Tuesday, 6:04
Good morning!

Wednesday, 7:28
Check out this funny graffiti I saw in the locker room
[picture attached]

Wednesday, 13:59
Did you skip lunch today? I was looking for you and didn't find you

Thursday, 15:27
I know you said that I'd be asked out next, but that new animated film is playing at the mall this weekend, and I kinda wanna watch it lol. Let's go together?

Thursday, 15:28
I'm aware movies aren't a good *first* date, but we've been dating for a while now. This seems fine to me?

Friday, 16:43
Or it doesn't have to be a practise date. We could just hang out

Sunday, 20:09
Hey, is everything alright? I haven't heard from you all weekend

Monday, 8:15
Jaejoong?

Yunho walks into school on Monday morning worried out of his damn mind. Jaejoong hasn't spoken to him since last week, and he has absolutely no clue what could have possibly happened to warrant such treatment. He would have gone to Jaejoong's house to check on the other boy directly if only he weren't acutely aware of how excessive that would have been.

As it stands, stalking up and down the second-year locker bays in search of the other is not any more reasonable.

A few minutes prior to the first warning bell, Jaejoong strolls up to his locker, and Yunho is so relieved to see him he doesn't even think about nagging him for cutting it so close to class.

"Jaejoong!"

"Yunho. Hi."

It's a perfectly normal greeting, so then why does it feel so weird?

"Just 'hi'?"

The corners of Jaejoong's eyes crinkle the way they do before he's about to ruin your whole day, and some of the anxiety finally loosens in Yunho's chest. "There's been a markup on opening salutations, haven't you heard? Frankly, I don't think you could afford a second one."

Yunho laughs, but in his relief it sounds more desperate than amused. "Well, I think you should give me a discount. You really worried me this weekend; it's only fair!"

There's no amount of teasing in the world that could belie the truth in his statement, and he winces as he sees Jaejoong close himself back up in response. It wouldn't have been so obvious if only he hadn't seen a hint of the carefree Jaejoong just a second ago.

"Jaejoong, what happened last week?"

He doesn't say anything at first, just shuffles around books between his backpack and his locker. The longer he remains silent, the tighter the coil in Yunho's chest wounds.

Finally, he turns to face Yunho with such a serious face that fear seizes his chest. Yunho recognises that look. It's how all his girlfriends looked the moment right before they became his ex-girlfriends, resolute and resigned.

This look has never bothered him before now.

"Yunho, I'm sorry. I should have said something sooner, but I didn't know how to break it to you. There will never be the right words or the right timing for what I'm about to say, but there's no choice now but to just say it… Yunho, I was grounded."

Somewhere in the world, there is a vinyl record scratching on a turntable needle. "Come again?"

Jaejoong sighs, heavy and put-upon and fake, as he slumps against his locker. "I know! Parents don't like it when you change the autocorrect settings in their phones so that common phrases are turned into expletives and observations on the other party's hairline. It blew my mind, too. No phone, no Internet for the whole weekend."

Yunho's laugh is hysterical with incredulity and relief. "Are you serious?"

Jaejoong nods. "I read all your texts this morning, though. Movie, right? Let's do tomorrow; neither of us have anything after school. I'll buy the tickets, you buy the snacks?"

The whiplash from thinking he's about to be really broken up with by his practise boyfriend to making real plans for a practise date tomorrow night is vertigo inducing, but Yunho rallies himself. "Yeah, that sounds like a great plan." His cheeks feel like they haven't smiled in forever.

"Cool, see you tomorrow." Jaejoong turns on his heel, and the first warning bell rings.

The smile drops from Yunho's face. That's it?

"Wait!" He rushes forward to stop Jaejoong's stride, but he doesn't even know what it is he was wanting at the end of the exchange, a fact that becomes glaringly apparent to him when Jaejoong looks back at him with a coolly expectant face.

He scrounges for literally anything coherent to say, and luckily something occurs to him just before the silence stretches out too long. "Um, is tomorrow a lesson?"

Jaejoong's lips smirk, but his eyes don't seem to play along. "Every day is a lesson, Jung." With that, he walks away and joins the crowd of students heading to their first class, a crowd among which Yunho would find himself if only he could get his feet to move.

