"Pepero Game!" The MC of the night reads out into the microphone before holding up the piece of paper where the suggested game is written on with red ink."Now let's see who will play this game."

A loud, united roar of cheers goes through the room as Changmin makes his way to the second box which holds several pieces of paper with students' names on them. This is the loudest cheer Changmin has gotten so far and he knows why.

"Y'all hoping to play this with your crush, don't you?" He chuckles upon receiving a united 'Yes' in return."People who are taken can reject to play this game. We can't risk blood to be shed this evening. I'm responsible for everything so I'd need to clean all that crap."

It's typical for Changmin to bring a little bit of snark into everything. And people love him that way.

He puts his right hand into the box and - after a while of fumbling his way through it - gives his assistant a questioning look which no one beside Jaejoong himself sees, only receiving an innocent smile from Jaejoong in return before he takes out two pieces of paper to unfold them. The subtle hint of a smirk gets visible on his lips before he finally reads out the two names everyone is waiting for.

"Park Yoochun." Whistles and catcalls."Kim Junsu."

Over 500 students in year 13 and Changmin manages to draw these two of all people.

"What a coincidence." Changmin mutters to himself before he looks over to where Jaejoong stands."Or not."

His assistant is trying to play cupid once again and his plan will either work wonders or make the whole world around Yoochun and Junsu crumble down. But Changmin knows Jaejoong would never meddle in the business of hearts without thinking things through first.

Changmin's string of thoughts is being broken once Yoochun enters the small stage the MC is standing on, approaching him with a wary smile. The two of them then look around in the crowd, hoping to see someone with blonde hair moving the stage's way, but there comes no blonde.

Because Junsu's hair is now orange, the strands glowing in the light as he enters the stage as well.

„Okay, so the two of you are willing to play the game?“

„Yeah.“ Junsu says with a nod while Yoochun opts for nodding only.

„But we'll need another couple to go against you so I'll have to ask my assistant to come and help me out a little.“ Whistles are heard as Jaejoong approaches Changmin.“He ain't playing the game with me. You are nasty for wanting me to die by Yunho's hands. I'd rather have Mr. Honors Student Jung Yunho get up here and use the pepero game as an excuse to kiss his boyfriend in front of around 557 people.“

Laughter roars through the crowd and not long after, the aforementioned boy makes his way up the stage to stand right beside his boyfriend.

„Okay, Yunho and Jaejoong will go first and Yoochun and Junsu will have to beat the record they set or else they'll lose and have to get punished.“

Changmin then walks towards the table standing on the right side of the stage and gets a package of pepero sticks, quickly unpacking the treat before he takes one out and gives it to Yunho.

Jaejoong opens his mouth and allows for Yunho to put the chocolate-free end of the pepero stick into his mouth whereas he clamps only up to 2 centimeters between his front teeth. Yunho smirks and inches closer until he can take the chocolate-covered part of the pepero stick into his mouth, chewing it down until he can kiss his boyfriend and end the game in the middle of loud cheers from their schoolmates.

„Yuck and I gotta take the thing out of Jaejoong's mouth!“ Changmin grimaces but holds his right hand open to take what's left of Jaejoong's and Yunho's pepero stick.

The then takes it between forefinger and thumb to hold it in place as Jaejoong gets a ruler to measure its length.

Changmin squints his eyes and stares at the ruler for a long time to be sure before he announces the result.“2,4 cm. Well good luck beating that."

All eyes are then on Yoochun and Junsu who exchange a wary glance before stepping forward whereas Junsu takes the pepero stick from Changmin to put its chocolate-free end between Yoochun's front teeth which hold it in place. Out of courtesy, Yoochun sits down on the chair nearby to make it easier for Junsu since the other is shorter than him by a few centimeters.

He sees Junsu stepping closer and his eyes are entirely on the other's lips and the way they part before his habit of stretching his tongue out a little first before taking a bite from something gets the better of him. Yoochun always loved that habit of his.

Junsu inches closer and places his hands on Yoochun's neck, his fingers seeming so small and delicate that way as he tries to hold Yoochun in place and takes the other end of the pepero stick into his mouth, chewing it down slowly but steadily.

The closer they get, the harder Yoochun's heart is pounding and when Junsu's lips touch his, he feels goosebumps spreading on his skin. It's not quite a kiss and the moment passes by so fast, but it still manages to rock his very being.

