Jongin called Kyungsoo at night many times, and he would just talk and talk about anything and everything, his voice soothing Kyungsoo to sleep. Despite or maybe because of this, Kyungsoo slept less, because he could only hold off the nightmares for so long. And when he would see Jongin at school the following day, exhausted, falling asleep at his table at lunch and barely being able to keep his eyes open in English class, Kyungsoo felt immensely guilty, and after a while told him to stop calling, leaving Kyungsoo to face his nights alone.

He struggled. He found it difficult to concentrate in class for that first week due to the pain, and then even after it subsided he was distracted by exhaustion and anxiety. Every day as he did his homework, he would have to re-teach himself what he was supposed to have learned at school. He had no appetite, though he still made himself eat, sometimes throwing up after dinner. He withdrew more than ever from socializing, and naturally, it made Sehun worry, but Kyungsoo couldn’t find it in himself to confide in his friend. There was too much fear, too much shame… What would he say, what would he think? Kyungsoo couldn’t deal with the thought of some of the possible outcomes. So he kept his mouth shut.

Sehun’s birthday came and went, and Kyungsoo pretended to be ill on the day, so Sehun cancelled his party and spent the day just with Kyungsoo. Luhan’s birthday came a week later, and Minseok threw a house party for him, to which neither Kyungsoo nor Sehun attended.

Three weeks after Jongin’s party, everyone started questioning Kyungsoo. It was hard for them not to notice how depressed and anxious he was acting lately. His parents asked him if he was okay, Sehun asked if something had happened between him and Jongin, Jongin asked him if he wanted to go to counseling, offering to take him. Kyungsoo told them all he was fine, except Jongin, who he just denied. But by the end of the month, after Kyungsoo’s fourth panic attack in school, Jongin became insistent that he try to talk to someone. Kyungsoo agreed, but on the condition that if he wasn’t comfortable after his first meeting, he wouldn’t go back.

Jongin arranged an appointment for Kyungsoo at a ual assault centre, and after school on the third of May, he walked Kyungsoo to the centre. They couldn’t get a ride without being asked questions of course, so Jongin threw his hood up so he wouldn’t be recognized if his friends saw him with Kyungsoo. But otherwise, he held Kyungsoo’s hand as they walked, and as they sat in the waiting room that was a warm, happy shade of yellow that Kyungsoo would’ve found ironic if he wasn’t shaking in his boots. This is a bad idea…

Soon, a woman was greeting him, and if her personality had a colour, it would be the same as the walls. He supposed you had to be like that to work there, but he wasn’t comforted by her tender smile. Kyungsoo gave Jongin a fearful glance, and Jongin promised to stay right there and wait, before Kyungsoo stood up and swallowed nervously, following after the woman as she led him to a private room. Immediately, his anxiety spiked.

He sat in a comfortable chair, and she across from him with a notepad and a pen, introducing herself as Ms. Song, and asking him why he was there.

“I got ,” he said flatly, and he was glad the words came out less shaky than he’d expected. It was nice to know the cynical Kyungsoo had still survived, somewhere deep down. “Why else do people come here?”

She nodded calmly, not at all angered by his out lash. “And did you report it to the police?”

“Yes,” he lied, looking her in the eye so she couldn’t tell. He didn’t need to go through the trouble.

“When did this happen?”

“A month ago.”

“Do you remember it, or have you blocked it out?” He wished he could block it out. But he answered that he could remember. “Would you be willing to tell me about it?”

He clenched his jaw. She wanted him to relive it? He already did that, every night. Even knowing that it could help to get it out, it was a lot easier to think that in theory than in actual practice. How could he open up to this complete stranger? But that’s what she’s here for. It’s what she does. But he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t open up to her. She didn’t know him and it was just too much.

She continued to ask questions – where it had happened, if he’d known the person, how he had felt during it, what he'd done afterwards. Kyungsoo’s responses were limited.

