“Why am I helping you do this again?” Seungkwan grumbled as he dug through Jeonghan’s bag for makeup.

“Because you love me and I’m your greatest friend.” Jeonghan replied as he finished putting foundation on his face. “Pass me the highlighter?”

Seungkwan gave it to him grudgingly. “At least treat me at the fair tonight?”

“Why would I do that?” Jeonghan said jokingly. “I’m a girl tonight, remember? Girls don’t treat boys.”

“That was almost ist of you.”

“I know, and pass me the eyeshadow palette and the mascara.”

“What are you even planning to achieve from this?” Seungkwan muttered exasperatedly.

Jeonghan paused in his application.

“I don’t know, to be honest. The party’s theme was Coachella and I thought I’d like to play along… Besides, this is just for fun…”

“Well, your idea of fun is ridiculous, Jeonghan.” Jisoo said quietly from his place beside Seungkwan, silently reading a book. “You’d get suspended at most.”

“But you’re not gonna report me are you, Jisoo?” Jeonghan said, pouting. “You wouldn’t do that to cute little Hannie, right?”

“Hannie?” Seungkwan choked.

“I won’t. I’ll be pretending that I don’t know you for the rest of the evening,” Jisoo said calmly, turning another page.

Jeonghan only scoffed at him, and resumed putting on makeup. “Where are Jihoon and Seokmin, by the way?”

“Jihoon was called by the school paper adviser, and as for Seokmin, I don’t know.” Jisoo replied.

“Wouldn’t you know, Jisoo?” Seungkwan said slyly, smirking at the older. “Since you two are…you know…”

Jisoo didn’t bother replying, but the lightest shade of red darkened his cheeks. He put down his book instead and gave the bag on his other side to Jeonghan. “The clothes are still intact, I think. The hair extensions might be a little mussed.”

Jeonghan grinned, cleaning up his makeup tools and packing them up in a small bag. “The messier they are, the better. I want to look bad.”

“Like bad bad or ugly bad? Because you’re halfway to ugly already, hyung.” Seunkwan said, laughing.

“Very funny, Seungkwan.” Jeonghan answered before ducking into their classroom’s makeshift changing cubicle—one of the few things that he actually appreciated in their school.

Faded high-waisted shorts. A sleeves shirt with wide straps—spaghetti straps chafe on his skin. His favorite jean jacket, folded up to the elbows. A pair of burgundy strappy heels he bought without his parents’ permission. And finally—clip on hair extensions.

“Need any help, hyung?” Jisoo asked from outside.

“No, it’s fine,” Jeonghan said, carefully sectioning his short, layered bob and clipping on the pieces one by one. A little dry shampoo, some mousse to layer down his hair, and he was done. He stepped out back into the classroom, putting a hand on his hip.

“Well?”

Seungkwan and Jisoo were quiet for far longer than Jeonghan wanted. Jisoo’s book slipped out of his fingers and fell to the floor with a soft thud.

“Is it really that bad?” Jeonghan said, whipping his phone out to check his reflection. “I think I look fine but—“

“You look amazing,” Seungkwan gushed, which wasn’t always like him. “To be honest, I almost didn’t recognize you.”

“He’s right, hyung,” Jisoo said. “You look just like a girl. I mean, you did look like one before, but now…” he just raised a thumbs up at Jeonghan. “Nice.”

“Aww, thanks,” Jeonghan cooed and tried to hug Jisoo, but Jisoo squirmed out of it as quickly as he can.

“God, that’s awkward.” Jisoo shivered. “You’re pretty and all, but don’t do that ever aga—”

“YAAAHHHHHHH!!!!” A new voice screamed, making Jisoo and Seungkwan jump and Jeonghan stumble in his high heels.

Seokmin stood in the doorway, arms crossed. He looked angrily at Jisoo to Jeonghan, stomping over angrily to the younger. “H-hi,” Jisoo started to say, but he was quickly stopped by a slap to his cheek.

