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"Mark, wake up! You're gonna be so fucking late, Chenle's gonna kill you!"
Mark slowly blinks awake to someone violently shaking him by the shoulders and looks around disoriented, the room blurry in his sight. He tries to feel around for his glasses on the nightstand for what seems like an eternity before he hears someone sighing in annoyance and the next thing he knows, his glasses are thrust into his hands.
Putting his glasses on, he realizes the blur in his vision was only partly caused by his bad eyesight, and as memories of last night start to come back to him, he closes his eyes and rubs them harshly.
"What do you want, Donghyuck?" he asks the person next to his bed, who looks downright ready to drag him off the bed and kick him senseless.
"I want my best friend to not be dead by the end of the day, because if Chenle's best man is late to his wedding that's how you're gonna end," Donghyuck answers, and if not for the pounding in his head, Mark would've burst out laughing seeing him so annoyed, with his hands on his hips and foot tapping the ground impatiently.
"Yeah, sure. I'm getting up, just give me a minute man," Mark says. He tries to get up but has to wait by the side of the bed when a sudden wave of dizziness hits him.
"Oh my god, how much did you drink last night?" Donghyuck asks and Mark suppresses a puff of laughter that he knows would only raise the pressure in his head.
"Not that much," he answers. "I actually stopped like two drinks in. I was just too nervous to fall asleep before around… 6 AM I think?"
"Mark,” Donghyuck said, tone laced with incredulity. “It's 9 in the morning. Are you telling me you're heading into your first experience as a best man on three hours of sleep?"
"I'm sure people have done far worse," Mark mumbles, trying not to frown when he finally sits up. "Wait, what hour did you say it is?"
Donghyuck sighs, which tells Mark enough about it. "Oh baby, you're so fucked."
Half an hour later, Mark steps into Chenle's hotel room with his hair still wet from the shower he just took. He had speedrun through his entire morning routine and managed to get his suit on without ruining it, but had to forgo drying his hair if he wanted to get to Chenle as soon as possible.
Which was still around an hour late. Or more. Mark truly is fucked.
When he steps in the room, he sees the groom-to-be pacing nervously around the room and the make-up artist sitting helplessly by the bed watching him almost burning a path through the carpet.
At the sound of the door closing, Chenle snaps his head towards it and when he spots Mark, he almost stumbles with how fast he tries to get to him. Mark almost believes what Donghyuck told him that morning and fears for his safety a little before he sees the desperation in Chenle's eyes.
"Oh my god, Mark, what am I doing? I'm literally going to die today, I can't do this, I don't wanna die." The corners of Mark's lips quiver when he tries to suppress his laugh, but Chenle shakes his head and the grip on Mark's shoulders is even stronger now. "I'm not kidding, Mark. I'm literally gonna see him there waiting for me and I'm gonna stumble and hit my head and die right there in front of everyone."
"You won't hit your head and die, Chenle," Mark laughs. "Stumble? Maybe. Fall? It's possible." At the incredulous look Chenle throws at him, Mark schools his expression and shoves Chenle's hands off his shoulders, before grabbing him himself. "But if I know one thing about this wedding it's that both you and Jisung put so much thought into everything, that nothing is actually going to stop the two of you from being married by the end of the day. There could literally be a hurricane taking you apart and leaving you on different sides of this planet, and in less than five minutes you'd be back together." He gives Chenle a small shake before he adds, "Besides, the universe has always been on your side."
Thankfully, Chenle looks a bit more relieved after his small speech, and Mark gives him a quick, strong hug, before he shoves him towards the make-up artist that was still by the side of the bed, keeping herself busy and pretending to not pay attention to their conversation. "Now go, you have a wedding to prepare yourself for."
"I think I should let you go first, you look like shit," Chenle jokes, and just like that, Mark knows that the first crisis of the day has passed.
One hour and a half later, Mark is sure he has ingested more hair spray than he'd ever had in his life as a celebrity, but at least his hair now looks presentable. The make-up artist has also done some magic and managed to hide every trace of tiredness in his face, and he thanks her profusely before he gets up and out of the door, running at full speed to get the rings from his room, before heading to the main hall of the hotel.
