☁ i'd rather be with you
say you want the same thing too
baekhyun/chen
pg-13
for aprilclash, who asked me for this ages ago (like a year ago probably?) and idek if you still want it but i hope you like it anyway ;_;
“Luhan is going to kill us.” Jongdae sighs as he rests his head on Baekhyun’s shoulder. “This is probably not what he had in mind when he gave us tickets to Las Vegas.”
“No, probably not,” Baekhyun says cheerfully. “He probably just wanted us to have fun. And we did.”
“Too much fun.” Jongdae groans and pulls one of Baekhyun’s arms around him. “Be comforting,” he complains. “Why are you not suffering too?”
Baekhyun obediently brings his other arm around him and squeezes him lightly. “Such a lightweight,” he coos, patting Jongdae on the butt. “Come on. Let’s go home and we can find you some aspirin for the headache.”
“No. Just let me die,” Jongdae mumbles, shifting most of his weight against Baekhyun.
“Nah, I like you too much for that,” Baekhyun says. “Plus we just got married.” He holds his free hand out in front of them and smiles widely at the silver ring on his finger. It’s a pretty nice ring considering they were both drunk off their asses last night. He frowns at that thought. How much money had they spent on their rings? “Jongdae?”
Jongdae groans into his neck. “Baek, can we not do the talking thing for awhile? It hurts trying to make my brain concentrate, and it hurts to talk.”
“Baby,” Baekhyun mutters, but he says it quietly.
“Baekhyun! Jongdae! Over here!”
Baekhyun looks up and sees Luhan, leaning up on his tiptoes as he waves a sign with Jongdae’s name on it. Minseok is beside him, holding a sign that has Baekhyun’s name on it. “Jesus.” He doesn’t embarrass easily, but sometimes Luhan…
“Let’s cut him out of our lives,” Jongdae mumbles. “Is it just me or is his smile making the headache worse?”
“Probably just you,” Baekhyun says unsympathetically. He squeezes Jongdae’s waist again. “Get ready for the Luhan whirlwind.”
ϟ
When Jongdae wakes up, his head is buried under a pillow and he’s spread out across most of the bed. He peeks out from under a corner and he flinches when he sees the sunlight pouring into the room. He can’t even remember what day it is. He remembers Luhan picking them up at the airport and loud talking. He’s pretty sure he didn’t add anything substantial to the conversation, unless grunting and whining was considered substantial.
He moves the pillow off his head and lays there for awhile trying to get used to the light. “Baekhyun?” He’s pretty sure he hasn’t slept an entire day away, it should be Sunday. So why isn’t Baekhyun in bed with him?
“In the kitchen!”
Ugh. There’s so much effort required to go to the kitchen. Jongdae makes a face but he drags himself out of bed and into the kitchen, where Baekhyun was making coffee.
“I’m impressed,” Baekhyun says, grinning. “Didn’t think you’d bother trying to get out of bed for the next few hours.”
Jongdae ignores him as he grabs the mug of coffee in front of Baekhyun. He lets out a contented sigh when his fingers instantly warm up as they wrap around the mug. He freezes when he sees the ring on his finger. Why was he wearing a- he almost drops his cup. “Did we…” He stares up at Baekhyun in horror. “Are we- married?”
Baekhyun grins at him over his cup. “You bet your sweet ass we are.”
Jongdae chokes on his coffee. “How is this possible?” he sputters. He doesn’t resist when Baekhyun grabs a paper towel and tries to pat him dry.
“Well,” Baekhyun says, slowly. He gives him another smile that seems softer and more genuine than the shit-eating grin he had offered him a few moments ago. “The thing was, I liked it so I put a ring on it.”
Jongdae wants to cry. “Baekhyun, I’m serious.”
“So am I,” Baekhyun says, pouting. “I found a marriage certificate in the suitcase. You know, you’re a very functional drunk considering you never remember things the day after. I can’t believe you managed to pack everything so neatly. I take umbrage to that, by the way. We should have been fucking on our wedding night, not packing.”
“Considering how my ass feels, I’m pretty sure we multi-tasked.”
Baekhyun brightens. “Really? Do you think we did it more than once? How sore is your-”
“Baekhyun.” Jongdae sets his cup down and grabs Baekhyun by the shoulders. “Can we be serious for a second?”
Baekhyun rolls his eyes but he doesn’t say anything, just nods and gestures at Jongdae to keep talking.
“We’re married.” Jongdae jabs him in the shoulder when Baekhyun remains silent. “Don’t you have anything to say about that? What should we do?”
“Do?” Baekhyun raises an eyebrow. “I don’t know? Married people stuff, I guess?”
What? “Married people stuff?”
“I don’t know.” Baekhyun shrugs. “Cooking, laundry, house chores. Honey, I’m home? Hi, honey, how was your day? That kind of stuff, I guess. And have married people sex. Lots of it.”
Jongdae stares at him. Maybe Baekhyun is still drunk. “Are you saying…we can’t- Baekhyun, we can’t stay married. We have to get this thing annulled or something.”
Baekhyun’s face falls. “What? Divorce? Why?”
“No, annulled,” Jongdae repeats. “Like it never happened.”
“But it did happen,” Baekhyun says, his voice rising. “Why are you freaking out? We’ve practically been dating since we were one.”
“Baekhyun-”
“Okay, fine, not one. Maybe three. Remember that ring you gave me?”
