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There's a wedding. It's not a common wedding, though—there are two grooms instead of one and the lack of a priest might put a damper on things for some, mostly, but it's not like they need one.So, it's a wedding.There are bridesmaids and two best-men and a lot of flowers and matching centerpieces and breast-pockets and, much to Junho's chagrin, a photo-session with the parents, with the bridal (is it still bridal if there is no bride at all? For all he knows, bridesmaids might as well be just maids ) parties, and just of the two of them, staring very lovingly at each other like that's something they do every moment of their lives.("It kind of is ," Taecyeon says with a frown. He is immediately uninvited. In fact, he is immediately unfriended.)All in all, though, it's fairly nice. Yeah, Junho has been on his feet for most of the day now, and his suit is rather tight around his collar (or is that nerves?) and his sister keeps on trying to pin his breast flowery thing on his face because he can't keep still."I wanna see him," he tells her when she threatens to pin it somewhere else and it won't be as fun, Junho, I swear to god . "He is my soon-to-be-husband, I wanna see him.""That's bad luck!" Soeun cries, patting his shoulder as she rushes by with a bunch of bouquets. She is clearly the worst friend to ever exist, Junho is unfriending that one as soon as possible, too."It's my wedding, I do as I please," he says again, and this time Minhye manages to pin the thing where it's supposed to be pinned and Junho is still standing in one piece. "If you're my maids you're supposed to do as I say.""Say maid one more time, I dare you," Yeeun says, sitting by the window."Honestly, why am I friends with you guys."Minhye pats his cheek warmly. "It's all right, kiddo, you'll see Chansung in a couple of minutes and then you'll be off to your happily married life, okay? For now just sit over there and look pretty, I gotta check up on mom, see if she's done crying.""You Lee women are cry-babies," he says, sniffing. He points at the corner of Minhye's eye when she opens her mouth to retaliate. "Don't you dare lose your shit on me right now, I should be a crying mess, not you two."Yeeun snorts. "You cried all fifteen minutes it took us to drive from your place, Junho, give me a break."Junho points at her. "No cake for you.""Hey, got the rings, crisis averted—"Junho fixes Wooyoung with a glare. "What crisis ? There should not be any crisis , you've had the rings since February ."Wooyoung takes a careful step into the sitting room that has become Junho's pre-wedding quarters. He's smiling that shit-eating grin of his that usually got them all in trouble. Junho is unfriending all of them as soon as this wedding is over, honestly."What, yeah—of course I have the rings right here, what, Junho, that actually hurts man, you have no faith in me?"Yeeun snorts somewhere around Junho. Junho keeps on glaring. "I swear to god—""The rings are fine ," Minhye intervenes, patting Junho's cheek again. "Now have a drink with your friends, I'll be right back, all right?""But—""I said go sit over there , goddamnit."Junho sits, shutting his mouth. He pouts at his sister as she makes her way out of the room, and then turns to glare at Wooyoung some more. "Get me a drink, maid.""If attending a funeral right after a wedding weren't so distasteful…" Wooyoung sighs, rather wistfully, but goes to fetch Junho a drink anyway. Junho is going to count it as a win.Soeun sits next to Junho, pats his knee. "You nervous?"Junho shakes his head. "No," he says, "it's not like the rest of my life is going to be defined by the next hour or so, is it?""So dramatic," Yeeun sighs.Soeun grins at him, pretty under the loose curls of hair framing her face. "You're ready for this, I know it. Got your vows?"Junho pats his breast pocket, his heart thudding under all the fabrics and skin and bones. "All set, ma'am.""Good," Soeun says, patting his knee again.A few minutes later Nichkhun walks in, knuckles rapping on the doorframe. "It's show time, kid. We're up in five."Wooyoung hands him a shot of Patron. Soeun and Yeeun reach for their bouquets, Yeeun getting a hold of Minhye's since she's not back yet."You ready?" Wooyoung asks.Junho downs his drink, straightening his jacket. "Been ready for a while, babe, let's do this."