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"Ready?" Sehun calls into the apartment from his spot near the front door. His spine feels surprisingly intact considering it's been pressed against the hard, wooden floor for nearly six hours straight, not to mention Jongin chose to use his chest as a pillow at some point during the night. Despite that, he feels well rested, which he feared he wouldn't. He checks his watch again. If they don't get a move on, he'll definitely be getting a call from Chanyeol. "Babe!"

"Coming!" Jongin shouts from somewhere Sehun can't pinpoint. "I've got petals stuck in my hair!" A loud bang fills the air subsequently.

Sehun fixes the strings to his hoodie. Sleeping in his suit, including his loafers, was probably the dumbest thing he's ever done. Thankfully, he woke up before Jongin a few hours ago so he could get up and take a shower, but not before fetching an extra pillow (which he hates himself for not thinking of earlier) and propping it underneath Jongin's head. Despite all the candles having burned out long ago, the ring on Jongin's finger was enough to fill the room with light. The sight made Sehun's chest swell with proudness, and it's a feeling he relives when a familiar mop of tousled brown hair suddenly comes into view.

"Is it gone?" Jongin asks after stopping unbearably close to Sehun. "Check my hair, is it gone? I saw it for a moment and then it was gone." When he raises his hands to run them through his hair, the diamond on his finger perfectly reflects the light in the ceiling. The sight is truly breathtaking, and makes Jongin look way more angellic than Sehun thought was even possible.

Carefully ruffling Jongin's hair, only to find nothing, Sehun sends the latter a reassuring look. "Nothing, you're good," he says before pulling Jongin into a hug. "I believe that's my sweater," he chuckles into the brunet's hair, which smells like strawberry and roses.

"And I believe I have every right to wear them now, even without asking," Jongin says confidently as he leans away. "I mean, all married couples share clothes, don't they?" He briefly tears his eyes off of Sehun to adjust the ring. 

"We're not married yet," Sehun corrects him, trying to ignore the way his stomach flutters at the word. "But fine, since you're so darn cute, I'll give you a headstart," he adds, which is closely followed by an excited squeal on Jongin's part. "Anyhow, we've gotta get moving before Chanyeol grows impatient, I promised him we'd get there two minutes ago."

Jongin pouts, seemingly unhappy with the idea of leaving the apartment. "Fine, but let's get back as soon as possible, okay?"

Sehun nods in agreement. "Roger that," he chuckles. He wastes no time in throwing the front door open and letting Jongin bounce outside first.

Locking the door behind him, Sehun hears the brunet repeatedly slamming the elevator button with his finger before it finally arrives. They both step into the elevator, hand in hand, Jongin making sure to snap their usual elevator mirror selfie (this time as a whole new man, according to him) whilst they wait for the elevator to descend to the bottom floor. This time, however, instead of the usual strange pose, silly face and aegyo-type- picture, their selfie consists of Jongin eyeing the camera with a rather smitten look on his face, while his free hand (unsurprisingly, the one with the ring) holds onto Sehun's hand; with the latter standing behind with both his arms s around Jongin's waist. There's definitely something about the ring, as Sehun noticed, because it never seems to outdo its shine no matter how bright the room they're standing in might be.

"Look how nice it is," Jongin squeals after clicking on the photo. The mirror is a tad bit dirty, but he barely even notices it. A moment later, the elevator comes to a stop, and he quickly puts his phone away before grabbing Sehun's hand. However, he barely makes it three steps before he suddenly collides with something, which nearly causes him to topple over if it wasn't for Sehun's lightning reflexes.

"Well good morning to you, too," Zitao says cheerily, his feline smile growing even wider when he lays his eyes on Jongin's ring. "Well then, I guess it worked," he chuckles heartily with a nod in Sehun's direction. "I'd hug you both but I've got dog spit all over my hands, so we'll save it for the next time we meet, but congrats!" He sends them both a thumbs up.

Jongin blushes. "Thank you," he says shyly, subconsciously rubbing hiding his left hand from view. 

"Thanks, Tao, and I'll do without Vivi's goober, thanks," Sehun laughs as he Jongin's cheek with his thumb. "Thanks for letting me borrow the recorder, by the way. We're actually on our way over to a friend to get our furniture back, so I'll return it as soon as we get back."

