They say love can last a lifetime.

But life isn’t always long. 

Minseok had always been a fan of the piano. For as long as he could remember, he’d awoken to the sound of black and white keys being pressed in a specific pattern. His mother loved to play. She always made time to play, between taking Minseok to school and looking after his little sister, the sound of the piano never evaded their household. So when Minseok walked into the local jazz lounge one cool Friday evening, he knew almost immediately that the man playing his favourite piece would become someone important to him.

His name was Kim Jongdae. They married on June 25th, exactly a year after that night in the lounge. Everything between them was done in stages, and Minseok was always the first to do everything. He was the one to ask Jongdae out. He paid for dinner on their first date. He opened Jongdae’s car door for him before getting in himself. He bought the condoms the first night they slept together. And despite Jongdae’s insistence on being the one to propose, Minseok beat him to it. Though Jongdae was definitely the first to cry that night. 

Waking up every morning to Jongdae’s fingers gliding over the piano keys was Minseok’s heaven. He stood in the doorway, silently watching his husband play pieces he knew all too well as if he’d known them from the minute he’d been born. The sun shone brightly through the open curtains, casting rays across Jongdae’s body as he played to the birds sitting on the windowsill. A perfect day for a perfect couple. 

The piece finished and Jongdae turned to look at his husband over his shoulder. The sweet, cat-like smile that graced his features sent Minseok’s heart into overdrive. The very same feeling he got the night he first laid eyes on him. 

“Morning, sweetheart,” Jongdae greeted, voice as smooth as the ivory beneath his fingers. 

“Good morning, my love,” Minseok offered in return and crossed the small distance that would lead him into his husbands' open arms. 

A kiss to the forehead, then both cheeks, and finally, the lips, completed their morning routine. 

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His father had insisted on him learning an instrument from a young age, Jongdae told him over coffee on their first date. His mother had been the one to insist on learning piano, and luckily for them, Jongdae took to it with no problems at all. 

He didn’t think it was ever his parents’ intention for him to take up piano as a career rather than just a hobby, but they had both given him their blessing when he’d taken up his first paid job at a family friend