-As soon as the music starts Junho can feel his heart squeeze itself in his chest, a flutter of nerves and fear low in his belly.The protocol ( protocol! His wedding has a Protocol™ , alright?) has them walking down the aisle one after the other, after the girls and the boys (because no one was keeping Minjun from being mister-of-honor, and if he was walking for Chansung, Wooyoung declared he was "sure as fuck walking for this fuck face right here" while patting Junho's cheek, and then Taecyeon and Nichkhun got into a fight over whose side they were on until eventually they figured it out on their own), right as the pianist and cellist are given their cue.Minhye leads the party away, followed by Yeeun and Soeun, and then it's Fei, Yoobin and Minyoung, all wearing matching cornflower blue dresses, tiny flowers pinned to their hair. Junho watches and smiles, can feel their smiles as they each reach their position (Minhye is a wedding Nazi), and Junho's mom coos.Chansung, though—Chansung is a fucking asshole. No, really, get this: he shows up in this dark-gray-almost-black-but-not-really three-piece suit, stark white shirt under his dark vest, with his hair all tousled and his fringe moving with the light spring breeze, matching flowers on his jacket pocket, and the most beautiful smile on that annoying face of his. Honestly, Junho wants to walk across the garden and punch him , how dare him. He even winks at Junho from across the place, sunlight catching in his eyes when he grins down at his mother right after.Junho was raised properly, though—and most importantly, Minhye is looking like if a flower petal falls the wrong way on the grass she might set someone on fire—and focuses on holding his mom's hand as she curls it over his forearm."I'm proud of you, dear," she says, and the good thing is she's not crying anymore because for all the bravado Junho might be putting up right now, if she says another thing he will tear up."Thanks, mom," he says, smiling at her and leaning in to kiss her cheek.Across the garden, Chansung and his mom are smiling and talking in bowed heads and Junho aches for him with such intensity he nearly keels over. He takes a deep breath and Chansung looks up on the exhale, throws a sweet smile at him, mouthing, "You ready?"Junho grins, mouths "Are you?" back, and watches with rapt fascination as Chansung shakes with laughter, frail and soft under the May sun, the breeze in his hair, flowers in his pocket matching the pink of his cheeks. Junho loves him so much .The guys walk in right after, Nichkhun first, grinning and waving at everyone, all two-hundred-and-fifty guests. He stands by Chansung's party and then walks in Taecyeon, all shy smiles and bows, until he reaches Junho's side of the altar. Minjun walks past Chansung to head down, pats his shoulder warmly and kisses Chansung's mom's cheek, walks slow down the trail of white petals with light steps, and then steps next to Nichkhun."There's no turning back now, fucker," Wooyoung says next to him."Language," Junho's mom admonishes."Sorry, auntie," Wooyoung grins, and then makes the way down the aisle as Official Ring Carrier (he titled himself, Junho had nothing to do with that, he would've gone with 'Frodo', really) and then it's their turn, fuck, their turn, Chansung and Junho's.Chansung goes in first only because he beat Junho at thumb-war, and as he leads his mother into the ceremony, he smiles at Junho, smiles that private smile of his that makes Junho's chest both ache and soar at the same time, says, loud enough for Junho and a few of the guests sitting at the back rows to catch, "Meet you there? Don't be late," and everyone chuckles warmly, warm like the sun on their cheeks, warm like Chansung's smile and warm like Junho's heart."Don't get married without me," Junho retorts, and Chansung grins, wide and pretty.Once he's made it down to the altar, Junho holds onto his mother's hand, suddenly feeling like a five-year-old, and follows after him, his steps matching the beat of the song and his heart drumming the bass against his throat like a tattoo, like ink, like a brand. Junho wonders if people can see it.The wind picks up a little and Junho sucks in a breath, squeezes her mother's hand a little tighter, and when the fuck does this fucking aisle end , Jesus fuck, all Junho wants to do is reach Chansung and kiss him senseless and be over with this, hold his hand and never let go."Hey, mom?" he asks in undertone, inclining his head closer to hers."Darling?"His throat closes a little, and he has to swallow twice for his voice to reach his lips. "Thank you. For this—for everything. Just. Thank you. Thank you so much.""I love you," she says, smiling the widest smile Junho's ever seen, and just like that, they're at the altar, and Chansung is standing by, and Junho's going to get married, shit . She pats his hand, gives his cheek a kiss when he leans down, "Now go on and get married."So Junho does.