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Hongjoong was never a guy to go to parties and, when his friends were lucky enough to make him go to one, he’d hide himself in a corner in just two hours after arriving at the place. His friends always complained about it, but Hongjoong never minded it, because he knew they just wanted him to have fun. Besides, hiding himself in a corner was what made him meet Seonghwa five years ago.
It was a rather strange encounter. Seonghwa approached him to run from a weird man who was bothering him for a few minutes, saying that Hongjoong was his friend, not his boyfriend. The man laughed it off, because what would a friend do? But Hongjoong pulled his best mad face to show that he’d fight anyone who bothered his friend. It worked because the man really walked away.
They stayed close for the rest of the night. Or, better, circling each other, with Hongjoong keeping an eye on the handsome, strange man to be sure he wasn’t being bothered again. By the door outside the club, Seonghwa was waiting for his friends to plan what to do when Hongjoong approached him again, asking if everything was fine. Their friends usually don’t believe Hongjoong when he says that he only had good intentions, because not even he understands how he ended up kissing Seonghwa.
From there, they exchanged numbers and went on their first date barely two weeks after that night. Hongjoong thought he had completely fumbled the pretty guy after spending half of their date talking about his fashion and design interests—imagine his surprise when Seonghwa immediately planned a date for them the following week.
At first, Hongjoong thought they wouldn’t work out. He always had problems focusing on something, so he thought it would make Seonghwa feel alone in a relationship that should involve giving and receiving, in case he ever forgot to answer a text or forgot to give Seonghwa proper attention when they were spending the day together. Still, Seonghwa always made sure to remind Hongjoong that everything was alright and that they’d make it work out.
Two years after they started dating, Seonghwa moved to Hongjoong’s apartment. Now, three years later, they have moved from the apartment to a house. It is small—two rooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a space for their dining table, a living room, and a garage that fits one car and a motorcycle at most—but it is their first house anyway. And they’re happy with it.
It was a hard process, since South Korea’s land is limited because of its mountains, vertical buildings are more practical in those cases. They had to go through the thought of moving to a small city or staying in urban areas, and fight with their money to live in a house instead of an apartment. In the end, they decided to move to Jinju, the place Seonghwa grew up, because they could find smaller, more affordable homes here.
It also gave them a fresh feeling. Moving to a calmer city, compared to the unstoppable Seoul, gave Hongjoong a sense of peace in his life. It made him realize that he didn’t need to run and have everything before his 30th birthday. And seeing how comfortable Seonghwa was just by coming back to the city that gave him a happy childhood was enough for him.
What they didn’t expect was the problems they’d find with commemorative dates that require decorations. When they first moved, both Halloween and Christmas had passed, and they wouldn’t make anything for Easter because it was Seonghwa’s older brother’s duty to make decorations since he was the one with a little boy; their only job was buying chocolate to make a child happy.
But now they’re spending their Saturday afternoon cutting spiders and bats that Hongjoong drew while trying to make some nice Halloween decorations. At least they remembered about the holiday two weeks before Halloween night. They just thought their neighbors were trying to be funny by setting scary things in front of their houses.
“We should start writing the holidays in our calendar,” Seonghwa says after he finishes cutting the last spider.
“Yeah…” Hongjoong murmurs and chuckles. “But Halloween is kinda hard to remember because not everyone likes it, so… I wasn’t expecting a small city to have some sort of tradition.”
“Well, yes, but we were clearly blind about it.”
Hongjoong chuckles again, placing the fairy lights inside a glass jar that he had sprayed with white paint earlier today. The idea was to give it a feeling that a candle is inside the jar, and it worked out a bit. After it, he starts gluing the spiders and bats around in the jar.
“That’s nice,” Seonghwa says. “When did you get this idea?”
“I looked out the window and saw the fake candles in the gardens,” Hongjoong explains, now picking another glass jar, a little bit smaller than the former one, and doing the same thing.
Seonghwa only watches, sometimes giving a helping hand. Hongjoong was always the one more aligned with creativity in their relationship—and what to expect from a guy who’s been into fashion since he was a teenager and has made many of his own clothes, and now works as a freelance designer.
