“What’ll it be this time?” Junmyeon asked his husband, reserving Yifan’s right to choose since Junmyeon was the one asking for the divorce in the first place.

“What does this make?” Yifan wondered, bemused. “Number three?”

Junmyeon ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “I’m too young for this,” he complained.

Yifan had absolutely no pity; Junmyeon was the one who’d decided he wanted to work for the government, after all. Yifan reminded his husband of this and Junmyeon sighed again, whining about ungrateful spouses and asking why Yifan couldn’t just rub his back and kiss his forehead like a good husband.

“Because we’re not married anymore,” Yifan teased the reminder. “We’re merely friends with benefits this time around.”

Junmyeon perked up. “Oh!” he replied, a tease of his own on his lips. “So like we’re back in college then.” He smirked when Yifan stuck out his tongue. “Good to know.”

This time it was Yifan muttering under his breath about insufferable life partners and why hadn’t he listened when his parents had told him he was too young to get married. Junmyeon ignored his husband’s complaints and stepped closer to Yifan’s side to press a kiss to his cheek.

“Thank you for doing this, again,” he said quietly, like he always did before a big assignment. There was never a guarantee that Junmyeon would return home to Yifan in one piece, and neither of them particularly liked the idea of Junmyeon venturing into such danger without his wedding ring hanging like a protective shield on a chain around his neck. But such was the life of a spy, and this wasn’t the first time Junmyeon had come home with that damned apologetic look on his face to ask if Yifan would please consent to a pretend divorce.

The first time he’d had to ask, he and Yifan had barely been married a year and Junmyeon had been so nervous that he’d neglected to mention the requested divorce wasn’t real. Yifan hadn’t seen it coming, obviously, and when Junmyeon had finally managed to explain the situation, Yifan refused to speak to his husband for a solid week. Now Junmyeon’s learnt a few things; over time they’ve figured out a way to make this horrible thing a little better.

The second time Junmyeon and Yifan got fake divorced, Yifan asked if they could have a little fun with the whole situation. Junmyeon hadn’t known what his husband meant until Yifan had outright slapped him in the face and publicly called him a cheating bastard that next day. Somehow the man Junmyeon was working to catch saw the whole thing on CCTV and was convinced enough by Yifan’s acting to proposition a newly single Junmyeon a few days later. Unsolicited offers for weren’t illegal, but offering monetary compensation for ual favors was, and Junmyeon was able to finally get enough dirt on the guy to land him in prison.When he went home to Yifan, exhausted but satisfied, Junmyeon was amused to learn that Yifan had decided their fake divorces needed titles.

“Anger and Infidelity,” said Yifan, obviously proud of himself. Junmyeon didn’t think the name was particularly clever or memorable, but if that’s what Yifan needed to feel secure about his and Junmyeon’s relationship, who was Junmyeon to deny him?

This time, after Junmyeon returned from another successful undercover mission, the one for which he and Yifan were supposedly mere friends with benefits, Yifan chose the title “Sleeping With a Friend.”

Junmyeon scratched the back of his neck absentmindedly. “Isn’t that the name of a song?” he asked.

Yifan shrugged and pulled his shorter husband into his arms. “Does it matter?” he murmured against Junmyeon’s lips. Junmyeon decided that no, it really didn’t.

He made the same decision again a couple months later when he and Yifan play-acted at falling in love for the first time. Like he’d joked earlier, they’d started out as friends with benefits—or more like frenemies with benefits—who eventually developed feelings and decided to tentatively pursue a relationship. With this newest “divorce,” though, he and Yifan got the chance to fall in love just like everyone else did, and that meant, of course, that Yifan couldn’t resist naming this one “Falling in Love With Love.”

Junmyeon was surprised to learn that Yifan was apparently a big Sinatra fan, but since Yifan shared this fact over coffee on what was supposed to be their first date ever, Junmyeon couldn’t show as much surprise as he felt. Truthfully they’d been married long enough that Junmyeon thought he already knew everything there was to know about his husband; this time around he was actually sort of glad for their fake divorce because it showed him what an incorrect assumption that was.

Yifan was funny, Junmyeon knew this already. But Junmyeon was learning that Yifan wasn’t just funny for being an endearing sort of bumbling oaf, or for being an absolutely terrible artist who still thought his own drawing skills were incomparably excellent. In fact Yifan was funny because he knew not to take himself too seriously—except where his art was concerned; that and he was apparently the king of puns. Junmyeon had never considered himself the type to appreciate such terrible jokes, but since Yifan was the one telling them to him, Junmyeon also learned a little about himself, too.

From their first date at the coffee shop, Junmyeon and Yifan went out to the movies and to the mall. They shyly held hands while sitting next to each other on a park bench during their lunch breaks at work. Junmyeon, of course, didn’t actually work as a salaryman in an office building, but Yifan did, and he was happy for something that most people would consider a mundane experience. Holding hands progressed to long arms around Junmyeon’s shoulders and Junmyeon’s hands around Yifan’s waist or neck when they went out dancing on the weekends, and Junmyeon took Yifan home with him for the first time after they’d been dating a little more than a month.

In the privacy of their home, Yifan and Junmyeon reveled in each other’s embrace in a way they hadn’t been entirely free to do since they’d commenced their current fake relationship.

“I miss being married to you,” Junmyeon whined into Yifan’s collar.

Yifan hummed noncommittally, but smiled a teasing grin when Junmyeon made a noise of protest and pouted that Yifan was being too lackadaisical about this whole divorce thing.

“Your idea, babe,” reminded Yifan, not for the first time. “I’m just along for the ride.”

“Speaking of riding,” Junmyeon guided the conversation in a different direction with a wink. Well, he tried to wink, and did a bad job of it, but Yifan found his husband attractive in all instances and didn’t mind that Junmyeon was so terribly awkward sometimes.

“I’ve seduced you into coming home with me,” continued Junmyeon. “Shouldn’t we at least sleep together?”

“We’re married,” Yifan deadpanned. “We don’t need an excuse.”

“Divorced,” Junmyeon corrected, but his words were half-hearted and soon swallowed up by Yifan’s mouth on his. But not for much longer, he hoped. Falling in love with love, to quote the song, was fun and all, but he’d married Yifan for a reason.

Actually, Junmyeon had married Yifan for hundreds of reasons, and he’d get fake divorced hundreds of times if it meant he could marry Yifan over and over and over again. A hundred times over, perhaps? Junmyeon liked the sound of that.