The distinct feeling of wanting something is still haunting Yunho, but he can only purse his lips and wonder what. He tells himself that he won't figure it out by just standing here, but the rest of the day doesn't offer him any answers either.

They agreed beforehand that they'd go home to change out of their uniforms and just meet at the movies, but Yunho finds himself ready and antsy a full two hours before their meetup time. He knows there is still latent anxiety from this weekend that he wasn't able to completely shake, but he reminds himself that he's being ridiculous. He and Jaejoong are literally going on a date tonight. There is nothing to be nervous about.

He'd feel a lot better once he's with Jaejoong, though, so he texts him to see if they could expedite that part.

Perks of having a motorbike: I got home pretty quickly and finished getting ready way earlier than I thought I would. How's your timing? I could pick you up instead of just meeting at the mall

Yunho stares with laser focus at the chat box, willing the three bouncing dots to appear and let him know Jaejoong is responding. Just when Yunho thinks he should call since he's waited long enough, they pop up for a second, and Jaejoong's message comes through.

thanks, but not necessary

The other boy's impassive face from yesterday flashes through his mind again, and Yunho keens with dread. Why is Jaejoong being like this?

After another moment of sitting in his anxiety, he pulls himself together. He has to tell Jaejoong about this, that Jaejoong is making him feel this way. He probably isn't even doing it on purpose, but he should know how much it's affecting Yunho. If he could just explain himself, maybe Yunho would be better at handling it.

He nods to himself. Yes, good plan.

Okay, looking forward to it. There's something I want to talk to you about too

That looks serious. Sure, it's a serious conversation Yunho wants to have, but it's not a bad serious. He doesn't want Jaejoong to worry.

:)

There, that's better.

Jaejoong doesn't reply, and Yunho resolves not to read into it. He needs a distraction, so he reviews his outfit for the fifth time.

He had dressed a little better than normal, probably a little more formal than a movie date warrants, because he really wants to impress Jaejoong. He feels like he's learned a lot in the past few weeks, and he wants to prove that it hasn't been a waste of Jaejoong's time by fully applying his accumulated knowledge. Appraising himself in the mirror, he's gotta say: he looks good.

He stalls a little bit more by brushing his teeth again and trying to study some flash cards, but he's out of the house in the next fifteen minutes and at the mall by the end of the hour.

Jaejoong is—predictably, understandably, disappointingly—not there yet, so Yunho decides to do the gentlemanly thing and buy both the tickets and the snacks. Besides, standing in queues is a great way to pass the time.

On the snack line, he frets over what to order for Jaejoong. He knows Jaejoong prefers spicy food, but does that also apply to his snacks? Should he get something sweet like candy or something savoury like popcorn? If he buys something of everything, that's probably overkill, right? But Jaejoong likes to eat as much as he does…

When it's his turn at the register, he still hasn't made up his mind, and he panics a little bit before a voice from off to his side tells him, "I like chocolate-covered raisins."

He whirls around and finds Kwon Boa standing there in all her 5'3" unattainable-girl-next-door glory.

He is so stunned to see her that it takes the annoyed voice of the underpaid teenager at the cash register to finally prompt him into action. He hands over his debit card in a stupor, preoccupied with how Kwon Boa has taken up space at his side.

When the transaction is done and he still doesn't move, she places her hand on his arm and guides him out of the way. All he can do is stumble after her.

She's looking at him expectantly, shifting her attention from his face to his chest, and it makes him kind of uncomfortable until a crinkle of wrapper reminds him he's still holding their snacks.

"Oh!" He scrambles to finagle her raisins free so he could hand them to her, but his arms are carefully balancing popcorn and candy and drinks as well. He turns in frantic circles, searching for a surface that isn't the floor where he can unload his cargo, and the raisins slip out of the nook of his arm.

Rather, they were slid out gracefully by a dainty, manicured hand. "Thanks!" Boa says with a wide, glossy smile. She barely comes up to his shoulder, and she's probably the most adorable thing he's ever set his eyes on.

"I gotta go."

Her beaming visage cracks like porcelain. "What?"

He could kick himself. Nothing is going right tonight, least of all his words. "To the bathroom," he amends quickly. "I gotta go to the bathroom."