The loud cheers resonating in the room make him flinch slightly. He had been so focused on Junsu that he almost forgot that they are not alone.

Junsu steps back and Changmin approaches him with an outstretched hand, making him place the rest of their pepero stick on the other's palm carefully.

Jaejoong sports a huge grin as he rushes by and helps Changmin to measure the small piece of bread.

Changmin hums."2,6 cm. You lose, but nice try."

"Maybe next time." Yoochun chuckles rather awkwardly and he can see Jaejoong holding his laughter, his right hand slowly coming up to scratch the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"How about a second chance?" Jaejoong suggests as he approaches Changmin."Yunho and I are a couple so we got some advantages in the game. How about giving Yoochun and Junsu another chance? But if they can't beat us this time around, it's game over."

"Well." Changmin looks at the aforementioned pair."What do you say?"

Yoochun and Junsu, now feeling obviously uncomfortable as everyone waits for their interaction in deadly silence, exchange a glance before Yoochun decides to speak.

"Would that be okay?"

Junsu looks right into the expectant faces of the people surrounding them before his eyes are back on Yoochun. And he nods, albeit hesitantly.

"Sure."

People are clapping and crying out in joy, visibly happy with their decision as Junsu is the one to sit down this time around because Yoochun feels like offering the chair to him before the slightly taller student places the chocolate-free end of a new pepero stick between Junsu's front teeth.

He gulps, unsure of where to stare at as he struggles between looking into Junsu's eyes to see his reactions to what he does and Junsu's lips which look way too tempting to be ignored.

Smiling in an attempt of trying to hide his nervousness, Yoochun leans in and only parts his lips when they are touching the pepero stick. He stares right at Junsu and sees the other shut his eyes in embarrassment while a hint of a smile is visible on his face.

Yoochun chews his way closer and closer until he is finally touching Junsu's lips with his own and although the game stops there, Yoochun doesn't. He places his hands on Junsu's cheeks and pulls back while swallowing the treat in his mouth.

And Junsu does the same.

The other is simply staring at him, waiting.

So Yoochun leans in once again to claim Junsu with a kiss so gentle that it feels like a cloud's touch. It's a soft, careful dance of lips. An innocent kiss full of longing and Yoochun feels himself shivering as the strong wave of intimacy engulfs him.

Some go silent, others get even louder.

Neither of them ever expected for things to turn out like this. Not after what happened between Yoochun and Junsu only a month back and how things have been between them ever since. But no one minds.

Jaejoong sinks his front teeth into his bottom lip and merely grins like a content kitten when his boyfriend wraps one arm around him and whispers a soft 'well done' into his ear.

Yoochun and Junsu feel and hear nothing but each other as they kiss and at some point, Junsu finds himself wrapping his arms around Yoochun.

But unfortunately, the two of them are human beings who need some air to survive and have to break apart to catch some.

And that's where the kiss ends while their inner turmoil starts.

"Well." Changmin speaks up when he realizes that Yoochun and Junsu will not continue where they left off."I guess you failed in the game. You lost. Kinda."

The pair says nothing. They simply stare at each other before letting go and bring some distance between them. Everything that follows happens in a blur and when Changmin dismisses them, Yoochun is the first to walk down the stage and make his way out of the room.

His feet carry him out of the school building where he is surrounded by cold but fresh air. And he needs all of it right now to clear his mind.

"What was that?"

Yoochun turns around to look at the woman standing by the school entrance he came out from not long ago and feels the urge to flee."What was what?"

"The kiss. Why did you kiss him?"

"Because I wanted to." He admits without any hesitation.

"I thought that you ...why did you break up with him?"

Yoochun looks at her in confusion, trying to figure out the rest of the sentence she did not finish.

And then, it hits him."Did you think that we ended the relationship because I wanted to go back to you?"

Jimin does not reply, but her silence says more than thousand words ever could.

"I think you misunderstood something." Yoochun takes a deep breath."Junsu was the one to break up, not me."
 

Yoochun stares at the screen of his computer and bites down onto the pen between his teeth, his eyebrows knitted together in a frown. He has been trying to get the English assignment done for over two hours now and there is not even one word he has managed to write down yet.

