Junmyeon hates Halloween.

Actually, perhaps that’s slightly unfair when the fact that his knowledge regarding the old English festival was virtually non-existent until four hours ago when their bratty maknae decided to enlighten Junmyeon on the matter, but the short leader hates it nonetheless. He is certain his reasons are justified; he doesn’t want to make a fool of himself in some get-up whilst demanding candy from strangers when he is an adult male with an illustrious career ... reason enough, right?  He has to remind himself that Sehun is in the middle of a phase and as a dedicated, kind-hearted leader, he can’t laugh at it. Well if he did, he’d be called cheesy or a grandfather as their fans have taken to calling him but the fact still remains that he must humour Sehun … even if he wants to burst out in laughter.

And that is exactly why Junmyeon nods along—albeit reluctantly—when Sehun suggests going trick-or-treating at the dinner table. The others receive it with varying degrees of surprise and enthusiasm; Chanyeol needs to be explained what Halloween is and when their maknae stresses on how it’s an English festival that involves sweets, the rapper nearly falls out of his seat in joy. Baekhyun rolls his eyes but Junmyeon knows he sees a spark of fear in them—fear that people will religiously seek out to embarrass him, people being Jongin and Sehun. Jongin looks pleased—Junmyeon suspects he played a role in convincing Sehun to bring this up. Kyungsoo is the only one who looks vaguely normal, his trademark wide-eyed scared-chicken look still adorning his face.

Junmyeon prays to some merciful deity that Kyungsoo will talk everyone out of this idea.

“I like it.” The short singer states blankly and Junmyeon suddenly experiences the urge to find boatloads of whatever food Kyungsoo adores (pizza, maybe pizza) and bribe him with them.

The leader is reminded in time that there’s one other authority that can save him from this atrocity; their manager.

“Actually Junmyeon-ah, I suspect it’ll be good publicity,” their manager nods as he considers the idea. “Fans will give an arm and a leg to see you dressed as … fairies, isn’t that what people do on this festival? Whatever it is, I’m sure it’ll be worth it. Why, we should film you and put it up on the SMTOWN youtube channel …”

Junmyeon thinks he needs to beg for divine intervention at a shrine.

---

Halloween comes around all too quickly and Junmyeon realises with trepidation that he doesn’t have a costume and the others are dressed in what are supposedly costumes. Well Jongin’s and Kyungsoo’s suit them—the former is dressed as a pirate whilst the latter is a giant jack-o’-lantern and the two of them are awkwardly making their way around the room in an attempt to practice moving fluidly (Kyungsoo’s outfit left him waddling whilst Jongin was forced to use a cross between a zombie-gesture and sleepwalking to manoeuvre his way about with an eye-patch on). Kyungsoo insists that it’s so he won’t slow them down in their … uh, candy-amassing escapade but the hidden fear that it’s so they won’t need to whip out tranquiliser guns should they run into troops of rabid fangirls and manage to find their way back to safety quickly enough hangs grimly in the air. Vaguely Junmyeon thinks it’s cute—only vaguely, microscopically vaguely. Really.

Junmyeon’s eyes roam around to see what the others have chosen to wear. Baekhyun is attired in a mass of shimmering greens and blues—“I’m a merman,” he claims. Junmyeon rolls his eyes and privately thinks he looks like a parrot; the shades are absolutely wrong. Chanyeol has chosen a fraying plaid shirt coupled with beige trousers and the leader thinks he looks almost normal until the rapper begins stuffing straw into his collar and proudly declares with childlike glee that he’s a scarecrow.

Junmyeon decides he’s more likely to scare children away.

Sehun’s is the most amusing; Junmyeon is still surprised the younger wants to go out considering the clothes he has been forced into as the result of a lost bet (apparently Sehun couldn’t go a week without a nightlight). Pink fabric clings to every square inch of his body, a shade bright enough to rival the colour of his hair. Billowing out at his waist is netted fabric that is meant to resemble a skirt but considering Sehun’s awkward stance (and grim expression); it looks more like a starched pancake.

The sound of fabric crudely being pulled apart fills the air and a quick glance upwards reveals that Sehun has decided his apparel required ‘spicing up’ and so, tore the front open in a jagged v-shape.

