Vegas, Baby (Con Te Partiro)
Title: Vegas, Baby (Con Te Partiro)
Author eoryndal
Rating: r
Pairing: SuKai
Summary: Accidentally getting married in Las Vegas is probably not something you should do as a k-pop star.
A/N: Early Christmas present for my precious_0ne
"Hyung, I want to go to a Casino!" Zitao pulled Joonmyun's sleeve and gave him his best pleading look. All the group members had split into smaller groups when it was announced that they had one evening of free time on the last day of their American tour. Zitao had latched onto Joonmyun and dragged him out of their hotel excitedly. Jongin and Lu Han were tagging along, still a little exhausted from their concert the day before and the interview they'd had today.
Their managers had explicitly forbidden gambling. They were allowed to go sightseeing and look at whatever they wanted but they had to be satisfied with looking at Casinos from the outside. But if Joonmyun was honest, he was curious, too. He looked like he was about to give in to Zitao but then Lu Han stepped in and slapped Zitao's arm. "Do you want to find out how fast you can drain Joonmyun's moolah, or what?" With a broad grin, he turned to Joonmyun and promised he'd protect his wallet, even as Zitao protested loudly and slapped him back.
Squabbling and joking like this, they continued down the street, looking for something to do. Jongin walked with his hands in his jeans pockets, looking at all the neon lights like a kid looking at a Christmas tree. He had a faint smile on his lips, and when Joonmyun turned to him to ask him what he wanted to do, he found it hard to look away from the soft expression of awe on Jongin's face. "Uh..." Flustered, he couldn't remember what he'd been trying to say.
A laughing Zitao jumped to the side to escape Lu Han's hands and crashed into Joonmyun. "Sorry!" he called and ran further down the street, chased by Lu Han, while Joonmyun stumbled from the unexpected blow and tried to catch himself before he collided into Jongin's side. Joonmyun ascribed it to the hot Nevada evening breeze when a burst of fire spread through him as Jongin slung an arm around his shoulders and steadied him, then keeping his arm there like it was the most natural thing in the world. They both laughed at Zitao when Lu Han caught him and jumped up to grab him in a headlock and rub his knuckles almost painfully on his head. Dutifully, Joonmyun ignored the slow, steady burning in the pit of his stomach.
They caught up to the still play-fighting pair and continued down the street. Around the corner, they passed by a convenience store and Lu Han stopped suddenly, eyes sparkling with the prospect of mischief. "Wait here, I'll buy us drinks. It's our last night in America, we should have a toast!" And off he went, leaving the other three outside to wait. Jongin and Zitao started speculating about what kind of alcoholic beverages he would buy, and Joonmyun threw in a few comments like "No, not soju, you can have that at home. Don't you want to try something American?" and "Since we're in Vegas, we should have something classy like champagne or cognac" but both times his 'old man's taste' was met with loud protests.
Lu Han came back with a scandalized expression on his face and a bag full of beer cans and a bottle of whiskey. "They thought I was a minor and wouldn't let me buy alcohol, can you believe that?!" The other three pulled their eyebrows up and looked at his eternally boyish face before bursting into roaring laughter. Lu Han chased them until they all stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, laughing and panting and holding their sides.
"We should probably drink these before the cans explode," Lu Han said when he regained his breath and handed out the drinks. The first round of beer cans was chugged down pretty fast and they were well into the second round when they continued wandering around. They passed by a few Casinos and Joonmyun yelled "Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Eleven!" and started singing the Mission Impossible tune. It made Zitao break into giggles. "Hyung, that's the wrong one!" But by that time, they all had the song stuck in their heads and sang it together between swigs of beer that settled with a pleasant buzzing in their stomachs.
"Look, there's a toy vending machine," Zitao said suddenly, pointing to the wall of one retro-style arcade, almost bouncing up and down. They all crowded around the three machines, infected by his enthusiasm and decided to drop a few coins in them, seeing as they didn't need American money anymore when they returned to Seoul anyway. Lu Han got a green plastic ball, Jongin a yellow one and Zitao an orange one. Joonmyun patiently stood back and waited for his turn to use the machines. The others couldn't wait until he got his toy and opened their plastic balls to find out what was inside.
A Hello Kitty keychain tumbled into Lu Han's palm and he pulled a face. "Am I cursed?" "Look, I got a ninja turtle." Zitao held his toy up to Lu Han's eyes who spat. "Good for you. Rub it in, yeah?" But Zitao blinked at him with big, honest eyes and said. "That's not what I meant. I was going to offer to exchange them." Lu Han fell silent and stared up at Zitao, mouth falling into an 'o'. "Really?" he asked gingerly, and when Zitao dropped the ninja turtle into his hand, plucking the Kitty out of his hold, Lu Han threw his arms around Zitao's neck and tip-toed to plant a huge, wet kiss on his cheek. He always got very emotional when he was drunk. Zitao patted his back and laughed happily, bathing in the affectionate touches.
"So what did you guys get?" Lu Han asked with a big smile on his face now that he was rid of the girly thing. Jongin showed him the little rubber ball he had found in his plastic ball. Joonmyun, however, said his was a secret. Now matter how much they prodded him, he only said he would show them later, not now. In the end, they gave up and Lu Han passed the whiskey bottle around. It was the first time drinking whiskey for Jongin and Zitao and they both stuck out their tongues, making faces as if they were going to puke. "How do people drink this?" Jongin coughed, fishing for another beer in Lu Han's grocery bag because that was the only thing they had to wash the taste out of his mouth.
