“The moon was locked in the sky's embrace. On the night's youthfulness, the moonlight's gaze was fixed. A gust of wind blows through the gradient night. In a palanquin of the stars, a sparkling procession of fireflies has come. All were lost for words.” —Bairi Piya ( Devdas)

 

Three days after Yunho forced Jaejoong to stay after school to practice with him, Mino, classical instrument student and common friend of Jaejoong and Yunho, suggested after a day of usual hard work, smelling of sweat and feeling disgusting, that the students sneaked to the rather large creek at the back of the school—they debated if it was even a creek—and take a dip. He promised it would be fun.

 

Many of the students that were in attendance when the teen made his suggestion found the idea lovely and the news travelled quickly. However, the majority of the students populace opted out due to hunger, having other plans, and being completely tired and drained for the day.

 

Jaejoong almost opted out when Juhli and Hyein ganged up on him.

 

Juhli took charge. She shook her head and pointed her painted nail at him threateningly, grabbing his arm. “You are coming.”

 

He was going.

 

“I am so tired, though.” Jaejoong still tried his luck.

 

“Your tiredness will be washed away in the water of healing,” Hyein joked, ropping both of her arms around his arm like a koala.

 

“Hyein.” He whined, “It’s too hot for this.” He gently detached her from him and pushed her away.

 

She pouted, making a hurt expression.

 

“Sorry.” He apologized. But it was too hot.

 

Hyein shook her heavy head and smiled up at him. “You are forgiven.” She winked. “Because tonight I’ll get to see you . I am excited.”

 

His cheeks heated up.

 

ness was normal in Peyisivil—a natural state; it was not something to be embarrassed over. However, the way Hyein’s eyes glistened and the corner of her lips lifted made Jaejoong feel awkward.

 

Jaejoong felt like a predator was stalking him. He didn't like it. He didn’t like being a prey.

 

Juhli walked to the entrance and stopped to glare at her friends, saved him. She was impatient.

 

“Come on Jaejoong. We’ll grab food on the way home,” Juhli promised, waving for the duo to join her.

 

“I need sleep. My throat hurts.”

 

“You’ll get that when you get home. We're not spending an eternity there.” Juhli rolled her eyes. “Proper singing technique should remedy that pain. Remind me to tell the professor about your lack of technique.”

 

“ you, Juhli.”

 

She winked at him. “No thanks. I have my eyes on someone else.”

 

He didn't care to question her further on that claim. He wasn’t nosy and it was too hot and he was too tired to even be interested in becoming nosy.

 

“Come.” Hyein had completely forgotten Jaejoong’s light put down, because she reached for his hand, fusing their fingers together, and tugged him after her, taking quick, large steps—for a girl of her tiny stature, the width was impressive.

 

“Yes, come.” Juhli smiled, positioning herself on his right side, grabbing his hand too.

 

“Why do you want to do this, and why do I have to come?”

 

Hyein laughed. Juhli made a face down at her—a warning.

 

A spark of curiosity of what that look meant lit within Jaejoong.

 

“I won’t say anything.” Hyein winked, giggling.

 

“Say what?”

 

Hyein lifted her shoulder at Juhli’s look of alarm and looked at Jaejoong and smiled. “Nothing.”

 

Jaejoong shrugged and let it go. He was interesting in what that was all about, however he did not care enough to pester her.

 

The things that summer heat was doing to them could not be compared.

 

The season simply held a magic that had completely stolen over Jaejoong’s senses and promised him a future of a thousand of Yunho’s smiles and his current happiness.

 

It felt as if time was slowly inching along like a dying snail and sometimes it felt as if it had stopped completely.

 

When his professor were nagging on his techniques and not memorizing lyrics fast enough, Jaejoong hated the pacing—Did the instructors know how many sheets of music he had to memorize? They gave it to him! What was he? His throat hurt from the long constant practices, damned it!—But when he was with Yunho, time would stop and he loved it and wanted it to stay that way.

 

Jaejoong wanted to be with Yunho longer and hear his lame jokes a bit longer and see his heart shape smiles for longer and be wrapped in his body scent a bit longer.

 

Jaejoong knew that his desires were disgusting, but he could not help the way his eyes would trace the outline of Yunho’s lips and wonder what it would feel like to….to nothing!