"Ah." She chuckles with an insecurity that surprises him, and he almost forgets what he was saying. "I'll hold the food."

"Thank you." For a lack of anything better to do, he bows the most stiff, awkward bow of his life and then beats a tactical retreat. As soon as the bathroom entrance shuts behind him, he phones Jaejoong. The line picks up after too many seconds. "Hello?"

"JAEJOONG, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?"

"I'm at home," is his lackadaisical, utterly nonsensical response.

"What the hell?! Dude, you need to hurry up and get here! Kwon Boa showed up and is inviting herself to crash our date, and none of your lessons covered this circumstance!"

"Yunho, Boa is your date."

Yunho wants to have misheard him. "What?"

"Yep, you're done with the lessons. Congratulations! Consider this your graduation in practise."

"'Graduation in pr—' KIM JAEJOONG! This is not funny!"

"I'm not joking. Dude, you need to get off this phone and get to talking with her or else she'll think you're standing her up."

Yunho has a million questions to ask, starting with why is Boa his date to begin with and ending with why isn't Jaejoong; but before he can raise any of those extremely valid points, Jaejoong speaks up again. "It's not very polite of you to make her wait."

Dammit. Yunho knows Jaejoong is right, and already he can feel the unseen social cues pulling him outside to interact with the person waiting on him, but he can't end the call like this.

"Jaejoong?"

"Yeah?"

"What does this mean for us?" It's not the exact question he wants to ask, but it's close enough.

Jaejoong is silent for too many seconds. "What do you want this to mean for us?"

Yunho thinks he knows, but he also can't think right now. He hasn't been able to think properly since last week. He feels like he is learning hapkido for the first time: up against an experienced opponent who manages to block or parry every move he makes, and he can't even ask for help because the seonsaengnim who's supposed to guide him is the very person he's up against.

"We became friends, didn't we? We're friends now." He never needed affirmation on this fact before, but so many things changed between before and now.

"Yeah, we're friends now."

Jaejoong's reply and what it promises are the only things grounding him in this moment. "So I'll see you at school tomorrow? Actually you and just you?"

Jaejoong chuckles, but the connection on the phone makes it sound weak and tinny. "Yeah, okay. See you, Yunho."

Jaejoong hangs up, leaving Yunho in the bathroom with his phone clutched desperately to his ear. There's a dad and his son washing their hands in the farthest sink from him who were not there when he entered earlier.

His arms fall to his side in something approximating defeat, but he isn't entirely sure what he lost.

With a sigh, he realises there's nothing left to do but to watch this movie. He washes his hands because it's weird to leave a bathroom without washing his hands, regardless of what he did or did not do, then exits the bathroom with intention.

As they exit the movie hall, Yunho can't help but think that the date went pretty well.

Boa graciously accepted the obvious lie he made up about his mom calling him, and she didn't try anything weird in the darkness of the theatre like some other girls have done on past movie dates. In fact, she was thoroughly engrossed in the film. (At one point he heard her say, "The penguins in this movie are so talented," and he had to stifle his laugh at her genuine amazement.)

Even in the stilted conversation while waiting for the movie to start, she was altogether agreeable, personable, and undeniably beautiful. He tries to call the date enjoyable, but he can't quite make it sound like the truth.

While he's waiting for her to finish up in the bathroom, he's figuring out what happens next. What if she wants to do something afterwards? How does he tell her that it was nice to be around her, and she pleasantly surprised him, but he'd rather take her straight home? He wants to text Jaejoong for help, but he figures that goes against the spirit of graduation and holds himself back. He feels all the worse for it.

"02-312-3456," Boa says from over his shoulder, surprising him with her sudden presence for the second time this evening.

He looks up and over to find her looking down at his phone screen, showing a new text message window with a blinking cursor in the phone number field. He faces her again and meets her warm, happy eyes. "That's my number. You should text it so that I can have yours."

"R-Right. Yes. Can you repeat that?" Yunho clumsily inputs her number as Boa recites it, and he wrestles over what opening message to send before he settles for a simple Hello. He doesn't have to wait at all to receive the cute animated bibimbap sticker whose ingredients spell Hi.

