Loud chatting and banter filled the lively spaces of the common area, Sookyung standing near the entryway with a lingering grin on her face.

It was about midday. Practically everyone had been called to meet up in the main room for some reason unbeknownst to them, having been ushered that morning out from their comfortable beds and compelled to attend this mandatory gathering.

Absolutely no one knew what was going on— especially not Felix, who was quite frankly, still half asleep, and had been dragged out that morning by his near-equally tired boyfriend.

They'd stayed up late last night for certain reasons. It was totally their fault, sadly.

Rumors circulated throughout the room as to what could be going on, but this sleepy couple were barely even aware enough to care. Hyunjin was just eyeing the coffee machine in the distance, wondering if he had time to get a cup before whatever was going to happen... well, happened. Felix simply stood in a daze, still yearning for the blankets he'd been ripped from.

Once the room was beginning to look overcrowded, Sookyung dragged a wooden chair towards the center of the room. She climbed on top of it, as if it were a little personal platform, and began to survey her surroundings, or so it seemed.

Felix caught sight of Doyeon from across the room, turning and sharing an excited looking glance with her shorter girlfriend. His eyes drifted down to land on their hands, clasped together as Doyeon gave Yoojung's hand a squeeze.

He briefly wondered what they looked so happy for this early in the morning, but stopped as he made eye contact with Yoojung from across the room.

A bright smile washed across her face, and she began walking forward, rushing towards him at a surprisingly quick pace.

"Ah, shit," Felix muttered, catching the attention of the taller boy next to him. As much as he loved Yoojung—he was actually starting to consider her as quite a good friend—he'd only gotten a tiny amount of sleep, and his conversation skills would be subpar at best.

"What?" Hyunjin whispered back, but didn't get an answer. Yoojung planted her feet directly in front of the two of them, waving a small hand excitedly as a sort of greeting.

"Morning, Yoojung," Felix spoke, then turned his gaze towards her taller girlfriend whom she'd dragged over. "Hey Doyeon."

She gave him a warm smile, and being the quieter of the two, just said a "hey" back.

Yoojung glanced around, as if afraid to be heard. "Did Sookyung tell you?" she asked, her voice almost bursting with restrained energy.

"Uhh, no?" Felix raised an eyebrow at this. "Tell me what?"

"We're—!" Yoojung's excited voice was cut off by her girlfriend's hand covering her mouth, muffling the remnants of her words.

"Shh, let Sookyung say it if they don't know yet," Doyeon reminded her gently, to which she only received a pout in return.

"But...!" Yoojung whined, and only shut up when the taller girl brought their linked hands up and left a little kiss on the back of hers.

Felix turned to share a glance with Hyunjin, both sending the other a look that said they had no idea what the two were on about.

"Everyone!" Sookyung shouted over the clamor after a short while. "Listen up! We have an announcement to make."

"I'm actually kinda nervous," Yoojung whispered, either to Felix or herself, as the talking died down into silence.

"It's good news, don't worry," Sookyung stated, a hearty laugh mixed with her tone. "I can see the anxious look on some of your faces."

She paused for a moment, the air heavy as she scanned over the crowd.

"Doyeon? Yoojung? Would you two like to come up?" Sookyung spoke with a knowing smile on her face, and the pair of girlfriends in question bashfully padded over to the center of the room.

Now Felix was really wondering what the hell this all was. He let his hand brush against Hyunjin's, seeing the two girls holding hands and feeling a small urge to do the same.

"Would one of you like to say it? Or should I?" Sookyung inquired.

A tiny smile appeared on the blonde's face as Hyunjin allowed him to lace their fingers together.

"I'll say it," Doyeon took the chance, and ushered the girl off the chair before climbing on it herself.

Doyeon took a breath, looking around the room as Sookyung had done.

"We're engaged."

The room went dead silent, as if no one had even fully processed these words yet. As soon as Felix did understand, though, he looked up towards the two in an excited shock.

The rest of the crowd seemed to have the same idea as happy yelling and shrieking rang out at once, someone in the back actually screaming at the announcements, and multiple people rushed the center of the room. Minghao seemed to be tackling the two girls in a hug and sobbing into their shoulders, to which they both gave into sympathetic laughter.

They found themselves barraged with questions. Who asked? When? How?

Yoojung answered each rather gracefully, a light giggle to her tone as she told the story. "Doyeon proposed..." her voice could be briefly heard through the crowd. "It was at the cafe down on..."

Felix tried to take a little step forward, towards the rest of the group, but found himself gently tugged back by the boy whose hand he held.