“WHO IS SHE AND WHY ARE YOU HUGGING EACH OTHER!?” Seokmin said. “AM I NOT PRETTY ENOUGH!???! IF YOU WANT TO BREAK UP JUST TELL ME—“

“Um, dongsaeng…” Jeonghan started meekly, trying to put a hand on Seokmin’s shoulder, but Seokmin slapped it away.

“DON’T YOU DARE CALL ME DONGSAENG YOU SNEAKY FILTHY—OH , JEONGHAN IS THAT YOU???”

“My point exactly,” Jeonghan shrugged as Seungkwan fell to the floor laughing and Seokmin desperately tried to apologize to a still shell-shocked Jisoo.

“I-I… I really didn’t…Hyung, I didn’t know you were going through with your crazy plan.”

“I’m not a hyung anymore,” Jeonghan reminded the younger, sitting down to check on his makeup once more. “And I really don’t know…this just seems fun. After this, I’m through with crossdressing, I swear. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen, right?”

“We literally went through this earlier, hyung—I mean, noona,” Jisoo said, rolling his eyes. “You could get caught. Then you might have to go to the guidance counselor or something.”

“There’s nothing wrong with crossdressing, is there? I don’t think it breaks any rule in our handbook or whatever.” Jeonghan retorted. “Besides—I’ll just say I sneaked in. There’s bound to be tons of outsiders in the acquaintance party tonight anyways. You guys could just pretend not to know me. Just let me do my own thing. I swear I won’t bother you unless I really need to, or if you come and bother me. I promise!” He finished, placing a hand on his chest and raising the other, pledge of allegiance-style.

For a minute, it looked like the three of them were going to buy into Jeonghan’s promise. Then Seokmin said:

“It’s because of the guy at the next classroom, isn’t it?”

Jeonghan felt his face pale under all the makeup. “W-who, now?”

“Oh, you know, that guy,” Seokmin smirked. “The one we saw earlier this week.”

To Jeonghan’s horror, Seungkwan perked up,

“I remember!” Seungkwan said, pointing a finger at Jeonghan. “The one you said had pretty eyes!”

“I-I never said that,” Jeonghan replied, his face going back to redder state.

“Yes, you did,” Jisoo now countered. “You said he had eyelashes longer than your attention span in Pre-Calculus class.” The other two nodded madly at his statement, looking at Jeonghan’s reaction.

“Look…i-it’s getting late, we have to go or we might miss the opening part of the party,” he said, completely flustered. He stuffed his bag of clothes and makeup into his locker, keeping only a small purse with him. He can still hear his friends laughing behind him but the scrape of chairs against the floor told him that they had also stood up and were packing their things up as well. He ran his fingers through the hair extensions.

What if something goes wrong…

No, don’t think that way, Hannie, the more you think something will go wrong the higher the possibility!

But I might get caught! I could just back out right now and save myself the trouble…

Oh come on… Just this once, Jeonghan, do something fun! You did say you’ll never do this ever again, right?

But “he” might not even notice me…

Then there’s no harm done! As long as you don’t get caught—

“UM, JEONGHAN?? YOU ALIVE OR WHAT?” Seungkwan shouted, shaking Jeonghan out of his reverie. He turned around and saw his three friends silently laughing at him from the doorway.

“Come on, Hannie,” Seungkwan laughed. He held out a flower crown made of deep red carnations, interspersed with baby’s breath and periwinkles. “You’re not going to forget this, are you?”

Jeonghan flushed once more, coming to them and taking the wreath from Seungkwan. “Of course not, oppa,” He winked, putting it on. “It’s Coachella, after all.”

“GAH STOP ACTING LIKE A GIRL~” Seungkwan said, his ears flushing.

“But I am a girl, oppa!” Jeonghan again, which made the others hit him hard.

