Archive of Our Own

“Are you sure?”

Kim Dokja’s voice can barely be heard under the rustle of wind, only loud enough for two people. Yoo Joonghyuk is in front of him, crouched onto one knee, holding Kim Dokja’s hand with two of his. His thumbs softly graze over Kim Dokja’s own and that action in of itself is nearly enough to make Kim Dokja’s tears threaten to spill from his already watery eyes. Damn it, he was trying his best not to cry.

Thankfully, Yoo Joonghyuk is in a similar position: his eyes are dewey, a softness in them that is reserved for Kim Dokja. A small smile is plastered on his face  and Kim Dokja thinks he’s never seen anything more beautiful in his life. How can Yoo Joonghyuk stay so composed? … Yoo Joonghuk leans forward ever so slightly and the breeze tousles his hair.

“I am,” certain and determined and a response that is so inherently Yoo Joonghyuk. He looks up at Kim Dokja as if he’s hung every star in the universe, speaks to him softly as if Kim Dokja is something precious; and Kim Dokja makes a decision that has never been more obvious in his life. 

“Okay,” shaky, quiet, uncontrolled. “Okay,” loud enough for them both.

He’s allowed to have this. He’s allowed to want this. 

Kim Dokja places both of Yoo Joonghyuk’s hands on his face, leans into them, and grins.

“Yes, I’ll marry you, you sunfish bastard.”

—

Upon hearing the news, Yoo Sangah is ecstatic. 

She claps her hands together, “That’s great Dokja-ssi!”

Kim Dokja has this unusual happy glow to him, a soft smile reaching his lips, before it turns into a smug grin. “I know.”

He looks at his ring finger on his left hand, right where an engagement ring rests. He shifts his hand a bit, letting the lights in the room reflect off of the simple band of metal. 

It’s nothing extravagant, something that fits Yoo Joonghyuk and Kim Dokja very well. Despite its simplicity, it seems as if Kim Dokja can’t stop staring at it—mesmerized—roaming his eyes over and over the ring and looking at it from every angle. Seeing her friend so happy makes her happy too.

“Sangah-ssi, look.” he insists, shoving his finger in front of her face. “It’s white gold- I didn’t even know that sort of thing existed.”

She inspects the ring in front of her; atop the white gold band is a small diamond in a shape that is reminiscent of a four-pointed star. It is really beautiful, and she can see why Kim Dokja likes it so much. 

Yoo Sangah giggles. 

“How did the proposal go? Did you suspect anything at all?” she asks while holding Kim Dokja’s wrist and inspecting his ring.

“Oh, Yoo Joonghyuk was bawling right after, inconsolable really,” he says with a swirling mirth in his eyes that tells Yoo Sangah that he might be exaggerating his words. 

Yoo Sangah lets go of his wrist and Kim Dokja lays it on the table in front of him. His eyes look like they start glistening, as if remembering what happened, “And no, I didn’t suspect anything at all, it was completely random.“ 

“Though I should’ve known when we went out to that field. Did you know, Sangah-ssi, that that was where we first talked to each other, all of those years ago? Sentimental bastard.” he lets out a laugh that quivers at the edges. Yoo Sangah thinks Kim Dokja doesn’t notice.

“I mean, how could I have known? How could I ever think that-” Kim Dokja stops himself, frowning, and turns to look at Yoo Sangah.

She looks back at him, waiting for him to process whatever he’s thinking about.

“Sangah. How did I bag that guy?” He questions. “I mean, he cooks extremely good food, he’s hot as fuck, he’s weirdly nice and sentimental towards me all of the time, and— Wait you’re right  Sangah,” She didn’t even say anything. “his personality is terrible– though even then, it’s kind of cute too…”

Yoo Sangah finds his ramblings amusing, and so she poorly hides her smile behind her hand and nods supportingly, even though she doesn’t quite get the appeal of ‘Yoo Joonghyuk’ herself.

“Fuck, how did I get this lucky.” Kim Dokja contemplates.

“Well,” Yoo Sangah says, a gentle smile spreading across her face, “I think Dokja-ssi deserves happiness as well.”

Kim Dokja lets out a small laugh. Yoo Sangah personally thinks it sounds a little self-deprecating. 

Then, he rests his head on his hand and groans, “I don’t even know how I’m going to plan this wedding out, to be honest.”

“Dokja-ssi!” She suddenly shoots up from her chair, “please allow me to take care of it!”

She doesn’t know where this sudden outburst came from, but she really wouldn’t mind helping him plan his wedding. Yoo Sangah, thinks it would be fun. She can see it now. 

“Huh, really?” He blinks up at her. 

“Yes, please leave it to me.”

“Oh, um, sure,” Kim Dokja rubs the back of his neck, “thank you, Sangah-ssi, I’d greatly appreciate it.”

He smiles. 

She doesn’t even know how to plan a wedding herself, but she already has so many ideas of theming, and food, and decorations. Oh she doesn’t know where to start first. 

All she needs to do now is to somehow convince Han Sooyoung to help her.

—

“Hell no.” Han Sooyoung is not helping out with something like that, it’d be too disastrous. She can literally visualize every single instance where something might go wrong—she does not want to be associated with this.

They find a table at the cafe they’re currently visiting and take a seat, setting their tray of four desserts down.

“Han Sooyoung! Please!” Sangah’s puppy eyes are not helping her case, she is not helping no matter what.

“You’ve known Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk the longest! Your input is the most valuable.” And Sangah’s known them for four years! Is that not enough to know the guys well enough? They have Heewon, right? If it’s Heewon, everything will probably turn out fine. And if it’s the kids, they’ll probably do a good job, saying something like ‘we have to plan ahjussi the best wedding, he deserves the best!’ 

Han Sooyoung takes her fork and scoops a bit of the lemon-raspberry cheesecake-tart-thing that she bought earlier.

She doesn’t see why she should have to help. She’s just about to open her mouth and refuse Sangah again when suddenly a thought pops up.

Wait. 

Pause. rewind. don’t even play. 

If it’s their whole ragtag group of friends helping plan the wedding…

Han Sooyoung sits there with her mouth partly opened and her fork raised to her mouth.

“Han Sooyoung?” Sangah pokes her shoulder, confused.

“Oh god, I have to help plan this guy’s wedding.” Despite how Han Sooyoung may be an ass to Kim Dokja (not her fault by the way), believe it or not she actually cares; that rat bastard does deserve nice things from time to time. And she would be damned if her best friend of ten years’ wedding went up in flames due to her friends and their poor planning skills (she still has nightmares from when they tried to plan his birthday party).

“Really?!” Sangah beams while clasping her hands together like some shoujo anime female lead. Han Sooyoung can see the damn sparkles.

Han Sooyoung sighs before bringing the forkful of cheesecake to her mouth, she’s only doing this because it would be a disaster without her here. “Yes… I’ll help,” she says begrudgingly.

The lemon is sour and tart, a bit like how she currently feels. 

Yoo Sangah scoots her chair a little closer, suddenly excited, “For decorations I was thinking about a galaxy sort of theme? Something with stars and constellations…” she trails off before continuing, “would that be a good idea?”

Han Sooyoung plays around with the fork a little bit. “It’s not a bad idea actually.”

She tries to imagine it. The Kim Dokja in her head suddenly exclaims ‘I’ll follow you through any universe, Joonghyuk-ah!’. It's nothing like how Kim Dokja would actually act (or sound, for that matter) but if she knows anything about the guy it’s that he would definitely be at least thinking about something as sentimental and gross as that. He’s secretly corny like that but will never admit it.

“You think so?” Sangah looks up at her—hopeful—similar to an eager puppy. It’s definitely not cute.

“Yeah, it’d be somewhat reminiscent of their high school days.” Han Sooyoung takes her fork to grab more of her cheesecake, “one of their first interactions I saw of those two was when Kim Dokja was ranting Yoo Joonghyuk’s ear off about this webnovel that had something to do with constellations.” 

Naturally, Han Sooyoung was the one that wrote it, but she wasn’t going to tell Sangah that. At that time, she hardly knew Dokja, and it was embarrassing (albeit somewhat rewarding) to hear her work get praised like that. Their relationship was that of a writer and a reader: she would give him her latest works in exchange for feedback. They became friends quickly.

Back then, she should've known that he and Yoo Joonghyuk would end up together. How was she so blind? It was as clear as day with the way that Yoo Joonghyuk gazed softly at Kim Dokja with his head resting in his palm while the squid went on and on about whatever he was reading.

Damn, even she’s embarrassed for him, for the both of them actually. They really are perfect for each other.

Han Sooyoung takes a bite of her forkful of cheesecake and brings her attention back to Sangah, who has begun writing things down in her notebook that Han Sooyoung could’ve sworn wasn’t there like five seconds ago. 

Finishing up the cheesecake (which was a bit too sweet), Han Sooyoung watches Sangah mumble to herself and tap her pen idly against her cheek. There are still three desserts left on their tray, all currently untouched, and Han Sooyoung didn’t want to seem like a glutton, but she’s been eyeing them for quite a while.

“Uh, are you gonna eat some?”

Sangah suddenly looks up from her trance and exclaims, “Oh, wait the food!”

