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Anniversaries have always been mundane for Doyoung and Taeyong. Not that they weren’t special, but somehow, when you’re both used to giving gifts just because and celebrating all the little things together, it never bothered them that their anniversaries felt like any other day.
Typically, they’d come home from work, Doyoung bringing Taeyong’s favorite wine and Taeyong cooking Doyoung’s favorite pasta dish. They’d have dinner in the living room with the food on the coffee table, cozily huddled together on the carpet with their backs to the sofa, and the chosen Studio Ghibli film playing on the TV. Sometimes when they’re swamped with work, they opt to have food delivered and maybe go for a quick drive on the nearest weekend to make up for it. Nothing fancy, but just so them.
However, their fifth anniversary is coming up and Doyoung can sense that something has been bothering Taeyong for the past few days. He doesn’t pry per usual, knowing that Taeyong will tell him when he’s ready.
He’s standing by the coffee machine, making their morning coffee when he feels Taeyong hovering by him near the counter instead of waiting for him by the dining table like usually does. Without looking directly at his tail, Doyoung hums. “I can hear the gears of your brain turning from here, Yong-ah.”
There’s an awkward chuckle from Taeyong and some shuffling forward. Doyoung fights a smile when he sees Taeyong’s slippers in his periphery, as he focuses on removing the first cup from the machine. He then places the second cup and turns it on again before turning to look at Taeyong. “Hmmm?”
There’s quite a pause. Taeyong folds his arms in front of his torso, like how he hugs himself when he’s nervous about something and takes a deep breath. “So… I was thinking,” he begins, gaze directed to his feet. “What if we did something different this year?”
The coffee machine beeps and Doyoung tears his eyes away from Taeyong as he turns it off. “What do you want to do this year?” He smiles at his nervous partner. Doyoung takes the two cups of coffee and ushers them both to the dining table.
When they’re both settled down, Doyoung hands Taeyong chopsticks and smiles as if telling Taeyong to go on.
“You see… I was talking to Johnny yesterday and he asked me if we already booked a restaurant for our anniversary dinner. He said, if not, he knew this really good fine dining place that he visited with his mom the other week,” Taeyong pauses to look at Doyoung. “Then I realized we’ve never really tried something fancy for our anniversary before.”
The way Taeyong was looking at him right now reminds Doyoung of the night they got together, shyly admitting feelings in the cramped budget pension room they got to share during their friend group’s graduation trip. Every anniversary since then has been reminiscent of that moment—them sitting close to each other in a room they now call their own. Not only was it nostalgic but it always felt like it was practical, especially with all the expenses that came with adulthood, paying off their student loans, and of course, navigating life after college together.
Of course, life is more stable now and Doyoung can totally understand wanting to try something fancy for a change. They can afford these luxuries now, right? So he gives the most reassuring smile. “That would be nice. We could try out the restaurant Johnny talked about. If you want, I can make the reservations later.”
Taeyong’s face lights up, giddy. “No, no, I’ll take care of the reservations this time.”
“Alright, go ahead, Darling,” Doyoung feels at ease with how excited Taeyong looks right now.
Taeyong pulls out his phone and Doyoung can see the notes app open with already a few items listed. “Since we’re doing it differently this year, we’ll reverse everything as well! I’ll do all the planning.”
Doyoung can only nod and laugh at how adorable Taeyong is right now. While they were both the type to take the lead, Doyoung always took charge of making itineraries and lists while Taeyong always came up with new ideas they can make lists of. But if Taeyong is adamant to do the planning this time, who is he to stop him?
“Alright, so if we’ll reverse everything, you’ll drive, too?” Doyoung teases.
“Wait, no. That doesn’t count,” Taeyong raises his index finger to stop Doyoung. “You’re still driving.”
***
A day before the awaited anniversary, Doyoung is still mostly left in the dark. Taeyong has meticulously kept all the plans under wraps, staying up later than Doyoung for the past few days, and Doyoung can only wonder what he’s up to because he sees no evidence of any unusual activity when he wakes up in the morning.
