A/N: thank you so much to everyone who's read and enjoyed this fic. I hope I did the film justice. After you read this chapter, you can rent the movie here if you like (there are scenes that I couldn't fit into this story!). i love all of you <3

“Is Kyungsoo bringing Yixing to the wedding?” Jongin asks casually, fiddling with his phone in his lap as he waits for Baekhyun to change.

“They broke up,” comes the elder’s voice, and Jongin tries not to sound too interested in the response.

“Is he seeing anyone?”

“He was seeing this anthropologist.”

“What did he look like?”

“Tall. Blue eyes. Classically handsome. Your basic nightmare,” Baekhyun says as he steps out from behind the partition, clad in a grey tuxedo that fits him to the nines. “So what do you think?” he asks shyly. Jongin looks up at him and places a hand over his heart.

“Oh, Baekhyun…”

“Tell the truth,” Baekhyun sighs, turning to face the tall mirror behind him. “I don’t think I’ve worn a monkey suit like this since senior prom or something.”

“It’s absolutely stunning,” Jongin says sincerely, tears threatening to well up in his eyes at the way his best friend’s reflection almost seems to glow with happiness. “You look perfect.”

The ceremony is breathtaking, but Jongin would expect nothing less. Baekhyun always talked about wanting a winter wedding, and Jongin can see his influence in the boughs of pine and holly that bedeck the ballroom. When the time comes for Jongin, Baekhyun’s best man, to walk down the aisle with Kyungsoo, Chanyeol’s best man, they both make sure to do it with smiles on their faces for the sake of their best friends despite the tension that crackles between them.

“Hi,” Kyungsoo approaches him later during the reception, raising his voice slightly over the music pounding from the dance floor.

“Hello,” Jongin greets stiffly, watching the increasingly tipsy pair of newlyweds grind on a very annoyed and sober Zitao.

“Nice ceremony,” Kyungsoo comments, moving to stand beside Jongin and watch the dancers.

“Beautiful.”

“Boy, the holidays are rough,” Kyungsoo tries again after a moment of uncomfortable silence. “Every year I just try to get from the day before Thanksgiving to the day after New Year’s.”

“A lot of suicides,” Jongin nods. Kyungsoo nods.

“Would you like a pea pod with shrimp?” a waiter swings by with a tray of hors d’oeuvres, and Jongin smiles at him with all the warmth he’s pointedly not showing Kyungsoo.

“Thank you,” he happily takes one.

“How’ve you been?” Kyungsoo asks after another few seconds.

“Fine.”

“How’re things with Yifan?”

Jongin looks at him. “Kyungsoo.”

“What?”

“I don’t want to talk about this.”

“Is it because of what happened?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Jongin repeats.

“Why can’t we get past this? I mean, are we gonna carry this thing around forever?”

“Forever?” Jongin asks with disbelief. “It just happened!”

“It happened three weeks ago!”

Jongin stares at him.

“You know how a year to a person is like seven years to a dog?” Kyungsoo asks.

“Yes.”

Kyungsoo throws his hands up as if that clarifies it all. Jongin blinks and crosses his arms.

“Is one of us supposed to be a dog in this scenario?”

“Yep.”

“Who is the dog?”

“You are.”

“I am? I’m the dog?”

“Yes.”

“I’m the dog. I’m—” Jongin cuts himself off when he notices people starting to stare and marches to the door leading into the hall, gesturing for Kyungsoo to follow him.

“I don’t see that, Kyungsoo. If anyone’s a dog, you are the dog,” he spits once they have some semblance of privacy. “To you this is something that just happened and you think you can say ‘great, it happened, now let’s get on with it, we’ll go back to the way it was, like what happened didn’t mean anything—’”

“I’m not saying it didn’t mean anything, I’m just saying why does it have to mean everything?” Kyungsoo interrupts.

“Because it does!” Jongin looks at him with wide eyes full of anger and hurt. “And you should know that better than anyone because the minute it happens you walk right out the door!”

“I didn’t walk out, I—”

“No, sprinted is more like it!”

“But we both agreed it was a mistake!” Kyungsoo follows Jongin as he storms in the direction of the kitchen.

“The worst mistake I ever made!”

“It’s always the same, it’s always the same!” Kyungsoo shouts over the din of the kitchen. “The minute you make love to someone the expectations start.”

“First of all, I’m not ‘someone,’” Jongin snarls back. “And second of all, I don’t expect anything from you.”

“Bull. You expect me to know how to behave with you now—”

“You don’t have to behave any way with me now, okay?”