"Oh! Hyung," he called with the beer can halfway to his mouth, suddenly remembering something. "The musical fountain. Let's go see it." The GPS on their phones told them that they were in fact not far away from the Bellagio Hotel in front of which the famous fountains danced in synchronization to music. They walked there and could already see and hear it from down the street, running towards it. They arrived to the last tunes of My Heart Will Go On and while Joonmyun stood like a conductor and waved his fingers at the fountains, Zitao's lips pulled into a pout and he asked loudly. "Why do they play such sad songs?" Lu Han nodded and chimed in, whining. "Why such sad songs?" He threw his arms around Zitao's neck again, empty beer cans in the plastic back that still swung from his wrist clanging against each other.
Jongin didn't understand what they were saying to each other in Chinese, only that it sounded very theatrical, so he decided to ignore them and focus his gaze on the water jets shooting up and falling in drops that sparkled in the light by which they were illuminated. The swaying motion of the water fountains and the alcohol made his head pleasantly fuzzy and he kept watching until gazing up at one of the highest blasts of water made him dizzy and lose his balance. He gripped Joonmyun's arm to steady himself but instead they both toppled over. Laughing, they gave up on verticality and just sat on the ground, shrugging at each other, as people around them started to leave since the fountain show was over. Zitao and Lu Han joined them, sitting in a circle, talking and laughing.
"Double date!" Lu Han slurred after a while and pointed between Joonmyun and Jongin, and himself and Zitao. The latter cracked up in loud hiccups of laughter and demanded the other two to do a love shot. With some alcohol-induced difficulty, Joonmyun and Jongin scooted closer to each other and managed to locate their right arms, looping them before drinking the last swigs of their now lukewarm beers. Zitao wanted to do a love shot, too, but they only had whiskey left so they just continued joking around, from time to time leaning heads on the nearest shoulder and staring up at the night sky. They didn't feel like leaving yet.
They were surprised when the fountains came to life again 15 minutes later and the first notes of Time to Say Goodbye flowed out of the speakers. All four of them jumped up -- very unsteady on their feet at this point -- and sang along in fake Italian with the seriousness of someone singing their national anthem, hands held over their hearts. When the song climbed up towards its peak and the jets of water shot higher and higher into the night sky, Joonmyun dropped onto one knee and, after taking a considerable amount of effort to find his balance, held up the little plastic ball he had gotten from the toy vending machine and shouted. "Kim Jongin, it'd make me the happiest man on this planet if you married me! Please!"
Curiously, Jongin took the plastic ball and opened it right when the song ended on its most grandiose note, finding a little plastic toy ring inside. His eyes sparkled with laughter as he asked cheekily. "Only on this planet?" Joonmyun considered this. Then he shook his head and added Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Exoplanet and Naboo to the list. "Okay." Jongin laughed and pulled Joonmyun up from his kneeling position that he was visibly having trouble with.
"Kiss him, kiss him, kiss him," Lu Han and Zitao chanted, and Joonmyun let out his embarrassed laugh that made Jongin's stomach lurch into a pool of adoration. So he just went with it and gave Joonmyun a little kiss on the mouth. His taste buds were numb from all the alcohol which he thought was kind of sad. Joonmyun looked up at him with such a ridiculously wide-eyed expression that it almost made him want to kiss him again. "Aww, you two should marry right away, this is Vegas after all," Lu Han said and pulled them towards the curb, waving for a taxi. Laughingly, he and Zitao shoved the two of them onto the backseat, explaining to the driver what they wanted. Under the influence of alcohol, Zitao's English was suddenly magically flawless and he got the point across. And Lu Han pushing the rest of his dollars -- which was a considerable amount -- into the driver's hands cleared the doubtful expression off his face. He shrugged and started the car, taking them to the nearest marriage license bureau where they did the necessary paperwork.
"You guys are serious about this, huh?" The driver asked on their way to the nearest drive-thru chapel. "I thought you were just drunk and your friends were pulling a prank on you but you're really in love, aren't ya?" He pulled up to a stop light and watched his two passengers in the rear-view, waiting for an answer, but they just continued holding hands and gazing into each other's eyes, so he eventually gave up on small talk. Miraculously, a time slot was available for them just when they arrived, so they drove up to the window that was decorated with white ribbons and garish little cherubs, and after a few minutes they were declare husband and... husband. Joonmyun tried to put the toy ring on Jongin's finger but it was too small and only fit over the first knuckle of his pinky. Jongin laughed at him. But that was okay because when they kissed this time, Jongin missed Joonmyun's mouth by quite a few centimeters on the first try, so Joonmyun got to laugh at him, too. They did a lot of kissing and laughing on their way back to the hotel.
"Okay, guys, this is it," the taxi driver said when he had stopped in front of the hotel but the two weren't showing any signs of being done with giggling into each other's necks and getting out of the car. "Congratulations, I guess, and be safe when you, uh, consummate your marriage." Neither Jongin nor Joonmyun understood that word in English but they got what the man was saying when he called them back and gestured to the marriage license they had forgotten in the backseat. They thanked him and bowed politely before entering the hotel.
