Man these just keep getting longer and longer...

“Hey Mary Sue,” Jonghyun said while fluffing up his wig and finishing the last touches on his makeup. “Do you think this counts as identity theft?” he asked playfully.

You smiled a little at that and nudged him with your elbow in response.

The two of you were in the girls’ bathroom at school. You had protested that Jonghyun was not a girl and therefore should not go into the girls’ bathroom, but then he pointed out that he wouldn’t be walking out a boy, and what if somebody saw him leaving the boys’ bathroom looking like you? How embarrassing that would be—for you—not to mention, damaging to your reputation.  Each of you was getting ready for your separate dates. Well, yours wasn’t exactly a date, just a gathering of friends, but Jonghyun’s was definitely a date.

Himchan and all of his friends were waiting for you in the school parking lot so that you could all go directly to the beach from school. You had asked Donghae to meet you in the library so as to avoid any awkward encounter between him and Himchan. Jonghyun had changed into the same clothes that you wore today, so that Donghae wouldn’t become suspicious of anything, and you were now wearing a tasteful swimsuit and stylish cover up for your beach get-together.

You had expected Jonghyun to be more upset than he was about having to pretend to be you and go on a date with Donghae, but he seemed to take it well, and he may have been a bit overzealous in his preparations, staying up all night practicing his girl voice so that Donghae wouldn’t have to miss out on his fiancé’s stimulating comments and sharp wit.

He even shaved his legs.

“Well,” he sighed. “I guess I’m ready.”

“I guess I am too,” you said. You gave him one last look over before releasing him into the world and to the library, where Donghae was waiting. You then waited a few more minutes before walking out yourself, just to make sure nobody saw you both, and then made your way to the parking lot.

It was a perfect day to go to the beach, and you took a deep breath of the salty ocean air when you stepped out onto the sand.

The members of your group who had arrived first were already setting out beach towels and heading toward the water. You and Sunny walked ahead of Sungmin and Himchan to snag a choice patch of sunshine to lie out in. You still weren’t completely comfortable with everyone in the group, so rather than joining in playing in the water or beach volleyball, you just sat with Sunny and watched for a while.

“So,” you began for the sake of small talk. “How have you and Sungmin been doing?”

She grinned bashfully. “You were so right at the party,” she said. “He said he’d liked me for a long time too, but that he was afraid to ask me out because he didn’t know if I liked him that way.” She turned to you with big doe eyes. “Mary Sue? Thank you so much for giving me that little push I needed. I could never have done it without you!”

“So it’s working out well then?” you asked, proud that your matchmaking skills were so successful.

She nodded. “Definitely. I’m so happy!”

You looked around at the rest of the beach goers. Sungmin and Himchan were strolling along the water’s edge, talking like you and Sunny were. Krystal and Minho were playing beach volleyball against Jessica and Nichkhun, and you noticed AJ and Fei laughing and splashing each other in the water.

“Speaking of dating,” you mentioned, “are Fei and AJ…?” You trailed off. Sunny looked in the direction you were staring and spotted them too.

“Not officially,” she said. “I mean, there are rumors of course, and it does seem like they like each other. The whole school is just waiting for them to get together.”

“And they haven’t yet?”

She shook her head, but before the gossip could progress, your boyfriends—well, Sunny’s boyfriend and your fake boyfriend—came up to the two of you and sat down.

“Having fun yet?” Sungmin asked, and Sunny just giggled.

Himchan’s eyes met yours and he paused before addressing the other two. “Sungmin, don’t you think these girls would like some ice cream?”

Sunny gasped in delight. “I’d love some ice cream!”

“You would?” Sungmin said. She nodded and he grabbed her hand. “Let’s go get some,” he said excitedly as they walked off.

You were about to stand up to join them, but Himchan pulled you back down by your wrist.

“Hey!” you protested. “I want some ice cream,” you pouted.

“Later,” Himchan smirked. “I wanted to spend some alone time with you.”

“Why?” you retorted. “We’re not actually dating.”

His smirk was permanent. “But everyone thinks we are.”

“Who cares? We’re not sitting in the cafeteria or at a party in front of the whole school. We’re at a beach.”

“But there are still eyes everywhere,” he said lowly. “People see us. People talk.”

