Work Text:
Minjeong thinks leaving work is the best feeling ever in the whole wide world. Just the thought of resigning for the day, ripping off her lanyard to throw elsewhere where she can pick it up for the next morning, starting up her car with the only one destination in her mind being home—thinking of those alone give her a sort of relief. But nothing, and she means nothing, can compete with leaving work to go home back to her wife.
Her wife. The love of her life. The one and only light source at the end of her dark tunnel. The sun that shines her days when the moon hides. The moon that illuminates her night skies when the sun resigns. The woman of her dreams. The woman of her reality. The woman of her nightmares. Her wife, Yu Jimin.
Yu Jimin was a big time loser back in middle school. She wore fake bulky glasses because she thought she looked cute. She had shoulder length jet-black hair that looked akin to an old mop. And she was always yapping about something.
Yu Jimin in high school was something else. She grew mature and taller and skinnier. She ditched those stupid glasses, thank god; otherwise Minjeong wouldn't be here today. She grew out her hair to her waist, kept it silky smooth and luscious. Her style improved and she became one of the hottest girls in school.
And Minjeong? Minjeong had just always been there in the background with her plain white backpack, hairdo always being a lame low ponytail, as a random bystander who acted so gay. But that was until she hit Jimin in the face whilst they were in P.E. playing dodgeball—
It wasn't on purpose! She just.. panicked when she saw a hot girl across the court and belatedly noticed she had shit hand-to-eye coordination and sent the ball flying in Hot Girl's direction instead of the student beside her.
Was it worth getting a handful of unnerving stares and disapproving whispers for a whole week? Probably not. But did it land her a date to the Senior Prom Night? Fuck yeah! Even though she still has no idea why Jimin asked her in the first place. She just blames it on the ball for knocking some parts of Jimin's brain out of her head.
Senior Prom Night was a disaster, by the way. Minjeong nearly tripped and broke her nose when Jimin came to pick her up, they got there significantly late because Jimin almost ran a cat over (She spent a good ten minutes stopping herself from crying) and almost missed the opening performance, and the worst of all, they did not get voted king and queen like Minjeong had hoped. But it was fine; they were each other's king and queen, and crowns and tiaras meant nothing. (They were pissed and ended up staying up until 3 AM talking shit about everyone in school.) Oh, and— They had their first kiss that night, too, which made prom basically useless!
And then after that, college and stuff took place. They enrolled in different universities, which meant they didn't get to spend every hour of the day together; but at least they didn't have to cross borders to visit each other. (That's a mega plus.) Minjeong got a degree in Business Management because why not; Jimin got a degree in Law and spent another three or so years in law school. (That was hell.)
Admittedly, Minjeong decided it was best to let Jimin finish school first. Reasonable, because who the hell wants to be in law school and engaged at the same time; the pressure must be insane! Besides, she couldn't just drop the question when Jimin was only in front of her in her sweats, ranting about law to her, not caring whether or not she understood anything, and looking exactly like her future wife. It was basic human decency, to say the least.
The proposal, however, did not go the way she wanted it to. She didn't even get to land on one knee. Instead she stupidly, very idiotically just blurted it out like it was some sort of spur-of-the-moment type of thing. They were simply taking a walk on the shore, hand in hand, talking like it was any normal day and one of their many, many dates. And when Jimin ran into the water after a dumb little dare, Minjeong's mind stopped working.
“Jimin,” She called out as her feet began sinking into the wet sand. “Please marry me.” Oh my god. Why the hell did she have to beg?
And her then girlfriend froze in the water, not even budging when a small wave came and crashed into her back. She looked like she just saw a fucking ghost. It was kind of horrifying to see her just standing there and not saying anything.
But Minjeong wasn't a little bitch. So she fished out the engagement ring from her pocket and held it tightly between her fingers, showing it to Jimin. When she opened her mouth, the romantic speech she'd prepared and practiced millions of times was thrown out the window and the only thing that came out was: “Like.. actually.”
She said yes! They almost drowned when Jimin jumped on her the second the ring was pushed onto her finger. But she wouldn't have it any other way.
Their best friends, Aeri and Yizhuo, were their maids of honor. Their wedding looked like it came straight out of some dark academia shitshow. The color theme was black and midnight blue, because Jimin wanted it to be. The cake was still white but with a sprinkle of blueish purple. And their dresses were respectively black (Minjeong) and blue (Jimin). The wedding didn't flow like the usual traditional weddings, by the way. I mean, it did have what usual weddings would have—ceremony, reception, and all that fun stuff—but Aeri and Yizhuo decided to have some fun with it. (The dirty dancing was definitely Aeri's idea, although Minjeong might've been the one to suggest it. And there was a food fight declared by the newlyweds themselves moments before the wedding ended, so everyone left with a bit of the buffet on their suits and dresses.)
Anyway, the point is: Yu Jimin is her wife. Has been for two months and nineteen days now. And Minjeong still can't believe it.
“Honey, I'm home!”
Cheesy and generic, but she's always wanted to say that. She kept seeing it in movies and stuff at a younger age, so a part of her really wanted to be able to say that at least once in her lifetime. Now she says it every time she gets home from work, no matter if Jimin still hasn't returned yet.