"Nonsense," Zitao tuts, waving a hand in the air. "That thing's been sitting in my attic for ages, it's probably more suited for you two, anyway, so take your time," he adds, gesturing at Jongin and Sehun. 

Jongin suddenly blinks in confusion. "Wait-" He raises an eyebrow. "It's...yours?" he asks, lamely pointing at Zitao.

"You didn't notice we don't own a vintage record player?" Sehun chuckles, shaking his head in amusement. "Silly goose."

"Exactly," Zitao says with a nod (and a smile, of course). "I'm pretty good at romantic advice, so hit me up whenever you like," he adds with a dramatic wink.

At least that explains why he smelled like macaroni and cheese yesterday, Jongin thinks to himself before clearing his throat awkwardly. "...Advice?"

"Yeah, Sehun knocked on my door yesterday and said he knew I owned one of 'those old music player thingies', so I decided to help 'im," Zitao laughs. "It was pretty funny, he was panicking so much I invited him in for tea, but he kindly declined since you'd be home any minute," he adds, his eyes flashing with reminiscence before he looks at Sehun with a smile. "Had to keep your little one occupied for a minute downstairs while your clumsy tried to figure out how to set it up, but hey, you did it all by yourself, so good on you!"

Sehun raises an eyebrow. "Really now?" He pats Jongin's shoulder. "So you two ran into each other?" Judging by the tone of his voice, Jongin can tell he's in a hurry to wrap the conversation up in fear of an angry Chanyeol calling any minute.

Zitao nods, as if he's got all the time in the world. "Yup, Jongin seemed a little bit down but I can tell that's history now," he says heartily, gesturing at Jongin's ring. "I'm glad my recorder came to good use, sheesh, I'd forgotten all about that thing until you came over. By the way, brownie-" He looks at Jongin. "Make sure to hit me up sometime this week, okay? I wanna hear it all."

After Jongin nods reassuringly, Sehun clears his throat. "Tao, we're sort of in a rush," he says apologetically with a shrug. "You know, our friend; his name's Chanyeol, he isn't exactly the patient type, not to mention he's in the process of moving," he adds for clarifcation. "We could invite you over sometime tomorrow if you'd like."

"Sounds great," Zitao beams, clapping and rubbing his hands together. He's about to say something else, when a shadow suddenly appears outside the door. "Speaking of friends, that's mine right there. Lost a bet two weeks ago so I owe Yifan pizza, that bugger," he huffs with a small eyeroll. "Anyway, I gotta run, too, but congratulations! Hey, make sure to invite me, by the way! I'll be up front!" he calls over his shoulder as he walks towards the door.

The door closes with a bang a moment later, and Jongin chuckles a little. "Man, I like him," he says to himself as he adjusts the ring on his finger. "And we'll invite him, right?" He looks up at Sehun with hopeful eyes.

Ushering Jongin towards the door, since he swears he can feel his phone vibrate in his pocket, Sehun laughs loudly. "He moved in less than two months ago," he snickers heartily. "But something tells me I'd jump at the chance to invite him, so yes." They approach the door and he swings it open. (Thankfully) Zitao is nowhere to be seen.

"He'll probably cry his eyes out and he barely even knows us," Jongin cackles a little too loudly, which is closely followed by Sehun placing a hand over his mouth. "But hey, at least he's the most social human being in the entire building, and he's a nice guy," he adds, grabbing Sehun's hand and skipping along the path leading to the building across from theirs. 

After a few minutes, they approach the building, and Sehun doesn't even need to spare the list next to the keypad a glance before he proceeds to punch in the four digit code to Chanyeol's apartment. "That's very true," he hums as he swings the door open, letting Jongin enter first before shutting it behind them. Jongin, not having visited Chanyeol many times (or stepped foot in the building, for that matter), waits for Sehun and clings to the latter like a lost puppy as they make their way towards the elevator. Thankfully, Chanyeol only lives on the second floor, so the elevator ride isn't all that long. Jongin looks rather nervous as he emerges from the elevator, so Sehun makes sure to stay as close to him as possible while he rings the doorbell. A few rustling sounds can be heard from inside the apartment, but a familiar voice soon calls something along the lines of 'Be right there!'.

Chanyeol opens the door a minute later, his eyes immediately lighting up upon seeing Sehun and Jongin. To be exact, the ring on the latter's finger. "Hey y'all! Jonggo, you've grown so much since I last saw you," he says excitedly whilst enveloping the brunet in a bone crushing hug. "Jeez, this is exciting as hell, come on in!" He gives Sehun a bold pat on the back before stepping aside, Jongin and Sehun eagerly bouncing across the threshold.