The blonde glanced up towards his lover. Hyunjin seemed... rather spaced out, just watching the pair in the center of the room be greeted with happy tears and hugs from all sides.

"Something wrong?" Felix whispered, and gave his hand a squeeze.

The elder snapped out of it instantly. "No," he answered, making eye contact with Felix as if to reassure him. "Just surprised, that's all."

"Come on," the blonde tugged at him. "Can we go talk to them?"

Hyunjin stayed silent, but let himself be dragged across the room anyway. Felix approached the girls with an excited grin.

"Ahh, Felix!" Yoojung yelled as she saw him, and instantly wrapped the boy in a big hug. "I almost died keeping this a secret from you!"

"I didn't suspect anything, don't worry!" the boy's warm laugh was muffled against her big sweater. "When's the wedding?" he added in a half-joking tone.

Yoojung took both of his hands in hers. "I actually wanted to talk to you about that. We're gonna wait a while. Since I'm an adult now, we can start looking for a place to live first."

Felix nodded, listening to her list out their reasons.

"Anyway. Here's the thing," she seemed to hesitate for a moment. "You know how I'm not in contact with my family?"

Once again, the blonde nodded.

"I... need someone to walk me down the aisle," Yoojung stated. "I know Minghao would start crying, and I'm not as close with Sei, so..."

"Me?" Felix couldn't hide the surprise in his voice. "You're asking me?"

The girl nodded, and for some reason, Felix glanced to the side, as to gauge Hyunjin's reaction to this. The elder glanced back at him, wide-eyed, waiting for his response.

"I... yes, obviously I'll do it," he said, rambling out a reply in the heat of the moment. Part of him was just shocked to even be considered for this sort of thing. "Are you sure, though?"

"Well, yeah," Yoojung stated. "All of you are invited to the wedding someday anyway. Sookyung's my maid of honor. Jun is in charge of the rings, and I'm marrying Doyeon, so..." she let out an airy laugh. "I kinda wanted it to be family only, y'know?"

"But—" Felix nearly questioned this, as her family wasn't going to be actually involved at all. Yet the joyful look on her face struck a stark realization in him, that perhaps the family she was referring to wasn't one of blood at all.

"Hyunjin," she continued, and the taller boy seemed a bit startled at being singled out all of a sudden. "Felix has told me you're really into literature and all that, right?"

He nodded and tucked a piece of hair behind his ear, a sort of nervous habit. "I am. Why?"

"Could you help me... write my vows?" Yoojung asked earnestly, and took the boy's wrist in her hands. "I'm sure you'd be great at that kind of thing. I've heard about all the classics that you've read!"

"So... you just talk about me to her all the time or what?" Hyunjin muttered to the blonde next to him, then promptly received an elbow to the side.

"Yeah, I'll help," Hyunjin decided anyway. "Not sure I'll be good at it, but, I can try?"

Yoojung's face absolutely lit up at this. "Thank you!" she threw herself against the taller boy in a hug, who immediately sent a sort of S.O.S. look to the blonde boy.

Felix let out a relieved laugh, and somehow, this seemed to relax Hyunjin, who wrapped his arms around the small girl in return.

A short while went by before Sookyung brought out the champagne—although it was a festive occasion, Hyunjin didn't seem in the mood to drink anything, and quietly excused himself away from the crowd, finding a seat near the entranceway on a small couch.

Felix remained chatting with the others at first. He tended to become very extroverted when comfortable, and it showed now, as he cracked jokes and laughed alongside the others, all excited for this engagement news.

Once he'd deemed himself getting tired of the conversation, then he wandered off to the sides of the space, seeing a dark haired boy leaning back against the couch, staring off into the distance.

"Someone's cheery over here," Felix greeted sarcastically as he walked over, before plopping himself down in the seat next to Hyunjin. "What's up?"

Hyunjin let out a long breath before responding. "Nothing, baby. I'm just tired." Saying this, he let his hand rest upon the younger's thigh, and gave it a gentle squeeze of reassurance.

"Hmm, I can tell it's not just that," Felix placed his hand atop the elder's. "You're thinking about something."

Hyunjin huffed at this. "Stop reading my mind. It's scary."

"It's a gift," Felix tilted his head as he spoke. "You're very easy to read."

"Or maybe you just look at me too much?" a faint smile began to play at Hyunjin's lips, partially because of Felix's true gift—the ability to make him cheer up no matter the situation.