All Taeyong told him was to dress nicely and choose an outfit from what he’d laid out for him in the closet. Of course, Taeyong would take up any opportunity to dress Doyoung up and Doyoung can imagine him excitedly going through their clothes to make sure they’d match no matter which of the options he chooses to wear.
“I heard from Johnny hyung that Taeyong has printed out a whole itinerary for your dinner. He’s really taking the planning so seriously, huh,” Jaehyun tells him during their lunch break.
Doyoung shrugs. “He’s so fixated on planning he doesn’t even let me peek. It’s cute though.”
“Five years and still whipped,” Jaehyun rolls his eyes and nudges Jungwoo beside him. “It still amazes me how they really skipped the disgustingly cheesy and romantic part of the relationship and went straight to domestic home buddies.”
“Yah, even before they started dating, they were already giving old married couple vibes,” Jungwoo chimes in. “They never even showed skinship in front of us! Even when Taeyong hyung’s a clingy drunk.”
Doyoung scoffs. “We just aren’t exhibitionists like you and your boyfriend, alright?”
“Until now you two blush when you realize we saw you guys holding hands,” Jungwoo makes a face. “It’s not like you two never fucked yet.”
Jaehyun starts laughing. Doyoung scowls, but a blush creeps up his cheeks which Jungwoo uses to tease him even more.
***
Doyoung clocks out of work at exactly 5:00 P.M. D-DAY. Jaehyun snickers something about him finally not going overtime for the first time and Jungwoo wishes him a great night with a reminder not to commit public indecency (as if they’d even do anything remotely close to that).
He drives home quickly to change into his ‘nice clothes’ as Taeyong requested. He had yet to see the selection of outfits Taeyong had prepared for him as he had to leave earlier this morning for a field meeting. When he opens the door to their room, he sees three sets of clothes laid out on the bed, with different notes each in Taeyong’s adorable scrawny handwriting.
There’s one with a deep V-neckline with a note saying ‘Your collarbones would look exceptionally sexy in this,’ and another with a blue button-down saying ‘Leave the top buttons open, alright? No looking nerdy (even tho u r cute).’ Another one was just a blazer with no inner shirt or anything and a note with just a suggestive face drawn on it. Doyoung just chuckles and picks up the outfit with the V-neck after careful deliberation, considering the weather and how big Taeyong's smile would be should he appear in the fit.
He takes his time to style his hair, knowing that Taeyong would surely take lots of pictures and sprays on a generous amount of perfume that Taeyong particularly likes to sniff (albeit unconsciously) from his neck when he nuzzles for a hug.
Once he deems himself presentable enough for fine dining, he sends Taeyong a text that he’s on his way. Taeyong had told him he’d be waiting for him at the side entrance of his company building.
As it’s nearing rush hour, the roads are starting to get congested and Doyoung starts worrying whether they’d get to their dinner reservation on time despite not knowing yet where it’ll be. Dark clouds begin to loom across the sky, making the dusk look darker. Doyoung prays it doesn’t rain until after midnight.
When he rounds up to the side entrance of Taeyong’s company building, he immediately spots Taeyong, who was sporting the same color palette as he was (Doyoung can only roll his eyes affectionately), looking ethereal as always, standing with Johnny and Yuta. Doyoung assumes they probably decided to accompany Taeyong while he waits, knowing how well-looped into this whole plan these two probably are.
When Taeyong sees the car stop by the curb, a wide smile flutters across his face as he bounces on his feet and immediately makes his way towards Doyoung, his ensemble following closely behind.
Doyoung reaches for the backseat to take the small bouquet of roses he scheduled delivery to his office right before he left. Even though red roses seem typical and cheesy, for Doyoung, these always symbolized Taeyong, reminding him of that time the latter talked about how romance for him was a kind of self-love and soothing acceptance, how love should complement and allow for individual growth but together. Doyoung feels hopeful that they were able to attain that for the past five years.
Taeyong opens the car door and slides in. “Hey, handsome,” he gives a toothy grin.
Behind him, Johnny and Yuta wave at them, with Johnny calling out “happy anniversary love birds!”
