#ohhvolcano

"It should not be this fucking cold. It's the middle of fucking May."

"I was in shorts this time last year."

"Only because you're stubborn as fuck. It was chilly then, too."

"Pants are constricting."

"Are shorts really that different?"

Minho just stared at her long and hard.

"...okay, I see your point." And she really did. She didn't know why just having her calves and knees exposed to the fresh air made that much difference, but goddamn, if that wasn't her favorite thing, she didn't know what was. Shorts forever, dude. Shorts and tank tops. The less clothing, the better.

Especially where Choi Minho was concerned.

What.

Anyway, the fact remained that it was the middle of May and they were standing in front of their apartment in pants and sweatshirts and coats while Gongchannie ran rampant and played in the sad looking grass instead of taking a shit like he was supposed to.

Coats. Real coats. Zipped up and everything. IN MAY.

To say Lizzie was bitter was like saying that Shannon sucked at coming up with metaphors. It was just a given in most situations. This one in particular.

The point was that Lizzie had been sure that it'd be summertime weather by now, or at least marginally warmer than the fucking tundra. But no. Apparently Chicago had different ideas, and the fucking adorable picnic at the beach she'd had planned had to be put on hold indefinitely. Which was not cool. (In fact, it was cold.) The hell was she supposed to do with the watermelon she'd purchased now?

(Make subak hwachae was the obvious answer, because that was delicious no matter what the weather. But she was too bitter to think about that right now, especially when she'd been having flashbacks to that one time Kyuline had gone to the beach before she and Minho were officially a thing and there had been watermelon involved and just yeah. That needed a reenactment something fierce.)

Minho settled his arms around Lizzie's shoulders, jolting her out of her thoughts (and into remembering that Girl's Gen song Back Hug existed and how awkward its name sounded, even though that made no sense because back hugs were the fucking bee's knees) -- and then he settled his chin on top of her head, because he was tall and he could. Lizzie didn't mind it. He was cute.

"Let's watch a movie tonight," he said. "It's too cold for the beach."

"What, you can't warm it with all your flaming charisma?" Lizzie jibed, referencing this one time when they were still just sort of crushing on each other and the Kyuline boys had gotten really drunk and that was Minho's sales pitch of the night. Drunk Changmin had thought it was so funny he'd literally laughed until he'd puked.

There were photos. It was fine. Made for good blackmail material.

"Yah, I told you we don't ever talk about that!" The sulking was instantaneous, and Lizzie could hear it even before Minho halfheartedly shoved her away and pouted at her.

"You told me, but do I listen?" she said, and she went up on her toes to press a kiss to that pouty plum mouth of his. "The answer is no. Besides, I thought it was cute."

"You thought I was cute."

"I still think that, for some reason. Something must be horribly wrong with me. Maybe I should see a doctor."

"I'm a sports medicine major."

"That's not the same thing!"

"I think it's close enough."

"If you say something about 'playing doctor later', I swear to Shisus I'm making you sleep on the couch tonight."

"Does that mean you don't want to play?"

"...I'm done talking to you. Go pick up Gongchannie's shit for me~" She kissed him once more before dumping the plastic bag in his hand and running inside. Gongchannie was right on her heels, because he loved her best (it had nothing at all to do with the fact that she was the one with his leash. Nope. Nothing at all.), and Choi Minho was just yelling profanities as she ran off cackling.

That was what he got for being a donut hole. Served him right.

She shed her coat the second she got inside, but the rest had to stay on for now. The house was chilly, and she was not about that life. No frostbite for her. Not today.

Now that the beach was officially off the table for today, she wasn't sure what to do with all the picnic fare she'd bought for them. Sandwiches and chips and m&m cookies she'd made the day before...sounded really fucking good, like actually. So maybe she'd make it anyway and they'd just eat inside and watch their movie and it'd be totally fine. Not as good as the beach, maybe, but still really good. Yeah. That was what needed to happen.

She was just getting the components out for sandwiches and everything when Choi Minho wandered back into the apartment. She could feel his bitter gaze on her back even before she turned around with an, "Are you going to help me cook or not?"

"Yah, you just made me pick up Gongchannie's shit out by myself in the cold!" he yelled, incredulous, but he was laughing -- and Lizzie loved that the most about him. He hadn't really been mad in the first place, but even the slightest trace of annoyance could be eliminated so quickly if she just caught him off guard like that. And, honestly, it was pretty easy to do.

Why did she like this idiot again?

Oh, right. Because he was perfect for her.

"I did, but you're the one who canceled our beach picnic date without consulting me first."

"It's fucking freezing outside! Do you really want to go sit on the beach and freeze our asses off?"

Lizzie opened her mouth to retort, but Minho immediately clamped his hand over it. "If you say one thing about my 'flaming charisma' keeping you warm, I really am sleeping on the couch."

"I wasn't going to!" Lizzie said (even though she totally had been). "I was just going to say that we did the polar bear plunge. There's no way this could possibly be any worse than that. And at least this time we'd have the beach to ourselves."

"That was fun. We should do that again." Minho was grinning by now, and somehow he'd lured Lizzie in for cuddles without her even realizing it. She was already in his arms, so it was really easy for him to duck his head a little and kiss her. "...but not today."

"Why the fuck not?"

"Because I'm not training to swim the English Channel!"

"Yet."

"Shut up." Minho kissed her again to make sure she did, and, what do you know? It worked like a charm. It was like he'd tried this before or something.

Lizzie bit his lip for revenge(?) and smacked his wandering hands. "I know my ass was sculpted by the gods themselves, but that doesn't mean you get to touch it whenever you want to."

"It doesn't?"

"Nope," Lizzie grinned. Then she grabbed his ass for good measure, and his eyebrows shot up skeptically.

"This hardly seems fair."

"It's not." They kissed anyway, and Lizzie knew Minho didn't actually mind in the slightest. Nor did she, but that didn't mean she couldn't give him trouble every once in a while. It was good to keep him on his toes. "But really, are you going to help me make food or not?"

"I'll leave it to you. I want to go pick a movie."

"...are you really that bitter I wouldn't let you touch the booty?"

"No -- I just want to pick a good one. One we haven't seen before. You know what a time consuming process that can be."

It was true, Lizzie did. Especially because, between the two of them, they'd seen almost every movie known to man. Or at least almost all of the halfway decent ones. They'd sat down and tried to list them out one time pretty soon after they'd started dating, and what had been intended as an activity for a rainy afternoon had ended up taking them three and a half weeks -- and they still kept adding to it whenever they realized they'd left things off. Which was often.

"All right, choose something well~"

"I will~" Minho ruffled her hair for good measure before heading out of the kitchen, and he called back over his shoulder, "I'll play some good music for you while you cook, too!"

"If you just start singing, I swear--"

Lizzie's argument was drowned out immediately by Usher's U Remind Me, and yeah. She'd be crazy to argue with that.

And really, it was only expected when this turned into her and Minho singing across the apartment to each other. And probably dancing, too. Lizzie knew she was dancing while she was cooking, at least. She could just picture Minho dancing, too. Shaking his cute little butt. Aww~

Her cooing was sort of drowned out by Gongchannie deciding he wanted to sing too, and then she dissolved into laughter. That was it. Her boys were perfect.

And this picnic was going to be fucking delicious.

She was just finishing it up when Minho came in, rapping along with Skee Lo's I Wish with a pair of Lizzie's sunglasses on and a howling Gongchannie under his arm. Lizzie started laughing the second she saw him, but then he started dancing and she fucking lost her shit. It was some weird mix of body rolls and cute shoulders and attempting to get Gongchannie to chacha, and every bit of it was ridiculous. Moments like these, she was glad she had her phone handy and that it had a functional video camera, because these were the moments that needed to be preserved for posterity. These were the videos they'd play at their wedding reception and for their kids growing up, so they could see just how much love mommy and daddy had for each other.

But yeah. That was a few years down the line yet.

The point was that her boyfriend was the best in the world, and he deserved every single kiss she peppered across his cute little face and more.

"Is food ready?" were the first words out of his mouth when the song ended, and Lizzie shoved him, because she couldn't handle this boy anymore. He really was just a big kid sometimes, and that got her.

"Yeah, it's ready. I thought we could just eat sandwiches and stuff because we have it and it sounded good. Is that fine?"

"It's perfect. But before that...you should probably close your eyes."

"...what?"

"Just close them~"

Lizzie was full of distrust, but she'd be lying if she said she wasn't curious. So she made a face but closed her eyes anyway, and she was rewarded with kisses on her mouth and both eyelids, because her boyfriend was cute and gross and she loved him a lot. It was fine.

She could hear him fumbling around with things in the kitchen, and really, she had no idea where this was going. But she was definitely getting impatient. "Can I open my eyes yet?"

"Can't you even pretend to be patient?" She could hear the amusement in Minho's voice, and she scowled when he ruffled her hair affectionately. "Not yet. You can't open them in here."

"Not in here? What are you even talking about?"

"Just trust me~" Minho's arms came around her, and Lizzie was somewhat dismayed as his hands covered her eyes. "No peeking."

"I wasn't going to!" she said -- and she really wasn't! She loved surprises. There was no way in hell she was going to ruin one. Even though her donut hole of a boyfriend probably wasn't to be trusted.

He only proved this when he pushed her, hands still over her eyes. "Walk this way."

"Yah, couldn't you have warned me before you shoved me?!"

"No," he said, but Lizzie could hear him smiling. She only got to fume for about half a second, though, before he pressed a kiss to her hair and she found herself forgiving him. Cute boy. Wasn't fair at all.

He continued to walk her down the hallway, and she knew even without being able to see that they were heading toward the front room, and probably from there to the bedroom. And honestly, she wasn't even mad. Even if the surprise was just Minho lounging in bed with the slow jams playlist on in the background. She'd be down.

But that apparently wasn't what Minho had had in mind, because when he pulled his hands away and murmured "surprise~" in her ear, she opened her eyes and her jaw immediately dropped.

There were fairy lights everywhere, twinkling and bright and centered, for the most part, around their bed. Their bed, which Minho had turned into a sort of fort, made of all the blankets and pillows he'd been able to find.

And there, right in the middle, were two peach colored roses.

Lizzie didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to do, she wasn't used to being on the receiving end of anything this sweet and genuine and wonderful -- especially like this, when it wasn't even a quote-unquote 'special day' by any means. But Minho was slowly getting her used to it, used to being treated the way she deserved, and she appreciated it so much she couldn't express it. So she turned around instead and threw her arms around Minho's neck, covering his cute surprised face in kisses.

"Thank you," she said, once she'd finally gotten her breath back. (She'd stolen Minho's -- it took a good couple of seconds before he was able to get enough oxygen to respond.) "It's beautiful. You're perfect."

"I know you wanted to have a picnic on the beach, but this is probably the best we can do today. I'll put my swimsuit on, if you want me to."

Lizzie just laughed and shoved him playfully. "I'll pass. That's too much for me. You can lose the shirt, though, if you want. I won't complain."

"I'll lose mine if you lose yours."

"...are you really going to ruin this beautiful moment by being a pervert?"

"You started it. I'm just trying to maintain equality."

"What, if one of us is perverted, we both have to be?"

"Yes."

"Well, fuck."

"Maybe later. I'm hungry."

"NO. OH MY GOD, I DIDN'T MEAN -- CHOI MINHO. YOU STOP IT RIGHT NOW."

"What? You started it~" Minho teased, wiggling his shoulders cutely and going in for a kiss. (He got one.) "But really, let's eat. I'm starving."

"You're always starving."

"Luckily, my girlfriend is Top Chef material."

"Stop~"

"Why? It's true. I only date winners."

"Have you even dated anyone else?"

"Nope, not really. So you win. I'm your prize. Congratulations."

"...I'm done with you." Lizzie was facepalming so hard right now. Her boyfriend was actually an idiot -- but he was a cute one who did ridiculously cute things for her out of nowhere, when he didn't even need to, and who kissed her all the time. Which she was more than okay with.

She settled next to him in the fort he'd made and put one of the peach colored roses in his hair as he queued up the movie he'd picked out (something French they'd been meaning to watch for a while now but hadn't had time for, until now), more than ready to spend a relaxing evening with her boyfriend, eating yummy things and getting quality cuddles -- but then, all of a sudden, it occurred to her. "Where did you even get these roses from? You were only outside on your own for like five minutes."

"Shhhhh, it's a secret."

"...you stole them, didn't you."

"Is it stealing if I took them from the bush in front of the apartment building next door?"

"Yes."

"Then yes, I stole them. You're worth it."

"We'll see if you still think that when you're sitting in a cold concrete cell with no one but a hairy inmate named Frank to keep you company."

"Frank sounds like a nice guy."

"How could he be a nice guy? He's obviously in prison."

"Maybe he's in for stealing flowers for his girlfriend, too. You never know. Hairy people need love, too."

"Shut up and eat. I'm done." Lizzie shoved a sandwich in Minho's (sandwich) face to make sure he obeyed, and he took a big bite of it immediately. Kyuline and food, man. It worked like a charm with every single one of them, and Lizzie had no shame in using it to her advantage. Minho reached over and turned the lights off, so only the fairy lights glowed overhead as the movie's opening credits began to play, and Gongchannie hopped up and settled next to them as Lizzie made herself comfortable in Minho's lap, and yeah. It was no picnic at the beach, but it was still wonderful, because Lizzie had her two favorite boys at her side.

Maybe they'd roast some marshmallows on the stove later. Or maybe, just maybe, they'd fall asleep exactly as they were right now -- snuggled close and warm and in each other's arms, where they were supposed to be.

Lizzie couldn't help but laugh to herself a little. She'd only just gotten to work a couple of minutes ago -- early for once, so she'd allowed herself to answer the phone. Only to hear Minho's voice on the line, even though he'd literally dropped her off moments before. "You just saw me, you donut hole. You know I have no plans."

"Yah, who says I'm a donut hole??" Minho protested, but he was laughing. That dumb boy laugh, too. The one that meant he thought it was super hilarious. "Is it like calling me an asshole, only sweeter?"

"...It wasn't, but I guess yeah. That works." Lizzie needed a new boyfriend. This one was too stupid and cute. She couldn't handle him anymore. "Why do you want to know if I have plans?"

"It's a secret. Just call me when you're off work, okay?"

"Don't I always?"

"Shut up and go to work. You're gonna be late."

"No one cares~ They're all at lunch, anyway."

"Still. I have stuff to do, so I'll talk to you later. I love you!"

"Wait a minute, what kind of stuff?? Choi Minho, what are you plotting??"