“The boy who was out waiting with you, does he know, then?” she wondered. Kyungsoo nodded. “He’s a friend of yours?” Another nod. “Does anyone else know about it?” This time, Kyungsoo shook his head. “Not your parents, siblings, other friends?” Nothing. “Why him?”

“He found me.”

She wrote something down. The scratching sound clawed under his skin. “Do you blame yourself?”

“Yes.” He did. It was his fault. It had been his decisions.

“Why is that?”

“I chose…” To go to the party. To drink. To go off with the boy. “I should have known better.”

She nodded, telling him it was natural for him to blame himself, even if it wasn’t really his fault. Then she continued asking questions. How was he feeling now? How was he coping? He wasn’t coping, of course, and he felt terrible, scared and despondent all the time. At rare times he felt anger, towards himself, towards his , towards others. And he was weighed down by guilt, always. This too was natural, apparently, to be overweighed with emotions.

She concluded their hour by asking why he’d decided to come there today, and he just said that his friend had made him. When she asked if he would consider coming back, he shook his head. There wasn’t much she could tell him that he didn’t already know. She said if he did decide to come back, she would be more than happy to see him; if not, he should do his best to try to get his life back to normal, and understand that it would take time to heal. Then she walked him out to the waiting room.

Kyungsoo’s heart plummeted when he found the room to be void of Jongin, and he checked his phone to see if the boy had messaged him, but it was blank. Distress set in dizzyingly, and he had to hold the arm of a chair to keep himself upright. Why had Jongin left him?

A moment later, the boy appeared at the entrance of a door. Kyungsoo almost collapsed with relief, hurrying over to him and throwing his arms around him.

“I thought you’d left,” he mumbled.

“Of course not,” Jongin hugged him back. “I leave for five seconds to go to the bathroom, and you have to come back then and assume the worst. Come on, let’s go.”

They decided to walk downtown to the coffee shop Kyungsoo knew to wait for his mom, who was coming to pick them up. As they went, Jongin asked how it had gone, and Kyungsoo said it was no more or less than he had expected. Jongin was disappointed to hear Kyungsoo didn’t want to return, but he didn’t push him. When they reached the coffee shop, Jongin bought them strawberry smoothies, refusing to let Kyungsoo pay him back since he’d forgotten his wallet. Then they sat and Jongin kept their conversation lighthearted, clearing away from the topic and just trying to talk about everyday things.

“We’re almost done school,” he said, sounding genuinely cheerful about it. One more month and they would be on break for summer. Kyungsoo hadn’t even thought about it. “Do you have any plans for summer?”

“Not really.” He never did. Sometimes his family would go on a vacation, but mostly he just stayed inside and read books, occasionally going to the beach when Sehun dragged him along, where he would swim for an hour then hide in the shade for an hour and reapply sunscreen before repeating the process. That didn’t happen often though. They came to the coffee shop too, every once in a while. And Kyungsoo would play chess with his dad after work some nights. Otherwise, summer was just a time when he relaxed.

He wasn’t sure what it would be like this year. It seemed like too much time to think.

“Me either,” Jongin said. “Well, not yet anyways. My summer always ends up being pretty crazy. We’ll get together though, right?”

“If you want to.”

“Hyung, if it was up to me, I’d spend my whole summer with you.”

Kyungsoo shook his head. “You’d get bored of me before we even got to July.”

“I really wouldn’t,” Jongin assured him. “But speaking of which, my family is going up to our cottage basically right after exams. My noona isn’t going though – she took the last year off to save up for school and she’s going to be moving at the beginning of summer – so we’ll have an extra spot if you wanted to come.”

Kyungsoo paused, taking in what he’d said. “You want me to go to your cottage with you and your family?”

“Yeah,” Jongin said enthusiastically. “It’d just be for a few days, but it’ll be fun. We go every year. It’s down on Palgong Mountain.”

Kyungsoo had never been to Palgong. It was a three-hour drive from Seoul, and Kyungsoo didn’t very often leave Seoul. He told Jongin he’d think about it, because he wasn’t sure he wanted to be with Jongin’s family at Jongin’s cottage, but he also wondered what it would be like to just be in the mountains for a couple days. Maybe it would be fun.

