“Okay, what if I got a troop of puppies to carry in a sign on their backs? That could work, right?”

“Jongin, it has to be something he likes not your own fantasy.”

“Chanyeol likes puppies too,” Jongin mumbles sulkily, but sighs in agreement, ruffling his hair in frustration as he tries to think of the perfect way to go about it. 

Kyungsoo pats him on the shoulder reassuringly, “Don’t worry, you’ll think of something.”

“You’ve known him all your life and lived with him for eight years but  you still can’t think of what he likes?” Baekhyun tsks, slurping at a smoothie through the straw. 

“I do know what he likes,” Jongin protests, “It’s just that none of them really scream ‘proposal’, you know?”

“Think harder, dig deeper,” Kyungsoo suggests simply, wrenching back his smoothie from Baekhyun’s hands with a murderous glare. 

“I’m trying!” Jongin whines, dropping his head onto his folded arms on the table, “How did you guys even do it?”

“Easy,” Baekhyun pipes up proudly, “I sang to him. He completely swooned and melted in my arm- oof!” 

Kyungsoo smacks the back of his hand against Baekhyun’s chest, glaring at him through narrowed eyes. 

“You mean you tried to sing but your voice cracked halfway through because you got too emotional,” he deadpans, raising an eyebrow at his husband. 

For all his disparaging words and skeptic expression, however, Jongin can still see the way he’s curling his fingers tenderly around Baekhyun’s wrist, clearly dulling the blow to his pride judging by the affectionate smile Baekhyun is trying to hide. 

Jongin eyes them both with disgust, “Gross, okay it’s my cue to leave, I get it. I’ll see you guys later.” 

He ignores the snorts that follow him out the door of the coffee shop and takes a deep breath before exhaling with a sigh. He trudges down the street, deep in thought with his hands jammed in his pockets. He’s already got the ring covered, hidden away safely back home. That part had been fairly easy. Chanyeol has always liked things to be simple but meaningful and Jongin knew exactly which ring conveyed that perfectly. 

Now, how to actually go about proposing…

'Simple but meaningful, simple but meaningful…a candlelit dinner? An evening walk along the beach?'

He considers attaching the ring to JJangu’s collar and having him trot into the room at the right moment but he quickly dismisses the idea, remembering Kyungsoo’s words. 

He can’t even plan which day to reserve before he figures out what on earth he’s going to conjure up.  Jongin groans, shaking his head as through trying to jostle his brain into thinking of something.

-

Chanyeol is already home when Jongin unlocks the door, the pleasant smell of his cooking greeting him the moment he steps inside. Kicking off his shoes, he pads his way to the kitchen and sneaks up behind Chanyeol, who’s busying himself with a salad mix. 

“Hey,” Jongin says, wrapping an arm around Chanyeol’s waist and chuckles when the other jumps, startled.

“I didn’t even hear you come in,” he laughs as Jongin presses a kiss to his cheek. “What happened? You’re usually here before me," he asks, moving to pick up a wooden spoon to stir the contents of the pot on the stove.

“I stopped to grab a coffee with Kyungsoo and Baekhyun; bumped into them on the way home,” Jongin leaves out the true nature of their encounter, sneaking a lettuce leaf out of the salad bowl and cramming it into his mouth. 

The reminder brings him back to his troubling dilemma and he sits at the kitchen table as Chanyeol keeps working on fixing up dinner, chewing on his lower lip absently, lost in thought once again. 

“Hey where did we put those new placemats again? Was it the first drawer or the second?”

Jongin blinks, pulled out of his brooding when he notices the Chanyeol isn’t in the kitchen anymore.

“Uh–” Jongin calls back before the realization slams into him that holy the living room.

“The first one!” he exclaims, voice rising an octave too high as he tears out of the room to see Chanyeol just about to pull open the drawer below. He raises an eyebrow at Jongin’s outburst but shrugs, opening the top drawer instead and makes his way back to the kitchen, placemats in hand. 

Jongin lets out the breath he’d been holding; his heart feeling like it just performed an Olympic dive in his chest. Making sure that Chanyeol’s busy, he hurries over to the second drawer, rummaging under the folded tablecloths and cushion covers to fish out a little velvet box. Jongin heaves out a relieved sigh and tucks it away into his pocket with a pat, feeling safer with it on his person. 

“Dinner’s ready, you coming?”

Making sure the shape of the box can’t be seen through his pants, Jongin makes his way back to the table to eat. 

-

He’s home before Chanyeol this time but he’s still coming up empty. 