“Let’s just go now, seriously,” Jisoo said with a facepalm, and everybody quickly agreed.

~~~

Even as his friends bickered noisily and Jeonghan wobbled in his heels, he can’t help but notice that their school had outdone itself.

The soccer field was the perfect area for their Coachella-themed party. A good part of the field was taken up by a stage, the sound system, loudspeakers, and all the makings for a good concert. A band was already onstage, playing pop songs to a group of students dancing along, which was getting bigger by the minute as more and more students arrived at the field. Those who didn’t feel like dancing sat on benches near the edges of the field, or on mats that some of the students had brought along. There were also food stalls, selling snacks and drinks. Basically it looked like one huge party, and Jeonghan can’t wait to participate in it.

“Hey, Hannie,” Seokmin came to his side. “We’re gonna attack the food stalls. Want to come with?”

“Nah, it’s fine,” Jeonghan shrugged. It was about time he separated from them anyway. “You guys go, I’ll check it out later,” He said, waving at the three. “Don’t do anything reckless!”

“No, you don’t do anything reckless!” Seungkwan yelled right back, and Jeonghan only shrugged in response, interest already set on the crowd dancing to the music.

Fast forward to a couple of moments later—Jeonghan was blatantly aware of the people staring at him. It wasn’t that bad at first; most of them were girls sneaking vicious glances at him, clearly bickering about his looks and how jealous they were. The rest were boys, staring at him like he was some sort of prey…

That made Jeonghan nervous. First of all—he was alone in the middle of the dance floor (field?). He can’t exactly run to his friends right now, besides he didn’t even know where they were exactly. Second—if any of those boys got any ideas, well, they’d be terribly sorry (and he’d be terribly scarred and mortified) if they approached him and found out that the “girl” they were checking out wasn’t exactly a “girl.”

Third—a boy was making his way to his spot, and he didn’t look very nice.

“Hey,” Creep/Jerk/Douchebag started dancing beside Jeonghan. He was grinning in a way that reminded Jeonghan of a serial killer’s, and was subtly trying to grind beside him. “Want to have some fun?”

Oh, ick, no, gross EEWWW~

“No, not really,” Jeonghan said, his voice in a slightly higher pitch (he was a girl, after all). He tried moving away from Creep/Jerk/Douchebag as gracefully as possible. “I’d like to be left alone, if that’s okay with you—“

“Yeah but your outfit says otherwise, baby,” Creep/Jerk/Douchebag wasn’t swayed and only stepped closer to Jeonghan. His serial killer grin was more off-putting than ever. “Come on, let’s just—“

“No, seriously—I don’t want to—get off me!” Jeonghan was seriously panicking right now, he was so going to get , which was weird because he wasn’t even a girl—

“Feisty one, aren’t we, baby?” Creep/Jerk/Douchebag smirked, leaning closer to Jeonghan’s face, which left Jeonghan squeezing his eyes shut, praying for a speedy death—

Which never came. Jeonghan felt Creep/Jerk/Douchebag move away from him as if pulled a sudden force and immediately opened his eyes.

Another guy was now standing between him and Creep/Jerk/Douchebag, his back turned against Jeonghan.

“She said she didn’t want to be with you,” he said, his voice pleasantly deep. “So you’re better off nagging somewhere else.”

“Yeah? And who’re you to judge, huh?” Creep/Jerk/Douchebag replied.

“A keeper of the peace,” the guy replied, a hint of sarcasm lacing his words. “And I judge that if you don’t go away right this second you’ll get your stomach kicked in.”

Creep/Jerk/Douchebag only glared at the guy, before stalking away and finally, finally leaving Jeonghan alone. Except he wasn’t—Mr. “Keeper of the Peace” hung around, probably checking if Creep/Jerk/Douchebag was feeling stupid enough to make a comeback. When he was finally satisfied, he turned around to face Jeonghan.

“You okay? Not bruised or anything?” He asked, his voice ridiculously soft.

Jeonghan suddenly found it hard to breathe, much less speak. The guy was downright gorgeous, from the messy fringe, to the beautiful eyes, to the plump, pinkish lips, down to the legs fit for a basketball player’s. His eyes had to take the ticket, though—they were dark and deep, framed by an equally luscious, long pair of lashes.

What did Jisoo say before? Eyelashes longer than your attention span in Pre-Calculus class.

Well lo and behold, said guy was standing right in front of him. My luck’s finally starting to turn.

“I-I’m fine,” Jeonghan managed to say, bowing slightly. “Thanks for that. I was so sure I was gonna die,” He added, in a breathless manner. Where the hell did that come from just great—

“I’m pretty sure no one can die from just being d by a douchebag,” the guy replied, slightly smiling.

“Yes, they can,” Jeonghan retorted, mustering a smile of his own. “From intense grossness.”

His reply must’ve worked, because the guy laughed, giving Jeonghan a warm feeling in his chest. “Oh, right, I haven’t introduced myself,” he said afterwards. He extended a hand to Jeonghan. “Choi Seungcheol.”

Jeonghan took it, shaking the hand lightly. Seungcheol’s hand was surprisingly smooth. “Nice to meet you.”

Seungcheol grinned in reply. “And does the damsel of distress have a name?”

Damsel--? Oh right, that’s me, Jeonghan collected his thoughts, suddenly realizing that he doesn’t have a girl name—

“Hani. Yoon Hani.” He improvised, out of the nickname his friends had given him.

“Pretty name.” Seungcheol smiled once more.

“Yeah, thanks. I got it for my birthday,” Jeonghan said, causing Seungcheol to laugh again.

“You know, you’ve got this flirting thing down to a science.”

“I’m not flirting,” Jeonghan retorted, his face flushing. “I don’t know how, anyway.”

“You’re selling yourself short,” Seungcheol snorted. “Come on, let’s buy some food. Then afterwards, maybe I can teach you?” He winked, making Jeonghan laugh.

“Your treat?” Jeonghan asked the elder as they wove their way through the crowd.

“Of course, Hani. Tonight’s your lucky night,” Seungcheol exclaimed, grabbing Jeonghan’s hand so that he can follow.

Oh, you don’t know how lucky I am right now.