Jongdae stops at that because he does remember. Sure, he thinks a little bitterly. He can’t remember anything that happened last night but he has no problem remembering something that happened more than a decade ago. “The pink plastic one I got in a cereal box?"
“Yeah, that one. Remember Chanyeol’s sister wanted it too but you gave it to me. You picked me.”
Jongdae snorts. “Yeah, because I was four and at the ‘girls have cooties’ phase in my life.”
Baekhyun pouts. “You’d still pick me now.”
“I did pick you," Jongdae mumbles, sighing when Baekhyun leans in to press his lips to his temple. “We’ve been dating for six years. But we can’t stay married, Baekhyun. We've never even talked about it before.”
"Okay, so shouldn't we talk about it now instead of just pretending it never happened?"
"We don't even live together."
"Okay first of all," Baekhyun starts, snatching his coffee back. "That is your issue. I've asked you to move in with me. And what did you do? You moved your goldfish in instead."
Jongdae glances at the goldfish in the bowl next to the bookshelf. He looks pretty happy.
"I mean, you basically live here anyway," Baekhyun continues.
"I like my apartment," Jongdae says. It's a weak excuse because even though it's true, he's barely there.
"So we'll move into your place then," Baekhyun answers shrugging. "You, me and Goldie Hawn. I don't care where we live. The place isn't important."
Jongdae stares at him. "Goldie- you named our goldfish?" Apparently his goldfish was a girl.
"Sure, even fish need a name."
Jongdae takes a seat at the counter and doesn't resist when Baekhyun loops his arms around him from behind. "Can we just not talk about this for now?" He feels Baekhyun stiffen slightly.
"Okay," Baekhyun replies. "We'll put a pin in it."
ϟ
Jongdae seems like he's in a better mood in the morning, but Baekhyun doesn't want to start off the day- or the week- with a fight, so he doesn't ask about The Incident.
"What should we do with the rings?" Jongdae asks, as he watches Baekhyun button his shirt.
The ring on his finger flashes in the mirror and Baekhyun likes seeing it on his finger. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, people are going to ask," Jongdae says, twisting his ring. He's quiet for a bit. "Maybe we shouldn't wear them."
Baekhyun pauses before he agrees, mostly because he isn't sure he won't have to return them. He's still not sure how much they spent on them.
"Practically nothing," Jongdae assures him, lips quirking up into a smile. "We bought them in one of those vending machines."
"Getting your memory back, I see." Baekhyun fiddles with the collar of his shirt, but he sighs in relief. He wasn't even sure if wedding rings could be returned.
"Another reason to not stay married. The rings aren't even real." Jongdae fixes his collar for him before kissing his shoulder. "I'll see you later tonight, okay?"
Baekhyun huffs as he stares at the ring that's now sitting in the palm of his hand. "I'd get you a real ring obviously," he mutters. He studies the ring carefully before slipping it back on. "I'll show him. I'm going to husband the fuck out of him."
ϟ
"I have a problem," Jongdae starts, as soon as he finds Luhan and Minseok in the break room. Before he can continue, Luhan squeaks out loud and he grabs Jongdae's wrist roughly.
"What is this?" he demands, bringing Jongdae's hand closer to examine the ring. "Are you engaged? Who proposed? It wasn't you, was it? You don't have a romantic bone in your body. Where did he propose? I can't believe you…" The excitement disappears from Luhan's face and it's replaced by a frown. "You got engaged before me!"
"We're not engaged," Jongdae says, wrestling his wrist free. He knows he shouldn't even be wearing the ring. He was the one who said they shouldn't wear the rings, except…he kind of liked it. Not the ring exactly because he knows that's a cheap trinket, but what it meant.
When he woke up today he wasn't as opposed to the idea of being married to Baekhyun. True, they had never talked about it but Baekhyun was right. Nothing would really change, except maybe he'd have more money because he wouldn't be paying rent for an apartment he didn't really use.
It's hard to be objective when he wakes up with their limbs entangled and Baekhyun's nose pressed into his neck. But it was familiar and Baekhyun has been his anchor for as long as he can remember. Maybe staying married wouldn't be such a bad thing. It's not like he doesn't want to be with Baekhyun for a long time.
"What's the ring for then?" Minseok doesn't seem all that curious but Luhan keeps yanking on Jongdae's arm, waiting for an answer.
"We're…umm, married."
ϟ
Okay, maybe husbanding the fuck out of someone isn't as easy as Baekhyun thought it would be. Mostly because he's not really sure what he can do that's different from what they're already doing.
Making dinner sounds manageable. Sure, his cooking skills are limited to making toast and making waffles…that you can stick in the toaster, and pop tarts- okay, so maybe he's just good at using a toaster, but how hard could it be to follow a recipe?
Kind of really hard apparently.
When Jongdae gets home, the kitchen is a mess and all kinds of things are in Baekhyun's hair. All he has to show for his trouble is soup (from a can) and whatever has died in the oven that is most definitely not the lasagna he had been aiming for.
Jongdae peeks inside and he's silent for a few moments, taking in the scene. "Honey, I'm home?" he finally offers.
Baekhyun can't help the smile that spreads across his face. "Hi honey, how was your day?" he asks playing along.
Jongdae carefully takes a step inside, and Baekhyun sees his nose twitch the way it does when he's trying his best not to wrinkle it. "What's going on?"
"I tried to make dinner," Baekhyun answers, as Jongdae attempts to dust flour out of his hair.
