❝ i'm always blown away by just how talented you are. ❞ (3)
ares wasn’t quite sure why those words rocked him like they did — but they did. his brain all but stopped working for a moment or two, and honestly? he felt like his heart was going to explode in his chest. so many emotions at once, and quickly — “seunggi,” it was said softly as both hands went right to his face as if to hide any sudden flush, a quiet laugh bubbling free as he turned in his spot. it took barely any time at all for ares to turn away from the tv and into seunggi’s chest — he didn’t have to watch the scene unfold, he was literally in it.
it wasn’t like he was a stranger to praise, but there was something extra special about seunggi saying these things. especially when he was laying here watching the same episode his fiancé was.
“you’re sweet, baby” it came delayed and muffled into the other man’s chest, ares having fully turned to where he was facing the back of the couch instead of the tv. anything to shake off the, what, sudden shyness? “how embarrassing—“
it was always a little emotional at the end, wasn’t it? the end of everything, he’d assume. the end of the movie could be a bummer. the end of the rice crispy treats. the end of the tour, even. when you saw & heard the love, the support, of course you’d get a little emotional. add in that one particular face and, oh, ares almost didn’t even remember to say goodbye to the crowd.
almost, but thankfully it wasn’t a problem.
the only thing he had to think about now? getting off stage, handing off his mic, and getting out of this freaking jacket.
all with his eyes searching for him, of course. the one person out of the hundreds he wanted to see most.
❝ no one is ever gonna get near you again, you hear me? ❞ (3333333 🫶)
it was their thing, wasn’t it? finding their way to a beach every once in a while. a private beach, of course, somewhere they could go and not be bothered.
having a place all to themselves, being able to do anything and everything without others around. whether it was watching movies or taking a dip, maybe laying in the sun or going for a walk. they could do whatever they wanted without prying eyes. ares didn’t even need his security! sure, they were here in hawaii, but they weren’t here on the beach.
or that was the idea behind it, at least. being alone.
seunggi went off to grab a few drinks, and ares found himself relaxing into the chair to wait. it was easy, wasn’t it? basking in the sun, the sound of waves crashing against the shore. music playing in the background, his own soft humming filling the air. it was nice.
right up until there was laughter which — yeah, it took him a second to realize. it definitely wasn’t his fiancés laughter, and the song — no, it wasn’t the song. which is why he was quick to sit up and look towards the sound, and it wasn’t hard to find at all. why? well, because it was coming from two people right behind him.
and you’ll have to forgive him, but he was confused. he didn’t understand — it was a private beach! there was a gate, and everything! sure, it was easy to jump a gate. obviously. but who in their right mind would just —
“oh, please don’t -“ a hand on his arm was enough to have ares pulling said arm closer to himself, as well as standing.
thank god he wasn’t fucking naked.
both eyes quickly shifted away from the pair like he expected to see his fiancé right this second — unlikely, but he was hopeful. “i’ll walk you out,” again, ares was a hopeful person.
but these were strangers, giddy ones at that. loud and excited, which really he’d excuse — the touching, however, wasn’t really his cup of tea. ares didn’t want hands on him if they weren’t seunggi’s, even if they were just on his arms. but how many times was he supposed to back up and pull away — he wasn’t going to shove them away! no, at best all ares could think to do was tell them to leave, even offer to walk them! a picture, if they wanted. anything but what was happening, you know?
and to think that was only, what, two minutes ago? two minutes and so much seemed to unfold.
“it’s okay — it’s —“ was it okay? it was, kind of. they were gone, thanks to his insistence. maybe more so due to seunggi, though. ares wasn’t exactly pushy, you know? not really too demanding where he was concerned, especially fans — even if it wasn’t a good situation. but once more it didn’t matter, it was over and, well? it was too easy to just step into seunggi’s space for a good hug, one that had his face falling to the other man’s neck. “i panicked a little, thank you.”
❛ your lips look cold, want me to warm them up for you? ❜ (3)
the exact moment those words were said, it didn't matter what ares would have replied with. not even a little bit. why? well, the screaming. seunggi hinted towards a kiss, and oh — the crowd exploded. it felt fitting that they were both suddenly aired on the big screen, too, even if they wouldn't have known that from where they were backstage.
or ... maybe that should have been obvious from the way the crowd got louder.
ares' smile only widened with his laughter, head falling back as he tossed his arms around the others neck. "my mic's on, baby." did that stop ares from taking a peck of a kiss anyway? no, again — he didn't know they were on the screen.
if given the opportunity an i always smell good would have been said. and yeah, he had all the time in the world to say just that. the problem? getting a single (non-broken) word out was impossible for him to do. why? well. those tickling fingers, that’s why. it was hard to speak when he almost couldn’t even catch his breath, or when he was so tense he was sure he could have knocked them both over.
honestly? if it wasn’t for the way seunggi was holding him he probably would have went rolling around like a fish out of water.