 

Yunho. Jung Yunho was just...He was everything Jaejoong imagined and more before he started talking to him that summer. But Jung Yunho was a good friend. A good comrade. Just that. And he would forever remain just that.

 

Through all the hurt and confusion, Jaejoong couldn’t help but hope that the summer would never end, while conversely wishing it would quickly die off and give ways to autumn and their graduation.

 

It was pure irony.

 

“You three are joining the party?” Mino shouted at the trio, waving with a large puppy smile when they walked out of the school building, the heat swatting their glistening countenance.

 

The girls waved back.

 

Hyein shouted with a smile, “What party?”

 

Mino and Changmin ran to meet up with the three singers.

 

Changmin took Juhli off Jaejoong’s arm, and Mino began pestering him—well, Hyein. The tiny young woman refused to let Jaejoong go and be distracted by the hyper male. Mino did not seem to mind. He ended up lucking out and getting two audience to listen to his stream of rubbish.

 

They stayed together till they got to the creek.

 

Jaejoong expected a larger group of students to be congregating around the clear, cooling gray water where the large moon reflected, but there were few people present.

 

There was no shyness as everyone quickly stripped—some daring to go even though their peers screamed at them in giddish voices to put their underwear on—and jumped in the water. Some ran as they stripped, and it was a funny sight when one tripped on her face.

 

“Jaejoong. Hey.” Yunho found him. It was as if they were opposite ends of magnets, as if Yunho had a tracker on him.

 

Jaejoong flipped his head around so fast, he got whiplashes. Dazed, he drank Yunho in. And what a sight he was.

 

Yunho was maneuvering around their classmates, moving toward Jaejoong, gait light. His body movement beautiful and fluid. His shirt was off, honey colored chiseled chest in full display, a thin line of dark hair disappeared into the white waistband of his brief—boxer from where his bottoms rested low on his hip.

 

Yunho's body mirrored most, if not all, of the kids at the creek that night. But something about that thin disappearing line of dark hair made Jaejoong feel ticklish.

 

in a sharp breath, Jaejoong averted his eyes and awkwardly mumbled, “Hello. You’re here.”

 

“Of course.” Yunho smiled, even though it had not been a question. “Hello Juhli. Nice to see you here.”

 

The girl gently wiggled her fingers and beamed at Yunho. Jaejoong could see the light coming from her pores.

 

“Am I invisible?” Hyein asked. “I know I am tiny, but….”

 

Grinning, Yunho said, “You did not let me finish. Hello, Hyein. I did not expect to see you here, but I am glad you are here.”

 

“Why not?”

 

“Huh?”

 

Yunho mindlessly reached for Jaejoong, tugging him closer to his side and wrapped his arms around his shoulders, placing Jaejoong between hell and paradise. He remained put.

 

“Why did you not expect to see me here?” Hyein busied her hands into fixing her pile of hair into a messy bun.

 

“Aah...Wrong language. I did not mean it like that.”

 

She stared at Yunho for a few seconds before she doubled over with laughter.

 

Girls were mysteries to Jaejoong, and Yunho too, it seemed.

 

“I was only playing with you, Yunho.” She swatted him on the arm, though it was playfully Yunho still winced at the strength of it. She had not hold back.

 

Giggling, Hyein looked over at Juhli who was trying her damndest to not catch her friend’s shimmering eyes.

 

“Okay then…” Yunho drawled, looking away from the girls to openly stare at Jaejoong. Making him grow hot and uncomfortable. Jaejoong tried his hardest to hold Yunho’s warm gaze but he failed.

 

“What?”

 

Yunho shook his head, giving him that smile. “Nothing.”

 

He thought Jaejoong looked adorable. That was all.

 

“Well, good. But, stop looking at me like that.”

 

“Like what?” Yunho husked in his ears, putting more of his weight on Jaejoong.

 

Currents of electricity ran down Jaejoong’s spine. He tried to shake Yunho off.

 

Inhaling, he looked Yunho square in the eye. “Like I stole your lunch.”

 

He succeeded in making Yunho laugh.

 

Borrowing his head in Jaejoong’s shoulder, Yunho laughed in abandon. “You are too cute,” Yunho muttered all the while caressing the small of Jaejoong’s back.

 

He was not good for Jaejoong’s poor palpitating heart.