“If I remember correctly, from the first time we all ate barbeque together, it seems like Yoo Joonghyuk isn’t too fond of eating food prepared by other people,” Sangah continues whilst bringing her plate of cake closer to her. Damn it, she was hoping that Sangah would’ve forgotten about her dessert.

“Hmm, I guess so, but we can’t have that bastard cooking all of the food on his own wedding day.” Though she could really go for eating Yoo Joonghyuk’s perfectly cooked chicken skewers right about now. She’s getting distracted. 

Now that she thinks about it, it was quite funny (and quite frankly, very irritating) watching those two dance around each other and bicker after their first time meeting in that small dingy Korean barbeque booth after three years of them not speaking. She remembers the way Kim Dokja tried and failed to get Yoo Joonghyuk to eat his perfectly rubbery piece of overcooked meat. She starts laughing quietly to herself, like an insane person. She’s getting distracted again.

Before Han Sooyoung can get distracted again-again, she whips out her phone, “Here, I’ll text the guy right now to see what he wants.”

—For your wedding, what are your

thoughts about food?

🖕🖕🖕: don’t worry about it.

—?????

🖕🖕🖕: i’ll prepare everything.

—I know youre picky about your food

but shouldnt you at least leave it to 

someone else for your wedding?

🖕🖕🖕: no.

Oh fuck this fucker, really. She really wishes this guy were here so she can punch him.

Han Sooyoung is typing…

🖕🖕🖕: no.

—I didnt even say anything yet?!?!?

Screw whatever promise she made Sangah, she is not helping plan this bastard’s wedding.

—

Lee Jihye receives an ominous text from Han Sooyoung (---Youre cooking.), and suddenly, she’s been tasked with the arduous task of cooking for her master’s wedding.

Which, really, what can go wrong? As his disciple, Lee Jihye prides herself with having watched all of Yoo Joonghyuk’s streams, which obviously includes his cooking streams too. Heck, she’s even followed along with some recipes to try it out for herself when she realized that eating food through the screen was not possible.

Plus (and not to brag in front of Kim Namwoon’s face), she’s even presented her dishes to master a few times and received the extremely high praise of “You cooked it a little bit too long in the oven” as well as a longer explanation of other things she could do to improve her dish (“more salt, too much sugar”). And hey, if anything, him speaking more than five words at a time shows that he at least cares for her to get better at cooking, right?

Besides, it’s not like Lee Jihye’s preparing everything for the whole venue, she is only tasked with cooking the appetizers, given that it was the simplest thing on the menu that even Lee Jihye can master.

Her master’s master (master-in-law? That’s not right… grand..master?) is preparing the rest of the food. It’s the only other food Yoo Joonghyuk is willing to eat besides his own cooking. 

Currently standing in master’s kitchen, she’s watching a live demonstration of Yoo Joonghyuk cooking the pork buns.

“Dice the pork belly into cubes about this size,” Yoo Joonghyuk takes his knife and slices out a perfect one inch cube of pork.

Lee Jihye takes her own knife and attempts to slice her pork belly in the same exact manner as her master. She looks up at him, asking for his approval. It’s a little smaller than his, but Yoo Joonghyuk seems fine with it; he slightly tilts his head down in a form of a nod and says, “Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be exact, just around the size.”

He must have seen the worry on Jihye’s expression (she swore her expression was neutral though). She can’t help it! She wants the food to come out perfect. She’d be damned if she somehow ended up ruining his wedding by making food that was mediocre. 

As the hashtag number one Joongdok believer from day one, it would be a great dishonor to make anything less than perfect for her master and Kim Dokja.

Yoo Joonghyuk moves on to cut more perfect one-inch cubes, while Jihye still manages to struggle, her cubes being either slanted or a bit too small. How are his cubes so damn perfect?

Kim Namwoon huffs a laugh at her. Seriously?

Kim Namwoon is here too, sitting on one of Yoo Joonghyuk’s bar stools, spinning idly while playing whatever new mobile game he is obsessed with on his phone. He’s useless. 

“Hey! I don’t see you doing anything!” Jihye tsks. This guy is just sitting on his ass. 

Kim Namwoon looks up from his phone with a teasing grin on his lips, “I already prepared the dough, I’m done. Unlike you who–”

“Kim Namwoon,” Yoo Joonghyuk interrupts, “the dough should be ready.”

Kim Namwoon jolts upwards, his phone flying up before he stumbles to catch it. “Yes sir!”

Yoo Joonghyuk gives him a quick glare of disapproval and lets out an exasperated sigh before taking the cloth off of the bowl with the dough resting inside it. 

“Perfect.” Lee Jihye hears Yoo Joonghyuk mutter under his breath as he touches the dough.

Kim Namwoon, who is now behind the counter next to Jihye, nudges at her side with his elbow. “Did you hear that? He said it was perfect.”

Jihye lets out a groan at his teasing quip, before gripping her knife with more vigor and returning to cut those damn cubes of pork. She suddenly regrets asking Kim Namwoon to help her with her task. 

She only asked him because she knows that Kim Namwoon is an annoyingly good cook, having given her lunch bentos that he said were ‘leftovers’ with a sheepish look on his face and a hand rubbing behind his neck. (He must’ve learned from Yoo Joonghyuk, damn it, Kim Namwoon was already a step ahead.)

Yoo Joonghyuk finishes up telling Kim Namwoon how to split the dough and shape it into circles, before returning to face Jihye. 

He looks at her progress and decides that it looks good enough, turning the stovetop on and sliding her chopped cubes into the pan (pot? Pot-pan-thing) with the knife. “Now mix the sugar, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and water together.” 

Lee Jihye grabs another bowl and goes to do just that.

“After the pork browns slightly at the edges, add the mixture in and stir occasionally until it starts to thicken,” Yoo Joonghyuk continues. 

She nods her head while measuring out one tablespoon of sugar, “got it!”

A calm settles down in the kitchen, the whole gaming team (minus one Lee Hyungsung) focuses on cooking while they idly discuss what game they should play for their next group stream. 

The front door to Yoo Joonghyuk’s apartment opens with a creak and Lee Jihye watches as Kim Dokja walks in with a happy Biyoo in his arms.

“Mm, it smells good in here,” Kim Dokja says while setting the teacup pomeranian down before walking to the counter.

“Make sure you guys listen to His Majesty’s instructions, lest he lectures you with the wrath of a thousand souls,” Kim Dokja says with a teasing grin, leaning against the counter.

Lee Jihye, now working with Kim Namwoon to help fill up the pork buns, goes to open her mouth before another voice pops up.

“I do not do that,” Yoo Joonghyuk says with a crease in his brow and his lips downturned into a scowl, before going to wash the cucumbers.

Kim Dokja moves towards him to pester him a bit more. “You literally do, remember that one time where I tried to help you cook–”

“That’s because you were only trying to antagonize me on purpose.”

“What? Me? I would nev– gah!” Yoo Joonghyuk flicks his wet fingers towards Kim Dokja. 

“What the hell! See! This is what I mean!” 

Kim Dokja goes to grab the sink head and sprays water at him. Yoo Joonghyuk gets drenched in water, looking like some sad wet dog as his eyebrow furrows. Lee Jihye tries to suppress a snort. 

Kim Dokja laughs, his eyes turning to crescents, and Yoo Joongyuk grumbles, “You are so petty,” before moving to grab a nearby dishcloth. 

Despite his grumbling, Lee Jihye manages to catch her master’s soft eyes and watches as a small smile reaches his lips, incredibly fond. 

Without her knowledge, she starts smiling too, proud of their development. 

Lee Jihye recalls how her master often made the same fond face during their gaming training sessions. Always distracted by something on his phone. She hadn’t known Kim Dokja at the time, but always suspected it was some sort of secret lover her master had been hiding from her.

“Shit!” Kim Namwoon says at her side, and she redirects her attention back to the task at hand. 

Lee Jihye doesn’t really pay attention to what the couple says after that, having to help Kim Namwoon properly fill the pork buns after he dropped a spoonful of the filling on the counter.

—

“We have to make it the best wedding, this is for Dokja-hyung, afterall!” Lee Gilyoung exclaims, pumping his fist into the air determinedly. 

“Yeah, but how are we gonna do that?” Shin Yoosoung asks.

Yoo mia is currently walking alongside Shin Yoosoung and Lee Gilyoung, she’s trying to balance herself on the curb while the other two walk normally on the sidewalk. They are currently on their way to get some convenience store ice cream, which her oppa wouldn’t approve of if he knew where they were going, but he doesn’t so it sucks to be him. 

Gilyoung is right, this wedding has to be the best, she owes a lot to both her Oppa and Kim Dokja.

“I mean, the other day, I started looking into this book about bugs.”

She especially owes Kim Dokja an apology… for not trusting him when he came back. It’s just that she was scared. Scared that he’d leave again, leave for good just like her parents. 

A foot over the other, and then the other foot.

She cherished those moments she had with her brother and Kim Dokja; remembered how Dokja taught her the comfort of reading when she was younger. She remembers how she insisted that he read the same book to her over and over again. She remembered the moments where they took her out to an amusement park and all she thought back then was, I wish this moment could last forever.

