Graduation

“Jackson,” Allison said, staring into the screen of their digital camera with a vexed expression, “if you're going to keep on taking blurry shots of Lou, can't you just let me be in charge of taking the pictures?”

“Oh, come on, I've got it this time!”

“No, he doesn't,” Mr. Wang said, plucking the camera from his son's hands and passing it to Allison. “You take care of this. We want good pictures for our photo album.”

“Are you serious?” Jackson asked, looking petulant. “This entire row of people are taking pictures of Lou. You're going to end up with 100 pictures of him whether I take blurry pictures of him or not!”

Mark grinned and shook his head. Jackson wasn't wrong. Allison had somehow maneuvered tickets from every small family household in Lou's kindergarten with extras, so Clan Wang-Tuan made up a huge portion the graduation attendees. Though they were still on bad terms with their daughter, Allison's parents had grudgingly come, as had the Wangs, Lou's newest set of grandparents. Mark's parents had also made the trip over from California for the event, and last, but certainly not least, Allison had managed to get one final ticket for Jinyoung, who was now sitting next to Mark and snapping pictures of Lou in his little blue robe and cap with his kindergarten class.

They'd all attracted a lot of stares when they'd come into the school gym, but Mark couldn't be bothered by it. Not today. Today he felt like the sun was shining down on him, illuminating every beautiful detail of his life. Before meeting up with the Wangs, he'd had his parents over for breakfast that morning and made it their first time meeting Jinyoung. Jinyoung had freaked out before they arrived and consequently made several bad fashion decisions until Mark forced him back into their bedroom to put on something sensible. But when he'd finally calmed down and Mark's parents arrived, everything went as well as he could have hoped for.

“Finally, we get to meet you,” Mark's mom had said, pecking Jinyoung on the cheek. “We've heard so much about you from Mark and Lou that we feel like we know you already.”

“Next time, you can come over and visit us,” Mark's dad said. “All of our children are excited to meet you, so we'll throw a big party for you as soon as you come.”

“T-thank you,” Jinyoung had said, flushing as he was wrapped up into a bear hug from both of them. “I'd love to come.”

Mark had simply smiled. Jinyoung hadn't been expecting them to welcome him so naturally (“You were married to a woman, so they're absolutely going to think I did something to your brain to get you with me”), but Mark had known they would. His was the kind of family who prioritized his happiness and Lou's above anything else, and if Jinyoung was his happiness—which he undoubtedly was—they'd accept it for what it was as naturally as they accepted any other thing Mark loved.

And now, here they were all together. Allison's parents were slowly coming out of their grumpiness thanks to the brightness of Jackson and the Wangs, Allison was chatting companionably with Mark's mother about how much Lou had grown, and Jinyoung was listening raptly as Mark's father told him the story of how Mark had tripped over his high school graduation robes and fallen into the lap of the girl next to him. And Lou, the reason for all of them being there, was grinning on stage, waiting for the ceremony to formally start.

And when it did, they all grabbed their cameras and started taking videos of the children singing a cutesy little “We did it!” song. All of the student received a flower and little diploma from the school principal, and their teacher gave a little speech about each of the members of the class and how hard they worked. Mark was almost in tears when she got to Lou. “Lou Tuan is the smile of our class,” she said. “He's always there to cheer on his classmates and support them. He's compassionate and understanding to everyone around him, and his kindness makes all our days a little brighter.”

Mark leaned over and rested his chin on Jinyoung's shoulder. “This is going to be you soon,” he whispered. “Giving speeches at kindergarten graduations.”

“I have to make it through my own graduation first.”

“You'll be fine. You'll have me and Lou there, after all.”

Jinyoung beamed. “Mine won't be even half as cute as this, though.”

“I don't know about that.” Mark gave his cheek fat a pinch. “Give yourself some credit.”

Mark's father leaned over. “Aha,” he said. “So you are like this. Interesting, interesting.”

Mark dropped his hand away quickly, turning red. He'd forgotten where they were, and now the Wang-Tuan row, minus Allison's parents, was smirking at them. Mark turned his attention back to the stage, trying to calm down his embarrassment.

Once everyone had received their diplomas and the speeches wrapped up, each of the kids were brought one by one to a balloon arch to get their pictures taken with their parents. Since Lou was further down in alphabetical order, Mark saw plenty of families go up before them with divorced parents and remarriages. Most of the divorced families took two pictures—one of the dad's side of the family and the one of the mom's—but Mark absolutely wanted to Jackson and Allison to be in his picture with him. They were all a united front not just for Lou, but for each other, too.