 

Jaejoong caught Juhli and Hyein intense gazes. He tried to shake Yunho off again.

 

“Yunho. Come here.” Someone called. Jaejoong silently thanked the faceless person who sounded like Sungyeol.

 

The command was followed with strong male arms yanking a reluctant Yunho who was still smiling into a wall of bodies and darkness, taking him away from Jaejoong’s eyes.

 

An invisible Yunho shouted, “I’ll see you later.”

 

Jaejoong looked over at Juhli to see her smiling sweetly at where Yunho once was.

 

“Yunho is cute, right?” Hyein lilt, her tone teasing. She finished her bun. It was extremely messy, with strings of glossy sable waves covering her shoulders and neck.

 

“Shut up, Heyin! Let’s go swim.” Juhli reached for her friend’s arm and yanked the petite teen after her, quelling her laughter.

 

Hyein started thrashing and whining. She made her desire to see Jaejoong strip obvious in loud protest, garnering snickers and side glances.

 

A blushing Jaejoong was thankful for Juhli.

 

When the girls disappeared from Jaejoong’s line of sight, Jihun beckoned, voice bursting with excitement, “Jaejoong! Come join us!”

 

He rolled his eyes but shouted back, “Coming.”

 

Freeing himself of his shirt he jumped when someone poked him the middle of his lumbar lordosis right when his shirt covered his head.

 

A short chuckle that followed his quiet yelped calmed him down. It was Yunho.

 

“You’re back so soon.” Jaejoong spun around to look at him. Yunho was still laughing.

 

Yunho laughed a lot. Jaejoong loved that about his new friend, especially when he was the reason.

 

“What’s up with the 'so soon?'”

 

The singer shrugged, hands on his waistband. He paused before he opened his fly and pushed his pants down his toned hairy legs.

 

“Well,” Yunho drawled, throwing his hand over his head, tone serious, “I want to swim with you.”

 

Yunho really was really not good for his heart.

 

Words and looks that meant nothing had so much power to send him over the edge.

 

It was those moments that reminded Jaejoong he was not ‘normal.’ He wasn’t like his peers and countrymen and women. That wasn’t good. He shouldn’t stand out. Uniqueness was not welcomed or encouraged in their society.

 

Uniqueness destroyed unity, camaraderie, and countries.

 

He was unwanted. He should be wanted. He needed to change.

 

Jaejoong looked up to caught Yunho’s eyes and lifted the corner of his plump lips.

 

Yunho’s eyes pulled away to rest on Jaejoong’s legs.

 

“What?” The conscious male asked, stacking his clothes.

 

Yunho shook his head. “Nothing. Just I didn’t…” he frowned and paused and shook his head. “You have hairy legs.”

 

That observation was unexpected. Jaejoong could not hold his laughter back. Yunho was such a card. Yunho distracted Jaejoong from his prior dismaying thoughts.

 

“Why are you looking at my legs?”

 

“No reason.” Yunho shrugged grinning. He quickly kicked his bottoms off. “Let’s go, slow pokes.” Yunho ran into the water, jumping in without reservation while he howled. He reemerged to push his fringes back, flicking water out of his eyes, his customary smile brilliant as ever.

 

Yunho. Ooh, Jung Yunho. He just made it worse for him. He was making him acknowledge what he did not want to and tried so hard to suppress and kill for so many years.

 

Shaking his head with a tender look, Jaejoong followed after his friend.

 

They flicked water at the other for a bit, laughing as they tried to dodge the little water bullets.

 

Soon they grew bored of that game and Yunho attacked, forcing Jaejoong to counter attack.

 

Hyperactive Yunho reached for Jaejoong’s waist under the water and tried to submerge him.

 

Jaejoong was faster on his feet than Yunho realized.

 

Yunho ended up with a triumphant Jaejoong smirking down at him, eyes glistening.

 

Their games had them breathless, laughing in youthful abandon, high on adrenaline and serotonin.

 

The two boys shared a short moment of serenity.

 

Floating side by side, they stared at the bejeweled night sky in awe, their classmates’ excited screams reduced to the background in the face of such grandeur.

 

“Fireflies!” someone with a deep voice screamed, breaking the spell.

 

“Fireflies!” Sungyeol mimicked, voice exploding around the floating duo.