Slumping down on the sofa, he takes the ring out of the velvet box, staring at it as if doing so intently enough might suddenly inspire an idea. He brushes his thumb along the smooth silver of the band, twisting it around between his fingers and pausing at the carving on the inner side of the ring. Tracing over the simple infinity symbol inscribed in the metal, Jongin thinks about how they made it all the way here. 

The first memory Jongin has of Chanyeol, is when the latter barged into his life with a faceful of sand, brandishing a plastic spade. Jongin was three at the time and very protective of his little bucket, sitting alone in a corner of the sandbox. Five year old Chanyeol, however, simply studies him for a moment before his face breaks into a brilliant smile and he offers the handle of his spade to Jongin; “Wanna help me build a castle?”

They were inseparable after that, little Jongin trailing after Chanyeol everywhere, always clinging onto the hem of his shirt until it turned into Chanyeol’s arm wrapped around his neck all through middle school. Even when Chanyeol left for highschool, Jongin followed when he was finally old enough; he followed him all the way to University, best friends attached by the hip. 

They fell in love somewhere along Jongin’s first year at University; though really, it was more of a discovery of something that had been there the whole time. There had always been more to their relationship than just friendship; it just took them a while to really see it and act upon it. 

And when they finally did, it was like any walls there could have possibly been between them fell away, it was almost impossible to tell where one ended and the other began. They’d watched each other grow; they’d always done everything together, with each other, to each other, for each other. Always two to the equation. 

Even now, after twenty four years, he is still the first person Chanyeol runs to look for when he’s happy, to share his joy with; and Chanyeol, in turn, is the first person to fill Jongin’s thoughts from the moment he wakes up, in whatever he does, till he’s asleep again and even then.  

He doesn’t know a life where Chanyeol isn’t in it; so how can he convey all that and how important that is to him in a proposal?

Jongin finds that he can’t focus on anything at all for the rest of the day, only dimly aware of the time passing even when nighttime falls and he’s finally lying in bed, leaning against Chanyeol’s chest. He’s restless and fidgety, unable to sleep as he struggles to shift himself into a comfortable position.

“Hey, are you okay?” Chanyeol mumbles voice thick with sleep as he breathes against the back of Jongin’s neck. The warm pressure of Chanyeol’s hand on his stomach is comforting but does little to ease his mind. 

“Yeah,” Jongin sighs, “Yeah, I’m fine. Go back to sleep.”

-

“Jongin!”

Chanyeol bursts through the door looking ecstatic while simultaneously startling Jongin into dropping the book he’d been holding. 

He nearly trips over himself in his haste to kick off his shoes, dashing towards Jongin and latching onto his wrist, pulling him along down the hall without so much as a second to get a word in. 

Chanyeol’s words are tumbling out a mile per hour as he leads the way to the living room, the excitement evident in his voice; “You wouldn’t believe the day I just had, I swear I just had this massive epiphany that completely blew my mind Jongin, it was like- hmmm?”

Jongin twists him around to press a hand against his mouth, effectively cutting off his rant.
 
“Breathe, Yeol,” he laughs, amused at the sheepish look on Chanyeol’s face, and he removes his hand to peck his lips swiftly. Helping him out of his jacket, Jongin tugs him over to the sofa to sit down side by side. 

“Okay, so you remember that piece I’ve been working on for a while now, the one I told you about last week?” Chanyeol turns to look at him eagerly.

“The one you thought was missing something, right?” Jongin nods. Chanyeol nods affirmatively and gets to his feet again to bring his guitar, erected on a little stand by the wall unit. Setting it down on Jongin’s lap with a grin, he kneels behind him, front pressed to the back of his shoulder with an arm around his neck, shifting so that he can reach for the chords on the fretboard too. 

“D’you remember it?”

Jongin grins and nods. He’s no musician but guitar has always been one of Chanyeol’s passions. He’d sat Jongin down and taught him how to pluck the strings years ago. Jongin raises his hand to press down on the chords he’d been taught and at Chanyeol’s indication, begins to strum the strings to the right melody, having memorized the tune after hearing Chanyeol play it for him so often. 

After the introductive note, Jongin keeps playing his part and watches as Chanyeol reaches up to press his fingers down on the strings, on different frets along the guitar neck, careful not to bump into Jongin’s fingers as he plucks at the strings too. 

Jongin instantly hears the difference in the song, a sweeter melody arising with the new, higher pitched bits that Chanyeol adds as his fingers travel further down the neck.  Jongin feels the pressure of Chanyeol’s cheek leaning against the side of his head; he feels the muscles working into a smile as they play on together, intertwining their individual harmonies into one perfect symphony, relaying the story of emotions that Chanyeol had composed.

