“You know I wanna be with you, right?”

Yunho whispered the words but Jaejoong heard them from the chair he was sitting in across the room. He didn’t even look up as he answered.

“Yunho, you realize that I have no idea what I’m doing? That I’m damaged goods and I’ve lied to you so many times. That I’m trouble and my baggage is about 1,000 pounds. I’m not a good boyfriend and I’ve still got this thing with Jason to figure out. I don’t even know if I can figure it out.”

“Figure what out?”

Jaejoong turned to the door and felt his heart leap into his chest.

“Jason”, he breathed, half-rising from his chair.

There he was, Jason Lee, his pale face framed with his jet black mane of hair. He wore jeans and a rumpled dress shirt, signs of his hurried flight over. He still had his duffel bag in his hand. Jaejoong was frozen.

Yunho adjusted himself in his bed to see who it was. That caught Jason’s attention. Immediately, his face caught a weird look.

“I came as soon as I heard. Are you okay?” He rushed over to the bed, leaving Jaejoong half-standing, half-sitting. Half-Yunho’s, half-Jason’s.

“Yeah, I’m fine. The doctor already took great care of me. I just need rest and time to mend. I’ll be back to performing next week but no dancing, I think.”

How weird this was, thought Yunho. That Jason should care for him this way.

“Yeah, I should think so. Jeez, these fans are crazy. Is anyone else hurt?” Jason asked, sighing in relief.

“Of the members? Jaejoong has a bruise on his arm. And one fan got hurt. But other than that, everyone is fine.”

“I hope the girl who attacked you guys got beat by the other fans outside of the mall”, snarked Jason.

“Ahahaha. Cassies are generally peace-keepers. The violent ones are the ELF and SONE”, laughed Yunho.

“Well, I hope you’ve got some ELF and SONE fans too”, said Jason, decidedly.

After much fussing from Jason, Yunho agreed to go to sleep. Jason and Jaejoong left the room.

“I missed you”, Jason whispered as he reached for Jaejoong.

Jaejoong wrapped his arms around him and sunk into the hug.

This was the man who had saved his life. This was the man who had lifted him out of his depression and stupor to realize that he didn’t need his true love to live. He needed someone who would care for him. Someone who would be there, no matter what.

But Yunho. He was that true love. Maybe he didn’t need him. But if he had the choice, he wouldn’t choose to live without him. And it was too selfish to force Yunho to stay, only as a friend. But, he also had grown dependent on Jason for his health and for his happiness. He didn’t want to live without him either. He had to make a choice.

Jaejoong pulled away, putting space in between them,

“Jason, do you want to go out tomorrow? No one knows we’re here and if I disguise myself enough, we should be able to have fun without too much bothering.”

Jason smiled, slightly. “Yeah, I think that would be great.”

--------------------------------------------------------

“Six Flags, eh? This should be very fun. I hope you’re not scared of rollercoasters”, teased Jason.

The day was growing warm although it was only 8am. The park was already filled with teenagers and children running around, having the time of their lives. And soon this couple would be too.

They bought their tickets and entered the park, holding hands. How did they manage this? Jaejoong had dressed as a girl. He hadn’t been too fond of the idea but it was the only way to have fun with Jason without having a scandal.

“Babe. Ooh, I like the sound of that”, joked Jason. Jaejoong rolled his eyes and bumped his shoulder.

“Let’s ride the Screaming Eagle first”, suggested Jaejoong, pulling the other along.

The line wasn’t very long so they got in within a matter of time. The two sat side-by-side and waited for the rest of the carts to fill up.

When the ride started, Jaejoong turned to see that Jason was growing even paler than usual.

“Are you afraid of roller coasters?” he asked, incredulously.

Jason shook his head and said not a word.

Jaejoong laughed and laughed as the cart went hurling over the tracks and Jason screamed bloody murder the whole ride through.

“Can we just ride safe rides? That was so dangerous”, said Jason, as he shakily made his way to a bench. Jaejoong skipped after him, invigorated from the ride they’d just left.