“Fine, fine, but let’s get one thing straight. I did not go over there that night to make love to you. That’s not why I went there. But what was I supposed to do? You looked at me with those big, weepy eyes. ‘Don’t go home tonight, Kyungsoo. Hold me a little longer, Kyungsoo.’”

“What are you saying, you took pity on me?” Jongin gasps. Kyungsoo opens his mouth to say something else, but Jongin doesn’t give him the chance. “ you!” The crack of Jongin’s palm echoes as it connects with Kyungsoo’s cheek, and Kyungsoo stands for a second in shock as Jongin whirls around and heads back to the party.

Chanyeol is clinking a fork against a glass as Kyungsoo chases Jongin back into the reception, and both of them come to a stop as the attention of the room is focused on the taller of the grooms. 

“I want to propose a toast to Jongin and Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol grins across the room at them, and a hundred heads turn to follow his gaze. “To Jongin and Kyungsoo,” he raises his glass. “If Baekhyun and I had found either of them remotely attractive, we would not be here today.”

The crowd laughs, and Jongin musters a small smile as the guests raise their glasses to him and the man behind him. Baekhyun steals a bouquet of flowers from Chanyeol’s sister and throws it straight in Jongin’s direction. He considers letting it fall at his feet, but reaches out and catches it at the last minute, much to his best friend’s delight.

—

“Hi, it’s me. It’s the holiday season. This doesn’t happen to be my holiday, but I thought I might remind you that this is a season of forgiveness and charity, so if you felt like calling me back, it would make me a very happy person.”

“Hey Jongin, it’s me again. You’re not answering, so that either means that A, you’re busy, B, you’re not busy but don’t want to talk to me, or C, you desperately want to talk to me, but you’re trapped under something heavy and can’t reach your cell.” Jongin smiles a little despite himself as he listens to Kyungsoo’s voicemail. “If it’s A or C, call me back.” there’s a click, and a recorded voice tells Jongin that’s the end of his new messages. He sighs and hangs up.

Jongin groans when his phone starts loudly ringing in his pocket as he’s in the process of hauling a load of groceries to his door. He sets the bags down in favor of fishing his phone out of his pocket to silence it, but hesitates when he sees the elder’s name on the screen. He finally accepts the call on the seventh ring, taking a deep breath before saying,

“Hi, Kyungsoo.”

“Jongin, hey, hi,” Kyungsoo fumbles, clearly shocked that the younger received his call. “I didn’t think you were going to… hi… what are you doing?”

“I’m just getting home.”

“Where from?”

There’s a beat of silence on Jongin’s end of the line. “What do you want, Kyungsoo?” he finally asks.

“Nothing. I just called to say… what are you doing for New Year’s? Are you going to the Tyler’s party?” He’s met with silence on the other end. “Do you have a date?” he continues, pacing his apartment. “Cause I don't have a date and if you don’t have a date, we always said that if neither of us had a date on New Year’s…”

“Kyungsoo, I can’t do this anymore.” Jongin cuts him off. “I am not your consolation prize. Goodbye.”

Kyungsoo freezes where he stands, listening to the mocking sound of the dial tone as Jongin hangs up.

—

What’s so bad about this? Kyungsoo wonders, Ryan Seacrest’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve lighting up his television as he pops another potato chip in his mouth. This is much better than being out on at some party with the rest of the world tonight.

His thoughts drift to last year’s New Year’s Eve and the memory of Jongin’s laughing face as he twirled him around the dance floor. “Do you think the fact that we’re friends is keeping us from finding someone?” Jongin had asked.

“Yes. So I think we should stop being friends, go home right now, and make love,” was his response.

“You don’t mean that,” Jongin had giggled. “You know you don’t mean that.”

“Air,” he mutters to himself as his thoughts begin to wander. “Air would be good right now.”

The streets are eerily quiet, but Kyungsoo finds himself not minding, rather enjoying the rare peace. This is good, he thinks. New Year’s resolution #1, I gotta do this more often. Window shopping. All the fun and none of the expense.

Kyungsoo eventually finds himself wandering through Washington Square, and a poignant memory surfaces from eleven years earlier when Jongin had dropped him off in this very spot in 2006. They had bickered all the way from Chicago to here, and Kyungsoo had thought that when Jongin drove away, he would be gone for good. He thinks now about what his life would become if Jongin really does leave it, subconsciously clenching his fists at his sides.

The icy midnight air stings Kyungsoo’s skin. 

He starts to run.

—

Jongin finally locates Baekhyun and Chanyeol minutes to midnight, the massive New Year’s Eve party almost at its . “I’m going home,” he tells them, raising his voice over the din.

“What? But it’s almost midnight!” Baekhyun objects, grabbing Jongin’s sleeve when he goes to put on his coat. “You can’t leave now!”

