Coffee Love #26 - Ten Years
Word Count: 3,451

Date in Chapter: 2017 February 27

Note: Happens a little over a week after Coffee Love #25. We’re going to have this one quick Jitae chapter (the official closure to the Jitae arc), it’s Jitae only (because it was originally intended to be a bonus chapter, but we decided it fit more in the main story), and then we will move on to the Yoonseok arc. Enjoy!

Taehyung’s POV

        When Taehyung opens his eyes, he doesn’t see anything but Jimin’s dark hair right in his face. He loves how Jimin always smells so nice in the morning, like his musky shampoos that he likes to use. It take Taehyung a moment to register the alarm on Jimin’s phone going off, and that must have been what woke him in the first place.

He lift his face out of Jimin’s hair, rolls on top of Jimin, and reaches for Jimin’s phone. It’s only seven in the morning, so Taehyung wonders why the alarm is going off. Normally Jimin doesn’t have it set that early. Then he notices something just as he shuts it off. The date.

Taehyung knew that the ten year anniversary of their friendship and first time meeting was coming up, but he had completely lost track of the days. He didn’t realize that today is the day.

Funny thing is, last year, they made a promise to each other that they would get married on this day. They haven’t made any wedding plans or even really talked about it since then, so Taehyung doesn’t know how true that promise still is.

It’s ten years after their fateful first meeting, and he has Jimin lying in bed with him. Waking up next to his best friend every single day. Able to steal and sneak and gift Jimin with all the kisses he wants without having to worry about jealous boyfriends because…well, Jimin can’t be jealous that Taehyung is kissing, well, Jimin.

“Hey,” Taehyung whispers to the still sleeping Jimin. The smaller one doesn’t budge an inch. He just stays sleeping. “Angel. Sunshine. Mochi.” Taehyung begins listing off all of the nicknames he likes to use for Jimin, giving him a kiss after each one. “Shrimp.” He says, and he kisses Jimin again.

That one gets Jimin to open his sleepy eyes and glare at Taehyung. Jimin’s glares are never really that intimidating, but they come close when he’s tired. “Do you want me to punch you in the ?” Jimin asks, his voice hoarse. It sounds like more than just from being tired, but Taehyung hopes that’s all it is. “Don’t call me Shrimp. I’m not a ing shellfish.”

“Happy anniversary.” Taehyung says, ignoring Jimin’s grumpiness. Normally Jimin wakes up pretty well, but he can be quite grumpy on occasions.

“What? It’s not our…” Jimin’s voice trails off, probably realizing what Taehyung is talking about. “Happy anniversary.” His voice squeaks as he tries to say it somewhat high-pitch, and Taehyung just finds it adorable.

“Are you feeling okay?” Taehyung asks, a little concerned, and he presses his lips to Jimin’s forehead. He doesn’t feel hot, so that’s a good sign at least.

“I’m fine.” Jimin mumbles, tucking his face under Taehyung’s chin. “My throat is just a little sore because it’s dry, you know.”

“Okay,” Taehyung says, and he gets up to leave from the bedroom, but Jimin pulls him back down next to him.

“Where are you going?” Jimin whines, trying to keep Taehyung close to him.

“You said your throat is dry.” Taehyung tells him, loosening Jimin’s grip so that he can get up. “So I’m getting you some water.”

“Oh,” Jimin says as if he’s really touched by Taehyung’s act of kindness. Taehyung does nice things for him all the time, so it’s not like it’s unexpected. “Well, hurry back.”

“I will.” Taehyung promises, and he leans over Jimin to give him one more kiss before leaving. He’ll never admit it, but he’s sure he likes kisses just as much as Jimin does. Or, at least, almost as much.

Jimin’s POV

        Jimin can’t believe that ten years have already passed from his and Taehyung’s first meeting. He can’t believe that they’ve already been friends for a whole ten years. At first, Taehyung was the one to remember the date of their first meeting. Jimin remembers the first time he and Taehyung celebrated their one year friendship anniversary together. Taehyung was upset because Jimin didn’t know what they were celebrating for, so Jimin tried to remember every year after that. He was never a fan of Taehyung having a reason to be upset. Especially with him.

Their anniversary only comes once a year—this anniversary only comes once a year. Taehyung can always think of something for them to celebrate, so they can have any number of anniversaries a year. But the tenth anniversary only comes once in a lifetime, and Jimin thinks it’s something that deserves a day off from work. He grabs his phone to call Yongguk and let him know that he won’t be at the company later today, and he only hopes that Taehyung plans on skipping his classes as well.