Joonmyun swiped his key card to open the door of his room but when Jongin was about to enter, he held him back. "I want to carry you over the door step." "But shouldn't I carry you? I'm taller..." Jongin pointed out. But Joonmyun shook his head, chuckling when the world continued to sway for a bit. It felt kind of funny. "I already told you when we filmed Happy Camp, remember? I don't want you to carry me because it might give you back problems again." At the mention of their old variety show Jongin's face lit up in a bright smile as he remembered being held so close to Joonmyun's body and he almost jumped into Joonmyun's arms. Joonmyun stumbled a bit and knocked Jongin's feet against the door frame, groaning at his heavy weight. Balance was still a rather tricky thing. He sat him down at the entrance to the hotel room, just barely three centimeters over the door step and they both took off their shoes.
Then they stood there. A blush started creeping into Joonmyun's cheeks and Jongin attempted to lean casually against the wall but leaned against the light switch and drowned them in darkness. Jongin fumbled for the switch and accidentally touched Joonmyun's hand feeling around for him in the darkness, so he just took it into his. "Jongin..." The way Joonmyun said his name lowly, almost reverently, made the alcohol in his stomach swirl funnily. The feeling intensified when Joonmyun's free hand sneaked under his hoodie and slid up his side. Jongin found it hard to breathe, as if his lungs were ticklish and tried to jump away from under Joonmyun's hand.
"Hyung, what're you doing?" his voice hitched when Joonmyun dropped to his knees and started nosing at his belly button. His mouth was really kind of close to Jongin's crotch and that seemed like a compromising position to be in, but maybe he just had trouble standing. Jongin himself was still really dizzy from the alcohol, so he knelt down with Joonmyun. "No no no." Joonmyun chuckled a little and his voice was deeper than Jongin remembered ever hearing it. "I was going to blow you." Those words went straight to Jongin's cock, leaving him a bit confused, a bit drunk, and for some reason a lot turned on. He didn't resist when Joonmyun pushed against his upper body to make him slowly lie down on his back. Joonmyun's fingers brushed constantly over his erection as he struggled to undo Jongin's belt buckle. After a few minutes of torture, Jongin couldn't take it anymore. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying hard not to come, and moaned. "Ahh, please, stop teasing."
Joonmyun's hands stilled. "I'm, uh... not teasing? I think I need some help here." Jongin groaned and lifted his upper body up on his elbows. Joonmyun sat between his legs, a wide-eyed, clueless look on his face, withdrawing his hands and tugging the sleeves half over them as he blinked at Joonmyun. Overcome with a tender feeling he couldn't quite place, Jongin leaned forward and cupped Joonmyun's face with an infinite gentleness and pressed a slow, deep kiss on his lips. Soon, they stumbled to the hotel bed and tugged their clothes off with only one goal in mind, to press their heated bodies against each other in as many places as possible and find relief from the burning that had taken hold of them.
When Joonmyun woke up the next morning, the first thing his waking mind registered was the pounding headache. The second thing it registered after he rubbed the sleep from his blurry eyes was that somehow Jongin had ended up in his bed. He wasn't quite sure how that had happened but the peaceful look and the rosy cheeks on the boy's sleeping face made him smile involuntarily. There was a warmth swelling in his chest and he automatically told himself it was from the Nevada heat. But he didn't really believe it. He smiled. Speaking of Nevada heat, though, he felt rather sweaty and sticky even though he had apparently slept naked, he noted with some confusion as he lifted the blanket to go get a shower.
He returned, towelling his hair dry, only to slip on a sheet of paper. Managing to catch himself with an outstretched hand against the wall, he frowned at the offending thing before picking it up, curious at the small English print that covered almost the whole page. He wouldn't have bothered if it weren't for what were clearly his and Jongin's signatures at the bottom. Marriage License it said at the top and a faint croak escaped Joonmyun's throat. As if on cue, Jongin roused from his sleep, breaking into a smile when he cranked his bloated eyes open just enough to see Joonmyun standing by the bed. "Good morning."
"Uh, Jonginnie," Joonmyun began carefully instead of returning the morning greeting and held the marriage license towards Jongin. "I think you should take a look at this." Jongin accepted the sheet of paper and scanned it only for a second before, much to Joonmyun's surprise, he broke out into laughter. "Hyung, did you really believe this was real?" he howled, holding his stomach. "It's not?" Joonmyun felt warmth spread all the way to his fingertips and toes as he watched Jongin's face lit up in bright laughter. It was relief, he told himself, and the Nevada heat. "Of course not! It was a joke, remember?" Jongin said, still chuckling. And then, out of the blue, his voice dropped to a lower, earnest tone, and he locked his gaze with Joonmyun's. "But last night was really nice."
"Last... Wha-" Joonmyun had to sit down. Jongin playfully hit his arm. "Hyung, let me shower first. It makes my skin itch." He stood up and made his way to the bathroom, scratching on a flaking dried splatter of white-ish substance that covered his lower stomach in a somewhat... familiar... pattern... Jongin throwing his head back and letting out a deep moan when he had come. The slick, soft feel of the tip of his cock when Joonmyun had swiped his thumb over it. The way he had writhed beautifully when Joonmyun had rubbed his cock slowly between Jongin's perfectly rounded butt cheeks and reached around his chest to flick his small, perky nipples. Nevada heat, Nevada heat, he chanted in his head as he flopped down on the bed and concentrated on willing his hard-on away.
