Junsu bit his lower lip as he watched Taeyeon from afar. He had been standing behind one of the circus tents, peaking at Taeyeon preparing her takoyaki stand for a few minutes now. Originally he was suppose to ask her what the plan was for the second day of their operation.

He gulped, contemplating on whether to ask her or wait a little more. She looks so pretty… stacking those paper plates, Junsu sighed with a mesmerized gaze.

Changmin and Yoochun were suppose to come with him but they were back-tracked with other things… They didn’t say what though, just called Junsu last minute and told him something came up so they would be late.

So in the end, Junsu came to the festival by himself.

“Kangin oppa!” Taeyeon waved at the big guy coming toward her with a smile, “You’re here,” she nodded once. She looked down at her table, “So, whatcha think?” she smiled proudly of her creation. “Looks ready for business?”

Junsu wrinkled his nose and unconsciously curled his fists, “Stupid….Kangin…” he mumbled under his breath.

Kangin chuckled, nodding, “Looks pretty good!” He reached over and ruffled Taeyeon’s hair. “Good job, kid,” he snickered playfully.

“Aiiish,” Taeyeon frowned, her hands quickly fixing her hair.

“You’re gonna be the only one in charge of the takoyaki stand?” Kangin asked, noticing she was the only one there and the festival was going to start in less than thirty minutes.

Taeyeon pouted, “Yeah… Fany’s doing the haunted house and Sunny’s with Sungmin doing the balloon booth, Seohyun’s doing the shoot the duck game with Yonghwa and Kyuhyun…” she sighed, “And Hyoyeon’s selling snacks with Yoona,” Taeyeon blinked, thinking whether she got all of her friends or not. Once she double checked, she nodded, “Eeteuk oppa was suppose to be my partner…but he got sick,” she sighed again.

“Oh,” Kangin frowned, feeling bad that Taeyeon was going to run her booth by herself. Working in the festival could get pretty stressful; especially when bratty little kids come around.

Oh no you’re not!— Junsu, this is your chance! He nodded to himself and did a little fist pump, trying to gather all his courage. He took a deep breath before taking his first step.

“Then—“

“Taeyeon noona!” Junsu interrupted Kangin and came out from behind the tent with a big smile.

Taeyeon turned around and smiled when she saw Junsu, “Hey.” His big, bright smile made her chuckle lightly as she gave him a small wave.

Kangin had no choice but to shut his mouth. He blinked and looked at the two, remaining silent for the moment.

“What are you doing here?” Taeyeon asked, turning around and tidied up the takoyaki things on her table.

“Uhm…Eeteuk hyung sent me here to fill in his spot!” Junsu grinned with a nod.

Raising an eyebrow, Kangin smiled a little, “Then I guess I’m not needed any further.” He gave Taeyeon and Junsu a small salute before leaving.

“Well, in that case,” Taeyeon turned to reach for something and pulled out customized takoyaki hats. “Here you go,” she gave one to Junsu before putting hers on proudly. Taeyeon smiled and looked up at Junsu, “I made these especially for today. Wow~ Looks good on you!”

Junsu took the hat, staring at it for a second before putting it on and smiled. “It’s awesome!”

Taeyeon smirked proudly, “Just what I wanted to hear. Now!” she creased her eyebrows and put a hand on Junsu’s shoulder. Making Junsu freeze and his heart rate increase.

“Before we open up, I want you to know that you and I are one.” She nodded once, squinting her eyes for dramatic effect. “You will be working the takoyaki machine for the first hour and I’ll be in charge of putting them in the tiny little paper plates then we’ll switch—without one or the other we will fail. We are in this together,” she squeezed Junsu’s shoulder. “Do you understand?”

Junsu gulped and nodded. “Y-yes, I-I understand.”

“Good,” Taeyeon smiled, “Now let’s open for business!”

“Yeah!” Junsu cheered, getting into it as well.

When the two pumped up takoyaki makers turned around they saw that no one was there yet.

After a moment of silence, Junsu cleared his throat, “Uhm, I’ll start heating up the pan.”

“T-that’s a good idea,” Taeyeon nodded as she took a seat.

“Junsu?” She sat up and looked up at Junsu, watching him from behind.

“Yeah?”

“This is a really out of the blue question, but… do you think noona is a likeable person?” she puckered her lips in pout.