“Hello?” Yongguk answers, and it’s strange to hear him answer the phone without his usual company greeting since it’s his personal cell that Jimin is calling right now, not the company phone. He assumed that Yongguk wouldn’t be there yet, which is why he’s trying his personal number first.

“Yongguk hyung?” Jimin says into the phone, thankful that his voice is still hoarse. Maybe it will be more believable that he’s actually sick. “I just…wanted to let you know that I won’t be at work today because I’m not feeling well.”

“Yeah, Daehyun told me that you’d call in sick today.” Yongguk says, and Jimin hates how disadvantageous it is to have a boss who is also, somewhat, his brother-in-law. He knows, in advance, the days that Jimin is most likely to skip because Daehyun knows all of that information and shares it with him. “I’m going to let you off the hook this once, but I expect you to be here on time tomorrow. Understood?”

Why does it feel like he’s talking to Jimin like he’s the same age as Minjun. “Got it.” Jimin says, his voice still hoarse. That part he’s not faking.

“Who was that?” Taehyung asks, coming back into the room with a glass of water. This time, he’s followed by Pixie, and she joins them on the bed.

“Yongguk hyung.” Jimin says, taking the water.

“You call in?” Taehyung assumes, pulling Pixie to sit in his lap.

“Yeah, I was thinking—”

“My main class of the day is cancelled, so I’m not going to class.” Taehyung says, and he takes the cup from Jimin before he can even finish drinking. “You know what we should do?”

Jimin doesn’t guess. He knows that Taehyung could be going anywhere with that question, so he decides not to make himself look like an idiot by saying something Taehyung wasn’t even thinking of.

“We should go to the court house,” Taehyung says, setting the water on the table behind him, and he leans forward to kiss Jimin. “And we should get our marriage license.”

Right. Their marriage license. So they can be married. Because they promised that they would do it on their ten year anniversary. Even without planning and a big wedding, which Jimin would like to have, apparently keeping that promise is still important to Taehyung.

“Unless you don’t to?” Taehyung says, his voice completely disheartened that it actually hurts Jimin to hear him say that.

“I do.” Jimin says, and he tries to sound as sincere as possible. If it’s this big of a deal to Taehyung, Jimin doesn’t want to be the reason he doesn’t get what he wants. “But…is it just going to be us?”

“Unless there’s someone else you want to marry?” Taehyung says, raising an eyebrow at Jimin. “But I’m pretty sure that’s not allowed. Having multiple spouses.”

Of course Taehyung would respond like that.

“I don’t mean that, Kim Taehyung.” Jimin demands, slapping his best friend on the shoulder. “I mean…we’re not bringing anyone else with us? For support? Or maybe as a witness?”

Taehyung shakes his head. “We don’t need any of that.” He says. “We’re all we need.”

It’s funny to hear Taehyung say that. Not because Jimin doesn’t think he means it. He knows that Taehyung means it. It’s funny to hear him say it because he’s the one with a billion friends and other people who love him. All Jimin has is Taehyung. And other important people they share in common, of course, but it’s mostly just Taehyung.

Taehyung’s POV

        Taehyung drives them to the courthouse later that day. It’s not until after lunch time because they were both too lazy to actually get out of bed—aside from Taehyung bringing Jimin his water this morning. Instead, they just lay in bed kissing each other all morning. Taehyung likes that Jimin’s lips are still a little swollen from that, and he wonders if he looks the same.

When they finally get the chance to explain their reasoning for being at the courthouse, they’re told that they’ll have to go on a waiting list so that they can get their backgrounds and family histories checked out. Taehyung is pretty sure that’s some bull excuse to avoid having to deal with them today, so he starts to make a scene. Not a very big scene, but gay couples usually get what they want when they make a scene. At least, that’s what Taehyung notices from the news, and it works for him this time.

The lady at the desk rolls her eyes, and she adds them to the queue to gain an audience with the judge.

“You didn’t have to do that.” Jimin says, rushing to keep up with Taehyung. Something in his voice sounds like he really means that Taehyung didn’t have to do that, but Taehyung doesn’t think anything of it. He just assumes that Jimin must be nervous.