When Lou's name was called, Jackson hesitated for a moment, but Allison quickly hauled him up. Mark turned to Jinyoung briefly, but Jinyoung shook his head. “I'll show up in the pictures for parents only when you decide to make me an honest man,” he said, smiling. “I'll wait patiently for that.”

So Mark, Jackson, and Allison took their balloon arch photo with Lou, smiling widely for the camera. As soon as his duty was out of the way, Lou made a charge for their row to show off his diploma to all of his many grandparents. It wasn't long before everyone was gushing about him and scooping him up in their arms. Lou wasn't just the smile of his kindergarten class—he was their smile, too.

There was a little reception afterwards, with a congratulations cake and punch for all the children. Lou mingled with his friends for awhile before finding Mark at the table where he was eating with his parents.

“Daddy, Daddy,” he said, tugging at Mark's suit jacket. “We have to go back and take our picture again.”

“Hmmm?”

“You didn't get one with Jinny.”

Mark glanced over at Jinyoung, who was looking pleasantly shocked. “You're right,” Mark said. “Should we go back and get one?”

Lou nodded eagerly.

Mark passed his camera to his father, who followed the three of them to the balloon arch. Mark and Jinyoung knelt down beside Lou, who pressed their cheeks together so the corners of all their smiles were touching.

“Say cheese!” Mark's father said.

“Cheeeeeeeeeeeese!” Lou said. A second later, Mark's father snapped the photo of the three of them together.

“I guess Lou's not waiting for me to make you an honest man,” Mark whispered quietly to Jinyoung. “You're pretty much already family.”

“Seems so,” Jinyoung said, squeezing his hand. “Not going to lie, this is a pretty awesome family. Your parents are great.”

“Of course they are. They raised me, after all, didn't they?”

Jinyoung snorted.

“Jinny's going to gadjumate, too,” Lou was telling Mark's father. “I'm going to see him next week.”

“Graduate?” Mark's father asked. “It's too bad we're going to be heading back home. We'd love to go.”

“We're going to be looking after Lou this summer while Allison and Jackson move,” Mark said. “Maybe we can come up to LA and have a celebration dinner?”

“Sounds perfect.” Mark's father yanked on his tie a little, pulling him closer. “Make sure to get engaged soon, and then we'll have a real party.”

“W-what?”

“Everyone can see it. Even Lou. We'll be waiting for the big news soon!” With a wink, his father returned to their table to finish off his cake.

“What did he say?” Jinyoung asked curiously.

“Ummm, nothing. I'll tell you later.”

“I want to go back and eat cake, too!” Lou said, wiggling between Mark and Jinyoung and taking both their hands. “Come on!”

Mark smiled to himself as his son led them back to their family party. He wasn't sure how soon the day would come, but he was pretty sure he was going to have an amazing time making an honest man out of Jinyoung Park.

Gadjumation

The atmosphere of Jinyoung's graduation was a bit different from Lou's. Naturally, the venue was about four times the size of the grade school gym they'd used for Lou's graduation, and the proceedings were far more solemn. The people surrounding Mark in his row were also different from who had been there for Lou. To his left, BamBam's mother, sister, and brother were trying to keep Kit from wandering too close to the balcony to look for BamBam among the rows of graduating students. To his right, Jinyoung's uncle Sangyoon was bouncing Lou on his knee.

“Do you see Jinny?” Lou asked Sangyoon, scanning the crowd.

“I'm not sure, everyone looks the same from this angle, don't they?”

“But he's really down there?”

“Of course he is. We'll see him when they call his name to get his certificate. And when he gets his certificate, he can become a kindergarten teacher.”

“I want him to be my teacher.”

“You already passed kindergarten,” Mark said, gently ruffling Lou's hair. “You have to move on to first grade now. But don't worry, Jinyoung will still teach you lots at home.”

“Hmph,” Lou said, pouting a little.

“Lou, help me find Bammie,” Kit called from down the row. Lou hopped off Sangyoon's lap and scuttled over to his friend.

“That's a really nice kid you've got there,” Sangyoon said when Lou was out of earshot. “I was a bit surprised when Jinyoung told me he was dating someone with a kid, but I guess it makes sense. Jinyoung always had the instinct for taking care of little kids, so he wouldn't see it as an obstacle.”

“I worry sometimes that's he better at looking after Lou than I am,” Mark admitted.

“Probably not better. But equally good. And I'm sure that's just the kind of support that will make all the difference when you need it.” Sangyoon smiled kindly. “You're a good influence on him, too, you know. He's a lot more open then he used to be.”