Junsu’s eyebrows scrunched at the question; “Of course noona is nice and.... pretty and cute too!” he nodded. “I think you would make a really good girlfriend,” Junsu blurted out. And at an instant he slapped his mouth closed. His heart was beating so fast he thought it was going to jump out of his rib cage and tell Taeyeon that he’s had a crush on her since he first laid eyes on her.

“Hmm…” Taeyeon just sighed, “Thanks,” she gave the back of Junsu’s head a smile. “I wish every guy was like you Junsu-yah.”

But as soon as he heard that, a frown developed against Junsu’s hand. Although he was relieved, his heart felt heavy.
---

Jaejoong can’t really pinpoint the specific moment it happened but they just became close again. Arm over the other’s shoulder and the other’s arm around the other’s waist, the warm laughter, and the in-sync thoughts. It was as if they never drifted apart in the first place.

He found it very fascinating how quickly they warmed up to each other.

Well, in truth it really was all on Yunho’s account and his constant touches and intimate remarks that got the two in the state they’re in—with his arm around Jaejoong’s shoulder and Jaejoong’s arm around Yunho’s waist as they walked to the festival.

Instead of going to festival right after they cleaned up, the two decided to fool around. Since they had the house to themselves and all…it was something to be taken advantage off.

“It’s so tight…I can barely fit my hole hand,” he let out a chuckle. “Jaejoong-ah, look—“

“I’m not going to look, you idiot,” Jaejoong groaned.

Jaejoong bit his lower lip as he wiped his sweaty forehead and continued to scrub the rice cooker pot.

“But my hand looks really weird through the glass! Boojae, look!” Yunho practically shoved the glass that had his hand squeezed inside. He chuckled, “It looks so…I can’t bring myself to describe it,” he sighed. “It’s just really weird.”

Jaejoong sighed and splattered Yunho with some water, “Have you not washed dishes before or what?”

“Hey!” Yunho laughed and splashed some water at Jaejoong, beginning a messy water fight.

They spent about half an hour, laughing and wetting each other before Yunho straddled over Jaejoong’s waist and said he gave up did they start cleaning up the soaked kitchen.

“This is all your fault!” Jaejoong threw a sponge filled with water at Yunho’s head before running upstairs into the bathroom.

Yunho insisted that they should just bathe together but Jaejoong wouldn’t have any of it because he was already feeling uncomfortable in the lower areas of his body and during his showers were the only appropriate time—or so he thinks, for him to help himself as much as he pleased.

So in the end, the two took showers separately.
--

“Wow, look at all the people!” Yunho exclaimed as he saw the relatively long line that was for getting tickets inside. “I hope they don’t run out of tickets…” he mused aloud.

“No worries,” Jaejoong smiled and pulled out two tickets from his back pocket. “Taeyeon noona got these in advance,” he chuckled softly when he saw Yunho’s frown turn upside down in an instant.

“Alright~” Yunho laughed softly, “Guess we don’t have to wait in that line. Cool.”

Everything was all good until Jaejoong noticed the stares people were giving them.

He dropped his arm from Yunho’s waist and made a bit of a distance from him and Yunho.

“Hm?” Yunho turned to Jaejoong, “Is something wrong?” he asked.

Jaejoong shook his head and smiled softly, “No.”

“Okay then,” Yunho took the tickets from Jaejoong’s hand and gave it to the attendant at the entrance, giving him an acknowledging smile when they were welcomed in. Once they passed, Yunho pulled Jaejoong closer and grabbed his hand to go around his waist again, “Then hold me right.”

---
“Woah, you can see the whole place from up here,” Yunho laughed as he waved his arms around.

Jaejoong smiled, looking down and gulped, “Yeah…” he chuckled nervously.

Yunho placed his hand over Jaejoong’s, squeezing it gently, “It’s alright,” he smiled, “I’m here.”

Jaejoong blinked, nodding softly and bit his lower lip, trying to prevent a frown.

“What’s wrong?” Yunho asked, concerned.

“Nothing…” Jaejoong tried putting on a smile but it wasn’t very convincing, “It’s just…my dad,” he chuckled softly, “He use to take me on Ferris Wheels all the time even though I was scared. I just thought of him all of a sudden, “Jaejoong shrugged simply. “And…tomorrow…it’s the day…” Jaejoong didn’t have to finish the sentence.

