" paper rings "
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ SYNOPSIS. the four times na jaemin asked you to marry to him over the course of fifteen years.
NOTES. one-shot, non-idol au, childhood friends to lovers, established relationship, gn!reader, pure fluff.
WC. ~3.6k
also contains. food mentions
AT AGE TEN, you and Jaemin have spent most of your afternoons running around in the playground between both of your homes. Under the summer sun, you can’t help but throw your head back in laughter as he chased after you. The largest possible grin stretched across the entirety of his face, a smile so bright that it put the sun to shame.
“Yn!” He called out your name with an ease that only came with years of knowing each other; outside of his own family, it’s the one name that’s rolled past his tongue more times than he can count. “Wait up!”
You refused to look back at him, even picking up the speed in which you ran. This wasn’t an uncommon practice between the two of you, so you knew Jaemin wouldn’t hold it against you if you went the slightest bit ahead.
“Last person at the convenience store buys ice cream!”
“That’s not fair!”
Well, unless you did that.
You could practically hear the annoyance that laced his words, as well as the determination in them. With your heart pounding in your chest, a thin layer of sweat covering your forehead, your knees growing weak, you couldn’t help the yelp of joy when actually reached the convenience store first. You leaned down to rest your hands on your knees, catching your breath while you waited for him to finally reach to you.
To your surprise, Jaemin finally appeared within your vision, but he was walking. You couldn’t help the deep crease that formed in between your brows and the pout that formed on your bottom lip as you placed your hands on your hips, “Did you let me win again?”
He shook his head, reaching a hand out for you to take, “Let’s go get your ice cream.”
“I don’t wanna.” You crossed your hands in front of your chest, sharply turning away from him.
Still, Jaemin took your hand and led you inside the small store. The cold blast of the air was a welcome reprieve from the humid weather outside. You sighed, letting yourself stand directly in front of the air conditioner.
You don’t catch the way Jaemin shook his head and smiled, knowing that any ounce of annoyance you had felt towards him was slowly beginning to disappear. He took your favorite kind of popsicle from the fridge, not needing to ask you anymore. It’s not that you told him either, he just knew what you always got. Something caught his eye by the counter as he took the small coin purse from his pocket, letting the cashier know that he wanted to buy it as well.
“Come on, Yn!”
Plastic bag in hand, he found you still by the air conditioner. He tilted his head towards the automatic glass doors, letting you know to follow him out. Which you did.
The concrete is hot on your skin, but you and him had always sat on the sidewalk while you enjoyed your ice cream. You enjoyed your cold treat in silence, up until he nudges his side with your own.
“Are you mad at me?” Jaemin pouted, continuously poking your shoulder with his free hand, “Promise I won’t let you win again.”
“You said that last time.” You whined, screwing your eyes shut for the briefest of seconds before looking back at him. “But I’m not mad.”
He nodded, relief flooding his system despite the fact that he already knew you weren’t. “Good. We can’t be friends forever if you’re mad at me.”
“Do you think we’ll be friends forever?”
“We will.”
Jaemin answered with such certainty that you couldn’t help the warmth that flooded your veins. Your features softened, eyes growing wide as you looked at him, “Really? You think so?”
“Yes. Do you?”
“I do.”
He grinned, taking out the only item left inside the plastic bag. It was one of those candy ring pops and presented it to you as if he were simply handing you a pen that he had borrowed. “Marry me.”
It was more of a statement rather than a question. You couldn’t help but raise a brow, “Marry?”
“My parents told me that if you want to be with someone forever, you give them a ring and you marry them.” Jaemin shrugged his shoulders, still holding the plastic ring out towards you.
Underneath the intense sun one summer afternoon, sitting on the cracked sidewalk of your neighborhood, Na Jaemin asked — well, told — you to marry him for the first time. And you took the ring from his hand and slid it on your pointer finger, not knowing that it was meant to be on your ring finger.
“Okay. I’ll marry you.”
AT AGE FIFTEEN, you and Jaemin spent most of your afternoons walking home from school together. The afternoon sky is painted a deep orange, the street you’ve walked a million times by now basking in the golden glow of the setting sun. Your steps were much smaller and slower than what they normally were when you were with anyone else, trying to extend the time you had together; not that Jaemin minded anyways, he was pretty much doing the same.