After he finishes the three glass jars and turns the lights on, he walks out to their garden to place them close to the fake pumpkins they bought. Seonghwa smiles when he notices how proud Hongjoong looks of his creation.
It’s simple, the fake pumpkins are organized with one on top of two, with the three small jars in front of them, and a fake witch; they had to open a small hole in the garden to fit its support to keep it straight. None of them makes noises, which Hongjoong is thankful for; he hates those kinds of decorations that always make noises.
“Do we have more spiders?” Hongjoong asks as they walk back to their kitchen table. “I just got an idea.”
“I think we have small ones.”
Hongjoong nods, getting a small metal wire—honestly, Seonghwa doesn’t know why they have a metal wire. He shapes the wire in a circle, gluing a few cottons and white fabric on it, to make it look like a spider web, and then places the spiders.
“Oh, like a Christmas wreath but a spider one,” Seonghwa observes after Hongjoong shows his work to him. “It’s pretty. I love your creativity.”
“We wouldn’t be here if you didn't like it,” Hongjoong answers in a chuckle. “It is still a bit crazy that you really let me twins about design and fashion for half of our first date.”
“Well, I wanted to be in a relationship with you, I should know your interests,” Seonghwa answers with a smile. “We’re hanging it on our door?”
“Yep.”
Seonghwa hums in understanding, walking to their door, holding it while Hongjoong hammers a nail on it. They smile after everything is finished—it even looks like they did it with patience and totally did not forget about Halloween at all.
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
“Come here,” Seonghwa calls Hongjoong, a makeup brush in his hand.
They’re getting ready for the night. Seonghwa is dressed in a black jacket with a wing collar, his hair is a bit messy, and he has done dark makeup around his eyes. The idea was to give a feeling of a very tired vampire, but Hongjoong can only say, “You look like a fruit bat.”
Seonghwa chuckles. “It is a vampire.”
“Some vampires turn into bats.”
The other looks at himself in the mirror. “I don’t look like a fruit bat.”
“You have big eyes, and you like to eat fruits, that’s enough for me,” Hongjoong answers and sits on the bed.
“You have big eyes, a pixie nose, small legs, and small hands. Does that make you a squirrel?” Seonghwa asks back, laughing when Hongjoong frowns.
“My legs aren’t that small. It’s okay for my height,” he answers, and he only notices that he’s pouting because of the tone of his voice.
Seonghwa smiles and coos, holding both of Hongjoong’s cheeks to kiss his pouty lips. “It’s alright, love, it’s good points about you. Also, it was kinda funny that the leg part was what caught your attention.”
“Because squirrels are nice. Did you know they’re good for forests because they plant their food and then forget where they’ve planted it? And then a new tree grows because of that,” he explains.
“When did you read that?” Seonghwa answers with an amused smile.
“I was bored. Fruit bats also help with seed dispersal.”
Seonghwa, still smiling, gives Hongjoong a forehead kiss. “Hm-hm, I’ll accept you calling me a fruit bat today. And only today.”
“Can I choose when you can call me a squirrel?”
Seonghwa kisses the tip of his nose. “I’ll think about it. Close your eyes, and stop talking.”
Hongjoong exhales, closes his eyes, and feels Seonghwa put makeup on him. After he finishes, he places a kiss on Hongjoong’s lips again, letting the other look in the mirror.
“What am I?” He asks, turning to his husband.
“A zombie. I drew a few scars, and the red lines around your eyes are supposed to be your veins appearing through your skin,” Seonghwa answers and organizes his things. “Did you like it?”
“Yes. We’re a couple made of a vampire and a zombie, not even the smartest horror writer would think about it,” he answers in a smile, hugging Seonghwa’s waist. “Is your nephew coming?”
“Yes. Did you organize the candies?”
“Of course.”
They share a quick peck, because a long kiss would mess their makeup—they know they have to wait for the night to be over to share this kiss. Seonghwa organizes the candies on the coffee table in the middle of the living room, sitting on the couch as Hongjoong scrolls through a list of movies to give the Halloween vibe for them.
