5.Something Historical

Yongguk always loved visiting Daehyun’s grandparents because they always had the most interesting stories. Yongguk was an old man at heart while Daehyun seemed like he might as well have been a mid-30’s man. Yongguk was in his 60’s as far as he was concerned, but they managed to work everything out. While Daehyun would be in the kitchen preparing food with his grandma, he and Daehyun’s grandpa would sit back and talk about politics and religion and the world and how it works. The stories, Yongguk always found, had this haze of gray when told as if he were hearing them in black and white. He was such a er for the past that even at one point, Daehyun’s grandma thought she might fall for him.

                It was all very amusing to him, even though Daehyun thought it was a little weird. They laughed it off in the end though and everything was back to normal. Another thing Yongguk liked was seeing all the antiques around the house, and he also wanted to drag Daehyun into every antique store he ever saw because he loved the past. He learned so much from it and it seemed like such a simpler time where there was war rampant but for actual reasons. Now, it seemed like people picked fights for the sake of making the news. No one cared for peace or for art. Everyone just wanted to be at one another’s throat for the fun of it. Yongguk didn’t like that. He wanted the world to get along and be in peace and if fighting was necessary, then so be it, but leave the innocents out of it.

                He’d share his thoughts about crime with Daehyun’s grandpa and they shared a lot of the same views. Daehyun’s grandpa wasn’t much of a Christian, nor was the entire Jung family. Yongguk didn’t care though. That was another fight that didn’t need to happen. People have differing views and that’s okay. That was wonderful in Yongguk’s eyes. People can be different but equal and no one has to be right and no one has to be wrong. Daehyun’s grandpa liked that ideology and he told Yongguk that he hoped Yongguk would be able to lead on a generation with that mindset. Yongguk smiled and he said he only wished. No one would want someone almost in their 30’s and an Asian male who was gay to top as a leader. Daehyun’s grandpa shrugged and said he had all the credentials of being a minority aside from being male, and they laughed.

                They had a laugh of those who had lived though too much and seen too much, but were still happy. Daehyun had a naive laugh and his grandma had one that lifted spirits and made everyone around her smile and realize maybe life isn’t all that bad and not everything is out to get you. The four of them all got along, and around the dinner table, using old dishware that Yongguk made them promise they’d pass down to Daehyun, they prayed and ate and spoke with joy in their voices. Nothing could bring them down and they, even though as a family they were nothing in the grand scheme of the world, they were making history. Daehyun was the first kid in the entire lineage to come out and bring a boyfriend around. Yongguk was the only person that was even introduced to the grandparents before marriage. Daehyun and Yongguk were the two golden boys of the family, and as far as everyone was concerned on Daehyun’s side, he was going to be family.

                The prospect of it made Daehyun’s heart flutter because he wanted to be in the family scrapbook as a brand new chapter. He always dreamed of leading a legacy in the family and he didn’t guess it was going to be him being gay, but it was better than nothing. He was pretty damn happy his family was liberal as ever because had they not been, he would have led the legacy of being the first kid kicked out of the house, and he didn’t want that at all. He wanted to freely love Yongguk and he was allowed too, and all in his family loved Yongguk as they would love any significant other someone brought in. It took a few family members, like the estranged aunts and uncles, to warm up to the idea, but once they did, Yongguk and he visited regularly and everyone would be happy.

                They didn’t know when it happened, but it started to become routine and they would visit family once or twice a month and they’d go out to lunch or have a nice dinner and they’d talk about their lives and work and the weather or whatever was on their mind. A few times the question of the question was brought up and Daehyun would nearly choke on his food while Yongguk would smile and laugh and tell them not to worry, and that he had it all covered.

                (He actually didn’t. Yongguk was terrified to pop the question to Daehyun even though they had been dating for a really long time. He always thought that he was sub-par to Daehyun’s perfection and to ask his hand in marriage would be like asking to trade a granule of sand for a diamond. He wouldn’t know where to do it or what kind of ring to buy. He would fumble over his words, and he’d probably cry. He didn’t even talk to Daehyun about marriage all that much but it was known between them that they were the ones. Yongguk would wait it out a few more months and maybe do it around a holiday. He didn’t know, but once he did know, it would be perfect. He’d get down on one knee, and the rest would be history.)