“Can I go with you?” Yunho asked, “To visit them?” Yunho had always felt a burden in his heart to not gone to Jaejoong’s parents’ funeral. It was like missing his own parents’ funeral.

Jaejoong nodded, a corner of his mouth smiling a bit, “Sure.”

“I’m really sorry I couldn’t have been there,” Yunho smiled apologetically.

“It’s alright,” Jaejoong replied, smiling a little easier now and nudged him softly, “You had a game to go to anyway.”

“Yeah…” Yunho sighed. It was one of the many things he regretted.

---

The darker it went, the more chaotic the little takoyaki stand became.

Orders were made from left and right and Junsu had this weird expression on his face without him even knowing.

“Junsu-yah, hurry it up!” Taeyeon shouted over the countless voices of the consumers wanting their takoyaki.

“I’m trying! I’m trying! This takoyaki pan can only make 20 at a time!”

In the midst of it all, Changmin and Yoochun decided to drop by, successfully sneaking to the side of the table without anyone accusing them of cutting.

“Hey, Junsu-yah!” Yoochun waved at Junsu.

“You didn’t tell us you were working at the festival tonight,” Changmin raised an eyebrow as he watched his hyung’s crazy fast takoyaki flipping. “Impressive.”

Junsu gave the duo a quick glance, “You two! Where the hell were you? I thought you said you just needed an hour—it’s been more than an hour! Do you know where Pooh and Tiger are!?”—The official code names for you know whos.

“Sorry, we got caught up with uh…” Yoochun quickly nudged Changmin.

“—Homework!” Changmin nodded, crossing his arms, “Yes, homework. Birdbrain here doesn’t know much about science,” he shrugged.

Yoochun gave the other a glare but Changmin didn’t mind.

“So you don’t know where they are?” Taeyeon looked at the two, “How are we going to know if our plan is working or not?!”

“Hey, miss! I’ve been waiting in line for five minutes where—” one of the costumers were getting impatient.

“You’ll get your takoyaki—just wait a freaking minute, alright?!” Taeyeon shouted at the random customer.

Changmin and Yoochun took a step back and gave Junsu a, ‘Damn, your noona crush has got some temper’ look.

“Whatever,” Junsu sighed and placed the cooked takoyaki balls in the plates, giving them to hungry customers, “Enjoy!”

“Now you two—go find them and report back to us quickly!” Junsu turned Changmin and Yoochun around before giving them a push, “Go!”

---
Plastered smiles were on their faces as they explored the festival together.

The moment Yunho and Jaejoong got off one ride, Yunho pointed to another attraction. “Jaejoong-ah, let’s ride that one!”

Jaejoong turned to the direction Yunho’s finger was pointing at and smiled widely, “Woah! Yeah, let’s go!” he looked at Yunho and grabbed his hand. Yunho instantly laced their fingers together while Jaejoong pulled him toward the ride without looking at where he was going; which resulted in him bumping into someone.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going!”

Jaejoong quickly turned around and widened his eyes, “Sorry!” he bowed without even seeing the person’s face.

“Yul?” Yunho blinked, a slow smile appearing on his face, seeing the whole popular crew was with her. “What are you guys doing here? I thought there was practice,” Yunho tilted his head slightly, while Jaejoong pursed his lips, standing there awkwardly. He didn’t like the stares Yuri and her girls were giving him.

“Coach let us off the hook since we’ve been doing so well,” Siwon nodded once with a smile. “So we came here! It’s not often that he cancels practice like that.” The others replied with soft ‘yeah’ and ‘yep’ of their own. But they didn’t look twice at Jaejoong.

“You wanna come with us? We’re about to go on that ride over there,” Siwon pointed to the ride he and Jaejoong just went on.

“Oh,” Yunho chuckled, shaking his head. “Nah, I’m gonna pass. I’m hanging with Boojae,” he smiled and squeezed Jaejoong’s hand, causing Jaejoong to look up at him. “You guys know him right?”

Jaejoong just sighed softly, forcing a smile on his face and bowed politely.

“We were best buds when we were kids!” Yunho let go of Jaejoong’s hand and wrapped his arm around his neck, “Now we’re trying to rekindle our flame of friendship,” he grinned with a laugh. “Right, Jaejoong-ah?”