"Bye~" He hung up with a laugh, and Lizzie was left staring at her cell phone, massive amounts of distrust washing over her.

Choi Minho was clearly up to something.

As Kyuline as he was, he was only moderately devious. Not too great at being sneaky or particularly subtle -- but that was fine by her. It was cute. He was just unpredictable enough to keep her on her toes, but not so much so that she worried he might be the spawn of Satan, as she occasionally worried about Changmin.

Speaking of Changmin, he still owed her a new rice cooker, after what happened last time.

She shuddered at the mere memory.

Anyway, now she really did need to get into work...but first she had to send a couple of texts to a certain boyfriend of hers.

you better not be up to something, you donut hole

And then, a couple of seconds later

...i love you a lot so have a good afternoon~ i'll call you when i'm off work, oppa~ saranghae~<3 <3 <3

She sort of hated herself.

Except not at all. She was fucking great.

Unfortunately, though, she really did have to work -- which meant her phone was (reluctantly) silenced and tucked into her pocket. She'd check it later in case he'd texted her back with any hints as to whatever was going on that evening, but for now, she had to pretend to get some work done.

...

Five hours later, Lizzie was finally done with work, and she stepped out of the building with a sigh and rolled her shoulders. They got so tight sitting around all day. She'd have to see if she could convince Minho to give her a massage later.

Speaking of that donut hole, she owed him a phone call. Even if she was a little miffed at him for not giving her any clues as to what was happening this evening, despite her occasional (illegal) inquiries.

He picked up on the second ring. "Are you finally off work?"

"No 'hello' or anything? I see how it is," Lizzie said, but she was smiling. "Yeah, I'm done. What are you doing right now?"

Then a hand descended on Lizzie's shoulder, and she squeaked embarrassingly when she whirled around and Minho was standing right there. "YAH. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU. I COULD'VE HAD A HEART ATTACK."

But he was laughing so hard he looked like he was going to piss himself, and he picked her up off the ground when he hugged her. "Hi~" he giggled, all dumb and boyish as he kissed her pouting lips.

"Yah, you think being cute will make me forgive you? You asshole." Lizzie shoved his shoulder, but it was kind of impossible to even pretend to be mad at him. He was fucking cute and he knew it, and yeah. Kisses were absolutely not fair. She snuck another one for good measure before he set her back on her own two feet. "What are you doing here?"

"Surprising you~" he singsonged, and Lizzie was forced to elbow him. Fucking brat. "Are you hungry? I'll buy you dinner."

"Yeah, some food would probably be good. Can we get Potbelly?"

"That sounds good. We can eat that fast, too."

"Why do we need to eat it fast?"

"Well, we don't have to," Minho said with a shrug. "Only if you want to go take pictures. I thought it'd be a good idea, since it's nice out."

"I always want to take pictures," Lizzie replied. And seriously, it was the truth. Nice, chill photography was what she lived for. "I don't have my camera, but I'll go with you while you take pictures! The weather's perfect for it."

"I brought yours for you!" Minho patted his camera bag with a smug little grin, and Lizzie wasn't sure if she wanted to punch him or kiss him. "I got film for you, too."

"You're too perfect. What the fuck. What am I supposed to do with you??"

"Kiss me?" Minho guessed, and he was right. Lizzie stopped right there on the sidewalk and went up on her tiptoes so she could reach, and his lips were soft against hers. His cute plum mouth. She bit it for good measure. "Yah, what was that for??"

"Because you're a donut hole," Lizzie said with a flip of her hair, "and I'm hungry. Oppa, buy me food~"

"I already told you I would," he said, ruffling her hair in some mild form of revenge. "Let's hurry. We probably only have another hour or so of good light."

"Race you!" Lizzie said suddenly, and then she was off like a shot -- leaving a bewildered Minho in the dust. She could barely hear his surprised "YAH!!", she was laughing so hard.

Yeah, this was exactly what she'd needed after a boring day at work. Leaving Choi Minho in the dust, his dumb boy laugh echoing in her ears.

...

They ended up getting their sandwiches to go, since they were both eager to go take photos before it got too dark or too cold out. It was early spring, but Chicago hadn't quite gotten the memo yet. There was still snow melting and leaving gross slush in some places, but at least today it was a little warmer out. Lizzie had a coat over her sweater, but not a super heavy one, and at least she didn't have to wear tights under her pants anymore. And Minho was warm enough in an unbuttoned vest and scarf, so that was a plus. He looked really fucking good in casual clothes like he was wearing today. Fucker knew it, too. He'd worn a cap today, which was unusual for him, but a good look nonetheless. Lizzie vaguely wondered if this was a sign he'd been talking to Shannon too much lately (since caps were undoubtedly Shannon's aesthetic -- SHE DID NOT HAVE A PROBLEM), but she wasn't too worried about it. It was a good look on him, and changing things up every once in a while was nice.

Plus this meant she could borrow this cap whenever she wanted to, and yeah. She was looking forward to that for sure. Borrowing things was the best.

They held hands as they walked, sandwiches in their free hands, and Lizzie side-eyed Minho all of a sudden. "Is it cannibalism for you to eat sandwiches with your sandwich face?"

"Probably," Minho shrugged, but he took an extra big bite of sandwich anyway. He'd long since stopped questioning the 'sandwich face' nickname Lizzie had given him. Just as he was likely to stop questioning the 'donut hole' one soon. Some things just couldn't be explained. He thought Lizzie was cute, anyway.

They'd made it to Millennium Park by the time they'd finished their food, and Minho threw their trash away for them while Lizzie got the film loaded in her camera. Surprisingly, they hadn't taken pictures down here before, in all the time they'd been together. They usually just wandered closer to home or in Evanston, because it was nice down there, but these touristy places were nice sometimes. 

Lizzie snapped a couple of skyline shots, catching the sun as it set between the buildings, and yeah. This had been a great idea. She turned to tell Minho so, only to find that the bastard was photographing her, so she pulled a face and photographed him right back.

(They had a lot of photos like this already, but shut up. They were fucking adorable.)

They didn't talk much while they were taking pictures. They each kind of did their own thing, but there was something really nice and comfortable about that. (And it was always extra amusing later on, when they compared photos and found that they'd taken some really similar shots without even thinking about it. Great minds obviously thought alike.)

Lizzie finished her roll of film before Minho was done (him and his nice DSLR), so she came up behind him and back-hugged him as he photographed some pigeons. "Don't try to feed them this time, okay?"

"I wasn't going to," Minho assured her. He had sort of a problem when it came to feeding wild animals. Thought it was funny or some shit. Lizzie always liked to remind him of how many animals he'd been bit by that one time he went to London for a long weekend. Dumb boy was going to get rabies one of these days. And she did not want to deal with that. "I don't have anything to feed them with, anyway."

"That's the real reason, isn't it?" she said, her tone dripping with judgment -- but Minho just grinned at her.

"Yep!" And he kissed her cheek, cute bastard. "Now let's take pictures at the Bean!"

"You can if you want to. I ran out of film already."

"Come with me. We need Bean selcas~"

"Are we ahjummas now? Taking selcas with all the tourist traps?" Lizzie said, but she was laughing as Minho pretty much dragged her to the Bean. It wasn't as crowded now as it had been earlier -- probably because it was a weekday and the sun was going down, so it was getting colder.

Still, there was a buzz around it, and Lizzie had to admit she kind of looking forward to these pictures. Minho was obviously excited about them, telling her where to stand and getting his camera all ready. Lizzie pulled her best Cho Kyuhyun pose, just because she knew it'd make Minho laugh (and because that really was how she posed for photos. Wasn't her fault she and Cho Kyuhyun were essentially the same person).

Minho took a couple of pictures, but it wasn't long before Lizzie got bored and started making dumb faces at him. "Come pose with me!" she half whined, and Minho just laughed.

"This camera isn't good for selcas. It'd be a waste."

"So take some with your phone! I want pictures with you~ And you know how mad Shannon will be if we take pictures today and don't send her any."

"Good point." Minho put his fancy camera away and whipped out his phone instead, coming to stand next to Lizzie and wrapping his arm around her. "Say cheese~"

"Cheese~" Lizzie said -- only for it to turn into a squeak as Minho bent down and kissed her cheek, just as he took the picture. "Yah, that's not fair!" she protested, smacking his arm as he laughed and took more selcas in the hopes of capturing her blushing face.

"Shut up, you know it's cute. Should I send it to Kyuline, too?"

"Only if you want to get shot. You know how Kyuhyun feels about us together."

"He loves it and you know it."

"...maybe deep down inside."

"I'm sending it to him."

"All right, but you're dealing with any and all rage texts he sends us."

"I can handle it. Hyung loves me."

"Not as much as he loves me~"

"...don't rub it in." There was really no arguing that Lizzie was Kyuhyun's favorite. Kyuhyun himself wasn't shy about admitting it. Minho was only a little bitter.

Lizzie made it up to him by kissing his cute sulking face, and Minho really couldn't pout through that. He kissed her again and slid his phone into his back pocket, pulling his DSLR back out. "Let's get some reflection pictures while we still have some light." It was getting darker and colder, but Lizzie figured she could put up with it for a bit longer -- especially if it meant more cute pictures with her boyfriend.

They took a few of their distorted reflections, pulling faces and laughing the whole time, and then some more with Lizzie on Minho's back, giving him rabbit ears and squishing his face. They finished up with some laying on their backs, the Bean's mirrored surface all stretched out before them. The light was swiftly disappearing, so it was hard to say if the pictures would even be any good -- but it was fun, and that was really all that mattered.

Laying on the ground in early Chicago spring probably wasn't the best idea, though. Now Lizzie was cold. "We should probably start thinking about heading home," she said as Minho pulled her to her feet. "It's a long train ride, and Gongchannie hasn't been let out in a long time, right?"

"I let him out right before I came down here...but yeah. Let's go home. I'm hungry."

"Are you really? We ate like an hour ago."

"I'm a growing boy."

"Are you?" Lizzie laughed, and Minho nodded very seriously. She elbowed him, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Which she was fine with. Sharing body heat and all that.

The train, when they caught it, was crowded since it was rush hour, but at least it was moving quickly. Lizzie didn't mind standing, especially because Minho liked to hold the handle and be her anchor as she wrapped her arms around his waist. Yeah, it was a little pda, but they were cute and it was crowded, so it was fine. This way she could nuzzle her face into his scarf where it really smelled like him, and that was always calming after a long day. She stifled a yawn there and closed her eyes as he kissed her hair. Yeah. She was tired, but the impromptu photo adventure had been more than worth it.

She might have dozed a bit standing up, because Minho had to shake her gently when it was their stop. She blinked blearily as he pulled her out of the train and into the cold, and she swore as the breeze cut right through her. Yeah. She was ready to be home and under some covers.

Luckily, the walk home wasn't too too far, and Minho was nice and solid to lean against on the way. "Do you want me to carry you?" he asked, half teasing -- but Lizzie knew he'd do it if she asked.

"No, it's okay~"

"Want to race, then?"

"Oppa, don't make fun of me~" she whined, but he just laughed and ruffled her hair.

"On your mark..."

"Yah, are you serious?"

"Get set..."

"Choi Minho, I swear to Shisus--"

"GO!!" And he was off in an instant, leaving a gaping Lizzie in his wake. She knew it was revenge for earlier, but still -- she was sleepy, dammit! This wasn't fair at all! So she grabbed a handful of snow and launched a snowball in his direction, only missing him by a couple of inches.

"YOU ASSHOLE!" she yelled, but she ran after him anyway -- and laughed as he slipped rounding the corner and almost wiped out. "KARMA'S A BITCH!" she called -- only to slip a little herself and squeak in surprise.

Luckily, he didn't see it...but he must've heard her and guessed what happened anyway, because she could hear him laughing in the distance. What a donut hole.

He was leaning in the doorway of their apartment building when she caught up to him, all casually handsome with a bastard smile on his face. "What took you so long?"

"Shut up."

He just laughed as he unlocked the door and let them both inside -- and yelled as Lizzie shoved him and ran past him up the stairs so she could beat him into the apartment. "YAH, THAT'S NOT FAIR!"

"Don't care~" She got the door unlocked and got inside before he caught up with her, and Gongchannie immediately launched himself at her, barking all excitedly. "Hi, Gongchannie~ Were you good today while unnie was gone?" She scooped him up and snuggled him, grabbing his leash off the hook and attaching it to his collar. He was getting a little big for this, but goddamnit, she was going to carry him for as long as she could. "Your hyung's a loser, so he's going to take you outside, all right?"

"Yah, I never agreed to that," Minho whined, but Lizzie handed him Gongchannie's leash anyway. Gongchannie immediately started trying to drag him back out the door, and Minho narrowed his eyes at her. "You're going to pay for this later."

"If you say so, oppa~" Lizzie blew him a kiss as he disappeared back downstairs.

Well, she was more awake now. Awake enough that she decided to get some popcorn made, after she filled Gongchannie's bowl up with food. It seemed like a good movie night to her. Nice and relaxing before bed. She grabbed her laptop and started flicking through movies in the Criterion collection, figuring they might as well watch something good. She'd been meaning to watch more of these, anyway, and she knew Minho would be down. Movies were another thing they had in common. Something Shannon never failed to remind her of. 'Written in the stars' and all that. Lizzie rolled her eyes and told her to shut up whenever she said shit like that, but if she was being honest...a part of her really did believe it.

That little voice inside of her only got stronger as Minho and Gongchannie came back into the apartment, Minho announcing his arrival by flopping down on the bed next to her and kissing her cheek -- and using that as a distraction while he dropped a handful of snow down the back of her shirt. The screech she emitted was almost inhuman, but the bastard just laughed and laughed like it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen in his life. She pinched him and tickled him until he was yelling, too, and then she shut him up with kisses.

Who said she had to play fair?

No one, that's who.

Gongchannie wanted to play too, so he jumped on the bed and pulled the edge of Minho's vest with his teeth, like playing tug of war. Which was cute as fuck, but also probably going to ruin it...so Lizzie figured it was probably time to calm things back down. At least while Gongchannie was still in the room. She kissed Minho once more for good measure and sat up, pulling Gongchannie into her lap and petting him to try and settle him down a little, making shushing noise in his perked up puppy ears.

Minho just kind of laid there for a minute, a little pink in the face from wrestling and getting all the air kissed out of him, and then he pouted up at her. "I'm hungry."

She had to laugh at that, because really -- that was all he had to say? He was cute. "I know, oppa~ I made popcorn for you!"