“Did he really have trouble with that before?”

“Trust me on this one. I was the one he ran to when he was having troubles back in Korea, and I knew from the beginning that it was running, what he was doing. I'm very proud of him for resisting the urge to live in fear when he's such a bright young person with a future filled with opportunity in front of him. He's a kind person and a hard worker, and he's earned it. I'm glad he seems to have gotten a good placement, from the sound of it.”

Mark nodded. In spite of all of his anxiety, Jinyoung had been offered a placement at a school the next city over from Mark, one with a decent enough pay rate to help Mark out with running the house. It had been a huge relief to both of them that the bad situation had turned out all right, and it had done wonders for Jinyoung's confidence. He was still doing his best to prove himself as an adult, but Mark thought he'd already exceeded far beyond his expectations.

“I wonder,” Sangyoon mused. “You two are pretty committed to each other at this point, aren't you?”

“Me and Jinyoung?” Mark asked. “Of course. I wouldn't have told my son about us if I wasn't committed.”

“I wonder, then. I wonder if he'll tell them?”

“Tell who what?” Mark asked, tilting his head.

Sangyoon simply waved his hand. “No matter, no matter. A bridge you'll cross when you get to it. Still, I'm sure Jinyoung must be very serious as well. For what it's worth, you have my blessings. I think you two make a fine couple. Once Jinyoung settles into his new job, I'm sure congratulations will be in order?”

Mark flushed. “First my son, then my parents, and now you? Everyone's planning an engagement for me.”

“Well, when you have a kid, you shouldn't mess around when you already know. And I can see in your eyes that you already know. You both do.”

Mark nodded. They still needed time to settle into the upcoming next chapter of their lives, but he did know. As he promised Jinyoung, when the right time came, he'd be ready.

Mark hadn't been to a university graduation ceremony since his and Allison's, but he'd forgotten how dry they were. They all had to sit through a long string of speeches, which made Mark relieved that he'd brought Lou's toy Lightning McQueen, which both he and Kit could somehow play with for hours without getting bored. They were pretty good at keeping their voices down so they weren't distracting anyone else, not there was anything particularly exciting to distract anyone from.

Mark spent the time he should have been listening to the speeches trying to find Jinyoung in the crowd. Most of the students really did look the same at a distance, but he did spot someone continually glancing over his shoulder to look at the balcony where Mark and the Bhuwakuls were sitting. Judging by the height it couldn't be BamBam, so Mark guessed it was Jinyoung. He smiled fondly. He'd looked so distinguished that morning in his navy blue robes and silly hat that Mark couldn't help pulling out his camera and taking dozens of photos of him. Jinyoung had grumbled a bit, but had been blissfully happy as well. “I really feel like I'm at the starting line now,” he'd said, wrapping his arms around Mark's waist. “I'm ready to go into the future not lagging behind you, but at your side.”

Mark was excited to find out what things would be waiting for them in the future. A new career for Jinyoung, watching Lou grow up, most likely getting their own house, the engagement everyone was looking forward to, and so much more beyond what he could foresee. He couldn't wait to be surprised by it, considering one of the best things in his life—Jinyoung himself—had come to him completely unexpectedly.

Finally, they started calling out all the names of the graduates. BamBam—Kunpimook—was called early in the list (Kit paused playing Cars just long enough to cheer him on), and at long last Jinyoung was called around the middle. Mark beamed with pride as he shook hands with the university superintendent and received his honors as Magna Laude. His career as a student was over, and his life as a teacher was beginning.

Congrats to the boy with eye wrinkles and pink apron who burned my throat with too much cinnamon when we first met, Mark thought to himself. You and I have both come a long way.

They had to sit through plenty more names until the ceremony was over, and by that time both Lou and Kit were getting drowsy and hungry. Mark scooped his son up in his arms and carried him down the stairway to where the graduates were exiting to the lobby. BamBam emerged first and was immediately swallowed up in a hug by his family plus several sticky cheek kisses from his siblings. All the excitement woke Lou up a little, so Mark set him down in preparation for Jinyoung coming.

A few minutes later, Jinyoung exited into the lobby and caught sight of them waiting for him. Mark had been planning on holding back from making as big of a scene as the Bhuwakul family was now making over BamBam since he wasn't sure if Jinyoung wanted to be caught being tackled by his male lover in public, but Jinyoung apparently had no such plans. As soon as he saw Mark, he ran right for him, leapt into his arms so hard Mark stumbled backwards, and planted a long and thorough kiss on his lips in front of everyone. BamBam wolf whistled, Sangyoon started coughing and dramatically averting his eyes, and Lou (naturally) released a frustrated “EW” because kissing was gross. Mark simply kissed Jinyoung back with all his might.

