When Jungsoo clicked the stereo to life, the Wooju students began whooping and cheering in recognition of the song. Baekhyun and his four friends were performing a dance to the song “Run To You” by DJ DOC on the second and last night of the Summer Wooju MT.

“BOUNCE with me BOUNCE with me

BOUNCE with me BOUNCE!

BOUNCE with me BOUNCE with me

BOUNCE with me BOUNCE!

BOUNCE with me BOUNCE with me!

BOUNCE with me BOUNCE with me!

BOUNCE with me BOUNCE with me!

BOUNCE! BOUNCE! BOUNCE!”

That was exactly what Baekhyun, Hyukjae, Sungyeol, Chulyong, and Kwanghee were doing – Bouncing. Sungyeol was in the middle, his lanky body crouching down low and then jumping up fully, into the air, all of his limbs spreading out in a ridiculous fashion. Baekhyun and Hyukjae started off on opposite sides of Sungyeol, taking leaps toward each other, jumping to high five in the middle, and then bouncing on one leg in sync with Sungyeol. Chulyong and his floppy hair bounced on a large, blue and white bouncy ball; Kwanghee was dangerously bouncing on a pogo stick, seemingly ready to fall off face first any minute.

The music played at a deafening volume from the stereo, but even so, Baekhyun and his friends sang along to every single line. Kwanghee’s booming voice was incredibly out of tune; Hyukjae was again using his full-out greasy voice, and having leapt off the bouncy ball for the first verse, Chulyong stood up and lifted his shirt in front of the crowd, revealing his baby belly at the part “Yeah BABY, Yeah BABY” and rubbing and squishing it, drawing a round of laughter.

By the second verse, Baekhyun and his friends seemed to have lost any kind of sanity, running around like a pack of wild maniacs. Chulyong had pulled the front of his shirt over his head and was flying around in circles. Sungyeol was leaping and walking in place in slow motion, using his long limbs. Kwanghee was standing straight with his arms raised up, pretending to be a pole, and Hyukjae was wrapping his leg around Kwanghee, sliding his shirt up seductively.  

Baekhyun put on his most dumb face and danced a dance that had no name whatsoever; he was waving his arms around, moving his torso back and forth, wagging his legs, shaking his , and running his hands through his hair, all in a combination of moves that spoke absurdity, but that somehow went with the obnoxious music and the craziness of all his friends around him. The scene was in all sense, the definition of total chaos.  

“BOUNCE with me BOUNCE with me

BOUNCE with me BOUNCE!

BOUNCE with me BOUNCE with me

BOUNCE with me BOUNCE!

BOUNCE with me BOUNCE with me!

BOUNCE with me BOUNCE with me!

BOUNCE with me BOUNCE with me!

BOUNCE! BOUNCE! BOUNCE!”

Everyone watching had their hands raised, pumping their arms, laughing, singing along. The group of friends finished off with a series of crazy poses, lanky Sungyeol in the middle again raising one of his arms straight in the air in a Michael Jackson move, Hyukjae and Baekhyun to his sides, sticking their butts up in the air, and Chulyong and Kwanghee sprawled on the ground. Some senior girl snapped a picture of them, and then they dispersed to the roaring of the crowd.

They started a large fire and all sat around it, while the juniors put on their own performances. Cute little Changhyun, the purple haired kid from the morning named Byunghun, and a third junior with small lines for eyes named Jonghyun put on a dance performance with Brown Eyed Girls’ “Abracadabra”. The song was a huge favorite of any high school crowd; by the rap part of the song, everyone was up and flaunting their butts in the signature dance. Baekhyun tried to get Naeun to get up and dance too, but she just smiled at him in that striking way she did, and Baekhyun had to surrender to that, without any protest.

After a number of wild junior performances, things were starting to wind down. Jungsoo and Sora were finally enjoying some rest from their busy MT Master duties, holding hands in front of the fire, Sora having laid her head on Jungsoo’s shoulder. One of the senior boys had brought out an acoustic guitar, and Kwanghee and Chulyong were singing along to the song “Americano” by 10cm, in their boisterous, deafening voices.

The spaces around the campfire were crowded. Baekhyun, having taken a seat beside Naeun, kept brushing his arm against hers, a smile curving his lips every time he did. She was glowing in a faint ember light from the light of the fire, and Baekhyun couldn’t take his eyes off of her. Not that he ever could, since that first time he saw her from the porch railing.

“Yah, you guys at singing! Can we actually listen to someone who can sing, for once?” Jungsoo protested. Kwanghee and Chulyong stopped and pouted, but it was the truth: after a while, their singing became too unbearable to hear.

“Eh hem,” Baekhyun stood up and cleared his throat. “If I may?” he asked the crowd.

“Yes! Someone who can actually sing! Sing something pretty Baekhyun-ah!” Sora exclaimed.

Baekhyun swept a bow to the crowd, and they began to applaud. He walked over to the guitarist and whispered into his ear the song he wanted to sing. Someone passed up to him an empty bottle, which he grabbed like a microphone. He stood with the eyes of everyone in the audience glued to him, and turned to Naeun, beaming at her.