“Uh…” Jaejoong glanced at Yunho and nodded, “Right.”

Yuri whined, “But Yunyun!”

Jaejoong blinked and looked at Yuri, Yunyun? He pursed his lips from laughing.

“Sorry, babe,” Yunho smiled apologetically, “I gotta spend time with my B.F.F. once in a while. I’ll see you guys at school, yeah?” he nodded at them once before dragging Jaejoong to that ride he wanted to go on.

Jaejoong let out a laugh once they were alone again, “Yunyun?” he looked at Yunho with an amused expression.

“What?” Yunho smiled a stiff, sheepish smile. “She thinks it’s cute,” he added with a chuckle.

“Riiiight,” Jaejoong shook his head as he laughed lightly, “Yunyun,” he tried it out himself in Yuri’s voice and laughed again.

---

Yuri huffed and crossed her arms, staring at her boyfriend and his best friend going off. “Did he just blow us off?” her face was scrunched together, obviously upset that her boyfriend rejected their offer.

Siwon chuckled and gave her a soft nudge, “Just let him, couples need time from each other, you know. And he seems to be enjoying himself,” he watched Yunho smiling as he walked away from them.

“Yeah, Yul,” Hyuna wrapped her arm around her friend’s shoulders with a soft smile. “When’s the last time you just hung out without Yunho?” she playfully poked at Yuri’s cheek, “If you keep frowning like that you’ll get premature wrinkles~” she teased.

Yuri let out an annoyed squirm, “I don’t mind going solo every once in a while. I need personal time too. What I do mind is who he’s choosing to hang out with instead of us.”

She scoffed, shaking her head, “Something must be done about this.”

Hyuna exchanged glances with Siwon and the rest of the gang, all of them getting a feeling of what she might do next.

“Yul…” Hyuna sighed, “What are you thinking about?”

Yuri looked at her friends, “I’m doing this not only for Yunho but for all of us. Don’t you guys see the bigger picture here?” she raised an eyebrow.

When no one spoke up to answer or take a guess, Yuri rolled her eyes with a small groan and sighed. “That—whoever that loser was is going to ruin our reputation if he keeps hanging around Yunho like that. Didn’t you see how close they were next to each other? His nasty hands all over my boyfriend,” she made a disgusted face.

Yuri shivered, “No—that isn’t going to fly. We have to come up with something by tonight so that he’ll leave my baby alone.”

Siwon looked at Yuri doubtfully, “Yuri, I don’t think you should even get worked up about it—I mean, look, Yunho’s—“

Yuri raised her hand up in front of his face, gesturing for him to stop talking, “Okay—whoever’s too chicken can back out now.” She looked at Siwon with an unsatisfied look before looking at everyone else.

“Anyone want to leave?” Yuri asked once then twice, smiling when no one responded.

“Good,” she smirked, “Now let’s make sure this geek freak knows where his place is.”

---
“Here ya go!” a person dressed in a monkey suit tapped Jaejoong on the shoulder, offering him a balloon.

Jaejoong turned around and blinked, taking the red balloon cautiously. “Thanks?” he tilted his head, confused as to why he was being given a balloon.

The monkey gasped the moment he recognized Jaejoong and pointed at him, “Hyung!” he let out a muffled laugh then opened his arms wide and gave Jaejoong a tight hug.

Jaejoong stood stiff, still confused. “Uh…who are you and why are you hugging me?”

The monkey laughed again as he let go of Jaejoong. He shoved his batch of balloons all tied together to him, “Here, hold this for a sec.” Jaejoong took the balloons voluntarily and blinked, raising an eyebrow as he watched the monkey remove his head to reveal a short, damp, brown-haired teenager. He flipped his hair in a fashion that Justin Beiber would and smiled, “It’s me!” he grinned, “Hyuncheol!”

Jaejoong blinked and widened his eyes before laughing, “You didn’t tell me you’d be here.”

Hyuncheol shrugged, “Me neither!” he chuckled, “My friend called me last minute and said that he had something to do,” he shrugged again. “So I came to cover for him,” he smiled, “I’m getting 75% of the salary,” his chin slightly rose in pride.