“Seriously, bugs? We’re supposed to be looking for flowers for Ahjussi and Joonghyuk-oppa.”

Foot over. The other foot. 

But it didn’t last forever. Kim Dokja left and Yoo Mia was confused. She remembers seeing her brother looking sad, or angry, or both; she couldn’t tell. She remembers feeling sad and angry for him too. It’s embarrassing to think about, but Yoo Mia remembers slamming the door in front of his face when she saw him again. Maybe she was petty and wanted him to hurt too, she doesn’t know. 

“Hey! I am helping!”

Foot. step.

And then- she almost loses her balance, before Shin Yoosoung grabs a hold of her arm and leads her towards the sidewalk. 

“Mia, careful!” Yoo Mia trips a bit as she tries to steady herself from her mistake. 

Shin Yoosoung looks at Yoo Mia in worry before it turns into something that Mia doesn’t know how to describe, “Hey, are you okay? You haven’t spoken much.”

She hasn’t been talking much. She usually talks a lot. Yoo Mia is about to lash out, about to say something like, just because I’m quiet doesn’t mean anything’s wrong, before she sees the genuine concern on her friend’s face. So, she doesn’t say that, instead she says, “...I’m just thinking.” 

Shin Yoosoung and Lee Gilyoung wait, prodding her to continue. 

Yoo Mia looks down and starts idly playing with the weeds that grow within the cracks of the sidewalk with the tip of her shoe, brushing on top of the sprouting buds. Weeds are strange, they are so persistent. 

The flowers growing from the weeds are ugly, but it’s also pretty at the same time. She crouches down to inspect it. “I like this color, we should get something like this.”

Yoo Mia can feel the eyes of friends as they watch her. She doesn’t want to look back at them.

“It is pretty,” Shin Yoosoung says as she crouches down to join Yoo Mia. 

Lee Gilyoung then speaks up, “hey wait, I saw some flowers like that in my book. With that same color, I mean.”

Yoo Mia hears the faint sound of typing as she presses her thumb against one of the petals gently before a bright phone is shoved in front of her and Shin Yoosoung’s faces. 

“They’re asters,” Gilyoung says as Yoo Mia clicks on the ‘images’ tab and scrolls through the media.

“Wow! They look so nice!”

She picks an image that she likes and zooms up on it.

Excitedly Gilyoung continues, “And fireflies like them too, so I think it’d really be pretty at night.”

They really were pretty; purple, with thin petals that fanned out into the shape of a star. Fireflies really would be a nice touch to illuminate the night sky. It’s subtle but beautiful. 

Suddenly, she stands up and dusts off her hands, both Lee Gilyoung and Shin Yoosoung look at her, “Well, let’s get going! We have an unlimited budget on Sooyoung-unnie’s card, so let’s max it out,” she grins.

“We can talk about flower arrangements too while we get our ice cream.” Yoo Mia continues as she starts to walk. It is extremely hot outside and she can’t think too well in the heat… plus, she plans to use Sooyoung’s card to buy herself an ice cream too.

Her friends give out matching grins as they quickly come and follow behind her. “Yeah!”

She wasn’t going to let her brother and his fiance have a lame wedding.

(They walk into the convenience store, automatic doors opening, and the cool air blasts onto Yoo Mia’s face as she walks in. She lets out a sigh of relief, it was really hot outside. 

As soon as she walks in she sees this foreigner with orange-ish hair and glasses recording himself and talking about trying out every flavor of Korean convenience store ice cream.)

—

Yoo Sangah realizes that she actually does not know how to plan a wedding at all. She spent the first days since she talked to Kim Dokja about his wedding researching online and reading reddit stories on how to plan one. She didn’t even know weddings operated like this in the first place. 

So far, she’s already gotten a venue and only half of the decorations ordered. Only half, because the other half didn’t even bother with being delivered. So now, she has to find a different place that sells similar looking decor

She is so thankful for Han Sooyoung taking care of the rest of what is needed, things like photographers, dealing with most of the organization of the event, as well as sending out invitations to each guest.

The wedding isn’t big, mostly just Kim Dokja’s and Yoo Joonghyuk’s friends and close acquaintances, but still, Yoo Sangah feels overwhelmed with the whole process.

There is one part that Yoo Sangah feels proud of. While talking with Han Sooyoung, she began to learn more about the couple’s history with one another. 

Apparently Han Sooyoung has a bunch of photos of them throughout the years. She’s now seen what a young Kim Dokja looks like (pretty much the same, just a bit taller) and what a young Yoo Joonghyuk looks like (his appearance has changed quite a lot, but he still bears his signature scowl). She also now knows what a young Han Sooyoung looks like too, very cute.

Seeing the photos sprouted an idea to gather a bunch of photos from their friends and family to create some sort of timeline of the couple. Yoo Sangah thinks that it would be cute, their history was kind of complex, after all. 

Yoo Sangah had most of the photos printed out with their general dates written on the back of the prints so she could better organize it in her album. All she had to do was glue them down and ask everyone else to sign the book on the last few pages.

Looking back at all the photos she has so far, it makes her smile, she was glad to be part of their journey.

—

The pork buns are actually really tasty for being cooked by someone who isn’t Yoo Joonghyuk. 

Jang Hayoung swings her legs back and forth idly on Lee Jihye’s countertop, while Lee Jihye and Kim Namwoon work on creating more batches. Jang Hayoung is here as the resident filler gaming team member, here to eat all of their batches and provide helpful feedback.

“Is it really necessary to cook this many?” Jang Hayoung says between bites, “It tastes pretty good to me.”

“What batch even is this now? Your ninth?”

“Uh,” Kim Namwoon says distractedly, working on putting the buns into the steamer, “Like, I don’t know, maybe our sixth or seventh.” His voice quivers as he says this, like he’s trying his hardest not to laugh. 

Get a load of this guy. Seriously, does he think he’s funny? 

Jang Hayoung groans and puts her head in her hands. 

“No, he’s right,” Jihye says, extremely focused on filling more buns, “He’s working on the sixth and I’m working on the seventh.”

Jang Hayoung just stares at her deadpan, probably lowkey in disgust or in cringe, she doesn’t know. 

After he finishes putting the steamer on top of the pot of boiling water, Kim Namwoon says ‘Ahah!’ and raises his hand towards Lee Jihye in an offered high-five.

She doesn’t notice, or is simply ignoring him, so Kim Namwoon high fives his own hand a bit despondently. He rubs the back of his neck after, muttering under his breath, ‘yep, okay.’ 

This guy has no game whatsoever. It’s kind of sad. She feels bad for him. He’s been trying to get her attention for the past two years. Lee Jihye is either the most oblivious person Jang Hayoung knows or Lee Jihye isn’t interested in Kim Namwoon like that and is politely trying to reject him. If anything, Hayoung bets it's the former. 

Actually, it would be kind of weird if those two did get together. Hayoung squints at the two of them in the kitchen. Lee Jihye pinching the top of the buns and Kim Namwoon taking off the lid of the steamer. 

If she squints harder, maybe she can see it? No. Not really. Kind of? No. Definitely not. She can’t see them being domestic at all, they’re always bantering… which, actually Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk do that all the time, so who even knows. 

Okay but it’s different when it’s those two. Jang Hayoung continues to swing her legs idly thinking about it. Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk are like this old married couple, while with Kim Namwoon and Lee Jihye it would be too weird since she’s known them since high school. 

Kim Namwoon hands a fresh batch of pork buns over to her and Jang Hayoung snatches one and snags a bite. Too hot.

Besides, Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk are like, in love in love. She’s only ever seen them together. She still can’t believe there was a time when they didn’t talk. Because apparently they had this whole, like, dramatic three year fall out. Jang Hayoung herself doesn’t know all of the details, only bits of pieces she’s gathered throughout the years. 

Hayoung takes another bite of the bun, “hey, I think this batch is the one.” 

She thinks it over a bit, letting the flavor settle on her tongue, “yeah I like this one, did you add more sugar?”

“on that one yeah,” Lee Jihye looks up to say. Then she looks back down and scribbles something on her arm, muttering things about slightly more sugar.

Jang Hayoung goes back to what she was thinking about earlier, because she’s bored and has no love life of her own.

And okay, the actual crazy part to Jang Hayoung was that they weren’t married that whole time she knew them. Even during their occasional ‘Yoo Joonghyuk Lee Jihye Kim Namwoon Lee Hyungsung Jang Hayoung’ group streams where she heard muffles of Kim Dokja’s background she thought they were married. 

It wasn’t until she heard that her older sister, Aileen, was commissioned by the couple to create engravings in their rings did Hayoung realize it all. Hey, thinking about it now, Jang Hayoung never got to see the completed rings. 

“Oh hey, aren’t you holding the rings, Jihye?”

Lee Jihye was currently standing in front of the sink, washing her hands. 

“Hm? Oh yeah, you haven't seen them yet?” 

Kim Namwoon pipes up from where he is baking their last batch of pork buns, “Wait, wait, wait, I want to see them too!”

After Lee Jihye finishes drying off her hands she walks to where Jang Hayoung is still sitting atop the counter and fishes out a box where the rings are. 

She gives Jang Hayoung the box and opens it. Sitting in the box are two stunning pieces of jewelry. 