The gentle strum of the guitar swiftly quieted the crowd, the soft melody carrying over the uneven snap of the fire, Hyukjae and Sungyeol directing two different imaginary orchestras in front of them.

“When I look at you my face gets red,

When I see you my heart goes thump thump,

I’m shy like a little child.

When I look at you I just smile out of nowhere,

I keep doing it like a fool,

I think love came to me”

As Baekhyun sang, he thought about the two goals he’d been so determined to reach, just yesterday. The King of MT, and Naeun. Those two things kept bouncing around in his head, like the rhythm of the song he sang, “Lovelight,” by CN Blue. He calmly sang out the first verse and jumped into the soft, rhythmic rap. He didn’t know if it was the rap lyrics, or just the song itself, but something big and tense was rising in his chest, and his voice became louder and clearer, but also gentler. He felt a strong urge to get closer to Naeun, but he held it back.

“You’re the president of my heart,

You embroider stars on my chest.

I’m Genie for you girl,

You make me stop breathing.

Whatever you want,

Because i love you,

The reason for my love is you, you know.”

Everyone began to move their heads side to side in sync with the music when Baekhyun launched into the familiar chorus. Chulyong and Kwanghee stood up, put their arms around each other, and rocked side to side obnoxiously, attracting small laughs.

But Baekhyun sang to Naeun, and only to Naeun. Nothing else came into his vision, just her glowing face, smiling at him, her unwavering beauty enthralling him.

“I love you, lovely,

Even if I close my eyes, I see you.

I look at you like this,

Again and again,

And you still blind me.

You’re my love… Light.”

The crowd broke out in loud howls and cheers. Baekhyun beamed from his spot at the head of attention. He was about to let out the big lump in his chest. If his friends and the rest of the Wooju students were going to make fun of him forever for this, then he’d let it be. He was willing to take any and every type of mockery and teasing. After all, he’d already lived through every kind of embarrassment a high school kid could have, in his previous years at Wooju. He wanted to believe that he had more to gain than to lose.

“Hey guys, I have this confession to make,” Baekhyun said over the noise of the crowd. “I actually sang that song for this girl I really like.”

Girls in the crowd started ‘aww-ing’ and giggling. Baekhyun swallowed and continued. “Son Naeun… That song was for you… and… uhh... yeah, you should be my girlfriend,” He ended up mumbling the last bit of his sentence, but he was sure everyone in the crowd had heard him clearly. He felt as if he’d just emptied out his whole insides.

So when the kids around him all erupted out in bustles of laughter, Baekhyun turned his head back and forth in confusion.  His friends were pointing fingers at him, clenching their stomachs as they snickered and snorted. Even Jungsoo and Sora were laughing, looking from each other, to Baekhyun, then to Naeun. Baekhyun could plainly feel that they were all laughing at him, not with him.  Amidst it all, Naeun sat unmoving in her spot, avoiding Baekhyun’s gaze, a hint of pink tinting her perfect cheeks.

She was blushing. As the realization hit him, Baekhyun wanted to leap into the air and take flight. He had managed to make her blush, because of him. Even as the crowd continued to laugh at him, for reasons Baekhyun couldn’t comprehend, he himself put on his own goofy grin, his eyes narrowing into curved lines joyously.

“Wait, wait! Hold on a minute!” exclaimed Jungsoo, getting up and addressing the crowd, “This isn’t going to work, Baekhyun-ah. If you’re gonna make a confession, you gotta do the right way!”

“Yeah!” The crowd agreed.

“Huh? What right way?” Baekhyun muttered.

Sungyeol and Kwanghee grabbed Naeun from her seat, earning more giggles from some girls. They lifted her up by putting their arms out and making her sit on them as they brought her to the center. She was now higher than everyone else, sitting on a throne made of arms, the pink in her cheeks radiating in her glow as she blinked in embarrassment.

Suddenly, Baekhyun found that Sora was handing him a small bouquet of wild flowers. “Get on your knees Baekhyun-ah!” she told him.

Rather dumbfounded, Baekhyun knelt on the ground in front of the Sungyeol-Kwanghee throne, ducking his head and holding his arms up straight so that the bouquet reached Naeun.

“Confess! Confess! Confess!” People chanted. They really like chanting here, Baekhyun thought.

He forced himself to take another deep breath. He had this uneasy feeling that he was being tricked into something, but he wanted to finish what he’d started. He shut his eyes tightly, unable to look up, and screamed, “Naeun-ah! Will you let me be your boyfriend?”

“Say yes! Say yes! Say yes!” the crowd recited. Baekhyun felt the bouquet leaving his grip, but he kept his eyes clenched shut. He didn’t see Jungsoo tiptoe over and hand Naeun a black permanent marker. He was too preoccupied with his beating heart.

“Whooohooo!!!” the crowd screamed. Unable to contain himself, Baekhyun finally opened his eyes and looked up. Kwanghee and Sungyeol had let Naeun down from their throne. She was now standing over him, smiling down at him with the sweet color of a rosy pink adorned on her cheeks like icing on a cupcake, holding the wildflower bouquet in her left hand and a permanent marker on her right.