Today, like most days, Jimin's busy moving about in the kitchen. Wait, no. In their kitchen, in their house. God, she cannot believe it, still. They're living under the same roof, in their home that they pay for together, just like other married couples. And they've even talked about getting pets. (No kids yet. They're waiting until they can trust Aeri and Yizhuo enough with children to make them babysit whenever they're busy, obviously.)
Stepping into the kitchen, Minjeong lets herself lean back against the marble countertop, admiring her wife's broad back as she worked at the stove. “How's my cheese ball doing?”
“When will you stop calling me that?”
Okay. Minjeong will admit that calling her wife cheese ball isn't her greatest idea that she came up with. She's used multiple nicknames on Jimin, and she won't outright say that almost all of them were weird but she will say that they were unique. Cheese ball came up one day when Jimin kept being strangely flirty with everything she did and said. (It was during their honeymoon. Maybe Jimin thought by being a loser trying to flirt would be cute. News flash: she was cute. Minjeong just didn't have the heart to tell her it was also disgustingly cheesy.) That happened, like, a month ago. The nickname just stuck with her, so no blaming the innocent!
“I thought you liked it?” She says as Jimin turns the stove off. That's a lie. Jimin doesn't like it. In fact, it's one of the few nicknames she hates with a passion and Minjeong has no idea why. (Calling your significant other a cheese ball is adorable! Minjeong will stand her ground no matter how stupid she sounds.)
Jimin spins around to face her and she's wearing her angry face. But the only thing running in Minjeong's mind is: Aww, look at her. My lovely wife. She's so cute! because, honestly, Jimin is a living, breathing and walking teddy bear.
Her wife crosses her arms, and Minjeong grins. Jimin looks so adorable despite still being in her intimidating lawyer outfit. I'm so in love.
“Why aren't you hugging me?” Jimin finally speaks. And then Minjeong's rushing forward to throw her arms around her wife, peppering her face with kisses, pouring her heart's content all over her. When Jimin pulls her close by her waist, Minjeong takes it as her cue to slot their lips together, kissing her soundly like this is the first time they're seeing each other in decades. (Truth: They were separated for ten hours but that's apparently too much for them.)
As they part, Minjeong makes sure to press one last kiss on the mole under Jimin's lips. It's a habit of hers that she developed halfway into their relationship, and she doesn't have plans on dropping it. She sighs contentedly, “I missed you.”
Jimin plants a kiss on her forehead. “I missed you more.”
The utensils on the table clatter loudly when Minjeong slams her hands on the surface. Neither Jimin or Minjeong pay heed to it.
“You had to defend that asshole?” Minjeong's question bounces off the walls of their home. Their neighbors most definitely heard that but they should be used to it by now. Living next to a couple that consists of two happy-go-lucky people has its advantages and disadvantages; loud noise just happens to be one of the detriments and it comes as a package along with Jimin and Minjeong.
When her wife simply shrugs her shoulders, Minjeong breathes fire. “But he stabbed five people. Without a reason!”
“He did,” Jimin tells her to keep it down. Despite her cases being confidential, she still shares them with Minjeong because: (1) there are no secrets between them, (2) her trust in Minjeong is off the charts, (3) her integrity as a lawyer is always endangered when it comes to her wife, and (4) Minjeong will pry even if Jimin were to keep it from her. “But it's my duty as a lawyer to defend my clients.”
Minjeong finally picks up her neglected spoon. “Can't you decline certain clients?” She never understood why Jimin chooses to defend some of her obviously guilty clients. Who the fuck would willingly take on the role of an attorney for some serial killer? (Apparently, her wife.)
“Cases, babe. Not clients.” Jimin corrects her. (Not that she really cares, anyway.) “And yes, I can.”
“So why didn't you?”
Jimin, instead of answering, lifts up her chopsticks that carry a chunk of eggroll and feeds it to her wife. She says something about the eggs being too bland and stands to step into the kitchen, coming back with a salt shaker. (Jimin loves salt. She puts it on everything she deems tasteless. Well, except for drinks, of course. She's probably eaten more salt than she's eaten Min— Anyhow!)
Minjeong toes at Jimin's shins when she doesn't say anything after settling back into her seat across the table. “Why didn't you decline his case?”
“How else am I supposed to earn money?”
“Jimin!”
She's smiling, and Minjeong doesn't even try to hide the fact that she's smiling as well. (She calls it The Jimin Effect. If she smiles, you have to smile. There's no fighting it.) “Seriously, Jimin.”
Nodding, Jimin reaches forward for Minjeong's hand on the table. “My goal was to become a lawyer. And now that I am one, I do the job. If I'm going to do the job, I'm going to do it regardless of the case or client with little exceptions.” She pauses to meet her wife's eyes as their fingers intertwine. “Now can we talk about something else?”
“....One last question,” Minjeong flashes an easy smile. “Would you defend me if I killed someone?”
“Of course.”
“Not just because I'm your wife?”
“Yes.”
“But what if we—”
“Minjeong.”