Work Text:
“Let’s get married.”
Taerae stares at Hao like he's just grown another head. “What?”
“You heard what Jiwoong hyung said!” Hao exclaims. “The head office is going to pick someone who’s unmarried to manage the new office in Alaska next year. We’re the only ones in our branch who aren’t married! I really don’t want to move to the other side of the world, do you?”
“Well, I don’t, but—”
“If we sign the papers now,” Hao interrupts, “they’ll take our names off the list and we won’t have to think about it anymore. You can move in with me, we can save on rent, and your parents will stop nagging you about being single. We can just get divorced after the year’s over. How does that sound?”
Taerae inhales sharply.
“What the hell, sure.”
Everyone seems dumbfounded when Hao breaks the news that he and Taerae got married over the weekend.
“Why didn’t you invite us to the wedding?” Gyuvin asks.
Hao laughs it off with an excuse about their budget, but the truth is that there was no wedding, all they have is a marriage certificate locked away in a drawer.
As he returns to his desk, Hao glances at the message on the whiteboard counting down the days to the new office’s opening. 340 days will fly by, and then he’ll be free.
It’s become a habit now, walking in and out of the office hand in hand. They’re only doing it for show, but Hao has grown attached to the feeling of Taerae’s fingers intertwined with his.
When they get to their desks, Taerae suddenly reaches up to brush something out of Hao’s hair, making his heart skip a beat.
“Thanks,” Hao murmurs, afraid to make eye contact.
He looks at the whiteboard. 257 days left. And then he’ll never get to hold Taerae’s hand or be cared for by him like this again. It shouldn’t sting as much as it does.
He has to get up for work in four hours, but Hao is wide awake.
Up until thirty minutes ago, he had been completely absorbed in Taerae telling him about the history of Ferrari. He’d never learnt so many new terms in such a short period of time before. But the most important thing Hao learnt has nothing to do with cars, it’s how adorable Taerae looks when he’s talking about something he’s interested in.
Groaning, Hao turns on his side. If it wasn’t obvious enough before, now it’s undeniable that he’s caught feelings.
And the scary thing is, he might not be the only one.
He’s noticed the lingering touches, the compliments, the sweet gestures. Surely he’s not reading this wrong, is he?
“We have three months left.” Taerae twists the cheap ring on his finger. “After we get divorced, do you want me to stay here or move back out?”
Hearing the word ‘divorce’ makes Hao’s heart sink. “Um, I don’t know…”
“Why do you seem so worried?”
“It’s just…” Hao isn’t worried about being sent to Alaska anymore, he’s worried about losing Taerae. “I don’t want to get divorced.”
Taerae shrugs. “I’m okay with keeping things the way they are if that’s what you want.”
Hao shakes his head. “No, what I mean is, I don’t want this to be pretend anymore.” He swallows, forcing himself to meet Taerae’s gaze. This is as good a time as any to say it. “I like you, Taerae. Will you… go out with me?”
Taerae breaks into one of those blinding smiles that Hao has come to love so much. “We got the order all messed up, huh? We got married, moved in together, and after nine months you’re finally asking me out. I was starting to think you’d never ask.”
The whiteboard reads 16 today, but Hao has long since forgotten all his fears. He walks past it with ease and enters the storage room.
Glancing up, Taerae smiles. “Hey.”
“Do you need help? You’ve been here for twenty minutes.”
Taerae raises an eyebrow. “You were keeping track?” He laughs when Hao shoots him a glare. “I’m just trying to find the new pens.”
“Hm…” Hao peers inside another cabinet and spots a familiar box in the corner. “Found them! I remember seeing them here last time.”
Taerae lets out a sigh of relief. “I never would’ve thought to look there. Thanks.” Taking the box from Hao, he presses a soft kiss to his cheek.
Before Taerae can leave, Hao grabs his wrist and pulls him in for a proper kiss.
They don’t get to enjoy it for long, because the sound of something clattering to the floor makes both of them jump. Whipping around, they find Gyuvin frozen at the doorway with his mouth ajar and eyes wide, a clipboard by his feet.
Hao expects him to jokingly tell them off for kissing in the office, but instead he starts wiping tears from his face as he murmurs, “You two are really together now…”
Before either of them can respond, Gyuvin runs out of the room. “Guys!” he yells. “Hao hyung and Taerae hyung just kissed!”
When they step out of the storage room, they’re greeted with the sight of everyone standing and cheering. Hao and Taerae exchange a confused look. No one celebrated like this when they announced they had gotten married.
Jiwoong walks up to them first, beaming. “Finally!” He pats them on the shoulder. “Congratulations, seriously.”
Taerae blinks. “Uh, thanks?”
“We were waiting for so long, you know?” Jiwoong reaches for the whiteboard eraser. “I’m really glad Gyuvin’s idea worked.”
“Wait, what idea?” Hao asks.
They watch in horror as Jiwoong wipes the “16 Days to the New Office!” off the whiteboard in one swift motion.
“You see, there was never going to be an office in Alaska, we made it up just to give you two the push you needed to actually start dating. But we thought you would fake an engagement first, not get married right away!”