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Hae Gajun had worn a lot of suits over the course of his career. He’d worn elegant tuxedos for galas, he’d gone to business meetings in sleek modern office wear, he’d learned the difference between a shawl lapel and a peak lapel. Had learned which buttons had to be done up while standing, and had to be unbuttoned when sitting.
He knew which hand he had to hold the glass in, and over the years had managed to school his face into something his boyfriend had deemed “passing” in regards to pleasantry. It was annoying to do any more than that.
Fiance, he corrected himself. Baek Sunwoo was his fiance. The word didn’t sit properly on his tongue, too new and too foreign an idea still. It sat as oddly as the suit jacket sat on his shoulders, too rounded where it should be squared, slim fitted where it should be loose, highlighting his features in a way he wasn’t quite used to and probably never will be.
It was an obviously beautiful thing, created solely for him by a luxury brand his sister had recommended. Two of a kind, one of a matching pair.
It was odd and foreign, made for aesthetics more than practically, for show more than tradition.
Hae Gajun had worn a lot of suits over the years, and he had disliked every single one of them except for this one.
Because it was his wedding tux, carefully looked over and planned for together with Sunwoo. Because it was a mark of something special, something intimate. It was the fruition of the promise they had made all those years ago, in that school trip that haunted them from the darker corners of their sunlit apartment.
He smoothed his hands over the sleek vest. With the darker lapels and the soft ivory ribbon bowtie against the ebony undershirt, it contrasted nicely against Baek Sunwoo’s black vest white shirt black tie, a much more standard look to Gajun’s fashionable one. The designs were originally a tad out of character, originally meant for the other person, but swapped at the last moment at the advice of one Ahn Yeongah.
Even with his unconditional trust in Yeongah and her abilities, Gajun highly suspected that this was mostly because she wanted to see her friend wear something other than black to his own wedding, instead of it being an action that would greatly enhance their luck.
Baek Sunwoo obviously knew this too, but he let her have her harmless fun.
A sharp knock cut through his idle musings like lighting. He looked up from where he had been meticulously examining himself in the mirror to meet the eyes of Hae Gaon through her reflection.
The dress in wine red draped fluidly on her where she leaned leisurely against the doorframe of his dressing room. Her lips were a deep burgundy, and dark eyes framed in soft umber scanned him up and down with an expression he couldn’t quite place.
“Any longer and people might think you died in here.” Her cadence was casual, as if this were a casual everyday conversation, one they could have had with her leaning back on the kitchen counter of their grandmother’s house. Like his life hadn’t been altered completely and irreparably from the day he awakened to his abilities.
Gajun didn't bother to answer her and turned his attention back to his accessories. In the reflection of the mirror he could see her casually inspect her nails, painted a similar shade to her eyes. Her hair fell in perfect ringlets as she tilted her head at him.
It was a bit strange. Gajun hadn’t seen his sister so dressed up in his life. Usually, she would cite her job as an excuse to dress as business casual as a formal event would let her. Dark, striking colors and pin straight hair. Neutral tones for her face and hands covered in silk gloves.
Today, she seemed to be a supernova. Bright and bursting and beautiful.
“It hasn’t been that long.” He didn’t even need to look to see her roll her eyes, but Gajun turned around to face her anyway.
“It’s been long enough.” She straightened up and waved him over. “Come on, everyone is already waiting on you. You can’t ban them from seeing you forever.”
Gajun sighed, but followed his sister anyways.
The venue was beautifully expensive, luxuriously oppressive, and guarded from top to bottom. There were H.N members milling about the glamorously dressed guests, acting as both official guests and unofficial security. The actual security patrolled in predetermined routes along the marble columns, and hallways, each one expertly trained and costing an absolute fortune.
Not only were the main players of this wedding absolute powerhouses, the guest list itself could go on an auction for millions of Korean won. Gajun himself had combed the place from top to bottom using his ability and his family had done their own investigations as well.
Every single detail of this event was meticulously picked apart and put back together by his most trusted people, vetted by some of the most talented people in the country. Ahn Yeongah herself volunteered to be a danger alarm, keeping an eye open throughout the event to make sure nothing abnormal comes up.
While Gajun had handled the venue and the security, Baek Sunwoo had spearheaded the planning for the event. Gajun himself had minimal opinions on most of the decor, but Baek Sunwoo, too sweet for the world, had still taken his minor input account to make the day as accommodating to Gajun as he could.
The wedding was set to follow a western style, starting with the standard processional, the exchange of vows and rings, and ending with a recession that would extend a bit later into the night so that the guests could mingle properly.
Gajun already had an escape route arranged for that.
At the moment, there was only an hour or two before the processional, where Gajun would walk down the aisle hand-in-hand with Baek Sunwoo, the love of his life.
Gajun quietly observed the party guests milling about from where he leant against the third floor banister. The height shielded him from the prying eyes of journalists and celebrities and politicians alike, the ones who had arrived early to make an impression on everyone else.
Each and every one of them were dressed head-to-toe in designer brands that reached six figures or above, much like Gajun himself. When he was younger, he had never paid too much attention to the wealth and status of his family, made easier by the civilian jobs of his own parents. His grandmother raised him spoiled but efficient, and he himself never had many wants in his life. He had always been content with the minimum.
