Hi y'all. You may have noticed it says 'v1' in the title. Anyway, it's because I've realised that the ending I had in mind wasn't quite like what the comments were looking for, so I've decided to write two different versions. Yay (?)

Let us first start with the ending I'd envisioned for this story.

Warning: it isn't happy.

Donghae arrives early. It’s a church not too far off from the heart of the city, and he clearly overestimated the travel time seeing as he can count the number of people in the church hall with two hands.

He sits down at a pew near the back and looks around absent-mindedly.

There are flowers at nearly every part of the hall, and Donghae wonders if Hyukjae approves of the decoration. He also wonders if Hyukjae has a religion, if he believes in God, and if he frequents the church. There are so many things he doesn’t know about Hyukjae, and there are so many questions he has that he will never get the answers to.

He wonders if Hyukjae is feeling okay. Did he cry when they part ways, the way Donghae did?

A sudden chatter to his right pulls him back to reality. He looks over his shoulder and sees a girl hushing her friend and blushing furiously. Upon realising that she caught his attention, she starts to play with her hair while her friend elbows her excitedly.

Huh.

Donghae looks away, and sighs internally when he sees her sliding into the same pew from the corner of his eyes.

“Hi,” he hears her say, her voice small and timid.

He offers a tight smile politely but doesn’t offer anything else.

She doesn’t take the sign, instead putting her hand on his knee and flashing what she must think is her most attractive smile. “I’ve never seen you before. My name is Yuna.”

In her defence, she is indeed quite pretty.

Donghae doesn’t reply and pulls his leg away as gently as he can, but still she continues, “Are you Eunmi’s friend too?”

“I’m here for Hyukjae,” he says finally.

Yuna, excited that she finally managed to draw a response from this handsome stranger, opens to ask for his name. But then he stands suddenly and excuses himself, and all that she’s left with is a back view of his as he walks to the door.

Her friend pats her on the shoulder, comforting her by saying it’s okay, boys like him always play hard to get.

--

Donghae goes to get food. Hyukjae was truthful again, it seems, because the cake does taste like heaven. And there are strawberries. Maybe Hyukjae chose the cake. The thought sends a smile spilling across his face and he has to stop himself before he reaches for another slice.

He’s about to move to take a seat; at another pew of course, to avoid what-was-her-name. But then he makes eye contact with Yesung from across the room and halts in his steps.

Yesung figures immediately that Hyukjae must have invited him because he wanted to see him again. Hyukjae’s stupidly sentimental and predictable like that. What Yesung didn’t expect was for Donghae to reciprocate, and to show up.

He decides to save Donghae the dilemma of averting his eyes or strike up a conversation by approaching him.

Cutting to the chase, Yesung grabs him by the arm and mutters under his breath, “You want to see him?”

Donghae seems surprised by both his presence and his question. He shrugs and says, “I mean, I guess I will when they eventually walk down the red carpet.”

He hoped it had come across as nonchalant as he wished for it to be, though he knows Yesung can probably tell he isn’t really looking forward to it.

Yesung rolls his eyes. “No, stupid. I mean right now.”

Donghae raises his brow in confusion. “What do you mean?”

It draws a sigh from Yesung and Donghae feels bad instantaneously; here he is, attending Hyukjae’s wedding and pissing his friend off. God, I’m the worst. But he allows himself to take comfort in the fact that Yesung is still grabbing onto his arm, because it means he still has a chance to see Hyukjae… right?

“I mean, I can bring you to him right now. Aren’t you here to see him, anyway?” he says.

Donghae nods and hears Yesung let out a finally, and allows himself to be whisked out of the hall. He can only hope this isn’t Yesung’s way of chasing him out of the wedding.

--

They stop in front of a conference-turned-makeup-room.

Donghae turns to look at Yesung expectantly, but Yesung only gestures towards the door. “You’re the one who wants to see him, not me. Plus I’ve already been in there for the past 2 hours. All I can say is it’s boring and driving me nuts.”

Donghae thanks him and pushes the door open as gently as he can.

Then he stops in his tracks as soon as he notices Hyukjae’s reflection from the mirror because holy , maybe Yesung should have warned him about how ethereal and magnificent Hyukjae looks all dressed up.

Hyukjae meets his eyes and stands abruptly, and the makeup artist jerks backward in surprise. He mumbles an apology but moves out of the seat anyway, surprising her further. She’s here to do the groom’s make up – what is she going to do if he leaves even before she’s done?

