A late White Day fic here for everyone! ♥ If you haven't though, please read Hold Me Always first. This is sort of a sequel-epilogue kind of thing. (Shout out to RebBlack7 for giving me the White Day sequel idea :D)

I hope you guys enjoy this and find it as sweet as the candies given on White Day ♥

EDIT 3/15/2018: Corrected errors and changed some wordings

There’s this playground he loves to go to so much. It’s not in their immediate area but mom is always willing to walk him there as long as he finishes his numbers homework on time.

It has a cooler slide setup than the one nearer their home. Painted blue and red and yellow, it has these little flags with cartoon characters in each station. Once, he collected the flags to put in his room, but the scary guard there didn’t let him take them home. Don’t get him started on mom scolding him and not giving him the choco pudding for dinner.

But the slides are not really the main point. The main point is that playground is his own world, with the slides being his castle. He’s the king and the other kids playing there are his subjects. It took a lot of effort to make the previous king ruling there to submit, but now he has everyone under control. He must have saved a country in his previous life to earn this.

Now, the key isn’t to beat up the other kids like how the cartoons show. He hates bullies and he doesn’t want to be a bully. The true method is to set an image. To be the hero. The girls like handsome boys? Well, he’s already handsome but if he adds a smirk here and a wink there, he'll look much better in their eyes. His fellow boys are a bit tricky. They want someone cool to look up to and follow, so he has to set that up for them. Crying is not allowed, and most of what he says should sound deep and intelligent. It’s the reason why he focused more on his alphabets, so he could read those hard sentences in the 3rd grade poetry books. As a final step, he needs to make a good impression of the other parents as well. They had to swoon over him, tell their kids follow his example.

“June-ya~! Come here!”

So even though he hates his nickname and how his mom calls him in a cutesy tone, he still smiles, stands up from the sand pit and walks to his mom with a proud stance. His subjects look at him in awe, probably wondering how he could tolerate the nickname with grace. The parents around will surely think of him as cute and very obedient.

“I want you to meet a new friend today.” his mom says, the smile on her face wider than usual. The image makes him a bit nervous. He knows what that too big of a smile means. It’s screaming, “Be nice or else.” Looks like his dinner pudding is in danger again.

He’s too immersed in that warning that he didn’t pay attention to the lady beside his mom right away. His mom says the lady is her friend from collage-- collagen? Whatever that is, and that they just moved into the neighborhood, yada yada. And then,

“Hi Junhwe. This is my son, Donghyuk. He’s the same age.”

He grins up at the lady for not calling him by his nickname before turning his gaze to behind her, where she’s whispering something like “He’s the son of mom’s friend” with a gentle voice. The tender tone of the lady makes him a bit jealous. Geez, if only his mom’s as gentle as her.

Patiently, he waits for mom’s friend’s son to make his appearance. The first thing he noticed is the height. New kid's shorter than him, so that means adding him to his subjects will be easier. The orange overalls the boy’s wearing turns him off slightly, especially with that bird character sewn dead center. Eww, how lame. Not that Junhwe isn’t wearing an overall too, but at least his is blue and doesn’t look ugly. Poor guy, though. What was his name again?

“Hi… I’m Donghyuk.”

“Hi.” he finally stares at the new kid’s face. “I’m Junhwe.”

… Wait.

Why is this kid so unnecessarily pretty and cute?

Bowl-cut hair with the bangs brushed up, round eyeglasses that are too big for his small but scarily twinkling eyes, a voice that makes Junhwe involuntarily smile, and a face that says, “I’m a cute and nice kid. Please love me~”

Oh no. He can already see what’s going to happen. He didn’t expect this crisis to come soon, but his main rival has revealed himself!

His mom insisted he play with the new kid so she and new kid’s mom can talk. Junhwe doesn't like the idea but he can’t kick the boy out if he wants to maintain his honorable image. So he smiles as always and leads the other to the slides, where his subjects have gathered. Everyone’s obviously curious.

He plans to leave the new kid with the others so he could rethink his strategies, but mom is staring at him in expectation. It doesn’t help that new kid follows him to the sands, looking up at him with those eyes. The kid scrunches his nose and pushes up his glasses, showing him a big grin.

“What should we play first, June?”

Junhwe cringes. Of all the things he could commit on his first day, new kid calls him with that nickname! What a bold attack!

Fine, new kid wants to play with him? They’ll play then!

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A snort, and then a boisterous laugh.

Donghyuk pauses from drinking his peach-flavored canned alcoholic juice to stare quizzically at Junhwe.

“That’s so out of the blue. What’s funny?”

Junhwe laughs for a few more seconds before finally heaving a breath. Donghyuk waits as the other shake his head and stretch his leather shoes-clad feet on the sand of the swings.

“Remember when we’re kids? When you just moved in and you played here for the first time?”

The question makes him tilt his head a bit, his mind pulling out memories of a kid with big scary eyes and plump cheeks wearing blue overalls. Now he knows why Junhwe laughed out loud like that.

“Oh, that.” he laughs too, taking a moment to relish in the past sequences of that very memorable day. Most of his childhood memories are rather hazy for him now, but that time when he first met Junhwe, at this very playground they are at, remains as clear to him as a movie he watched just the other day.

He starts lightly swinging. “So what about that? A lot happened that day.”

Junhwe smirks, takes a bite of the fishcake he has on hand, and takes his moment to reminisce too. “I feel like remembering it is fitting, you know? It’s the start of everything, even though we didn’t do our cheap boys’ night out until high school.”