"Really? Where is it?"

"Ah...it's in the microwave still."

"It's probably burned, then."

"...maybe a little. But it'll still be good!"

"If it's all burnt, I'm making you eat it," he grumbled as he got to his feet. He shrugged off his vest and then, after a moment's consideration, tugged his shirt off, too, and threw it in Lizzie's face.

"THE HELL IS THAT FOR???"

"Revenge~" he smiled, and then he disappeared to investigate the state of his popcorn. Walking around in just jeans in the middle of winter. Who the hell did he think he was? He was going to freeze and it was all his fault. Luckily, he had Lizzie to keep him warm.

What.

He returned a minute later, bowl of popcorn in hand, and he settled in next to Lizzie on the bed. She just sort of glared at him and his perfectly sculpted body. People weren't supposed to just look like that in real life. She knew he did, obviously, especially this far into their relationship -- but that didn't mean she was used to it yet. Casual handsome like this wasn't fair to her existence.

Her mouth must've been hanging open, because Minho shoved some popcorn inside of it and she almost choked in surprise.

"It's your lucky day -- it's barely burnt at all."

"How does that make it my lucky day??"

"Because now I won't make you eat all of it."

"You'd better still share with me."

"I am, obviously." He fed her another handful of popcorn, so much her cheeks were all puffed out and stuffed, and he kissed them, much to her (alleged) dismay. "What are we watching?"

"I was thinking one of these new ones they just added to Criterion. Do any of them sound good to you?"

"Yeah, let's watch this one," Minho said, pointing to one at random -- so Lizzie clicked it, because why the hell not. It was bound to be decent.

And, even if it wasn't, she could just doze off. It was warm, as Minho cuddled her against his chest, the bowl of popcorn in her lap as he rubbed all the tension out of her shoulders. She sighed contentedly and fed him a few pieces of popcorn as the movie began, the opening credits playing out on the screen. Gongchannie had gone out to eat his dinner, but he came back a couple minutes later, waddling a little with his full puppy belly. He leapt up onto the bed to curl up beside them and rested his head on Minho's thigh. Lizzie might've fed him a little popcorn, too. He was cute. So sue her.

All in all, it was a perfect and relaxing evening. Impromptu dates were the best, and Minho was always so good about taking her out just when she needed it most. They'd get film developed tomorrow between classes, and they'd have some new ones to add to their album for sure.

Then Minho's phone went off, and he chuckled as he checked the message. "Kyuhyunnie hyung says I better have dropped you off at home before curfew."

"Since when do I have a curfew? Am I 14??"

"Apparently so. Should I send him another picture to set his mind at ease?"

"Of me sitting in your lap while you shirtlessly massage my shoulders? Yeah, that'll go over well."

"...I'm going to do it. Smile~" He kissed her neck just as he took the picture, and she squeaked and knocked the entire bowl of popcorn onto the floor -- but Minho just laughed, the bastard.

"Gongchannie, no!" Lizzie said, but he'd already leapt up and was scarfing down all the popcorn he could. Lizzie facepalmed. At least now she didn't have to worry about picking it up...but Gongchannie was pretty definitely going to have to shit in the night. And Shisus knows she was not waking up to take him out, especially when it was all Minho's goddamn fault.

"I sent it~" Minho assured her, snuggling her back against his chest as he showed her the picture. It looked...compromising, to say the least. All Minho's bare skin and Lizzie's flushed look of surprise. She might've been blushing just looking at it. She elbowed him in the stomach.

"Cho Kyuhyun's going to kill you."

"He'll have to catch me first."

"You say that like it'll be difficult. He obviously knows where you are right now."

"Don't worry. I locked the door."

"Yah, Choi Minho!" She turned around and tickled him, because that was the only way she could think of right now to exact her revenge, and because he was cute as hell when he dissolved into laughter and fell back against the sheets. He was shirtless already, so it was easy to find her favorite ab and kiss marks into it as he tried (halfheartedly at most) to flail away.

It was in the midst of this that Minho's phone went off again, this time a call -- and with Kyuhyun's ringtone.

They froze immediately, staring at each other because they were in deep shit and they knew it -- but then they just laughed, because this was all fucking ridiculous. "Should I answer it?" Minho asked, and Lizzie shoved him.

"Only if you want to die!"

"It's fine~ I told you, I locked the door already. What's he going to do?"

"I don't know, but I don't want to find out."

"I'm answering it," Minho decided, and he put the phone to his ear with a cheerful, "Hi, hyung!"

Lizzie could hear Kyuhyun shouting profanities even from this distance, and she just laughed and went back to pressing kisses to Minho's toned abs. Might as well~ It was decent revenge, anyway.

Until she heard Kyuhyun shout for Minho to put her on the phone, and Minho answered with, "She's kind of busy right now, hyung." And then the screams just intensified, and Lizzie really couldn't handle her life.

Her boyfriend was an idiot, but she loved him more than life itself. And this was their evening in a nutshell. And she saw no problem with that whatsoever.

She really hoped Cho Kyuhyun didn't follow through with any of his threats to kill him. She kind of wanted to go on like this forever.

"Tomorrow's the big day," Minho said, once the lights were off and they were finally tucked in bed.

"I know." Lizzie elbowed him, but then she rolled a little bit closer. Not quite touching, but still close enough to see him, with her glasses still on. "We've basically been talking about it for weeks. It's not even that big of a deal."

"It's his first birthday. He only gets one of those."

"And one second birthday, and one third birthday, and one fourth birthday--"

"Shut up. You know what I mean." Minho pulled her closer, until she settled her head on his shoulder, nose against his neck. Comfortable, and warm.

She was snarky anyway.

"It's not like he's going to remember it."

"Yah, he might!" Minho poked her to prove his discontent...or just for fun. "We'll take lots of pictures. It'll be cute."

"That's really why you're so excited about it. An excuse to be adorable and gross and take as many pictures as you want," Lizzie teased, pinching his side -- but Minho just grinned and nodded.

"Yep. It's a good excuse to show everyone how cute my family is. I need a new photo for my wallet."

"You just put a fresh one in two weeks ago!"

"Moonkyu's grown since then."

"No he hasn't."

"He has. He's going to be taller than me by the time he's twelve. He's a prodigy."

"We better sign him up for basketball classes, then. He's our ticket to the top."

"As soon as he learns to walk." Minho said it so matter-of-factly that Lizzie wasn't sure anymore if they were joking around or not -- but that was usually the case. She liked it that way.

"Anyway, it's all taken care of now. Just needs to happen~" Lizzie stifled a yawn against Minho's shoulder. Being a mom was tiring enough as it was -- and preparing for Moonkyu's first birthday had really put it over the edge.

...maybe things had gotten a little out of hand. They didn't really need a full, homemade lunch plus appetizers to go with Moonkyu's birthday cake, which was almost as big as Moonkyu himself. The whole house also didn't really need to be cleaned, as the only guests who were coming were Lizzie's parents and Minho's, plus of course Shannon (maybe plus one or two) and Kyuhyun (maybe plus Kyuline). The party (did a kid's first birthday even really count as a party? Not by Kyuline standards, certainly -- but that was a debate for another day) was being held downstairs, so guests would really only see the living room and kitchen and bathroom, if they needed it. But...Lizzie had kind of gone on a cleaning binge and done the whole house, while she was at it.

It wasn't like she'd done it totally single-handedly, though. Sunchan was actually pretty handy with the vacuum.

The point was that it had been a long day, and she was crashing. Minho acknowledged this with a little chuckle, and he brushed her hair back so he could drop a kiss on her forehead. "Go to sleep, Lizzie. You know Sunchan's probably going to get us up early tomorrow."

"Shhhhh," Lizzie murmured, taking off her glasses and throwing them at the bedside table with her eyes closed. "She's even more excited about Moonkyu's birthday than you are. Crazy kid."

"She's my daughter. I don't know what you expected."

"I don't know, either. But right now, I expect you to let me sleep. So hush."

"Okay, okay~" Minho was laughing at her again, and his voice was pretty much dripping with aegyo that really shouldn't have been all right from a father of two...and yet here they were. Lizzie tried hard to be mad. She really did. She was just...too sleepy.

Yeah. That was totally it.

She gave Minho his goodnight kiss (and maybe lingered a few extra seconds -- so sue her, his lips were nice) and settled back against his shoulder with a little sigh. "Goodnight, oppa~ I love you~"

"'Night, Lizzie~ I love you, too~"

Yes, they did still go to sleep like this, however many years into their relationship. They were precious as hell and loved each other more than life itself. This was hardly a bad thing. Their kids were being raised like that, too. Sunchan already refused to go to sleep until she'd told them she loved them at least twice and gotten goodnight kisses from both of them. Lizzie suspected Moonkyu would be similar, once he got a little bigger.

Moonkyu. Her baby boy, the icing on the little layer cake that was her precious family. He was going to be a year old tomorrow. Wow. That seemed crazy.

It got her thinking about Sunchan's first birthday. Had that really been four, almost five years ago now? That was insane.

She remembered it like it was yesterday. In structure, it was pretty much the same as Moonkyu's birthday was planned to be -- lunch at the house with her parents and Minho's, their brothers, Shannon (plus two), and Kyuline. Though...probably since it was their first kid's first birthday, what had been intended as a chill afternoon had quickly gotten out of control.

"YOU RENTED A PONY?????" Lizzie had fairly shrieked, moments after opening her front door to find Kyuhyun, Siwon, and a fucking pony on her doorstep.

"Yes?" Siwon had said.

"Only the best for my goddaughter," Kyuhyun had declared, and he'd looked so fucking proud of himself that Lizzie really had no choice but to facepalm.

"You do realize she's only turning a year old, right? She can barely walk on her own. If you expect her to sit on a pony and ride around the yard, you are sorely mistaken, sir."

Minho had been too busy laughing at his hyung's decisions to comment, but he composed himself immediately when Kyuhyun took a step forward, the pony's reins gripped firmly in his hands. "Hyung, that thing is not coming inside."

"Well, what am I supposed to do with it?"

"You should've thought of that before you brought it over."

"Well, I can't exactly take it back...I'll miss all the festivities!" Kyuhyun was full on pouting by this point, and Lizzie felt just a tiny bit bad for him. His intentions had been good. He was really just an idiot and hadn't thought about the practicality of what he was doing. A fucking pony...she was never going to let him live this down.

"Will it be fine if we put it in the yard? It won't jump the fence or anything, right?"

"...we should probably have someone stay with it, just in case."

"What if it takes a shit?"

"Then Kyuhyunnie oppa will have some cleaning up to do~" Lizzie said, because really -- she was not cleaning up literal horse shit in her backyard or anywhere else.

"But who are we going to make stay outside with the horse?"

"IS THAT A PONY?????" Shannon's cry of pure delight was almost deafening, and she was outside and petting it in no time flat. "Oh my gosh, Kyuhyun -- did you really bring this for Sunchannie?? This is the best gift ever!!"

"We just rented it for the day. She's a pretty pony though, right?" Siwon had said proudly.

"She is~ ...but wait...isn't Sunchannie a little small for something like this?"

"Shut up," had been Kyuhyun's only response as he sulked where he stood.

Lizzie did actually feel a little bit bad. Kyuhyun had tried really hard to do something nice -- he just hadn't really thought about it. At least not in a logical sense.

But as she was watching Shannon pet this pony like it was a gift from Shisus himself (oh wait, it was), she got an idea.

"Do you think Zoe could ride it?"

Shannon's head whipped around so fast, Lizzie thought her neck might snap. "COULD SHE???"

"..." Kyuhyun looked like he was thinking about it. He'd really brought the pony for Sunchan and was probably more Sunchan biased than he was towards anyone (minus maybe Lizzie), so his disappointment was clearly real. Not that he didn't like Shannon or her kid, but...it just wasn't what he'd envisioned.

Still, Siwon elbowed him. "...all right, she can," he said finally, and Shannon's eyes lit up like her birthday had come early this year.

"Thank you thank you!!" she cheered, and she immediately went tearing off into the house screaming, "ZOEEEEE!!! WAIT TILL YOU SEE~"

"I promise we'll put Sunchannie on the pony at some point, too," Lizzie said -- even though the very idea kind of terrified her. Ponies were weird, and her baby girl was really too tiny for this shit -- but anything to make Kyuhyun stop sulking so hard. He was going to break his face.

And that was all it took. His face brightened right up, and yeah -- that had definitely become the highlight of the party. In the end, Sunchan had ridden the pony on her daddy's lap, and it had been the most absurd sight Lizzie had seen all year. She'd almost died laughing, as had the rest of her guests. The combination of cute baby Sunchannie, who had no real idea what was going on, plus Minho and his serious overprotective father face, plus Gongchannie running circles around the strange creature in their backyard...it was all just too ridiculous to be real.

And yet this was her life.

She had pictures and home video to prove that it had happened, because she still couldn't believe it sometimes.

One of the pictures was still up on their fridge. It was fine.

Sunchan was as little then as Moonkyu was now. It didn't seem that long ago, but Sunchan would be five in a couple of months, and she'd be starting kindergarten this year, too.

Oh god, kindergarten.

Lizzie could only imagine how that was going to go over with Minho. He'd had a hard enough time when they'd started Sunchan in preschool. That first day, Lizzie probably should've just taken care of it and dropped Sunchan off on her own, but Minho had wanted to come and she still wasn't good at saying no to him, especially when he got all pouty and cute, but yeah...it had been a mess. Sunchan had cried, and Minho hadn't been able to leave her like that. Even though the teachers had assured him they could handle it, he just couldn't leave when his little girl was in tears.

So he'd given her all the hugs she wanted, had picked her up and shown her all around her classroom, all the cool things she was going to get to play with and learn to do. And then when she'd finally calmed down enough, he'd set her down and that had caused a fresh wave of tears.

It had been a mess, basically. Lizzie had had to all but drag Minho out of the room, and then away from the window when he'd stopped to wave, and then all the way to the car when he kept thinking of excuses to go back.

"She's going to be just fine, oppa. She's a big girl now. She's got a good head on her shoulders. Besides, you know Shannon's classroom is right across the hall. I can guarantee you that she's gonna check in on Sunchan multiple times a day, so you can call her and get updates all you want," Lizzie had assured him -- only to regret it slightly afterward, because Minho really had called all he wanted -- which meant five times before the day was through. Basically every hour.

He had a problem.

"Oh god," he said suddenly, and Lizzie wasn't sure if there was really something wrong or if he was just being dramatic.

"What is it?"