At long length, Jinyoung pulled away. “That was your first kiss with the fully-adult Jinyoung.”

“Well, I think that earns you a solid A+,” Mark said, his lips. “Congrats.”

“Uh, great show there, Jinyoung,” Sangyoon said, smacking his nephew on the back. “I'll conveniently forget to mention that part to your parents when I give my report.”

"Grown up kissing is so cool," Kit said, a little awed.

“Ugh, forget adult stuff,” BamBam said, pulling off his graduation cap. “We don't actually have to start work until August. Let's just be lazy until then. How about spending the summer sunbathing, Jinyoung—you, me, and Mark?”

“I actually have a job where I have to work during the summer,” Mark reminded him.

“We're watching Lou over the summer,” Jinyoung reminded him. “I'll still be adulting.”

“You can bring Lou.”

“We'll also be in LA for vacation.”

“And I'm not invited?”

“Nope. This is going to be a very adult continue-to-meet-the-parents trip. You're obviously still in kiddieland, BamBam.”

“Ahhhhh, come on, Jinyoung. Don't you get all grown up on me!”

“Don't worry. I'll be spending a lot of my life teaching kids to color and paste and sing songs about letters and numbers. I'll still be a kid at heart.” He leaned into Mark. “But I'm ready to be a proper mature man for this grandpa over here.”

“Excuse me?” Mark protested. “Grandpa? Lou is about twenty years too early to even think about making me a grandpa.”

“Even if you're not one technically, you're one at heart.” Jinyoung pressed his lips against Mark's ears. “Unless you want to prove me wrong about that later...?”

Mark turned red and gently pushed Jinyoung away. “Ahem.”

“You two are precious,” BamBam's mother said.

“I hope you'll invite us to your wedding!” BamBam's little sister said.

“Um, there aren't plans for a wedding,” Jinyoung said, looking a little flustered himself. “...yet?”

“But I'm sure that'll be the next ceremony we attend,” Sangyoon said with a laugh. “Give it a year, and let's see what happens.”

Move In

The day after graduation, Mark borrowed Jackson's truck and swung around to Jinyoung's college campus to help him move out of his dorm. He'd never actually been inside the actual room itself—Jinyoung had a roommate, and thought it would be best not to chance any situations where said roommate would risk walking in on the two them—so he was curious how much stuff he would actually be filling the truck with. He imagined Jinyoung had about twice the amount of boxes he himself had taken to university considering his flare for home decorations alone.

Instead, he was surprised to find Jinyoung waiting with just four medium sized boxes, a duffel bag, and a suitcase.

“You're not bringing more?” Mark asked, glancing around the room.

“Nope,” Jinyoung said. “I sold a lot of stuff over the past few weeks. I figured I didn't need repeats of what you already have as far as things like comforters and blankets go.”

“Still, I'm surprised this is all you're bringing. It looks like you're only bringing clothes and a handful of personal stuff with you. What about all your decorations and books and stuff? I swear to god, you bring over more boxes for Christmas each year than you have now.”

Jinyoung smiled sheepishly. “You're going to think I'm underhanded if I tell you.”

“Well, don't worry about that. I already think you're pretty underhanded without you admitting it outright.”

He snorted. “Fine. Over the past year, I've been kind of...leaving my things at your place.”

“Yeah, I know you have some overnight stuff, and some of your clothes. Do you mean that?”

“I've left more than just that.” Jinyoung lifted up his fingers and began counting off items. “After I finished a novel, I'd leave it on your book shelf. All the DVDs I brought over to watch with you are still in your video cabinet. My Christmas decorations are in your storage room. For that matter, I stored all my winter clothes there with yours a few months ago—my boots, my hats, my coat, everything. And recently, all the things like candles or house plants or seasonal items I've bought have gone straight into your house. I never bought them for my place to begin with.”

“Oh,” Mark said, trying to process this. Now that Jinyoung mentioned it, the contents of his bookshelf had been expanding lately. When he'd started to his 'spring cleaning' to make more space for Jinyoung's things, he had technically noticed several of Jinyoung's things settled in. He just hadn't really thought of it seriously until now. “So... you moved in pretty much before I even asked you?”

Jinyoung shrugged flusteredly. “You know, I just had a really good feeling about the two of us, so I thought that moving in was going to naturally happen at some point, and I decided I'd make the process easier for us in advance...kind of?”

