Minho lets out a fake-villainous laugh and pulls his fiance in for a kiss.
“I like to keep you on your toes, baby” he whispers against his lips.
“Brat!”
Hyunjin gently bites Minho’s smirk and lets himself melt into his fiance’s arms.
His fiance, his home, his forever.
***
“See? I told you it was real!”
Twenty four year old Hwang Hyunjin is on his parents’ couch, sporting the most victorious smirk as he shows his mother the engagement ring. His engagement ring.
And so it came to be, that what started out as “the ring debacle” story, was actually a story about soulmates, about a 20 year engagement, about two boys that always fought for each other, and about the life they built together. A life filled with small and certain happiness. And love. So much love!