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From the very first date, everything was perfect.
Hyunjin hadn’t noticed Changbin on campus before. In a school of thousands, it wasn’t surprising. But Changbin must have noticed him- on the green, reading a book under the ginkgo tree by the English building, according to him.
“It’s embarrassing, but your unfathomable beauty was only the second thing I noticed,” Changbin confessed over croissants and orange juice.
“Shut up!” Hyunjin laughed, hiding his face behind his hands and nearly taking his eye out with his fork. The corner of Changbin’s mouth quirked up at the bright sound.
“Just calling it like it is.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Hyunjin brushed off the compliment. Changbin had such an air of nonchalance that it made Hyunjin squirm a little to be the focus of his fawning- someone like Changbin wasn’t supposed to fawn. It wasn’t bad, just unexpected. “What was the first thought then?”
“That whoever was under that tree must be superhuman if the smell didn’t faze them at all. You do know most people avoid it like the plague, right?” Changbin stabbed a piece of cheese-filled pastry.
“You’re unbelievable. I had a cold!” Hyunjin huffed.
He didn’t mind the teasing, not really. Everything between the two of them carried the sweet scent of romantic novelty. Changbin had a charm about him when he’d asked Hyunjin out, and from the moment he suggested a breakfast date, Hyunjin was sold. Fifteen minutes from their campus might not take them to Paris or Venice, but the early morning sun and mist over an al fresco, wrought iron cafe table with pastries and drinks felt close enough.
“Drink lots of juice then. I’ve heard the vitamin C is good for colds.”
Hyunjin obediently took a sip, enjoying the tart, sweet citrus and finding he didn’t mind when Changbin’s eyes drifted momentarily to his lips on the rim of the glass. He placed the glass down and wiped his hand on his jeans to dry it from the condensation.
“I still can’t believe you don’t like pulp, by the way,” Changbin commented as he split the omelet they’d gotten to share and moved a portion to each of their small ceramic plates.
“That’s because pulp is awful!”
Hyunjin paused to thank Changbin for the omelet, and he debated asking for a taste of the cheese pastry as well. His own croissant had a chocolate filling; he’d never gotten used to the idea of sweet cheese, but suddenly he found himself curious to try it again. Something about the way Changbin bit into the flaky dough and soft filling, and the cute, accented swell of his cheek as he chewed, made it look so…good.
“You’re twenty years old!” Changbin insisted.
“So? Pulp didn’t magically become good. Who wants bits of stuff in their drink?”
“Are you a fan of bubble tea? You strike me as a fan of bubble tea.” Changbin allowed himself a moment of smugness as Hyunjin gaped.
“That’s different!”
“Oh? How so?”
“You have to consciously chew boba. It’s an experience. It’s not like it…makes you feel stuff in your mouth when all you want is a drink.”
“Feel stuff in your mouth, huh?”
“Oh, shut up.” Hyunjin took a firm bite of egg, but couldn’t help smiling when he saw the way Changbin was grinning at him.
“So,” Changbin said.
“So,” Hyunjin repeated.
It was a good word for their first date, for 8:47am on a Tuesday in April. After all, “so” is a continuing word, one that promises more and bigger and better. A perfect fit for them.
***
“Good morning, sunshine.”
The sleep-riddled voice made Hyunjin’s insides flip-flop in the most wonderful way. Changbin pressed his lips to Hyunjin’s brow and the two of them stared into each other’s eyes until one of them broke- Changbin first, chuckling softly, in such a beautifully contagious way that Hyunjin couldn’t help but giggle, too, pulling him in for giddy kiss after kiss with their tousled pillow hair and tangled legs beneath the covers.
They’d dated for two months, neither wanting to rush things. When spending time together felt like rays of sunlight beaming brightly into their lives, what was the rush anyway?
With anyone else, Hyunjin would have loved the walks through parks and gardens the best. With anyone else, Changbin would have loved the quiet evenings when they shared songs the best. With each other, they loved every moment the best, as long as it was together. Hyunjin’s smile and laugh and the way he expressed his thoughts. Changbin’s humor and passion and perceptiveness.
“Do you want some breakfast?” Changbin offered.
“You. More of you is all I want,” Hyunjin murmured back with another lazy kiss. He would never have dreamed of being so forward with anyone else, but it was so easy with Changbin. To say what he wanted. No blushing, no shyness.
“Mmm, how could I resist that?” Changbin muttered, pushing Hyunjin onto his back on the soft, white cotton and nuzzling into his neck with affectionate kisses and nips.
Thirty minutes later, they both lay breathless and satisfied. Hyunjin’s eyes struggled to stay open through his dazed pleasure, and Changbin, exhausted as his body was, propped himself up to brush strands of hair off Hyunjin’s sticky face.
“Stay here. I’m bringing you breakfast in bed,” he said, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and pulling on a pair of boxers.
Changbin was only halfway through mixing up a batch of pancake batter- from a box, and regretting that he had yet to perfect his egg-flipping skills- when Hyunjin joined him in the kitchen.
“Hey, don’t you want to rest more? I told you I’ll bring you breakfast in bed.”