Before he reaches the elevator to go down, a door to his right opens and Mark almost jumps ten feet in the air, easily scared because of the tension in his body. When his racing heart returns to normal, he sees Renjun standing in front of the now closed door, looking at him amusedly.
"What are you doing here?" he asks Renjun, pretending to ignore the way the latter's eyes are scanning him from head to toe, and also pretending he’s not doing the same.
"Best man duties. Have to make sure Jisung doesn't faint before even leaving the hotel room."
"You tell me. Chenle is sure that he'll die once he sees Jisung in a wedding suit," Mark laughs.
"As if they hadn't been with each other their entire life until last night at 2 AM," Renjun says and Mark frowns.
"The party ended before midnight."
"Exactly," Renjun says. "Then they sat in the hallway for several more hours to talk about god knows what. I had to get Jeno and Jaemin to forcefully drag them apart so we could get them to say goodnight and go to sleep."
That sounded so painfully typical for the two, that Mark feels the smile on his face growing widely.
"Where are you headed?" Renjun asks after a moment of silence, and Mark swears, remembering he was actually a man on a mission.
"Shit, I have to go hand in the rings," he says, already running down the hallway to the elevator. "See you later," he yells back to Renjun as an afterthought.
"Hope you used waterproof mascara for later," Renjun answers, and the way his laugh echoes in the hallway after Mark yells "Fuck you!" is doing terrible things to Mark's heart.
The rest of the morning passes in a rush. After Mark gives the rings to Chenle's nephew who was supposed to bring them forward during the ceremony, he is contacted about the wedding cake arriving to the venue way earlier than it should've. Then he has to calm Chenle down once more, before he makes sure that everyone is done and ready to go at the venue.
Hours later, when he finally sits down next to Renjun as they're waiting for the grooms to enter, Mark feels like all the hard work the make-up artist has put into his face is gone, but Renjun gives him a quick once over and shows him a thumbs up.
Mark would normally be surprised at the lack of teasing coming from the other, but before he could say anything about that, he notices the slight tremble in the other's hands.
And as the doors open and the venue quiets for the opening music to start, Mark understands him perfectly, feeling a tremor in his own hands as well.
The first one to step in is Jisung, who looks weirdly in his element, something Mark hadn't really expected. He looks extremely beautiful in his suit, with his hair styled and all, and despite his features now looking as mature as they would get, Mark feels a sudden urge to go and squish his cheeks and coo at the younger.
Quickly looking around at everyone around them, Mark notices most of the guests can't take their eyes off Jisung, mesmerized by the way he is radiating with so much happiness. Mark even thought he spotted some extra shimmer around Jaemin and Jeno's eyes and genuinely, he wasn’t too far off from that as well.
But then, Jisung's eyes switch from looking around the crowd to looking back at the doors, and with him, so does everyone in the room.
Chenle looks just as beautiful as Jisung does and Mark has been the first to witness just how much work was behind the entire wedding, but both of the grooms currently make it look like being perfect is an effortless thing.
And then, Mark sees in slow motion how Chenle's eyes find Jisung's and the next thing he knows is that the two start to run towards each other, meeting in the middle of the aisle in the tightest hug one has ever seen.
If Mark thought they looked perfect separately, he realizes the two look even better together.
Chenle's head is rested in the crook of Jisung's neck, face turned inside towards him. One of Jisung's hands is gently petting Chenle's nape, while the other one is on his back, keeping Chenle glued to him entirely.
Mark thought he saw Chenle's knees give in for a second, but when Chenle raises his head to look up at Jisung, there are surprisingly no tears in his eyes yet. The smile they share next is the most beautiful thing Mark had ever seen.
Mark realizes that the entire plan of the grooms walking separately towards the front was the only bad idea the two had come up with for their wedding day, seeing how perfect they looked now, walking hand in hand and smiling at each other.
As they walk forward, Mark's senses return to him and he starts to take in both the quiet sobs and the cheers resounding from everywhere in the room. He is surprised for a second he hadn't started crying himself, until Renjun takes his hand and puts a napkin in there.
When Mark looks at him questioningly, he is so taken aback when he sees the tears falling out of Renjun's eyes and the way his nose is turning just the slightest shade of red that he doesn't even process what he was supposed to do, not until Renjun rolls his eyes and takes the napkin he had placed in Mark's hand to dab at his face. Only then does Mark realize that he was not, in fact, holding his tears in, but that they have started to fall out of his eyes so naturally he didn't even realize he was crying.