“That’s because you scared all the other kids off that day! Our moms banned us from coming back here for the rest of elementary.” Donghyuk reminds with a teasing tone. Junhwe, of course, doesn’t argue on that. After all, it was true.

It was legendary, so to speak. A lot of the kids who played there too remembered the incident all the way to high school. Junhwe was the playground king, ruling over the other kids in a way that is scarily smart. Donghyuk had thought he has an instant friend that time and Junhwe had led him to believe so. But things escalate quickly for children. What should have been cordial sand mound contests and taking turns in the slides and swings turned out to be grappling each other on the sand pit, the other kids being split into two sides, and Junhwe’s childhood kingdom being ruined in one day.

“You were crying so much. You said it’s my fault. Then I cried too and said I just want to be friends.” he recounts with a chuckle, drinking from his can again.

Junhwe nods with a grin. “And then our moms pulled us aside, scolding us for everyone to see and forcing us to hug.”

“You tried to push me.” he continues in amusement. Junhwe releases a snicker.

“And you pushed me back.”

“Then our moms scolded us again and threatened not to give us dinner desserts if we don’t make up.”

He laughs for the second time, remembering what Junhwe did just so he wouldn’t lose his cup of pudding.

“You kissed me on the cheek.”

He stops swinging as Junhwe gives him a proud smirk. Amusingly, it’s like a matured version of the one he had on his face when he pulled that childhood stunt.

“I did.” the other male says. “And then you cried again, saying I stole your happy ending kiss.”

Donghyuk laughs again. Even now, the memory still embarrasses him.

It shouldn’t be a big deal but at that time, he was also fascinated with fairytales of happily-ever-afters. As a child, he’d thought a kiss is part of it, that he won’t get his happy ending if he doesn’t share a kiss with the one he loves. Junhwe was like the monster who shattered that dream.

But that same monster is also the one who saved it.

“You grabbed my face, your two hands squishing my cheeks, and then you said--”

“It wasn’t on the lips so it’s not a happy ending kiss! I’ll protect it for you so stop crying!”

He snickers at how accurately Junhwe imitated a child’s intonation.

“The impact of that vow will be ruined if you say it like that.”

“Just being true to the events.”

There’s a pause, comfortable silence settling in. And then,

“Did I do a good job?”

Donghyuk averts his gaze for a bit. Now that is something he hadn't pondered on. Currently there's already no need to, but just for the sake of being open, he lets himself sink to his thoughts. Did Junhwe do a good job protecting his happy ending? Should he say it? He glances at Junhwe and is given an encouraging nod.

“No, you didn't." He pauses to gather the right words. "You unknowingly broke my heart countless times. I thought I had a good shot with Jiwon-hyung but each call from you to meet here fades him away.” he gives a bittersweet smile. “Then when I’m already at peace with my feelings, you start pursuing me just a few months after Jinhwan-hyung rejected your proposal. My heart broke the hardest then.”

The comfortable smirk on Junhwe’s face instantly drops for a wince and a guilty look. He doesn't answer right away.

“Yeah… I’m still very sorry for that. All those feelings rushing in..." he looks down in thought. "...I didn’t know better.”

“I know.” Donghyuk nods reassuringly.

He waits for Junhwe to look up again, not averting his eyes when the other starts gazing at him.

“I love you.”

“I know.” he repeats with a shy grin. “I know that now. And even though you didn’t do a good job protecting my happy ending, you did something so much better.”

“That is…?”

Donghyuk’s tempted to laugh. Isn’t it obvious? With how they’re still wearing their white tuxedos from the ceremony, forgoing the limo to their hotel to drive here, to this playground, where it all started?

“You became my happy ending.”

“Ah.”

Junhwe blushes all the way to his ears, as if he just said something very unexpected but made the most sense. Donghyuk ends up laughing because of it.

“So, are we done here? Or do you still need to do some reminiscing?” he teases.

His husband pretends to be offended, mimicking his words under his breath before throwing his empty stick on the trash can near him. Donghyuk takes it as a sign that they’re really done, so he crumples his empty can in his fists and gets rid of it too.

“On second thought, I still need to do one thing.” says Junhwe, stopping him from walking out of the swings.

“Okay, what is it?”

A kiss, is what Junhwe meant. Donghyuk’s heart flutters as Junhwe’s lips meet his own. Junhwe presses firmly, emphasizing, while his hands travel from his waist to his jaw, his fingers gently holding his cheeks to keep him secured. It’s different from the brief one they shared at the ceremony hours before.

“There.” Junhwe whispers in satisfaction after they pulled away for air. “A kiss of happy ending. To seal everything. And a toast to a new beginning.”

It’s Donghyuk’s turn to blush all the way to his ears.

“Was that a new poem?”

“Sounds romantic isn’t it?” Junhwe wraps an arm around his waist. “How about I write a book full of poems about the kisses we share?”

“Contemporary poet Koo Junhwe’s career is about to fall apart!” he jokes, laughing in embarrassment as he and Junhwe leaves.

Not far from where they’re walking off, the food stand owner smiles as he watches them. He wipes his hands with a dish cloth and nods at a picture frame situated at a countertop above his radio. His late father had always been worried about those two regulars of theirs, often telling him stories of a tight friendship and a painfully obvious love.

“They’re doing fine now, old man.” he whispers, still with the smile, as he reaches out to increase the volume of his radio when a love song starts playing.

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I don't celebrate White Day but if you do, I hope you received lots of candies ^^

Also, shameless promotion: I have a new JunDong drabble/oneshot series (All In A Day's Work) in case anyone's interested ^^ To the kind souls who already checked it out, thank you! ♥