-Junho is sure he blacks out for the first ten minutes of the ceremony. The official is talking and saying—he's saying words , definitely, but Junho can't catch up with them, can barely hold his own heart together in his chest it's beating so loud.He chances a look at Chansung, who's standing and paying (too much) attention to the official, and his cheeks are tinged a soft pink, so soft Junho wants to lean in and touch them with his lips to see if they're warm, wants to touch Chansung, touch his face, his jaw, wants to hold both his hands and run his fingertips across his knuckles.Junho knows, by the pacing of the ceremony, that the vows are happening soon, his first because he won at Mario Kart, and Junho's not sure he's got his wits about it right now, he can barely breathe let alone speak, and how the fuck is he supposed to recite his vows if he can't fucking speak , this is going to be a mess and Minhye will murder him and Wooyoung will wrinkle his nose at how distasteful Junho is.Chansung clears his throat, and oh fuck .Junho takes in a deep breath, swallowing past the knot in his throat. Chansung's mouth twitches and he just looks at Junho. He's holding one of Junho's hands—when did that happen—and when he looks down, it's like he's looking at their entangled fingers like they hold the key to the whole universe.Maybe they do, Junho thinks. He knows they do for him.He doesn't reach for his pocket. There's nothing in there. Junho knows his vows by heart, is sure they're tattooed around it, marked into his bones and seeping into his skin."When you asked me to marry you," Junho starts, and adds "the first time," under his breath, making everyone chuckle, "I told you we didn't need such things—a wedding, guests, cake," he waves a hand to encompass the whole venue. Chansung smiles like he remembers. "I told you we didn't need any of it because we had each other and that was enough. It was, at least for me."The second time you asked, we were at the top of our game, you, me, the guys." He throws a smile over his shoulder, and Wooyoung chuckles. "I said yes, I did," he adds for the guests one more time, "but things got in the way and there was never the perfect time or the right place and, honestly, we forgot about it. We seem to forget about a lot of stuff when we're around each other, it's like the whole world is on hold, isn't it? You and me, that's all there is. Even they seem to think that way," he says, nodding at their parties."Hear, hear," Nichkhun laughs.Chansung smiles at him, nodding, and Junho feels his fingers tighten around his own. "I've never believed in third time's a charm , and that's why I asked you to marry me, in the end. It was the literal end, too, this big chapter in our lives was coming to an end—and it's true, that whole 'endings are just beginnings' thing, and that is something I do believe in. It felt right , to face the end with you only if it meant we'd face a new beginning together as well."I asked you to marry me and you said yes and it's like everything suddenly clicked into place." He looks at Chansung in the eye then and Junho's heart is beating so fast he feels faint. Chansung's lips twitch, like he knows , like he can read Junho's mind, can read the silent I love you s Junho isn't saying but can feel deep in his soul.He says, "I love you so much it's like my soul is on fire, sometimes. I've loved you for so long I can't remember what it's like not to, and I don't want to find out, either. Every morning I wake up knowing I get to love you, my breath catches and just thinking about spending the rest of my life with you makes my heart stutter. I look at you here and now, standing in front of me, beside me, and all I can think about is 'I'll never stop loving you, no matter what.'"I understand now why it's taken us so long to do this—it wasn't about the time, or the place, or things getting in the way. It was about us needing to figure out where we are in life, where we are when it comes to each other, and I know now that we'll always come first, you and me, that's what matters the most. I don't care if you forget our wedding anniversary five, ten years down the road, or if after today we don't celebrate at all anymore—there's no start date for love and today certainly isn't ours."Junho blinks a little, his eyes suddenly stinging, "I'm yours . I'm yours and I'll thank every day of my life you're mine, and that you've put up with me for so long. You said yes , Chansung, and I'll promise you now what I promised you then."I promise to love you and to be there when you need me the most, and to be there even when you don't because there's no way you're getting rid of me now." Chansung laughs a little louder, his fingers warm, so warm, his eyes red-rimmed and shiny. "I promise to hold you, always, through whatever it is, whatever it takes, be it your hand or your back, I promise to always be there for you, and with you. I promise to hold your heart close to mine every night and to kiss you good morning like it's the very first time I'm doing it. I promise to walk down every road in life with you, same as I've walked down the aisle just now to stand in front of god and our families and friends and everyone else. "I promise to always, always love you, and I promise to say I do for as long as you'll have me, for the rest of our lives, and then all over again."Chansung's grin is bright, so bright , and Junho loves him so much ."I love you, too," Chansung murmurs, and then opens his mouth to recite his own vows, Junho's hand clutched in his, his heart beating right under his palm.