"Shannon's going to steal our firstborn. We have to go back." He said it so seriously that Lizzie burst out laughing -- but luckily she still had the presence of mind to grab the wheel when he tried to turn the car around.

"Calm down~ This has been her plan from day one, and yet she hasn't done it yet. Despite us leaving Sunchannie with her for multiple sleepovers and weekends."

"...you have a point."

"Just take a deep breath~ Sunchannie's going to be just fine~ Besides, she's only going three days a week to start out. And you work all day, anyway. You're not really missing out on anything."

"There are days I don't work."

"Yeah, and we don't have to take her to school those days~ It's preschool. Seriously. She doesn't need a perfect attendance record." Lizzie poked Minho in the cheek, hoping it'd make him lighten up some. He pretended to bite at her. She'd count that as a success.

"...If we do drop her off at school on those days, though, it'd leave us with some time to ourselves~" Minho said after a moment, and he waggled his eyebrows at her. Lizzie would've facepalmed, but...he was right. She'd thought about it already. It was really a win-win. Their daughter would be well taken care of, and they'd have some time to just be a couple.

Not that she regretted having Sunchan by any means. No, never ever. Sunchan was the light of their lives (as her name hinted at), and Lizzie had never been happier than she was on evenings when the three of them were all tucked into their big bed, Sunchan filling the space between her and Minho, and Gongchannie at their feet.

But now they'd have more time to be a couple in a different sense...which was good, because it was around this point that she and Minho had first started talking seriously about having another kid.

And...don't get her wrong -- they'd found other ways to sneak in alone time. There were more than enough people willing to babysit Sunchan whenever they wanted an evening to themselves. Something about her chubby cheeks and tendency to aegyo out of nowhere made her irresistible to pretty much everyone, and Kyuhyun and Shannon in particular practically begged to babysit her, even without Lizzie or Minho asking around.

Lizzie had a feeling Shannon knew, though. That making another goldfish was one of the reasons for more frequent babysitting playdates lately. Just a couple of weeks before, Lizzie had taken Sunchan over for a playdate with Zoe, and Shannon had immediately told Sunchan to say bye to mommy because 'mommy and daddy have special business to attend to~ ;D'.

...all right, so she hadn't actually said ';D'. But it had been implied.

Totally fucking implied.

Luckily, Sunchan was a tiny kid and still blissfully unaware of these things. She'd just nodded and gone right inside, where Zoe already had her (real china) tea set all laid out. Real tea and sweets included. Lizzie had only looked in on them for a minute to make sure Sunchan was settling in okay. The girls had pretty much grown up together, so she really had no reason to worry and she knew it...but a part of her maybe also just wanted to see them be cute. Because they were.

Sunchan helped herself to a seat at the table, knocking one of Zoe's teddy bears to the floor in the process, but Zoe didn't seem too concerned. Bacon Bun fetched it for her, and she set the teddy bear in a seat next to her instead. "Hi, Sunchannie~ Do you want a tiara?"

Sunchan nodded, and Zoe handed her one that was just as covered in rhinestones as the one on Zoe's own head. Zoe was pretty much never seen without one on her head, so really, Lizzie wasn't surprised that she had a full collection. A tiara and sweats. If there was any doubt as to whose kid Zoe was...there shouldn't be.

Now that her tiara was in place (a little crooked -- Lizzie had to bite her lip to hold back the cooing that threatened to escape), Sunchan immediately reached for a cookie. "Can I have this?" she asked, even though it was already halfway to her mouth, and her gaze swept from Zoe to Lizzie and Shannon for confirmation.

"Of course you can, sweetie~" Shannon said immediately, and Lizzie nodded, too.

"Go for it. Just make sure you eat your dinner too, okay?" She elbowed Shannon for good measure. "Make sure you feed my kid real things and not just sweets the whole time, or I'll kill you."

"I promise she'll eat well tonight~ But sweets for an afternoon snack are just fine. Eat all you want, Sunchannie~" Shannon said, and Sunchan nodded and immediately grabbed a cookie for her other hand.

"...why do I leave her with you?" Lizzie regretted some of the things. Except not really at all, because Sunchannie loved visiting and her goldfish playing with her favorite's goldfish was pretty much the cutest thing she'd ever seen in her life.

"Because I'm your favorite~" Shannon replied, as if she'd read Lizzie's mind. "And because Kyuhyun teaches her weird things."

As if on cue, Sunchan pointed at her cup of "tea" (actually just apple juice, but shh) and said, "Did you put poisonous in here?"

Lizzie wasn't sure if she was facepalming over her kid's cute messed up grammar (she was still a toddler, it was fine) or over the fact that Sunchan said shit like this in the first place, but wow -- there was no doubt about it. The Kyuline was strong in this one. Sunchan definitely needed to spend less time with those weird oppas.

But Zoe just took it in stride and shook her head with her prettiest princess smile. "Not in yours~" she promised.

...maybe Lizzie needed to rethink Shannon's place as a safe place for her child, too.

That was the first time she really seriously decided that they needed to start looking for a preschool for Sunchan, actually, since apparently all of her friends were insane -- and yeah, things had gone from there.

And Moonkyu had been conceived pretty shortly after that, actually...but no. Lizzie was not going into that now.

Moonkyu.

Precious baby Moonkyu.

She couldn't believe that he was already about to be a year old.

Being pregnant with him had been a lot easier than being pregnant with Sunchan. She knew what to expect, this time -- from the weird goldfishy feeling in her tummy to the jibes from Kyuline about her finally gaining boobs.

Minho was less worried about her, this time. He still took time off work every once in a while when he sensed she needed him, and he still made sure to treat her to her favorite home-cooked meals and to days at the spa. Lizzie had married a keeper, that much was certain. She knew it more and more each day, as he'd backhug her and get his arms around her growing tummy and just smile against the shell of her ear, and she could feel all the love pouring out of him.

This time, of course, Sunchan wanted in, too. She'd been so amazed by her mommy's tummy and the knowledge that there was a tiny human living inside there. Her favorite was to worm into Lizzie's lap and rest her head there, almost as if she were cuddling with her sibling already.

When she'd first found out she was pregnant, her parents and Minho's were her first couple of calls. Kind of obligatory, with something big like this. And then, this time, she called Shannon.

"ALSDHGPOWIEHSDGPOIWHESDFGWEPOSDGWERS UNNIE OH MY GOSH ARE YOU SERIOUS????? I'M SO HAPPY, OH MY GOSH. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT. I'M GONNA CRY."

Lizzie was pretty sure Shannon was crying already. And hadn't known it was possible to say keyboard smash aloud -- much less scream it at the top of your lungs.

(It was fine, though. She might've cried, too. This was a judgment free zone.)

"You're going to shatter everyone's ear drums. Calm down," Lizzie laughed. She had it on speakerphone, and Sunchan was covering Gongchannie's ears while Minho covered Sunchan's. It was the cutest fucking thing Lizzie had ever seen. She was glad she'd just called and not videochatted, because then Shannon really would've died.

"Gyu says congratulations!! And so do I, oh my gosh I forgot! Congratulations, unnie!! I'm on speakerphone, right? Is Minho there?"

"Yeah, I'm here," Minho said, looking up from where he'd been busy squishing Sunchan's cute little face. "What's up?"

Sunggyu's voice this time -- "Good job. Knew you could do it."

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN??" Lizzie shouted -- and, luckily, Minho had clamped his hands back over Sunchan's ears.

"Yah, hyung -- you're not even allowed to talk. We're beating you 2-1."

"IS THIS SOME SORT OF SICK GAME TO YOU????" Lizzie regretted everything about this phone call. And it sounded like Shannon was in pretty much the same boat, judging by the screaming and vague sounds of violence coming over the line. It sounded like the phone had fallen to the floor, so Lizzie figured that was probably it -- but then Zoe's voice came sort of uncertainly over the phone.

"Auntie Lizzie?"

"Yeah, sweetie?"

"Can Sunchannie come over and play?"

It was such an innocent and irrelevant request that Lizzie had to stifle her cooing in her hand. A glance over at Minho proved that he was dying, too. Kids, damn it. Who the fuck said they could be so cute?

"It's getting pretty late, sweetie pie, and you have school tomorrow, right? How about you and Sunchannie hang out this weekend, when there's more time to play? Tell your mommy, and we'll make it happen."

"Oh, okay~" It sounded like Zoe was trying to figure out how to hang up but couldn't find the button, but then, "Oh, auntie Lizzie?"

"What is it, babygirl?"

"Congratulations~"

Lizzie wasn't even sure Zoe knew what they were talking about, but it got her anyway. Goddamnit. She was going to get misty. "Thank you, sweetie~ Tell your mommy and daddy we'll talk to them soon, all right? Since it seems like they're busy~"

"I'M RIGHT HERE," Shannon exclaimed suddenly, and Lizzie imagined (correctly) that she'd somehow managed to tackle Sunggyu to the ground and was now sitting on him. "But yeah. You probably need to make more phone calls, right?"

"Yeah, should call Kyuhyun before he gets too deep into his bottle of wine."

"That's true. Siwon has been buying him the good stuff lately."

"Shisus hath blessed him."

"They need to hurry up and get marri-- WAIT. YOU CALLED ME BEFORE KYUHYUN?????"

"...yes?"

Oh god. Lizzie had made a mistake. Now it was going to be a whole big thing again, just like it was last time. She'd called Kyuhyun first when she'd found out she was going to have a goldfish the first time. He and Shannon still bickered about it to this day.

Those two just really liked to give each other shit. They were both fiercely Lizzie biased, and she was super biased towards them both, too -- so it worked out, really. Now at least things were even.

That didn't stop Shannon from evil laughing, though. "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA, I'M SO PLEASED. I WIN THIS ROUND~ THIS CHILD IS MINE."

"No, now you and Kyuhyun are even. That's all that means. Now you don't get to give me shit for it anymore. You're welcome."

"THIS JUST MEANS WE NEED A TIEBREAKER~"

"WHAT THE FUCK. NO. GOLDFISH NUMBER TWO ISN'T EVEN BORN YET. WE ARE NOT DISCUSSING A TIEBREAKER CHILD. I REFUSE. NO."

"Think on it~" Shannon had sing-songed. "And I'll let you call Kyuhyun now. I'll talk to you soon though, all right? Let's hang out this weekend! I want all the details!!"

"...are you sure you want all the details? Might be a little much for your delicate kitten sensibilities."

"...okay. Maybe not all the details. But most of them. All the details that are appropriate for me."

"Okay. We can make that happen. The girls want a playdate, anyway."

"Excellent. All right, we'll let you go~ Talk to you soon!! Congratulations, all of you!! We love you~"

"We love you, too~ Bye~"

So that was done. God, these phone calls were exhausting. The good kind of exhausting, though, that made her happy and overwhelmed her with love. She needed to get comfy, though, so she went and sat next to Minho on the couch. His arm came up around her right away, pulling her closer into his side. Sunchan was in his lap already, but she slid over so she was sort of laying across both of them, her little hand on her mommy's tummy. "How many more phone calls do we have to do?"

"Just one, babygirl. Are you getting sleepy? It is almost your bedtime."

"Can I call the next one?"

"You want to call Kyuhyunnie hyung? No wonder you're his favorite~" Minho tickled Sunchan's sides, and she laughed and squirmed away.

"Can I do it, mommy?"

"Of course you can, Sunchannie." Lizzie pressed Kyuhyun's number on speed dial for her and handed over the phone. "Shannon's going to be so jealous," she added, almost as an afterthought. Shannon wasn't much for phone calls (unless it was something big, of course), but she would probably swoon and die if little Sunchannie called her herself.

Oh well. She'd let Shannon and Kyuhyun fight that one out amongst themselves. So much for them being even.

"What's the password?" came Kyuhyun's voice over the line, and Sunchannie giggled.

"Stay classy, Kyuhyunnie hyung~"

"Not 'hyung'. 'Oppa'. He's your oppa, Sunchannie. Or...probably Kyuhyunnie ahjusshi to you, honestly." Minho laughed at the thought. "That doesn't have a bad ring to it. Kyuhyunnie ahjusshi~"

"It's hyung~" Sunchan insisted, her face going all sulky like she thought her daddy was trying to trick her. Minho was obviously fighting a losing battle. Sunchan's first word had been 'hyung', after all, through some hilarious twist of fate. She called Gongchannie that, too. 'Gongchannie hyung~' It was too fucking cute.

Anyway, Kyuhyun was obviously elated that his goddaughter had called. Kept chatting with her and praising her, so almost twenty minutes had passed before Lizzie even remembered why they'd gotten Sunchan to call.

"Mommy got a goldfish," was how Sunchan decided to break the news. Kyuhyun was thoroughly confused for all of about fifteen seconds before the lightbulb went off.

"WHY WASN'T THAT THE FIRST THING YOU TOLD ME????"

That was about the point where Minho decided it was best for him to take over the phone call, while Lizzie cuddled a confused but not offended Sunchan.

Sunchan had basically been raised by Kyuline. She understood the yelling was just out of massive amounts of love.

Minho consoled Kyuhyun with the fact that he'd gotten to chat with his goddaughter, and that no one else had done that this evening -- so really, Kyuhyun wasn't too mad. Though he did bring up the fact that now he and Shannon were tied, and he demanded a full victory.

LIZZIE REFUSED TO HAVE A TIEBREAKER CHILD. FLAT OUT REFUSED.

Which was valid, really. For like twelve different reasons.

And when Moonkyu had finally been born, Lizzie had known for sure that her family was complete. They were perfect, now -- her husband, herself, two little ones, and Gongchannie. A solid five, if she did say so herself.

Moonkyu had gotten his daddy's no-bow mouth. That was her first thought, when he was brought in to her all cleaned up and new. "IT'S JUST LIKE A LITTLE PLUM," she'd said (through tears she would later blame on the drugs), and...that was her most vivid memory from the day he was born.

(She blamed that on the drugs, too. And on the fact that he'd kept her in labor for like twelve hours. Cute little shit was lucky he was worth it.)

There were a lot of other important firsts before that, of course. A lot of important ones. Like the first time she'd even laid eyes on Minho, for example.

God, that had been ages ago now. They'd basically been kids, that first time Kyuhyun had introduced them. College kids, at a show Jonghyun was playing, and Kyuhyun had waved Lizzie over because they were friends through philosophy classes. Minho had been there hanging out with Kyuhyun and Changmin already (Lizzie knew Changmin, also from philosophy class. She wished she didn't.), and Lizzie had immediately thought, 'Goddamn, he's handsome'. Then he'd smiled at her, and she'd been gone. "Hi, I'm Choi Minho. You're Lizzie, right?"