You looked around. Come to think of it, the people in the group you came with seemed to be the only ones here who were fully absorbed in themselves. There were so many people just sitting on towels or walking through the sand or getting ice cream who were all watching them. People nodded and pointed at AJ and Fei who were shamelessly flirting and splashing each other. They laughed at Minho and Nichkhun when a volleyball foul provoked a good-humored and sandy wrestling match. They “aw’ed” from yards away as Sungmin wiped ice cream from Sunny’s nose with a napkin. And some were even staring at you and Himchan, whispering behind their hands. This popularity thing was a whole new world to you. You had never felt so visible before.

“Why do they care so much about what we’re doing?” you asked, bewildered.

Himchan shrugged. “We’re like a drama to them. A group of attractive people, all enjoying each other’s company and relishing in our relationships with each other. They eat it right up. And we just play it up in public because they can’t get enough of it.” His eyes glinted as he brushed a strand of your hair behind your ear, and you were painfully aware of the pair of girls who gasped and started hissing behind their hands at the display. “It’s fanservice,” he said.

You looked around at the others. At AJ and Fei, who kept from dating because it kept people talking. At Krystal and Jessica, who warmed hearts with their tender sisterly love. At Nichkhun and Minho, whose friendship made girls squeal. At Sunny and Sungmin, who were cuter than rabbits when they were together. And finally you considered yourself and Himchan. The hottest couple at Mordney High.

You looked back at Himchan. You had to be a convincing fake girlfriend, and if this was how to do it…

“Fanservice,” you repeated, and you reached up to brush some of his bangs from his eyes. You noticed the reaction from the bystanders. You also noticed the way Himchan’s eyes lit up and the corner of his mouth turned up just slightly.

You were starting to get the hang of this. You hoped Jonghyun was acting just as convincingly.

Donghae was leading Jonghyun through the art museum, looking at various portraits, sculptures, pottery—Jonghyun really wasn’t into the whole art thing, but Donghae seemed to be. So he was trying his best to like it.

The museum was rather quiet and peaceful, except for the mob of girls who were constantly following them and snapping pictures and video of Donghae with their cell phones. His popularity was definitely living up to Jonghyun’s expectations.

“What do you think of this one?” Donghae asked, gesturing toward yet another medieval painting of Jesus.

Jonghyun looked it over a little thoughtfully before saying, “It’s nice.”

Donghae laughed at that. “All of these paintings are nice,” he said. He turned to look directly at Jonghyun, and Jonghyun matched his gaze. “Let’s look at abstract paintings then,” he decided.

“Abstract?” Jonghyun was having a hard time just deciphering these paintings; he had no clue what to do with paintings where he couldn’t even tell what was on them.

Donghae nodded. “I believe that you can tell a lot about a person by how they interpret abstract paintings. It’s like looking into a mirror. What you see in the painting is what lies within yourself.”

Jonghyun looked back at his date, a little surprised. He knew Donghae was basically awesomeness incarnate, but he didn’t expect him to be so deep. Intrigued, he nodded and allowed Donghae to lead him to the area of abstract paintings. They stopped in front of a large painting that just looked like a bunch of splatters to Jonghyun.

“What do you think of this one?” Donghae asked. “What do you think the artist was trying to portray?”

Jonghyun tried to be like Donghae and stared thoughtfully at the piece of artwork before him. “The colors remind me of autumn,” he said. “It’s like crunchy fallen leaves on a forest floor,” he concluded, satisfied with his interpretation.

“I can see that,” Donghae murmured.

Jonghyun noticed he was still staring intently at the painting, so he asked, “What do see?”

Donghae took a moment to consider. “Anger,” he said. “Arguments. But not between enemies. Between friends. Close friends. They understand each other, but they also understand that they can’t have what they both want, because that would only cause problems for them and everybody around them. But where one of them tries to make peace with the situation, the other one is angry about it and fights against it.” He paused then, long enough for Jonghyun to know that he was done talking.

“Yeah,” Jonghyun said. “That too.”

They moved on to the next painting then, one that was mostly blue with splashes of red and white.

“What about this one?” Donghae asked.

“It sort of looks like water,” Jonghyun said. “But with blood in it?” He really didn’t know. But once again, Donghae was engrossed in the painting, so Jonghyun asked him for his insight on this one too.