“I can’t stand the thought of not kissing somebody,” Jongin tells him.

“Big deal. I’ll kiss you,” Chanyeol offers with a grin. Jongin gives him a halfhearted smile in return.

“Thanks, Yeol. But I really have to go.”

“Wait two minutes,” Baekhyun begs as Jongin makes his way to the door.

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” promises Jongin, pecking his best friend on the cheek before turning to leave.

Kyungsoo bursts into the ballroom nearly drenched in sweat, chest heaving as if he’s just sprinted a mile. Jongin stops dead in his tracks, panic tugging at the edges of his awareness. Kyungsoo catches sight of him and makes a beeline for him, and the younger immediately straightens his spine and lifts his chin.

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking,” Kyungsoo says in a rush, “and the thing is, I love you.”

“What?” asks Jongin, shock evident on his face.

“I love you,” Kyungsoo repeats with certainty, looking Jongin straight in the eyes.

“How do you expect me to respond to this?”

“How about you love me, too?”

“How about I’m leaving,” Jongin scowls, walking past Kyungsoo as the countdown to midnight begins, the elder on his heels.

“Doesn’t what I said mean anything to you?”

“What is it supposed to mean?” Jongin whirls around, voice more hurt than angry. “I’m sorry, Kyungsoo. I know it’s New Year’s Eve and I know you’re feeling lonely, but you can’t just show up here and tell me you love me and expect that to make it all right.” The countdown reaches zero, and cheers of Happy New Year erupt around them along with the sounds of noisemakers and the sound of people singing. “I mean, what am I supposed to say? Great, Kyungsoo, you love me; that settles everything, now we can waltz off into the sunset together? It doesn’t work this way.”

“Well, how does it work?”

“I don’t know, but not this way.”

Kyungsoo regards him for a moment with an intensity in his eyes that Jongin hasn’t seen before.

“How about this way,” he says after a beat, raising his voice a bit over the joyful music swelling from the party. “I love how you get cold when it’s 71 degrees out. I love how it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that little crinkle you get on your forehead when you’re looking at me like I’m nuts,” he points. “I love that after spending the day with you I can still smell your cologne on my clothes, and I love how you’re the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. It took me eleven years to figure this out, and I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, you want your life to start as soon as possible!”

Jongin stares at him, tears of fury swimming in his eyes. “See, that’s just like you, Kyungsoo. You say things like that, and you make it impossible for me to hate you. And I hate you,” he starts to cry. “I really hate you, Kyungsoo.”

Kyungsoo closes the distance between them and catches Jongin’s lips in a long, passionate kiss that feels as if it’s the very cause of the fireworks exploding outside. Jongin melts into him, and the partygoers continue to sing Auld Lang Syne as Kyungsoo presses him as close as he can. 

“You know, my whole life I have never known what this song means,” Kyungsoo says suddenly when the kiss finally breaks, and Jongin laughs, wiping his tears away.

“I know exactly what you mean.”

“I mean, ‘should old acquaintance be forgot.’ Does that mean we should forget old acquaintances, or does it mean if we do happen to forget them, we should remember them, which isn’t possible because we forgot them already?”

“Maybe you’re just supposed to remember you forgot them or something,” Jongin giggles, winding his arms around Kyungsoo’s neck. “Anyway, it’s about old friends.”

Kyungsoo smiles and reconnects their lips, kissing the younger for what feels like hours and holding him without the intention of ever letting go again.

—

“The first time we met, we hated each other,” Kyungsoo admits at their wedding three months later.

“You didn’t hate me, I hated you,” Jongin quickly corrects, nudging Kyungsoo in the side and earring laughter from their guests. “And the second time we met he didn’t even remember me.”

“I did too, I remembered you.” Kyungsoo smiles down at the glass in his hand. “The third time we met, we became friends.”

“We were friends for a long time.”

“And then we weren’t.”

“And then we fell in love,” Jongin giggles, linking his arm with his husband’s. “And we couldn’t have found each other without the love and support of all our friends. So let us start by saying this: thank you guys for putting up with us arguing for eleven years.”

“To Jongin and Kyungsoo!” Baekhyun screams, raising his glass, and the rest of the party laughs jovially and follows suit. 

Jongin grins, sitting beside Kyungsoo at their table as Chanyeol gets up to make his best man speech. Kyungsoo finds his hand under the tablecloth, squeezing it tightly and smiling over at the younger with eyes glittering with love. Jongin leans over and presses a gentle kiss to Kyungsoo’s lips.

This is their happily ever after, and they can’t wait for it to finally begin.

(my tumblr)

Kat C