At least it would be something.

“

“Surprise!”

Baekhyun was rolled into Chanyeol’s house by his boyfriend to find it packed with people. And he was surprised. He gaped at everyone, and they all laughed and cheered. It was Saturday evening, the day before his birthday, and he’d been with Chanyeol all day. They had been planning on spending the night together, Chanyeol’s house was supposed to have been left alone just for the two of them…

A party commenced quickly, and Baekhyun held his hand out to Chanyeol, who took it and cupped his face with his free hand and gave the small boy a long kiss.

“Happy birthday, hyung,” Chanyeol said against his lips. Baekhyun gave him his warm smile.

“I can’t believe you did this,” he laughed. “Wow, I should’ve seen this coming.”

“What did you think we were gonna do?” Chanyeol teased.

Baekhyun hesitated. “Well… this wasn’t, er, quite what I had in mind,” he admitted. “I thought it was just gonna be, you know, me and you.”

Chanyeol raised an amused eyebrow. “You mean…? But, Baek, we – we can’t-“

“I know, I know. I wanted to try though. You said we would make do with what we could. It’s been a month, I just figured – you were tired of waiting, and… making me wait.” If it had been anyone else, Baekhyun would’ve been blushing. But it was Chanyeol, and he could only be comfortable around him. “You’ve hardly touched me for a month, ‘Yeol. I’ve been getting, uh, desperate. I’m used to having you… you know, but lately I’ve had to do it on my own… So I thought, you know, it’s my birthday…”

Chanyeol leaned in to press his lips to the corner of Baekhyun’s jaw just under his ear, and Baekhyun gave a sigh. “Damn, hyung,” Chanyeol breathed in his ear. “If I’d known that… Just thinking about it,” he grumbled. “C’mon, let’s go to my room.” He picked his broken-limbed boyfriend out of his chair, and Baekhyun wrapped his arms around his neck, legs around his hips, nuzzling his face into the younger’s neck as he was carried away. Chanyeol hummed softly.

“Baekhyun hyung?” he said quietly as they went. “I know it’s your birthday, but… would you do something for me?”

“Hmm?”

“Just… the idea of you getting off is such a turn-on. Do you think you could – for me?”

Baekhyun laughed, nipping his neck playfully. “Maybe if you hurry up.”

Chanyeol almost ran.

“

Kyungsoo stayed quiet on his ride home in the back seat of his car with Jongin. He sat in the middle, leaning on Jongin’s shoulder and keeping his eyes closed, trying to relax. Jongin’s cheek was resting on top of Kyungsoo’s head, their fingers interlaced absentmindedly. When the car stopped outside Jongin’s house, Kyungsoo felt Jongin’s grip tighten.

“Are you gonna be okay?” he murmured. Kyungsoo shook his head, opening his eyes and sitting up to look at Jongin. He caught his mom’s eyes watching in the rearview mirror as he did so, and knew she was listening, waiting. “Why don’t you stay the night?”

“I can’t.” Kyungsoo glanced at his mom, and Jongin sighed, thumbing the back of Kyungsoo’s smooth hand.

“You know, Jongin? About Kyungsoo’s nightmares?” Kyungsoo’s mother prodded.

“Yes ma’am.” He didn’t. He knew about the reality, and he had an idea that Kyungsoo was struggling with bad dreams, but he didn’t know the extent. He didn’t know about the thrashing and screaming; as though Kyungsoo were being tortured, his cries echoed through the whole house, and night after night his mother would have to come and tear him out of his unconscious terrors. Jongin didn’t know about Kyungsoo reliving his night after night, trying to escape but he couldn’t run, he couldn’t get away, every single night…

“You seemed okay when Sehun came over, on his birthday,” his mom said to him. “Do you want Jongin to sleep over, Kyungsoo? I know I usually don’t allow it on school nights, but if it would help you sleep, maybe…”

“If Jongin wants to…” Kyungsoo already knew what the other would say, which was why he said it. He didn’t want to give a direct yes or no, but he did want Jongin to stay with him.

