"Hyung, if we're still single by the time we're both thirty years old, marry me, alright?" Kyungsoo looks up into the smiling eyes of his best briend. Too bright, he thinks as he looks away.

Because no, he does not want to marry Jongin at the age of thirty, not when he has to wait ten more torturous years to be able to call Jongin, merely a best friend and nothing more, his spouse, his lover, his own. He does not want to have to wait so long just to be able to open his eyes every morning to the one person he loves and has loved for the past twelve years, neither does he want to marry Jongin just because the both of them are still single, not when Jongin doesn't love him back. He knows it sounds stupid and childish, that he's being stupid and childish, but Do Kyungsoo definitely does not want to be the backup plan.

And so he raises his head again, looking his best friend square in the eye, and lies through gritted teeth, "Jongin-ah, I have someone now."

"Really, hyung? That's great! About time, too! Who's the lucky girl?" Biting back a sob, Kyungsoo blinks back the heat of his tears and looks away, and misses the way Jongin answers two beats too late, or the way his chin wobbles ever so slightly as he speaks, as if he were about to cry.

(word count: 240)