“Hey wait! I said wait– let me finish washing my hands first!” Kim Namwoon’s voice can be heard behind the noise of a running sink. 

Jang Hayoung ignores him, “can I hold them?” 

“Uh, Master probably wouldn’t want them to get dirty or anything.” 

“Okay, I’m done now, you can look at them.” Kim Namwoon butts in, leaning his head forward toward the box and blocking the damn light so she can’t see. 

Jang Hayoung leans the box a little to the left so that it won’t be cast in Kim Namwoon’s shadow. 

“Whoa, subway grasshopper and Master’s rings!”

The wedding bands are white gold, with little lines and stars subtly engraved into parts of the rings. There’s also three small diamonds sitting in the middle of the ring, shining. If she tilts her head a bit, Jang Hayoung can see the inside of the rings. One of the rings has the name ‘Kim Dokja’ engraved inside, while the other has ‘Yoo Joonghyuk.’ That ring has a darker color metal inside while the other has a lighter color.

The rings are relatively simple, which is something that fits the two of them. It’s very pretty, Jang Hayoung thinks Aileen did a good job. 

—

“Judge of Destuction… Hell Flames Ignition… Hour of Judgement… Did I really name all of these drinks?” Jung Heewon mutters to herself. “It sounds like someone is about to shit for an hour straight if I give them these.”

The sound of the door opening pushes Heewon out of her trance and she looks up to find Lee Jihye who looks deadbeat tired.

“God I need a drink, I can’t do this sober anymore,” Jihye groans and slumps down onto the bar stool in front of Jung Heewon. 

“What the hell happened to you?” Jung Heewon raises an eyebrow. “Plus, you can’t drink.”

Lee Jihye starts leaning back before she abruptly realizes that the chairs don’t have back support. She instead starts to lean forward, placing her arms in front of her and laying on them while looking up at Heewon. 

“I just spent the last 7 hours cooking pork buns over and over. Remind me to never eat another one in my life.” Lee Jihye complains into her arms.

“Oh yeah, Han Sooyoung told me something about you guys helping with all of that or something. Must be difficult, it’s why I’m not too involved with the wedding planning process, thank god.”

“Like obviously I’m happy for them, but I really thought that Master would turn into a wizard.” Jihye says as Jung Heewon starts to clean a glass. “I was looking forward to seeing what powers he would get.”

“What?” She stops her cleaning motions and stares at Lee Jihye, confused.

“What, y’know, turning into a wizard if–ugh,” she groans. “Uriel would understand.” 

“Uh okay, maybe I don’t want to know about that then.” Uriel tended to be quite obsessed with Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk’s relationship for some reason. 

Jung Heewon pours sparkling water into the now clean glass and plops it in front of Lee Jihye. Some water splashes out from the top and Lee Jihye gives her a look of bewilderment.

“Seriously, Unnie? Is this water? I’m literally of age now. I can literally legitimately drink now!” 

Lee Jihye, now alert, sits up straight and fusses her pockets for her wallet, taking everything out just to find it. Then she shoves her ID in front of Jung Heewon’s face. “See, look!” 

To Jung Heewon, Lee Jihye was still just a kid, so water she gets. 

“Here, I can make it fancy.” She places a slice of lime onto the rim of the cup and adds an umbrella into the drink. “Now it's tropical.”

“What the hell. I hope you’re not serving this at the wedding, Unnie.” Despite her complaints, Lee Jihye still takes a sip.

“Ah, ah, kids can’t swear,” Lee Jihye gives her a look of disbelief. “And no, I’m not. Who do you think I am? Unless of course you want some at their wedding?”

“Ugh, no, you can give them to Mia and the kids. Y’know what, save some for Namwoon too, he’s practically a kid too. Won’t you have mocktails though?” She swirls the ice around in her cup. 

“Yeah, don’t worry. Maybe Dokja will appreciate it too, that guy can seriously not handle any amount of alcohol.” She’s witnessed it first hand on many occasions, her bar being their group of friend’s favorite place to crash and drink. 

He’s always first to get wasted, with Yoo Sangah and Yoo Joonghyuk usually the last ones sober. A clingy drunk, that guy, actually she doesn’t want to think about this anymore. It just reminds her of the time Kim Dokja started to unbutton his shirt in the middle of her fucking bar, doing whatever current mating rituals he was doing with Yoo Joonghyuk. She shudders at the memory.

Lee Jihye chugs the rest of the drink in one go and slams the cup onto the counter. “Bartender! Another! But if you're gonna give me water again, please just give me regular water.”

Jung Heewon goes to refill her glass but instead fills it with a strawberry-flavored Milkis.

—

“Whoa, look!”

The fireflies in the night sky start to surround the bundles of asters they spent the whole day looking for. They’ve spent the entire week attempting to find stores that sold the right type of asters, but for some reason, they were either sold out in all of the stores they went to, they weren't the right shade of color, or they looked brittle and dried out.

In the end, Lee Gilyoung was able to spot some pretty purple ones near a lake. Since they couldn’t buy any of their own, they might as well just gather their own bunches of asters and clean them.

Shin Yoosoung gasps, “Ah, it’s so pretty!”

The fireflies flicker around the asters, casting a beautiful glow around the lake and into the night sky. It looked perfect, and Lee Gilyoung could imagine it perfectly at the wedding. Plus, they would be good to let his collection of bugs eat once the wedding was done. 

Lee Gilyoung sneaks his hand into his inner jacket pocket to grab the cage containing his friend and successfully opens it, “go Titano, bite the roots!” 

His oversized mantis friend flies out of the cage and bites the base of the asters, allowing Lee Gilyoung to gather the flowers more easily.

“Seriously? That’s how we’re doing this,” Yoo Mia asks, deadpan, “isn’t there an easier way, like just plucking it from the ground or something?”

Lee Gilyoung shrugs, “I mean, it works either way, so.” 

—

Yoo joonghyuk is about to put the cake pans into the oven before he sees Kim Dokja in the corner of his eye.

He watches his soon-to-be husband walk in with the grace of a baby deer— that is to say, with no grace whatsoever. His fiance is stupid, very foolishly stupid, as he dips his finger in the cake batter, puts it in his mouth, and emphasizes a smacking noise with his lips, all while keeping direct eye contact with Yoo Joonghyuk. 

Then, he smirks and tilts his head slightly towards him. It’s something he always does when he thinks he is being funny.

Yoo Joonghyuk has no idea what his fiance is doing. 

“That’s raw, Joonghyuk-ie,” he points downward to the batter.

Yoo Joonghyuk’s eye twitches.

“It’s literally batter, you fool, what do you expect?” 

Yoo Joonghyuk opens the oven and places the pans onto the racks, setting a timer once he closes the oven door. When he’s done, Kim Dokja immediately wraps his arms around his neck, bringing their faces closer together. And because he is weak-willed, Yoo Joonghyuk wraps one of his arms around Kim Dokja’s waist and brings his other across his back to cup the base of his neck.

“Huh, I thought you knew how to cook?” Kim Dokja leans in, “Was all of that bragging for nothing?”

He’s marrying this fool tomorrow.

“You can’t even cook,” Yoo Joonghyuk says exasperatedly as he walks them to the nearby counter and encases both hands around Kim Dokja, pressing him into the counter.

Kim Dokja makes a non-committal hum and raises his eyebrow, “but it seems I know more than you.” 

He’s annoying. He’s terribly fond of him. 

Yoo Joonghyuk softly grabs and lifts his chin so he can kiss him. Once, twice. 

His Dokja laughs at that, the arms around his neck pulling so that Yoo Joonghyuk is closer, “trying to shut me up?” Another kiss. 

“Or are you trying to taste the flavor of the batter?” A fourth kiss. “I really can’t tell.”

“Both.”

He is unfortunately very cute. He’s marrying this fool tomorrow. He’s marrying Kim Dokja tomorrow.

Yoo Joonghyuk moves to grab a hold of both of Kim Dokja’s hands from around his neck. He kisses each fingertip, softly, slowly, gently, each kiss giving Kim Dokja a whispered secret that all lead to the same thing: I’m in love with you. 

A small “Joonghyuk,” is let out into the air; the syllables trip over each other, whispering a secret of its own, its answer all the same.

His Dokja’s expression is a tearful one; full of emotion, full of warmth. It’s so warm, it threatens to spill everywhere. Kim Dokja is like the sun.

He slots one of his hands with Kim Dokja’s.

It’s not really a secret that he loves him, actually.

Unknowingly, Yoo Joonghyuk’s left eyebrow twitches and he says something that he means wholeheartedly: “Kim Dokja, please marry me.”

Kim Dokja laughs, a bit shaky, a bit wet, and it’s like his first proposal all over again. And Yoo Joonghyuk squeezes his hand slightly because he is also full of emotion.

“Aren’t we getting married tomorrow already?”

“Let’s get married, now.”

“Impatient…” Kim Dokja mutters under his breath, fondly.

Yoo Joonghyuk looks down at him expectantly.

“What- Oh wait, you really-?” Kim Dokja huffs a laugh, “you really want an answer to that?”

“Yes.” Of course he’s serious. “ Kim Dokja, marry me.”

