Chapter Text
September, 2023
“Look, Jeongguk-ah. You have to plan this well. It’s supposed to be the biggest event of your lifetime. Guests, portrait poses, flowers, food, suits, honeymoon… Should I go on?” Lina was pacing around, obviously nervous as if she was the one getting married.
They were in Lina’s apartment. Beau was playing with a bunch of toys she had happily bought him a few weeks ago. He was a few months old now and the whole world around him excited him. Lina didn’t mind him chewing his way around.
Taehyung was silent as he mostly was when it came to group communication. Jeongguk could see that he was overwhelmed by the fact that they were indeed going to get married. They had talked about what they wanted and didn’t want to happen on their wedding day and they had agreed on the final plan. Lina, of course, was scandalized by the simplicity of it.
“Jeju in September is less crowded,” Taehyung observed from where he was sitting on the couch with his knees to his chest; he looked more like a boy than a man. “It’s still warm. There’s a restaurant there that I like. I know the owner and he said that he would be very delighted to welcome us. We don’t want a big wedding, Lina. I have five people I want to invite, Jeongguk said something similar. It’s a private matter, not a circus.”
“So you don’t want the flowers and the portrait poses?”
“I hired a photographer, a friend of mine from the university,” Jeongguk explained. “He’ll come with his wife and his six years old daughter. We also ordered tulips and lilacs for the wedding. The invitations are sent. Our families are also invited, if someone shows up, alright. If they don’t, they don’t.”
“Celine sent two suits as a wedding gift. Honestly, I love how I have them wrapped around my finger.”
“You’re just too beautiful for them to lose you,” Jeongguk said.
“Oh, thank you, Jeonggukkie. Love you.”
Jeongguk’s smile widened. He was happy. And calm. They didn’t need a pompous wedding that would only serve as a source of anxiety. They needed the serenity of the ocean and some moments with people who were close to them and who would celebrate them with an honest heart.
“Mine’s azure,” Jeongguk noted. “I didn’t know they knew about my favorite color.”
“They didn’t. I did.”
“What color is yours?” Lina asked Taehyung.
“White.”
“Ohhh, so, white and blue? Like the ocean and the sky?”
Taehyung and Jeongguk nodded simultaneously.
“Yeah, like the ocean and the sky.”
≈
After visiting so many new places, Jeongguk could still declare that Jeju Island was one of the prettiest places Jeongguk had ever seen. For a relatively small place, it combined so many different geographic components. Its mountains transformed into flower fields that later on ended where the beach began. One could spend days on end finding joy in exploring the land. Sunrises and sunsets were special on places like this one, but everything in-between carried its own personal charm too.
Taehyung and Jeongguk had decided to spend a week after the wedding there so that they could freely explore what the island had to offer.
The wedding was scheduled for 11 am on a Sunday morning. Lina insisted to be the ‘flower girl’ as she had called herself. They had hired an officiant whose name was Jin Sanghee. She was a woman in her late forties who had a warm smile and soft features. She came in a lilac dress, fully matching the theme of the wedding.
Neither Taehyung, nor Jeongguk found any logic into not seeing each other before the wedding. The hair stylist was a friend of Taehyung who cried a little while making their hair.
“Why are you crying?” Jeongguk asked, dumbfounded.
The hairdresser, Doyoon, hiccupped and glared at him. “You two are so beautiful. I’m sure you’re about to become the power couple of the nation. I’m so excited.”
“Why does everyone say that?” Jeongguk wondered out loud. “That we’re a power couple?”
“Have you seen yourselves?” Doyoon asked.
Jeongguk could see him moving around behind them on the big window in the hotel room. He was fussing around with two bottle of hair spray in his hands.
“You both have strong auras and unmatchable chemistry. People will go crazy.”
“People know that we are together,” Taehyung pointed out.
Taehyung’s public image and Jeongguk’s attitude to it had become a topic of discussion a couple of times after their relationship establishment. Taehyung feared Jeongguk would get overstimulated by the constant stream of articles about Taehyung and everything that was or wasn’t happening in his life. Jeongguk, however, had just shrugged. “It’s annoying, but I don’t really care. Everyone minds their own business and these people’s business is your life.”
“Yeah, but they don’t know that you are marrying each other.”
“They will,” Jeongguk shrugged.