The two of them laugh and wave back, then Taeyong shoos them away before closing the car door.
“For you,” Doyoung carefully hands him the bouquet. He knows Taeyong would whine about this not being part of his plans for the day but of course, Doyoung plans to fit all of his little plans into Taeyong’s big plan.
He turns to Doyoung and smiles. “You look so good in that outfit. Maybe I should plan your fits more often.”
“You did not just bash my fashion sense,” Doyoung chuckles before he leans across the console to buckle Taeyong’s seatbelt for him, making the latter freeze a bit as he hovers. He can hear Taeyong sniffing his neck lightly, probably recognizing the perfume. Once it’s buckled, he stalls for a few seconds, snickering. “I thought we were doing romance scenes today.”
Taeyong scrunches his face and slaps his chest away. “The cool guy seatbelt scene definitely doesn’t fit you. But you’re so beautiful, though.”
“You aren’t so bad yourself, darling.”
Taeyong blushes and tries to ignore Doyoung’s blatant flirting. Doyoung laughs and gets back to his seat. “So, where are we going today, Mr. Planner?”
He looks at Taeyong who is busy setting up the GPS on his phone. When the directions are finally up, he carefully places the phone on the holder by the dashboard for Doyoung to navigate.
The app says they’re 40 minutes away from their destination. Hopefully, we don’t get stuck in traffic, Doyoung thinks to himself. He looks at the name of the restaurant and realizes it’s the one with an overlooking view of the city nightscape that he’s seen a few times in his occasional social media scrolling. He turns to Taeyong who had an expectant look in his eyes, sparkling, “Ready?”
The first few minutes of the drive were spent maneuvering through Seoul rush hour traffic, with them talking about their day which was mostly Doyoung sharing about the upcoming product launches in his company and how Jungwoo and Jaehyun couldn’t stop teasing him about their date.
They’re at a major intersection waiting for the stoplight to turn green when Doyoung realizes that Taeyong has been quiet for a few beats now. He looks to his right and sees Taeyong pursing his lips. Sensing nervous energy, he reaches out to touch Taeyong’s wrist lightly. “Hey, is there anything wrong? Feeling anything weird?”
In the five years they’ve been together and known each other for even longer than that, Doyoung has always been sensitive to changes in Taeyong’s mood. They were similar in the way they tend to overthink things, so when they’re together, Doyoung takes extra care to assure Taeyong and sits supportively beside him as he deals with the clouds in his mind. He may not be able to chase them away, but he’ll be there to brace the storm until the skies clear.
Taeyong looks at him, nervous and serious. “What if we drove all this way and the food turns out underwhelming and we’re still hungry after?”
Doyoung can’t help but find the question cute. They’ve never been fine dining before but he’s had enough briefing from Jaehyun and Jungwoo to expect an eight-course meal and what could go wrong with eight courses, right? Surely enough to fill even a quarter of their appetites. He smiles at Taeyong. “Then we’d pass by a drive-thru or something after, then.”
“But then going all the way would be a waste,” Taeyong pouts. “Like the portions could be the size of a thumb for all we know and then it’ll spoil our mood for the rest of the night.”
Doyoung rubs his thumbs on Taeyong’s closed fist. “I think dinner would be lovely anyhow. Whether we’re at a fancy restaurant with small portions or eating burgers at a fast food parking lot, it’ll still be a great anniversary dinner because it’s with you.”
“Cheesy,” Taeyong makes a face. “But you’re rarely cheesy so I’ll take it.”
The light turns green and Doyoung lets go of his hand. Taeyong decides to play DJ and puts on a playlist he curated for the past few days.
They’re finally out of the highway and into smaller streets, but still with notable traffic. The GPS says they’re 20 minutes away when the rain starts pattering on the windshield. “Good thing I bought the big umbrella,” Doyoung mutters.
From beside him, he hears Taeyong sigh in worry. “Oh no, I booked the al fresco seats. I’m not so sure if they have a roof or something.”
Doyoung turns to see Taeyong looking sullen, so he silently hopes they get to the next stoplight so he can reach out to hold his hands. “I’m sure the rain will stop soon. The clouds didn’t look like it’ll be a heavy downpour,” Doyoung assures him.