Chanyeol's entire apartment is filled to the brim with moving boxes; practically every bit and piece of furniture is packed save for the necessities, such as a few chairs, his bed and a small kitchen table along with the stove and microwave. Everywhere Jongin looks, there are boxes stacked all the way up to the ceiling and he fights the urge to climb them. It's not until he turns a corner, though, and immediately recognizes his and Sehun's bed, along with a few of their bedroom belongings, that Jongin blinks in awe. He's about to turn around and ask Sehun if they can start taking their things back and head back home, when Chanyeol speaks up.

"Siddown and make yourselves at home," Chanyeol says in an unusually chirpy tone (although Sehun figures it doesn't take a genius to figure out why he's so worked up) as he walks towards a specifix box labeled 'FOOD N SCHTUFF'. He opens it up and retrieves a jar of cookies as well as a few muffins before walking back to Sehun and Jongin, who are both seated smack in the middle of the floor. "I mean, most people prefer chairs, but then again, I guess you're not like most people," he mumbles.

Grabbing a cupcake, Jongin shrugs. "Did you make these?" he hums while crawling into Sehun's lap. He really hopes his ring doesn't get covered in sugar and fat.

Chanyeol shakes his head. "I ain't no baker, Jonggo," he says simply before plopping down on the floor, too, and rubbing his hands together. "Man, this is-" He gestures at the two, "-so darn beautiful, I could just cry." He wipes away a fake tear, much to Jongin's amusement. His voice suddenly turns serious. "No seriously, I was sort of praying you'd say yes for his sake, since I'd probably have to nurse his broken heart for years afterwards."

Jongin blinks. "What do you mean?" he asks, ignoring Sehun's scolding of 'Don't talk with your mouth full!'.

Chanyeol leans in real close to Jongin and cups a hand around his mouth. "You see, kid, Sehun has been freaking the out for weeks, but thankfully I was his wingman all throughout everything, so you're welcome," he whispers in an obviously loud tone, which makes Jongin laugh a little. 

"Chanyeol," Sehun groans, "ing st-"

"I caught him googling romantic proposal ideas, as well," Chanyeol coos, trying to pinch Sehun's cheek with no success. "You should've seen it, Jonggo; his mile and a half long list of ideas. At one point he even contemplated buying fifteen dogs and train them to sit perfectly still inside a room, and he'd make each of them wear a shirt with an individual letter that spelled out 'WILL YOU MARRY ME?', isn't that ing cute?" He seems even more worked up than Sehun and Jongin combined, much to the duo's amusement.

"Fifteen dogs?!" Jongin squawks, remembering to close his mouth at the last second. He contemplates the idea for a minute, but quickly scrunches his nose in distaste. "But that'd mean we'd have to keep them as well afterwards, right? That's a lot of dogs," he murmurs to himself while eyeing the ring on his finger.

Sehun runs a hand down his face. "I was just kidding when I said that, you utter moron," he groans, taking a bite out of one of the sugar cookies. "Anyway-"

"So, Jonggo," Chanyeol interrupts, eyes twinkling as he looks at Jongin, who's munching away at his muffin. "Tell me, what did he end up settling for? Hopefully not the public restauraunt idea." He shivers a little.

"He got a ton of candles that spelled out the letters of our first names as well as a heart, and had this old music player in the corner and red rose petals all over the floor," Jongin replies, heart fluttering when Sehun kisses the top of his head.

"That's so cheesy-" Chanyeol chuckles, shaking his head, "-But so ing perfect!" He practically jumps five feet in the air in excitement. "Holy mackarel am I happy for you both, I almost forgive you for choosing to dump your heavy furniture on me at the last second," he adds and Sehun doesn't know if he should thank him or slap him.

Sehun opts to roll his eyes. He figures slapping Chanyeol wouldn't be a good idea, since Jongin is nice and snug in his lap and he'd rather not change that. "I hit you up with the idea like, a week ago," he groans while chewing his cookie, totally going against his own rule.

Jongin leans back a bit so he's leaning comfortably against Sehun's chest and shoulder. "A week ago?" He furrows his eyebrows. "Wait, how long've you known about this?" he asks Chanyeol while playing with Sehun's fingers.