"Why? We're both terrible at cooking."
"Speak for yourself. I am a master toaster," Baekhyun says indignantly.
"So you decided to what? Expand your skills to making things in the oven?"
Baekhyun makes a face. "I was trying to husband you."
Jongdae laughs. "Husband me?"
"You know, show you the perks of being married," Baekhyun says, pouting a little. "Obviously home-made meals are not going to be a perk of our marriage."
"I think we'll manage," Jongdae says grinning. "Come on, let's go out for dinner."
Baekhyun leans in to kiss him and to smear some of the sauce from his shirt across Jongdae's face. "Let's get cleaned up first."
ϟ
Jongdae is feeling pretty good about doing the laundry as he's throwing clothes into the washing machine. It's only after he's done, and he grabs the laundry detergent and stares at the washing machine that he realizes-
Now what?
Doing their laundry had seemed like a good idea at the time. Baekhyun was trying his best to husband him, which mostly involved places to have sex and making sure they never ran out of toast. When Jongdae had seen their overflowing laundry basket, he figured maybe he'd try to return the favour.
Except he's not really sure what he's supposed to do. His previous experience with laundry was…well, none. It was mostly a mixture of just buying new clothes or lugging a load over to his parents' house in the pretense of catching up and washing clothes, when it was really just his mother feeding him and washing his clothes for him.
He glances at the clothes in the washing machine. He hasn't started a cycle yet. He could still- he shakes his head. If he was going to give this marriage thing a shot, he couldn't make his mom do the laundry.
"I can do this," he says to himself. Put the clothes in the machine, throw some detergent in and start a new cycle. What more did he need to know?
A few more things it turns out. Like how a red shirt definitely didn't go with the white clothes.
"I'm sorry," Jongdae says, wincing as Baekhyun's plucks a pink sweater out of the dryer.
Baekhyun bites down on his lip and Jongdae knows he's trying his hardest not to laugh. "Well, everything's clean," he says.
"But all your clothes are pink!" Jongdae wails. "We're going to look-"
"Cute?" Baekhyun suggests.
"Like marshmallow puffs!"
Baekhyun starts snickering, he can't help himself. "Marshmallow puffs are cute," he says, patting Jongdae on the arm. "And look, now we have a bunch of matching clothes."
Jongdae sticks out his lower lip. "Baekhyun, we suck at this."
Baekhyun stops smiling. "What?"
"We can't even do basic things like cooking and doing the laundry," Jongdae says, covering his face with a pink shirt. "We can't do this."
Baekhyun pulls the shirt away and reaches out for his hands. "It'll be fine," he says. "You know what our problem is? We keep doing all these things separately. Maybe if we do things together, it won't be so bad."
Jongdae looks doubtful. "Maybe," he mumbles.
"So…" Baekhyun crowds Jongdae against the dryer as his fingers drift to the hem of his shirt. "We've never had sex in the laundry room before."
ϟ
Grocery shopping seems like something that even they can't possibly screw up.
"Two ply?" Baekhyun looks at him appalled. "We should buy the three ply kind."
"What's the difference?" Jongdae asks in exasperation.
"It's better," Baekhyun insists. "Love yourself, Jongdae. Have you been using two ply all your life?"
Jongdae shrugs. "I just buy the one with the bears on them."
"Fine." Baekhyun moves down the aisle and grabs a package. "See? The bears have the three ply kind too."
"Fine, three ply it is," Jongdae says rolling his eyes.
"Be kind to your ass," Baekhyun says, patting him on the butt. "If not for yourself, then for me. I'm quite fond of it you know." He sees a girl watching them with a strange look. "Date someone who insists on three ply."
"Baekhyun." Jongdae drags Baekhyun away.
"That's how you know they love you!" Baekhyun calls out. "What? Don't look at me like that. These are important things to know."
"I'm sure," Jongdae says as they move towards where the fruits are.
"Hey, we need to get some food for Goldie Hawn too," Baekhyun says, leaning against the shopping cart as Jongdae picks through apples.
Jongdae raises an eyebrow as he drops the bag of apples into the cart. "Do you think she'd prefer apples or…?"
"It was just a reminder," Baekhyun says, following Jongdae towards the vegetables. "Why are we here? We don't like vegetables."
"We should be eating healthier."
Baekhyun leans over Jongdae's shoulder heavily. "We're married, not old. What, do you think we should also start eating cereal that's high in fibre? Because let me tell you something, if you come in between me and my Oreo-Os then-"
Jongdae cuts him off by turning around and kissing him. "Of course I'm not going to get in the middle of you and your Oreo-Os," he says seriously. "But we're going to buy a bag of frozen mixed vegetables to act like we eat healthy."
Baekhyun grins smugly. "PDA in the vegetable aisle. Kim Jongdae, you tart."
ϟ
Baekhyun has just finished making his coffee when he hears the door to the apartment opening. He raises an eyebrow when he sees Jongdae at the door with an armful of boxes.
"What's going on?" he singsongs because he knows exactly what's happening.
Jongdae squeaks in surprise and promptly drops the boxes. "I thought you'd be at work."
"I came home early." Baekhyun watches as a few shoes tumble out of one of the boxes. "Something you want to tell me?"
"Umm…" Jongdae stares at his feet. "I was just moving some of my stuff in."
"Is 'some' of your stuff the 'rest' of your stuff?" Baekhyun asks innocently. "Because if I recall correctly, some of your stuff is already here."