When they get to the next stoplight, he laces their fingers together and looks at Taeyong. “The view will be even more magnificent once the rain stops. Do you know how they always say it helps clear the view of smog? We can take pretty photos, alright?”
“You owe me a lot of photos,” Taeyong mumbles, and Doyoung smiles at that.
Just when Doyoung senses the stoplight about to change colors, they hear a loud CRACK! that made them both jump, not noticing how the car shook with them. It could’ve been thunder but it wasn’t quite like it either. It felt so much closer.
When Doyoung looks to the back of the car, he pales and squeezes Taeyong’s hand tighter when he realizes that the rear windows are obstructed… by leaves.
“What was that?” Taeyong asks and follows Doyoung’s gaze. “Oh my god.”
A tree or part of it has definitely fallen on their car. They can hear honking from around them, mostly because they were probably blocking the way, but Doyoung could not care less about that right now especially when all they could see around them are leaves, except for the front. There’s definitely a heavy weight on the rear end of the car, and even when they try to pry their door open, it’s blocked.
Taeyong tries to push his door with his whole weight but it only opens a bit. Doyoung pulls him back to stop him from accidentally hurting his shoulder. “I’ll turn off the engine for a while, alright? Can you please look for the emergency light in the glove compartment?”
While Taeyong rummages through the glove compartment using his phone’s light, Doyoung notices a woman and a few men standing in front of their car, their hands around their mouths asking if they’re alright. Doyoung gives them an ‘OK’ sign and one man comes close enough to his window to tell him that they’ve already called rescue. Doyoung nods and the man signals that they stay put for a while.
Taeyong successfully fishes out the emergency light and turns it on, the immediate effect completely blinding them both momentarily. He gives out a relieved sigh. “At least this year’s March isn’t as cold as usual.”
Despite his words, Doyoung notices Taeyong shivering slightly through his sleeveless top. He reaches for the bag he stashed in the backseat and rummages for the coat he packed in case Taeyong got cold wherever they may be heading for the night. Well, it’s proven to be useful as early as now. “Here, I brought this for you.”
“Thank you,” Taeyong puts on the coat as efficiently as he could in the tight space, his hand accidentally hitting the window as he puts his right arm through the sleeve.
They sit in silence for a while, watching the light rain falling on the windshield and occasionally looking around warily for any sign of help arriving. It was getting later into the night and without the car heater on, they could see their breaths as the night turned colder. Doyoung notices Taeyong pull the coat tighter around him.
“Yong-ah, come here,” he opens his arms wide for Taeyong to nuzzle into. “It’ll probably take them a while to clear the blockage, so I guess we’re stuck here for a while.”
“You’re warm,” Taeyong mutters as he rests his weight against Doyoung. “I’m starting to get hungry.”
“My extra cookies are in the trunk, sadly. We could’ve been munching while we wait,” Doyoung says apologetically.
“It’s okay. I’m not that hungry.”
Suddenly Taeyong bolts up, hitting Doyoung’s jaw when he does. “What is it?” Doyoung asks him.
“The reservation!”
“Oh, right… It’s okay, they’ll forfeit it when we don’t arrive anyway,” Doyoung tells him reassuringly.
“But… our anniversary dinner,” Taeyong mutters weakly.
“It’s alright, no one wanted this to happen, but the natural forces aren’t really in our control. It’s okay, it happens. We can always go there another time.”
Taeyong nods and then they see flashing red and blue, indicating that rescue has arrived.
They watch as the respondents start clearing the side of the car of debris slowly, while one keeps checking up on them from the front. Once the side is cleared enough, one rescuer knocks on the window on Taeyong’s side and motions them to roll it down. Luckily, none of the window mechanisms were affected and the windows roll down smoothly. Doyoung and Taeyong sigh in relief.
“Are you two alright?” He asks, illuminating the inside of the car with his high-beam torchlight.
“Yes, we’re both okay, officer,” Doyoung says.
“Glad to hear that. Now, it’ll be hard to open the doors for now, so we’ll get you both out first through the window, okay?”