“Sehun-ah, I though the point of this was not to get someone to have with you,” Junmyeon points out as he takes in cloth hanging open to reveal Sehun’s pale chest. Snickers rise into the air—

“Well hyung, the point of it wasn’t to come dressed as a tent either,” Sehun jabs at Junmyeon’s decision to come dressed as a ghost—white sheet and all; the maknae is quite clearly rather affronted.

Full-blown laughter fills the air this time

Junmyeon’s desire to beg for divine intervention grows tenfold.

---

Apparently old ladies really, really dislike men dressed in giant white sheets that trail after them for several metres. Junmyeon really didn’t intend to trip on his costume and accidentally grabbing the, uh, posterior of the female senior citizen in front of him was most certainly not an attempt at ual assault. His best defence—that it was accidental and he tripped over his costume—does not work in his favour, to his chagrin and yields more comments about his abnormality (a twenty-three year old man in a ghost outfit? What?).

And to make matters worse, as Junmyeon rises to his feet the old woman who claimed she had become his unfortunate victim screams about how the EXO-K leader attempted to look up her skirt as he stood up. Following which she didn’t hesitate to put her cane to good use—Junmyeon now knows the pain of being jabbed repeatedly and accusingly in the chest with those wooden curses—never will he get one of those, even when his legs fail him.

On the way back home, the only thing he hears is the insistent whispers of how ‘that young man seemed so nice, who knew he was hard for ahjummas’.

Junmyeon makes a mental note to maybe make an offering at a shrine as well.

---

Everyone spends half the night counting their candy in the living room whilst Junmyeon nurses his pride and his bruised chest. Miserably he glances at his half-empty bag; even the chocolate doesn’t make him feel any better and he swears to god if anyone dares to bring up Halloween celebrations next year, he will personally see to it that they are forced to offer their hands as toilet paper for the other members, no gloves allowed. He sits on his bed, legs crossed as he stares at the golden wrapping paper of a certain kind of candy. Outside, Sehun is fighting with Jongin over a certain kind of candy whilst Baekhyun is attempting to disrobe from his merman costume and Chanyeol is complaining about how itchy straw is.

The door creaks open and Junmyeon swallows the desire to tell the inquisitive party to ‘leave him alone’. The lights flicker into life—Junmyeon figured the darkness was better if he wanted to wallow in self-pity—and his bed sinks as a figure sits down on it.

“Kyungsoo-ah?” Junmyeon tests the metaphorical waters.

“Mhm. I thought you’d get lonely so I, ah … came here to give you some company hyung,” Kyungsoo grins politely as he inches closer to Junmyeon. “That and you look upset.”

“I’m not, I’m really not,” Junmyeon shakes his head but he can see scepticism line Kyungsoo’s soft features.

“You shouldn’t lie hyung.” The statement is simple but oh-so truthful—so truthful and it strikes a chord within Junmyeon.

“A-actually, there’s one thing that might … make me feel better,” he begins slowly. Suddenly time slows down into painful, arduous milliseconds that drag their sorry selves forward likes snails. The leader can feel his heart drumming wildly against his chest and blood rushing in his ears as he surveys Kyungsoo’s innocently curious expression. Junmyeon shifts forward and forces himself to not think of the light casting gentle shadows on Kyungsoo’s face or the hot breath tickling his skin. Why, oh why does it have to be so awkward—

He jolts forward and presses his lips against the younger’s; a split second of irrationality catalyses his action. There are questions hammering away insistently in his mind, reminding him that this is wrong, wrong, wrong but there’s the desire to feel better that relentlessly eats away at his insides. Kyungsoo has always been cute and Junmyeon has observed from the sides but withheld his feelings of affection for fear of rejection. He has nothing to lose now, he convinces himself.

It’s ecstasy when he feels a pair of lips responding, gently, softly kissing him back. Hands reach for his neck and carefullly his skin. His own hands find purchase in the fabric that clothes Kyungsoo’s slim waist. His worries are forgotten.

Perhaps his opinion is in dire need of revision.

Junmyeon doesn’t hate Halloween—not anymore, not really.