Sighing, Yoochun grabs the pen from in between his teeth and flings it against the wall in front of him in frustration.

He thought they'd be fine with the pepero game and what followed considering that the two of them decided to part ways peacefully a month ago. Junsu obviously thought the same or he would've refused to get up that stage and play the game with him.

But nothing is okay anymore.

The walls of the perfect world in which two exes can be friends without letting the past bother them is crumbling down, each stone crashing down on them in full force and putting further distance between them.

Yoochun then runs his left forefinger across his lips, his thoughts on the way Junsu's lips touched them not long ago. It has not been the first time for them to join their lips like that, but the impact it had on Yoochun yesterday night was way greater than it had been in the past.

His hands are shaking and Yoochun has to clench them into fists to make it stop.

A sudden buzzing sound distracts him and makes him look towards his phone as its display shows the preview of a message sent by no one else but Jaejoong and as much as he loves his friend, he kind of wants to avoid talking to the other right now.

Not because Jaejoong is getting on his nerves or anything of that sort, - because one can never have enough of the 4D prince in their life – but Jaejoong is someone who can look right through everyone no matter how hard they try to hide things from him and sometimes, it feels uncomfortable talking to someone who knows you so well and tells you things you do not dare to admit to yourself.

But he can't avoid Jaejoong forever. They are classmates and best friends, so there is really no hideout in this town left for Yoochun to go to. Jaejoong knows all of them.

From: JJ
Sweet of you to think you c...

Yoochun sighs and picks up his phone to unlock it, soon checking his friend's latest message.

From: JJ
Sweet of you to think you can avoid
talking to me forever, naive pumpkin you.

A short snort escapes from in between his lips and Yoochun swiftly replies to the other.

To: JJ
I wasn't avoiding you.

From: JJ
Try lying to me one more time
and I'll send Yunho over to
beat you up.

From: JJ
So, what's up with you and Junsu?

Straight to the point, just what he's used from Jaejoong. When there is something Kim Jaejoong really wants to talk about, he will not let you go until he's told you everything he wanted to say.

To: JJ
Nothing.

From: JJ
Yeah, because 'nothing' can make
Mr. Sunshine turn into a deflated
duckie.

Yoochun takes a deep breath before pressing his lips into a thin line.

To: JJ
The pepero game made things so awkward.

Not even a minute after the message was sent, he receives an incoming call from Jaejoong and chuckles slightly before taking it, putting his friend on loudspeakers.

"I didn't want to make things worse for you guys, I'm sorry."

And he is sincere, Yoochun knows. Jaejoong only wanted to help because he knows that Yoochun still got feelings for Junsu, but things went kind of wrong. Not in the 'the world is ending' kind of wrong, but bad enough to make the two of them walk around almost soullessly in school earlier today.

"I ed up." Jaejoong sighs.

"Don't say that." Yoochun frowns in disagreement."It could've worked. It was me who walked away and made things bad."

Another sigh.

"They say sighing shortens your lifespan, you know?" Yoochun drawled.

"That's okay. Yunho sighs just as often so at least we can shorten our lives together."

The younger student raises his eyebrows."That's creepy."

"Whatever." Jaejoong chuckles."But back to more important things. What do you want to do now?"

"I...I don't know."

"Do you want him back?"

"I do. You know I do." Yoochun takes a deep breath."I never stop wanting it. But I don't want to risk making things between us worse either."

"Whatever you want to do, you should act on it fast. Time won't stop for anyone."

Yoochun knows Jaejoong is right. They are graduating soon and the chances of Yoochun getting another chance to win Junsu back after going their separate ways after school are far and few. The clock is ticking and he needs to make a decision.
 

"Jun-" Yoochun sighs as the other walks away, making him stop mid-sentence for the umpteenth time that day.

Junsu has been avoiding him all day long. But this time around, Yoochun won't let him escape that easily.

It's now or never.

"Junsu." He calls out once again and hurries to catch up, quickly holding the other back by his left wrist the moment he has the chance to get a hold of him."Stop avoiding me."

Their interaction naturally catches the attention of many around them and forces Yoochun to drag Junsu along towards a less crowded corner of the school. Yoochun can see the hesitation in Junsu's eyes when he takes a glance at him, but the other does not stop. He follows Yoochun wordlessly and gives him hope.

