Paper Rings

Baekhyun and Hei both go ring shopping separately. Jongdae accompanies on both occasions.

Set: First part set before Baekhyun’s proposal (which is bonus chapter #1 in Cutlass); second part is set after.

Based on (you guessed it!) Taylor Swift’s—no one is surprised—Paper Rings. Specifically: “I like shiny things/ but I’d marry you with paper rings/ you’re the one I want”. Also wrote this chapter because the lack of Jongdae in my drabbles was a bit concerning.

P.S. I did a bunch of engagement ring/wedding rings research and have deduced (?) that sometimes, the bride’s wedding ring/engagement ring are the same + the bride gets the groom a wedding ring, or the bride has engagement ring + wedding ring while the groom gets a wedding ring from the bride (?). In this case Baekhyun gets Hei both an engagement ring + wedding ring because he’s extra, and Hei gets Baekhyun a wedding ring. If that’s incorrect wedding tradition, you can’t say I didn’t attempt to do my research because I tried my best.

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Luhan had opted out of ring shopping with a shudder, claiming to have absolutely no taste in “gems and jewels and precious things”, and resigned himself to an afternoon locked in his cabin tinkering with his potions. Probably to make Baekhyun stay away from him.

Baekhyun told himself not to be deterred. Because honestly, he didn’t trust Luhan’s sense of fashion, much less when it came to jewelry. The next logical choice was Kim Jongdae, if only for the fact that Jongdae couldn’t lie and that meant he was obligated to be blunt and honest about what would be good and what wouldn’t.

Jongdae had happily come along after making Baekhyun promise to treat him to lunch.

“Are you nervous?” Jongdae asked as they strolled down the street.

“Nervous for what?” Baekhyun asked. “We took Luhan’s potion. We’re not going to get recognized.”

Jongdae gave him a long-suffering look. “Are you nervous to propose?”

Baekhyun knew, technically, that shrugging it off and playing nonchalant didn’t work on Jongdae. It didn’t stop him from still doing the exact thing and saying, “Slightly?”

“You and Hei both do this,” Jongdae scoffed. “Stop lying, I can tell.”

Baekhyun groaned. “Fine. I’ve been planning for weeks and okay, yes, the nerves are beginning to get to me.”

“What do you even have to be nervous about?”

“What else can you be nervous about when it comes to a proposal?”

“There is no chance that Hei would say no.”

“There’s no such thing as no chance—”

“Just because you’re the one who got stabbed for her in Regiis doesn’t mean she wasn’t willing to put herself in the same position if it meant saving you—which, technically, she kind of did by going there. It’s mutual. Disgusting mutual. I cannot lie.”

Jongdae shot him an insufferably smug grin when Baekhyun didn’t reply for a good five seconds. Sensing that he’d lost the fight (but at least felt slightly more reassured than before), Baekhyun gave in.

“Fine,” he said. “I’ll try to stop stressing. Good?”

“You’re still stressing, but better, I guess.”

Baekhyun gave Jongdae a halfhearted shrug, but the topic soon diverged from his nerves to what they