“You’re not even phrasing it as a question, Joonghyuk-ah. Do it properly.”

“Kim Dokja, will you-”

“No.”  Kim Dokja’s other hand that isn’t holding his own reaches and covers Yoo Joonghyuk’s mouth. 

Yoo Joonghyuk frowns. He speaks behind his hand, trying to finish, “will you mffgh-”

The hand presses down on his face with slight pressure, “No, no, stop, don’t–don’t even finish.” 

And Kim Dokja lowers his head so that Yoo Joonghyuk can’t see his face. Unfortunately, his ears give him away, given that they turn bright red. He’s embarrassed, Yoo Joonghyuk notices. 

“Stop, I- you’re really annoying, you know that?” He huffs out. 

Yoo Joonghyuk’s reply comes out muffled, “You-” he starts to say before he’s interrupted again. 

“I know. Just-” Kim Dokja raises his head and looks up at him. “I don’t think that I can survive if you ask that again.”

Kim Dokja removes the hand covering his mouth and grabs Yoo Joonghyuk’s unoccupied hand. He guides it and places it on top of his chest, right where his heart is. Its beats are rapid, erratic. Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump. It’s an answer of its own.

Ba-dump, ba-dump. It’s clear what his answer is.

Yoo Joonghyuk breathes a breath in. 

Suddenly, Yoo Joonghyuk takes his fiance’s hands and arranges them into a position suitable for dancing. Yoo Joonghyuk takes a step back into their living room and Kim Dokja follows after. 

His fiance is caught by surprise and lets out a slight gasp, “Wh-”

“Dancing. Do you know how?”

They waltz their way into the living room.

“I’ll take a step, and you’ll follow after.” 

Kim Dokja nods, face down, looking at their feet. A step back, he follows. A step to the left, he follows that way. Another step back, he follows again.

Kim Dokja eventually looks up, having gotten the hang of it. He’s always been a quick learner after all.

Yoo Joonghyuk leads, step after step, gazing at his partner all the while. Kim Dokja’s eyes tell a story, they’ve always had, ‘I'd follow you anywhere,’ they seem to say. Kim Dokja had once said those same words back then, almost ten years ago, but it eventually led to them falling out. He doesn’t blame him, not anymore. Time changed, and time has allowed them both to heal. There’s nothing but honesty in his eyes, and so, Yoo Joonghyuk will believe him. 

He’s glad that he was able to meet him again. Unfortunately and begrudgingly ever thankful to Han Sooyoung for accidentally making them meet up in that dingy barbeque restaurant years ago.

Suddenly, he feels pressure on top of his foot. He gives a wince and a slight hiss. He looks down and sees Kim Dokja’s foot on top of his own.

“Finally,” Kim Dokja’s eyes are shining, looking up at Yoo Joonghyuk with a smug grin. “I was wondering how you kept avoiding that.”

Kim Dokja laughs and tilts his head toward Yoo Joonghyuk slightly. “I’ve been meaning to do that for a while now.” he says as he grinds the balls of his foot on top of Yoo Joonghyuk’s toes. 

His fiance is ridiculous. “Fool,” he tsks, rolling his eyes.

“Bastard,” Kim Dokja responds back without missing a beat.

Kim Dokja proceeds to try to step on his feet for the rest of their dance. Yoo Joonghyuk is just barely managing to avoid the attacks, but he won’t let his fiance know that. He keeps a face of nonchalance.

“Asshole! How are you managing to avoid each one!?”

Despite their usual bantering and Kim Dokja’s teasing, the moment is slow, calm, peaceful, with the stars in the night sky as their only witness. 

Being with Kim Dokja is like holding a star. Burning, bright, but stuck with the everlasting feeling as if they are about to disappear any second.

They’re stopped out of their reverie by the sound of the timer going off, a loud beep, beep, beep.

They both stop. It’s silent except for the sounds of their breathing and the blaring noise of the timer. Yoo Joonghyuk doesn’t move, he’s mesmerized by his fiance’s smiling face framed by the moonlight. Relaxed. Happy. In love. Kim Dokja is precious.

Beep, beep.

“The cake’s done,” Yoo Joonghyuk says stupidly, suddenly out of breath.

One of Kim Dokja’s hands slides down and reaches to grab his ass. “I can tell,” he says with a smirk and mirth swirling in his eyes, face tilting closer all the while. 

Yoo Joonghyuk swats his hand away and Kim Dokja just laughs. 

–

He gets the cake out of the oven. Fortunately, it’s not overbaked.

Letting the cakes cool, Yoo Joonghyuk starts working on making the cream and the frosting. Both he and Kim Dokja dislike too sweet desserts. 

Kim Dokja sits on top of the counter, watching Yoo Joonghyuk prep

“I like the flavor you chose. Pistachio?” Kim Dokja mentions, likely remembering the taste from the cake batter he tried earlier.

“There’s also going to be dark chocolate and strawberry.”

He sees Kim Dokja smile at that. It’s reminiscent of when he and Dokja were younger, having gone wedding cake testing for fun, is what Dokja had said. Y’know, to expand your baking skills. They were the only two flavors they ended up really liking. The next day, Yoo Joonghyuk went back to ask the baker for their recipe. He’s using it now, just a bit tweaked to match both of their tastes better. 

“Come here, help me.” 

Kim Dokja gets off of the counter and helps him fill the piping bags with cream. With the help of Yoo Joonghyuk’s instruction they manage to fill and decorate the cakes together. 

“Are you sure you want me to help with this kinda stuff?” Kim Dokja says as he leans in closer to the cake  to try to pipe a rosette to the side of the cake. His eyes are focused. He’s putting too much pressure on the piping back, and the rosette turns out a bit sloppy. 

Kim Dokja leans back and rubs the base of his neck with his unoccupied hand, letting out a sigh. “Well… it’s something all right.”

The rosette is off center; it hardly looks like a rose with how misshapen it is.

Yoo Joonghyuk squints his eyes at it, and coughs, “It’s…”

“You can be honest, Joonghyuk-ah, I’m not going to die.” Kim Dokja rolls his eyes before he suddenly looks up at Yoo Joonghyuk and says, “Hey, can I turn it into Biyoo?”

His fiance is ridiculous. 

Yoo Joonghyuk lets him do whatever. 

—

It’s bright during their time in the venue’s kitchen. Lee Jihye and Kim Namwoon had been in here since the morning, preparing the dough and cooking the meat. Jang Hayoung had come some time after them, just in time to try their test round of pork buns. After they got the thumbs up approval of their official tester, who was probably just enjoying the free food, Lee Jihye and Kim Namwoon got to work with the rest of the buns. All they had to do was make more dough, cook more meat, and assemble the buns, since they would actually be steamed later in the day during dinner.  

Lee Jihye sighs in relief, so far, everything has been going according to plan. All of the flavors taste accurate to Master’s recipe, much thanks to Kim Namwoon’s surprising skills in the kitchen. 

They’re about three fourth’s way done with cooking the right amount of baos. She’s really tired of this, cooking was not for the week.

“And I was just saying, Kim Namwoon, maybe you should rig me a model too,” Jang Hayoung says as she helps pinch the buns together. 

“Really?” Kim Namwoon exclaims excitedly, before he coughs and tones himself down, “I mean, sure, yeah, and whatever.” 

Lee Jihye lets herself take a breather after she finishes pinching together her last set of buns. Then she leans against the counter and takes a swig of her water bottle. Ah, it was nice. 

She crushes the bottle when she finishes it and tosses it inside the nearby trashcan before she butts into the other two’s conversation, “Hey, you rigged Kim Dokja’s model too right?”

Kim Namwoon immediately lights up and stands a little straighter, “yeah… do you like it?”

“It’s pretty impressive how you made the toggle for his wings, and I like the addition of the horns too.” Lee Jihye has known that Kim Namwoon drew and rigged his very own vtuber model for his streams, it looked very cool, and very edgy. She had also seen a model used by Kim Dokja during one of Master’s newer streams that looked distinctively like Kim Namwoon’s drawing style. 

When Lee Jihye had asked Yoo Joonghyuk about it, he said that he commissioned Kim Namwoon for a vtuber model for Kim Dokja since he had said that the older man had wanted a way to be in his streams without showing his face.

“Hah wait, really,” Kim Namwoon asks as if he can’t believe it.

“Wait, yes!” Jang Hayoung snags another one of their cooked baos and looks up at the ceiling dreamily. “I especially liked that demon king form too.”

Getting more comfortable, Lee Jihye decides to put her hands in her pockets, she doesn’t think anything about it, until she realizes her pocket was empty. It’s the same exact pocket that was supposed to hold the rings. Did she really not have them, she could’ve sworn she had them in her pocket. 

Haha. Lee Jihye will not freak out. Lee Jihye will not freak out. She will take this calmly and retrace her steps. 

She swears this morning she had them in her pocket, the only place she went to was this kitchen, so it’s only plausible that the rings would be in the kitchen. 

Oh no, she didn’t accidentally bake them into the meat or something did she? She did not, right?! Right?!

—

“Biyoo, hold still,” Shin Yoosoung sticks out her tongue in concentration as she tries to adjust a small yellow coned birthday hat onto the small pomeranian. 