~~~

On a scale of one to ten, Seungcheol was definitely eleven and a half.

He had a good sense of humor that matched with Jeonghan’s. He was honest without being rude, cute but not annoying. He had a weird habit of poking Jeonghan when he laughed, but who cares? Seungcheol was cute personified.

And this is probably the last time you’ll spend your time together this way, because you’re not even a real girl and you won’t be able to approach him as openly after this.

Jeonghan tried to ignore his other thoughts. As much as he knew what he was doing was reckless, and dangerous, and of course, stupid, he wanted to soak up all of Seungcheol. He wanted to focus completely on him, and have these memories firmly stamped in his mind. At least, if everything went sour in the end, and he’d never be able to approach Seungcheol properly ever again, he’d have these things to hold on to. A wonderful keepsake, a romantic evening that never happened.

Seokmin was right of course; Seungcheol was the one he had been staring at for weeks, had been the apple of his eyes for days, the very reason why he had even considered his plan. He wasn’t close to the elder at all, their circles didn’t overlap even once; the one thing that they had in common was that they were in the same school, and in the same grade. That’s it. It’s not like Jeonghan could just approach him like, “Hey, we’re both tenth graders, that’s so cool, we’re practically close! On the note, can I have your number?”

And another thing—he wasn’t even sure if Seungcheol liked men. He hadn’t heard anything about Seungcheol dating, though there were some rumors about him crushing on a few girls in school—Mina, Nayeon, and Dayeon, just to name a few—which led Jeonghan to hypothesize that Seungcheol really was straight, and to a crazy plan which involved intercepting Seungcheol during the only time it would all fit, and in the only disguise that would catch his attention.

