After the matter of tuxedos was resolved, the natural progression of things led the two grooms to the topic of rings. Both wedding AND engagement rings!

When Levi realized that he was getting married to his baby, yet not only had he not officially proposed, but his baby’s lovely hands didn’t even have his ring on, he felt so sour inside that his face scrunched up like a squeezed sponge.

This needed to be corrected! Right now! (ꐦ °Д°)

But how could he correct it when he didn’t even have the rings yet?! ‎(ﾉಥ益ಥ)ﾉ ┻━┻ What was he supposed to do? Reuse the rings from the previous engagement? Of course he couldn’t do that!!!

Even if there was no issue with the ring size and the feminine design, how could he let his precious wear things that were not just picked by someone else but even worn by someone else before?! Even if he used his feet to think, he still wouldn’t manage to come up with such a stupid idea!

But, ah, the realization that those slender, white fingers still wore no rings of his was unbearable! No matter how he looked at it, it was no good! Yet, he could do little else but swallow down all the indignation and bitterness into his stomach, to silently brew until the day he would have a ring to put on those fingers! Which should be tomorrow afternoon. So… he should be able to barely survive it until then?

Noah sneaked a peek at his fiancé’s dark face, and his flipping through the ring catalogs involuntarily paused. Why was Levi suddenly looking like a personification of a storm cloud? Wasn’t he all smiles just a minute ago with his pig trotters touching everywhere?

Yet as soon as the women sent the ring catalogs over, it was as if he had been struck by lightning. His face turned black, and even his pig trotters forgot to make trouble!

Noah’s brown head tilted to the side, and his brain cogs turned and turned. …Could it be? Noah promptly nudged the other with his shoulder in what he thought to be a teasing gesture, but in the eyes of others, it turned into something clearly coquettish. “What’s wrong? Your tummy hurting again? Do you perhaps have gastritis? When was the last time you had a health check-up?”

Levi smiled a grimace filled with helplessness and bitterness – his baby still remembered those last couple of times he ran to the toilet! And he still hadn’t figured out that Levi didn’t have issues with his sensitive stomach but his sensitive lower half! Yet, Levi could neither explain himself nor deny the accusation because his stomach was indeed cramping right now due to the stress-induced acid!

Levi let out a long and heavy sigh, and his right arm wrapped itself around Noah’s waist. With what seemed to be practiced ease coupled with the demeanor of a wronged child asking for hugs and kisses, Levi pulled his darling into his lap. “Baby, don’t worry, I have regular check-ups every half a year and am perfectly healthy… I’ll feel better in a bit…” And with that, Levi’s head weakly slumped into the crook of Noah’s neck, his nose burying itself into Noah’s flesh to inhale a deep breath of fresh and fragrant scent unique to his precious darling.

Levi made this series of actions look perfectly natural, but red-faced Noah still didn’t find this close intimacy perfectly natural, ah! QAQ And what fresh and fragrant scent?!? He was a boy in the middle of his puberty who took his last shower half a day ago! How could his body possibly have a fresh and fragrant scent?!

Blackie, ‘Ah, you don’t understand, host! Your husband has a serious case of brain damage! ╮(╯∀╰)╭ To him, even your farts would smell divine! Try it if you don’t believe me! (¬‿¬)

‘…But, seriously, it’s only been half a day of sitting around, (◞‸ლ) you smell fine… Your fruity body wash hasn’t even fully evaporated yet…’

Noah didn’t know what to do. On the one hand, this fiancé of his was too brazen and left him feeling too flustered to concentrate on browsing the rings. On the other hand, he couldn’t stand the idea of the other being in pain, and if hugging him like a plushie made the other feel better, then… then… what else could Noah do but resign himself to being hugged? (⁄ ⁄> ﹏

At least for now…

“How about we call Maery over for a round of healing?” Noah cranked up his soothing to its maximum output, and the tense muscles wrapped around his torso visibly relaxed.

“No…” Levi’s murmur tickled the sensitive flesh of Noah’s neck. “It’s not something a healing can solve…”

‘Then what about soothing?’ –was what Noah thought. But there was no need to voice the question because his Soother senses had already told him the answer. Since his soothing was super effective, then the cause of Levi’s bad mood couldn’t have been the stomachache.

Noah’s eyes darted between the catalog of super-expensive designer wedding rings and the black tuft of hair on his shoulder… Could it be that Levi found what they were currently doing annoying?

On second thought, that conjecture seemed reasonable. Levi didn’t look like the type who’d have the patience for ring shopping. Or any kind of shopping for that matter. He looked more like the type who’d enter the store and just buy the most expensive article he could find that looked acceptable.

For this groom of his, being forced to look at rings might feel like he was slowly dying inside, yet he voiced not a single complaint. Noah didn’t know whether he should feel touched or amused. In the end, he just covered Levi’s arm that was hooked around his waist with his own, “If you are not feeling well, you don’t need to force yourself. Lie down. I can go through the catalogs myself and narrow down the selection to a couple of candidates…”

Before he could finish, Levi interrupted him, “It’s not like that. I want to pick a beautiful pair of rings –no, two pairs– together with you… I just…” Levi trailed off, not knowing how to properly explain it, “I just don’t feel well thinking that we are getting married in two days, yet we are only now picking rings… it feels… rushed and insincere… I feel like… like you deserve better… like I’ve wronged you…” Levi uncomfortably kneaded his own chest as if doing so would make the heart (and stomach) underneath not ache as much. “I… I don’t like it… with Maery, this wedding was just a formality, but now it’s different… I want to do this right…”

Noah’s sugar-injected heart thrashed against his ribcage. This man was usually so eloquent, yet when talking about feelings, all that eloquence suddenly got swept away with the wind.

It was both cute and… and so easy for Noah to misunderstand… “Why is it different?”

Levi’s response came out clear this time, “I didn’t like Maery, and I didn’t want to marry her…” ‘…but I love you, and really want to marry you… of course it’s different…’

Noah couldn’t hear the second half of Levi’s words, but the possible implications were not missed on him. No matter how he told himself that he shouldn’t misunderstand Levi’s affection for infatuation, his own wildly beating heart refused to settle back down.

In the end, even he himself could no longer discern what it was that he wanted from the other.

Or maybe, he just didn’t dare think about it.

Noah sighed ruefully and poked Levi’s exposed cheek, “…Have you had enough yet?”

The head of black hair on his shoulder shook in denial, “Not enough.”

Noah’s two bright eyes unconsciously curved, “My dad will flip again if he finds you being so sticky when he gets back from his call.”

The threat did have some effect. Levi’s motionless form stirred. His head raised, and he rubbed his cheek against Noah’s soft one, “Just a bit more…”

Noah let out another sigh, charged to the brim with doting helplessness, “You are having too much fun with this play-pretend. Be careful it doesn’t turn into reality.”