“Oh, but you’re so boring.” Doyoon exclaimed and sprayed an unnecessary amount of hair spray onto Jeongguk’s hair.
Taehyung was laughing while Jeongguk was coughing.
“Come on,” Doyoon urged. “You’ll be late for your wedding. Go get dressed.”
“I’m supposed to put this suit on, Taehyung, stop trying to get me naked. They are people outside who are waiting for us.”
Taehyung was fully dressed in his blazing white suit and was now busy kissing every naked corner of Jeongguk’s skin. They were no sweet kisses, there were hunger and need inside every single one of them. If Taehyung carried on like this, Jeongguk was going to get hard and the wedding was going to become the most embarrassing moment of his life, not the most beautiful.
“I can’t wait for this to be over so that I can eat you alive.”
“Uhuh,” Jeongguk put his palms on Taehyung’s shoulders and detached him from his collarbones. “Very romantic, Monsenior Kim, but I’d rather be fucked to oblivion, but left alive, thank you very much. Keep your tongue and teeth to yourself.”
Taehyung jumped back from the force Jeongguk used to push him away. He licked his lips, a devilish look on his face. “I was sure you’d love the mirror in my Paris apartment and I couldn’t wait to explore every mirror out there with you, and now that I see this one here…” He went behind Jeongguk and turned them to face the glass. “I get ideas that would make our guests wait. But I’m sure they wouldn’t mind…”
Jeongguk could read the hunger and desperation in Taehyung’s eyes. He felt the same. No matter how much intimacy they shared, how many times they managed to blur their silhouettes and become one person, it was never enough. Jeongguk wanted more. Taehyung wanted more.
“Not now.”
“But why?”
Jeongguk rolled his eyes while fixing his tie. “Accept it as a form of edging. The more you wait, the sweeter the prize.”
Taehyung looked like he was weighing his options. A few seconds later he nodded, fixed his tie and erased the bed expression from his face.
“Let’s go.”
≈
The restaurant was situated on the beach. Its interior consisted of wooden elements and paintings of the ocean. There were tables outside of the restaurant with white tablecloth, decorated with vases of fresh tulips in every color possible. The guests in total were no more than twenty people. Jeongguk saw his mother sitting near the small improvised alter. None of the grooms wanted a church wedding so the restaurant owner had taken care and had created a small place where the officiant and the grooms would stand outside the restaurant.
Lina was standing in front of them in a baby blue dress holding a basket full of petals. When the music began, Jeongguk knew that it was time. He was too erosed from Taehyung’s biting to be nauseous. There was a hint of anxiety that attempted to wrap itself around his throat but he had learnt how to manage it well enough to be able to calm himself in moments like these.
They walked hand in hand to the alter while Lina was happily spreading flowers everywhere. Taehyung was looking straight ahead, his face unreadable. Jeongguk elbowed him.
“What?” Taehyung whispered, while everyone’s eyes were on them.
“Smile.”
“Why?”
“For the pictures.”
“I’m trying very hard not to kiss you before the vows.” Taehyung hissed.
“Try harder and smile more then.”
“I swear…”
Taehyung didn’t have time to finish. They had reached the alter. Their bare feet touching the sand while the wind played with their ties. Jeongguk felt like he was flying.
The officiant nodded with a warm smile.
“You ready, boys?” She whispered.
“Absolutely,” Jeongguk smiled.
“Audaciously so,” Taehyung declared.
“Welcome, loved ones. We are gathered here today to join Taehyung and Jeongguk in holy matrimony. This is not the beginning of a new relationship but an acknowledgment of the next chapter in their lives together.”
“What I’m thinking right now is not holy by any means,” Taehyung muttered while standing opposite of Jeongguk.
Jeongguk glared at him. He heard the sound of the camera and he instantly knew that his face had just been captured forever.
“Kim Taehyung, do you take Jeon Jeongguk as your husband to stand by his side and cherish him during light and darkness, to love him just the way he is without judgment and with an open heart?”
“Yes, I do. I take Jeon Jeongguk as my husband to stand by his side and cherish him during light and darkness, to love him just the way he is without judgment and with an open heart.”
Don’t cry, don’t cry.
“Jeon Jeongguk, take Kim Taehyung as your husband to stand by his side and cherish him during light and darkness, to love him just the way he is without judgment and with an open heart?”