Maybe a part of him thought he wouldn't cry at all during the wedding, but Mark has always known that if Chenle and Jisung would get married, he'd shed a tear or two.
And now, seeing the two holding hands at the altar, facing each other and ready to say the vows that would intertwine their fates together more than they already were, Mark remembers telling a fan years and years ago when she had asked what he would do if Chenle and Jisung got married, that he would cry.
Judging by the unstoppable flow of tears coming out of his eyes, that was the understatement of the century.
Just as the wedding officiant speaks up the first words leading to the vows, Mark feels Renjun's hand slither into his own and softly squeezes it, not taking his eyes from the perfect poster for a soulmate wedding happening in front of him.
Days, weeks, years, even decades later, Mark would remember that day as one of the happiest in his life, almost rivaling his own wedding day.
The only moment when another emotion takes place in the front of his brain instead of happiness is the moment leading to his best man speech.
One second he was at the table, laughing and slapping it at a joke Donghyuck had said minutes before, and then the next second he heard the words "Now, we ask the best men to come forward and hold their speeches."
The nerves crash into him full-force, and one look at Renjun tells him the other is not doing any better. Mark remembers someone coming up to tell him he should "be ready any second from now", but then Donghyuck spoke up and Mark couldn't pay attention to anything besides not breaking something when he bent at the middle because of laughing so hard. So he hadn't had any time to actually emotionally prepare for the task awaiting him.
But by the time it takes him to process that The Big Moment is already there, the entire crowd has started chanting for Mark and Renjun, so he takes a breath in and decides to give Renjun a few more minutes to get ready, getting up first.
As he is going towards the microphone, Mark starts his act by beatboxing which earns him a laugh from both the audience and the grooms. When he steps in front of the mic and looks at everyone, he feels another wave of nerves brushing over him, but he clears his throat and pushes everything behind him.
"Hello everyone, and thank you for coming in today to see the two best people in the world getting married." That earns a boo from Donghyuck, and Mark joins the crowd in laughter before he clears his throat again when the room quiets down.
"I thought long and hard about what I should say in this speech as Chenle's best man, which I have to mention is an honor and the best thing that could ever happen to me. But the longer I kept thinking, the more my speech threatened to turn so poetic it would rival the wedding vows themselves," Mark chuckles. "And so, I decided to shape it as a celebration of the two, rather than just talking about Chenle, and I am entirely sure Renjun did the same in his speech." He looks at Renjun, and the other nods, despite the surprised glint in his eyes. "Tonight, I'm gonna keep things simple and from the heart, and I'll say whatever comes to mind when I look at these two sitting there prettily."
He turns towards Chenle and Jisung who are smiling at him, hand in hand, and he lets out a breathless, "Woah," for effect. The crowd laughs again, sharing the sentiment.
"Just in this second, so many sequences of their relationship seen through my eyes have passed through my mind that I fear that saying everything would take me days," Mark says, returning to face the crowd. "So I will spare you the details, for both your sake and for not embarrassing the grooms with some of the things I could share about them."
"What I can say for sure is that you'll never in your life meet other people that fit in the soulmate trope as much as these two. Probably all of you know the story of how they met and befriended each other despite not speaking each other's languages and despite the possibility of never seeing each other again. Then years later, they reunited, because not even the strongest force in the universe can keep apart two souls as tightly intertwined as theirs."
"In the first few years, I didn't think much about it. They were both our youngest members, who despite being one year apart acted like they were born on the same day, same hour. It was so natural seeing them together, that I never questioned their close relationship. It took me years to notice how different they actually were, but then it took me just one second to understand how that worked."
"Because Jisung is a dreamer and Chenle is as rational as they get. Jisung looks at the simplest things in this world with sparkles in his eyes and Chenle looks like he already knows anything and everything about the same world. Jisung believes in aliens in the way that he actually wishes they were there, and Chenle believes in aliens like a statistician, no more no less."