He was in front of the full-length mirror at the entrance to the hotel room straightening his sideburns when Jongin popped his head out of the bathroom, speaking around the toothbrush and foam in his mouth. "Hyung, I just remembered something about stretching and lube. I'm not sure but maybe that's why we couldn't do it properly last night. I'll look it up on the internet later." Joonmyun choked on his spit.
They were the last two to arrive at the breakfast table in the hotel lobby downstairs and the other ten standing up, clapping and singing a rowdy, chaotic version of the wedding march led by a cheerful looking Lu Han didn't help his beet-red, burning cheeks to return to their normal state. Neither did Jongin's fingertips that brushed lightly against his wrist and ignited a hot simmering under his skin. It took one manager chiding them for making such a ruckus in a hotel and the other demanding an explanation of what was going on for the boys to calm down.
Taking a bite out of his continental breakfast-style croissant, Zitao beamed. "Joonmyun-hyung and Jongin got married." Jongin joined in his laughter and held up his right hand, wriggling his fingers to show off the toy ring that sat on his pinky. "They even got a license," Baekhyun chimed in with his foxy eye-smile, obviously well informed about all the details. This was where the managers started looking very nervous and even Yifan turned to Baekhyun, thick eyebrows drawn together in a frown. "Wait, license? You said it was a joke."
It turned out the marriage license was real. And valid all over the world. They had no chance to annul it immediately, either, because they had to leave for the airport in 30 minutes. So much for 'What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas'. They all got a scolding that lasted the entire way from the hotel to the airport, the brunt of it going to Joonmyun and Jongin, but the others got blamed, too, for encouraging such a stupid idea. They got it pounded into their heads that their careers would be over if they let anything leak to the public which meant they weren't allowed to tell their closest friends, not even their families.
The majority of the flight back to Incheon passed in a rather gloomy atmosphere, even after Jongdae ushered Jongin to sit in his seat next to Joonmyun, sticking his tongue out as his lips curled in a smile and he mouthed "newly-weds". Jongin just slipped into the seat without protest and hung his head quietly. He didn't meet a single one of the glances Joonmyun's sent his way, even as they turned increasingly pouty. Only after the dinner trays had been cleared, the little airplane tables folded away and the lights turned out, did he reach an unsure hand out to tap lightly on Joonmyun's leg.
Joonmyun lifted his eyes to meet Jongin's and maybe it was the darkness in the airplane but what he saw in them wasn't the usual bright beam but a lonely spark like the light of a star from a faraway galaxy. It made Joonmyun's chest ache. He leaned over to rest his cheek on Jongin's shoulder, infinitely glad when Jongin didn't pull away but looped an arm around his side in a secure hold. "Jonginnie, I'm so sorry," he whispered, feeling his eyes brimming with tears that he quickly dabbed away before they could fall on Jongin's skin. "As soon as we're home, I'll help looking into ways of how we can get a divorce and then everything will be back to normal."
"Hyung," Jongin murmured back quiety. "Why are you trying to break the record for the shortest marriage ever? Why not try to break the record for the longest marriage ever?" Yes, I will do that, is what Joonmyun wanted to say. But instead he patted down Jongin's arm and hand in the dark until he felt the plastic ring, and, heaving a long sigh, he muttered. "I can't believe I gave you this worthless thing and went off to marry you in a taxi and caused everyone so much trouble. And now you're stuck with me and can't even tell Taemin so you two can laugh about it together." He flicked his fingertip over the toy ring, making it slip up and down Jongin's pinky a little. Not for the first time an image popped up in his head, real couple rings, not to similar so as not to attract the attention of the public, but maybe with their names engraved on the inside. His heart gave a painful squeeze. "Why are you still wearing this thing? The joke's over. Just throw it away," he whispered, giving the ring another flick.
"No." Jongin curled his fingers as if he was afraid that Joonmyun would pull the ring off and throw it away. "I want to keep it." Joonmyun's head shot up from Jongin's shoulder to fix him with an incredulous stare. "Why, Jonginnie, after everything..." His voice was almost pleading. "Don't you see you deserve so much better?" But Jongin's lips were curving into a smile as he shook his head and he tugged the thin airplane blanket from his lap up over both their heads before leaning in so close that his cheek brushed against Joonmyun's. "I'm lucky to have you, hyung," he whispered. "You're kind, intelligent, good-looking... and rich." Little huffs of suppressed laughter blew against Joonmyun's ear. "And also very good in bed. Although I really think we should look up this prepping thing." He pulled the blanket down and let his laughter ring through the airplane cabin freely.
Joonmyun grabbed the blanket and quickly pulled it back up over their heads, partly because he felt like his cheeks were radiating so much heat they had to be glowing in the darkness, and partly because he wanted to do what he did next. He leaned in and kissed Joning square on the lips. They stayed like that, unmoving out of fear of making any kissing noises, but the feel of Jongin's plump, soft lips pressed against his own and their combined breaths fanning over his face alone was enough to make his pulse race.
Nevada heat, Joonmyun thought. But no, they weren't in Vegas anymore. They were on a plane that was flying them to the uncharted land of a secretly married life. At least until they found a way out of this mess. Until Jongin would lose interest in him. For now, he was determined to make the most of their marriage and that undoubtedly included curling into Jongin's warmth and leaning his head on his shoulder, getting comfortable enough to nod off.
"Hyung. No, yeobo." He heard a whisper just as he was about to doze off. He could hear the grin in Jongin's voice. "Did you know I'm bringing three kids into this marriage?"