“I’ll go get my things, then.” Jongin let go of his hand, leaving the car and hurrying up to his house.

“Kyungsoo?”

“Yes, umma?”

“Are you keeping secrets from me, Do Kyungsoo?” she asked sternly, turning around in her seat to look at him front-on.

“What do you mean?” Kyungsoo asked, not denying it. “I am a teenager, umma, don’t you think that’s expected?”

She chuckled. “Yes, but it’s never been a problem before. I’m concerned about your relationship with Jongin. The way you’ve been acting lately, it doesn’t have anything to do with him, does it? It just seems that since you two have become friends, you’ve changed, maybe not in the best way.”

“It’s not because of him, umma,” Kyungsoo assured her. Well, maybe a little, but he’s not the one who me.

“Okay,” she nodded. “But you’re not… gay with him, right?”

“Don’t be homophobic,” Kyungsoo said shortly. “Sehun’s gay and you’ve never had a problem with it.”

“So you are,” she said worriedly. “Not that it’s a bad thing… Did Sehun rub off on you? Maybe you should-”

“My uality has nothing to do with Sehun,” he snapped. “I’m not gay. Well, you know what? Yeah, I am. I like boys and girls. That doesn’t make me any different. But no, I’m not with Jongin. We’re not dating or anything.” He felt surprised at how calm he was, having just come out to his mom. But he supposed that the lack of build up made it difficult to comprehend so suddenly. Also, he had bigger secrets he was keeping.

“Alright.” She gave a sigh. “I guess it doesn’t matter. I don’t want you doing anything inappropriate with him though. Or anyone else.”

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes. “For one thing, who says Jongin even likes boys? And for another, I’m not planning on it. Like, ever.” She laughed and told him to keep that mindset until he was married, and then silence returned until Jongin came back. He was lighthearted at first, but seemed to pick up on the slight tension between the other two.

“Did I miss something?”

“I sort of came out to my mom,” Kyungsoo explained with a shrug. “About my attraction to boys.”

“Oh,” was all Jongin could say for a moment. “That’s… oh.”

“It’s really not a big deal.”

Compared to some things.

“

They went to bed fairly early, Kyungsoo allowing Jongin’s arms to encircle him as they lay close together on his small bed. Kyungsoo began to be lulled by the other’s breathing, but then Jongin spoke.

“Hyung, did you tell her? The counselor, I mean, about… what happened?”

“Not really. Just that I was , not much else.” Kyungsoo wondered where Jongin’s mind went when he wasn’t speaking, how it had gotten there.

“How come?” he asked. “You didn’t tell her, I mean.”

“She was a stranger. I couldn’t… open up.”

There was silence, and then, “Would you… tell me?”

“What?”

“Do you think it would help you to tell someone?” Kyungsoo didn’t look at him. “I’ll listen, hyung, if you want to tell me.”

Kyungsoo didn’t speak. He didn’t want to talk to Jongin about it. He wouldn’t understand, he told himself.

They stopped talking after that, and Kyungsoo eventually fell asleep. It didn’t take long for the nightmares to attack, but then he was in the dark and someone was touching him, shaking him, and he was very disoriented, shoving away from them and shrieking. He untangled himself from the bed and flung himself towards the door, but he was half-asleep and fumbled with the handle, making himself believe it was locked. He yelped as he felt the hands on him again, turning and shoving the person blindly, screaming at them not to touch him. Confused and terrified, he turned back to the door, before remembering it was locked and crying out again. Someone help me!

His name was being called, by the person he’d knocked onto the floor. They were up now, approaching him, and Kyungsoo cowered, shrinking down and begging them to leave him alone between shouts. They tried to take his hands, but he slapped them away, still crying.

“Don’t touch me! Just leave me alone!”

“Kyungsoo, look at me! It’s Jongin!”