Jeongguk was shaking but he steadied his voice. “Yes, I do. I take Kim Taehyung as my husband to stand by his side and cherish him during light and darkness, to love him just the way he is without judgment and with an open heart.”
Lina handed them the rings.
“Now,” the officiant proceeded. “Taehyung and Jeongguk have chosen rings to exchange with each other as a symbol of their freeing love.” She turned to Jeongguk. “As you place this ring on Taehyung’s finger, please repeat after me. With this ring, I thee wed and pledge you my love now and forever.”
“With this ring, I thee wed and pledge you my love now and forever,” Jeongguk repeated, voice uneven.
“Taehyung-ah,” the woman continued. “As you place this ring on Jeongguk’s finger, please repeat after me. With this ring, I thee wed and pledge you my love now and forever.”
Taehyung never casted his eyes away from Jeongguk’s while he was putting his finger on. “With this ring, I thee wed and pledge you my love now and forever.”
“By the authority vested in me by the Republic of Korea, I now pronounce you as husband and husband. You may kiss.”
“Finally.” Taehyung mouthed against Jeongguk’s lips.
“Yeah, fucking finally.”
“I love you, my darling boy, my precious husband.” Taehyung whispered, his palms around Jeongguk’s face.
“I love you. I love you, I love you.” Jeongguk repeated while letting the tears escape his eyes and cleanse his heart.
Somewhere in-between the congratulations, the dancing, the conversations and waves, Jeongguk saw a familiar face. He squinted his eyes at the old woman sitting on a rock a meter into the ocean.
He already had enough sand stuck to his suit so he just went into the water knees deep. “Hello? Olivia? Is that you?”
The woman turned her head. It took her a few moments to focus her gaze on Jeongguk. “Oh. Hi.”
“What are you doing here?” He asked sheepishly.
“That’s a little rude of you, young man.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”
“I know. Your friend, Caroline Boutin invited me. She came to me while we were still on Serendipity. Said she was sure you were going to marry that guy. Asked me if I wanted to come to the wedding. I gave her my number and I told her that if I was alive, I would come. Here I am now.”
Jeongguk was carefully processing the information given to him. Olivia being there meant more to him than he had imagined. He eventually nodded and found a place to sit on the rock.
“Daniel said you went to New York.”
“I did.”
“Very brave of you.”
“Something was missing, you know? I just wanted to find out what it was.”
“Did you?”
“Yeah. It wasn’t anything big, just a few realizations I made while in the camera shop.”
“Keys are rarely big, Jeongguk.”
Somehow, Jeongguk understood what she meant. He had found a key for his cage and that key was inside of himself. Olivia had the power of reading people like open books but it didn’t make her indifferent to their suffering. On the opposite, she knew she couldn’t make anyone see anything, but she could light a small fire with her words that would cast light to the person’s own road. Jeongguk was thankful for everything that she had done. He had no idea how she had sensed that Serendipity was going to change his life forever. He had this theory ever since he was a teenager that old women were like cats. They always knew something you didn’t. All their experience only made their perception of the world and everything that was happening sharper.
“Thank you, Olivia. I… I am very grateful for your presence in my life.”
Olivia waved him off, returning her gaze onto the horizon. “You returned some of my youth to me with your pictures. My son said you were a little wild. I told him that was the reason I liked you in the first place. Keep the wildness running, Jeongguk. Passion makes life worth living.”
Jeongguk nodded, focusing on the wet cloth of his pants over his knees. A sense of serenity overtook him. He felt like he could resolve into the ocean and it would be alright.
“I left you a little present. Your friend is keeping it for you. She’ll hand it over after I leave.” She stood up. “I had a good time seeing you two getting married. I wish you a peaceful, but full of vigor marriage. Fight for what you love, Jeongguk. There’s always a way. Your photos are your legacy and your lover is your serendipity.” She touched him on the shoulder, it was a light gesture, but Jeongguk felt the emotional weight of it. “Farewell, my colleague. Our work ethic teaches us how to enjoy the moment. Go and love, and be loved.” She bowed her head.
Jeongguk jumped into the water, bowed as much as he could and watched her dress swim behind her as he exited the ocean.
Taehyung was waiting for him on the sand. “Come on, lover. It’s time for our first dance.”
≈
“Come with me,” Taehyung whispered after their shower. His hand caught Jeongguk’s and squeezed.
“Where?”