Author eoryndal
Rating: r
Pairing: SuKai
Summary: Accidentally getting married in Las Vegas is probably not something you should do as a k-pop star.
A/N: Early Christmas present for my precious_0ne
"Hyung, I want to go to a Casino!" Zitao pulled Joonmyun's sleeve and gave him his best pleading look. All the group members had split into smaller groups when it was announced that they had one evening of free time on the last day of their American tour. Zitao had latched onto Joonmyun and dragged him out of their hotel excitedly. Jongin and Lu Han were tagging along, still a little exhausted from their concert the day before and the interview they'd had today.
Their managers had explicitly forbidden gambling. They were allowed to go sightseeing and look at whatever they wanted but they had to be satisfied with looking at Casinos from the outside. But if Joonmyun was honest, he was curious, too. He looked like he was about to give in to Zitao but then Lu Han stepped in and slapped Zitao's arm. "Do you want to find out how fast you can drain Joonmyun's moolah, or what?" With a broad grin, he turned to Joonmyun and promised he'd protect his wallet, even as Zitao protested loudly and slapped him back.
Squabbling and joking like this, they continued down the street, looking for something to do. Jongin walked with his hands in his jeans pockets, looking at all the neon lights like a kid looking at a Christmas tree. He had a faint smile on his lips, and when Joonmyun turned to him to ask him what he wanted to do, he found it hard to look away from the soft expression of awe on Jongin's face. "Uh..." Flustered, he couldn't remember what he'd been trying to say.
A laughing Zitao jumped to the side to escape Lu Han's hands and crashed into Joonmyun. "Sorry!" he called and ran further down the street, chased by Lu Han, while Joonmyun stumbled from the unexpected blow and tried to catch himself before he collided into Jongin's side. Joonmyun ascribed it to the hot Nevada evening breeze when a burst of fire spread through him as Jongin slung an arm around his shoulders and steadied him, then keeping his arm there like it was the most natural thing in the world. They both laughed at Zitao when Lu Han caught him and jumped up to grab him in a headlock and rub his knuckles almost painfully on his head. Dutifully, Joonmyun ignored the slow, steady burning in the pit of his stomach.
They caught up to the still play-fighting pair and continued down the street. Around the corner, they passed by a convenience store and Lu Han stopped suddenly, eyes sparkling with the prospect of mischief. "Wait here, I'll buy us drinks. It's our last night in America, we should have a toast!" And off he went, leaving the other three outside to wait. Jongin and Zitao started speculating about what kind of alcoholic beverages he would buy, and Joonmyun threw in a few comments like "No, not soju, you can have that at home. Don't you want to try something American?" and "Since we're in Vegas, we should have something classy like champagne or cognac" but both times his 'old man's taste' was met with loud protests.
Lu Han came back with a scandalized expression on his face and a bag full of beer cans and a bottle of whiskey. "They thought I was a minor and wouldn't let me buy alcohol, can you believe that?!" The other three pulled their eyebrows up and looked at his eternally boyish face before bursting into roaring laughter. Lu Han chased them until they all stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, laughing and panting and holding their sides.
"We should probably drink these before the cans explode," Lu Han said when he regained his breath and handed out the drinks. The first round of beer cans was chugged down pretty fast and they were well into the second round when they continued wandering around. They passed by a few Casinos and Joonmyun yelled "Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Eleven!" and started singing the Mission Impossible tune. It made Zitao break into giggles. "Hyung, that's the wrong one!" But by that time, they all had the song stuck in their heads and sang it together between swigs of beer that settled with a pleasant buzzing in their stomachs.
"Look, there's a toy vending machine," Zitao said suddenly, pointing to the wall of one retro-style arcade, almost bouncing up and down. They all crowded around the three machines, infected by his enthusiasm and decided to drop a few coins in them, seeing as they didn't need American money anymore when they returned to Seoul anyway. Lu Han got a green plastic ball, Jongin a yellow one and Zitao an orange one. Joonmyun patiently stood back and waited for his turn to use the machines. The others couldn't wait until he got his toy and opened their plastic balls to find out what was inside.
A Hello Kitty keychain tumbled into Lu Han's palm and he pulled a face. "Am I cursed?" "Look, I got a ninja turtle." Zitao held his toy up to Lu Han's eyes who spat. "Good for you. Rub it in, yeah?" But Zitao blinked at him with big, honest eyes and said. "That's not what I meant. I was going to offer to exchange them." Lu Han fell silent and stared up at Zitao, mouth falling into an 'o'. "Really?" he asked gingerly, and when Zitao dropped the ninja turtle into his hand, plucking the Kitty out of his hold, Lu Han threw his arms around Zitao's neck and tip-toed to plant a huge, wet kiss on his cheek. He always got very emotional when he was drunk. Zitao patted his back and laughed happily, bathing in the affectionate touches.
"So what did you guys get?" Lu Han asked with a big smile on his face now that he was rid of the girly thing. Jongin showed him the little rubber ball he had found in his plastic ball. Joonmyun, however, said his was a secret. Now matter how much they prodded him, he only said he would show them later, not now. In the end, they gave up and Lu Han passed the whiskey bottle around. It was the first time drinking whiskey for Jongin and Zitao and they both stuck out their tongues, making faces as if they were going to puke. "How do people drink this?" Jongin coughed, fishing for another beer in Lu Han's grocery bag because that was the only thing they had to wash the taste out of his mouth.