The song is coming to an end and Jongin feels his chest tighten, something constricting around his throat and he struggles to swallow for a moment. They finish off with a final, slow strum and the music fades to silence.

“So?” Chanyeol nudges Jongin’s shoulder excitedly, “What do you think? A duet just seemed to make more sense and I guess it worked, right?”

Jongin lets his hand fall away from the neck and twists around to stare at him, the awe and raw emotion making his chest expand almost painfully. 

“This is it,” he whispers, ignoring Chanyeol’s confused expression as he brings his hand up again to curl it around Chanyeol’s neck and draws him in to kiss him deeply. 

Chanyeol makes a surprised noise but melts into him quickly, angling his head and pressing back to kiss him harder. Jongin has already memorized every part of his mouth, every slide of his lips every curl of his tongue. He keeps kissing him, tasting him, listening to the little breathy sounds he makes that Jongin knows so well but will never get enough of. Chanyeol slips his arm off Jongin’s neck, bringing his hand up to cup his face instead, brushing his thumb along his cheekbone. 

When they break off, Chanyeol’s lips are slick and swollen and there’s a somewhat dazed look in his eyes. There’s barely an inch between them and Jongin whispers again against his lips; “This is it.” 

Simple but meaningful.

It takes a moment to register his words but the confused furrow in Chanyeol’s brow is back, creasing his forehead a little. Keeping their faces close, the tip of Chanyeol’s nose brushes lightly against Jongin’s cheek as the latter turns his head to look down.  He touches the neck of the guitar again, still perched on his lap, sliding the pads of his fingers along the polished edge and smiles to himself, remembering every memory tied to this guitar; every memory tied to everything else that Chanyeol has ever done with him, for him, no matter what he does.

“You always share everything with me” Jongin says in an awed, hushed voice.

“What are you–”

“Marry me.”

Jongin turns his head suddenly to look up at Chanyeol again. This feels like the right moment, like the perfect moment, just like this. 

Chanyeol’s eyes go impossibly round, his mouth falling open but, for once, no words form. 
Jongin swallows through his tight throat, fighting for his hands not to shake as he holds Chanyeol’s gaze determinedly. 

“All our lives, the entire time that we’ve known each other, you’ve always made sure we did everything together. You always waited for me to catch up, you always included me in everything no matter what it was,” Jongin touches his finger to Chanyeol’s forehead, smoothing away the creases in his skin with a gentle smile. 

“Chanyeol and Jongin, it’s always been that way,” Jongin starts again; “You’ve shared every second of your life with me, even when you could have had anything, anyone, else.”

Chanyeol looks like he wants to interject so Jongin quickly brings their lips together again, pressing a quick, chaste kiss to his mouth.

“I love you,” he breathes, watching as Chanyeol’s eyes melt into that familiar affection, “and I want to share the rest of my life with you.” 

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the velvet box he’d been worrying over again before Chanyeol had gotten home. 

“So I’d like to ask you,” Jongin lifts the guitar off his lap, setting it on the floor as he lowers himself down with it on one knee; “Is there any chance that you’d like to share the rest of yours with me too?”

He opens the box and raises the displayed ring up in front of Chanyeol, hearing his own heart thundering in his ears. 

Chanyeol is still gawping at him wordlessly, looking first at Jongin, then at the ring and back at Jongin again like he can’t even believe any of this is happening. His eyes are suspiciously shiny, and the smile that finally breaks across his face is slightly wobbly but he’s curling his fingers around Jongin’s wrist, squeezing lightly as he finally whispers, “You know I’d give you anything.” 

Jongin laughs breathlessly and surges forward to kiss him again, but they break off quickly, shaking too hard and laughing too much to keep it going. Jongin settles from throwing his arms around Chanyeol’s neck, nuzzling his face into the warmth of his skin as Chanyeol circles his waist and crushes him against his chest. 

Suddenly remembering the ring box still in his hands, Jongin presses his lips into the side of Chanyeol’s neck once more before pulling out of his grip. 

Chanyeol lets Jongin take his hand, both of them in fits of shy, exhilarated giggles as he slips the band smoothly on Chanyeol’s finger.

He hears the echo of an old memory, back when he was four years old and already irrevocably attached to his new friend. 

“Promise we’ll be together?” he asks with teary eyes as Chanyeol hitches his little bag up on his shoulders, ready to go to school. Chanyeol beams at him, reaching out to squeeze Jongin’s little hand;

“Forever!”

“Guess you’re stuck with me now then, huh?” Jongin asks with a laugh. 

Grinning, Chanyeol tugs him up from where he’s still kneeling on the floor to pull him onto his lap; “Forever.”