Baekhyun was utterly, completely confused. He didn’t manage to become any less confused when Naeun uncapped the permanent marker and began to write with it on his forehead, moving his bangs gently, giggling. As Naeun wrote, someone grabbed the bush of hair that usually covered Baekhyun’s forehead and tied it up, so that his hair now stuck up like a toddler’s. There was snickering in the crowd. The little bouts of laughter continued until Naeun finally finished on his forehead, and then they turned into cheers once again.

Naeun took Baekhyun’s hands and helped him stand up. Sora came and snapped a picture of Baekhyun’s face. She first showed Naeun, the two of them laughing as they looked at the photo, then, she finally turned the screen so that Baekhyun could see.

On his forehead, Naeun had written in large black print, “Property of Son Naeun”. Laughing to himself, Baekhyun closed his eyes. He had to sort through his thoughts mentally. Firstly, Naeun had said yes. That meant they were now… the fluttering in his heart was enough to let him push that thought to the side for now. What he still couldn’t figure out was why everyone was laughing… at him. He shook his head. If his friends wanted to single him out and play all the tricks on him, he might as well just take it. Afterall, his forehead said that he belonged to Naeun now, right? Nothing could ruin his mood anymore.

“Okay!” Jungsoo’s voice interrupted Baekhyun’s thoughts, making him open his eyes again. “I think this is the perfect time to announce what everyone has been waiting for!”

The crowd just got louder and louder. Jungsoo and Sora were now the centers of attention, so taking Naeun’s hand, Baekhyun snuck back to his seat. When they sat down, Baekhyun felt the full red creeping up his entire face and ears. He didn’t even feel like paying attention to the MT Masters. He just wanted to stare at Naeun until his eyes fell off.

“Alright guys, as Senior MT Master, I would like to introduce you all to this year’s King of MT……  Byun Baekhyun!!”

The crowd erupted into a deafening roar, so loud, that it made Baekhyun feel like he’d lost his hearing. Naeun was pushing him, mouthing, “Go!” Out of nowhere, Chulyong, Hyukjae, Kwanghee, and Sungyeol leapt up and began to spray multi-colored silly string all over Baekhyun, pulling him up in front of the crowd, yet again. It was difficult to see with so much silly string flying in front of his face, but Baekhyun could feel that Sora was placing the king’s crown on his head.

The goofiest grin spread widely across Baekhyun’s face. His heart was literally slamming into every corner of his insides in a crazy frenzy. The noise of the crowd and the madness of the situation made his head hurt. It was great.

“King of MT! King of MT! King of MT!”  

Baekhyun’s face was also hurting, from smiling so widely. Amidst all the craziness of the crowd and his friends around him, he managed to spot Naeun’s glowing face, smiling at him in the loveliest way. Baekhyun couldn’t handle it. He had actually gotten both of his goals accomplished. What he’d done to be so lucky, he had no idea.  

“Yah, get him!!” Somebody yelled. Baekhyun felt hands grabbing him, pulling him off of the ground. He was totally out of control; his friends were surrounding him, holding him up with their own strengths. “One, two, three!” They threw him up into the air. “Whoa!” Baekhyun cried out, as they caught him, then threw him up again. They didn’t let him down until they repeated the process five times.

Baekhyun’s legs were wobbly when his feet touched the ground again. The crowd had settled down, and finally, Baekhyun was free from being the center of everyone’s attention. He stumbled back to his seat next to Naeun, letting out a sigh of exasperation.

The MT Masters weren’t finished, and neither was the crowd. “I know you guys are dying to know who the new junior MT Master is going to be,” said Jungsoo, “Sora and I were really pleased with our picks this year. Without further ado, my one and only partner in crime! Come up here Yoo Changhyun!!”

All of Baekhyun’s friends jumped up at once, again. They were all over him the minute his baby face popped out of the crowd, their unending supply of silly string littering the ground, almost mummifying poor Changhyun. Jungsoo bear-hugged the kid, ruffling his hair, and Sora also went on to announce the female MT Master.

It was amazing how loud a crowd of high school students could be. The rest of the night went by like a blur. Baekhyun and his friends ceremoniously dumped a cooler full of ice in the back of Changhyun’s shirt. The new MT Master received endless attention from everyone in the crowd, even getting sandwich piled by his junior buddies. Even so, Baekhyun couldn’t avoid being sought after, either. He was attacked by an army of kids equipped with a dozen black permanent markers, one of them being Naeun herself. By the time he stumbled onto his couch to fall asleep for the night, his skin was covered in black drawings and marks. He didn’t even bother trying to wash any of it off.

[A/N:]

Two Pre-Debut videos without which this story just COULD NOT have come to existence!

Oh, and I would also like to add, that for this story collection, I won't be taking any pairing requests. All of the pairings are already planned out, and a good number of the stories have already been written. So I apologize, and I'll be sad if this makes some of you go, but this collection has a very specific direction. I'm Sowee~ :'(

Thank you for reading!