“Let’s watch All of Us Are Dead,” Seonghwa suggests, putting a pumpkin-shaped candy in his mouth. “I’ve been trying to watch it with you for ages.”
“No. People say it’s the only thing they’re afraid of,” Hongjoong complains.
“That’s Sweet Home, baby; it’s two different things,” he corrects. Seonghwa watches as Hongjoong stops on the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie. “We will not watch that. Everyone says it’s shitty.”
“I’d rather watch a movie and go to sleep afraid knowing we won’t need to finish it sometime.”
“So let’s watch Sinners. A lot of people praised it. I don’t think it’s scary.”
“You care too much about other people’s opinions,” Hongjoong murmurs. “But, yeah, let’s watch that. I was getting curious, too.”
Barely thirty minutes after starting, their doorbell rings. Seonghwa is the first one to get up, organizing his clothes and greeting his family as soon as he opens the door. A squeaky, shouting voice greets him back, and barely a second after, a boy as tall as Hongjoong’s legs storms inside the house.
“Uncle Hongjoong!” He practically screams, shaking his pumpkin bucket in Hongjoong’s direction.
“Hi! How are you?” Hongjoong asks with a smile, and the little boy agrees with a hum and nods his head positively.
Hongjoong kneels next to the coffee table while saying, “These are the candies we bought. You can choose whatever you want.”
It’s possible to see the little boy’s eyes shine as he looks toward the three jars. It’s like a child’s dream to have so many candies to choose from.
“But do not fill your bucket. You said you’d get more candies in other houses,” it’s his mother who warns him about that. The boy only hums.
He’s dressed as a vampire. Hongjoong saw this costume in the stores where he bought the decorations. It has a black cape, with red fabric inside, tied around his neck. Under it, he’s just wearing black pants and a white button shirt. He has a bit of fake blood close to his mouth to pretend it slipped after he sucked someone’s blood.
Seonghwa is the one to share the amazing news that they’re both vampires, “We’re matching!”
The boy stopped choosing the candies to turn to his uncle again, letting out a scream as he walked toward Seonghwa to hug him. This gave Hongjoong some time to get up and properly greet Seonghwa’s brother and his wife—unlike their son, they’re dressed in common clothes.
“How are you two doing?” The woman asks.
“Good. We just got a little stressed recently because we forgot about Halloween and had to get everything done last minute,” Hongjoong answers and chuckles.
“It still looks good.”
“Thanks.”
“This one is sour, you said you didn’t like it,” Seonghwa says, gaining everyone’s attention.
The boy pouts, changing the jar he’ll be picking his next candies from. Seonghwa keeps talking about the other candies and which ones are his favorites. Hongjoong’s thoughts wander to having a child with Seonghwa, getting himself surprised by it.
He had thought about having children when he was younger, before he met Seonghwa, but it was never a dream. Still, seeing Seonghwa with his nephew on his lap and a smile on his face makes him feel like he could turn into a dream. Having a family with the love of his life sounds like a nice life to have.
He must’ve zoned out at some point, because now he’s looking at Seonghwa holding a phone in his direction, making him stare at his husband with a confused face.
Seonghwa smiles. “Take a picture of us.”
Hongjoong hums, starting to take the pictures. Usually, Seonghwa doesn’t pose for the camera, only looking towards it a few times, but today he had to pose, because his nephew was so excited to match the vampires showing their fangs pose that Seonghwa only followed him.
“Have fun,” Seonghwa says while waving to his nephew inside the car. The little boy waves back. After it leaves, he turns to Hongjoong to ask, “Are you good?”
“Yes, I’ll tell what I was thinking later,” Hongjoong answers with a smile, kissing Seonghwa’s cheek.
Seonghwa opens his mouth to complain, but a girl, probably around nine years old, stops in front of them, signaling to the younger girl, not much older than five years, in front of her to say something.
“Hi!” The little girl starts, holding her bucket strongly. “Our parents forgot to send the invitation, but we live in that house,” she points towards a house with a lot of decorations, “and we’re hosting a party, and you can participate in it. We noticed—”
She gets interrupted when a boy jumps on her side, screaming to scare her. Hongjoong, Seonghwa, and the older girl startle, but the scare must have been worse for the girl, because she immediately drops her bucket and pouts, holding her small hands close to her chest.