"Yeah -- how'd you know? Am I that famous?"

"Pretty much," and Minho had laughed. "Kyuhyunnie hyung talks about you a lot."

"Ah, yeah. He's just biased because I'm the only person who got his StarCraft reference when he was arguing against the cosmological argument."

"How the fuck did he make that work?"

"I honestly have no fucking clue. I just laughed because StarCraft."

"Yah, you two -- stop flirting. The show's about to start!" Changmin had complained -- as if he gave a shit. He was just mad because Minho had infinitely more game than he did, let's be real.

"He's not flirting unless he got her number," Joonmyun said. "You know how he plays this game."

"Maybe I was about to and you two just ruined my shot," Minho shot back with a grin. Lizzie wasn't sure if he was joking or not. Did she want him to be joking? He was really handsome and also right next to her. She wasn't exactly thinking clearly.

"Yah, just exchange numbers. Both of you. You're both Kyuline now." Thus Kyuhyun had said, so thus it would be. Or something like that. Lizzie and Minho had both sort of laughed, but they'd followed through, and yeah -- that had been the start of a whole mess of Kyuline enabling/cockblocking/everything in between.

It had taken them ages to get together, actually. Just because they were both stubborn as fuck and didn't want to admit their feelings. Not because they were afraid, per se, but...well. They both just really wanted it to work out and didn't want to mess up the friendship they already had going for them. Because their friendship was already pretty perfect.

Lizzie had known it the first time she'd gotten into a car with him, just her and Minho. It had been late, and they'd been at Kyu's place for a movie night to procrastinate studying for finals. Lizzie didn't live too far away, nor did Minho -- but his car was out front and he'd offered to drive Lizzie home.

"It's just a couple blocks. I'll seriously be fine."

"I know. I just feel like driving," Minho had said, and he'd smiled at her over his shoulder. "Want to come?"

There was no way in hell Lizzie could say no to that. He was too handsome for his own good, and to be honest, she wasn't really ready to be at home and in bed yet, either. Partially because she knew she had a lot to get done tomorrow, to make up for playing today -- and also because her outfit was cute as fuck. She wasn't ready to change out of it yet.

She climbed into the passenger's seat, and they were off. "Is it cool if I take the long way?" Minho asked.

"Go for it."

He'd turned the wrong way down a one way street, and they'd been gone.

It was the first time they'd escaped like that, just the two of them. Minho's car was kind of a piece of shit, but he'd bought it with his own money and had taken good care of it, so it ran fine. Plus the radio worked, and Lizzie learned that all of his presets were either rap or old school r&b, and that was really all they needed.

That was the first time that Lizzie really admitted to herself how much she liked him. And then she'd confirmed it a couple of weeks later, when she'd had him over to watch a French movie the rest of Kyuline didn't have the patience for, and they'd both ended up falling asleep partway through. Their first night together, not even in an inappropriate way. They'd just slept, curled up on top of the sheets, and they'd woken up in each other's arms.

They'd sort of laughed it off, then, and Lizzie had sort of wondered if that was the end -- but no, on the contrary, Minho had just found more reasons to come over and stay. They fell together so naturally that it was a little too ambiguous, for Lizzie's liking -- so she'd finally cracked and kissed him full on the mouth in front of a fucking pizza parlor.

He'd kissed her right back, so it had been fine.

There may or may not have been tongue.

It had been a long time coming. Shut up.

So that had been the official start, maybe. Of Lizzie and Minho, Minho and Lizzie. MinZie. And things had flowed naturally from there.

The first time he'd told her he loved her, softly and in the dark after one of their night drives.

The first time she'd said it back, moments later.

Their first apartment together.

Their first real vacation, just the two of them -- just a long weekend in a rented cabin in the woods, no one around for miles. It had been the dead of winter, too cold to really explore, but they'd bundled up and done it anyway. They had an entire album of photos from that one weekend alone. The first album they'd filled.

They were up to eight now, and would probably finish another one soon, with all the pictures from Moonkyu's party.

"Mommy, wake up~" Sunchan's voice was cute, but Lizzie just rolled over and groaned into her pillow. She needed a minute. When had she even fallen asleep...? She hadn't dreamed, or she didn't remember dreaming, so she was a little disoriented. Fuck. It was Moonkyu's birthday. Usually he was the first one up, so what the hell...?

By the time she got her eyes open and her glasses on her face, Sunchan was all cuddled up against her shoulder. Obviously someone else was a little sleepy this morning, too~ Lizzie let her snuggle and kissed her hair. "'Morning, sweetie pie~ Did you have good dreams?"

"Mmhmm~ There was a house with lots of puppies."

"Ah, that sounds nice."

"Yeah~ They said they'd eat my enemies."

Okay. Lizzie was officially awake and laughing. What the hell. This was what happened when she let her kid hang out with Kyuline too much. She'd have to be more careful with Moonkyu. Sunchan was already a lost cause.

"Good morning~" Minho walked in, bouncing Moonkyu in his arms. Moonkyu was smiling, and he reached for Lizzie the second he saw her.

"Mama~"

"Hi, birthday boy~" Lizzie took him and snuggled him, and he made happy baby noises when she kissed his face. "Did daddy dress you up all handsome?"

"Mmhmm~ What do you think?" Minho had flopped down on the bed by now too, and he leaned over to steal a morning kiss from Lizzie. (Even though she suspected he'd stolen one or two whenever he'd gotten up. Cute fucking bastard.)

Lizzie stole one more kiss for good measure, and then she really looked at Moonkyu for the first time. And then the cooing was instantaneous.

Minho had gotten Moonkyu into a little button down shirt and nice pants and a fucking bowtie, of all things. It was too fucking cute. Lizzie couldn't handle it. She must've squeaked, because Minho was laughing.

"We did good, daddy?" Sunchan asked with a little smile.

"You were in on this??" Lizzie asked, and Sunchan broke into a full on grin.

"Of course she was. She picked these things out."

"So this is what happens when I let you shop with daddy, hm? Maybe I should let you two have daddy-daughter dates more often~"

Then Lizzie's phone went off. Minho grabbed it for her. "It's Kyuhyun. Says he and Siwon might be here a little late. Apparently it's a little harder to find a pony this time of year."

"Oh dear god. If he brings another pony, I swear I'm going to kill him."

"I dunno~ Sunchannie's big enough to ride it this time."

"Oh my god, shut up. I need to get real people clothes on before everyone gets here." Lizzie handed Moonkyu back to Minho, and she honestly wasn't that surprised when Sunchan followed her to the closet. Sunchan liked to critique her fashion choices. Definitely her daughter.

Lizzie was barely presentable when the doorbell rang. Minho's parents liked to be early, and the rest of the guests arrived from there. It was a flurry of hugs and well wishes and love. Everyone was crazy about Moonkyu's outfit and wanted pictures with the little guy -- and with Sunchan, too. The siblings were cutest when they were together, and Sunchan took it upon herself to hold Moonkyu's hand through most of the festivities. Moonkyu didn't seem to mind.

It was kind of a lot for the little guy, but he was a good sport about everything. He didn't really understand how to unwrap his presents, but that was what big sisters were for. He was more content to play with the boxes and the wrapping paper. He didn't much understand the cake, either, but he knew he wanted to eat it -- and it was sheer luck Sunchan had managed to blow out the candle before he stuck both hands into it. There was cake and icing everywhere, but goddamnit if it wasn't the cutest thing in the world.

First birthday or whatever, it was the relationships that mattered. The hugs from parents that were now two-time grandparents, brothers who were two-time uncles, and friends who had been there through it all. It was everything Lizzie and Minho valued, and they were making damn well sure their kids knew it right from the beginning.

They sang happy birthday to Moonkyu for the first time in his life, and Lizzie found herself getting a little bit misty.

A lot of firsts had gotten them to this point -- and there would be more firsts to follow. But Minho had been right. Moonkyu only got one of these. It was the perfect reminder that, right now, this moment was everything.

He was, however, worried about one thing.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay without me for a few days?" he asked, and there was something light and almost teasing in his tone -- but they both knew it was a cover and that, to some extent, he really was concerned. He and Lizzie were all curled up on the couch in his apartment, sipping peppermint hot chocolate in the aftermath of a movie and makeouts, one of their favorite date options. They both left for home tomorrow, and the knowledge of that hung a little heavy between them.

But Lizzie elbowed him slightly, mindful of the hot chocolate in his hand, and rolled her eyes. "Of course I will be. What kind of a question is that?"

"I'll be at your house on the 26th. I just wish I could be there for your birthday."

"You know it's no big deal. My birthday doesn't matter. It's Christmas! You should spend it with your family."

Minho didn't mention that he wanted to think of Lizzie as his family, too. They'd been dating a few months now, but not quite a year -- though of course he'd started thinking of her this way long before that. Still, it seemed too early to admit it, so he just smoothed her hair back from her face and kissed her gently. "You know you can call me whenever you want, and I'll be there."

"Mmhmm~" Lizzie hummed, and she leaned in to kiss him again. "I know. Thank you." They kissed again and again, and hot chocolate mugs were set on the coffee table where they'd be out of the way as Lizzie slid into Minho's lap -- but then the door to the apartment was flung open with a bang.

"Hey guys, what's -- ohhhhh, are we interrupting something?" Changmin wiggled his eyebrows, but he was laughing along with Kyuhyun. They both had just enough decency to look (mildly) embarrassed for barging in.

Lizzie and Minho leapt apart like they'd been burned -- because first of all, they were not exhibitionists, and second of all, no way they were giving anyone a show for free.

"Yah, don't you have any sense of privacy?! Knock next time!"

"In case you've forgotten, we basically live here, too. It's Kyuline law. All territory is shared territory." This was Kyuhyun's logic as he set bags of Chinese takeaway down on the table. It was fairly solid.

"Also, may I point out that you two were about to get it on in the living room? If Key or Jonghyun had come home, they would've gotten an eyeful, too."

"WHO SAYS WE WERE ABOUT TO 'GET IT ON'?? YOU SAW NOTHING."

"We saw enough~" Kyuhyun raised his eyebrows -- and very narrowly avoided being brained by the remote Lizzie hurled at his face.

"Though I could stand to see a little more, if you feel like putting on a show," Changmin teased. Minho hit him with the nearest throw pillow, and Lizzie just glared at him.

"That's fucking disgusting. Who do you think you are."

"I was kidding! Kidding!"

"Sorry, hyung -- no one's buying it."

"I really was!"

"No way. You have that pervert look about you. I bet you really do like to watch."

"That's the closest you can get to getting any action of your own, right?" Kyuhyun contributed.

"Hey now. That's not true!" Changmin sputtered -- but everyone else just laughed. They were just giving him shit. It was what Kyuline was best at. "Whose side are you on, anyway?" Changmin complained to Kyuhyun, and Kyuhyun just smacked him on the back with a grin.

"Every man for himself, Changmin. You walked right into that one."

"No sense of loyalty. None."

"Anyway," Lizzie said, once the laughter had died down, "not that I mind, but what are you two doing here? I didn't think we had plans till tonight, right? Secret Santa?"

Kyuline Secret Santa was an age old tradition, and it was always an experience. They all liked to get stupid little things for each other regardless, but their Secret Santa gift was always something amazing. Lizzie had drawn Joonmyun this year, and she'd gotten him something designer -- way out of her usual price range, but it was something he'd mentioned wanting and hadn't been able to find in the color he liked. She was kind of an online shopping whiz, so she'd found it in no time -- and had hacked the price down a fair bit, too. She was also fairly positive he'd let her borrow it, if she wanted to...so, all in all, it was a reasonable investment.

"Yeah, that's tonight, but we had nothing to do in the meantime. We figured you wouldn't mind some company."

"...but obviously we didn't think that through all the way." Changmin smiled sheepishly.

"Since we've already dampened the mood, though, I think we'll stay," said Kyuhyun, and he wedged himself between Minho and Lizzie on the couch with a mischievous grin and slung his arms around their shoulders. Lizzie and Minho exchanged a look. He was being a total cockblock, and he fucking knew it, too. Asshole.

But Lizzie just elbowed him and said, "Okay!" ...and then proceeded to tickle the living daylights out of him. He shrieked with laughter and tried to escape, but Minho grabbed his arms and Changmin grabbed his legs and Lizzie tickled him till he was screaming and crying with laughter. "YAH, YOU TRAITORS. HOW DARE YOU?!"

"Every man for himself, Kyuhyun-ah~" Changmin jeered. Kyuhyun's smilefrown was instantaneous. Luckily by this point Lizzie had grabbed her handy Instax, and she snapped a picture just in time.

"This one's going in my wallet," she said smugly. Kyuhyun kicked in her general direction. Minho pouted.

"So you're taking out the one we took together?"

"It's been in there for like six months."

"So? It's a classic." Minho was being a pouty bitch, but it was really fucking cute when he got all huffy, so Lizzie just laughed at him -- and at the gagging noises Kyuhyun and Changmin were making.

It was actually a really cute picture, the one in her wallet right now. One they'd taken just a month or so after they'd started dating. Minho had been walking her home after taking her to an early movie and lunch at a little place just a few blocks from her apartment. It had been casual, but nice, since it was just the two of them. An excuse to get extra cute, even though they hadn't gone far, and Lizzie had taken full advantage of it. She was in one of her favorite button downs and a skirt, and her hair was pulled back and pretty. Minho's jaw had dropped a little when he'd seen her. She'd teased him about it, because really, this wasn't all that much different from her usual look, and he'd blushed and said, "I know, but today you're all mine." And that had gotten her blushing, too, and then they were pretty much just a gross giggling mess -- but they'd held hands all the way to the movie's ending credits, and that had been really nice.

The only downside had been that Minho had to meet up with some classmates to work on a group presentation that afternoon and then had basketball practice that night, so, after lunch, they didn't really have time to hang out at his place or Lizzie's as they usually would have. They could've just stayed in and chilled, which really would have been just fine with Lizzie -- but Minho was too cute for his own good and (very seriously) insisted on taking her out at least once a week. He said it was good for them to get out and do things, and he was right. It was refreshing in a way that staying in could never be...and it was also a good excuse for them to show each other off. Which they were both extremely fond of doing.

And really, could you blame them?

No. The answer was no. Being an attractive, well-dressed couple had its benefits, and they took advantage of every last one of them.

Anyway, the lunch spot they'd picked hadn't been too far from Lizzie's apartment, but Minho had insisted on walking her home regardless.