"Okay, the rest of my stuff," Jongdae admits.
Baekhyun puts his coffee on the table before he skips over to Jongdae. "Are you officially moving in?" he asks, putting his arms around his neck.
"Well, how are we going to be married and live separately?"
Baekhyun squeezes him tight before he lets go. "Do you have anymore boxes?"
"A lot more. Move your ass, Byun."
"Hey, are you going to take my name?" Baekhyun asks, grabbing his keys to follow Jongdae out the door. "Byun Jongdae has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"
"I really don't."
ϟ
They're bringing the last of the boxes up when they run into the old lady that lives two doors down from Baekhyun's apartment.
"Baekhyun." Mrs. Jung smiles at him pleasantly. "Is your little friend moving in with you?"
"You know Jongdae, Mrs. Jung," Baekhyun says rolling his eyes. "We've been dating for six years." He knows she's caught them kissing each other goodbye more times than he can count.
Mrs. Jung pointedly ignores Jongdae, who rolls his eyes at her too. "It's nice to see two young bachelors who are so close. You know, it's so rare to find real friendsh-"
"We're married," Jongdae interrupts.
Mrs. Jung finally acknowledges him even though she looks confused. "Really? I've never seen your wi-"
"We're married to each other," Jongdae says, pulling Baekhyun into the apartment and slamming the door shut. "Hag."
ϟ
"I think there's something wrong with our rings."
Baekhyun blinks up sleepily from where he's just finished brushing his teeth. "You mean besides the fact that they cost a dollar?"
"Yes." Jongdae leans in for a kiss and he grins when he pulls away. "Mmm, minty."
"Yeah, you're not so minty," Baekhyun says, sticking Jongdae's toothbrush in his mouth. "What's wrong with our rings?"
Jongdae holds up his free hand and Baekhyun sees the green mark where Jongdae's ring usually is.
He slips his own ring off and frowns when he sees a similar green mark. "That's not good."
"Are we going to talk about this?" Jongdae asks around his toothbrush.
"You look rabid," Baekhyun says fondly. "Talk about what? We just won't…wear the rings." He doesn't like the way that sounds. He supposes the rings don't really matter. Except he likes seeing the ring on his finger because even when he's having a bad day, it's a nice reminder that he gets to come home to Jongdae.
He knows he doesn't need the ring to remind him of that, but it's just nice. And he likes seeing the ring on Jongdae's hand. He's never doubted their relationship since they got together, but he likes the idea of this sort of permanency.
He's still brooding about it when he's pouring his cereal into his bowl so he misses the tiny packet spilling out into his milk.
"Your prize fell into your milk," Jongdae points out from behind him.
Baekhyun picks it up and he laughs when he sees what it is. "Hey."
"What'd you get?" Jongdae has just finished shoving the bag of frozen mixed vegetables aside to get to the frozen waffles, and he jumps when he sees Baekhyun in front of him.
Down on one knee.
"What are you doing?"
"Jongdae," Baekhyun says in the most serious voice he can muster, because he's a second away from losing it. "Will you stay married to me?"
Jongdae wonders if Baekhyun's milk has gone bad and then he sees the pink plastic ring Baekhyun is holding out. "You are such a loser, Byun Baekhyun."
"Answer the question or you won't get the ring."
Jongdae takes the ring and kicks Baekhyun away. "Trying to bribe me into eternity with you with jewelry," he says in mock anger, ignoring Baekhyun sprawled out in the floor. "Who do you think you are?"
Baekhyun grabs his ankle and Jongdae yelps as he goes crashing down on top of Baekhyun.
"It doesn't fit." Jongdae manages to squeeze the pink ring on to his pinky finger. "But I guess it's the thought that counts so-"
"I still have the ring you gave me when we were four."
Jongdae freezes. "Why?" he says incredulously.
Baekhyun shrugs. "I don't know. Four year old me thought it would be important at some point."
Jongdae smiles as he leans in close. "Four year old you was pretty smart." He closes the space between them as he kisses Baekhyun softly.
"I'll buy you a proper ring," Baekhyun mumbles against his lips. "At some point."
"Why? I like my ring. It's pretty. And it'll match all the clothes I turned pink."
Baekhyun laughs before he pulls Jongdae in for another kiss. His fingers curl around the back of Jongdae's neck as he works his mouth open and he pulls him even closer. He remembers kissing Jongdae for the first time. He remembers thinking that kissing Jongdae would always be one of his favourite things. Six years later and it's still true.
"So this is a yes, right?" he asks when he pulls away.
"What?"
"We're going to stay married, right?" Baekhyun's only half-joking because even though he feels like they've reached a good place, especially with Jongdae moved in, they haven't actually talked about this and he needs to hear Jongdae say he's all in.
"Baekhyun." Jongdae tugs on his ear lightly. "Yes, of course. I'm not going anywhere."
Baekhyun smiles as Jongdae kisses him again.
"You know I love you, right?" Jongdae rolls off him and settles down beside him, intertwining their fingers. "I don't agree to stay married to just anyone."
"Well, not everyone can offer you pretty pink, plastic jewelry."
------
[x] happy (belated) bday, cla! ily and i'm sorry this is hella late. IDK IF U EVEN STILL WANT THIS? but i hope i did your prompt some justice.