Your gaze was so trained on the road ahead of you, that you don’t notice his eyes on you, only really leaving to make sure that he wasn’t about to trip on anything.
He’s sure that you were speaking; your mouth was moving and sound was coming back. Your voice fell on his ears, carried by the kind of cool afternoon breeze that tousled his hair. But he couldn’t seem to process your words, in his mind they all seemed to be mumbled and jumbled.
His mind could only focus on the way your shoulders and fingertips barely brushed against one another’s as you walked side-by-side, did your touch always send shivers down his spine? Neither of you made any attempt to move farther away from the other, were you also feeling a sense of warmth wash over you from how close the two of you are? The sound of your voice tugged at his hearstrings, the lilt of your laugh made him laugh too, the way the corner of your mouth quirked up the tiniest bit sent a weird, fluttery feeling to his stomach.
It wasn’t always like this. Why could’t he act- be normal around you? He’s known you for years, what was going on with him? Well, he knew the answer. But he’d never dare say it out loud, let alone to you. Doing that would mean it was real and he wanted to play pretend just a little bit longer.
The sound of your fingers making snapping sounds in front of him took him out of his trance. He hadn’t noticed that your brows were now knitted and your tongue poked at the inside of your cheek. Cute.
“You weren’t listening again.”
Jaemin’s eyes widened. It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. His mouth parted and shut for a couple of seconds before he actually replied, “I totally was!”
He didn’t mean for his tone to become defensive, but he also couldn’t help but find you adorable when you pursed your lips towards him, not buying his response. You stayed silent, crossing your arms in front of your chest as you stopped walking.
“I was just distracted!” He blurted out, looking around at everything but you. His gaze landed on your shoes in an attempt to hide from the intensity of your gaze, “Your laces are untied!”
Without another word, he knelt in front of you — in the middle of the street — and tied your laces for you. The tips of his ears were tinged red, matching the blush that spread across his face. Heat rose from his fingertips to his cheeks, and all he could do is tie your laces and hope that you don’t notice.
Wait- how do you tie shoelaces again? His hands shook and fumbled, hesitant in each and every movement. He could hear you chuckle before you leaned down to tie your own shoelaces. Jaemin stood and took a couple of steps back, shaking his head at himself.
It didn’t take long for you to finish. You made your way towards him and reached a hand out to fix his hair after the wind had ruffled it a little too much.
“What would you do without me, hmm?” You cooed, teasing him a little when you pulled your hand back.
“Marry me.”
“What?”
You tilted your head to the side, and he could tell you were trying to fight off the smile that threatened to spread across your features.
“I think I need you by my side forever to help me.” Jaemin didn’t wait for you to agree when he pulled out a piece of string from his pocket and tied it around your left ring finger, “Okay?”
You shook your head, an amused breath moving past your lips, “Sure.”
AT AGE TWENTY, you and Jaemin spent most of your nights studying in the twenty-four hour cafe located in the university’s campus. With all the hours both of you have spent surrounded by it’s exposed brick walls, it genuinely became your second home. Every sound, sight, and smell had been practically engraved in your mind: the small bell perched on top of the door that rang whenever you enter, the smell of brewing coffee and freshly baked pastries, the sight of several other overworked university students hunched over their tables and typing away at their laptop for an eight am deadline.
“Ynnnn.”
You heard a voice call out from in front of you, drawing out your name in a whine. It wasn’t the first time you’ve heard this particular sound; if you had been keeping count, this would be the tenth time in the past hour. The distance between each utterance only grew shorter, but still you chose to ignore it. Your pen flew from one end of your notebook to another as you wrote at lightning speed, hoping that it would keep your mind occupied enough as to not entertain Jaemin’s antics.
“Yn.”
It wasn’t long until you felt a small paper ball hit your forehead. Then another. And another. And another. A frowned formed on your bottom lip as it forced you to look up at him, the deepest crease in between your brows.
You huffed, throwing one of the paper balls back at him, “What do you want, Jaemin?”
“Finally! You acknowledge my presence!” He grinned, looking at you with the mischievous glint in his eyes that you had long grown accustomed to. Jaemin rests his chin in the palms of his hand, “I’ve been trying to get your attention, you know?”