Biyoo barks her broken barks of ‘baa-a, baa-aht’ before she wags her tail excitedly. 

This is Shin Yoosoung’s fourth time trying to adjust the hat onto Biyoo because she kept on eating every other hat that wasn’t yellow. She makes her final adjustments by tying a small bow with the strings of the hat under Biyoo’s fluffy chin, making sure that the hat doesn’t hurt Biyoo but also making sure that it is secure. 

“Tada! And now you are ready for ahjussi’s wedding!” Shin Yoosoung had insisted that Biyoo wear something special for the occasion, she was ahjussi’s and Joonghyuk-oppa’s daughter after all. 

She looks back at her handiwork and watches as Biyoo continues to wag her small tail. Huh, she kind of looked like some weird upside down ice cream cone. 

“Ah, Yoosoung, that’s where you are,” she hears Yoo Sangah’s voice say from behind her. 

The birthday hat on Biyoo slides off, so she quickly tries to adjust it back on before she turns to Yoo Sangah to see what she needs. “Did you need something, Sangah-unnie?”

“You have the flowers placed everywhere, right?”

“Yes, of course!”

Yoo Sangah lets out a sigh of relief and Shin Yoosoung can see the way her shoulders visibly release some tension. “Is something wrong?” Shin Yoosoung asks.

“Ah, no,” Yoo Sangah bites her lip. “I just think that I’m a bit nervous, is all.” She comes to crouch down beside Shin Yoosoung as they both watch Biyoo try and chase a butterfly. 

Somewhat dejectedly, Yoo Sangah says, “I want it to be perfect. Dokja-ssi entrusted me with this, you know?”

Shin Yoosoung gets it, she, Gilyoung, and Mia were all working hard to find the prettiest and most meaningful flowers for Kim Dokja’s and Yoo Joonghyuk’s wedding. They also just wanted it to be perfect, they both deserved it, afterall. 

She watches as Biyoo wanders her way away, hat bobbing up and down with each of her steps. “Yeah, I get it, I want it to be the best for them too.”

—

Lee Jihye will not freak out.

“Hayoung,” Lee Jihye says ever so calmly before she grabs a hold of the girl’s shoulders and shakes her back and forth, “if you suddenly accidentally choke and die on something hard, let me know!”

“Wait, what!? What are you saying right now?!” 

“I’m being very calm, that’s what I’m doing!” She begins to tear apart some of the buns she just finished pinching closed together at rapid speed. 

No ring. She rips apart another set, just meat. 

“Whoa, whoa, Jihye, what are you doing?” Kim Namwoon says, worried as he grabs her shoulder to stop her. She immediately shrugs him off.

She rips apart another set, hands caked with remnants of the pork buns, no ring. She takes a breath in, trying to calm herself down, or maybe trying to not cry. “I lost it.”

“Lost what?” Jang Hayoung asks.

“I lost their rings.” 

“Fuck.”

Both Jang Hayoung and Kim Namwoon start searching around the kitchen frantically too, making a mess.

Lee Jihye slumps down to the floor, maybe she just accidentally dropped them on the floor somewhere. 

She doesn’t find the rings, but Lee Jihye gasps anyway.

“Did you find them?”

No, she didn’t, instead she found a small pomeranian dog wearing a small yellow party hat covered in crumbs and sauce from the pork buns, happily wagging her small tail. It was Master’s dog, Biyoo.

“Baa, ba-ah!” Biyoo’s tail wags harder. 

Oh, end it all right now. 

Lee Jihye hastily gets herself up from the tile floor and to where Biyoo was. 

“Spit it out, spit it out! You didn’t eat the rings, right Biyoo?! Please tell me you didn’t.”

“Baa, baa!”

Fuck.

“Does anyone know how to do the heimlech?!”

Kim Namwoon hastily makes his way towards her and the dog to see the hassle of Lee Jihye holding Biyoo, inspecting her. 

“On that small dog? She’s barely the size of a soccerball!”

Oh shit, did she just accidently kill Master’s dog.

—

There’s a certain look on Yoo Joonghyuk’s face that Lee Seolhwa would describe as anxious. 

She’s currently touching up on Yoo Joonghyuk’s face and helping him style his hair—not that he needs it. I want to look good for Dokja, is what he had told her when he came up to her to ask for her help. It’s cute. Both of them are good for each other.

“Are you scared?” She asks.

“Scared, no. Nervous, yes.” Lee Seolhwa smiles knowingly as she stares at Yoo Joonghyuk’s bouncing leg.

She dips her makeup brush in powder and taps some excess off before she asks, “Are you happy?”

“He…” Yoo Joonghyuk begins, his eyes are far away, squinting and thinking about something dazedly—something she can’t see. “He makes me happy.”

—

On her way from her bar to go to the venue, Jung Heewon notices a bunch of things lying on the ground next to one of her bar stools. 

Weird, her bar was closed that day, because she had been test-mixing different types of cocktail and mocktail flavors. The only one who had been here was Lee Jihye. 

Jung Heewon bends down and takes a closer look at the random cluster of items. One chapstick, a bunch of take-out receipts, a pack of gum, some hair ties, and a velvet box. Besides the box, Jung Heewon can easily tell who the stuff belongs to. It must have been when she was fishing her pockets for her ID to show Jung Heewon her age. 

Curious, she decides to open the velvet box, only to be surprised with two matching rings. From what Jung Heewon knows, the girl isn’t dating anyone, so it can’t be hers. She looks at the inside of the rings and reads the names engraved inside them. 

One with ‘Kim Dokja’ etched inside, and the other having ‘Yoo Joonghyuk’.

Jung Heewon holds in her breath, their wedding is today.

She immediately pulls out her phone and dials Lee Jihye’s number. It goes immediately to voicemail, Jung Heewon swears under her breath, “c’mon, answer. 

She dials again, and again, and again, but it all just goes to voicemail. 

Jung Heewon groans, and decides to call the next best number, Lee Hyungsung.

As usual, he picks up immediately after the first ring, “Heewon?”

“Hi, hey, could you come by the bar real quick, I have something you need to deliver.”

—

Han Sooyoung sees Gong Pildu, Kim Dokja’s fucking landlord, snoring somewhere behind her in the crowd. And really, who in their right mind would invite their landlord to their wedding. Thankfully, Heewon—probably the only one in their group who has braincells—elbows him very aggressively and glares at him. 

It’s not the first time Han Sooyoung was questioning who was on this guest list. She had to fight and throw hands at Nirvana who appeared out of legit nowhere. They started bitterly talking and mumbling about how Yoo Joonghyuk was the only one for them. Who even invited them in the first place. 

She eventually kicked them out. If she didn’t  who knows, maybe Nirvana would’ve shouted objections like they were fucking Phoenix Wright on court day or something. 

This wedding is chaotic, really. Han Sooyoung had no idea the couple even knew this many people. There’s a couple of people she recognizes but isn’t personally very close with, Persephone, Hades, Uriel, a really tiny man with long hair, Asuka Ren who is sitting next to some random-ass guy saying ‘dogeza kim’ as he cries into a tissue. Okay who actually even is in this guest list.

Han Sooyoung is seated between Sangah and Uriel, with Sangah sitting on her left. The kids are sat nearby Sangah and Lee Jihye and Kim Namwoon on the opposite side, next to Lee Hyungsung and Jung Heewon. 

Lee Jihye and Kim Namwoon specifically look tired, slumped into their seats. What the hell happened to those two. 

They’re currently in the middle of Kim Dokja’s speech, one that Kim Dokja himself asked Han Sooyoung to proofread three days ago. He had been a nervous wreck then, it’s kind of sweet. She’s been meaning to listen to his speech with full attention before that fucking unc started snoring so loudly. 

She doesn’t really remember what was in his speech, just that she knew she would take the job extremely seriously; she can’t have that idiot messing up his speech. 

Then she starts to hear Kim Dokja mention something about Yoo Joonghyuk being his one and only protagonist ‘In the end, Yoo Joonghyuk, you were always my protagonist’, and Han Sooyoung honest to god needs to throw up right now. She swears this wasn’t in his written speech that he handed her, or else she wouldn’t have let this pass. Han Sooyoung wouldn’t let himself embarrass himself on his wedding day. 

His speech is embarrassing and frankly extremely cringe. And oh, Kim Dokja’s doing this on purpose. Han Sooyoung has figured him out. Kim Dokja is honest with his words in the speech, but it’s said in a way that someone is supposed to take as a joke, because that idiot is incapable of taking himself seriously, he has to turn things into a joke. Would it kill him to truly be honest with his feelings? Knowing him, it probably would actually kill him.

Once he’s done with his speech, Kim Dokja gives Yoo Joonghyuk a teasing grin and slightly tilts his head to the side toward him. He always does that to Yoo Joonghyuk when he thinks he’s being exceptionally funny— it’s kind of disgustingly gross how in love those two are. 

One of the many Han Sooyounglings in her head fake-throws up, another pats that Han Sooyoungling’s back. What the fuck. 