[x] maybe consider this an alternate ending to paperweight. y'know if kjd hadn't died. ok, i'm kidding, pls don't hurt me
baekhyun/chen
pg-13
for aprilclash, who asked me for this ages ago (like a year ago probably?) and idek if you still want it but i hope you like it anyway ;_;
“Luhan is going to kill us.” Jongdae sighs as he rests his head on Baekhyun’s shoulder. “This is probably not what he had in mind when he gave us tickets to Las Vegas.”
“No, probably not,” Baekhyun says cheerfully. “He probably just wanted us to have fun. And we did.”
“Too much fun.” Jongdae groans and pulls one of Baekhyun’s arms around him. “Be comforting,” he complains. “Why are you not suffering too?”
Baekhyun obediently brings his other arm around him and squeezes him lightly. “Such a lightweight,” he coos, patting Jongdae on the butt. “Come on. Let’s go home and we can find you some aspirin for the headache.”
“No. Just let me die,” Jongdae mumbles, shifting most of his weight against Baekhyun.
“Nah, I like you too much for that,” Baekhyun says. “Plus we just got married.” He holds his free hand out in front of them and smiles widely at the silver ring on his finger. It’s a pretty nice ring considering they were both drunk off their asses last night. He frowns at that thought. How much money had they spent on their rings? “Jongdae?”
Jongdae groans into his neck. “Baek, can we not do the talking thing for awhile? It hurts trying to make my brain concentrate, and it hurts to talk.”
“Baby,” Baekhyun mutters, but he says it quietly.
“Baekhyun! Jongdae! Over here!”
Baekhyun looks up and sees Luhan, leaning up on his tiptoes as he waves a sign with Jongdae’s name on it. Minseok is beside him, holding a sign that has Baekhyun’s name on it. “Jesus.” He doesn’t embarrass easily, but sometimes Luhan…
“Let’s cut him out of our lives,” Jongdae mumbles. “Is it just me or is his smile making the headache worse?”
“Probably just you,” Baekhyun says unsympathetically. He squeezes Jongdae’s waist again. “Get ready for the Luhan whirlwind.”
ϟ
When Jongdae wakes up, his head is buried under a pillow and he’s spread out across most of the bed. He peeks out from under a corner and he flinches when he sees the sunlight pouring into the room. He can’t even remember what day it is. He remembers Luhan picking them up at the airport and loud talking. He’s pretty sure he didn’t add anything substantial to the conversation, unless grunting and whining was considered substantial.
He moves the pillow off his head and lays there for awhile trying to get used to the light. “Baekhyun?” He’s pretty sure he hasn’t slept an entire day away, it should be Sunday. So why isn’t Baekhyun in bed with him?
“In the kitchen!”
Ugh. There’s so much effort required to go to the kitchen. Jongdae makes a face but he drags himself out of bed and into the kitchen, where Baekhyun was making coffee.
“I’m impressed,” Baekhyun says, grinning. “Didn’t think you’d bother trying to get out of bed for the next few hours.”
Jongdae ignores him as he grabs the mug of coffee in front of Baekhyun. He lets out a contented sigh when his fingers instantly warm up as they wrap around the mug. He freezes when he sees the ring on his finger. Why was he wearing a- he almost drops his cup. “Did we…” He stares up at Baekhyun in horror. “Are we- married?”
Baekhyun grins at him over his cup. “You bet your sweet ass we are.”
Jongdae chokes on his coffee. “How is this possible?” he sputters. He doesn’t resist when Baekhyun grabs a paper towel and tries to pat him dry.
“Well,” Baekhyun says, slowly. He gives him another smile that seems softer and more genuine than the shit-eating grin he had offered him a few moments ago. “The thing was, I liked it so I put a ring on it.”
Jongdae wants to cry. “Baekhyun, I’m serious.”
“So am I,” Baekhyun says, pouting. “I found a marriage certificate in the suitcase. You know, you’re a very functional drunk considering you never remember things the day after. I can’t believe you managed to pack everything so neatly. I take umbrage to that, by the way. We should have been fucking on our wedding night, not packing.”
“Considering how my ass feels, I’m pretty sure we multi-tasked.”
Baekhyun brightens. “Really? Do you think we did it more than once? How sore is your-”
“Baekhyun.” Jongdae sets his cup down and grabs Baekhyun by the shoulders. “Can we be serious for a second?”
Baekhyun rolls his eyes but he doesn’t say anything, just nods and gestures at Jongdae to keep talking.
“We’re married.” Jongdae jabs him in the shoulder when Baekhyun remains silent. “Don’t you have anything to say about that? What should we do?”
“Do?” Baekhyun raises an eyebrow. “I don’t know? Married people stuff, I guess?”
What? “Married people stuff?”
“I don’t know.” Baekhyun shrugs. “Cooking, laundry, house chores. Honey, I’m home? Hi, honey, how was your day? That kind of stuff, I guess. And have married people sex. Lots of it.”
Jongdae stares at him. Maybe Baekhyun is still drunk. “Are you saying…we can’t- Baekhyun, we can’t stay married. We have to get this thing annulled or something.”
Baekhyun’s face falls. “What? Divorce? Why?”
“No, annulled,” Jongdae repeats. “Like it never happened.”
“But it did happen,” Baekhyun says, his voice rising. “Why are you freaking out? We’ve practically been dating since we were one.”
“Baekhyun-”
“Okay, fine, not one. Maybe three. Remember that ring you gave me?”
