Author’s Note: This story is set in an alternate universe, in an imaginary town and country, and during an ambiguous time period.

Jianyu linked his fingers together and cracked his knuckles, and smiled awkwardly at Jaejoong who had finally lifted his eyes from the ground.

“So, are we going to…” He lifted a shoulder and eyebrow at Jaejoong.

Swallowing, he also gave Jianyu a small shrug in return.

Jaejoong felt as if he was under a microscope and everything about him was being analyzed by his friends’ critical eyes. That feeling made him vulnerable. He curled his fingers into tight fists and uncrossed his legs only to recross it with the opposite left on top and shoved his hands under it, almost hugging the leg to his chest from the way he leaned forward.

His cheeks burned harder after he realized that they knew he was nervous by simply sliding his hand under his thigh. It was the tell-tell sign. His brave font was fooling now one, he consoled himself.

He might as well soothed himself as he faced his friends.

Jouji cleared his throat and looked at a stone faced Lilia. She hadn’t said much since he opened his door to their betrayed faces ten minutes ago after Jianyu had texted him that he was outside standing on his front step.

He had felt trapped then when he saw the buzz, just as he felt when his sisters ambushed him in his bedroom, waking him up to this terrible news, and as he felt surrounded by his lifelong best friends in his childhood home living room.

“Babe,” Jouji muttered, nudging his quiet girlfriend with his shoulder. She pulled away, frowning in retaliation. She refused to meet his gaze. Jouji sighed and smiled at Jaejoong when their eyes met.

“I’ll talk then,” Jianyu sighed loudly, caressing the top of his head. 

Jaejoong wished he would not. In fact, he wished that this was not the reality he was in at this moment. He felt like his insides were being shredded in slow motion, just so he could feel each pull and tear. Optimizing the pain.

He felt hot and cold at the same time. His world was spinning—literally. His vision was blurry and he was not sure if it’s because his eyes felt hot and were signaling that he was on the verge of tears. He felt nauseated. He felt like . That was perfect, however, because —his —had finally hit the fan.

This has officially been the worst summer of his life.

Thank you, Yunho Jung!

“So,” Jianyu began, juggling his knees up and down, centering his nervousness on the motion. Jaejoong stared at his legs, mesmerized. He sighed in frustration and flopped against the couch. “I don’t know how to….” He stopped talking again, stared into Jaejoong’s eyes. He felt like a poor deer caught in the bright, deadly headlights. “Yunho….So, were you ever…” He stalled again and did that little rolling thing with his shoulder Jaejoong knew he always did when he felt uncomfortable and underpressure.

Inhaling through his nose, Jaejoong exhaled and dug his fingers into his palm and fixed his gaze on Jianyu who tried to smile kindly at him again. “No.”

Lilia gasped. He stared at her. She glared at him, but simply pressed her lips together before looking away with an indignant lift of her round chin.

“I am sorry. But I...It….” Jaejoong growled at his frustration over his inability to properly use language to express himself. He spoke two languages fluently and he still could not find the words. “As I’ve already told you, there is nothing going on between us.”

Lilia glowered, Jouji coughed, and Jianyu looked away, cheeks flushed.

“Nothing!” He snapped angrily. They did not believe him and the more he saw their distrusing expressions, the more upset he grew. “Nathen is being a , as usual! We know he is the one that posted that….”

“Picture.” Jouji helped him out. He glared at him. “Thank you,” he bit out tightly.

“Don’t get angry at him,” Lilia said in a calm, controlled tone, the opposite of her eyes. There, Jaejoong saw all of her repressed anger, frustration, and hurt.

Feeling battered and guilty, Jaejoong snapped, “I am not angry at anyone!” And he jumped up. This would not do.

He had managed to squeeze a few words out to them in explanation for the picture that had been posted on facebook and instagram last night of him and Yunho from McDonald’s—ing McDonald’s! Even with the original taken down, nothing posted on the web was ever gone. Especially when the piece was a salacious and scandalous one.

Everyone from their graduating high school class that cared enough had been under that post enjoying the beautiful display of the “Stockholm Syndrome Love Story.” And later when the original got taken down, they posted it themselves, making sure all of their friends saw it.

It was hell.

them all!

 It was utter trash. It was preposterous. But it happened. His friends now knew of him and Yunho being more than just former bully and bullied. They were in contact.

It was as if he was back in high school, and he hated it.

“What I do not understand is,” Lilia began, voice leveled “We’ve been friends since before we hit puberty, we were there for you through everything. We have always shown you support and love, but you...” she paused and  threw her hands up in irritation. “Tell us the truth.” Her words were like jagged teeth that were piercing his internal organs. And that was when Jaejoong realized she wasn't angry. She was hurt. She sounded choked up.

“I...You are my friends and I have told you the truth,” he muttered, weakly.

“No, you have not! All you’ve done is lie to us all summer.”

“Okay.” He shrugged, dropping his gaze. “I have lied.”

“Thank you,” she huffed, crossing her legs sassily and dedicatedly placing her right wrist over her left and resting them on top of her knee.

“Not all the time. Only…sometimes.”

“Bro., you have nothing to feel ashamed for. We’re your friends, right?” Jianyu asked, voice and countenance much calmer than Jaejoong and Lilia. 

“I know you’re my friends. I’ve just said that! I….”

“So, why lie to us all summer then, huh, Jaejoong? Why couldn’t we know of your little tryst with Jung Yunho?” Lilia asked, voice back to being that leveled, patronizing tone.

“Stop,” Jouji said, placing a hand up to stop Lilia’s rebuttal. “Jae, we understand happens. We would have never judged you, and that’s a fact. We’re hurt—and angry,” he added after throwing a fuming Lilia a quick look, “because we feel as if you did—do—not trust us, or feel comfortable with us anymore. I know going to college in different states and universities meant that we would not be together with each other as we used to be, but it doesn’t mean that our relationship had—has—to change.”