“No, sorry,” the little boy starts, clearly panicking.
The couple notices that they might be twins, since they’re around the same age and do look alike.
Seonghwa bends down, “Everything is fine, he didn’t mean it.”
The first tear rolls down from the little girl’s eye, making Seonghwa pull her for a hug, shushing her to calm her down. The boy looks at the older girl, who tries to get the crying one, but she only gets closer to Seonghwa’s body.
“Let’s call your parents,” Hongjoong suggests.
“Yuna, I didn’t mean it,” the little boy pleads, but the girl hides her face in the crook of Seonghwa’s neck, hugging him.
Seonghwa looks at Hongjoong, agreeing that his suggestion was nice, so the other tries again, “Let’s call your parents.”
The older girl nods, accepting the hand Hongjoong gave to her to hold, and they start walking towards their house, the boy quickly holding Hongjoong’s other hand. They wait for a few seconds after Hongjoong rings the bell, and a man around his age opens the door.
“Hi!” He starts with a smile. “I’m sorry that we didn’t send an invitation. We’re new here and we decided to call the neighbors with kids, and we also thought you didn’t like Halloween because we didn’t see any decorations in your garden for a while.”
Hongjoong smiles back. “It’s alright, we also kind of forgot about Halloween, so we took a while to decorate our house. I suppose that those are your children, so I’m here to say that your daughter got scared and she just doesn’t want to come back.”
The man presses his lips on a thin line, now looking at his boy. “Hyun, we already told you that Yuna is scared of loud noises.”
“I thought she wouldn’t get scared,” the boy answers, pouting.
“Just make sure to say that you’re sorry,” the man answers. “I’m San, by the way.”
“Hongjoong.”
When they’re back, Seonghwa is sitting in their garden with the girl on his lap, looking at the jars Hongjoong made for decorations. Her bucket is full of candies and sweets now, but her face is still a little red from someone who has just stopped crying.
“Hi, I’m so sorry,” San says, getting Seonghwa’s attention. The girl gets up after she recognizes her father.
“Hi, it’s alright,” Seonghwa smiles, getting up and cleaning the back of his pants. “She got scared; it wasn’t her fault. Is she your daughter?”
“Oh, yes. The twins are ours, Jiwoo is the daughter of a friend,” San answers, making Seonghwa nod. “I already explained to your partner, but long story short, we moved here recently, and we decided to call the neighbors with kids, and you also didn’t have any decorations. By the time we noticed that you decorated your house, we were already organizing the party and completely forgot about the invitation.”
Seonghwa smiles sweetly. “Oh, it’s fine. What’s your name?”
“San.”
“I’m Seonghwa. We’ll get all the candies and then we’ll go to your house, is it alright?”
“Yes, of course. Thank you so much, and sorry again,” San answers with a smile.
Seonghwa murmurs a quick ‘it’s fine’ and watches as the man and three kids walk back to their house.
Before Hongjoong can say anything, Seonghwa asks, “Is it alright for you?”
“Going to the party?”
“Yes. It’s been a while since we went to one, but I remember that it always made you feel overwhelmed. I think this one is catered for kids, but…”
“It’s fine,” Hongjoong assures with a smile. “Besides, we do have a lot of candies here.”
“Yeah, that’s for sure,” Seonghwa laughs.
As Hongjoong organizes all the candies in a single jar, Seonghwa fixes his makeup, also doing this to Hongjoong’s makeup after the other finishes his task with the candies. They walk to the house, and now a man as tall as Hongjoong greets them.
“Hi! Welcome. I won’t say sorry because I’m sure Sannie must’ve said it a million times,” he explains with a smile. “I’m Wooyoung. Come inside.”
“Thank you,” they answer in unison.
Wooyoung guides Seonghwa to a table full of sweets so he can put the jar there, while Hongjoong watches and waits for Seonghwa to greet the rest, and he follows him behind. They sit in a corner, answering a few questions that get thrown in their way.
