there is a certain glow in chanyeol’s eyes as he addresses jongin with a furtive glance, a distinctive brightness in his gaze that makes one catch his breath and say, oh look, there it is. the loyalty, the trust. the love. it is so apparent and hypnotizing, like looking through multicolored glass or getting caught in the flickering dance of a flame, and it makes baekhyun’s chest constrict with fondness and warmth.

the wedding is solemn, as requested by jongin, less than a hundred guests seated with held breaths, flushed cheeks, happy faces directed towards the couple as they exchange vows. chanyeol tries so hard to keep his voice even through his speech, and jongin could hardly utter a word with the way his eyes blink rapidly to keep himself from breaking down. baekhyun swallows down a lump in his throat, and beside him, sehun looks absolutely taken by the moment, the taller man slowly lacing their fingers in his lap and pressing his lips gently on baekhyun’s knuckles.

the gesture makes baekhyun’s heart flutter, his grip tighter, and he is overwhelmed with the feeling of longing and solicitude. eight years and counting, and yet baekhyun feels like he’s seeing sehun for the first time every waking day, thoughts going haywire with every touch, every word spoken, every glance thrown his way, reducing baekhyun into a mess of feelings and oh sehun, like every fiber of his being is rooted in the way sehun holds him together.

there are tears in baekhyun’s eyes by the time the couple kisses, togetherness bound by eternity and promise, and the church is filled with cheers, joyous exclaims, taunting for the couple to kiss once more, and when they do, sehun and baekhyun come away clapping and hooting, as well.

the reception is abuzz with merry and cheer, the couple mingling on every table as they welcome the onslaught of salutations and clinking glass. it almost feels like an alumni homecoming with the number of familiar faces, lips pulled back in perpetual smiles. chanyeol and jongin have been together since baekhyun was in junior year of university, features still very much young at twenty-nine and twenty-seven.

‘congratulations!’

baekhyun all but glomps his friends, almost falling in a heap of limbs on the floor if not for jongin’s good balance and chanyeol’s impossibly long and sturdy legs keeping the embrace steady, arms secure around his best friend. sehun gives each of them a hug of his own before pulling baekhyun by hand to his side. the fist bump he gives jongin is thoughtful, almost nostalgic, and baekhyun is on the verge of tears again because, now that he looks at chanyeol and jongin’s linked hands, finally it has happened. all those months of preparation, the stress and the demands of a matrimonial ceremony eating away his time with sehun as chanyeol’s best man and jongin’s favorite hyung.

the rings glisten under the fluorescent lights, as if to congratulate baekhyun, and it makes sehun follow his boyfriend’s line of sight. he tugs baekhyun a little closer, pressing his lips on his temple affectionately. ‘you did well, mr. byun,’ and it encourages baekhyun to stand on his toes, facing sehun and fixing his tie before giving him a kiss of his own, sighing contentedly as their lips touch. ‘much appreciated, mr. oh.’

an hour into the program has baekhyun humming along to the playlist, songs carefully handpicked by kyungsoo and the couple themselves, and the high has barely died down. a few guests have already begun swaying, faces flushed with the unlimited bottles of champagne and wine, and the night has barely started.

it had been yixing’s idea to make the program as traditional as possible, and the speeches have come and gone, more tears shed, but happiness emanates in the room it almost pierces through baekhyun’s skin. baekhyun himself is pleased with the outcome of his hard work, indulging on a glass of champagne as a pat on the back. sehun had excused himself minutes ago, perhaps to catch up with new friends or find more dessert as if he hadn’t been eating the nutella cookie cups (chanyeol’s guilty pleasure) for the past half hour, but a quick survey of the venue tells baekhyun his boyfriend is nowhere to be seen.

he dials for sehun’s number, maybe he just misses the warmth beside him a little, but his call goes unanswered, and so do the second, the third, and the fourth attempts. by the fifth dial, he begins to worry, standing up on his feet to search for sehun among the crowd. he bumps into junmyeon at the buffet, exchanges a few greetings, and leaves for the sound booth when he doesn’t find sehun hovering over the dessert table as he hoped he would. he is abruptly pulled into an embrace, one that comes from minseok, and baekhyun has to laugh at his hyung’s childlike giggle over the burn in jongin’s cheeks from where he and chanyeol are caught in a slow dance.

there is a growing knot in baekhyun’s stomach when he doesn’t find sehun at the sound booth, either, and he contemplates on asking the couple if they’ve seen his boyfriend anywhere. when the ballad ends, jongdae, as the master of ceremonies, makes an announcement for a bouquet toss.