"Ever since Sehun called me in a panicked frenzy nearly two weeks ago saying he might be crazy, but he's thinking of proposing," Chanyeol replies, grabbing three cookies and stuffing them all in his mouth at once. Jongin nearly laughs his chin off at the sight of crumbs falling everywhere. "Poor soul, he was so frigging anxious. Like, he'd call me everyday and ask if I thought it was a good idea and if he should wait. But on the other hand, I told you it'd work out in the end, didn't I?" He eyes Sehun. "Have you told Baekhyun and Jongdae yet, by the way?"

Sehun nods slowly, seriously wondering if Chanyeol's even got a filter between his brain and his mouth. Probably not. "You did," he hums lowly, feeding Jongin another cookie, which the latter happily accepts. "And no, we'll probably do that soon."

"Wait, they don't know about this?" Jongin interjects, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "But...you said-"

"Yeah, but, of all people," Chanyeol says, chewing his cookie, "I thought you'd know that Baekhyun absolutely at keeping secrets. Jongdae's alright, but Baekhyun's the absolute worst. I mean, I wanted to tell them so they could, y'know, help with setting the whole thing up, but then again, he'd probably end up bursting through your door at one in the morning with tears in his eyes whilst popping the news to you." He swallows. "So nope."

Jongin nods in understanding, even though part of him feels mildly irritated, considering his little "talk" with Baekhyun and Jongdae earlier nearly caused him to suffer an anxiety attack. On the other hand, he definitely agrees with Chanyeol's words, so he opts to keep quiet. Speaking of which, he has no idea how to break the news to neither Baekhyun nor Jongdae without being responsible for both of them collapsing from cardiac arrest. But Jongin figures he'll cross that bridge when he and Sehun get to it.

"By the way, Oh Sehun, since I'm moving in two weeks, it'll be your duty to help me load all these frikkin boxes inside the trucks, 'kay?" Chanyeol says between loud chews. "Before you ask, no, I won't ask little Jonggo to do it since he might destroy the ring," he adds with a wink in Jongin's direction, the latter winking back with a loud giggle. "By the way, you'll be inviting me, won't you?"

"Of course we will," Jongin blurts out, and he seems to find Chanyeol's subsequent loud, relieved exhale awfully amusing. "Why wouldn't we?" He his head to the side, and the fact that he's chewing on a cookie makes him look a hundred times more adorable.

"I dunno, man," Chanyeol retorts, throwing his hands in the air. "Speaking of which, I'll be recording the entire thing on my phone, so make sure to do something extra, 'kay?" His eyes suddenly light up. "When you're told to kiss, can you-" He points to Sehun before pointing to Jongin. "-pick him up and like, spin him around like they do in the movies? Or at least carry him down the aisle bridal style? I'll pay you a hundred bucks!" His eyes are twinkling so much Sehun wonders if he's lying or not. He probably isn't.

Jongin, being prone to motion sickness, only shivers. "I dunno about that-" he murmurs, scratching the back of his head. Not to mention the idea of accidentally getting dropped (in both scenarios), despite Sehun having carried him to bed multiple times without issue, would be even more nerve wracking than puking all over the place. 

"Let us get to the invitations first," Sehun laughs. "And then we'll start discussing gimmicks that could potentially break the entire ceremony." He shoots Chanyeol a pointed look. "'Kay?"

Chanyeol only nods. "Alrighty then-" He brushes his hands together. "Anyway, sorry to cut everything so short but y'all adorable motherers better help me get your outta my house like, right now since Kyungsoo's coming over in a bit to help me unload these boxes. I'd ask Sehun to do it but I figure you're both eager to get back to the privacy of your own apartment." With a rather overdramatic wink in Jongin's direction, he gestures at the furniture. "Diamonds are pricey, so don't scratch that thing!"

Jongin only rolls his eyes but he sneaks a glance at the ring on his finger, and he doesn't think he'll ever stop feeling giddy every time he looks at it. He seriously wonders if it can get any better than this. With Chanyeol's pained grunts while he tries lifting their bed on his own in the background, Sehun walks up behind Jongin and gently rubs the latter's ring finger with his thumb, before kissing him on the cheek. Even though he's got Chanyeol's frustrated groans of 'Get your slow asses over here and help me!' in his ears, Jongin only smiles to himself because it definitely can.

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