He continued to sob, but slowly the words sunk in, and he brought his eyes up to stare at the person hovering over him. And it was Jongin. Kyungsoo gave a gasp, collapsing to the floor as he realized he wasn’t dreaming – he was awake, he was with Jongin, he wasn’t going to be .

Jongin knelt down beside him. “Kyungsoo?”

“J-Jongin, I thought I was – sorry, I didn’t know…” Kyungsoo hiccoughed.

“I know,” Jongin said lightly. “It’s alright. Will you come back to bed? You started flailing, but when I tried to wake you up, you freaked out. Let’s go back to bed, okay?”

Kyungsoo nodded, pushing himself off the floor, sniffling and rubbing at his eyes. “Sorry,” he said again as he climbed back into bed and felt Jongin slide in beside him.

“It’s really bad, hyung…”

“I know,” Kyungsoo mumbled. “Maybe I… Can I tell you?” Jongin nodded when he understood what Kyungsoo meant. “Everything?”

“It’s okay, hyung,” Jongin promised. “You can tell me.”

Kyungsoo didn’t know where to begin, so he went back to when he’d been talking to Jongin at the party. He explained about the American girl who turned out to have a boyfriend, and then wandering around until a boy had started grinding on him, and how they’d gone to Jongin’s room. And he told Jongin everything he could remember, stopping a couple times when Jongin would look horrified or furious, but Jongin encouraged him to continue. Kyungsoo didn’t know why, but he didn’t leave out any detail that came to mind; he described the feeling, the pain, the taste, everything. He knew he was making it worse for Jongin, but he couldn’t stop himself.

He finally reached the end, after he’d been left for close to half an hour and then Jongin had found him, and concluded there. “I didn’t think anyone would find me until the morning, but you did.”

“I didn’t know what had happened,” Jongin whispered. “Then when I saw you… but I never imagined… I just blocked it out, how it would have happened. I didn’t think about it. Now I know, and I wish I didn’t. But I’m glad you told me,” he added quickly. “You don’t have to carry it alone now. You can talk to me, and I’ll help you get through. It’s not gonna happen anymore, okay? That’s never going to happen to you again, I swear on my life.”

Kyungsoo hugged Jongin tightly, feeling a bit of regret in telling him. But it wasn’t because he was embarrassed; it was more to do with dragging Jongin down with him. He didn’t want the other boy to have those visuals now. But it felt good to have it off his chest, even though it didn’t change anything.

“Thank you,” Kyungsoo said against Jongin’s chest, barely audible. “For listening. And being here.” Jongin said nothing, his hands brushing along Kyungsoo’s back lightly. Kyungsoo tilted his head up to meet Jongin’s eye. “I mean it,” he said, and very softly, he pressed his lips to Jongin’s. It frightened him for the shortest moment, but then he relaxed, because it was Jongin. Because Jongin was safe. Jongin wouldn’t hurt him.

Jongin loved him.

“

Kyungsoo woke in the morning clinging to Jongin like a koala bear to a tree branch, but neither of them seemed to mind. Neither of them were awake enough to speak that early in the morning, so they got ready and ate breakfast in a quiet but comfortable silence. Kyungsoo made Jongin a lunch, earning a kiss on the cheek and making him feel like they were a married couple. We’re not even dating. He didn’t like to think about their strange relationship. It always just ended up giving him a headache. Jongin liked him, but he was just using Jongin. He was pretty sure. Even if he wasn’t, he didn’t like Jongin.

At least, that’s what he told himself.

“

It was around his birthday that Minseok heard it.

He wasn’t supposed to have; it wasn’t for his ears. Luhan hadn’t known he was there, and he still didn’t know that Minseok had heard him. Nevertheless, Minseok had nearly walked in on it, and though he’d stopped himself, he ended up eavesdropping and now the words were permanently turning over in his mind.