"You're going to be late for your group meeting," Lizzie had reminded him, but he'd just shrugged his shoulders.

"My part's been on the GoogleDoc for weeks. We just have to put it all together. Besides, my group partners will understand."

"They'll only understand if you explain yourself."

"I can do that."

"And say what, exactly?"

"That I had a hot date with a pretty girl."

"Oh my god, shut up."

"Why? It's true~" He'd beamed at her and done his cutest shoulder aegyo, and Lizzie couldn't even be mad when he leaned down to kiss her. "Sorry we can't hang out tonight, though. It would've been nice."

"Mmhmm, it would've, but nothing we can do," Lizzie had said with a shrug. And she'd kissed him again for good measure.

"Let me make it up to you~"

"...and just how are you planning on doing that? It's really not a big deal."

Minho had thought about it for a minute. Then, "I'll give you a piggyback," he'd said, very seriously. "Hop on."

Well, Lizzie had never been one to decline a piggyback. She wasn't crazy. So she'd hopped right on, and he'd carried her home just like that.

Though, of course, it wasn't long before he'd wanted to show off and had taken off running with her clinging on for dear life, laughing and swearing at the top of her lungs. She'd been trying to get a picture of them together, but it was impossible to do when safety was the main concern -- so it was only afterward, when Minho finally stopped in front of her apartment, that she was able to take a polaroid with him. They were both breathless and pink in the face from laughing, and their hair was all over the place, but their smiles were blinding and beautiful, and that was it. That was them, in picture form. Happy and giddy and stupid in love.

So yeah. That was the picture that had been in Lizzie's wallet for the past six months. The one she was threatening to replace with the polaroid she'd just taken of Kyuhyun.

"It may be a classic, but so is this one," Lizzie argued -- and she did kind of have a point. The picture had come out looking just plain ridiculous, with Kyuhyun a smilefrowning derp, still pinned to the couch by Changmin and Minho. If it didn't end up in her wallet, it at least needed to be framed and possibly hung in some art gallery somewhere.

"I'll take a better one for you." Minho had that I'm-gonna-be-a-shit look on his face, and, sure enough...he snatched her Instax away from her and immediately began lifting up his shirt.

Lizzie screamed.

"CHOI MINHO NOW IS NOT THE TIME."

"Ohoho, things are starting to get interesting," Changmin said. Kyuhyun kicked him, which Lizzie would have appreciated. However, she was busy trying to wrestle her camera away from Minho. (He let her have it back, but only after she gave him a kiss.) Some things didn't need to be photographed. Some things were better appreciated privately and in person...but now really wasn't the time. Unfortunately. Maybe later.

"All right, you two, break it up. You can make out later. Right now, it's time to eat. Our food's getting cold." Kyuhyun started unpacking the Chinese food that had been pretty much forgotten (a crime against humanity) since he and Changmin had set it down. He wrinkled his nose. Yeah, some of this definitely needed to be reheated.

And, of course, food immediately became the center of attention. It was lucky that Kyuhyun and Changmin brought so much, because they all ate as if they hadn't in days. (Lizzie and Minho had worked up quite an appetite earlier that morning, but...they weren't too sure what Kyuhyun and Changmin's excuses were. Not that they needed any, besides the fact that they were alive.)

After that, it was gaming and movie time. Chill Kyuline hangs, with all of them wedged onto the couch, even though there were perfectly good chairs nearby. (They all liked cuddles, whether they'd admit it openly or not. So sue them.) That kept them more than occupied until that night, when Jonghyun and Joonmyun joined them, gifts were exchanged, and all the expected debauchery ensued. They had to go out with a bang, after all, since they wouldn't be together like this again till the new year.

It was a good distraction for Lizzie and Minho, too, from the goodbyes they'd have to say in the morning, and from the usual pre-travel anxiety. They were so exhausted and stuffed to the rafters by the time everyone had left (Joonmyun had bought a cake for everyone to share -- they knew they kept him around for a reason) that they were asleep almost as soon as their heads hit their pillows.

Asleep, but not for nearly long enough.

Their alarms started blaring at some ungodly early hour, and Minho groaned into his pillow as Lizzie shut them both off. He was cute like that, face all scrunched up and sleepy, bedhead in full force. Lizzie kissed his pouty lips because she could and smoothed his bangs back from his face. "You can go back to sleep if you want, since you don't leave till later," she told him, but he shook his head emphatically.

"No. I'm going to the train station with you. I have to make sure you get there safely." His eyes were wide open now, and Lizzie suspected he'd been playing sleepy before because he knew it'd get him kisses...and he'd been right. It was fine.

"I'll be safe enough on my own. I used to go by myself all the time, remember?"

"You used to, but not anymore. You're mine now." He pulled her back down against him and snuggled her close, his nice arms tight around her, and Lizzie knew. Of course she knew, how much he loved her and just didn't want to say goodbye quite yet. She didn't, either. She sort of wished she'd never have to.

So she let him hold her, for a bit longer. She let him rub her back and press little kisses to her hair, and she nuzzled her nose into the curve of his neck. It was warm there, and safe, so she snuggled just a little bit closer.

Until she felt him yawn, his chin knocking lightly into the top of her head.

She laughed and poked him in the ribs. "Get up, sleepyhead. If you want to come with me, we need to get moving. Gotta get some real clothes on before we go out in public."

Minho stubbornly just hugged her closer, so Lizzie did the only thing she really could do -- she tickled him. He shot right up. "Yah, no fair!"

"Oh, stop being a little bitch. You're fine." He was still sulking, so Lizzie just kissed his cute little mouth. "I would've bit you, but you would've enjoyed that too much. And we don't have time for that right now."

"Too bad," Minho said, and Lizzie agreed with him.

"Too bad."

They had a moment of silence.

"...all right but really, we need to go."

"Yeah, we do. Okay. Let's go." Minho kissed her once more for good measure, and from there it was a flurry of getting ready. Luckily, everything was pretty much packed. There were just a couple of little things that still needed to be thrown into Lizzie's bag. She threw on a pair of jeans and one of Minho's t-shirts (it wasn't like she stole it -- he practically put it on for her), layered it with a jacket and scarf, and they were off.

Minho drove her to the train station, and for that she was grateful. She really didn't feel like being a public transit bitch today. Besides, driving with him meant relative privacy, so she could kiss him at red lights to her heart's content.

The bad thing about driving, though, was that it made the trip to the station a lot shorter. Much too soon, they were parked and on their way in. Minho insisted on carrying Lizzie's bag for her, like he always did. She tried to grab it from him, but he just intercepted her hand and held it instead, a little smile on his face. And really, she couldn't argue with that. She didn't even try.

They'd both fallen quiet, as he walked her all the way to her track. It was already almost time to board. They didn't want to say goodbye. Lizzie leaned into him a little as they stood there, and he elbowed her gently.

"Hey," he murmured, "it's just for a few days. I'll be there on the 26th, in the morning."

"I know."

"I wish I could just go with you now, though."

"I know, me too." Lizzie sighed. "You need to be with your family on Christmas, though. My birthday's not important."

Minho opened his mouth to argue that, like he always did -- but then it was announced that it was time to board, so Lizzie had to go.

She looked up at him, and he forced a smile for her and scooped her up into his arms. "I love you," he mumbled, holding her tight. "Travel safe. I'll call you later."

"Okay," she said, and she pulled him down for a lingering kiss. "I love you, too. I'll text you."

She didn't cry, even when he squeezed her one last time before letting her go, and she only looked back to wave at him once. He just smiled brighter for her and waved, calling a reassuring "I'll see you soon!" over the crowd. And yeah, maybe that did choke her up a little. In her defense, she was tired, and she fell asleep almost as soon as she reached her seat onboard the train.

...

Being home was good. It was a little weird, at first, because she wasn't used to her parents' clinginess anymore, since she wasn't around it that much -- but she knew it was out of love. Besides, it was good to have a change of pace sometimes. Rejuvenating.

She and Minho were both pretty busy with various family functions, as was always the case during holiday time, but they still made sure to call and text each other daily. They usually Skyped for a bit before bed, too, which took some of the edge off sleeping alone. Neither of them were used to that, anymore.

And, of course, there were snapchats.

Lots and lots of snapchats.

Lizzie sent lots of her cute face and of her cat Amos, because she knew Minho got a kick out of him, and Minho sent back plenty of selcas with his parents and brother and players from his dad's soccer team.

(Lizzie had mastered the art of screenshotting these beautiful selcas. She now had so many potential phone backgrounds she could have a new one every day for a month, if she wanted -- and each would be cuter than the last.)

Anyway, the time flew by mercifully quickly, and soon it was Christmas eve.

"You'll be here so soon~" Lizzie said to Minho on the phone that morning. She was still in bed, all curled up and cozy, but there was a smile on her face. "I can't wait."

"Me either. I miss you."

"You'll see me soon enough! And I have to warn you, I've gotten even prettier since we've been apart." Lizzie grinned. The vanity was strong in her today. (The "Happy Christmas eve, sweetie! You're one fierce bitch" text she'd gotten from her life idol, upperclassman Hwang Kwanghee, may have had something to do with that...but who knows.)

"Yeah? I'm one lucky guy, then~" He laughed, and that was Lizzie's favorite sound in the world.

"Anyway, I have to go get ready. Got some family shit today."

"Okay. I'll talk to you later tonight!"

"All right, oppa~ I love you!"

"I love you, too. Bye!"

Lizzie hung up the phone and giggled to herself. Her boyfriend was the cutest. Even just hearing his voice put her in a great mood. She knew she was going to conquer this day.

Now to get cute.

Cuter, that is. She was already cute as hell.

It was a heart sweater day, paired with pants and some fierce kitty eyeliner. She was just finishing her hair when her phone went off. It was a snapchat from Minho.

She opened it and immediately facepalmed.

He was in his heart print button up. They matched, and it was completely unintentional.

Sometimes she wondered if they spent too much time together.

...nahhhhh.

In any case, she snapchatted him back immediately -- a picture of her in her own sweater, a smilefrown on her face, with the caption, 'I HAVE TO CHANGE NOW.'

She was pretty much expecting it when he snapchatted her right back -- this time with his cutest pouting expression. He texted her a minute later: 'I like that we match!'

She laughed and texted back, 'You're gross...but okay. I'll keep it on.'

He sent back a ':D' and a bunch of hearts.

He was really too cute for his own good.

...

The day wasn't actually all that busy -- just hanging out and cooking with Lizzie's immediate family. She was deep in a card game tournament for most of the afternoon. Her mom gave her a run for her money, but Lizzie ended up putting her in her place -- barely. But it was still victory. It still counted. And yeah, it was fun and competitive as hell.

Then, of course, there was Christmas eve church. Had to say hi to baby Jesus and all that. It wasn't really Lizzie's scene, but she didn't mind it, either. At least everything was decorated all beautiful. She could get behind that. Plus it meant the evening was almost over, in a good way. They went home and ate a shit ton of food, and then it was just shitty tv till bed.

It was getting late, but Lizzie refused to be tired. Minho had stopped texting her back a while ago, saying that he was busy with family stuff, and her parents were borderline dozing on the couch, so there wasn't much for her to do but troll the internet to keep entertained.

Fashion blogs, bitches. She could read that shit for days.

She was just finishing up an article about the best lingerie of the season and where to buy it (she did not have a problem, shut up) when the doorbell rang.

She glanced at the clock, a little grin spreading on her face.

Midnight, exactly.

Her parents had sort of startled awake, and her mom was muttering something about how she should go get that -- but Lizzie was already up and bounding for the door. "Stay where you are, I've got this!"

She flung the door open, and, sure enough -- Choi Minho himself was standing on her doorstep.

"You're actually on time this year," she teased.

The grin on his face was immediately replaced by a pout. "Yah, last year wasn't my fault! Kyuhyunnie hyung drives like a sixty year old woman!"

"If you say so."

"Shut up and come here," Minho said, and he lifted her clear off the ground with the force of his hug. He kissed her, and his grin was back. He kissed her again. "Happy birthday, Lizzie. I love you."

"I love you, too, you asshole. Pulling the same trick two years in a row -- who do you think you are?"

"You could at least pretend to be surprised."

"Or not."

"Hey." Minho sulked. "I tried my best, okay? I sent you that snapchat of me and my brother an hour ago! That didn't fool you?"

"...how stupid do you think I am? I know you took it earlier this morning and then just didn't send it till then. Thought you were real clever, didn't you?"

"I did. Apparently I was wrong."

"It's fine. I love you anyway." Lizzie was grinning, by this point, and she leaned up to kiss him again -- but that's when she spotted the bow tied around his neck. "...are you fucking kidding me."

"It's a cute idea!" Minho was basically shouting now, so mad that Lizzie had seen right through him, and it was fucking cute as hell.

She'd missed him.

And he was right. It was cute as hell.

Not that she'd ever tell him that.

"You're an asshole. Now come inside. My parents fell asleep waiting for you."

"All right, fine." Minho ruffled her hair on the way inside, and she smacked his ass for revenge.

Yeah. It was good to have him back.

...

Later, after he'd hugged her parents and brought his bags inside, the two of them were sitting cuddled downstairs. The rest of her family had finally gone up to bed, so it was just the two of them on the fold out couch. In their matching heart shirts, which Lizzie had forgotten about until this very moment.

Goddamnit, Minho.

She couldn't be too exasperated with him, though, because she was really just too damn happy to see him. A few days apart had been a few days too many, in her books. She'd been sitting snuggled in his lap since the moment they'd sat down, and it was exactly where she wanted to be. Possibly forever.

"I got you a real gift, too, you know," Minho said, pressing kisses to the top of her head. "You should open it."

"Where is it?"

"In my bag."

"...are you going to make me go get it myself? On my birthday? Really?"

"I'll go get it, but then you have to get off of me."

"It's fine, I'm just giving you shit," she said, and she kissed him soundly on the mouth as if to prove it. "...besides, I have to get off you either way. So I'll just get it. You stay comfy, since you've been traveling all day~"

Lizzie unzipped his bag and found a present right on top -- and another underneath it. "What the fuck, why are there two??"

"They're both for you. A birthday present and a Christmas present."

"Oh my god, you need to stop. One's enough, seriously."

"Just open them~" Minho was beaming at her, and goddamn he was a handsome man. She couldn't say no to that face. Even if he did spoil her too much sometimes.

"Which one is this?" she asked, holding up the larger of the two.

"Birthday."

"Okay. This one first, then." She sat back down on the edge of the bed and started unwrapping it. Beneath the paper was a box, and she had to fight with the tape for a minute before she was able to get it open -- but then she did, and she pulled out a dress.

