2. A Couple

“There they go again.”

“They look so happy!”

“I hope everyone can learn from them.”

A couple. Daehyun and Yongguk were a couple that were picturesque in all sense of the word. They were two handsome boys who always went everywhere together holding hands and holding a basket or some ice cream because they liked going on dates and being those guys. When they’d wake up and Yongguk would go out and get the paper, the neighbor would wave and he’d wave back and then he’d make breakfast while Daehyun slumbered away in bed because he wasn’t an early riser. But, the smell of coffee and bacon never failed to rouse him, and he’d walk into the kitchen with a scraggy face and mussed up hair and Yongguk would smile because he was glad he was the second half to the world’s most perfect couple.

                In town, people would look on in jealously and adoration. Daehyun, despite being younger and shorter, always seemed to take lead when they walked while old man Yongguk walked behind with their recyclable grocery bags in hand because he was an environmentalist as well as a man of charity work and if you didn’t know Yongguk’s name, the only excuse was if you had just moved in. Daehyun was the hard working one though who left the house at nine and came back at five. He worked a white collar job but on his days off he was glued to Yongguk’s side and being brought out to go on a date or do some shopping. He never complained and Yongguk always knew that Daehyun was eager to spend time with him. They liked being a couple because they knew they liked each other more than the average two persons should.

                Yongguk didn’t know when it hit him exactly that he liked Daehyun as much as he did. Maybe it was on a date or perhaps it was when he was being walked home or somewhere in between. All he knew now was that Daehyun and he were happy and that he wouldn’t mind spending the rest of his life together with him. He liked Daehyun that much and sometimes it scared him because what if Daehyun didn’t like him back in the same?

                He had no reason to worry though, because Daehyun was a silent lover, but he was a lover indeed. He knew the moment he started to like Yongguk as much as he did was when they were in the park and Yongguk had stopped to help a lost kid find his mother. It took all afternoon, but he was set on making sure that kid went home safely. Watching him tobble around with the kid, his back hunched so he could hear him, made him realize that Yongguk was the one for him. Daehyun loved kids and Yongguk wanted to adopt from overseas, and since they couldn’t have kids by their own means, it was a perfect setup. He had only seriously talked about kids with Yongguk once, but the time he did, he thought Yongguk was going to cry because he was so happy.

                Being a couple together was nice. They wanted to get married, but they weren’t sure who was going to pop the question. They had awkward times where they’d be sitting down, ready to get at it, and they’d have to seriously discuss the way things were going to happen. Daehyun remembered the first time they did it they were so confused on who did what and what went where so they just ended up finishing themselves off because they hadn’t realized that couple were allowed to be versatile. Now that they knew this, things were a lot easier but it still never solved who was going to ask to marry who.

                Yongguk stepped up to the plate one time though, saying that even though he didn’t make the most money he had an idea of what he wanted to do for a proposal, and Daehyun asked what it was and Yongguk wanted to scold him because he wasn’t going to ruin a surprise like that. Daehyun meekly apologized, but he wasn’t all that sorry. He knew Yongguk would come around and tell him sooner or later or he’d just have to wait until a week prior, and Yongguk would act weird as hell and he’d know it was coming. That’s how he figured out Yongguk wanted to date him and become a couple in the first place.

                He was dead silent one night when they went to the movies more than a year former. He didn’t even try to put his arm around Daehyun and he was leaning away from him. When he paid for his popcorn, he all but slammed the cash onto the counter and even the cashier was giving him strange looks, but Daehyun thought he had maybe pieced together Yongguk’s plan. They were going to watch a movie and by the time it would be out, it would be dinner, and then in his car, Yongguk would ask Daehyun if he wanted to be his boyfriend. Daehyun was going to say yes no matter what, but watching Yongguk be so nervous was beyond adorable.

                It played out exactly as he thought. Once the movie was done, they both went into the bathroom and Daehyun could have sworn it was Yongguk who threw up from nerves, but he seemed fine when he walked out of the stall. They had dinner, which wasn’t anything huge, and in Yongguk’s car, they sat, and Yongguk drummed at the steering wheel, not even starting the car and his lips were moving like a fish out of water. He’d look over to Daehyun and then look away, and before he could even ask what he wanted to, Daehyun blurted out, ‘Yes!’ and then they ended up making out in the backseat, because what else do you do once you’re a new couple?