Minseok had gone up to Luhan’s room, and he heard his boyfriend talking to himself. “… soon, but we might as well have been together this whole time – no, I can’t say that… I know it’s soon, but I’ve loved you for years. Yeah, that’s better…” Minseok wasn’t sure what he was talking about. Was Luhan planning a speech to tell him? He blushed at the thought, because he couldn’t deny that was really cute. The boy continued, seeming to start over. “Okay, okay, here goes… Minseok, I, uh… I know we haven’t been together for very long, but I’ve loved you for over three years now. I know it seems sort of soon, but I mean, it doesn’t have to happen right away – we can wait until after university or until we’re ninety, I don’t care. I just want to promise to you, that I’ll always be true to you, I’ll love you forever and I want to be yours, and you to be mine. So just… one day, whenever you want it to be, if you want it… Kim Minseok, will you marry me?”

Minseok gasped, clamping his hand over his mouth. Holy hell, was Luhan practicing his proposal speech?

He felt light-headed, leaning against the wall for a moment, hearing Luhan chastising himself but not really processing anything. Maybe he’d heard wrong. Maybe he was crazy. He took a moment – or several – to compose before knocking on the door and letting himself in. He saw Luhan’s hand fly to his pocket, but wasn’t sure what he was doing, and dismissed it.

“Hey, Luhannie!” Minseok tried to keep his voice normal, but it was a bit too high. He coughed, pretending to clear his throat and be confused by the crack in his voice. There was awkwardness on both ends, but soon they returned to their normal ways. But Minseok didn’t forget what he had heard.

“

Minseok was tangled in Luhan’s limbs and bed sheets, both of them panting and covered in a sheen of sweat. He continually murmured “I love you”s into his boyfriend’s ear, and Luhan petted his hair absently.

“I love you too,” he sighed. “Thank you. That was the best birthday present.” Minseok kissed his neck. Then the two of them lay there until they came down from their highs. Minseok was dozing off when he heard the Chinese boy whisper his name.

“Mm?”

“Baozi…” Luhan sighed. “You know I love you?”

“Mm.”

“I’ll always love you,” he promised, tracing along Minseok’s cheeks and closed eyelids. “It didn’t take me long to realize that, after we first met. Will you love me too, Baozi?”

“Yes.” He was incoherent, but even so, that was something he knew. It was an answer that came as naturally as breathing. Loving Luhan was just something his body and mind naturally did, without thought.

“Promise?” Luhan insisted. Minseok nodded, eyes still shut. “You’re not paying attention at all,” he laughed. “I’ll let you sleep.” Minseok passed out soon after that.

The next morning, Minseok woke up in an empty bed, hearing the distant sounds of the shower running. He smiled, stretching and staring around his room, seeing his clothes strewn around from the night before. Soon, Luhan came in, fully dressed and looking wide awake, while Minseok’s eyes were still lidded with sleep.

“Morning, Lu.” He held his arms out, childlike, and the boy leaned down and pecked him on the lips. Confused when Luhan pulled away and stood a couple feet from the bed – looking very formal – Minseok sat up. “What…?”

“I need to talk to you,” Luhan explained, and Minseok’s heart stuttered nervously. Had he done something wrong? Luhan’s face was unreadable. “I’ve been meaning to say this for a while, but I didn’t know how, or when… I’m scared of what you’ll say. But…

“You remember those rings we had, back in tenth grade? They were like, dollar store best-friend rings, these really cheesy things we thought it would be funny to have. We wore them all the time, but then yours broke, and you cried because you felt so bad. I hated them because of that. Because they were cheap and crappy and it felt like a terrible representation of our friendship. I wanted to get better ones, pure gold ones that wouldn’t break, but that’s expensive and I didn’t have the money. So we just threw them out and forgot about them. But I think about them all the time.