It was black, and it was beautiful. Designer. Simple, without being boring, and yeah -- Lizzie's jaw hit the floor.

"Do you like it?" Minho laughed.

"Like it?? I fucking love it, dude. No. I totally love it. What the fuck. Why are you perfect. Why don't I have anywhere to wear this."

"You do, though. I forgot to tell you -- I'm taking you and your family to dinner tomorrow night."

"Someplace this nice?? No fucking way. You're not allowed."

"I already made the reservation~" He just grinned at her, his smile blinding. "Happy birthday~"

"You're actually insane," Lizzie said very seriously, "but thank you. I don't even...thanks." She kissed him, then, and he kissed her back, all soft and slow -- but then he tugged away.

"Hang on. More of that in a minute. You have another present to open~"

"Oh god, no. I can't even imagine what this one is. You did too much! Just take it back. I can't."

"Open it~" He shook his shoulders cutely, because he knew she couldn't say no to that, the bastard. He set the present in her lap. "Do it~"

"...all right, fine." As if she really needed that much convincing. She had to admit, she was really curious... What else could he possibly have gotten her?

"This one's your Christmas gift," he reminded her -- and her eyebrows shot up the second she saw what was inside.

Lingerie.

Fucking scandalous lingerie, and it was beautiful.

"...it's kind of a Christmas gift to me, too," Minho added as an afterthought. Lizzie pinched him in the leg. "Hey! What was that for?"

"You're an asshole. I love these, though."

"Good~ I do, too. You should put them on."

"Right now?? Fuck that. It's late. I'm tired."

"But it's your birthday! We need...wait, where's my phone. I'll play the song."

"...if you play fucking 'Birthday Sex', Choi Minho, I swear to shisus-"

"How did you know what song it was going to be?"

"...OH MY FUCKING GOD. WE NEED TO GO TO SLEEP LIKE FIVE MINUTES AGO. YOU'VE BEEN HERE LIKE AN HOUR AND I'M ALREADY DONE WITH YOU."

But Minho was laughing when he pulled her close and kissed her, and it was kind of hard to say no to that. Not that she'd ever really wanted to, anyway. He kissed her till she stopped play fighting it and pressed closer against him, instead...and then, unsurprisingly, it soon became full makeouts.

...until Lizzie started yawning, and Minho laughed against her lips. "We should probably sleep."

"Yeah...sorry. It's been a long day."

"It's all right. We can play when we wake up." He winked at her, and Lizzie shoved him.

"Yah, are you stupid? You know how thin the walls are here."

"That's what challenge mode is for."

"...I'm going to sleep," Lizzie said, and she rolled away from her pervert of a boyfriend...though he of course just followed her and spooned her, like always.

"All right," he chuckled. He kissed the back of her neck lightly. "I love you~"

"I know. You've told me like sixteen times since you've been here." She was teasing him, but he knew she really appreciated it. She knew he wouldn't say it if he didn't mean it. "I love you, too. Thank you for coming. And for my Christmas birthday gifts."

"Especially the Christmas one, right~?"

"Stop. Go to sleep."

It had been a long day of class and homework and office hours with various professors, and LIzzie hadn't been sleeping all that well lately -- so she sort of wondered if she was hallucinating when she let herself into the apartment and saw Minho standing there in a sombrero.

"...what the fuck."

"Do you like it? You can borrow it, if you want." Minho was beaming like he'd just won the lottery (which he hadn't, unfortunately; would've meant they could move up their wedding date by a couple of years, which would've been nice), and he plopped the sombrero down onto Lizzie's head. "There, that's better. You look happier already."

"Do I? I'm really just judging you right now. Judging you hardcore." She tried to glare at him, but it was hard to from beneath the sombrero's ultra wide brim -- half because of the logistics of it, and half because she couldn't quite keep the grin off her face.

"You're smiling brighter than you have in days!"

"Only because I think you're cute when you act like a fucking idiot. Where the fuck did you even find a sombrero? Did you steal it from some Mexican on the train??"

"Changminnie hyung and I acquired it. That's all you need to know."

"...I thought it smelled vaguely of sin."

"You love me anyway."

"That's beside the point." Lizzie took the sombrero off and put it back on Minho's head, tilting it back at a ridiculous angle. She looked him up and down with a frown. "...now that's really not fucking fair."

"What?"

"You're still handsome as sin. Even in this stupid sombrero."

"It's not stupid. It made you smile, didn't it?"

"...yeah, it did." Lizzie found herself smiling again -- because how could she not, when her fiancé cared this much about her? He knew better than anyone how stressed she'd been about school stuff lately. The end was in sight, but this past week or so had just been nonstop work work work, and she was tired. She hated school to begin with, and this hatred only increased exponentially when she was overloaded with coursework. Even if it was stuff she was interested in, it was easy to get overwhelmed -- and that was about where she'd been, lately. Overworked and overwhelmed.

She'd been working nonstop for days now, and that was never good for her. It messed up her sleep schedule and made it near impossible for her to calm down and get her body to relax, so feeling crabby and sick was frequent. And then she'd somehow gone and messed up her knee, too, as if she'd needed anything more to deal with.

Minho was always good about it, when this stuff happened. He knew, by now, when he needed to give her some space and when he needed to shower her with extra love and when he just needed to be there with her. He'd escaped to a cabin with the rest of Kyuline for a weekend getaway, just long enough for Lizzie to get shit done and clear her head and start to really fucking miss him, and then he'd come back and gotten right back to work with her.

The library basement was one of their typical haunts, when they couldn't focus anymore at home. It was hard to, especially with Gongchan, AKA the perfect distraction. He was just so cute -- plus he literally begged to be played with or walked or loved on, almost constantly. So, yeah. The library basement was where they'd spent a lot of their afternoons and evenings, lately. It was public enough that they usually felt pressured to do work...but also private enough that challenge mode was occasionally a thing.

Occasionally. When they deserved a study break.

Still, it really had been a stressful past week or so, and sometimes it was best to just let it all go and forget about it, for a while.

Apparently, Minho had decided that a sombrero was the most worthwhile distraction.

Surprisingly, he'd been right.

It was pretty much impossible not to laugh at the sight of it perched atop his head, making his cute little face look even cuter and littler -- and laugh Lizzie did, even as she went up on her toes so she could kiss him. "Thanks, oppa. You're the best."

"I know," Minho said, but Lizzie was pretty sure he fist pumped behind her back, anyway. Before she could tease him about it to be sure, the perfect asshole kissed her again -- and then she really couldn't find it in herself to give him too much trouble. His fucking perfect pouty mouth. So good for kisses. It was easy to get lost in them, when they were kissing like this, Lizzie on tiptoe so she could get her arms around Minho's neck and Minho guiding her further into the apartment and back onto the couch, never breaking the chain of kisses for more than a moment.

(Their first few attempts at this in the new apartment had been a little awkward and potentially dangerous, especially because Gongchannie was a prime choice for tripping over with eyes locked closed -- but they were pros at it now.)

It was pretty much the perfect end to a stressful day. No distractions, no needling thoughts about how there was still so much work to be done...none of that, because it was pretty fucking difficult to think coherently with Choi Minho getting all up close and personal. Not that Lizzie minded. She probably should've been used to it by now, honestly, considering how often it happened...but no. She really wasn't. He still took her breath away.

She thanked Shisus she'd put unspeakables on today.

Then...her stomach growled.

Loudly.

As if it were an enraged lion in an echo chamber.

Everything came to a full stop, and Lizzie only resisted the urge to face palm because her hand had already snuck its way up under Minho's shirt to rest against his abs, and she was really fine with that placement of it for now. And forever.

...still, now was not the time to be hungry. She mentally cursed her stomach, and herself for forgetting to grab a snack on her way home. She hadn't eaten since early that afternoon, and it was now going on 10pm. It wasn't her fault she sometimes forgot to eat when she got really busy...right?

"Sorry, I should've eaten earlier."

"No, wait -- that reminds me! I almost forgot the best part!" Minho was up in an instant, sombrero still in place, and this time Lizzie really did facepalm. Deer shisus. She'd been making out with him in his sombrero this whole time. The fuck was wrong with her?

Minho was back just a minute or so later (basically just enough time for Lizzie to sit up and straighten out her clothes and hair and take a couple of deep, calming breaths), and he dropped a Chipotle bag directly into Lizzie's lap. "Surprise!"

"...please tell me you didn't wear the sombrero to Chipotle."

"I won't tell you, then."

"Oh god," Lizzie said, but she was laughing. "You're going to get yourself shot, one of these days. Why do I even like you?"

"You don't like me -- you love me. There's a difference." Minho grinned and kissed her, and Lizzie didn't really have an argument to that.

Soon they were tearing into their food, elbowing each other good-naturedly under the shade of Minho's sombrero while Gongchannie yipped and played at their feet. Maybe it was because she'd been working so hard lately, that this food tasted so extra good -- or maybe it was because it was purchased with love, or maybe it was because of the sombrero. All Lizzie knew was that she was happier than she'd been in a damn long time, and she had her stupid wonderful fiancé to thank for that. So she leaned up and pressed a kiss to his cheek, even though that cheek was currently stuffed with burrito. "Thank you, oppa. The sombrero really was a good idea...even though it's also fucking stupid as hell."

"Sombreros make everything better," Minho deadpanned. Lizzie elbowed him in the ribs. "What? You obviously don't mind it too much." He wiggled his eyebrows at her suggestively, and this time Lizzie pinched him in the leg. "Ow!"

"Oh, shut up. You're fine."

"You're right. I am." Minho ruffled Lizzie's hair just to be a shit and kissed her on the forehead. "I'm just glad you're happy. It's good to see you smiling again."

He said that part so seriously that Lizzie could feel herself blush, so she swatted harmlessly at his arm. "How could I not? You got me Chipotle. You know the way to my heart."

"Yeah, I wasn't planning on buying food tonight, but I had the sombrero on and it just felt right."

"Oh my god, stop."

But Minho just kept going, a little shit stirrer smile spreading across his face. "Plus, I heard a rumor that getting you Chipotle would get me Chipotlai-"

"WHAT THE FUCK??? CHOI MINHO, FOR THE LOVE OF SHISUS. YOU DID NOT JUST...NO. FUCKING NO. YOU ARE SLEEPING ON THE COUCH TONIGHT. I CAN'T WITH YOU ANYMORE. OH MY FUCKING GOD, YOU DID NOT."

Lizzie wasn't sure if she was laughing or crying through her screams -- especially since Minho was just laughing his ass off and pulling her in for a hug while Gongchannie barked confusedly and leapt up onto the couch to join them.

Lizzie was pretty sure she needed to find a new fiancé. This one was too perfect. She couldn't handle it at all.

...or...she could just keep him. Alternatively. Since he was cute and stupid precious and made the worst jokes known to man, animal, or mineral. And since he'd already proposed. And she'd already said yes.

She loved this stupid asshole, sombrero or no -- and she made sure he knew it.

It was a typical Saturday morning -- or, well, about as typical a Saturday as one could hope for. ‘Typical’ was one of those words that Lizzie tended to steer clear from, either by coincidence or some sort of natural inclination, but, in this case, she supposed she could make an exception. It was hard to complain when ‘typical’ meant she’d woken up to kisses on her forehead, all tucked up against Minho’s chest like she belonged there or something. And in a way, maybe she did. They fit together so perfectly, in every sense of it -- and that’s why they were getting married, as of a few weeks ago.

She still forgot, half the time, that they’d even made the step to engagement. Not because the proposal was forgettable by any means -- but because it had been such a natural transition, a steady build up, and they still had further to go. If it wasn’t for the ring on her finger (which she forgot about more often than anyone should’ve been able to, it was so bright and beautiful -- but she had never been much for rings before, so she accidentally banged it on just about everything under the sun) and for the bare bones beginnings of wedding plans, it probably wouldn’t register in her mind at all.

But anyway, here they were.

“Good morning, sleepyhead~” Minho teased, ruffling Lizzie’s hair. He still laughed that dumb boy laugh of his when she sat up groaning and wiped a string of drool from her cheek...and from his bare shoulder as well.

As if he cared, this far into their relationship.

Lizzie rummaged for her glasses on the bedside table and slid them into place, and the world fell into focus. Which meant now she could actually see Minho’s dumb perfect smile and whole perfect existence, and yeah. She was going to marry him, in a year or so. She was going to marry the shit out of him.

...but for now, there were more important matters at hand. “I had the weirdest fucking dream. Changmin was having a princess-themed birthday party and for some reason the cake was turning everyone who ate it into an ahjumma -- so obviously we were all fucked. There were two of those creepy ass Shetland ponies there, too. Changmin had one strapped to each foot like they were sandals or some shit.”

“So what did you do?”

“I fed them cake and turned them into ahjummas, obviously.”

“Human ahjummas or horse ahjummas?”

“...what would a horse ahjumma even be?”

“An old regular-sized horse or something?”

“Human ahjummas, dumbass. They turned into human ahjummas. Then they collapsed under Changmin’s weight and he cried. It was fucking hilarious.”

“Don’t you think it’s weird that you have such cracked out dreams all the fucking time? Maybe there’s something wrong with your diet. Not enough vitamin C or something,” Minho mused, smoothing Lizzie’s crazy bedhead away from her face. (That her hair was even in such a state was largely his fault, as things last night had gotten more than a little feisty, but...that was a tale for another time.)

“...vitamin C deficiency? That’s really what you’re going with, mister sports medicine major?” Lizzie teased, but Minho just nodded very seriously.

“Yes. Yes it is.”

“Shut up. It’s not my fault I don’t just have soccer dreams all the time like you do.”

“You wish you had soccer dreams all the time,” Minho said, all smug and faintly smirking.

“I KNOW, OKAY? DON’T RUB IT IN.” Lizzie huffed and pinched his leg, and he yelped in (mostly exaggerated) pain, which caused Gongchannie to whine along with him in sympathy. “Oh, shut up, you’re fine.”

“Are you talking to me or the dog?” Minho pouted.

“The dog, obviously,” Lizzie replied, scooping Gongchan up into her arms and snuggling him. That is, until he got all excited and started trying to lick her face. None of that. Ew. Dog germs were disgusting and belonged nowhere near her nose and mouth, thank you very much. She shoved him off delicately, and Minho laughed at her.

“Come here, Gongchannie. I’ll love you even if your noona won’t.”

“Would you quit with the whole ‘Gongchan’s noona’ nonsense?”

