Things You Said While We Were on Top of the World.

Youngjae had finished his junior year with excellent grades. It wasn’t exactly hard considering that Jaebum was away and there was no one to distract him except his mom’s occasional calls and chit chats with Jaebum.

Since he had conquered every obstacle of another year of college, just how Jaebum wanted him to, Youngjae was not on the plane to Jaebum.

Youngjae couldn’t be any happier than he was at the moment. He was flying to his husband after a long time, so there really wasn’t anything to top that.

Youngjae called Jaebum’s dad as soon as he landed. Youngjae specially avoided calling Jaebum or even giving him a small hint of his sudden arrival to Jaebum’s hometown. He wanted to surprise Jaebum.

After an hour of getting lost in the small city while trying to find Jaebum’s house, Youngjae finally saw a 2 story house with beige colored walls that looked awfully a lot of like the one from all the pictures Jaebum’s mom had showed Youngjae.

Panting, breathless Youngjae came forward to the house. The house was most definitely the one Jaebum used to live in, with a wooden brown front door and a lot of windows.

Youngjae knocked as gently and quietly as possible.

Jaebum’s dad opened the door, smiling.

“Jaebum’s not home, come in” Jaebum’s dad said, welcoming his son in law to his house.

Youngjae gladly stepped into the house. Youngjae loved it. He loved how warm it was inside the house despite the weather being gloomy and rainy all week. He loved how comfortable he felt inside the house. What he even loved was Jaebum’s room. It was so organized and neat, where everything had its place and nothing was just uselessly lying somewhere.

Youngjae quickly adjusted in the guest room that was given him, took a quick shower and waited for Jaebum’s return.

It was about 6 in the evening, just as the sun as starting to move behind the horizon, when Jaebum finally came back home from his errands.

“Jaebum!” Youngjae called out in excitement as soon as Jaebum stepped into the house. It has been way too long since the two of them stood with their arms around each other, Youngjae’s face buried deep into Jaebum’s wide chest. Youngjae missed Jaebum’s scent. He missed the soft smell of the detergent that Youngjae’s mom made the spouses use; Youngjae loved Jaebum’s own unique scent that carried a somewhat calming smell from Youngjae’s childhood, for some reason Jaebum’s smell brought back many happy memories tied with Youngjae’s childhood and youth.

 “Youngjae, baby, I’ve missed you so much. I love you so much” Jaebum whispered, holding onto Youngjae as if Youngjae was about to fly away from him.

“I’ve missed you, too. Never leave again, ever! You hear me? Never” Youngjae said kissing and hugging his husband, trying to give a meaning to his each kiss.

“I won’t. Now that I know how painful it is to be unable to hold you in my arms every night and not feel your presence next to me every morning, I won’t ever leave your side, baby” Jaebum promised, holding Youngjae’s hands and kissing them with his soft lips.

“I love you” Youngjae confessed.

“I love you, too. Since forever and until forever” Jaebum said, still holding his husband, who had a slightly smaller and slimmer body than him, in his arms.

“You two give me the chills” Jaebum’s dad laughed witnessing the two lover’s reunion. Youngjae awkwardly laughed, just now remembering that his father in law had indeed seen every cheesy line Jaebum and he had exchanged just now. But the cheesiness was excusable as Jaebum and Youngjae hadn’t seen each other in months. And frankly, it would’ve been weird if there wasn’t any overflow of cheesiness.

“When did you get here?” Jaebum asked, deciding to ignore his dad’s comment about their cringe-worthy romance.

“A few hours ago” Youngjae responded, not letting go of Jaebum’s hands.

“Did you eat yet?”

“I did, dad is, fortunately, an amazing cook” Youngjae smiled at his kind looking father in law.

“Of course, my dad is a great cook! Where did you think I inherited my amazing cooking skill from?” Jaebum bragged, making Youngjae giggle.

“So if you already ate, then what do you want to do?” Jaebum asked.

“I don’t know hyung. To be honest, anything will be just fine if we’re together” Youngjae threw another cheesy line at Jaebum, making all three of them laugh out loud.

“Why don’t you two young people go on a date today? And I’ll rest for today” Jaebum’s dad suggested, which Jaebum and Youngjae gratefully followed.

Youngjae and Jaebum were now climbing up a big hill that Jaebum used to come to all the time as a small kid with his parents and friends to observe the small city from above.

Youngjae hated any type of physical activity, but today as he was climbing up a hill with his husband, he didn’t hate it so much. Yes, he was out of breath; yes, he would rather be sitting on a comfortable sofa and watching TV; yes, he wanted to kind of kill Jaebum for making him do this, but none of these compared to Youngjae’s love for Jaebum and his willingness to do almost anything to make Jaebum happy.

“I have ton of memories here, which can be a very good thing and at the same time, a very bad thing” Jaebum said after Youngjae and he were finally on top of the hill. Youngjae quickly sat down on the grassy ground, looking up at the night sky. He was surprised he could get on top of the large and scaly hill without injuring himself or Jaebum, especially at night time.

“Tell me the good ones” Youngjae said, looking up at Jaebum who was standing almost at the edge, which was of course dangerous, but it made him look cool.

“I used to come here a lot with this one friend and we used to talk about practically nothing for hours and hours while staring at the city view or the sky or even the clouds. I remember, one day I finally built up the courage to come out. I mean, I didn’t know I was coming out then because I was too young to actually know that but I remember telling him how much I liked this boy in my kindergarten. And I remember him having this nice and kind smile on his face whilst I told him why I liked that guy” Jaebum spoke, sitting down besides Youngjae, who was now lying on the cool grass with his arms under his head.

“Why am I suddenly jealous of your kindergarten crush and your friend?” Youngjae asked, looking at the stars that had appeared while Jaebum was telling his sentimental story.

“You really don’t have to be, that friend is Shownu, who as you may know has two kids and a wife. As for that boy I crushed on in kindergarten, we got into a serious fight right after that day” Jaebum consoled his jealous husband, patting his stomach.

“Still, I kind of always assumed I was the first person you truly liked” Youngjae admitted.

“Youngjae, you may not be the first person I liked but I swear you are the last. Also if it makes you feel any better, you were the first person that made all my problems go away just by looking at me with your kind eyes; you were the first person I’ve ever laid my eyes on and thought ‘it would be a privilege to wake up next to him every morning’; you were the first person I’ve ever wanted to make mine and only mine” Jaebum declared, smiling at the sky. Needless to say, Youngjae was beaming with happiness as well.

“And truthfully, you are the first person I’ve ever truly loved besides my parents. And I believe you are the last, not counting the children we’re possibly going to have” Jaebum kissed Youngjae’s lips.

“I love you”

“I love you, too hyung. So much”.