They learn that San lived in Namhae but moved to Seoul to attend college, where he met Wooyoung. They adopted the twins last year and decided to move to Jinju because it’s a good and calm city to live in.
It’s crazy to see people around their age with kids, Hongjoong thinks, but Seonghwa just looks happy about a couple having such a nice view of their life to the point of adopting kids so early in their lives.
Sometimes, a little boy stops by Hongjoong’s side to give him a candy. And keeps doing it for a while. He just accepts it because the boy’s mother said that it’s his way to keep the candies he likes safe, and Hongjoong just happens to be the closest to the table.
Seonghwa watches with a smile. Hongjoong thinks it’s time to talk about children. Or plan when to have children. He never thought he’d talk about this with a partner, but here he is. Certainly, he also didn’t expect to meet Seonghwa.
They talk, eat, watch the kids play, and, lastly, but not least, exchange numbers with Wooyoung and San in case the couple wants to know more about the city—and also if they just want company to walk while their kids are in school.
Hongjoong plops down on the couch, a pumpkin bucket full of candies on his lap, and exhales softly. Seonghwa opens a smile, sitting on his side and letting Hongjoong support his head on his shoulder, caressing his hand before getting a spider-shaped candy.
“What were you thinking about?” Seonghwa asks after a few seconds.
Hongjoong chuckles. “You really don’t forget, do you?”
Seonghwa smiles, kissing Hongjoong’s head, before lying his head on top of Hongjoong’s. “It’s alright if you don’t want to talk about it.”
“I… I just thought that it’d be nice to have a family with you,” Hongjoong murmurs. “I never had a dream of having kids, but I never expected you in my life. And the side of you that’s so open to love. We can plan our lives; we don’t need to adopt now. I just want to have a family, no matter when.”
Seonghwa hums. “Yes. I was thinking that, too. I think we should prepare ourselves and be aware of all the things that can happen when you have a child. Maybe when we’re thirty-five? Is it too late?”
No answer comes from Hongjoong, and Seonghwa is ready to propose a longer talk about it when he hears a sob, making him immediately leave their position to properly look at his husband’s face. Hongjoong’s eyes are full of tears, and the tip of his nose is red.
“Why are you crying?” Seonghwa asks, holding Hongjoong’s face between his hands.
Hongjoong stammers as he says between his tears, “I just—I just love you… I love you so much.”
Seonghwa opens a smile, hugging Hongjoong strongly. “I thought I said something bad…”
“No,” he sobs again. “I think that thirty-five is fine.”
Seonghwa chuckles, kissing Hongjoong’s shoulders. “Come on, I’ll take your makeup off.”
Hongjoong nods, following Seonghwa to the bathroom in their room. He holds himself to not clean his tears with his white shirt, because he knows the makeup would stain it, and just lets Seonghwa have a really hard job cleaning everything while he still cries.
“Stop crying,” Seonghwa laughs out, trying to clear around Hongjoong’s eyes. “Close your eyes.”
Hongjoong hums, trying to hold his tears while he feels Seonghwa doing his job. After he opens his eyes again, Seonghwa is watching him with a tiny smile.
“Better? Or are we still crying?” Seonghwa asks, kissing Hongjoong’s pouty lips. “I also love you so much. I can see myself crying in the future after we adopt our child.”
Hongjoong takes a deep breath, trying not to cry again, but his voice still sounds broken when he murmurs, “Yeah…”
“Are you going to cry again?”
Hongjoong lets out an embarrassed chuckle, the first tear coming down from his left eye, making Seonghwa hug him while laughing.
“Change your clothes, I’ll take off my makeup, and we’ll lie down on our bed, cuddling until this crisis you’re having because you love me so much ends,” Seonghwa suggests, kissing Hongjoong’s forehead and nose, before letting him do what was told.
Safe to say that the best option Seonghwa found to make Hongjoong stop crying was going back to their living room and choosing a horror movie with a lot of jump scares to watch. In the end, he ended up winning a very scared boyfriend who only fell asleep after hugging him strongly to help him feel less scared.