"While that is true..." Felix admitted, and made the other cross the line into a soft laughter, "I know you don't like talking about your feelings. So spill."

The elder stayed quiet. He absentmindedly played with the dainty fingers of Felix's hand, linking and unlinking them with his own as he mulled over his thoughts.

"I don't know," he said. Hyunjin let his touch linger at Felix's third finger, gaze fixed on it for a while.

"Maybe it's just anxiety," the elder put a smile on his face, subtly diverting the topic. "I mean, I'm just worried that if they wait long enough for the wedding..."

"Ah," Felix sunk back into the sofa. "You're right. But is that it? If we got their number or something, we could always text?"

Hyunjin pursed his lips at this, giving a halfhearted nod.

"There's something you're not saying," the blonde reiterated. "I know that look."

"It's stupid," Hyunjin's voice was defensive. "Don't worry about it."

"Nothing you could ever say to me would be stupid. What is it?"

Hyunjin's gaze on him felt so strong for a minute that Felix swore he could almost physically feel it.
"Doesn't it make you... think about it?"

Felix blinked. For a second, he wondered what the elder meant by "think about it." Think about what?

Hyunjin seemed to have expected this reaction, and spared a look away, towards where the fiancées were living it up with champagne and their friends.

Felix suddenly became conscious of the feeling of the elder's fingertips hesitating at his ring finger.

"Oh..." he said, before feeling a sudden warmth flood his face. "Yeah. That. I, um..."

"You know, I've never thought about marrying anyone I actually loved before?" the elder brought up, only warranting a concerned look from Felix.

"What?" was all Felix could say. "What do you mean, actually?"

"I was honestly just a business asset." The way Hyunjin spoke these words made it feel a little too personal, almost. Like he was stating something he genuinely believed. "I always grew up with the knowledge that whoever I got with in the future... it'd be for the business. She'd be some wealthy business heir or something. Hell, I could've been the one getting married to her," he gestured across the room at Yoojung as a reminder of their past.

Felix didn't mean to grimace at this idea, but he did. Not even out of jealousy or anything, but just at the idea of two people so very not in love being forced together like that.

"Right," Hyunjin said to his expression. "I tried to ignore thinking about it as hard as I could. I kinda hated the idea of getting married. But..."

The elder was suddenly avoiding Felix's gaze.
"I think I would do it if it was you."

Felix felt like he'd been hit by a truck in the absolute best way possible. "Huh?" he couldn't stop himself from voicing his disbelief, and on instinct brought his hand away from Hyunjin's and to his own chest.

Hyunjin, on the other hand, was already jumping to conclusions on that reaction. "Not to be weird or anything!" he blurted out, adamantly trying to keep the younger from judging him. "Just theoretically! Forget what I said. Let's move on."

Felix was still melting from the inside out. "You..." he could barely speak at this point. "You are so..."

"I said we're moving on," Hyunjin insisted, and brought his palm to his forehead, stressed out by the whole situation.

But Felix couldn't help it. He was suddenly plagued with visions of Hyunjin putting a ring on his finger, black suit and tie, a fancy multi-layered cake in the scene behind him...

"L-listen," Felix was barely getting the point across. "Just theoretically, right. If it so happens that we're together in a few years, then possibly, I would say yes if you asked. In theory."

"Yeah, okay," Hyunjin fidgeted with the hem of the younger's shirt. "And hypothetically, if it were to happen, where would you want to go on this imaginary honeymoon? Just in case?"

"We're getting too into it," Felix spoke decisively.

"Definitely too into it," Hyunjin agreed. "Let's argue over something."

"Got it. Labradors are objectively the best kind of dog," the blonde chose this debate prompt out of thin air, and it worked exactly as he knew it would.

Hyunjin narrowed his eyes at the younger for this. "Wrong. Chihuahuas are best and you know it."

"You're biased because you have one."

"Untrue."

"Soo true."

"You're biased because you're blonde," Hyunjin pulled a strawman argument out of nowhere. "Check and mate."

"Breaking news. Local man who only adopts chihuahuas says he 'isn't biased towards them.' More at eight," Felix spoke in a news announcer voice out of nowhere, making the elder burst into laughter.

"Now on tonight's news at eight, local man with blonde hair says he doesn't like non-blondes. Will cancel culture finally get him?" the elder shot back.

"Shut up!" Felix gently hit at Hyunjin's chest with a giggle. "I said nothing about hating non-blondes! This is about dogs! I'm not even naturally...!"

