Chapter 22 – A World That is Ours

“I think a secret love is something none of your friends would understand.

It's like a fairy tale, but more serious.”

-  Yunho

It takes a lot of strength to hold back. Hugs were reduced to shoulder bumps, affectionate words diluted to something platonic, stares limited to a short few seconds. Yunho was filled with a yearning no one knew about. He wanted to embrace Jaejoong, wanted to caress his face, kiss him, gaze at him lovingly... But for many months, it was impossible.

Yunho walked into the waiting room where their belongings were. There, he saw the fair-skinned Jaejoong getting into one of the mascot costumes with such seriousness.

“Yah Hodol-ie!” He called the name of the tiger army mascot that Jaejoong was putting on.

Jaejoong laughed softly upon seeing Yunho. “Yunho-ah, help me put on the head.” He said while fixing the costume for the body.

The taller man went to pick up the large mascot head and positioned it above Jaejoong’s head. Jae held onto it and together, they slowly brought it down for Jae to fit into.

“Thanks!” Jae said and started doing some sort of dance moves out of nowhere to get the hang of the suit.

Yunho stared at Jaejoong’s silly dance moves but shortly ended up laughing and affected by Jae’s enthusiasm.

He saw the other mascot costume that Jae wore the first day and walked up to it. “I’ll wear this.” He said.

Jaejoong stopped and looked at Yunho through the limited vision he had. “What? You’ll wear that?”

“Yah, sure. This is Hosun-ie, the female mascot? I'll be your partner.” Yunho said and began to remove his jacket and put on the costume.

“But Yunho-ah, it’s so hot inside that... It will even be hotter when you go outside.” Jae said with worry. 

But the taller man had already gotten into the suit. He looked at Jaejoong.

“If we go together, I’ll be alright.” He smiled at the mascot.

And Yunho didn’t know that inside that mascot, Jaejoong was blushing from what he said and from his smile.

"Okay, then don't speak while in that. It takes away the mystery." Jaejoong advised him and was so happy that Yunho was accompanying him. 

Yunho and Jaejoong went around in their costumes, entertained the crowd and bothered their soldier friends who were performing.

“It is hot in here,” Yunho thought. “Jaejoong couldn’t have been in this heat yesterday.” He felt for his beloved person, and how he still went to do this again even in the wracking situation. Yunho felt accomplished that he decided to join Jaejoong in this activity. 

After a while, both of them became tired and went into one of the tents that was a bit secluded but still had people around. They sat around a table across each other and were sweating terribly inside the suits. But being out there together was too fun for them to be bothered by it.

Yunho faced the mascot in front of him and he was fascinated. Wearing the costume was like being shielded from others' judgments, and it made Yunho feel like not himself. He understood now why Jaejoong loved wearing these. He put his large tiger paw in the middle of the table. “Hodol-ie~” He called cutely at the male tiger in front of him.

Seeing that, Jaejoong put his also large tiger paw on top of Yunho’s paw. “Hosun-ie~” He called back.

Yunho crouched over their paws and was laughing. He then felt Jaejoong bump his mascot head with his own large head and he heard him laugh too.

Soon enough, they were holding each other’s hands, and were lost in pretending to be on a date while having actual feelings of endearment that such a meeti