The older male chuckled, “Good for you, but isn’t it hot in there?” Jaejoong made a face.

“Eh…a little! But it’s not that bad— I heard you’re here with Yunho,” Hyuncheol wiggled his eyebrows when he spoke his name.

Jaejoong sighed and rolled his eyes, “Oh, God. Not you too.”

The younger boy laughed, “I think it’s really cute, hyung! You should just embrace it~ like I did~” he smiled. “It is scary at first… but you’ll feel much better once you’ve accepted it,” Hyuncheol nodded softly. “I always knew you were like me hyung, you’re too pretty to be straight,” he chuckled. “When Yoochun and Changmin hyung told me about it I was excited for you!”

“They told you?” Jaejoong looked at Hyuncheol with a dreaded expression, who else could they’ve told? At the rate, everyone will know that Jaejoong dreams about Yunho on a nightly bases. Just great.

Hyuncheol blinked and pursed his lips, sensing that his hyung’s temper was rising. “Uhm—they didn’t tell me a lot! If that helps!” he nodded and gulped.

Jaejoong’s eyes grew wide, “What else did they tell you?!”

Hyuncheol sighed and slumped a bit, he was filled in a lot of information earlier and now he had to repeat it all. He was naturally a loud person and since they were in a crowded area, the boy felt that it was appropriate for him not to whisper since Jaejoong might not be able to hear properly. The thought of someone eavesdropping on their conversation didn’t even cross Hyuncheol’s mind.

Especially someone in a suspicious hat and sunglasses, too bad neither of them noticed the figure.
---

“Surprise seeing you here,” Siwon chuckled as he glanced at Yunho before ping his pants and looked up at the white tiles as he began doing his business.

Yunho blinked and turned to him, “What are the odds,” he laughed softly and playfully nudged him. Siwon let out a silent gasp, he almost missed his target and there was a macho man beside him. “Are you following me or something?” Yunho asked.

Siwon chuckled softly, “Nah…” he shook his head softly, “Not in the men’s anyway—“ he zipped up his pants and flushed. Yunho finished a moment after and did the same then moved to the rows of sinks to wash their hands.

“So…you enjoying yourself with…uh, Jaejoong—was it?” Siwon asked as he pumped some soap and rubbed his hands together.

Yunho instantly smiled when he heard Jaejoong’s name, nodding when Siwon asked him. “Yeah, how about you?” he chuckled as he looked at Siwon’s reflection on the mirror plastered on the wall in front of them. “Yuri’s not upset about me going with Jaejoong instead, is she?” his smile faded a bit.

Siwon blinked and tilted his head, careful with his expression. “Nah, she seemed a little sour at first, but you know how girlfriends are,” he chuckled.

Yunho shook his head, smiling again as he washed his hands. “You’re lucky Sooyoung’s a pretty calm girl. Yuri…” he sighed and chuckled a little more, “She’s too feisty sometimes.”

“Nah, you haven’t seen the real side of Sooyoung, when she’s hungry she’s a whole different person,” Siwon replied with a soft laugh, glancing around and checked his watch for the time.

Yunho reached for some paper towels to dry his hands then threw them in the trash bin, “Well! I’m off, you guys have fun—”

“Wait, Yunho-yah.” Siwon held onto Yunho’s arm. “I know you’re having a blast with Jaejoong but the guys and I are gonna do some fun without the girls since they’re stuck in this Japanese photo booth that was shipped here,” Siwon shrugged. “So uh, why not just play with us for a little while?” he asked with a smile. “I’m sure Jaejoong wouldn’t mind you being gone for a few minutes, right?”

“Erm…” Yunho looked unsure, but he hasn’t played with the guys in a while. With all the tests, practice, and Yuri, he barely had time to be with his friends.

Siwon smiled and put his hands together, pleading in a playfully way and feigned a pout, “Please?”

Yunho laughed, giving in. “Alright, alright!” his arm wrapped around Siwon’s neck as they exited the men’s restroom together. When they came out, he spotted Jaejoong was talking with someone so he figured Jaejoong wouldn’t mind.

-----

Changmin sighed, raising an eyebrow as he looked around.

Yoochun groaned, rubbing his stomach, “Changmin-ah…I’m hungry,” he whined.