 

The sound of his harsh stumps in the water waved through Jaejoong and Yunho, making them sit up to stare at Sungyeol’s body in motion with Myungsoo’s arm in his hand, trailing behind him.

 

Yunho and Jaejoong stood at the same moment. They shared a look—smiled at each other and started running. They wanted to see the glowing beetles too.

Yunho startled Jaejoong when he blindly reached behind him to grab his cold fingers.

 

Jaejoong barely managed to swallow his gasp.

 

Yunho’s damp, cold fingers wrapped around the tip of his three middle fingers. Exactly the same thing Sungyeol had done to Myungsoo.

 

Don’t! Jaejoong berated himself and caught his bottom lip between his teeth.

 

“Let’s go see them!” Yunho squealed in unhidden excitement.

 

They arrived at the illuminated secluded part of the lake with multiple of their other classmates.

 

They stood in a circle admiring the lighting insects, awestruck.

 

No matter how many times Yunho got to witness such wonders in nature, he still found himself holding his breath.

 

The night and fireflies held a novelty. It was romantic in a way. Yunho thought, loving the weight of Jaejoong’s fingers in his grip. He gave a squeeze for extra measure.

 

“Pretty, right?” Yunho breathed and rapidly blinked to stop water from sliding in his eyes, wiping his hand down his face, getting rid of excess moisture.

 

“Hmm.” Jaejoong hummed, short of breath.

 

Like bells, laughter tickled around them. The water swished serenely in the background with conversations mingling together, becoming one indistinct murmur.

 

The warmth from Yunho’s fingers around Jaejoong’s wrist sent a thrill through him.

 

“This is everything. This is what summer is supposed to be like,” someone announced, voice high.

 

It was, Jaejoong agreed.

 

Yunho finally remembered to release Jaejoong’s arms and they stood next to each other.

 

As Sungyeol had done before, taking him by surprise, he yanked Yunho through the wall of bodies to stand by him within the circle where the fireflies were.

 

The two friends began guffawing after sharing a bemused look.

 

Laughing hard, Yunho twirled around and tilted his head back, arms alleviated. “Wah! So nice.” He exclaimed loudly. “I still find it magical no matter how many times I see them.”

 

“I want to dance with them, too,” Mino declared, stepping in after Yunho with a large smile eating away at his face.

 

The bioluminescence of the tiny mots waltzing around Yunho set him ablaze with life. He was the child of summer at that moment. He was beautiful.

 

in a breath Jaejoong tilted his head back to take in the radiant stars.

 

Anything but Yunho.

 

Jaejoong decided that it’d be better if he could reduce his appreciation of Yunho’s beauty to the category of impersonal admiration. Like how he would think Juhli and Hyein beautiful in their stage get-ups before shows, his favorite tracks from his beloved singer’s albums, and fading red sunsets. But he knew it was different, and a heavy weight settled in his lower belly. A feeling he was not accustomed to. And it made him uncomfortable.

 

Roaring with laughter, Yunho extended his long fingers to tug Jaejoong in where the beetles were dancing in the air. “Join me.”

 

Closing his eyes tightly, Jaejoong awaited for Yunho’s touch.

 

It was nothing more than a light grace against his forearm before Yunho let go and stepped back. Heat still flared from where the general touched.

 

The way his body reacted made Jaejoong feel all the worst. He felt sick.

 

Standing a breath away from Yunho, his damp chest gleaming in front of Jaejoong’s eyes, face a pale blur, a streak of shameful heat flared through him. Jaejoong tried to take a step back.

 

Yunho dropped his hands on Jaejoong's shoulders and exclaimed like a hyper child, “Do not look sad. How can you be sad when you are witnessing the majesty of nature? Look at them!”

 

His childish wonderment made Jaejoong chuckle tenderly.

 

“I am not sad. I was just..focusing.” He made sweeping motion with his arm. “On all of this. What a sight.”

 

Yunho accepted his excuse with a tender smile and warm eyes.

 

“I am coming in. This is a once in a lifetime thing,” Juhli announced, walking behind Jaejoong and wrapped her arms around him. She grinned at Yunho and he returned it.

 

Yunho arched a thick eyebrow. “Once in a lifetime?”

 

“This night will never come back.”

 

“Then everything is a once in a lifetime event.”