Yoo Joonghyuk then starts his speech. ‘Kim Dokja, to me, you are my world. You are the sun, the sky, the stars, and you are everything beautiful in life.’ His hands are slightly shaky as he speaks, betraying his strong and confident voice. It’s beautiful, the rest of his speech, if Han Sooyoung didn’t know any better, she would think that Yoo Joonghyuk was a writer himself. 

It’s quite perfect actually, something that fits the both of them. Her eyes hurt with too much emotion. That damned perfect sunfish bastard she can hear Kim Dokja say. 

And Kim Dokja does say something similar after Yoo Joonghyuk finishes, “damn, even on our wedding day you manage to beat me with this.” He says this, but he’s crying. His voice is wet, shaking, coming out hoarse. 

“Fuck, you’re so pathetic, Joonghyuk-ah,” Kim Dokja gives a weak attempt at laughing. 

At that, unbelievably, Han Sooyoung sees a tear slip down Yoo Joonghyuk’s usual perfectly stoic face and Han Sooyoung feels something in her heart ache. She’s known this guy since their high school days and she’s never once seen him cry. He’s an ugly crier, she notes. His face is scrunched up—trying to hold back his tears—and his fists are clenched tightly, like he might not be able to stop crying if he dare unclench them. She hears him inhale a shaky breath, and that’s what does it for her. 

Damn it, it makes me want to cry too. 

She’s happy for them, really she is. Shit, she can’t see anything right now. Han Sooyoung feels a hand touch her shoulder and she looks up to see Sangah offer her a tissue with a similar facial expression.

She sniffles and wipes her nose on a tissue that Sangah handed to her. 

Han Sooyoung turns her head to the side and sees Uriel absolutely losing it, sobbing. A hand held near her mouth as if trying to hold back a sob and tissues all over lap… at least she won’t end up looking like that. 

Han Sooyoung allows a few more tears to slip by as she watches Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk put their rings onto one another. 

—

“I’m–I’m so proud of the both of you!” Lee Hyungsung cries as he wipes his nose with a tissue for the nth time.

Jung Heewon is there patting his back with pity in her eyes as she lets the man wail out his tears.

“We’re glad you could be here, Hyungsung,” Kim Dokja says, then he looks to where Yoo Joonghyuk is by his side, holding his hand, and smiles at him fondly. “I’m proud of us too.”

This causes Lee Hyungsung to cry even harder at that. Those two were some of his oldest friends so it is really emotional seeing them now married. He’s so happy for them. The waterworks come again and Lee Hyungsung once again finds himself crying uncontrollably.

—

Yoo Mia watches as her brother dances with Kim Dokja, just the two of them in the middle of the room. The asters as well as the fireflies swarm around them, casting a warm glow on the couple. The moment is soft and gentle, and Yoo Mia can see the way they whisper to one another, a secret kept only between the two of them. 

Kim Dokja says something she can’t hear, but it’s evident that he’s teasing her brother with the way he smirks and tilts his closer to him. She also sees the way that Yoo Joonghyuk rolls his eyes with faux annoyance.

Now, she doesn’t really remember much from her childhood, but she remembers how instead of two parents she had an oppa and ahjussi who took care of her as if she were their own kid. She didn’t understand back then, and she remembers crying a lot when Kim Dokja left, it felt like a second betrayal, like she was so unlikable that everyone in her life would leave her one day. 

Yoo Mia slammed the door in front of his face due to being hurt. For a long time, she wanted to refuse him, and didn't want to let him back in even when he and her oppa were on good terms again. She had seen the way that the hurt wasn’t just within herself, Yoo Joonghyuk had been hurt by Kim Dokja too.

Back then, before they started dating, and before their three year separation, Yoo Mia had thought they were already together. She could’ve sworn there were moments where she caught them kissing, their faces were inches away from each other. Then, there was also the way that her brother and Kim Dokja would stare at each other when the other wasn’t looking. She understood ‘love’ as deep care for another person, therefore, she already knew that Yoo Joonghyuk and Kim Dokja loved each other.

Here, now, their love is evident; seen by everyone, and felt by everyone. It was deep and profound. There was even a time when they first started dating where her brother came to her room and not so discreetly asked her for ideas for dates.

It was a laughable moment then, it still is now.

—

Lee Sookyoung had never been a fan of Yoo Joonghyuk.

She’s only met him a few handful of times but it feels like she’s known him for a lifetime with the way Kim Dokja had talked about him like he hung the moon and the stars and the whole entire night sky itself during his high school years. He hadn’t talked much about anything during her time in prison besides that boy he was in love with. Kim Dokja himself didn’t realize it was love but Lee Sookyoung knew from the very first moment he started talking about him.

His eyes would glisten as he talked about him, things like what they did during the day or a new thing that Yoo Joonghyuk was excited about. There was no Kim Dokja without Yoo Joonghyuk. 

Her son always looked happy when talking about him, but Lee Sookyoung was worried that that light inside of him would one day flicker and turn into sadness. Is she projecting herself onto him? Maybe, but in the end she was just worried for him. 

She had wanted to meet him, wanted to be able to look into this Yoo Joonghyuk that she knows so much about and look into his eyes. She wanted to see honesty and truth in his eyes. She wanted to see if Yoo Joonghyuk had held the same amount of passion that her Dokja did. And so, one day, she asked her son if she could meet up.

Kim Dokja had started fidgeting with his fingers, then, he looked down at his hands in a way that covered his eyes from her. His eyes were always so honest, after all. 

“I– we–” Kim Dokja had paused. “We had an argument. We haven’t spoken in a while.”

The tone of his voice was neutral, but Lee Sookyoung knew there was more to it than that, she couldn’t help but freeze at his words. And, it’s true that Lee Sookyoung had never been a fan of Yoo Joonghyuk, but she had always secretly hoped that he would be good for Kim Dokja, it would be hard not to hope for that.

“How come?”

Kim Dokja turned his head away, “Leave it. I don’t want to talk about it.”

His tone was harsh and final, but still, she could hear the cracks of his voice that were filled with sorrow. She didn’t understand what had happened between the two, but knew it must have felt close to heartbreak. Ever since that, she had formed some sort of hatred for Yoo Joonghyuk. 

But one day, years later, Lee Sookyoung would receive a call from Kim Dokja, and once again he would rant about that same guy endlessly. She listened with a smile as Kim Dokja started with ‘hey, so do you remember that guy…’ and smiled still as he ranted about Yoo Joonghyuk’s updated life. She could once again hear the way Kim Dokja spoke about him as if he was giddy. To her, it was obvious that the two would end up together, if they weren’t already dating.

Over the years, her opinion about Yoo Joonghyuk slowly changed. She still didn’t like him for breaking Kim Dokja’s heart all those years ago, but when they met for the first time she could see the determination set in his eyes. Kim Dokja had announced to her that he and Yoo Joonghyuk had started dating and Lee Sookyoung didn’t miss her opportunity to question him about his intentions with Kim Dokja. 

That man was a nervous wreck as she interrogated him question after question. 26 years of age and he was squirming in his seat while beads of sweat rolled down his forehead. Yet still, he answered with conviction and Lee Sookyoung let him go, he was an honest man and she could trust that he would treat Kim Dokja well. She still may not like him, but she knows that her son definitely does, so she will respect his choice.

There was another day, three years later after their first meeting where she would find Yoo Joonghyuk at her doorstep. Once again, he was looking like a nervous wreck, but for a completely different reason; or perhaps it was for the same exact reason but a different scenario. 

‘I’m going to marry Kim Dokja.’ he had said. 

It was a statement, as if Yoo Joonghyuk did not care to ask for her permission, he was set on marrying Kim Dokja and he wasn’t going to let anyone stop him. But still, as he said that, Lee Sookyoung could sense his tense frame and the way his whole body slightly shook with nerves. It still sounded like he was asking for permission. 

She had come to know what kind of guy Yoo Joonghyuk is; she’d found that love and passion is what fuels his determination. It’s truly admirable. Will Kim Dokja be happy? She already knows what the answer to this question is, she’s known it from that very first day she’s heard him talk about Yoo Joonghyuk. Lee Sookyoung is scared, but she’s projecting her life onto them unfairly. Everything will be okay. She knows Yoo Joonghyuk is not one to cause harm.

Lee Sookyoung had grabbed both of Yoo Joonghyuk’s hands in hers and looked into his eyes. ‘Please take care of him.’ 

She had heard Yoo Joonghyuk exhale a breath out of relief, her answer was a yes to his ‘question’ after all. 

She’s seen them both grow. Has watched Kim Dokja grow up into the person he is now for most of his life, and she’s heard tales of Yoo Joonghyuk from since his high school days, but she’s never seen them as happy as they are right now, dancing together in the middle of the room with matching smiles and matching rings that glisten in the light.

Right now, Lee Sookyoung could say that she still is not fond of Yoo Joonghyuk, but that would be a lie. She knows that everything will be alright for the two of them.

—

Dinner was good, as expected of going to a guy’s wedding who has extremely high criteria for what he can consider as edible. Han Sooyoung has enjoyed the flavor profile of all the dishes and curses the bastard in her head for being perfect but also secretly gives him praises for blessing her with the best food she had ever eaten in a while. 

However, Han Sooyoung did find some of the pork buns to be a little bit weirdly misshapen, but she shrugs, because it still tasted really good. She couldn’t do any better after all. 