Jongdae stops at that because he does remember. Sure, he thinks a little bitterly. He can’t remember anything that happened last night but he has no problem remembering something that happened more than a decade ago. “The pink plastic one I got in a cereal box?"
“Yeah, that one. Remember Chanyeol’s sister wanted it too but you gave it to me. You picked me.”
Jongdae snorts. “Yeah, because I was four and at the ‘girls have cooties’ phase in my life.”
Baekhyun pouts. “You’d still pick me now.”
“I did pick you," Jongdae mumbles, sighing when Baekhyun leans in to press his lips to his temple. “We’ve been dating for six years. But we can’t stay married, Baekhyun. We've never even talked about it before.”
"Okay, so shouldn't we talk about it now instead of just pretending it never happened?"
"We don't even live together."
"Okay first of all," Baekhyun starts, snatching his coffee back. "That is your issue. I've asked you to move in with me. And what did you do? You moved your goldfish in instead."
Jongdae glances at the goldfish in the bowl next to the bookshelf. He looks pretty happy.
"I mean, you basically live here anyway," Baekhyun continues.
"I like my apartment," Jongdae says. It's a weak excuse because even though it's true, he's barely there.
"So we'll move into your place then," Baekhyun answers shrugging. "You, me and Goldie Hawn. I don't care where we live. The place isn't important."
Jongdae stares at him. "Goldie- you named our goldfish?" Apparently his goldfish was a girl.
"Sure, even fish need a name."
Jongdae takes a seat at the counter and doesn't resist when Baekhyun loops his arms around him from behind. "Can we just not talk about this for now?" He feels Baekhyun stiffen slightly.
"Okay," Baekhyun replies. "We'll put a pin in it."
ϟ
Jongdae seems like he's in a better mood in the morning, but Baekhyun doesn't want to start off the day- or the week- with a fight, so he doesn't ask about The Incident.
"What should we do with the rings?" Jongdae asks, as he watches Baekhyun button his shirt.
The ring on his finger flashes in the mirror and Baekhyun likes seeing it on his finger. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, people are going to ask," Jongdae says, twisting his ring. He's quiet for a bit. "Maybe we shouldn't wear them."
Baekhyun pauses before he agrees, mostly because he isn't sure he won't have to return them. He's still not sure how much they spent on them.
"Practically nothing," Jongdae assures him, lips quirking up into a smile. "We bought them in one of those vending machines."
"Getting your memory back, I see." Baekhyun fiddles with the collar of his shirt, but he sighs in relief. He wasn't even sure if wedding rings could be returned.
"Another reason to not stay married. The rings aren't even real." Jongdae fixes his collar for him before kissing his shoulder. "I'll see you later tonight, okay?"
Baekhyun huffs as he stares at the ring that's now sitting in the palm of his hand. "I'd get you a real ring obviously," he mutters. He studies the ring carefully before slipping it back on. "I'll show him. I'm going to husband the fuck out of him."
ϟ
"I have a problem," Jongdae starts, as soon as he finds Luhan and Minseok in the break room. Before he can continue, Luhan squeaks out loud and he grabs Jongdae's wrist roughly.
"What is this?" he demands, bringing Jongdae's hand closer to examine the ring. "Are you engaged? Who proposed? It wasn't you, was it? You don't have a romantic bone in your body. Where did he propose? I can't believe you…" The excitement disappears from Luhan's face and it's replaced by a frown. "You got engaged before me!"
"We're not engaged," Jongdae says, wrestling his wrist free. He knows he shouldn't even be wearing the ring. He was the one who said they shouldn't wear the rings, except…he kind of liked it. Not the ring exactly because he knows that's a cheap trinket, but what it meant.
When he woke up today he wasn't as opposed to the idea of being married to Baekhyun. True, they had never talked about it but Baekhyun was right. Nothing would really change, except maybe he'd have more money because he wouldn't be paying rent for an apartment he didn't really use.
It's hard to be objective when he wakes up with their limbs entangled and Baekhyun's nose pressed into his neck. But it was familiar and Baekhyun has been his anchor for as long as he can remember. Maybe staying married wouldn't be such a bad thing. It's not like he doesn't want to be with Baekhyun for a long time.
"What's the ring for then?" Minseok doesn't seem all that curious but Luhan keeps yanking on Jongdae's arm, waiting for an answer.
"We're…umm, married."
ϟ
Okay, maybe husbanding the fuck out of someone isn't as easy as Baekhyun thought it would be. Mostly because he's not really sure what he can do that's different from what they're already doing.
Making dinner sounds manageable. Sure, his cooking skills are limited to making toast and making waffles…that you can stick in the toaster, and pop tarts- okay, so maybe he's just good at using a toaster, but how hard could it be to follow a recipe?
Kind of really hard apparently.
When Jongdae gets home, the kitchen is a mess and all kinds of things are in Baekhyun's hair. All he has to show for his trouble is soup (from a can) and whatever has died in the oven that is most definitely not the lasagna he had been aiming for.
Jongdae peeks inside and he's silent for a few moments, taking in the scene. "Honey, I'm home?" he finally offers.
Baekhyun can't help the smile that spreads across his face. "Hi honey, how was your day?" he asks playing along.
Jongdae carefully takes a step inside, and Baekhyun sees his nose twitch the way it does when he's trying his best not to wrinkle it. "What's going on?"
"I tried to make dinner," Baekhyun answers, as Jongdae attempts to dust flour out of his hair.