“The roof, come on. Remember? You’re the ocean. I am the sky. We were in the ocean today, let’s go in the sky now.”
Jeongguk was a little tired and it made his mind blurry. He needed proximity but Taehyung was brimming with energy.
Taehyung was carrying a bag with himself while they were making their way towards the elevator.
“Is this legal?”
“I paid extra, so yes, it is.”
“Oh my god, I can’t with you.”
“What? How so? We’re freshly married. How is that you can’t with me? Wait until we’re gray and wrinkled.”
Jeongguk’s stomach twisted at the thought of growing old with Taehyung. It would feel nice. It would actually be amazing if they managed to do that.
“Come on, husband.”
Jeongguk yawned a couple of times while the elevator took them to the roof of the hotel.
The roof had an open air space covered with a soft material placed over the concrete. There was a railing and a few lamps.
Taehyung opened the bag and pulled out a thick blanket, a few candles and another blanket.
“What the hell? Are we sleeping here?”
“Don’t kill the mood, darling.”
Jeongguk yawned once again.
As it was just the beginning of September the air still carried the warmth of the summer. It was a windless night with the sky covered with many little dots, marking the death of so many stars that would possibly reappear as humans on Earth.
Taehyung spread the thicker blanket on the ground. He lit the candles and switched off the lamps.
“Come to me, lover.” He spread his arms and Jeongguk hugged him.
“I love you,” he whispered it as if it was more of a spell than a vow.
“I know. I feel it. I love you too.”
“It’s funny how we arranged that marriage ourselves just with the power of our pride more than a year ago,” Jeongguk noted.
“The marriage we have is purer than this,” Taehyung answered, voice soft against Jeongguk’s hair. “I still can’t believe you came to Paris.”
“I did. It was the best decision I’ve ever made.”
“I was so scared that I had killed any opportunity to be with you.”
“I understand. I felt the same way too. But you couldn’t love the potential a person had. I chose to work on my anxiety and all that shit tone of luggage. I still had a lot to do. But I’m better. You’re better. If one falls in love with another’s potential and refuses to see them for what they are, it’s not a relationship, it’s an addiction.”
Taehyung nodded, still not letting go.
“I’m so glad we agreed to work on this. Look where we are now.”
“Me too… By the way, we’re on a roof top. What are we going to do here?”
“I was hoping we could make love here, darling.”
Jeongguk detached himself from the hug. He narrowed his eyes, trying hard to hide his excitement. “What’s it with you and semi-public sex?”
Taehyung started laughing. “I don’t know, man. It just turns me on.”
“Hey!” Jeongguk wrestled him on the blanket. “Don’t call me that.”
Taehyung’s body was vibrating with laughter under his. “Okay, alright, got it. Stop tickling me. You’re my darling husband. I got it.”
Jeongguk stopped the rapid movement of his fingers and smiled victoriously.
The candles were burning around them and casting a soft light on the blanket. Jeongguk began unbuttoning Taehyung’s shirt. Taehyung’s fingers immediately moved to Jeongguk’s pajama bottoms. Jeongguk pressed his hips against Taehyung’s. The need to be close transformed into desperation to be closer and closer. The softness of their pants allowed them to feel each other better, but Jeongguk knew that it wasn’t enough. Taehyung’s golden skin came into view as he removed his shirt.
“I’ve been waiting all day,” Taehyung panted, his lips attached to Jeongguk’s throat. “I’ve been having all this images in my mind. I had to translate Korean poems into French to avoid getting hard in front of our guests. At lunch, I watched you ate peacefully and God forgive my sins, but I imagined those lips wrapping around me, your face between my thighs, then mine between yours and I’m so thankful we didn’t do a church wedding, because I’m sure I’d be struck by a lightening the moment I entered it.”
Jeongguk didn’t mean to press himself harder against Taehyung, but he did. Why was Taehyung so quiet during their daily activities, but when it came to sex, a devil unleashed his thoughts on his tongue?
“I want you so bad that my body begins pulsing the moment I think of us like this.” Taehyung placed his hands on Jeongguk’s back and pulled him down. “I never cared who’s on top, all I ever wanted is for our bodies to be able to do the dirtiest things that came to our minds because there’s nothing more freeing than allowing yourself to show desire.”
“I… I think I’m going to explode.” Jeongguk whispered with his hands tugging at Taehyung’s locks.