“How’s the food?” 

She hears the voice come from close behind her, making her jump in her chair and yelp, “shit! Why are you scaring me?!”

The culprit, Kim Dokja, laughs, the look is good on him, it’s been a while since she’s seen him be this relaxed and happy. “Sorry. Actually no, I’m not sorry,” he says as he grabs the empty chair next to her to sit down. 

Fucker. 

“Hey, where’s the protagonist of your dreams at?” She asks him, trying to make a dig at him by mentioning the word ‘protagonist’, she knows that embarrasses him. 

Kim Dokja gives her a flat stare before he looks up and immediately looks up and spots him near the left talking to Namgung Minyoung. “There, now answer my question.”

“It was good,” she says through gritted teeth. 

Kim Dokja smirks at that, “hah, I know right.”

Bastard. “You did not just ask me that just so you could brag about the food at your wedding.” Han Sooyoung rolls her eyes at him, going slowly so Kim Dokja could see her annoyance. 

Kim Dokja laughs, “Yeah, I just can’t believe it still, I think. I mean, how could I?” His face turns into one of solemn disbelief.

It makes her heart ache how Kim Dokja still can’t seem to understand his importance to others, especially towards Yoo Joonghyuk. It could take even a rock to be able to sense how down bad that guy was.

Han Sooyoung changes the subject, “How was your dance? I saw you making your stupid heart eyes towards Yoo Joonghyuk, you looked pathetic by the way.”

“Aww, you were watching me, Han Sooyoung?” Kim Dokja puts a hand to his chest, “it touches my heart, really.” Then he makes a serious expression, “and no, I wasn’t making ‘heart eyes’ at him, that would be weird, I don’t even like that bastard.”

He says that, but when Yoo Joonghyuk walks across from where he was to talk to another set of people, Han Sooyoung sees how Kim Dokja’s eyes follow his every movement. He was such a bad liar that she wondered how he managed to lie to himself for so long that he wasn’t in love with Yoo Joonghyuk since their high school days.

“Uh huh, like I would believe that.”

“Well, it’s true, now excuse me while I go and torment him.”

Kim Dokja slides his way out like the slimy squid he is and goes to where Yoo Joonghyuk is talking to Yoo Mia.

“Sooyoung?” She feels a tap on her shoulder and turns around to find Yoo Sangah in all of her gorgeous beauty. Really, it’s unreal how beautiful she looks in her simple but elegant red dress. Oh my god. 

Yoo Sangah’s hand is extended in an offering. “Would you like to dance?”

And Han Sooyoung splutters, fumbles while trying to formulate the correct words. 

“Huh?” is all that comes out, but Yoo Sangah giggles anyways, which, hey, was a win in Han Sooyoung’s book. 

She takes the offered hand and the two make their way to the middle of the room. 

—

After her dance with Han Sooyoung, Yoo Sangah guides her to the table where her crafted album lies. 

She had shown it to Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk earlier. And, she’s glad she ended up with the idea to make it. Perhaps it was Kim Dokja’s love for stories, but she could tell that he appreciated it, his face had crumpled and his fingers lightly grazed the cover of the book like it was precious.

He handled the book with care, flipping through each page with Yoo Joonghyuk, taking long seconds to just observe the story the two had built with each other. Sometimes he would laugh, sometimes he would smile, sometimes he would point out a random memory from the photo, and sometimes he teased the way Yoo Joonghyuk always had his signature frown in most of the photos. 

Yoo Joonghyuk himself seemed overcome with emotion, he wasn’t as telling as Kim Dokja was, but it was evident in the way he would just stare, as if reliving the moment for himself.

Now, Han Sooyoung flips her way through the album herself. “I know I gave you most of these photos in this section, but I still can’t believe that this happened. Like what do you mean that the Kim Dokja here now is the same as the Kim Dokja I first found sitting alone at that old staircase?”

Han Sooyoung flips, and then points to a new photo, “Oh, and here, when I forced the two to go on a ‘date’ with each other, hoping that they would finally get their shit together,” Han Sooyoung tsks, “how naive I was back then.”

Yoo Sangah laughs, “well, I mean, it did technically work out between the two didn’t it.”

Han Sooyoung grins at her, “hell yeah it did, y’know what, I’ll just brag into those bastards faces about how they should give most of the credit for their relationship, they’re lucky I’m not knocking on their door everyday begging for money.”

“Well, maybe you should ask for their money, and then you could distribute it evenly to everyone who had to deal with their shenanigans.” Yoo Sangah says, nudging Han Sooyoung.

“Hah, maybe you’re right, it’ll show them what kind of pain outsiders like us had to deal with. Plus it wasn’t like Yoo Joonghyuk needed all of that money, spare some for the rest of us.”

She watches as Han Sooyoung scans the room in search of the couple, “Hey, where did those two even go anyways?”

—

Of course, what would be a better way to end the night than being whisked away by Yoo Joonghyuk in his sleek black car. 

Kim Dokja’s tripping over himself currently, he’s too giddy he can’t walk straight. He can’t stop laughing or smiling for that matter. 

One of Yoo Joonghyuk’s hands is supporting his lower back, all in its warm and big glory.

He's happy. 

Kim Dokja looks up at Yoo Joonghyuk, his husband now. Wow. That’s a crazy thought to have, isn’t it. ‘Yoo Joonghyuk’ and ‘husband’ in the same sentence. Wow. Did he mention that Yoo Joonghyuk is his husband? What the actual fuck. Yoo Joonghyuk is his husband. Yoo Joonghyuk is his husband. 

He’s so beautiful too. Oh my god. He’s actually gorgeous in his white suit. Oh my god we got married.

He’s so happy. 

Yoo Joonghyuk looks down at him, and immediately his expression softens and he starts smiling, with his teeth. He hardly ever smiles with his teeth. Did he ever mention that Yoo Joonghyuk smiles so beautifully? Kim Dokja can’t breathe. 

“Joonghyuk-ah,” he says while smiling. He tilts his head a bit closer to Yoo Joongyuk’s

“Hm?”

“Hurry up.”

And Yoo Joonghyuk laughs at that, chuckles really– it doesn’t matter what it was, it should be illegal for him to do that. Now his heart is tripping over itself all over again. 

“You’re the one who can’t even walk straight.” There’s a twinkle in his eyes as he says this. 

Kim Dokja decides to flip him off, with his ring finger. Yes he thinks he’s funny, he’s laughing as he does so because he can’t keep a straight face. 

“Kim Dokja.” It's full of fondness.

They eventually do reach their car and Kim Dokja allows himself to relax in the car’s black leather seats. 

The day was fun. It’s nice to see all of his friends gathered together like that—funny seeing them all fumble with the wedding planning. Kim Dokja throws an arm to cover his eyes as he leans back in the chair and laughs to himself. 

Yoo Joonghyuk enters the driver’s seat and closes the car door. 

“What are you laughing at?” Yoo Joonghyuk says and Kim Dokja feels his big hand tug down the arm that was covering his eyes before he feels a pair of lips being pressed against his own. 

Kim Dokja wraps his arms around Yoo Joonghyuk’s back. 

“Stop smiling,” his husband (!!) says like the hypocrite he is. “I can’t kiss you properly.”

“I can’t help it,” he feels himself saying. And really, he can’t help it. Yoo Joonghyuk continues to kiss him into the seat anyways. 

Then, Yoo Joonghyuk leans back and just stares at him—stares at him and looks at him like he hung every star in the night sky. Did he always look at him like that?

“Hi?” Kim Dokja says dumbly, because he doesn’t know what else to say. 

Yoo Joonghyuk responds back in kind, with his very own breathed out, “hello.” 

Then, unexpectedly, he continues: “I’m Yoo Joonghyuk, 30 years old, I’m a pro-gamer–”

“Stop,” Kim Dokja groans as he covers Yoo Joonghyuk’s mouth with his left hand. 

Sentimental bastard. 

It’s a call back to when Kim Dokja reintroduced himself, after meeting him again three years after their not-break-up. It was a bit after their first meeting again in the barbeque restaurant. Kim Dokja didn’t want to leave Yoo Joonghyuk anymore. He wanted to be something more than estranged ex-best friends. For the first time, Kim Dokja wanted something, and he didn’t want to let go. I don’t want you gone from my life.

I’m Kim Dokja, 25 years old, and I am an employee of a game company. My hobby is still just reading webnovels. It’s pathetic isn’t it? But I want to get to know you, just who are you, Yoo Joonghyuk, have you changed?

He probably could’ve come with a better introduction, but hey, he whisked him away anyways. 

Kim Dokja thinks about everything, thinks about their whole history. The way they first met back in that old field, the way they hung out near the staircase with Han Sooyoung, the way he met Yoo Mia for the first time, the way they had a falling out and didn’t talk for three years, the way Kim Dokja still watched every live stream, the way they met again at the restaurant—still stubborn and petty—the way Kim Dokja asked Yoo Joonghyuk out on a first date and every date after that, the way he proposed, and the way they are here now, married and in their getaway car. 

They’ve been through a lot.

Yoo Joonghyuk kisses his hand, right where the cold metal of the wedding band lies.