Siwon saves the day by sliding into the seat and asking for a touchup, and Hyukjae pats himself on the back for having selected the best best man. The makeup artist decides she’ll do Siwon’s makeup anyway, because he’s very good looking and it makes her feel like she’s creating a masterpiece.

Donghae doesn’t know what to do except to watch as Hyukjae walks towards him. He’s wearing a nicely-fitted suit and has his hair styled up in a way that exposes his forehead, and Donghae thinks his lips are glistening in the light though it could be the makeup. Nevertheless, Hyukjae still looks as perfect as it can get. Donghae notices that he’s indeed wearing the pair of mismatched cufflinks and feels his heart do a flip in his chest. God, Hyukjae. What am I supposed to do with you?

Hyukjae saves him the trouble of thinking about the next course of action by enveloping him in a hug. Donghae thinks he’s lingering for a few seconds too long but he doesn’t push him away nor pull back, because Hyukjae’s warmth and body against his feel way too familiar for him to want to let go, even though they shouldn’t.

When Hyukjae pulls back, he’s wearing a smile on his face that wasn’t there before Donghae walked into the room.

“You made it,” he says, his eyes glinting with newfound excitement.

Donghae doesn’t want to tell him he was lying that morning when he’d pretended to be busy. It’s not like he was willing to admit it, hence the lie. It was a stupid way of making himself feel like he had more power over this relationship – is that what people would call it? – and over himself. Clearly it failed, seeing as he is here after all.

Instead, he offers a smile in return and says, “Yeah. Not gonna miss out on free cake.”

Hyukjae laughs, and Donghae suppresses the rising urge to kiss him full on the lips.

Siwon watches the entire exchange curiously through the mirror. Yesung was right – Donghae is indeed very good looking and most definitely Hyukjae’s type. What he didn’t expect was the extent to which Donghae too was into Hyukjae – he’s looking at him like he hung the moon in the sky. What have they done introducing the two to each other the night before Hyukjae’s wedding? Somehow Siwon feels very, very guilty.

Hyukjae wants to pull Donghae out of the room. Maybe they could go to the rooftop pool or something, he’d seen something like that in the directory when he’d first arrived. They could even go to the men’s room for all he cares; he just wants to get out of this room where everyone’s pretending not to stare at them and failing miserably.

But Donghae shoots down the suggestion before Hyukjae’s even done speaking, and asks if they could just sit by the corner of the room instead.

Hyukjae wants to say no, why can’t we spend some time alone? I’m getting married in less than an hour’s time and you want us to stay and chat in a room where everyone’s watching us?

But then it sinks in, the knowledge that he’s getting married in less than an hour’s time. He decides that Donghae’s right, though he feels bile rising up his throat and suddenly wants to cry.

He nods. The staff members move away from that corner of the room as the two approaches it, and Hyukjae can’t help but wonder why they were all there in the first place. The makeup artist, the stylists, the wedding planner… even the caterer is here. What the hell? Is the groom’s room just a makeshift waiting room for everyone else?

They sit down and stare at each other.

This time around, without the wine and night sky, the air around them feels strangely uncomfortable and awkward.

What is there to say to each other? Down to the bottom of it all, they are both strangers. Hyukjae doesn’t know Donghae’s favourite food, and Donghae doesn’t know Hyukjae’s favourite movie. Yet Hyukjae knows how Donghae tastes, and Donghae knows how to make Hyukjae cry.

Hyukjae wishes that were enough, because things would be so much easier if that one night had meant as much as it did in his head.

Donghae breaks the silence with a laugh. “I don’t know why I asked for us to move here. I don’t know what to say.”

Hyukjae nods in agreement. “Yeah, neither do I.”

But still, I feel like there’s so much I want to say to you, Hyukjae thinks in his head. It’s the feeling of wanting to talk about everything but not knowing where to begin and the feeling of wanting to talk about anything but not knowing what there is to say combined, and somehow it’s worse this way.

Then Siwon approaches them and the tension eases a little. “Hey Hyukjae, I’ll go check if all the guests are here. Be back in 10,” he says.

Hyukjae says thanks and watches Siwon take a few steps towards the door before returning to them. Siwon turns his attention to Donghae this time.

“Hi, you must be Donghae,” he says, extending a hand towards him. “I’m Siwon, by the way. We didn’t meet yesterday but I’ve heard all about- I mean, it’s n