Doyoung nods and gathers their valuables into the clutch bag in his glove compartment. “Yong-ah, they’ll get you out first so I’ll hand you this once you’re out before they get me. Okay?”
“Okay,” Taeyong says meekly, too exhausted to think at the moment. A few rescuers gather by the window and give instructions on how they’re supposed to climb out of the car.
It’s a few minutes later and Taeyong and Doyoung are sitting on the sidewalk, watching as the rescue team goes on clearing the obstruction on the road. Apparently, it was a large branch that fell on them, but luckily just missed the front of the car by a few inches. The main branch looked like it was larger than what Doyoung can hug and they were lucky enough to get out of there unscathed. Paramedics made sure to check on them and after much reassurance that no trauma to any part of their bodies occurred, they were finally left just watching.
The officer that first talked to them approached them after a while. “This will probably take a while to clear. We’re still waiting for the heavy equipment to haul the branch out of here. You’ve called insurance, am I correct?”
“Yes, we did, officer.”
“Alright, why don’t you two get some dinner first? We’ll call you once you can pick up your car or the records after. You look like you two were on the way to dinner,” the officer tells them.
They awkwardly laugh and thank the officer who then goes back to work.
The rain had stopped moments ago and with the road blocked, there were fewer cars passing by. Doyoung and Taeyong stare at each other as if sending silent messages about what they were supposed to do next.
“Let’s walk for a bit and maybe grab a cab. The highway is close by, right?” Taeyong suggests.
“Sure, let’s go?” Doyoung offers his hand which Taeyong gladly takes.
The two of them walk for some time, looking around the scenery of the tranquil district. It seems like a lot of the establishments here close early or are daytime offices. The smell of the earth fresh from the rain, the reflection of the lights in the puddles of the pavement, and the distinct comforting smell of Taeyong beside him seemed to calm Doyoung’s nerves.
They were walking for 10 minutes now and could see the highway ahead. “Finally,” Taeyong mutters. Their feet take them to the corner where they stand, waiting for a cab.
Since it’s way past dinner time now, most of the cabs passing by are either occupied or on the way to rest. They stand there for a while until Doyoung looks behind him, towards the bright light source that’s been illuminating them at the side of the streets.
And there, right behind them, is a McDonald’s.
Doyoung almost laughs at the twist of events. He tugs at Taeyong’s hand which was still wrapped in his, and gestures toward the establishment behind him. “Wanna get burgers with me?”
Taeyong’s forlorn face breaks into a hysterical laugh. “The universe must be playing with us right now,” he says. “But, I won’t say no to a McDonald’s date.”
They walk towards the entrance, laughing. They order two burger sets with add-ons all upgraded to large just because and a McFlurry for dessert, fully convinced that their hungry selves could definitely finish everything without limit right now.
With mouths full and the tomato ketchup making a mess on the napkin between them, Taeyong garbles, “I’ve never had a burger this good in my whole life.”
“Well, it’s extra special after climbing out of the car window in our fancy clothes. That was good enough workout for a week,” Doyoung adds, opening another packet of ketchup.
“Now that I think about it, it definitely looked like a scene from a movie with how we were dressed,” Taeyong motions to their coordinated outfits which looked a bit crumpled now. “It’s like we went to prom and snuck out.”
“If we met in high school, we definitely would’ve snuck out of prom because there were only three things on the menu and I’m allergic to one of them.”
At the mention of a menu, Taeyong’s face falls slightly as he remembers his supposed plans. “Maybe we could reschedule the dinner reservation for some other day? It won’t be on our anniversary dinner anymore though,” he says apologetically.
“Well, no eight-course meal would taste as good as this burger I’m having with you now. It’s like beating all those gourmet things. I’ll call this our anniversary burger dinner,” Doyoung reaches across the table and slides the fries toward him. “And this is our anniversary fries.”
There’s a slight sheen of tears forming at the corner of Taeyong’s eyes as he looks at Doyoung like he holds the world. “I love you.”
Doyoung smiles. “You know, anything’s gourmet with you.”