"Oh! Hyung," he called with the beer can halfway to his mouth, suddenly remembering something. "The musical fountain. Let's go see it." The GPS on their phones told them that they were in fact not far away from the Bellagio Hotel in front of which the famous fountains danced in synchronization to music. They walked there and could already see and hear it from down the street, running towards it. They arrived to the last tunes of My Heart Will Go On and while Joonmyun stood like a conductor and waved his fingers at the fountains, Zitao's lips pulled into a pout and he asked loudly. "Why do they play such sad songs?" Lu Han nodded and chimed in, whining. "Why such sad songs?" He threw his arms around Zitao's neck again, empty beer cans in the plastic back that still swung from his wrist clanging against each other.
Jongin didn't understand what they were saying to each other in Chinese, only that it sounded very theatrical, so he decided to ignore them and focus his gaze on the water jets shooting up and falling in drops that sparkled in the light by which they were illuminated. The swaying motion of the water fountains and the alcohol made his head pleasantly fuzzy and he kept watching until gazing up at one of the highest blasts of water made him dizzy and lose his balance. He gripped Joonmyun's arm to steady himself but instead they both toppled over. Laughing, they gave up on verticality and just sat on the ground, shrugging at each other, as people around them started to leave since the fountain show was over. Zitao and Lu Han joined them, sitting in a circle, talking and laughing.
"Double date!" Lu Han slurred after a while and pointed between Joonmyun and Jongin, and himself and Zitao. The latter cracked up in loud hiccups of laughter and demanded the other two to do a love shot. With some alcohol-induced difficulty, Joonmyun and Jongin scooted closer to each other and managed to locate their right arms, looping them before drinking the last swigs of their now lukewarm beers. Zitao wanted to do a love shot, too, but they only had whiskey left so they just continued joking around, from time to time leaning heads on the nearest shoulder and staring up at the night sky. They didn't feel like leaving yet.
They were surprised when the fountains came to life again 15 minutes later and the first notes of Time to Say Goodbye flowed out of the speakers. All four of them jumped up -- very unsteady on their feet at this point -- and sang along in fake Italian with the seriousness of someone singing their national anthem, hands held over their hearts. When the song climbed up towards its peak and the jets of water shot higher and higher into the night sky, Joonmyun dropped onto one knee and, after taking a considerable amount of effort to find his balance, held up the little plastic ball he had gotten from the toy vending machine and shouted. "Kim Jongin, it'd make me the happiest man on this planet if you married me! Please!"
Curiously, Jongin took the plastic ball and opened it right when the song ended on its most grandiose note, finding a little plastic toy ring inside. His eyes sparkled with laughter as he asked cheekily. "Only on this planet?" Joonmyun considered this. Then he shook his head and added Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Exoplanet and Naboo to the list. "Okay." Jongin laughed and pulled Joonmyun up from his kneeling position that he was visibly having trouble with.
"Kiss him, kiss him, kiss him," Lu Han and Zitao chanted, and Joonmyun let out his embarrassed laugh that made Jongin's stomach lurch into a pool of adoration. So he just went with it and gave Joonmyun a little kiss on the mouth. His taste buds were numb from all the alcohol which he thought was kind of sad. Joonmyun looked up at him with such a ridiculously wide-eyed expression that it almost made him want to kiss him again. "Aww, you two should marry right away, this is Vegas after all," Lu Han said and pulled them towards the curb, waving for a taxi. Laughingly, he and Zitao shoved the two of them onto the backseat, explaining to the driver what they wanted. Under the influence of alcohol, Zitao's English was suddenly magically flawless and he got the point across. And Lu Han pushing the rest of his dollars -- which was a considerable amount -- into the driver's hands cleared the doubtful expression off his face. He shrugged and started the car, taking them to the nearest marriage license bureau where they did the necessary paperwork.
"You guys are serious about this, huh?" The driver asked on their way to the nearest drive-thru chapel. "I thought you were just drunk and your friends were pulling a prank on you but you're really in love, aren't ya?" He pulled up to a stop light and watched his two passengers in the rear-view, waiting for an answer, but they just continued holding hands and gazing into each other's eyes, so he eventually gave up on small talk. Miraculously, a time slot was available for them just when they arrived, so they drove up to the window that was decorated with white ribbons and garish little cherubs, and after a few minutes they were declare husband and... husband. Joonmyun tried to put the toy ring on Jongin's finger but it was too small and only fit over the first knuckle of his pinky. Jongin laughed at him. But that was okay because when they kissed this time, Jongin missed Joonmyun's mouth by quite a few centimeters on the first try, so Joonmyun got to laugh at him, too. They did a lot of kissing and laughing on their way back to the hotel.
"Okay, guys, this is it," the taxi driver said when he had stopped in front of the hotel but the two weren't showing any signs of being done with giggling into each other's necks and getting out of the car. "Congratulations, I guess, and be safe when you, uh, consummate your marriage." Neither Jongin nor Joonmyun understood that word in English but they got what the man was saying when he called them back and gestured to the marriage license they had forgotten in the backseat. They thanked him and bowed politely before entering the hotel.