“No,” came the instant response. “It’s cute. And funny. Just like me.”

“Oh my god, shut up.”

“We could upgrade you to ‘Gongchan’s umma’, though, if you’d like. That has a nice ring to it, don’t you think, Gongchannie?” Minho wiggled Gongchan’s front paws in the air, and Gongchan’s tail was wagging so hard it seemed like it might fall off at any moment.

Lizzie, on the other hand, was just sort of sputtering speechless.

When she finally found words, they only came along with violence -- in the form of smacking her fiancé in the face with his own pillow.

“WHAT THE FUCK, CHOI MINHO. GONGCHAN’S UMMA?? OH MY GOD, STOP. WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE.”

He grabbed her, laughing, and managed to wrestle the pillow out of her hands after a brief struggle. Which he only won because he cheated. Tickling was absolutely not fair, a fact that Lizzie would attest to till the end of her days.

...so what if she did it, too? His laugh was cute. No one could blame her for that.

Minho tossed the pillow aside to ensure his own safety and pinned a glaring (laughing) Lizzie to the bed and smiled all self-satisfied and handsome at her. (Which, for the record, was also cheating. At least in Lizzie’s book.) He kissed her, then, and it was softer than she’d expected -- a light brush of lips, and again, and again. He pulled back a little bit, then, but not far, and he still held her so she couldn’t get away. “What’s so bad about being an umma?”

The question caught Lizzie a little off guard, so she just blinked at him for a second -- but she might’ve also just been trying to reconnect some neurons, because kissing like that still got her. Damn it. How many years had it been now, since their first one? Three? Four?

...anyway, he’d asked her a question, so she answered him very seriously.

“Gongchan is a dog. Do you have any idea how weird it’d be if I gave birth to one of those? No thanks. I think I’ll pass.”

Lizzie expected a laugh, or maybe a sigh of exasperation, but what she got was Minho’s eyes on her, even more direct and focused than they had been before. “You know what I mean,” he insisted, and he smoothed some of her hair back from her face so she couldn’t hide behind it like he had to know she wanted to. “Would you ever want to be one?”

Lizzie thought about it. She’d be lying, if she said this was the first time it’d crossed her mind. She knew Minho wanted kids. He’d wanted to be a dad for pretty much his whole life, and it was obvious in almost everything he did. He loved kids, loved to talk to them and play with them, and kids loved him, too.

Lizzie was also great with kids. She loved them, and they loved her. Good ones were lots of fun, and she still kept in touch with her favorite kid from her days as a camp counselor. One of her own, though...that was a little different, for any number of reasons. Not the least of which was the sheer responsibility of it all.

She was worried about it, honestly. She and Minho had touched on this subject before, but she’d brushed it off, because they weren’t there yet.

But now...now, they were engaged to be married. Minho had made that commitment to her before knowing her answer to this question, so obviously he’d love her either way, and...well, maybe that was it. That trust, right there, gave her the answer.

“...I would, with you.”

She sort of mumbled it, and for a second she was worried he hadn’t heard -- but then he was kissing her, and she could feel his smile against her lips, could feel the sheer joy dancing beneath his skin. He kissed her until they were both breathless, and then he kissed her a little bit more.

“Happy?” she asked, and she laughed and shoved at him playfully when he just tried to kiss her again.

“Very,” he answered.

“Good. As you should be.” She smirked up at him, which only made him redirect his attack -- this time to her neck, which was ABSOLUTELY NOT FAIR AND OFF LIMITS.

It was entirely not her fault if she gave a muffled scream.

“NEED I REMIND YOU THAT THERE IS AN INNOCENT PUPPY IN THE ROOM??”

“So? He won’t know what’s happening.”

“...oh my god.”

“...all right, fine, I’ll shut him in the kitchen or something.”

“God, no -- mood is ruined. I can’t believe you, Choi Minho. In front of innocent little Gongchannie?” She was mostly teasing, and Minho knew it even as she shoved him off -- but that didn’t stop him from pouting. Especially when she headed immediately for the closet and started putting real people clothes on, thereby concealing her cute lingerie from view.

“Can you blame me?” he grumbled.

“Not really. I know I’m fine as hell.” She winked at him and booty popped, just like her idol and bosom buddy Hwang Kwanghee had taught her. Then she tossed him some clothes and hit him right in his gaping (and possibly drooling) face. “Now put these on. We need to get some grocery shopping done before it gets too late in the day. We don’t have jack shit for lunch, and you’re going to be hungry soon, if you’re not already.”

“...are you serious?”

“As serious as Cho Kyuhyun when his internet connection fails him.”

“That is very serious.”

“Yes. Yes, it is.” Lizzie nodded sagely. “Now put on your pants.”

...

Something like fifty minutes later, they finally found themselves at the grocery store. (Lizzie remembered the days when she could just roll out of bed and go somewhere. She remembered them fondly. But, alas, now she had a boyfriend- sorry, FIANCÉ who liked to steal kisses and find devious ways to casually touch the booty. It was a wonder she ever left the house at all.)

It was a tiny little grocery store, only a couple of blocks away from their apartment, and even though the selection was limited, the prices were good. Plus it was owned by a really nice older couple who absolutely doted on Lizzie and Minho. The ahjumma, Mrs. Jeong, liked to give them flowers from her garden, because she knew how much Lizzie liked them. She’d even helped them get their own window boxes started, a few months ago. And Mr. Jeong liked to give them advice and blessings and 15% off, because he always said that such a nice young couple like them brought good luck wherever they went.

Mrs. Jeong spotted them immediately and waved from the cash register. “Lizzie, Minho, it’s been a while! It’s good to see you again!”

Her husband was working next to her, helping a customer with a heavy shopping bag, and he beamed over at them as well. “We have some fresh watermelons we just got in today. You should take one home, share it with your friends.” He mouthed ’15% off’ over the customer’s head and then held one finger over his lips, because that discount was to be kept secret.

So Minho, of course, winked at him as ostentatiously as possible. “Thanks, we’ll pick one up!”

“We will?” Lizzie asked, once they’d disappeared down an aisle and therefore out of earshot. “I hope you know you’re carrying it upstairs to the apartment.”

“I know~” he singsonged, completely undeterred. He looped his arm around Lizzie’s shoulder and pulled her in close, not caring that this made walking more than a little inconvenient -- especially for any other customers who might’ve wanted to get past them in the narrow aisles. “A watermelon is nothing. I can carry it and the rest of the groceries and you, if you wanted, and still not even break a sweat.”

“Is that a fact?”

“It is. Should we try it out later?”

“...no. You just carry the watermelon and whatever else we end up with. I am more than capable of going up the stairs by myself.”

Minho just laughed and tugged her arm, and for a second Lizzie thought he was going to piggyback her right there and then. They’d done that before, after all -- piggyback grocery shopping. It was an experience for everyone involved. Mr. and Mrs. Jeong had almost died laughing, and they’d gone home with some free baked goods for bringing them and the other customers so much joy.

That had been a fucking ridiculous day. It’d all started when Minho had come home with a big container of protein powder under each arm, and Lizzie had gone from skeptical to pissing herself laughing in no time flat, once she saw Minho open one up and taste a bit of it. “This tastes like dry dog shit,” he’d said, and the look of sheer disgust on his face was priceless. (Lizzie had just managed to snap a picture, and for that she was forever thankful.)

“How do you know what dry dog shit tastes like?” she’d asked immediately, smart ass as she was -- and he’d half scowled, half pouted at her.

“You know what I mean.”

“...no, I really don’t.”

“Do you want to taste it? One taste, and I swear you’ll understand.”

“No, thanks. I’m good.”

“I know you are,” he said, and Lizzie had tried to convince herself that the wink he gave her was completely appropriate in nature, “but I’m asking if you want to taste this shit.”

“...you’re sleeping on the couch tonight.”

“Like hell I am.”

“...shut up.” It wasn’t her fault she couldn’t deny herself sleep cuddles. It really wasn’t at all. Minho was amazing at them. But back to the subject at hand. “What do you even expect to do with this protein powder shit, anyway? Don’t most people drink it in smoothies or something? I am not making you smoothies.”

“Why not?”

“Our blender is broken. Day drunk Kyu decided it was a good idea to put his foot through it, remember?”

“Oh yeah, that’s right. I still don’t even know how he managed to do that without breaking bones.”

“Hell if I know. You’re the sports medicine major.”

“Some things can’t be explained by science.”

“Shut up.” Lizzie had laughed, and Minho had tentatively tried adding protein powder to various meals for the next 1.5 days...before deciding that it was absolutely disgusting and throwing it out.

Not before trying to feed some to Gongchannie to “help him grow up big and strong, just like his hyung” -- but Lizzie had shut that down just in time. Her puppy was not eating that nasty ass shit.

The point was, though, that somewhere along the line, Minho had decided to prove that he didn’t need gimmicks like protein powder, anyway, because he was already fucking built. Which...was true. His arms were sinfully nice, especially in tank tops. And don’t even get Lizzie started on his abs...but yeah. Anyway. Piggybacks through the grocery store were how he’d decided to prove his strength. It had worked.

This little stroll through memory lane had sort of eaten up Lizzie’s attention -- so much so, in fact, that she almost tripped over a ‘Wet Floor’ sign and slid to her death.

Luckily, Minho still had his arm locked firmly around her (even as he’d been slowly but surely filling their shopping basket with various necessities), and he caught her before she managed to completely embarrass herself. Just barely.

“Whoa there, are you okay?” a familiar voice asked, and Lizzie found herself blinking at Jeong Jinwoon, son of the store owners and quite possibly the most precious man on the planet, as he checked her for bruises. “Sorry about that. I tried to put the sign in a conspicuous spot, but I guess it wasn’t conspicuous enough, huh?”

“No, no, it’s fine! I’m just an idiot and wasn’t looking where I was going. I’m okay!” Lizzie may have been nervous giggling, and it was only partially because of her almost mishap. Jinwoon was just so fucking cute, it wasn’t fair to anyone at all. Least of all to her. He worked at the store pretty much always, so she’d gotten to know him pretty well, and yeah. He was about as perfect as they came.

Aside from Minho, that is -- and she reminded her somewhat sulky fiancé of that by taking his hand and giving it a little squeeze. He brightened up immediately and slipped his arm around her shoulder again, settling her comfortably against his side. “How are you, Jinwoon? I haven’t seen you around for a while.”

“I’m good! I was away on a choir trip for a week and a half, so that’s why I haven’t been around lately.” That was right, Jinwoon sung in choir. Lizzie wasn’t much for choir music, by any means, but Jinwoon -- he had the voice of a fucking angel. “It was a fun trip, but it’s good to be back and helping my parents out.”

“You know they’re happy for you, though, that you get to travel and do these things!” Lizzie said, because really, it was the truth. Jinwoon’s parents had all his choir certificates and awards up right in the front of the shop, where everyone could see. They were proud of their son, and it showed.

“I know,” Jinwoon said with a little smile, “but I don’t like the thought of them working too hard. I’d rather help them out while I can.” Lizzie and Minho both nodded, because that was a feeling they definitely understood. Jinwoon smiled brightly, then, and clapped a hand on each of their shoulders. “Now, I really should get back to work. I’m glad I got to see you both, though! Did dad tell you about the watermelons we just got in?”

“Yeah, he did. We were meaning to get one!” Lizzie answered immediately.

“They really are amazing. Make sure you grab one! I’ll see you next time~” Jinwoon said, eye smile in full effect as he gave one final wave and disappeared into the back of the store.

“I guess we really should pick up a watermelon then, huh?” Minho asked, ruffling Lizzie’s hair just because he could.

“Yeah, probably, now that we’ve told both Jinwoon and his dad that we would.”

“I think it’s a good idea. Subak hwachae sounds good.”

“It does. Okay. We’ll make that tonight.” Lizzie smiled, and Minho took that as an invitation to kiss her -- so kiss her he did, right in the middle of the produce aisle.

There was no one else around, at the moment. A quick stolen kiss was fine. There would be more where that came from later~ But first, they had to finish up this grocery shopping.

It didn’t take them long, since they’d fallen into a routine with it long ago. They knew each other’s likes and dislikes by now, so it was really no problem. Lizzie talked through things she was thinking about making that week, and Minho gave his approval (pretty much always) and stuck the necessary ingredients into the basket. Except -- 

“Why do you always want to buy shrimp? You don’t like shrimp,” Minho told her flatly. He snatched the package of shrimp out of her hands and returned it to its rightful place on the shelf.

“Shrimp tacos are good,” Lizzie replied, picking the package back up again -- but Minho just forced her hand back down.

“No. You always think that, but you never end up liking them once you’ve made them. Let’s buy something else.”

“You like shrimp, though, right? We should buy some.”

“I do like shrimp, but I like steak more. Steak tacos sound good. Can we have those tonight?”

“Steak is also more expensive. Just how long do you want us to have to save up before we can afford that wedding, huh?” Lizzie poked him in the side. He knew she was just giving him shit, so he gave it right back -- by putting the shrimp on the highest shelf, where she couldn’t reach it.

“Let’s eat steak tonight,” he insisted. Lizzie really had no choice but to agree, when he was smiling at her like that. (Plus, yeah. She really did like steak better, too.) Their shopping basket overloaded with food and a watermelon tucked under Minho’s arm, they had enough to feed a small army...or themselves and whichever members of Kyuline decided to drop by for meals that week, which happened more often than not. Mrs. Jeong rang them up and expressed delight that they were going to eat so well, and Mr. Jeong made sure they’d picked out the biggest watermelon of the bunch. They made their purchases (15% off, of course), and finally they were on their way back home.

Even though this was something they did all the time, it was still pretty nice to walk together, just the two of them. Minho had the majority of the groceries upon his own insistence, but he made sure he had one hand free to hold Lizzie’s, like always. They walked the couple of blocks back to the apartment in comfortable quiet, a little worn out and a little hungry from their excursion. Yeah. They’d eat well today.

But first, Minho broke the silence with an all important question.

“What do you think are the odds Gongchannie pissed on the floor?”

“...is this really the first thing you’re going to say to me on the walk home?”

“I’m serious -- I didn’t let him out this morning. Did you?”

“...no, I didn’t. Shit.”

“If he took a shit, you’re taking care of it.”

“You are definitely sleeping on the couch tonight.”

And this is how it went, all the rest of the way home. Loving bickering and elbows to each other’s ribs, all the way up the stairs to the apartment (where Gongchannie had, miraculously, not yet pissed himself -- though he did make a break for it the second the door was open. They’d trained him well.).