“No, we’re not eating until we find them,” Changmin nudged Yoochun, quite annoyed. “If you didn’t insist on going on another rou—”

Yoochun’s expression lightened up when he gasped and pointed, “Look! It’s Yunho!”

Changmin followed Yoochun’s finger and saw Yunho playing arcade basketball with his jock friends.

Yoochun searched the premises for Jaejoong but his eyes didn’t find him.

“Where’s Jaejoong?” Changmin cocked an eyebrow, pursing his lips, showing a bit of agitation.

---

Jaejoong tried hiding his embarrassed blush after hearing all that Hyuncheol knew.

The younger boy chuckled in a smug manner and poked his hyung’s side to try and loosen him up a bit. “It’s okay, hyung. I won’t tell,” he shook his head and pursed his lips before pretending to zip his lips shut.

Pouting, Jaejoong huffed, “You better, or else—”

Jaejoong jumped slightly to the sound of a loud pop near him.

“Or else what?” Yuri smirked, dropping the pin on the ground and looked at Jaejoong and Hyuncheol with an arrogant expression.

“Hey! That’s 50 cents, auntie!” Hyuncheol frowned, seeing one of his balloons gone.

Yuri gasped, eyebrows furrowing together, “I’m not even in my twenties, how dare you,” she frowned at the boy before snapping her finger at him. Not even after a second, Hyuncheol was lifted up by one of the guys from the baseball team.

“Thanks Taecy, you’re the best,” Yuri smiled and gave him a wink. The muscled idiot grinned in return, waving at her before taking the rambling yet helpless Hyuncheol away.

“Now it’s just you and me,” Yuri returned her attention to Jaejoong.

Jaejoong was about to escape when he felt two heavy guys block him from both sides, now trapped in the middle. He gripped on the bundle of balloon strings in his hand, feeling anxious and a bit nauseated.

Yuri stared at Jaejoong with menacing eyes as she took a few steps closer to him, “I think you know why I’m even taking the time to talk to you,” she sighed and crossed her arms. She looked at Jaejoong and examined him from bottom to top, frowning in distaste of what she saw. What was her boyfriend thinking, hanging out with a loser like him?

Jaejoong gulped, his hand gripped on the edges of his jeans.

When she saw that Jaejoong was slightly fidgeting, she smiled softly and leaned a little closer. “I’ll make this easy to understand, okay?” she raised her hand and touched Jaejoong’s hair, “You seem like a nice guy, Chaejoo,” she smiled a little more.

Jaejoong’s jaws tightened at the mispronunciation of his name, wanting to say something but couldn’t figure out which word came out first.

“Stay away from my Yunho, okay?” she continued to smile at him, looking into his eyes as if to find information she needed. “Or else,” she squinted her eyes at him, “Many things, many bad things will start happening to you.” Yuri frowned, “You don’t want that, right?”

Jaejoong’s eyebrows scrunched together, managing to gather all the courage in his entire body. “Why does it matter to you who Yunho hangs out with?”

Yuri leaned back a bit, shocked that he talked. She let out a laugh, “Wow, he can talk,” she chuckled and slapped him across the face.

The sharp sound attracted a few heads to turn, now watching the show.

“You’ve got some nerve, Chaejoo. Talking to me like that,” Yuri looked at him, touching his reddened face, recovering from the blow. “Do you know who I am?”

Jaejoong looked at her with tears in his eyes.

“I’m Kwon Yuri and you know what that means?” she smirked, “I get what I want, always. So stop trying to steal my boyfriend, you ugly !”

He could feel eyes staring at him and the familiar sting in his nose. He also tasted saltiness in his tongue but still Jaejoong held it in.

“Yunho won’t choose some -chasing gay like you over me,” Yuri scoffed, “So you better just go back to your loser friends and leave him alone.”

Jaejoong gulped, trying his best not to puke but when one of the jock guys that were keeping him in place burped, it was the last straw. Losing to his nausea, Jaejoong’s eyes rolled back as he threw up forward, his brunch landed all over a shrieking Yuri.

He blinked and stared wide-eyed. Time seemed to have stopped for a few seconds because everyone else froze; the two jocks let go of Jaejoong, wondering what they should do.

Jaejoong blinked again and ran away as fast as his legs could go.

-----
an: dun dun dun! how was it? :D comments are much appreciated <3