“Hm, stay in bed all alone or be with you here?” Hyunjin feigned deep thought, then crossed the last few feet of tiled floor to press his lips briefly to Changbin’s cheek. “With you, thanks.”
Changbin blushed and tried not to forget which cup of flour he was up to, nor look too pleased.
“Can I help with something?”
“No, just relax.”
Hyunjin meandered around the kitchen. He examined the little pig and bunny salt and pepper shakers next to the toaster and perused the lists and photos stuck on the refrigerator with magnets. He ran his fingers along the woven placemats already on the small, wooden table, and tried to take in all the little details of Changbin’s normal, his everyday.
“I think I have some berries and cream for the pancakes, if you want to get them out,” Changbin offered. “Berries on the bottom shelf, whipped cream in the door. Or yogurt if you’d rather. Take whatever looks good to you.”
Hyunjin hummed and pulled open the fridge door.
“These?” he asked, swiveling around with a plastic carton.
Changbin glanced over his shoulder, spatula in hand. “Yep.”
Hyunjin went back in for the whipped cream, and it was in the door like Changbin had said. But it wasn’t the only thing there.
Changbin heard the gasp and the dull slamming of the fridge door. The next moment, Hyunjin was spinning Changbin around to wrap his arms around his neck and kiss him silly.
Changbin smirked up at him when he pulled away.
“Can I say it?” he asked, loving the way Hyunjin’s arms felt looped over his shoulders.
“You specially bought me orange juice without pulp, of course you can say it!” Hyunjin teased, a sparkle in his eye.
“Thank god for that then,” Changbin smiled, giving Hyunjin’s waist a gentle squeeze.
“Well?” Hyunjin looked at him expectantly.
“I love you! I just fucking love you.”
“Good! Let’s eat some pancakes!” Hyunjin proclaimed, dropping his arms off Changbin.
Changbin’s jaw dropped as he watched Hyunjin saunter back to the fridge and take out both cartons of orange juice, the pulp-free one still full.
“Oh, you did not just-”
“Didn’t just what?” Hyunjin blinked his innocent doe eyes, setting them down on the table.
“I should pour the entire jug of pulpless juice down the drain for that!”
Hyunjin gasped. “You wouldn’t.”
Changbin strode over, picked up the carton, and held eye contact as he began to unscrew the cap. Hyunjin launched himself over to wrestle it out of Changbin’s grasp. Changbin instinctively raised it above his head to keep it out of reach, bringing up his other arm to keep Hyunjin back. Hyunjin grabbed the jug easily with one hand- cute that he thought he was tall enough to win that way- and wrapped the other around Changbin’s waist, their bodies flush against each other.
Hyunjin tilted forward to press their foreheads together, both just the slightest bit out of breath from the tussle.
“I love you, Changbin. You make me very, very happy.”
Changbin beamed, glowed, shone.
The last two pancakes burned, but neither of them minded.
With anyone else, breakfast would have been a cute, lovely, sweet snapshot of their relationship. With each other, it was a moment they would happily live in forever if they could, as long as it was them together.
***
“A morning wedding, please please please can we do a morning wedding? A Saturday morning outdoor wedding in spring. Please?”
Hyunjin brought it up while they were walking through the grocery parking lot for some last minute ingredients. They were hosting a dinner with friends that night, and at 6am Hyunjin had shot up in bed and spiraled into panic when he realized he’d forgotten to save extra lemon zest to garnish the ices, and that they probably needed another three bottles of wine to be on the safe side.
Changbin, as usual, had been his pillar, reminding him that they could just swing by the store. Hyunjin, as usual, seesawed from dramatic-as-hell to happy-go-lucky at the drop of a hat, and was already back to his cheery self, hanging off Changbin’s arm as they made their way to the automatic sliding doors.
It was the first day since autumn that they didn’t need to grab sweaters on their way out, and Changbin wondered if that’s what got to Hyunjin’s head, inspiring all this outdoor-wedding talk.
“Don’t I need to propose to you first?” he asked, grabbing a cart for them.
“I mean, you could, or we could just decide to have a morning wedding,” Hyunjin answered with a little hop.
Maybe it really was the warm weather making Hyunjin borderline delirious, with all the skipping and the nonsense about a wedding with no proposal.
“Morning wedding…I’ll think about it,” he conceded, trying to look serious about it instead of laughing, which he knew Hyunjin would hate. “What’s first on our list?”
As they made their way through the aisles, Changbin manned the cart while Hyunjin monitored their shopping list. Hyunjin added new things to the list- or straight up tossed them into the cart- whenever he thought of something they just-might-possibly-desperately need. Changbin pretended not to notice, and Hyunjin armed himself with a battalion of excuses just in case Changbin decided to comment.
And every once in a while, for good measure, he gave him a fleeting kiss or added something he knew Changbin liked to have in stock at home.
It was a relief that they’d spent the past several days cooking things in advance, because the trip was longer than a “quick run,” as it was meant to be. It wasn’t often those days that they got to spend time like this, doing something together, but the sort of companionable, quiet something that was almost nothing but also so much more.