“I know.” You attempted to keep the look of annoyance in your face and the tone of irritation in your words to no avail. The corner of your lip twitched upward into a barely visible smirk, your voice more amused than anything. You knew the power your best friend had over you. To make matters worse, he knew it too. Still, you rolled your eyes in pretend exasperation, “I just wanted to ignore you.”
“Yn! So mean.” He pouted, crossing his arms in front of his chest, “Is that any way to treat your bestest friend in the entire world?”
“Actually, Renjun might be my new best friend.” You shrugged your shoulders and looked back at your notes, unable to fight off the smile that graced your lips.
Jaemin’s mouth parted in shock, unable to register the joking tone that laced your words and actions. He blinked back at you, letting a few seconds pass so you could take back your statement. When you don’t, he threw another paper ball at your head. “Renjun from Bio 101? Have you even spoken more that five sentences to him?”
“I’m just teasing.” You chuckled, shaking your head before looking back at him.
The tips of his ears turned red, the entirety of his face slowly following as he let out a fake, awkward cough, “Yeah. I knew that.”
“Mhmm. Sure you did.” It was now your turn to grin at him, reaching a hand out to ruffle his already messy hair. Jaemin lets you do it, he always does. When you finally pulled your hand back, you tilted your head to the side, “Anyways, I’m sorry, it’s just- this test tomorrow is huge and-”
“I know. I just wanted you take a quick break.” Jaemin cut you off before you could go on a long winded ramble about all the stress that you were feeling, his voice soft and the look in his eyes gentle. He pulled the cup of coffee by your notebook towards him and away from you, “And I think that’s enough caffeine for tonight.”
“Jaemin.” You warned, reaching a hand out to take the cup back. Unfortunately, his reflexes were much more quick than yours.
“Yn.” He replied in a tone much more challenging, raising a brow at you; it was the kind of look that left little room for argument. If taking your coffee wasn’t enough, he also moved your laptop so that it now faced him and took your pen and notebook to place them on his side of the table.“You’ve been working for hours now, relax.”
You stared at him, trying to get him to give your things back. But he only stared back at you, unmoving with the smallest of smiles playing on his lips. The air between the two of you is thick, coated in silence only broken by the barista occasionally calling out another customer’s orden
Both of you are uncertain at exactly how long this staring competition lasted, but neither of you could find it in yourselves to look away. The shades of red that colored his cheeks could only grow deeper. Your thoughts could only be reduced to the loud thumps of your own heart beating.
You sighed, eventually giving up and leaning back at your seat, “I hate you.”
“No you don’t.”
“I don’t.” Your gaze moved from him to the other customers at the quaint little cafe, moving past each table before they eventually land on a couple a few tables over. You watched as the guy let his significant other rest their head on his shoulder. “I swear- me not getting a boyfriend by the end of the year will be my villain origin story. I do not want to stay single forever.”
Jaemin’s eyes followed yours, landing on the couple before he turned his attention back to you, “You’re not going to be single forever.”
“How are you so sure?”
“You have me.”
For a second, you think your neck was going to snap at how fast you turned it back towards him. A scoff escaped your lips, but it’s impossible to deny the flurry of butterflies that flew around in the deepest pit of your stomach, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Jaemin shook his head, tearing a small strip of paper from his notebook and reaching for some tape in his bag. You tilted your head to the side, confused but choosing not to say anything. Instead, you watched as he worked to make a ring from paper and tape. It doesn’t take more than a minute until he presented it to you in complete earnestness.
“Let’s make a deal: If we’re still single by thirty, we’ll just marry each other.”
You took the ring from his hand and examined it, though there was not really much to examine. It’s impossible to ignore the mixture of amusement and giddiness that traveled in your veins at the sight of it. There was absolutely no way both of you would still be single by thirty, so you shook your head and slipped the piece of paper down your left ring finger, “Yeah, alright.”
In a way, you were right. Both of you definitely wouldn’t be single by the time you turned thirty. Just not in the way you expected.
IF ANYONE TOLD TWENTY-YEAR OLD YOU THAT YOU WOULD BE MOVING IN WITH NA JAEMIN AT AGE TWENTY-FIVE, YOU WOULD HAVE LAUGHED IN THEIR FACE. Even more so if they told you that the two of you would actually enter a relationship with each other.