a bouquet toss? baekhyun doesn’t remember ordering a bouquet for jongin, and he’s pretty sure he didn’t see him with one. ‘this will be a little different,’ jongdae announces as he calls all the couples to the dance floor. junmyeon throws an arm over baekhyun’s shoulder, pulling him along to the middle with kyungsoo in tow, and on his other side stands yifan looking tall and proud as he holds luhan by the hand. he catches jongin’s gaze, soft and knowing, in his hand he holds a bouquet of hydrangeas, and the first notes of a familiar song begins to play (he doesn’t remember this being on the playlist, either).

more than the overwhelming feeling of wistful affection, he wishes sehun was actually here beside him. this was a joyous affair, after all, and every moment baekhyun cherishes he wants to share and experience only with sehun, and it doesn’t help at all that the song playing is one that is close to his heart.

a deep voice bleeds through the speakers in a tune, and confusion makes baekhyun search frantically through the crowd for sehun, eyeing chanyeol questioningly but only getting a shrug and a playful smirk in return. jongin makes his way towards him with slow steps, and there are tears he is holding back as he gives baekhyun the bouquet with a watery smile, and the crowd goes silent. ‘w-what’s going on?’ baekhyun questions, giving a small, confused laugh, thinking it a joke.

‘byun baekhyun?’

baekhyun whips around to see sehun, eyes unexplainably red and lips quivering as he stands motionless before him. baekhyun opens his mouth, as if to say something as mundane as where have you been or i’ve been looking everywhere for you, but no words come out. it’s as if they are on a standstill when sehun gets down on one knee, and baekhyun is still as confused as ever when sehun takes his hand in his as he whispers, ‘you have bewitched me, body and soul, and i love, i love, i love you. i never wish to be parted from you from this day on.’

the realization roots baekhyun to the ground, standing in shock at sehun’s words as his tears threaten to spill. he looks at his friends, at jongin and chanyeol, and he is trembling under the weight of the anticipation. he never imagined this day would come so soon, and yet he feels so, so happy. he only realizes he has stopped breathing when he nods fervently with a sob, exclaiming yes, yes, yes in sehun’s arms, in his parted lips, and there is nothing but sehun, sehun, sehun as cheers abruptly erupt from everywhere.

when the ring slides down his finger, he tiptoes to kiss sehun once more, and his fiancé meets him willingly halfway.

‘i can’t believe you quoted “pride and prejudice” on me,’ baekhyun mutters with a shake of his head, a fond grin. his cheeks are still rosy from the fanfare, and another round of greetings come their way as sehun chuckles on his glass of wine. ‘you liked it enough to say yes.’

they are at the tail-end of the event, and the guests clap with finality as chanyeol and jongin leave for their honeymoon, thanking everyone for their wishes of joy, prosperity, and neverending love. sehun and baekhyun bid them farewell with a tight embrace, we’ll be here when you get back, and the warmth that settles on baekhyun’s chest is one of pure adoration.

they walk back to their car, hand-in-hand, and baekhyun still feels unbelievably giddy. ‘i would say yes even if you’d said something as corny as your “star wars” pick-up lines,’ baekhyun recalls the first one being ‘yoda one for me’, and it still gives him butterflies remembering how sehun, eight years younger, had confessed to baekhyun in a jedi costume in the middle of the football field during halftime. ‘i would say yes even if you hadn’t even spoken at all.’

baekhyun is suddenly pressed against the passenger door, kept in place by the hands on his waist and shadowed by sehun’s gaze. his fiancé hovers over him rather possessively, nipping playfully at baekhyun’s lips with his teeth. ‘would you now?’

the kiss is dizzying, spellbinding, and baekhyun’s knees weaken at the touch. ‘yes,’ he breathes on sehun’s lips with fervor. ‘yes a thousand times over.’

sehun gives a low chuckle, and it is he who breaks the kiss, arms still secure around the shorter man as his lips press gently on baekhyun’s forehead. ‘i can’t wait to spend forever with you, byun baekhyun.’

hands come up to play with the hair on his nape, and baekhyun is looking at him like the universe is splayed right before his very eyes. maybe it is so. maybe baekhyun does see the world in oh sehun and all the wonderful and beautiful things life has to offer. maybe, simply put, oh sehun is his world and all its magnificence, and he really wouldn’t trade it for anything.

the excitement over the very possibility of growing old with the one he holds dear runs through his veins, heart hammering against his chest with the thrum of life. he looks at sehun, smiling with stars in his eyes, and tells him earnestly, ‘it’s all i ever hoped for.’