That day, they’d ridden the Batman, the Joker, the Mr. Freeze, the Tony Hawk, Excalibur, and the Screaming Eagle, each twice. It was nearing 11 o’clock now and Jaejoong was starting to get hungry anyway.

Jae sat in the bench beside Jason and took his hand. “I love you”, Jason murmured softly.

“You know what, Jason? I love you too”, said Jaejoong, turning to smile at the other man.

-------------------------

“Your phone’s buzzing”, said Jason through a mouthful of turkey leg. Jaejoong grabbed it from the table and opened it to check the message. It was from his Manager. Everything was settled. He nodded.

“Oh, it was just my Manager. He’s settling everything for our tour. Yunho’s leg has thrown things off a bit, I guess.”

Jason nodded and reached for Jaejoong’s twisted potato chips. Jaejoong made a face as the other grabbed his food and began eating it with his hands.

“Give me that”, he snapped, tearing the turkey leg out of Jason’s hands.

“Hey!”

“If you can eat my potato chips, I can have some of your turkey leg.”

He took a huge chunk out of it with his teeth and grinned, showing the food.

“You’re disgusting”, laughed Jason, shaking his head.

“Wanna make out?” Jaejoong exclaimed loudly, showing the food in a “y” way.

Jason was laughing so hard, he could barely breathe. He was doubled over, the stolen potato chips forgotten.

-------------------------------------------------

“Where are we going now?” said Jason.

“To the Arch, of course. I’ve always wanted to kiss my boyfriend at the top”, teased Jaejoong with a wink.

Jason chuckled and laid his head back against the seat.

“You okay?” asked Jaejoong, sparing him a quick glance.

“Yes, I am. I’m just really overthrown by how much I love you.”

Jaejoong smiled at the words. “I’ve been thinking that same thing.”

At the Arch, Jaejoong purchased tickets for them to go straight up, ignoring the movie that they generally showed. They stood in line for the east gate and held hands. In front of them was an old couple, wearing matching sweater sets. Hers in pink and his in blue.

“Babe, you know I don’t really like heights”, complained Jason, his face growing pale.

The old couple turned around, simultaneously.

“Young man, you’ve got nothing to worry about with him by your side. I’m sure that he’ll take great care of you.”

“I’m a she”, laughed Jaejoong, nervously.

“Mmhmm”, agreed the old woman, knowingly.

“The next two can come in”, said the ticket lady, ushering the old couple in.

-------------------------------------------

“It’s not as scary as I thought it would be”, said Jason, his face pressed against the glass.

“You’ve lived in the States all your life but never came to St. Louis. What have you been doing, honey?” snarked Jaejoong.
The other boy nudged his shoulder and made a face. “Don’t tease me. I was busy becoming a doctor and being a child genius, duh.”

Jaejoong nodded sarcastically. “Of course, of course.”

“Where did everyone go?” said Jason, noticing that the observation deck had all but emptied. There were but a few children and a mother staring over at the Illinois side.

“Here, stand right here in the middle”, instructed Jaejoong, pulling them both over.

He spread his legs wide apart and motioned for Jason to do the same.

“What are we doing?” asked Jason.

“I’m going to kiss you in two states now...hypothetically.”

Jaejoong pressed his lips to Jason’s to Jason’s softly. He could feel Jason smiling against his lips and he smiled back. It was an innocent lip-to-lip touch but it felt right and that’s all Jaejoong could bring himself to worry about.

--------------------------------------------------

“Ice cream, ice cream. I’ll you up like ice cream”, sang Jason, as he spooned his Oreo custard into his mouth.

“This is custard”, retorted Jaejoong obviously.

“Who cares? I’m it up, just like Hyuna will you up”, sang Jason, dancing in his seat.

Jason’s phone buzzed and he picked it up, reading it quietly. He looked at Jaejoong and then set the phone back down, without a word. He returned back to his ice cream and continued singing and dancing.

Suddenly, Jaejoong was hit with a realization. He sank back into his seat, his spoon dropping to the floor.

“This our last date, isn’t it?” Jaejoong said, quietly.

Jason looked up and smiled, sadly. “Yeah, it is.”

[thats it. for clarifaction, jaejoong planned the whole entire date.]