Until he met Baek Sunwoo.
He had never felt such want. He wanted to save Baek Sunwoo, wanted to protect him and keep him safe. To stay by his side and live to the end of their lives together. For the first time, his future wasn’t a vision of absolute monotony and quiet routine, but warm hugs and coffee in the mornings, home cooked meals and sitting in the living room in comfortable silence and even more comforting company.
Gajun imagined a future, and this wedding was the first stepping stone of this future. A shameless announcement to the world, a celebration of their shared love. It was so overtly grand and out of proportion that Gajun still reeled at the sequence of events that spiralled from his casual proposal to Sunwoo. Their first instinct of a small wedding with a limited guest list had immediately gone out the window when their colleagues and former classmates caught wind of the news, and since they weren’t too attached to the idea of a traditional wedding, it was easy for them to pivot to an event of the scale it was currently.
It felt like another chapter of their former classmates’ healing, yet another event where they could gather and say, ‘It’s been that many years since that school trip, huh…’
It was inevitable, honestly. Even the group Lee Donghoon, Shim Dokyoung and Ahn Yeongah had immediately needled him about the guest list the moment he found out, what was stopping Kim Juwan and Nam Hyungwook from doing so as well? They were all people who Baek Sunwoo somehow still interacted with, hanging around them and pulling Gajun along with him for whatever reunion they had planned next.
And they couldn’t exactly avoid their coworkers from H.N either, the ones who taught them and assisted them and fought beside them at the risk of their lives, people who Gajun had come to value and care for in equal measure. Sunwoo as well, he was sure, had made many lifelong friendships there, and it would be remiss of them to not suddenly include them.
The rest… weren’t exactly planned, but they were too high profile for it not to be the case.
He sometimes wonders what would happen if he let them hear his vows. If they hear the ones Sunwoo had written for him. What kind of thoughts would run through their minds when they hear his promises of forever. Unsurprisingly, the moment his fame throughout the media wore off, they had taken to calling him emotionless or detached, uncaring and unkind. There weren’t many that actually held such an opinion, but they were outspoken enough that he would often see Sunwoo scrolling on his phone with a dark face.
It was an idle musing, not something he actually cared much for. Something to pass the time as he waited for Sunwoo to appear next to him after the finishing touches to his suit. His mind wandered to odd places when Sunwoo wasn’t around.
Ahn Yeongah practically vibrated in place, and Lee Donghun next to her wasn’t any better. Shim Dokyoung was the only person who calmly smiled at him when they met eyes. From his peripherals, he could see his family, his parents and Hae Gaon. His grandmother. Further back, he could see Kim Juwan and Nam Hyungwook sitting together, with the familiar faces of his years student council members scattered about behind them.
They were all sitting together at their place in the processional, watching him and Sunwoo take their vows.
Sunwoo, who looked more beautiful than Gajun could put into words. Sunwoo, with his soft brown hair and kind smile and his burning love. Sunwoo, holding his hands so softly, like he was holding his most precious thing in the entire world.
“Gajun,” he began, eyes never straying from Gajun’s. “My love, my light, my beacon.”
His eyes were bright and hopeful, and likely seeing the same future in Gajun that he saw in Sunwoo. “I give myself to you, in heart, in body, in soul.”
“I will love you through the difficult and the easy, I will be faithful through the best and the worst. As you have given your hand for me to hold, so too do I give my life for yours to keep,” Sunwoo brought his hand up to his lips and kissed his knuckles, softly, reverently. Gajun felt like he was drowning, his chest filling with emotions he both could and could not name.
“Sunwoo.” Gajun’s voice didn't waver, it didn’t stumble, nor did it crack with the promise of tears. He was too experienced for that, now. “My sunlight. I give you the best of myself, and I ask for no more than you already give in return. This is my promise of love to you. You are my confidant, my other half, my soulmate, and I wish for nothing more than to stay by your side for the rest of our lives.”
Baek Sunwoo smiled, bright and radiant and everything Gajun fell in love with.
“May not even death do us part,” slipped through, quiet and amused like a joke they shared years ago. It might as well be.
“May not even death do us part.” Gajun repeated firmly, watching Sunwoo slide the ring onto his finger, a simple gold band with an engraving of their names on the inside. A piece of Sunwoo to carry with him wherever he went.
He reciprocated the action as reverently as he received it. Vaguely, he heard the quiet din of cheers from the crowd, but his entire being was focused on Baek Sunwoo.
The quiet hitch of his breath as cold metal hit skin, the reddening of his eyes as the ring slid onto his finger. The look of absolute fondness he sent Gajun when he felt the observation.
In a moment, he would meet with his loved ones and receive their praise and congratulations. In a moment, Yeongah would run up to them both and pull them into a tight hug, one that would immediately be followed by Donghun’s crushing one. In a moment, Gaon would snark at him, and his parents would come up behind her to hug him and Sunwoo softly, to pat their backs and quietly declare Sunwoo their son, tell him that he always was their son the moment Gajun had introduced him into the family.
But at that moment, it was just him and Sunwoo, standing in front of the altar, and making one of the many promises of their life.