Joonmyun swiped his key card to open the door of his room but when Jongin was about to enter, he held him back. "I want to carry you over the door step." "But shouldn't I carry you? I'm taller..." Jongin pointed out. But Joonmyun shook his head, chuckling when the world continued to sway for a bit. It felt kind of funny. "I already told you when we filmed Happy Camp, remember? I don't want you to carry me because it might give you back problems again." At the mention of their old variety show Jongin's face lit up in a bright smile as he remembered being held so close to Joonmyun's body and he almost jumped into Joonmyun's arms. Joonmyun stumbled a bit and knocked Jongin's feet against the door frame, groaning at his heavy weight. Balance was still a rather tricky thing. He sat him down at the entrance to the hotel room, just barely three centimeters over the door step and they both took off their shoes.
Then they stood there. A blush started creeping into Joonmyun's cheeks and Jongin attempted to lean casually against the wall but leaned against the light switch and drowned them in darkness. Jongin fumbled for the switch and accidentally touched Joonmyun's hand feeling around for him in the darkness, so he just took it into his. "Jongin..." The way Joonmyun said his name lowly, almost reverently, made the alcohol in his stomach swirl funnily. The feeling intensified when Joonmyun's free hand sneaked under his hoodie and slid up his side. Jongin found it hard to breathe, as if his lungs were ticklish and tried to jump away from under Joonmyun's hand.
"Hyung, what're you doing?" his voice hitched when Joonmyun dropped to his knees and started nosing at his belly button. His mouth was really kind of close to Jongin's crotch and that seemed like a compromising position to be in, but maybe he just had trouble standing. Jongin himself was still really dizzy from the alcohol, so he knelt down with Joonmyun. "No no no." Joonmyun chuckled a little and his voice was deeper than Jongin remembered ever hearing it. "I was going to blow you." Those words went straight to Jongin's cock, leaving him a bit confused, a bit drunk, and for some reason a lot turned on. He didn't resist when Joonmyun pushed against his upper body to make him slowly lie down on his back. Joonmyun's fingers brushed constantly over his erection as he struggled to undo Jongin's belt buckle. After a few minutes of torture, Jongin couldn't take it anymore. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying hard not to come, and moaned. "Ahh, please, stop teasing."
Joonmyun's hands stilled. "I'm, uh... not teasing? I think I need some help here." Jongin groaned and lifted his upper body up on his elbows. Joonmyun sat between his legs, a wide-eyed, clueless look on his face, withdrawing his hands and tugging the sleeves half over them as he blinked at Joonmyun. Overcome with a tender feeling he couldn't quite place, Jongin leaned forward and cupped Joonmyun's face with an infinite gentleness and pressed a slow, deep kiss on his lips. Soon, they stumbled to the hotel bed and tugged their clothes off with only one goal in mind, to press their heated bodies against each other in as many places as possible and find relief from the burning that had taken hold of them.
When Joonmyun woke up the next morning, the first thing his waking mind registered was the pounding headache. The second thing it registered after he rubbed the sleep from his blurry eyes was that somehow Jongin had ended up in his bed. He wasn't quite sure how that had happened but the peaceful look and the rosy cheeks on the boy's sleeping face made him smile involuntarily. There was a warmth swelling in his chest and he automatically told himself it was from the Nevada heat. But he didn't really believe it. He smiled. Speaking of Nevada heat, though, he felt rather sweaty and sticky even though he had apparently slept naked, he noted with some confusion as he lifted the blanket to go get a shower.
He returned, towelling his hair dry, only to slip on a sheet of paper. Managing to catch himself with an outstretched hand against the wall, he frowned at the offending thing before picking it up, curious at the small English print that covered almost the whole page. He wouldn't have bothered if it weren't for what were clearly his and Jongin's signatures at the bottom. Marriage License it said at the top and a faint croak escaped Joonmyun's throat. As if on cue, Jongin roused from his sleep, breaking into a smile when he cranked his bloated eyes open just enough to see Joonmyun standing by the bed. "Good morning."
"Uh, Jonginnie," Joonmyun began carefully instead of returning the morning greeting and held the marriage license towards Jongin. "I think you should take a look at this." Jongin accepted the sheet of paper and scanned it only for a second before, much to Joonmyun's surprise, he broke out into laughter. "Hyung, did you really believe this was real?" he howled, holding his stomach. "It's not?" Joonmyun felt warmth spread all the way to his fingertips and toes as he watched Jongin's face lit up in bright laughter. It was relief, he told himself, and the Nevada heat. "Of course not! It was a joke, remember?" Jongin said, still chuckling. And then, out of the blue, his voice dropped to a lower, earnest tone, and he locked his gaze with Joonmyun's. "But last night was really nice."
"Last... Wha-" Joonmyun had to sit down. Jongin playfully hit his arm. "Hyung, let me shower first. It makes my skin itch." He stood up and made his way to the bathroom, scratching on a flaking dried splatter of white-ish substance that covered his lower stomach in a somewhat... familiar... pattern... Jongin throwing his head back and letting out a deep moan when he had come. The slick, soft feel of the tip of his cock when Joonmyun had swiped his thumb over it. The way he had writhed beautifully when Joonmyun had rubbed his cock slowly between Jongin's perfectly rounded butt cheeks and reached around his chest to flick his small, perky nipples. Nevada heat, Nevada heat, he chanted in his head as he flopped down on the bed and concentrated on willing his hard-on away.