“s-seunggi—“ a broken, desperate plea, one riddled with laughter as ares writhed and wiggled. that same attempt at his boyfriends name happened a few times, actually, though it was harder with every passing second. and just when ares thought the tickling was going to end, it didn’t. “s-stop— please, seung —“ he was halfway turned, (happy) tears in his eyes, and gasping between fits of giggles by the time it actually stopped.
not to say ares relaxed right away, no, it took him a few seconds to believe it wouldn’t start up again. but he just as soon realized those hands were there to soothe now, and not attack, so relaxing came easily. sure, his smile was wide and he was still out of breath, but he was melting back into seunggi more and more. “what’d i do,” it was asked with another breathless laugh and same happy smile, the sound coming softly as a hand lifted to wipe the, what, the tears from being tickled so mercilessly? so he felt his question was fair. what did he do to deserve that? smell good? see if he ever put this cologne on again.
“mhm,” it was said quietly to show he was listening, and as did he pulled one of seunggi’s arms just a little tighter around himself. this was one of his favorite spots to be, of course he was going to get as much out of it as he could. being wrapped up by his boyfriend? yeah, definitely a favorite, and something he had no shame in being greedy about.
and then seunggi’s words were registering and ares was happy he had those arms around him, because it kind of took him off guard for such a time to be recalled. rough patch, indeed — well. not totally. it helped get them here, now, didn’t it? so he couldn’t be too hung up on it — besides! seunggi kept going, and there was more to be heard.
“seunggi,” this time there was no breakage in the other man’s name, and it was said softly — oh, how he loved him. how sweet — the things he was saying, it was like it all went right to ares’ heart. it had his smile softening, and again he was urging that arm tighter around himself — that is until it was moving away. no problem, though, because ares was more interested in listening to what his boyfriend was saying. ares felt himself warming both inside and out, as if seunggi was speaking the love right into him. he was, wasn’t he? that’s what it felt like.
that is until everything stopped, as if ares and his whole little blanket world froze right then and there. it was only for a second, though. the sight of that little box to accompany these words? that yanked ares right back into the here and now. the realization crept in as he shifted up just a bit, eyes stuck on the ring as it fully sunk in.
marry me, he said, and ares felt his breath catch again.
“what —“ came first, and he didn’t know why. he heard what was asked, he understood — it just … might take his heart and his brain a second to get on the same page. and once it did? oh, ares was quick to look over his shoulder at seunggi, lips parting as if to say something else but nothing came out. not for a few moments, at least.
“what — yes. yes!” it was repeated a third time just in case it wasn’t clear already that yes, ares would love to marry him. yes, he’d — “yes, seunggi —“ okay, well, now he was definitely trying to turn in those arms if only to get a kiss, and hopefully keep himself from crying. might be a common theme where their proposals were involved, wasn’t it? only this time it was happy, and he couldn’t seem to care at all if a few might spill over. “i’d love to marry you, baby,”
it shouldn’t be so embarrassing, but for some reason ares couldn’t help the way his skin warmed just at the idea of handing this over. knowing that seunggi was going to read it (probably?). it was practically like ares was opening a door to his mind and letting the other man in. day after day for a whole year he has opened this book and let pen meet paper, dating the corner of each (he never missed a day, thank you). he’s sketched, and gushed, and talked about how much he missed him. he taped pictures of them, of seunggi, of places they’ve been. even cut outs of his photoshoots, little doodles. sometimes it was about what ares did, about how he wished he could have seunggi at his side, and ares at his.
not to mention a few long pages about how he loved him so much, and how ares could honestly see them spending the rest of their lives together. how he was so sorry, but that ring? the one that went missing, well. here it is! taped to the corner, with a (sorry) written under it. but he needed it, okay? he needed to see what size, just in case. because he could, indeed, see them living happily ever after. he could see them with a proper house, and maybe a dog, or something? maybe after they retired, if they ever did.
ares talked about how sometimes he was worried for his boyfriend, about wanting to make it known that he would always be there for him. about how no matter what seunggi could always find a safe place in ares, and that he would be there to help and love him through anything.
he talked about how beautiful seunggi was when he slept, or the cute little scrunch of his nose when he was annoyed — ares wrote about how bad he missed his boyfriend when weeks upon weeks would pass with only video calls. he went on and on, and never missed a day.
he would never miss a day, actually. even though these books were closed didn’t mean he was done with the routine. it was his favorite part of the day, you know? he always made time no matter where he was or who he was with. even if he could only put the date and a sleep scribbled ‘i love you’, that’s what he would do.