Yet here you are: several cardboard boxes in hand, pushing the front door open with your hip, a light layer of sweat covering your forehead. And you had never been happier.
“Why did you insist on carrying all those boxes?” Jaemin asks, his eyes trailing over you struggling to even place the boxes down without breaking anything. After all these years, his heart still skipped several beats just watching you do even the most mundane of tasks. He leans on the doorway that leads to the kitchen, arms crossed in front of his chest and the goofiest smile on his face.
“I didn’t want to do that many trips up the stairs.” You finally manage to place the boxes down, letting out a heavy breath in the process. Turning towards him, you let a little bit of irritation onto your features and lace your words, “You know, you could have helped me out with those.”
“I asked if you wanted help and you said, and I quote, ‘Noooo Jaemin, it’s fineeeee. I got thisss’. I asked you if you were sure and you said yes.” He puts on an exaggerated impression of you, drawing out the syllables and letting you sound more whiny and overconfident than you actually were.
“One. I do not sound like that.” You put hand over your hip, your tone of voice stern before it eventually melts into one of teasing and amusement, “And two. You know better than to believe me when I say things like that.”
“Sorry, baby. My bad.” He chuckles and makes his way over to you and slings an arm around your shoulder. Jaemin pulls you close and after pressing a kiss to your temple, gestures around your new apartment, “What do you think?”
Well, it wasn’t exactly complete yet. The walls are white and bare, several unopened boxes covered the dark wooden floors. The furniture both of you had ordered were yet to arrive, leaving you to wonder where exactly you were going to sleep tonight. The only thing worth noting is the large living room window that let in just the right amount of afternoon light, giving the place and ethereal golden glow. You rest your head on Jaemin’s shoulder; it’s home.
“I love it.”
“Me too.”
A silence falls between the two of you, but it’s neither tense not uncomfortable. The small smile that’s playing on his lips would not seem to leave, not as he imagines the life that the two of you were about to share. He imagines waking up next to you in the morning, leaning over to press his lips on your eyelids in an attempt to wake you up. He imagines coming home to you in the afternoons, engulfing you in a hug as soon as he steps past the front door. He imagines cooking dinner with you every night, eating in the living room so you could catch up on whatever show you were watching.
“Oh, what are in these boxes by the way? I don’t remember packing these ones.”
Your voice snaps him out of his train of thought, his eyes widening when he watches you make your way over to one of the boxes you had just carried. The nerves shoot straight through him, he was hoping that you’d question it much later on in the day, when he figured out what exactly he was going to stay.
Still, it’s too late to stop you when you’re already looking through the items inside, unable to stop the gasp that escaped you. “Oh! I didn’t realize you kept all of these!”
The box is filled with several memories of all the years you’ve spent together: photo booth and polaroid pictures, movie tickets, notes you had passed to each other in class, doodles and post it notes from your childhood, even the string and paper rings he had once proposed to you with. But, tucked at the very bottom of the box, sits a small, black velvet box. It doesn’t exactly take a genius to figure out what could be waiting inside. With a shaky hand, you reach out to grab it.
You turn back to Jaemin with the box in hand, tears pricking the corners of your eyes, “What’s this?”
“Well,” He chuckles nervously, taking the box and getting down on one knee. Jaemin lets out a shaky breath before continuing, looking at you with an unmistakeable kind of love and and affection in his eyes, “I know I’ve asked you this already, but I want to make it just a little more official. Yn, when we were ten, I already knew that I wanted to be with you forever. When we were fifteen, I realized that I needed you in my life more than I would ever admit. When we were twenty, I knew that I loved you more than a friend should. So, Yn, will you make me the happiest man on earth and marry me?”
You’re unsure at which point in his speech the tears started streaming down your cheeks, your heart beating a million miles an hour, only growing faster with each word that moved past his lips.
The answer is obvious. You smile -- and just like in all the other times he asked -- you reply, “Yes.”
from reese, with love <3
this one has been sitting in the drafts for a while aaa just some fluff a lil early in the week hehe thank you for reading, I'd love to know what you think! hope you are doing well and taking care of yourself :DD
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