He was in front of the full-length mirror at the entrance to the hotel room straightening his sideburns when Jongin popped his head out of the bathroom, speaking around the toothbrush and foam in his mouth. "Hyung, I just remembered something about stretching and lube. I'm not sure but maybe that's why we couldn't do it properly last night. I'll look it up on the internet later." Joonmyun choked on his spit.
They were the last two to arrive at the breakfast table in the hotel lobby downstairs and the other ten standing up, clapping and singing a rowdy, chaotic version of the wedding march led by a cheerful looking Lu Han didn't help his beet-red, burning cheeks to return to their normal state. Neither did Jongin's fingertips that brushed lightly against his wrist and ignited a hot simmering under his skin. It took one manager chiding them for making such a ruckus in a hotel and the other demanding an explanation of what was going on for the boys to calm down.
Taking a bite out of his continental breakfast-style croissant, Zitao beamed. "Joonmyun-hyung and Jongin got married." Jongin joined in his laughter and held up his right hand, wriggling his fingers to show off the toy ring that sat on his pinky. "They even got a license," Baekhyun chimed in with his foxy eye-smile, obviously well informed about all the details. This was where the managers started looking very nervous and even Yifan turned to Baekhyun, thick eyebrows drawn together in a frown. "Wait, license? You said it was a joke."
It turned out the marriage license was real. And valid all over the world. They had no chance to annul it immediately, either, because they had to leave for the airport in 30 minutes. So much for 'What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas'. They all got a scolding that lasted the entire way from the hotel to the airport, the brunt of it going to Joonmyun and Jongin, but the others got blamed, too, for encouraging such a stupid idea. They got it pounded into their heads that their careers would be over if they let anything leak to the public which meant they weren't allowed to tell their closest friends, not even their families.
The majority of the flight back to Incheon passed in a rather gloomy atmosphere, even after Jongdae ushered Jongin to sit in his seat next to Joonmyun, sticking his tongue out as his lips curled in a smile and he mouthed "newly-weds". Jongin just slipped into the seat without protest and hung his head quietly. He didn't meet a single one of the glances Joonmyun's sent his way, even as they turned increasingly pouty. Only after the dinner trays had been cleared, the little airplane tables folded away and the lights turned out, did he reach an unsure hand out to tap lightly on Joonmyun's leg.
Joonmyun lifted his eyes to meet Jongin's and maybe it was the darkness in the airplane but what he saw in them wasn't the usual bright beam but a lonely spark like the light of a star from a faraway galaxy. It made Joonmyun's chest ache. He leaned over to rest his cheek on Jongin's shoulder, infinitely glad when Jongin didn't pull away but looped an arm around his side in a secure hold. "Jonginnie, I'm so sorry," he whispered, feeling his eyes brimming with tears that he quickly dabbed away before they could fall on Jongin's skin. "As soon as we're home, I'll help looking into ways of how we can get a divorce and then everything will be back to normal."
"Hyung," Jongin murmured back quiety. "Why are you trying to break the record for the shortest marriage ever? Why not try to break the record for the longest marriage ever?" Yes, I will do that, is what Joonmyun wanted to say. But instead he patted down Jongin's arm and hand in the dark until he felt the plastic ring, and, heaving a long sigh, he muttered. "I can't believe I gave you this worthless thing and went off to marry you in a taxi and caused everyone so much trouble. And now you're stuck with me and can't even tell Taemin so you two can laugh about it together." He flicked his fingertip over the toy ring, making it slip up and down Jongin's pinky a little. Not for the first time an image popped up in his head, real couple rings, not to similar so as not to attract the attention of the public, but maybe with their names engraved on the inside. His heart gave a painful squeeze. "Why are you still wearing this thing? The joke's over. Just throw it away," he whispered, giving the ring another flick.
"No." Jongin curled his fingers as if he was afraid that Joonmyun would pull the ring off and throw it away. "I want to keep it." Joonmyun's head shot up from Jongin's shoulder to fix him with an incredulous stare. "Why, Jonginnie, after everything..." His voice was almost pleading. "Don't you see you deserve so much better?" But Jongin's lips were curving into a smile as he shook his head and he tugged the thin airplane blanket from his lap up over both their heads before leaning in so close that his cheek brushed against Joonmyun's. "I'm lucky to have you, hyung," he whispered. "You're kind, intelligent, good-looking... and rich." Little huffs of suppressed laughter blew against Joonmyun's ear. "And also very good in bed. Although I really think we should look up this prepping thing." He pulled the blanket down and let his laughter ring through the airplane cabin freely.
Joonmyun grabbed the blanket and quickly pulled it back up over their heads, partly because he felt like his cheeks were radiating so much heat they had to be glowing in the darkness, and partly because he wanted to do what he did next. He leaned in and kissed Joning square on the lips. They stayed like that, unmoving out of fear of making any kissing noises, but the feel of Jongin's plump, soft lips pressed against his own and their combined breaths fanning over his face alone was enough to make his pulse race.
Nevada heat, Joonmyun thought. But no, they weren't in Vegas anymore. They were on a plane that was flying them to the uncharted land of a secretly married life. At least until they found a way out of this mess. Until Jongin would lose interest in him. For now, he was determined to make the most of their marriage and that undoubtedly included curling into Jongin's warmth and leaning his head on his shoulder, getting comfortable enough to nod off.
"Hyung. No, yeobo." He heard a whisper just as he was about to doze off. He could hear the grin in Jongin's voice. "Did you know I'm bringing three kids into this marriage?"