“Obligation,” Donghae said. “And fear. Both of that obligation and of breaking it. Trying to please everybody, but completely unable to, because everybody wants something different. And it tears you apart. But you don’t do anything about it, because you know that if you do anything to change the status quo, it will only ruin your relationships with the people you care most about, but they don’t know that at all. They don’t even realize this burden you hold, because there are secrets that you are afraid to tell them, because even just telling them those secrets would be enough to change things and ruin relationships.”

Once again, Jonghyun was staring at Donghae, surprised by his depth of character. Jonghyun had thought that Donghae’s life must be perfect, what with being the most popular guy at Mordney High School and having chicks constantly following him around and practically worshipping him. What more could a guy want? But apparently, there was a lot that Jonghyun didn’t know about Donghae.

They moved on to the next painting—this time a predominantly black and white one—and this time, Jonghyun didn’t even bother giving his interpretation, knowing that Donghae’s would once again be way better and more meaningful and telling of inner character conflicts than his own would be.

“A man split between two selves. There’s what he tries to be for everybody—optimistic, cooperative, normal—and then there’s the side he hides because he’s afraid of what people would think, what people would say. But no matter how hard he tries, his hidden self leaks into the other one, because it’s more true than the other one. So he does his best to repress that, to keep his selves separate, and he’s terrified because he feels like he’s been split into two different people. Fragmented and broken by the charade.”

Jonghyun didn’t know what any of that meant, so he just nodded in agreement and indicated the next painting.

“Hell,” Donghae said. “Dangerous love, and everything that can go wrong if you pursue it. Fighting. Shame. Destruction. Everything weighing down on you until it crushes everything out of you that’s true, and you become nothing more than shameful and unwanted, a burden to everyone you’ve ever loved, scrutinized constantly by society for just loving somebody that it told you you weren’t allowed to love.”

Silence fell back between them, before Jonghyun said, “I was gonna say the same thing.”

“Mary Sue,” Donghae said. “You’re a clever girl, probably the smartest girl I’ve ever met.”

Jonghyun only giggled at the compliment.

“So you’ve probably figured out just about everything about me by now.” Donghae stared remorsefully down at his hands, and then at Jonghyun, his eyes filled with sorrow and honesty. “Can we be open with each other?”

Jonghyun gazed back into those deep brown orbs. He had never seen this side of Donghae, and he had to admit he was surprised by it. He felt strangely happy that Donghae was inviting him to see this part of him that very few people knew about, but he also really wanted to be that person that Donghae could turn to. The thought made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside. “Of course,” he answered.

This seemed to make Donghae relax, but only just slightly. Jonghyun watched him staring back at his hands, close his eyes and inhale deeply, open them again to stare back at his hands, as if he was standing there alone and Jonghyun didn’t exist next to him. Jonghyun wanted to say something, but he was afraid that doing so would somehow break this bubble that had been created around Donghae, around them, and that it would startle Donghae back to talking about silly paintings and reverse all of the progress that they had just made with their relationship. So he waited patiently for Donghae to break his own silence.

“Eunhyuk,” he finally said. “Eunhyuk and I…” He seemed to be having a hard time beginning. “We’ve been fighting,” he said with a sigh.

Jonghyun looked at him with genuine sympathy.

“He hates this whole marriage thing, probably more than I do. I’m trying to make the best of it, but…” He sighed again, directed his eyes up toward the ceiling, and Jonghyun saw the lights reflected in a watery pattern. “But that only makes it worse.” He took in a shaky breath, and then turned to look at Jonghyun for the first time since they had entered the metaphorical bubble. “Mary Sue, if you could,” he started. “Would you stop this engagement?”

This totally caught Jonghyun off guard. Stop the engagement? His immediate internal reaction was to say no. He liked Lee Donghae. Lee Donghae was his ticket to godly high school popularity. Not only that, but he liked him for who he was. Donghae was the coolest, nicest, smartest, most genuine person he had ever met, and he didn’t want that to go away.

But Donghae was looking at him with those honest eyes, filled to the brim with tears, that Jonghyun was surprised hadn’t spilled over yet, and he just wanted to make everything all better for him.

What would Mary Sue say? he thought. What would Mary Sue say?

“… What?!”