“Wow,” Mark said, a little impressed. “Well, I'm 50% not surprised, because it's you. I'm extra glad we didn't wind up breaking up that one time if I had all your stuff in my house.”

Jinyoung winced. “I...didn't properly think that one through. I didn't imagine there was any way the two of us would break up.”

“I hope you'll go back to imagining that. I honestly have no intentions of breaking up with you, anyways.”

“Well, then, I'd better be good. They say the fastest way to make someone hate you is to live with them.”

“That's not exactly a cheerful thing to say, given the circumstances.”

“I know. I'm just reminding you. I'm not the only one who has to be good.”

0

Since Jinyoung had stayed over nearly every day for the past summer, and had apparently left half of his goods at Mark's to begin with, getting him settled in wasn't too difficult. They were used to each other's schedules, and were familiar with giving each other their own space. Jinyoung liked things quiet when he was reading, and Mark enjoyed having an hour in the evening to do something frivolous like playing video games to unwind after work and after putting Lou to bed.

Because of that, he was a bit surprised when Jinyoung set him down for “a talk” about a week after he moved in.

“I think now that we're living together formally, we should lay down some house rules,” Jinyoung said. “Before, it was just your place, so I wasn't in any position to tell you what to do, but now...”

“Now you're going to tell me what to do?” Mark guessed.

“In the most affectionate, loving way possible. You know what I said the other day about people hating each other when living together? That's because they put up with bad habits for years, get tired of enduring silently, then eventually explode. Personally, I don't want to spend a second of my life fighting with you over pointless things, so I'd rather just sort out any small problems right away.”

“You're mad about my socks, aren't you?” Mark asked plaintively.

“Actually, no. For some reason I don't mind your socks. Some of your bachelor habits, though... drinking milk straight out of the carton, never throwing empty containers into the trash until trash day, letting the laundry pile up, and not even folding things when you do take them out of the laundry?”

“Ahaha?” Mark laughed meekly.

“Nope, I don't particularly find it very funny. I know you're not a super household whiz, but since we both work, we really can't let things pile up to the point where we're spending all our free time catching up on chores. And just because I'm better at chores than you doesn't mean I'm going to sign on to do all of them now that we're living together. Because do you know what will happen?”

“What?”

“I'm going to spend every evening doing laundry, cleaning the bathroom, folding the clothes, and managing the trash, and I'm going to be so tired out that I'm going to resent you if you try to have with me afterwards, and I'll start to associate it as being another chore, and that is the absolute last thing I want to do. When I come home in the evening, I'm fine with us both doing a few chores, but nothing too demanding since we'll have been keeping the laundry and so on to a manageable level, and then having as the main course of the night with both of our energy levels high and neither of us having any reason to be resentful with each other. Sound good?”

It did sound pretty good. And it wasn't as if Mark actually hated chores—he'd been happy to help Allison out with them in the years they'd been married, but had simply stopped being as strict with them when they'd broken up. He didn't think it would be too hard to pick them back up again, especially if it was for the sake of keeping everything peaceable with Jinyoung.

“I'm willing to prove to you that I can run a good household,” Mark said determinedly. “You're on.”

“Good. Maybe for our first year together, we can put up a chore list—it might not hurt to put Lou on it, too, to get him used to helping out around the house and picking up after himself. After that, it'll come more naturally, and we can be a little less formal about it. How about that?”

“Fine by me.” Mark paused. “Why do I get the feeling this is mainly you going the extra mile to keep your life good?”

“Because that's 80% of it,” Jinyoung said with a grin before his expression got more serious. “Also, because having the opportunity to live with you is like paradise to me, and I don't want to be one of those stereotypical 'trouble in paradise' couples who refuses to compromise or work together when they're actually together. And frankly, I'm so in love with you that this not working out isn't even an option. Don't you think so?”

Mark nodded. “Same. That's what I would put at number one on our list—always working out any of our troubles so we don't waste time arguing.”

“And number two on that list in laundry, particularly folding the laundry. That's what I want you to do tonight, all right? I'll take care of the bathroom.”

“All right. I'm on it.” Mark hopped to his feet to head to the laundry room, but was stopped for a moment by Jinyoung trailing a finger up his arm.

“I'll come by and check your work when you're done,” he said. “I hope to see some good folding out of you, because if I do, we can move on to the 'keeping the life good' thing, OK?”

“Jinyoungie,” Mark said, grinning, “you are about to see the most perfectly folded clothes in your life. You have my word.”

-PART TWO END-