"Why? We're both terrible at cooking."
"Speak for yourself. I am a master toaster," Baekhyun says indignantly.
"So you decided to what? Expand your skills to making things in the oven?"
Baekhyun makes a face. "I was trying to husband you."
Jongdae laughs. "Husband me?"
"You know, show you the perks of being married," Baekhyun says, pouting a little. "Obviously home-made meals are not going to be a perk of our marriage."
"I think we'll manage," Jongdae says grinning. "Come on, let's go out for dinner."
Baekhyun leans in to kiss him and to smear some of the sauce from his shirt across Jongdae's face. "Let's get cleaned up first."
ϟ
Jongdae is feeling pretty good about doing the laundry as he's throwing clothes into the washing machine. It's only after he's done, and he grabs the laundry detergent and stares at the washing machine that he realizes-
Now what?
Doing their laundry had seemed like a good idea at the time. Baekhyun was trying his best to husband him, which mostly involved places to have sex and making sure they never ran out of toast. When Jongdae had seen their overflowing laundry basket, he figured maybe he'd try to return the favour.
Except he's not really sure what he's supposed to do. His previous experience with laundry was…well, none. It was mostly a mixture of just buying new clothes or lugging a load over to his parents' house in the pretense of catching up and washing clothes, when it was really just his mother feeding him and washing his clothes for him.
He glances at the clothes in the washing machine. He hasn't started a cycle yet. He could still- he shakes his head. If he was going to give this marriage thing a shot, he couldn't make his mom do the laundry.
"I can do this," he says to himself. Put the clothes in the machine, throw some detergent in and start a new cycle. What more did he need to know?
A few more things it turns out. Like how a red shirt definitely didn't go with the white clothes.
"I'm sorry," Jongdae says, wincing as Baekhyun's plucks a pink sweater out of the dryer.
Baekhyun bites down on his lip and Jongdae knows he's trying his hardest not to laugh. "Well, everything's clean," he says.
"But all your clothes are pink!" Jongdae wails. "We're going to look-"
"Cute?" Baekhyun suggests.
"Like marshmallow puffs!"
Baekhyun starts snickering, he can't help himself. "Marshmallow puffs are cute," he says, patting Jongdae on the arm. "And look, now we have a bunch of matching clothes."
Jongdae sticks out his lower lip. "Baekhyun, we suck at this."
Baekhyun stops smiling. "What?"
"We can't even do basic things like cooking and doing the laundry," Jongdae says, covering his face with a pink shirt. "We can't do this."
Baekhyun pulls the shirt away and reaches out for his hands. "It'll be fine," he says. "You know what our problem is? We keep doing all these things separately. Maybe if we do things together, it won't be so bad."
Jongdae looks doubtful. "Maybe," he mumbles.
"So…" Baekhyun crowds Jongdae against the dryer as his fingers drift to the hem of his shirt. "We've never had sex in the laundry room before."
ϟ
Grocery shopping seems like something that even they can't possibly screw up.
"Two ply?" Baekhyun looks at him appalled. "We should buy the three ply kind."
"What's the difference?" Jongdae asks in exasperation.
"It's better," Baekhyun insists. "Love yourself, Jongdae. Have you been using two ply all your life?"
Jongdae shrugs. "I just buy the one with the bears on them."
"Fine." Baekhyun moves down the aisle and grabs a package. "See? The bears have the three ply kind too."
"Fine, three ply it is," Jongdae says rolling his eyes.
"Be kind to your ass," Baekhyun says, patting him on the butt. "If not for yourself, then for me. I'm quite fond of it you know." He sees a girl watching them with a strange look. "Date someone who insists on three ply."
"Baekhyun." Jongdae drags Baekhyun away.
"That's how you know they love you!" Baekhyun calls out. "What? Don't look at me like that. These are important things to know."
"I'm sure," Jongdae says as they move towards where the fruits are.
"Hey, we need to get some food for Goldie Hawn too," Baekhyun says, leaning against the shopping cart as Jongdae picks through apples.
Jongdae raises an eyebrow as he drops the bag of apples into the cart. "Do you think she'd prefer apples or…?"
"It was just a reminder," Baekhyun says, following Jongdae towards the vegetables. "Why are we here? We don't like vegetables."
"We should be eating healthier."
Baekhyun leans over Jongdae's shoulder heavily. "We're married, not old. What, do you think we should also start eating cereal that's high in fibre? Because let me tell you something, if you come in between me and my Oreo-Os then-"
Jongdae cuts him off by turning around and kissing him. "Of course I'm not going to get in the middle of you and your Oreo-Os," he says seriously. "But we're going to buy a bag of frozen mixed vegetables to act like we eat healthy."
Baekhyun grins smugly. "PDA in the vegetable aisle. Kim Jongdae, you tart."
ϟ
Baekhyun has just finished making his coffee when he hears the door to the apartment opening. He raises an eyebrow when he sees Jongdae at the door with an armful of boxes.
"What's going on?" he singsongs because he knows exactly what's happening.
Jongdae squeaks in surprise and promptly drops the boxes. "I thought you'd be at work."
"I came home early." Baekhyun watches as a few shoes tumble out of one of the boxes. "Something you want to tell me?"
"Umm…" Jongdae stares at his feet. "I was just moving some of my stuff in."
"Is 'some' of your stuff the 'rest' of your stuff?" Baekhyun asks innocently. "Because if I recall correctly, some of your stuff is already here."
