Bound by Marriage ✔NamJin

Chapter 3: With This I Thee Wed

Jin slept particularly lightly that night, drifting in and out of sleep whenever he heard a noise. His parents had stayed up late with the Kims, which Jin resented because he would have liked to have gotten to know them, although it was somewhat awkward. When his mother came to wake him at around eight in the morning, he was already half awake. He bathed and dressed in lightweight lavender clothes, and while brushing his hair, he made his way down for breakfast. He wasn't finished by the time he got to the dining room, but momentarily stopped in surprise to see the Kim family at the table and eating breakfast with his parents.

After a second, he resumed brushing his hair and sat down in his normal spot next to his father, and smiled at the general room. "Good morning." He said with a nod, then turned to his plate and began to eat. He half-listened to the talk around him, and half snuck glances at his husband. It was strange to think that he had to sneak looks at his husband, but then again, they weren't even friends yet. He caught Namjoon glancing at him a few times, as well.

When everyone had finished eating and their parents were sitting around talking, Jin stood up and motioned to Namjoon to follow him. "Will you help me finish packing?" He asked, to which Namjoon nodded to him, then acknowledged the rest of the room that was staring at them with another nod.

They walked a bit down the hallway before he turned his body while still walking to look at him. "Morning, Namjoon-ah." He said, a little shyly. It was awkward for him, being the first time he had said his name and feeling weird about it.

Namjoon grinned. "You've already said 'morning'," he informed him.

Seokjin grinned a little to himself. "Well, I wasn't really directing it straight at you that time, Namjoon-ah" he said, trying to get used to his name.

"Y'know, you seem a lot friendlier when you're not around your parents. Has anyone ever told you that before?"

Jin was slightly surprised. "Well, they make this situation a lot more difficult than it needs to be, I think. I have trouble being around them when they do things like this to me."

"They've arranged your marriage before?" Namjoon asked with mirth in his eyes.

Jin laughed. "No, no! What I mean is when they go on about my looks. It's hard enough meeting you and your parents for the first time without knowing that all they've told you about me, my name, and that I'm handsome."

Namjoon smiled. "I didn't know what to think when I first saw you. I was expecting a walking porcelain doll."

Jin groaned. "I might as well be, in their eyes. I had no idea what to think of you; I hadn't even heard your name before! All I knew was that your father and mine are friends, which could easily be gathered in like, a second with them."

They had arrived at his room. Jin opened the door and motioned for Namjoon to enter first, then followed him inside. "I'm surprised we've never met. Your father has dropped in on many occasions to see my father." Jin shuffled around his room a little. "I was actually there when they arranged this."

Jin spun around from where he stood at the bookshelf gathering books. "Were they drunk? Were they playing poker or something?" Jin asked frantically.

Namjoon frowned a little. "My dad may have been slightly drunk, but as far as I know your father wasn't. My dad had been drinking a bit before your dad arrived and immediately started talking about you."

Jin leaned back against the bookshelf like a huge weight had been taken off of him, and yet the burden of his father not having been under the influence made him feel weighed down once more. "What'd he say?"

Namjoon shrugged and sat down on his bed. "Basically 'My son Jin is a handsome man and is your son's age. Let's arrange a marriage between them!' and my dad was like 'Okay Seo.' and then they went and got us married."

Jin slumped to the floor. "Just like that?" He said weakly.

Namjoon leaned forward, his hands clasped between his knees as if that would get him a better look at Jin or something. "Well, I was paraphrasing. But that's the gist of it. The point is, your father got straight to business and my father was quick to agree with him. I think they had discussed it before."

"Oh..." Jin sighed, feeling a bit relieved. He looked at the floor. "Please don't be offended, but I really didn't want to get married just yet. I don't even know you. I mean, it would have been one thing if they forced us to date or hang out together all the time but I think our dads threw caution to the wind and skipped all the important parts of a relationship."

He grinned. "I'm not offended. I practically bust a gut trying to stop them from marrying us when they agreed on it."

Jin stood up and went to sit next to him, leaning back on his arms as Namjoon continued to lean forward, now with his neck twisted so he could look at Jin. "You seemed rather surrendered to it when I first met you."

Namjoon smirked. "Well, they married us a long time back, so I've had a while to mull it over. That was practically a month ago."

Jin sat up a little. "I only learned about it around two weeks ago! God..." He trailed off with an angry expression on his face. He calmed down after a minute in which Namjoon never once pressed him to talk or looked like he was anxious for him to keep speaking. He was calm and patient. "Anyway...I really appreciated that ring you got me. It's so beautiful!" He held up his hand to look at it. "Seeing it makes me feel a whole lot better about this."

Namjoon smiled. "I'm glad, Jin," he responded which made Jin feel a weird tingling sensation hearing him say his name. He sat up all the way.

"Do you have a ring?" Jin asked him apprehensively.

Namjoon only shook his head and shrugged. I couldn't afford to get the whole wedding package, sorry."

Jin smiled. "You don't have to apologize!" He stood up and went over to his jewelry box and took out a simple gold ring of his own and walked back to Namjoon, sitting down right next to him. "Here. It's the least I can do, and it'll make this seem less fake, I guarantee it!"

Namjoon looked surprisingly vulnerable at that moment and Jin saw his resemblance to his mother shining through. He smiled softly and slid it onto his ring finger. "With this, I thee wed," Jin said, staring straight at him. Namjoon wasn't looking at the ring, but staring right back at him. "That's what you said when you gave me my ring, isn't it?"

"I didn't realize you had heard that."

Jin blushed awkwardly. "Yeah, well...I did."

Namjoon leaned back. "I said it because we didn't have a wedding. That's what they usually say when the rings are exchanged, you know?"

Jin also leaned back so they were facing each other. "So, you going to help me with my stuff, or should I kick you out of my room?"

Namjoon sighed. "How troublesome." He muttered, but stood up and pulled him up as well. "Show me what to do and I'll do it."

Jin grinned. "Alright, grab those over there..."

~Edited

A/n: Thanks for reading and voting. doritozbish thanks for your reviews. In this story Namjoon's favorite word is troublesome 😁. It's a reference to Lan Zhan's favorite word 'Boring' in the Untamed series.