“,” Jaejoong mumbled, dropping his face to his open palms. “It’s really not like that."

"That's why we're upset, Jae. It feels like...you think we would have judged you, or dropped you, or something," Jianyu said incredulously.

"I know all of that."

Lilia snorted.

"I mean it! And I don’t want our relationship to change. I was just...ashamed. There, I said it. I was guilty that after talking a good game about how much I hated—hate—Yunho and his friends, I ended up catching feelings for him.”

The bomb denoted.

He felt out of breath.

“Then, tell us everything,” Lilia said in a much gentler tone than she had used since her eyes landed on her friend that morning. She got up from her place and dropped next to him, pressing her thighs against his, placing her hand on the middle of his back, and widened her fingers there. She smiled warmly at him. “I’m not—” She paused and inhaled before she continued. “I am not angry, like Jouji said, I am just…All summer, I’ve been feeling like I’ve been losing you. I know it’s me being a jealous and all, but, it’s just like, these little things keep on happening and showing me that…” She shrugged. “Everything is different. We’re all so different than we were when we were in high school, and, like, that’s good, but I miss us.”

Jaejoong nodded and leaned into her. Her signature scent of coconut and passion fruit was so perfectly familiar and it soothed him. “I am sorry,” he choked, closing his eyes and lifting his head to drop it on her shoulder. “I mean it when I say I love you.”

“I know. It's fine."

"I really do love you. All of you," he added firmly and made eye contact with each of his friends.

"Yeah, bro., we heard you," Jouji said, sounding like he was about to laugh.

Lilia's sharp look made him stop.

"JJ, don’t apologize." She ran her hand up and down his arm. "Don’t be sorry, you did nothing wrong. I mean, I, we, do understand why you did what you did."

"It ," Jianyu added for good measure.

"Shut up, bro." Jouji kicked him. And he laughed as Lilia said, "You’re already forgiven, JJ. This is nothing in comparison to our friendship."

"That is forever, right?" Jianyu merrily stated.

And to his mortification, he actually cried. He never realized how heavy these feelings for Yunho and thoughts of his betrayal and weakness had weighed heavy on his soul.

His friends let him cry, and after he calmed down, wiped his eyes and they had a good, hearty laugh about it, he told them everything. He barred no minute detail.

For the first time since he found out who A.aime was, he stopped lying to his friends and told them everything about the cute guy he met online and began to have feelings for, only to later find out he was the monster that tortured him in high school. Except, he was not a monster anymore. He was a normal guy. In fact, he was more than that, he was sweet, funny, and a nerd that liked Avatar the Last Airbender, watched anime, read manga, and listened to obscure pieces of music—especially folk music. He was cool, and Jaejoong really, really liked him. He couldn’t explain it, they just jelled, and he didn’t know what to do. 

“Well, I say it’s obvious what you should do,” Lilia said, taking a sip of her water.

“What?” Jaejoong asked, wishing everything was not so complicated

“You like him, he likes you, and he has changed, I say go for it.” She punctuated her declaration with a firm nod.

“I can’t.”

“Why?” Jianyua asked, looking perplexed, legs stretched in front of him on top of the coffee table Jaejoong’s mother would kill him over if she found his socks on. He looked too comfortable. Jaejoong didn’t have the strength to remind him of how ballistic his mother would go.

“Because of who he is: Yunho Jung.”

Lilia and Jianyu shared a brief look. 

“We know, Jae, but is that really important now?”

He blushed at Jianyu’s statement. He touched his thumb to each of his fingers in an attempt to calm down. 

“Well, this is great and all. I mean, I want you to be happy, Jae, and all, but have we forgotten that those two, Yunho and Nathen, are, like, best friends? This could have all been a ruse,” Jouji said, leaning forward, his right eyebrow arched.

“Stop it.” Lilia smacked him lightly on the arm.

“What?” He asked, lifting each shoulder in defense.

“Dude, were you listening to him?” Jianyu pointed at Jaejoong. “They were anonymous at the beginning, and he confessed!”

Jaejoong felt his face heating up, and he wanted to hide. But there was nowhere.

Jouji shrugged, intertwining his fingers and dropping his hands in the space between his open thighs.

“Was it just me, or did we see those two fighting last night? Plus, it’s obvious the picture was Nathen’s job. They probably hate each other now,” Jianyu said, shrugging.

Lilia nodded. “Yep. We know for a fact Yunho hates him, and if Nathen’s attempt at revenge is anything to go at, he hates Yunho, too.” She smiled at Jaejoong.

“I am still not going to—” Even thinking about it made his stomach get nervous and tightened up and did that little trippy thing.

“Come on,” Lilia sighed, disappointed. 

“You like him—” Seeing that he was on the verge of interjecting, Jianyu stopped him by placing his hand up, palm facing him, and finishing his thought, “and he likes you. He confessed for God’s sake. What do you think you have to lose?”

“I—”

He didn’t know if he was ready for all that they were suggesting.

“And you’re in the same university as him,” Lilia interrupted him from finishing his statement. “You’re on track to having a super cute university romance. Why not? Yunho’s hot.” Her boyfriend glared at her. She smiled innocently at him. “I can say that now that he’s our best friend’s boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend!” He shouted, overwhelmed.

“We already know. Your family knows. You have nothing to hide or be ashamed of anymore. Plus,” she said, reaching for his hand, “why torture yourself when you don’t have to?"

Lilia, the voice of reason.

Writer's Note: Hello all! I took a moment to look at my last writer's note and I noticed I promised daily updates, and, well, that was overly ambitous of me. But, here's a quick update! Three two more chapters to go. Bye all!