“Not yet, angel. Not yet.” Taehyung began moving his hips in circles and suddenly, Jeongguk couldn’t take it anymore.
“Tell me what you want, Taehyung. Please, I want to give you everything.”
Taehyung let out a breathless laugh. “I don’t want. I desire. There’s this hunger inside of me. The moment you touch me I become an animal.”
Jeongguk closed his eyes and the whole world was white. It was blinding and so freeing.
“What do you desire then?”
“I…” Taehyung body was moving erratically under Jeongguk’s. If Jeongguk wasn’t that overwhelmed he could stop and watch how beautifully Taehyung’s body responded to their proximity, how desperately it needed to be touched. “I want you to ruin me then mend me back together. I want you in me and I want me in you. I want your fingers in my mouth while you move inside of me. I want you to take the control and mark me, and… Oh god, I’m so hard, it hurts.”
There was something different about Taehyung tonight. Jeongguk could see how open about his needs he was. Taehyung was always a shameless little demon, but tonight was something else. It was like he made a space for Jeongguk to unleash himself too. The fact that Taehyung had called it ‘love making’ didn’t mean that it was necessarily going to be soft and sweet, and slow. Sometimes love was made with teeth, nails, saliva and the abrupt sound of skin on skin.
Jeongguk quickly undressed himself and then Taehyung. The model removed his hands from Jeongguk only to fish out the lube from the bag.
“Here.”
Jeongguk opened it and poured a generous amount on his hand. He put his other hand next to Taehyung’s head and lowered himself to reach Taehyung. At the first contact, Taehyung exhaled and his eyes rolled back. Jeongguk took his sweet time kissing his torso and opening him up. He didn’t stop until Taehyung was panting under him, forehead wet with sweat.
“Please,” he whispered.
“You said you wanted me to ruin you. Did you change your mind?”
“No, no, I just want…”
Jeongguk inserted a third finger and muffled Taehyung’s moan with his mouth. He bit down on his lip and drew blood. He saw how Taehyung was already leaking against his stomach. He spread his fingers and licked the blood from Taehyung’s lip.
He slowly removed his fingers and watched how Taehyung wined softly at the loss. The model was spreading his legs as much as he could while lifting his hips. His body language was obvious but Jeongguk was no saint either. He loved watching Taehyung lose control. He lowered himself and wrapped his lips around the tip of Taehyung’s length.
“I’m warning you,” the model hissed. “I am going to…”
Jeongguk simply smiled and pushed into him. The slide was smooth from all the preparation. Taehyung froze.
“Is that what you want, husband?”
“Oh, yes. Now move.” Taehyung placed his palms on Jeongguk’s lower back and pushed down.
“I thought I was the one establishing the rules here?”
“I don’t care. Fuck me like you mean it.”
“But I do mean it,” Jeongguk responded with a short, but intense thrust forward.
The shadows playing on Taehyung’s face as a result from the light of the candles made him resemble a god that had emerged from the sea on a starry night like this. He was so beautiful, so vulnerable yet so strong that Jeongguk’s heart skipped a beat.
Their bodies found a rhythm that allowed Jeongguk to go deep while Taehyung’s fingers ran across his back like wolves high on raw emotions. The intensity of the sex was blinding. It went beyond the perception - it didn’t go higher up, but deeper down. It connected them with their inner beasts and showed them there was nothing to be afraid of.
Taehyung was whimpering and moaning, his voice not locked inside his throat anymore. Jeongguk could hear his own breath coming out louder than usual.
Both of them were close. Jeongguk could feel it in his lower back and in Taehyung’s strengthened grip.
“Spit in my mouth,” he said suddenly.
“What?” Jeongguk was sure he misheard.
“Do it. You heard me. Spit in my mouth.”
The traffic lights inside Jeongguk’s head all turned red when he lowered himself and wrapped a hand around Taehyung’s length and circled his thumb over the head.
“Now.” Taehyung opened his mouth.
Jeongguk watched his saliva fall into Taehyung’s mouth. He willed himself not to close his eyes when the end came. He squeezed Taehyung’s length and the muscles of his thighs.
The last thrust bought them Heaven.
“Hey.” Taehyung elbowed Jeongguk as they were lying on the blanket and watching the stars who watched them on their turn. “Do you think we are the power couple of the nation?”
“Oh, totally. I am your photographer and you are my model.”