And right now, that plan was succeeding.

“Okay, hold up, so you mean you finished all that fried chicken by yourself?” Seungcheol asked in between laughs. He and Jeonghan were perched on a bench a good distance away from the rest of the school, under a big tree somebody had strung with lanterns that gave a soft glow. They were eating popcorn, and little pieces were escaping from Seungcheol’s box as he doubled back and forth laughing.

“Yeah!” Jeonghan said, laughing as well.

“At eight years old. On your cousin’s birthday.”

“I swear! Mom was so angry at me, I got grounded for a month.”

“Wow,” Seungcheol said, shaking his head in wonder. “You know, for a girl, you’re very mischievous.”

“Y-yeah,” Jeonghan said. “T-that’s what my friends always say.”

“Do they also say how pretty you are?” Seungcheol said, staring at Jeonghan, who only looked down and ate some more popcorn. But when he looked up, Seungcheol was still staring at him, eyes locked firmly onto his.

Seungcheol smiled softly, reaching out to touch Jeonghan’s hair. “You’ve got popcorn in your hair.”

“Haha, I don’t even know how that g-got there,” Jeonghan said, trying to move away from Seungcheol’s fingers. But his hand didn’t leave, instead they started weaving their way across Jeonghan’s smooth strands—

Except they weren’t real hair.

Seungcheol’s hand now crept slowly to Jeonghan’s nape, leaving tingles all over Jeonghan’s scalp. In another world, he would’ve loved this feeling, enjoyed it, savored it, but his hand was almost on the extension’s clip and if he felt it, tugged on it, ripped it out, then Jeonghan’s dream would quickly spiral into a nightmare.

In a move of desperation, Jeonghan grabbed Seungcheol’s hand by the wrist, pulling it away from his head, interlocking his fingers with Seungcheol’s. With his other hand, he grasped onto Seungcheol’s nape, pulling the two of them closer in the process, closer, and closer, until their lips touched in a kiss that felt wrong yet absolutely right.

Perhaps this is what Jeonghan really wanted after all.

Seungcheol was the first to move, but he moved closer instead of further away, his free hand finding Jeonghan’s waist and pulling it even closer. His lips moved softly against Jeonghan’s, and Jeonghan could taste the cheese from the popcorn on them. And eventually, when his shock had evaporated and left nothing but pleasure, he started kissing Seungcheol back.

After what seemed like years, Jeonghan detached himself from Seungcheol, gasping for breath. They remained quiet for a long while, absorbing what just happened. Jeonghan noticed that he was still holding Seungcheol’s hand and let go.

“I…I—” Seungcheol began, but for once, Jeonghan cut him off.

“I d-don’t regret doing that.” Jeonghan said, staring at his lap. “Do…do you?” He continued, looking up at Seungcheol.

Seungcheo only laughed.

“Why would I? You’re a very good kisser. And…if it’s only tonight, if I’m never going to see you again…I suppose we’ll have to make the best of it, right?”

Jeonghan smiled. “You’re right,” he murmured as Seungcheol drew him closer again.

But as their lips touched, Jeonghan’s phone began ringing madly, making the two jump away.

No, not right now, please.

He pulled away from Seungcheol and took his phone out of the purse.

1o new text messages:

Eomma: I’m picking you up tonight, araseo?

Eomma: I’m already outside?

Eomma: Jeonghannie, odi-ya?

Eomma: Please come out already we don’t have all night

Eomma: Where are you???

Eomma: Jeonghan????

Eomma: Please hurry Jeonghan, eomma is so tired~~~

Eomma: Is your phone flight mode right now!?!? Aish~

Eomma: JEONGHAN PLEASE GO OUT RIGHT NOW

Eomma: If you don’t come out in 15 minutes I will come in and drag you out myself.

Jeonghan’s fingers shook slightly as he read the last text. He clumsily typed in a reply: Jinjja?

His mom swiftly replied.

Eomma: Of course.