They zigzagged through the aisles, past the fresh flowers and freezer section.
Hyunjin was a few paces ahead, eyes glued to the piece of stationery with his list, and he didn’t notice when the squeaking shopping cart wheels stopped.
“Hyunjin?” came Changbin’s voice popping through his thoughts.
Hyunjin turned. His eyes didn’t meet Changbin’s like he’d expected, not until he shifted his gaze down.
There was Changbin, on one knee.
A carton of pulp-free orange juice was balanced in his palms.
“M-marry me?”
Changbin watched emotions gradate across Hyunjin’s face, and his heart pummeled against his sternum as he waited for his answer. Even though Hyunjin had just spoken about a wedding, Changbin had to fight to keep his hands from shaking with nerves. He’d almost call it terror.
Hyunjin approached Changbin and dropped his list into the cart. He closed the distance between them, running his hands through Changbin’s dark hair and cradling his head.
Changbin, chin tilted up and eyes expectant, held Hyunjin’s gaze and forced down a nervous swallow.
“Well, obviously!” Hyunjin finally exclaimed, beaming. He took the the juice and tossed it into their cart, then pulled Changbin up and let him plant a happy, chaste kiss on his lips. He sent him a mischievous side glance. “Let’s finish this damn shopping trip and get home to celebrate.”
***
Changbin hoisted Hyunjin onto their countertop, lips locked together. They both tasted of mint toothpaste, and smelled of the same green apple shower gel from their rinse in the shower barely fifteen minutes ago.
Hyunjin wrapped his legs around Changbin’s bare waist to draw him closer. Their noses nudged each other as they shifted angles to lick deeper into each other’s mouth. Hyunjin draped his arms over Changbin’s shoulders, but after just a few seconds of gliding his hands along the smooth skin of his back- still radiating warmth from the shower- Changbin gently lifted them off to free himself.
“Wait here,” he said, withdrawing and moving to open a cabinet and take an item out. “I want to try something.”
“What’s that?” Hyunjin asked. He hooked his ankles, and began swinging his long, bare legs, heels kicking the lower cabinets gently with a soft, rhythmic thud thud thud.
“You’ll see. Don’t look for a minute, though, kay?”
Hyunjin obligingly closed his eyes. Changbin paused, allowing himself a gratuitous moment to enjoy the view. Would he ever stop appreciating the soft, beautiful lines of his fianc- husband’s face? The long lashes brushing his cheeks?
It was their first morning back home post-honeymoon, and neither was ready to go back to regular life. So, they’d been drinking each other in as much as they could over the past fourteen hours.
Changbin whipped out a cutting board so he could start before Hyunjin got too suspicious.
“Can you like…close your nose, too?” he asked sheepishly
Hyunjin laughed, the kind of laugh that Changbin especially loved, where his whole face scrunched up. He indulgently covered his mouth and nose with his palms, and Changbin swooped near to brush a kiss along his knuckles.
A few minutes later, he announced, “Okay, open.”
Hyunjin opened his eyes to see several halved oranges on their purple plastic cutting board. He was about to admit that he didn’t know any sex things with citrus, when Changbin took one and began pressing and twisting it on the object- juicer, not toy- and it all became so obvious.
Hyunjin laughed out loud again, sending a pleased thrill through Changbin, who couldn’t help but wonder how he got so lucky.
Hyunjin watched Changbin’s tanned biceps flex as he juiced the oranges. He scooted closer on the counter and reached out lay a hand on Changbin’s arm as he worked. He teased up and down, elbow to shoulder, and at the same time his eyes wandered over all the muscles engaging in Changbin’s naked torso.
“You really thought this through, didn’t you?” Hyunjin breathed.
“I’ll take that to mean you’re enjoying the show?” Changbin smirked back. It was exactly then that a particularly naughty orange half managed to squirt into his eye while he juiced it.
Changbin flinched and yelled, and Hyunjin laughed before giving him a kiss right on his eyebrow.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, just surprised.”
When the last orange rind fell into the trash with a thunk, Hyunjin held back his sigh of disappointment while Changbin tried to conceal his sigh of relief. He was about to flick on the tap when Hyunjin stopped him and motioned him over.
He thoughtfully wrapped his fingers around one of Changbin’s wrists and lifted it to examine the droplets of juice and the sticky sheen. He brought it towards his lips, kissing Changbin’s fingertips and flicking his tongue out to taste the sticky, tart, sweet notes.
“Is it okay if I…?” Hyunjin mutters.
Changbin moves to nuzzle his head beside Hyunjin’s and whisper in his ear.
“Oh, Hyunjin… Don’t you know by now you can do whatever you want with me?”
All Hyunjin could manage was a small, guttural affirmation before he put his tongue to work lapping up the juice from Changbin’s hand, one drop at a time.
It took a while for them to get to drinking the juice.
Hyunjin was high on his husband again when he finally tried it. He took a full swig and immediately pulled a face.
“Changbin!”
And Changbin had a good laugh before pulling out the sieve he’d known they’d need.