"Okay, the rest of my stuff," Jongdae admits.
Baekhyun puts his coffee on the table before he skips over to Jongdae. "Are you officially moving in?" he asks, putting his arms around his neck.
"Well, how are we going to be married and live separately?"
Baekhyun squeezes him tight before he lets go. "Do you have anymore boxes?"
"A lot more. Move your ass, Byun."
"Hey, are you going to take my name?" Baekhyun asks, grabbing his keys to follow Jongdae out the door. "Byun Jongdae has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"
"I really don't."
ϟ
They're bringing the last of the boxes up when they run into the old lady that lives two doors down from Baekhyun's apartment.
"Baekhyun." Mrs. Jung smiles at him pleasantly. "Is your little friend moving in with you?"
"You know Jongdae, Mrs. Jung," Baekhyun says rolling his eyes. "We've been dating for six years." He knows she's caught them kissing each other goodbye more times than he can count.
Mrs. Jung pointedly ignores Jongdae, who rolls his eyes at her too. "It's nice to see two young bachelors who are so close. You know, it's so rare to find real friendsh-"
"We're married," Jongdae interrupts.
Mrs. Jung finally acknowledges him even though she looks confused. "Really? I've never seen your wi-"
"We're married to each other," Jongdae says, pulling Baekhyun into the apartment and slamming the door shut. "Hag."
ϟ
"I think there's something wrong with our rings."
Baekhyun blinks up sleepily from where he's just finished brushing his teeth. "You mean besides the fact that they cost a dollar?"
"Yes." Jongdae leans in for a kiss and he grins when he pulls away. "Mmm, minty."
"Yeah, you're not so minty," Baekhyun says, sticking Jongdae's toothbrush in his mouth. "What's wrong with our rings?"
Jongdae holds up his free hand and Baekhyun sees the green mark where Jongdae's ring usually is.
He slips his own ring off and frowns when he sees a similar green mark. "That's not good."
"Are we going to talk about this?" Jongdae asks around his toothbrush.
"You look rabid," Baekhyun says fondly. "Talk about what? We just won't…wear the rings." He doesn't like the way that sounds. He supposes the rings don't really matter. Except he likes seeing the ring on his finger because even when he's having a bad day, it's a nice reminder that he gets to come home to Jongdae.
He knows he doesn't need the ring to remind him of that, but it's just nice. And he likes seeing the ring on Jongdae's hand. He's never doubted their relationship since they got together, but he likes the idea of this sort of permanency.
He's still brooding about it when he's pouring his cereal into his bowl so he misses the tiny packet spilling out into his milk.
"Your prize fell into your milk," Jongdae points out from behind him.
Baekhyun picks it up and he laughs when he sees what it is. "Hey."
"What'd you get?" Jongdae has just finished shoving the bag of frozen mixed vegetables aside to get to the frozen waffles, and he jumps when he sees Baekhyun in front of him.
Down on one knee.
"What are you doing?"
"Jongdae," Baekhyun says in the most serious voice he can muster, because he's a second away from losing it. "Will you stay married to me?"
Jongdae wonders if Baekhyun's milk has gone bad and then he sees the pink plastic ring Baekhyun is holding out. "You are such a loser, Byun Baekhyun."
"Answer the question or you won't get the ring."
Jongdae takes the ring and kicks Baekhyun away. "Trying to bribe me into eternity with you with jewelry," he says in mock anger, ignoring Baekhyun sprawled out in the floor. "Who do you think you are?"
Baekhyun grabs his ankle and Jongdae yelps as he goes crashing down on top of Baekhyun.
"It doesn't fit." Jongdae manages to squeeze the pink ring on to his pinky finger. "But I guess it's the thought that counts so-"
"I still have the ring you gave me when we were four."
Jongdae freezes. "Why?" he says incredulously.
Baekhyun shrugs. "I don't know. Four year old me thought it would be important at some point."
Jongdae smiles as he leans in close. "Four year old you was pretty smart." He closes the space between them as he kisses Baekhyun softly.
"I'll buy you a proper ring," Baekhyun mumbles against his lips. "At some point."
"Why? I like my ring. It's pretty. And it'll match all the clothes I turned pink."
Baekhyun laughs before he pulls Jongdae in for another kiss. His fingers curl around the back of Jongdae's neck as he works his mouth open and he pulls him even closer. He remembers kissing Jongdae for the first time. He remembers thinking that kissing Jongdae would always be one of his favourite things. Six years later and it's still true.
"So this is a yes, right?" he asks when he pulls away.
"What?"
"We're going to stay married, right?" Baekhyun's only half-joking because even though he feels like they've reached a good place, especially with Jongdae moved in, they haven't actually talked about this and he needs to hear Jongdae say he's all in.
"Baekhyun." Jongdae tugs on his ear lightly. "Yes, of course. I'm not going anywhere."
Baekhyun smiles as Jongdae kisses him again.
"You know I love you, right?" Jongdae rolls off him and settles down beside him, intertwining their fingers. "I don't agree to stay married to just anyone."
"Well, not everyone can offer you pretty pink, plastic jewelry."
------
[x] happy (belated) bday, cla! ily and i'm sorry this is hella late. IDK IF U EVEN STILL WANT THIS? but i hope i did your prompt some justice.
[x] maybe consider this an alternate ending to paperweight. y'know if kjd hadn't died. ok, i'm kidding, pls don't hurt me