Eomma: Want me to come in now?

Jeonghan didn’t even bother replying. He felt like his dreams had been shattered as he looked back at Seungcheol, who was innocently chewing on a piece of popcorn.

“Everything okay?” Seungcheol asked.

No. Nothing’s okay.

“I…I have to go now, actually. My parents want me home.” Jeonghan replied, standing up.

“I can take you,” Seungcheol said quickly, standing up as well. “I have a car—“

“No!” Jeonghan cried, surprising Seungcheol. “I-it’s just that, well, they’re already outside—“

“Then let me walk you out,” Seungcheol offered.

“No. Seriously—you don’t have to go with me. I…I’d rather that my time with you ended right here…then maybe I won’t miss you as much.” As soon as those words left Jeonghan’s mouth, he immediately wanted to take them back. But the damage had already been done.

“Maybe you won’t…But I will. That sounds crazy, but I will. I…I hope I see you again, though.”

Jeonghan really wanted to stay. He didn’t want this moment to end. If this was a fairytale, he was probably Cinderella (cheesy af, but he didn’t care). And the clock had just struck twelve.

And once that happens, you have to go.

But Jeonghan can’t just leave.

He came close to Seungcheol one last time. Pressed his lips on the older’s one last time.

“Me too,” he whispered.

Then he ran away, tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

~~~

As Jeonghan dove through the crowd again, he thought he saw Seungcheol everywhere—beside him, on the stage, just in front of him—it was excruciating. Just when he thought he and Seungcheol might have had something—

Don’t be stupid! Even if tonight lasted longer there would be never be something! The fact that the two of you kissed doesn’t change the fact that you literally crossdressed just to make him notice you… in fact, it’s better this way…

That you stopped before anything got worse.

With that in mind, he cleared all his thoughts of Choi Seungcheol from his mind. Instead he had to focus on changing his disguise without being caught by anyone.

Which meant that he needed friends once more.

As he pushed and elbowed his way through the crowd, he thought he saw Jisoo dancing smack-dab in the middle, which was weird because he never would’ve pegged his friend as the dancing type. As he came closer to his friend, it became obvious that Jisoo wasn’t dancing. And he also wasn’t alone.

Jisoo was kissing Seokmin in the middle of the dance floor. Intensely. In fact people seemed to be staring at them and murmuring as well. Two men kissing in a Catholic school would definitely be the stuff of gossip, but the two didn’t seem to care.

In another life, Jeonghan would be applauding them until his hands fell off, but now really wasn’t the time for that. Instead, he came close to the two and separated them from each other. Hard.

“YAH WHAT WAS THAT—Hannie,” Seokmin said, gathering his senses. “Everything okay?”

“Don’t be stupid, Seokmin, something’s obviously not okay. What is it?” Jisoo said, addressing his question to Jeonghan.

“My mom,” Jeonghan said. “S-she’s coming to pick me up.” As he said those words his phone started ringing madly once more. “She’s getting impatient but I can’t—“

“Let her see you like that,” Seokmin finished. “Jisoo, find Seungkwan. We’ll distract his mother—heck I don’t know how, but maybe we can persuade her to give us a ride. Jeonghan, go find Jihoon. He’s hiding out in the dance club room. He’ll help you change into your normal clothes. And don’t look panicked, okay? People will think you’re up to something? Okay? Jeonghan?” Seokmin shook his friend gently, who seemed to be in shock. “Jeonghan, you seriously can’t be panicking now, are you?”

“No I mean yeah, I’m fine,” Jeonghan lied. “I’ll go to Jihoon.”

“Good. Go now,” Seokmin told him, before taking Jisoo’s hand and running to the opposite direction.

“Okay,” Jeonghan said meekly. Then he held his chin up, strutting away like nothing hurtful happened to him. Like he didn’t need to pretend that nothing happened.
--------
Part 2 might be up real soon

<3,
yeolhyunnie