 

She nodded, grin soft. “It is.”

 

Before Jaejoong could wonder where Hyein was she attacked him, hugging his side. He was sandwiched between his two good friends.

 

He glared menacingly at a snickering Yunho.

 

The general found Jaejoong's awkward expression and his predicament hilarious. Jaejoong didn’t.

 

“Where have you been?” Hyein demanded, staring unblinkingly up at the popular chorale member.

 

“Here.”

 

“I know that.”

 

“Right.” Jaejoong chuckled awkwardly.

 

Hyein did not miss a beat. She never did. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. I wanted to swim with you.”

 

“We can do it now.” Juhli answered for Jaejoong.

 

“It's not the same.” Hyein pouted.

 

“Please release me. I cannot breath.” Poor Jaejoong solicited.

 

Juhli chortled and stepped back. Hyein simply loosen her grip on him—she was not letting him go.

 

“What were you two talking about?” Juhli asked both males, her eyes were fixated on a wet Yunho. She looked at him like a well fed, satisfied cat—dazed with giddiness.

 

“Nothing,” Jaejoong mumbled right as Yunho said, “Fireflies. Are they not just beautiful?”

 

Juhli ignored Jaejoong. “They are.”

 

Moving further away from Jaejoong, Juhli tried to catch one of the bioluminescent beetles. Yunho quickly reprimanded her, imprisoning her arm by gripping one tan wrist. She was startled, her eyes widening in what appeared to be more pleasure than shock.

 

She stared at him, expression frozen in time.

 

He quickly released her and stepped back. “Sorry. Just...don’t kill them.”

 

“Right.”

 

“You do know they will die soon, right?” Hyein said matter of fact, tugging Jaejoong’s arm playfully.

 

“Right. I know. But we do not have to kill them now. Let nature do it.”

 

She shrugged. “Fair enough.”

 

“Stop Hye!” Juhli scowled at her friend. “Sorry, Yunho. I won’t kill any.”

 

Yunho apologize to Juhli again. “No. Don’t. It’s okay.”

 

The girl nodded and they shared a beautiful smile.

 

“I didn’t mean anything by my statement, you know?”

 

Yunho nodded. “I know.”

 

“Good.” Juhli posited before sighing and added in a romantic tone, “They are beautiful.”

 

“Right.” Yunho agreed.

 

She released the arm of teammate, but remained near him. Having made up, she picked up a conversation with the firefly fanatic Yunho. Juhli asserted herself within it. Jaejoong quietly observed.

 

The ban rapidly disintegrated and the mesmerized observers began reaching to capture the lightning insects.

 

“Don’t kill them!” a distracted Yunho loudly instructed.

 

Jaejoong and Juhli shared a look and tittered. That was their admirable classmate, Jung Yunho.

 

“Why? They’re going to die really soon anyways,” Myungsoo nonchalantly stated alternating his gaze between Yunho and a laughing Sungyeol who stood a few feet away from him talking to a cute dimpled girl with Changmin and Mino hovering around him.

 

“Seriously, I know! But we do not have to kill them now.”

 

Myungsoo shrugged in the same manner he had asked his question. “You do not have to scream.”

 

Soon Sungyeol started walking away, listening intently to an animated Changmin. Myungsoo followed after the trio’s back.

 

Yunho's shift as a warden was not over yet.

 

Soon he was screaming at other people to not hurt the beetles.

 

Standing next to Yunho, Juhli and Hyein helped him scare their classmate back into their ethics and respect for life. But the girls, especially Hyein, seemed to be enjoying the authority a bit too much.

 

It was all a game for Juhli. She looked delirius.

 

Jaejoong bemusedly watched the trio as a few students bantered with the them, their intense smile erasing any impression of anger.

 

That set the joyous mood for that night.

 

They grabbed snacks on the way home, their wet hair and clothes earning them quizzical looks.

 

“We should do this again,” Sungyeol insisted, his white straw popping out of his mouth.

 

“We should. See you tomorrow,” the remainder of the people present announced unanimously, large smiles marring their youthful visages.

 

Chapter Nine Preview: Jaejoong think about his feelings for Yunho. Could what he feels be more than just admiration? Yunho come clean to Jaejoong and their bond deepens. They go for another swim and things happen. Lol.