"We can talk here." Junsu says suddenly and refuses to go further the moment they have left the school building through one of the emergency exits.

Yoochun agrees with a nod and let go of Junsu although he admittedly doesn't want to.

"I'm sorry that I just walked away after the kiss." Yoochun blurted out, soon taking a deep breath."I should've stayed and talked to you about it."

Junsu shakes his head."No, you don't have to say sorry. For nothing. Let's just-"

The shorter student sighs.

"Let's just forget about it and move on, okay?"

"What if I don't want to?"

Junsu furrows his eyebrows."What?"

"What if I don't want to move on?" There is silence afterwards as the two of them stare at each other."I don't want to move on. Neither from the kiss nor from you."

"Yoochun we both know that it-"

"That it won't work out? No, we don't. We won't know unless we try."

Slight despair can be seen on Junsu's face as he shakes his head and looks away.

He has seemingly given up on them, Yoochun can see it. But he doesn't want to do the same just yet. He wants Junsu back.

"We did try." Junsu utters."But it didn't work out because you were unable to move on from her. You are now telling me that you don't want to move on from me, but you're actually still stuck in the relationship with her. Right after we kissed that evening, you went to see her. I saw you guys. And you expect me to just ignore that?"

"I didn't go to see her!" Yoochun retorts, his frustration getting bigger when he saw how sad and broken Junsu looks because of him."She came after me. I needed some fresh air, some time to think. And she came after me."

"What did you need to think about?"

"About the kiss. We've been fine after the break up and I didn't want to risk making things worse between us. I never stopped wanting you back, but I didn't know whether me trying to get you back would make things turn out better or worse." Yoochun steps closer, seeing the way Junsu doesn't back off as a good sign."She went after me to ask me why I kissed you. And although it's actually none of her concern, I told her straight out that I wanted to do it."

Junsu chuckles bitterly."Really? Is it really none of her business?"

There it is again, the indirect accusation.

Yoochun has heard a lot of it back then when they were still going out and although it made him a little angry and disappointed to see how much Junsu doubted him, he has to admit that he has been partly at fault.

When Jimin came back from the exchange program, she stirred up many suppressed emotions and brought back many unwanted memories. Yoochun had been distracted, sometimes staring at her even when Junsu was right beside him.

But those stares he had for her were not ones of longing. Not even close to it.

He always looked at her in distaste, but Junsu's insecurities led him into interpreting Yoochun's doings wrongly. Not even one week after Jimin came back, Junsu decided to break up with Yoochun.

And back then, he found it impossible to do anything else but let go. Because, with the way he treated Junsu towards the end of their relationship, he felt like he had no right to hold him back anymore.

Needless to say that he came to regret that decision deeply not even one hour after they went their separate ways.

When he should've fought for their relationship, he chose to give up instead and Yoochun knows that there will never be one single day in the future during which he will ever not regret to have made that decision.

He loves Junsu.

"I was stupid. I know I was." Yoochun admits."But never once did I think of getting back together with her. It's just...what she did to me is hard to forget, Junsu. I don't know when I'll ever be able to forget about what she has done. Yes, I did think of her often lately. But not because I was memorizing our happy times or whatever you imagine me to have thought about. I was thinking about how much she's screwed me over by cheating on me with a teacher while I was busy taking one part time job after the other to buy her a present for our first anniversary."

The way raw emotion breaks Yoochun's voice is almost painful to listen to and all the sadness he sees rushing into the other's orbs as he tells him about the scars Jimin has left behind makes Junsu's heart ache. Yoochun never talked about why exactly his relationship with Jimin ended. And now, Junsu understood why.

"I didn't..." Junsu steps closer, his eyes showing traces of tears threatening to break free."I'm so sorry. I didn't know-"

"Because I didn't want you to know." Yoochun's words come out as a broken whisper."But I know I should've been honest with you and I should've told you about it at some point."

Junsu shakes his head, not even thinking of backing away when Yoochun approaches him to take him into his arms. And only then, when he can feel the familiar warmth surrounding him as he takes in the refreshing scent of Yoochun's cologne, does he realize just how much he truly missed this.

He had been unaware of Yoochun's pain all this while, but he is going to change that from now on. He is going to take care of Yoochun's scars, tending to all of his wounds.

"I love you."

Yoochun smiles. He just heard and angel sing.

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