In the next couple of hours, they’re standing before the judge, signing a piece of paper, and they’re able to leave from the courthouse as a married couple.

“You know, it’s going to take me a while to get used to calling you my husband.” Jimin says, walking ahead of Taehyung while Taehyung goes at a slow pace to carefully look at the piece of paper in his hands. “I couldn’t call you my fiancé even once over the past year.”

Despite Jimin’s words, Taehyung feels all warm and giddy inside. He doesn’t care what Jimin calls him. They’re officially a married couple now, and that’s all that matters to Taehyung. He runs up to Jimin and jumps onto his back, the smaller one being knocked unsteady at the surprise—but he easily regains his balance.

Taehyung put his arms around Jimin’s shoulder, holding their license right in Jimin’s face. “Can you believe that this little piece of paper basically binds us together for life?” Taehyung says, looking at it as he rests his head against Jimin’s. “It means we’ll never be separated. For anything. Ever.”

“I didn’t think we needed a stupid piece of paper to tell us that.” Jimin says, and he drops Taehyung, finishing his walk to the car without saying another word. Not even when Taehyung tries bothering him and asking him if he did or said something wrong. They were both happy just a few minutes ago, so Taehyung has no idea what the just happened.

Taehyung gives up even trying to get Jimin to say anything until they’re both in the car.

“What the hell—” He starts, but he stops himself. He shouldn’t be mean to Jimin. Not today. They can’t have a fight today. Today is supposed to be special. “Did I do something wrong?” Taehyung asks instead, his voice calmer this time.

Jimin doesn’t say anything. He just crosses his arms over his chest and looks out the window. Instead of getting impatient and demanding an answer, Taehyung waits.

After a few minutes of tense silence, Jimin finally moves and takes in a breath, and Taehyung knows that he’s about to say something. Finally.

“Why did we do that?” Is all that comes out of Jimin’s mouth.

Well, that’s not very helpful.

“Do what?” Taehyung asks.

“You know what the I’m talking, Kim Taehyung. Don’t act stupid.” Jimin says, and clearly he’s not as set about not fighting today as Taehyung is.

“Because I love you? Because we promised exactly a year ago that we would get married on this day? Because I want you to know that you’re special to me?” Taehyung lists off the first few reasons that come to his mind.

“Really? If I’m so special to you, why wasn’t I worth a proper proposal?” Jimin demands, and Taehyung notices the tears threatening to fall. Taehyung wants to cry, too, because Jimin’s words hurt. He had planned out everything to ask Jimin properly, but things didn’t go his way last year. Still, the sort of proposal that they did have meant a lot to Taehyung, so it’s kind of upsetting that Jimin doesn’t think it was. “Why aren’t I worth wedding plans and a big party and a ton of money going to one special day that we’re supposed to remember for the rest our lives? Money that isn’t wasted because the point in a huge wedding is to show that money isn’t anywhere near as important as the person you’re spending it on. If I’m so special, Taehyung, why am I not worth any of that?”

He and Jimin have had fights before, but Taehyung doesn’t think he has ever been as angry with Jimin as he is right now. If he wanted a huge wedding and stupid plans made, he could have said something. But he didn’t. He didn’t say anything at all. Not once over the past year, when he knows they made this agreement. And then he goes and tries to pin it all on Taehyung, saying that Taehyung doesn’t find him special when he’s the one thing in this world that Taehyung doesn’t ever want to let go of.

“I’m sorry, if the way I proposed to you wasn’t special enough, why are we even here?” Taehyung demands, annoyed that he’s actually the first one to start crying. “In case you don’t remember, that meant a lot to me, and…” He can’t finish. “You know what?” He says, opening the door. “You can drive yourself home. I’m ing walking.”

Jimin’s POV

        Okay, so maybe Jimin didn’t plan any of that out anywhere near as well as he should have. He didn’t mean to hurt Taehyung’s feelings, and he most certainly didn’t mean for Taehyung to decide that walking home was better than them going home together. Jimin quickly opens the car door to get out and follow his boyfriend…his husband, whatever Taehyung is right now, but he fails to remember that he already fastened his seatbelt, and that tries to keep him in the car. It tugs him back, keeping him locked in the seat. Annoyed, Jimin quickly undoes it and gets out of the car successfully this time.

“Kim Taehyung.” He calls after the younger one, but Taehyung doesn’t even turn around to offer him a glance.