"Breaking news," Hyunjin continued with the spiel, staring adoringly at the younger next to him. "Local blonde man wants to kiss me sooo bad."

"Local blonde man does not," Felix mumbled with a grin, leaning in anyway.

"He really does."

"He doesn't," Felix added with a smile, and let his hands come up to cup Hyunjin's face softly, bringing their mouths gently together in a comfortable kiss.

They remained in it for a moment, before Hyunjin pulled back, and brushed some of his hair out of his face.
"Tie this up for me?" he asked, and that happy expression that he loved washed over the younger's face.

"Give," Felix simply held a hand out, and the elder pulled a hair tie from off his wrist and passed it over, turning himself to sit criss-crossed and face the other way.
"You have the prettiest hair I've ever seen," he mused as he got to work dividing and tying it up, running his hands through it first.

"Do you mean that?" Hyunjin let himself relax under the younger's touch. "Or are you just saying that?"

"I mean it," Felix insisted, taking a moment to observe how the light shined against the elder's pitch black hair in his hands, thick and soft. "Even before I liked you I thought it was pretty. I love playing with people's hair."

Hyunjin turned around for a moment, pouting at this. "People's? And here I thought I was special."

"You are." Felix manually turned the boy's head back around. "Don't think too hard on it."

"I'm thinking about it," Hyunjin stated bluntly.

"Well, stop," Felix gathered the upper half of the boy's hair into his hands. "No thoughts..."

"Head empty," Hyunjin finished the phrase, and a little smile rose to the blonde's face as he tied the elder's hair into a half updo, leaving the bottom layer out beneath the ponytail he made.

"Exactly. We're so in sync," Felix said.

"You know it, baby," the elder reached back to feel the ponytail with a hand. "Did you only put half of it up?"

"Always thought you looked cute like that."

"I'll never cut my hair short again," Hyunjin purred as the younger brought his hands to gently take his bangs out of the ponytail, bringing them out to frame his face. "We're starting to match, you know. Yours is getting kinda long."

He wasn't even wrong. Felix's hair had grown significantly since they'd met, and his blonde locks were incredibly fluffy, especially in the morning. If straightened down, one would suspect it might begin to reach around his chin.

Felix sighed, and leaned forward to rest his chin against the elder's shoulder. "It's weird to think about what I looked like when we met."

"Agreed," Hyunjin hummed as he turned his head to look at the younger's face the two practically nose to nose. "I didn't know about these," he brought his index finger up to tap the blonde's cheek.

"What is it with you and my freckles?" Felix murmured halfway to himself, and the elder smiled in response. Felix just reached up to poke at one of the elder's dimples in a sort of revenge.

"Hey, Hyunjin!" a male voice called from the distance, grabbing the attention of both of the pair. Junhui padded over from the crowd, seeming to finally have broken free from the shackles of social obligation.

"Yeah?" said boy asked, a bit miffed to have his attention drawn away at that moment.

"Can I have my laptop back?" Junhui smiled sheepishly. "I kinda need it today."

This request took a second to register in Hyunjin's mind. "Oh! Yeah," he agreed eventually, standing up from the couch. "I'll go get it now."

"Thanks man. Sorry to interrupt?" he shot a mischevious look at the pair, both of whom swatted him away automatically for that.

"We'll be back," Hyunjin's hand was grabbing Felix's, and tugging the boy to stand up alongside him.

"Okay," Junhui ushered them to go. "Be fast."

Without a word, Hyunjin dragged the blonde along to the hall, glancing around them as if to check they were alone.

"What are you checking around for?" Felix asked, amused. "You've kissed me in public before."

"Habit," Hyunjin admitted, and grabbed both of the younger's hands, spinning him around and taking haphazard steps backwards.

"I'll race you," the elder dared, a hint of playfulness in his tone as he led Felix down the hall.

"You'll what?" Felix was a bit dazed from the sudden spin, and still barely understood the words when the taller pulled him in for a short peck, then let him free, and immediately took off dashing the opposite way down the hall.

"Unfair!!!" Felix shouted at him, gathering his composure before setting off in a sprint after him.

"All's fair in love and war!" Hyunjin shot back as he bounded around a corner, taking a shortcut to their destination.

Felix found himself biting back a smile at that comment. He'd heard that phrase from the elder before, ages ago on the beach, with the scent of saltwater in the air.

At the time, he'd jokingly asked, "and which is this?" in reply.

Though he'd never received an answer out loud, he couldn't help but let that familiar warm feeling engulf him.

He knew the answer to that question now.

And spoiler alert: it wasn't war.