“it’s ... its stupid, but —” there was a soft laugh as he handed the wrapped bundle over, two books hidden under the wrapping. that’s how much he loved him, it’s how much he had to say. what was meant to be one page a day? more often than not ares would ramble on for a few pages, so two books? definitely needed.
“i can’t really return it, though, so if you don’t like it —”
ares shouldn’t have agreed to this — he knew it was going to be tense. but things weren’t fully okay between them yet (at least from ares’ perspective) and he needed to keep working on it. he had to put forth effort at every opportunity to make sure things didn’t crash and burn like that ever again. and honestly? he didn’t want seunggi around his father after learning what he did. so. yeah. maybe ares didn’t want to go and he knew he shouldn’t … but he did, and he was doing his best, trust — he was. in both his every day life and this family dinner. really, it came down to a simplified routine. he was working more routinely with his therapist, for one — a small thing, but necessary. he didn’t go anywhere without security, even if it felt silly. it was just something he needed to accept, is all. and with that came small changes, like no longer driving himself or making quick stops for boba — hana would grab it, even if sometimes ares insisted he could be in and out. which! he was ahead of himself with that, too. no amount of insisting mattered, his security would never be swayed. he knew the day would come where he’d try and weasel out of it and they weren’t supposed to budge.
even if he wished someone would have budged with this. somehow.
but they didn’t and now ares was here, hiding away in the bathroom with the small hope of no one coming to look for him just once. a hope that was squashed in less than a minute when the door swung open. not that he could be upset upon seeing seunggi’s face in the mirror — those words did end up making him frown, though. just a little. his eyes dropped towards the counter, eyes flickering over the way his hands curled around the counter’s edge as he turned the last hour or two over in his mind again and again.
“i think …” ares fought to keep his emotions in check and not spilling out all over the place, his tone falling quiet to hopefully keep his voice steady. “i think something is wrong. with me. lately. i don’t know —” it was a genuine statement and something he’s been trying to figure out. and the way he’s felt since being here? it wasn’t helping. listening to seunggi’s father? the things that have been said to ares — fine, whatever. but the things being said to seunggi? he’s never felt so angry, he’s never wanted to actually hurt someone like he wanted to hurt daeseong. the way the older man acted, plus knowing how seunggi has been treated in the past? the way he’s been hit and only god knows what else? and no one did anything — they just sat. why was ares the only one seemingly okay with challenging, however slight, the things being thrown around? maybe he shouldn’t, though — maybe even just something as simple as ares having asked seunggi’s father why he said something was enough to rock the boat. and here seunggi was apologizing for him. ares felt hot with rage and it kind of … it scared him. he didn’t understand any of it, he didn’t like it — he couldn’t make sense of a single thing. but he knew one thing — it didn’t feel right.
“why does he treat you like that?” with that ares let his gaze lift again to hopefully find the other man’s. “seunggi —“ seunggi deserved so much more and it hurt ares deep in his heart to know his own family was like this. ares felt like he could cry, honestly. he felt like he wanted to smack the old man upside the head. he felt like he wanted to wrap seunggi in his favorite blanket and cuddle up for the rest of the night — he felt like he needed to go on a run. there was a lot happening inside his head, so really? he didn’t feel right.
ares was in his own world right now — he had to be. it was make it or break it right now, and he didn't want to ruin it. he wanted nothing more than to make these for his fiancé, and make them good. so even when he heard seunggi come into the kitchen ares didn't look up from his bowl. cracking eggs needed his full attention, you know? no one wanted to crunch on a shell when they were eating a brownie. it had so much of his focus, in fact, that his tongue was poking out as he did it.
"you weren't supposed to see this," it was said without a glance, not until he was putting the shell into his little trash bowl. only then did he look up, smile growing as his eyes landed on the other and his hand went blindly searching for the second egg. "wanted to surprise ya," maybe let the smell of brownies waft into the living room as they watched movies, or something. but, well, he had gotten up for a drink a while ago and it made sense that seunggi would come looking for him.
the camera in his hands, however, kept the smile on ares' lips even as he looked back to his bowl. "what're you doing, baby — i'm messy!" in fact, his egg was put back down on the counter so he could instead move towards seunggi, hands lifting to try grabbing for the camera. "you're aiming it in the wrong direction, it should be on you." either he got his hands on the camera, or he jumped on seunggi. both, even.