"But then I realized that they themselves made their relationship work by fitting their differences just like puzzle pieces. Jisung looks at the entire world with sparkles in his eyes, but then Chenle is his entire world. And Chenle laughs at Jisung's theories about aliens, but if Jisung said he wanted one, Chenle would invent a way to go up to Mars and get an alien for him."
Mark can hear some sniffles from the room and he feels his own tears threatening to spill out, but he recollects himself for the ending of his speech.
"I've never in my life met another couple who acted like they were married and ready to die for each other several years before they even got in a relationship, but I guess the entire purpose of Chenle and Jisung being in the same universe was to prove us all that soulmates do exist, and it is not just a fictional trope." Mark turns back towards the two, and smiles when sees Chenle quickly wipe his eyes. "And for you two, I guess I have to thank you for showing me love in its purest, most perfect, most you form."
Mark bows and the crowd erupts into clapping by the time he straightens back up again. As he steps towards his spot at the table, he sees Renjun raising to his feet and clapping harder than anyone, which prompts everyone else to raise up and clap for him. He feels a flush creeping up on his neck, but before he can process it all, Renjun throws his hands over Mark's shoulders and hugs him tightly, whispering a "You did great," in his ears.
When the clapping subsides and people sit back down, Renjun makes his way towards the mic as well, step confident. It almost looks as if he was not shaking like a leaf just a minute ago, right when their speeches got announced, and Mark feels a surge of pride in his chest at the sight.
"If you told me when I was young that Chenle and Jisung would get married sometime in the future," Renjun starts his speech, "I wouldn't have questioned it. In fact, I would've already pictured myself in a suit by their side, being Chenle's best man and having the best speech one could ever have." At this point, his voice quivers and despite the distance, Mark spots the first tear on his face. "No one told me that I would be on the other side of the couple and I would have to compete with Mark-hyung for who would make more people cry with their speech. And of course, no one told me I would bawl my eyes out five seconds in," he says and the crowd shares a teary-eyed laugh with him.
Renjun takes a few seconds to recover and recompose himself, and the rest of his speech goes on without any interruptions. Jisung cries through the entirety of it, and Chenle just laughs and hugs him tightly at the end, patting Jisung’s head as he cries on Chenle’s expensive suit.
But then the tears end for the day, and people start partying, having the best time they could. Jisung and Chenle join in the circle of their friend group and they dance until they can't anymore.
All in all, it's as perfect as it could get. The food is downright amazing, the music is phenomenal (considering the playlist was made by Donghyuck, that was no surprise), and all the guests kept the atmosphere crazily good throughout the entire night.
Hours later, Mark steps outside on the terrace for some fresh air. He lets the night breeze ruffle his hair and leans on the railing, closing his eyes.
"That's quite a smile you have there," a voice spooks him out of his thoughts. He turns around to see Renjun stepping out on the terrace as well. "Penny for your thoughts?"
"I'm just really, really happy," Mark says and leans back on the railing, smiling into the distance.
Renjun hums and a comfortable silence falls over them. The music from the venue is loud enough to be heard outside, perfect as a background noise. At some point, a loud cheer comes from the inside and Mark wonders what the grooms were up to to provoke such a reaction. But then, they could stare into each other’s eyes for just a second and people around them would go crazy.
"Do you ever wonder if your wedding will be just as nice as today was?" Renjun asks and Mark looks at him, a bit surprised at the sudden question.
"Are you kidding? No other wedding could even get close to this one, we're literally talking about Chenle and Jisung here."
Renjun laughs. "You're right," he says as he turns around to look through the big windows inside, and Mark mirrors him. "Then I hope my wedding day will be half as good as theirs. Is that good?" He asks, glancing at Mark.
"Now that's more achievable," Mark answers. They look at each other for a beat too long, a million of unspoken words between them, and Mark thinks Renjun looks so pretty with happiness painted on his every feature.
The music inside changes, and there are a few words spoken in the microphone. When Mark looks inside, he sees Chenle and Jisung getting towards the middle of the room hand in hand, and settling into a dance position. He looks back at Renjun and offers him his hand.
"Would you join me for the next one?" Mark asks, and Renjun nods and takes his hand, smiling.
Maybe he doesn't have an assigned soulmate like the two newlyweds, but Mark thinks soulmates can also be made.
As he looks one more time in Renjun's eyes before they step back in, he is completely sure of that.