When he looks back up at her, a pretty blush accompanies her grin, and he knows what that means. Somehow, despite all the ways he's messed up their date this evening, he's made her feel happy to be here.

He his lips, intending to say something but still unclear on what those words will be, but Boa's regretful voice cuts him off. "I'm so sorry to cut our date short, but I have to go now or else I'll miss my bus. I promise I had a really great time tonight, though," she says with emphatic authenticity. "Thanks for inviting me out."

He's so relieved it almost embarrasses him. "Where do you live? I can drop you off."

On the road, he is grateful he never bought those bluetooth helmets that let him and his passenger communicate while driving. He doesn't know if he could safely bring them to their destination if he also had to worry about making it through a real conversation with Boa without an impending movie to naturally cut them off. As it is, he's rather distracted by the flex of her hands as she holds his sides for balance. Jaejoong had held him by the shoulders every time they rode together.

Boa doesn't let go until he turns onto her street, tapping him and pointing in silent directions to a corner lot. He parks his moped then helps her take the helmet off before he questions dubiously, "This it?" There is an obvious For Sale sign staked on the lawn.

Boa hangs her head down so that some of her hair curtains her face. "Actually, no," she confesses with a shy laugh. "We passed my house a little further back, but… I wanted some privacy. To talk to you."

The one thing he's been dreading this whole night. Yunho is sure his smile comes out more like a grimace.

Boa raises her head, seeking yet guarded. "I enjoyed tonight, I really did, but I was surprised you asked me out."

Now would not be a good time to admit he was just as surprised. "Yeah?" he chuckles awkwardly, scrambling for a response that's polite and true and relevant to the conversation. "You have to know that, like, every guy at school wants the chance to date you."

She shrugs in an embarrassed manner. "Yeah, I guess. I didn't think that list included you, though. You have to know that, like, every girl compares notes on what it's like to date you," she says, reversing his inflection.

He actually did not know that, and it must be clear on his face because she is amused to reveal, "There's this Google Sheets file with your entire dating history summarised in it from your ex-girlfriends' points of view that's meant to grant the next hopeful every advantage she could get. It's like we're all on a group project together, and the goal is finding out what it takes to become Jung Yunho's girlfriend. It's frankly impressive."

He intimately understands Boa's previous embarrassment. "I'm guessing you have a copy of this file."

She nods, then her defensive walls are back up. "No one's ever said you asked them out before."

He thinks for a little, trying to find another generic, relevant truth. He settles on, "This time's different."

It's the right thing to say. The tense line of Boa's shoulders drops, and she sends him another of her radiant smiles, all teeth and dimples and unattainable-girl-next-door appeal. "That's for sure. I've never been asked out like that before."

Yunho, of course, has no idea what she's talking about, but he strives not to let it show. "What about it surprised you?"

"Getting the tickets to Sooyoung, telling her to tell me the time and place? It wasn't even phrased as a question!" she reveals with a laugh.

Sooyoung. He knows that name. She's Jaejoong's best friend in the drama club.

Boa continues, "It was gutsy of you to ask an ex to do something like that, but I could tell Sooyoung was over it and rooting for you. Your method was intriguing, in any case."

Oh, right. He had dated her too, technically. He forgot about that. He inwardly winces, grateful that she herself will never have to bear witness to how little their relationship meant to him.

Thankfully and completely unaware of his thoughts, Boa takes a bold step towards him. Closer than she ever was before, he is once again struck by how much smaller than him she is.

"Just so you know, I would have said yes if you asked me yourself, too." She holds his gaze for a moment, and he can see in her eyes that she's about to do something that he won't expect. His muscles tense in anticipation, though whether he will fight or flee is still to be determined.

She smiles at him again, a small sliver of beauty, and leaves a kiss on his cheek.

Yunho spends a long time standing there. Long enough for Boa to walk back home, probably. Long enough for him to forget he should have walked her to her door. Long enough that the tingle on his skin should have dissipated already if not for the hand he has pressed against the spot she kissed.

He wonders if it was supposed to feel like this.

Jaejoong is the one to find him at school the next day, and Yunho's lungs expand with all the unvoiced words he wants to say to him.

Jaejoong doesn't let him, of course. "So how was the graduation ceremony?"