He rushes up to Taehyung, grabbing the younger one by the arm, and that’s when Taehyung freezes.

“Look, I’m sorry, and I understand if you’re pissed at me.” Jimin says. “But…come on. Let’s just go home together, and we’ll talk about this when we get there. I’ll drive.”

Taehyung complies without a word, and they both get back to the car. Taehyung goes right to the passenger’s side, so Jimin takes that as his way of saying that he’s taking Jimin up on the offer of taking them home. He takes the driver’s seat.

Neither of them say a word. Not for the entire car ride, and not even when they’re stuck at a traffic light for almost ten minutes. Silence had never felt so awkward with Taehyung before, and Jimin decides that he hates it. It’s not the good kind of awkward that Taehyung usually makes him feel.

When Jimin parks outside the apartment building, Taehyung is the first one out of the car, and he’s already halfway to the building when Jimin finally gets out.

“Taehyung,” Jimin says when he gets in the apartment behind the younger one. He follows Taehyung to the room where Taehyung puts their marriage license in the drawer on his side of the bed, and he sits down.

“Look, it’s there.” Taehyung says, pointing to the drawer. “So…when we finally decide to have a wedding, that’s all we need to worry about. We already have the license, so we can just focus on getting married when we want. Or when you’re ready for it. And we can plan the biggest wedding in the world, if that’s what you want. Is that okay with you? I mean…legally we’re already married, but there’s nothing on that stupid piece of paper that says we have to call each other husb—”

Jimin cuts his boyfriend off with a kiss, just like Taehyung would do if he were the one that just wouldn’t shut up. “You know, you’re special to me, too.” Jimin says. He really feels like he doesn’t let Taehyung know that often enough. “You are the reason I even know what it means to have a best friend, Taehyung. And…unlike you, if I didn’t have you, I wouldn’t have anyone. I’m sorry if I never let you know how special you are to me—”

“Are you kidding?” Taehyung asks, and Jimin is almost offended. That is, until Taehyung continues. “You help me study for exams when it only means that you’ll have to stay up later to complete whatever project you have to do for work, and you never complain about it. Even when I go to bed before you’re done working, you don’t complain. In fact, you tell me to go to bed so that I can make sure I get some sleep before my exam, but you also need to get sleep because you’re the one who’s going to be working all day. You listen to me ramble on about things that you have no interest in, and you never tell me to shut up. You let me have my friends come over here without even consulting you, and you stay up all night to wait for me to come home when I go out. You message me when you’re the one who’s overseas for dance competitions just to make sure I’m okay, when really it should be me worrying about you. You put up with my—”

“Taehyung.” Jimin says just to shut him up. “I get it. I do a lot for you.”

“You don’t have to tell me.” Taehyung says. “I know I’m special to you. Even without words, you never let me forget it. I, on the other hand, have to say it because I’m not as good at expressing myself in all the ways you are. My ty proposal and everything today is a clear sign of that.”

“I loved your ty proposal.” Jimin assures him. “You clearly put a lot of thought into it. Unlike everything I do for you. All of that you just listed…I never think about it. I just do it.”

And maybe that’s why Jimin feels like he doesn’t do anything for Taehyung. Because everything that he does do for him just comes naturally that he doesn’t even realize he’s doing it.

“I know.” Taehyung says. “But I know that you care about me. A lot.”

“I do.” Jimin says, and he kisses Taehyung. “It’s why I married you.”

Taehyung smirks, and it’s one of those smirks that he gives Jimin when he knows that he’s about to say something that’ll piss the elder off. “Stop acting like such a top.” Taehyung says, and Jimin glares at him. “You’re not a top…or even a dom for that matter, and it’s weird when you try to be.”

Jimin pinches Taehyung’s arm, making the younger one wince at the pain. “I can totally be a top, you . I’ve even topped you before.” Jimin says.

“Yeah, but with your tiny body and your tiny hands, and…”

Here he goes again.

“Your cute little ,” Taehyung says, kissing Jimin’s neck. “You are clearly not a top. But with your big lips and your big , you look so good as a bottom.”

He whispers that last part, and he flips Jimin onto his back, forcing the wind out of Jimin’s chest.

Taehyung hovers above him, staring down at him for a moment before he continues. “Yeah, you look so good underneath me.” Taehyung dips his head down for a kiss. “And so much better,” He says into Jimin’s mouth, “When you’re squirming.”