“Now we’re almost done high school. I don’t know what next year is gonna be like. I mean, we’re going to the same school, but we’ll be taking different majors, and… I dunno, things are going to be different. But that doesn’t mean they’ll change between us. Maybe we won’t be able to be together as much, but I’ll still try to spend every second I can with you. And it won’t be too long before we’re done and out in the real world. I want to be with you then… We can buy a place together, or at least rent one…”

He paused. “I’m getting off topic,” he sighed. “I love you. That’s my point. And I want you to know that, and I want the rest of the world to know. I want to be with you in every way possible. You’re my best friend, the love of my life, and the person I need to keep me sane and alive and happy. I know it might seem silly, because we’re young, and it might be soon, but it doesn’t have to be now. It can be tomorrow, or five years, or ten, or fifty, but… I want to be with you, Baozi. I’m in love with you and I believe that will never change. I want you to know that, believe that, and never forget or doubt that I love you.

“I never forgot about those rings. I always had mine on my ring finger, pretending we were engaged. After they were gone, I started saving up… for this.” Out of his back pocket, he pulled a small, velvet blue box, and opened it. Inside there was a white-gold band, embedded with a row of diamonds. Minseok was stunned, not processing as Luhan lowered himself down on one knee. “Kim Minseok, I don’t want to pretend anymore. I love you, and that will never change. Will you marry me?”

Minseok tried not to hyperventilate, heart stuttering, tears falling from his eyes. He hadn’t even noticed that his eyes had been watering. He was speechless, staring at Luhan’s beautiful, hopeful face.

“Luhan…” he finally managed. Luhan’s eyes widened uncertainly. “Yes. Yes, of course I will!”

Luhan sprung up and jumped into Minseok’s arms, the two embracing and kissing, laughing, tangling together. Eventually they pulled apart enough so that Luhan could slide the ring onto Minseok’s finger and admire the sight of it there. Then Minseok was crying and wrapping his arms around Luhan, pulling him in again. It wasn’t long before Luhan’s clothes were gone.

“

Minseok took a couple weeks to tell his parents of his engagement to Luhan. He really didn’t know how to word that. Oh hey mom, dad, I’m gonna get married to Luhan one day. They wouldn’t even believe him. He was sure they knew he and Luhan were dating, but he didn’t even know how they felt about it. He supposed they didn’t mind, because they never told him to stop it. Still, he thought carefully about what he was going to say.

When he finally confessed, they were shocked, but not disapproving. He assured them he wouldn’t be getting married likely until they were done university, and he had discussed with Luhan the idea of them living together for at least a year after that to make sure they could stand each other. His parents appreciated this idea, that they were thinking logically about it and not going through with this any time soon. Otherwise, they were just happy for him, and very supportive, which he was grateful for.

Even better, Minseok’s father gave him his great-grandfather’s engagement ring to give to Luhan. Minseok had no money to buy Luhan a ring, and had been stressing out about it since his proposal. But the idea of giving Luhan his great-grandfather’s ring seemed perfect. Maybe he hadn’t spent money on it, but it was personal, and just as valuable to Minseok as the expensive ring he now donned on his finger. And Luhan loved it too, honoured to have such a precious thing from Minseok, saying it made him feel like he had become part of Minseok’s family already. Minseok was perfectly okay with that.

Husband. He’ll be my husband. It wouldn’t be easy; Korea didn’t exactly approve of same- marriage, but Luhan said they could just go somewhere that did and be married there. It didn’t matter too much, it was more the thought that counted. When Minseok asked where, Luhan said wherever he wanted. They decided against America, because it seemed a bit intimidating. They considered England, and Canada, and other places that were gay-supportive and friendlier than America. But it didn’t matter. As long as they could have their ceremony, exchange their vows, and be united in holy matrimony, blah blah, that was all they cared about.

I’m going to marry Luhan!

"

A/n: What even happened in this chapter? ㅋㅋ Kyungsoo finally told Jongin, but still hasn't told Sehun or anyone else. Xiuhan, my Xiuhan feels! :') Anyways... The other day I threw in a Picturlude which you will see is in the slot of the first chapter, so that's what that update was. If you wanna check it out, it's just pictures of how I imagine everyone to look in this fic. Anyways, thank you to all of you sweet people for all the support you're giving on this! All the subscribers and upvotes and readers and commenters, you're all great! I really appreciate your upvotes, and I love comments! :) So yeah, thanks. I'll update again soon! <3