Yunho deflates against the lockers. In the space where breath should be, he only feels relief. Jaejoong seems normal today. He can play along with the metaphor for now if it means getting to just be around the Jaejoong he's used to again. "I think yours and my concepts of graduation are completely different," he says. "I'm supposed to know that they're happening, for one."

Jaejoong shrugs. "Guerilla graduation."

"They're supposed to be happy, exciting occasions."

"You mean to tell me you weren't excited to be on a date with your dream girl?"

"She's not my dream gir—I wasn't not excit—movies aren't good first dates!" In his struggle to pick a point of contention, all of his arguments fall flat, and Jaejoong's eyebrow raise proves it.

Yunho gathers his wits again and decides to just ask the question that kept him up last night. "Boa complimented me when I dropped her off at home. She said it was 'intriguing' of me to use my ex-girlfriend to ask her out." He watches Jaejoong's face for any changes and finds the polite openness melt into neutrality, confirming the unspoken accusation. "Why did you do that?"

Jaejoong's jaw noticeably tightens, just for a second, then he adopts a teasing affectation. "It was a little bit of a graduation for me, too. My first official act as your dating mentor as opposed to your tutor."

"I wasn't ready to graduate, though!" It's the truest thing he's been able to say all week.

Jaejoong looks at him with something akin to disbelief, but not quite. It's a little darker than that, and more confusing. Almost like dissatisfaction. "This was your endgame though, wasn't it? Getting to date Boa is the reason you went along with the lessons in the first place. Yesterday should have been the happiest day of your life."

There is a desperate, erratic energy under Yunho's skin that reminds him of times when he was at sparring practise and he grossly miscalculated the opponent's moves. When he feinted instead of standing his ground. When he was left off balance with no course correction without outright forfeiting.

Jaejoong is wrong. He is so, so wrong, but what can Yunho say now to make him understand that?

"I was gonna take my time. This is too sudden. I'm probably gonna mess it up." There are too many facets to his unease, and this one is just the easiest to identify and articulate.

The corners of Jaejoong's eyes crinkle, and that too is a little darker than playful teasing. "You better not! How am I supposed to get any more tutoring clients if you fail right out the gate? No one else will ever trust me with their romantic futures."

He's joking, Yunho knows he's joking, but the idea of Jaejoong teaching anyone else how to date the way he taught him makes Yunho want to practise palm strikes on the nearest available surface.

"You made it past Round 1, and now it's time for the real fun. Don't sweat it so much, Jung." Jaejoong stops; and for a second, he's completely normal again. No darkness, no distance. "A rhyming triplet!" he giddily announces.

It makes Yunho yearn. "I was really looking forward to hanging out with you last night."

"Oh, Jung." A shroud of normalcy seems to fall apart around Jaejoong, leaving him with bags under his eyes that weren't there before and shoulders weighed down with melancholy. Yunho recoils backward, and the vision clears. Jaejoong looks like he always has, lately. "There'll be other movies," he assures with a swift pat on Yunho's shoulder.

It was never about the movie, but Jaejoong can't hear that right now. The impression he witnessed before looked like the other was barely keeping himself together. Even though he doesn't know why, Yunho does know a few quick minutes in the school hallway is not the time nor the place to potentially cause a breakdown. "Yeah, of course, but Jaejoong," he says quickly. "Are you okay? You can talk to me about anything, you know. We're friends."

Jaejoong smiles at him, but it doesn't bring Yunho the bubbly rush of lightness that usually accompanies the sight. "I know. We're friends." The words sound final. "I'll see you later, okay, Yunho?"

Not okay, actually. He feels like Jaejoong is always promising later. One look at Jaejoong's deep, almost begging eyes, though, and he lets it go. "Okay," he says with a smile, and he tries not to feel like he's making a huge mistake.

A/N (4.19.2023): That Boa tweet is actually my favourite tweet of all time, don't @ me.

I won't be able to update again until next week. Also, please check out Chapter 4 again! I added an extra scene at the end that I originally had in Chapter 6, but I realised it would make more sense before the events of this chapter. Sorry about all this retconning. I solemnly swear to return to my previous method of uploading fics only after they're entirely written b.c this is a MESS haha.