The fundraiser is Kyungsoo's idea, propelled mostly by Ara's constant complaints of the lack of money for the new production of The Phantom of the Opera which their director Yixing refuses to begin with unless the funds are there. So on a Sunday afternoon she is interrupted in her favorite bookstore by none other than President Do, who looms over her table, arms crossed and face serious. 

"Let's have a fundraiser," he says without any prolog.  Ara has to shut her book and think carefully before she knows what he's talking about. "Next week," he says with a note of finality. Ara raises an eybrow up at him. 

"Next week.... Next week? We don't even have plans!" She sighs. Kyungsoo shrugs.

"What are you wasting time for then? Let's go." Ara groans in protest, lifting her things from the table and paying for her book, before catching up to Kyungsoo on the streets. 

"You ruined my Sunday reading, you know?" She pouts. Kyungsoo drapes an arm over her shoulders. 

"You asked for it." 

Ara's house is empty when they arrive, her mother having gone out to her sister's. Kyungsoo steps into the kitchen and puts a kettle to boil as Ara races upstairs to put her book into place. 

"So? What are we doing?" Ara asks, propping herself up on a counter as Kyungsoo rummages around for cups. 

"The usual? Food, games and the lot..." 

"Well there needs to be more, something special," Ara hands him the teabags with Earl Gray, something she saves only for the two of them. 

"That's your job," Kyungsoo produces the cups and grins at her. Ara drops the tea bags in and smacks him lightly on the shoulders. 

"Fine... how about a haunted house...? More like haunted rooms? We could use the language rooms, they're a little isolated." Kyungsoo purses his lips.

"Okay, we could work on that one." 

Once they're settled down on the floor with their tea and notebooks, it takes little before both Kyungsoo and Ara get bored of setting budgets and estimating turnouts and decide to tune into Anime. 

"Let's have a bonfire dance," Ara says, putting her head on the couch beside Kyungsoo's shoulders. 

"Hmm?" 

"You know, like a bonfire in the soccer field and then people dancing around it."

"People would pay for something as stupid as that?" Ara pouts again at Kyungsoo. 

"Please. We'd get Baekhyun to DJ and it'd be so romantic!" Kyungsoo looks over at her wide eyes and bottom lip jutting out, and sighs. 

"Fine. If it doesn't work, it's on you, okay?" 

"Yay," Ara says, followed by a yawn. "It'll be nice, we should play Cannon D and Für Elise and..." Her words become drawled and her eyes close slowly.

Kyungsoo suddenly registers the silence as he turns to find his Treasurer breathing softly with her head on the couch. He tucks a loose strand of her hair behind her ears and puts away the dishes. 

Ara wakes up on her bed, tucked into her quilt and walks downstairs rubbing her eyes. She finds her mother making dinner in her kitchen where she is greeted by a smile and a, "sleep well?" Ara nods, eyes trailing over to the couch. With a jolt she remembers. Hadn't she fallen asleep over there....??

"Umma did you..." She begins and then realizes how stupid she sounds. Her mother would never carry her upstairs, she'd just wake her and send her to bed. That would mean... her stomach feels strange as she gulps unconsciously.

"Did I what?" Her mother asks. 

"Did you umm... wash the cups we had tea in?" 

"Me? No, Kyungsoo did that I think, bless him." Her mother turns back to stirring her gravy. "Whoever gets him as a son-in-law would be very happy." 

"Yeah, yeah umma," she snaps, waving her hands and ducking her head. She stares at the stairs on leaving the kitchen. What on earth had possessed him to...? She doesn't know but her ears feel hot thinking about it.

Most of Monday and Tuesday is spent in planning locations and budgets with Jongdae, Baekhyun and Kyungsoo in the auditorium. There isn't time for much else. Even when they're home, the four are on conference drawing up list after list. On Wednesday, Ara doesn't see Kyungsoo when she walks into class. When he doesn't appear by lunchtime she becomes pronouncedly low, barely listening to Baekhyun who says something about the Dean during lunch. By the last period Ara has taken to looking up the door every time someone walks in. By the time she's home, she's ready to snap at anyone who talks to her. 

"Did you have a fight with Kyungsoo?" Her mother asks over lunch. 

"No! Why would you think that?! It's not like my entire existence is dependent upon his! Who cares if he's there or not! Not me," she leaves her finished plate in the sink and stomps off to her room, to the utter bewilderment of her mother. 

Having met Kyungsoo in seventh grade and having bonded over spaghetti in home economics class, Ara has seen several days where Kyungsoo doesn't show up or she doesn't. It mystifies her that she should feel so irritated by his absence and by dinner time she convinces that she has been a little on the hormonal side all day and that she would just see Kyungsoo the next morning. 

That front of course crumbles when Kyungsoo calls her as she's preparing to sleep and she jumps over to her bed to grab her charging cell.

"Hello?" 

"Hey," Kyungsoo's voice, husky with tiredness, rings in her ear. A lot of thoughts shoot through Ara's mind, the primary being, 'I missed you,' but she foregoes sounding stupid and instead says,

"Where'd you vanish to all day?" 

"At the Dean's, got him to approve everything and then we went to get people for cotton candy and popcorn. Didn't Baekhyun tell you?" Ara stares at her curtains. Was that what Baekhyun had been talking about? 

"Oh, I wasn't paying attention." 

"Yeah, Jongdae was with me, in case you were wondering." Jongdae had been gone too? She really hadn't noticed... 

"Well, I was busy drawing plans for the haunted house..." Ara twists the bedsheets with her fingers into knots. 

"Liar." She starts, almost able to hear a smirk in his voice. "You've got that weird voice on. What've you been up to?" 

"What weird voice? I've been up to nothing!" Ara shrugs at her wall.

"The voice you have when you lie and I'll bet you just shrugged when you denied it." Ara sits up, staring wide eyed at the receiver, then glaring at it. "And now you're glaring at the cell." 

"Kyungsoo!" Kyungsoo's sleep heavy laugh fills her ears. Both of them settle into silence as Ara chews on her lips, not really wanting to end the call. 

"Let's go eat at Emilio's on Sunday, after all this is over. I'd ask Jongdae and Baek but they don't like Italian." Ara nods at the ceiling. 

"Yeah, we haven't hung out in ages... we could go out with them after college on Monday?" She asks because she feels a little guilty. 

"Hmm," and then she hears Kyungsoo yawn. Even though she hates to, she says,

"Go sleep Kyung..." Another stifled yawn later, she hears the rustle of sheets.

"Yeah, I should... see you tomorrow, then?" 

"Yup, goodnight Kyungsoo." 

"Good night Drama Queen." 

"Kyung!" Ara hears his soft laugh as the line disconnects. She sits in bed with the phone still in her hand, slowly smiling at it. The smile lasts as she draws her covers around her and settles into bed. Her phone pings.

@do_Kyung: be early tomorrow. I know you haven't made plans, so we'll do that. Don't stay up reading! 

The smile doesn't erase itself as she types back a "yes boss" and snuggles into her duvet. In fact, it almost hurts her cheeks now. 

Next morning Ara spots Kyungsoo waiting on stage for her. He jumps down as he sees her and Ara takes the opportunity to give him a quick hug before breaking apart, heart beating erratically. There's no need for it to, she hugs Kyungsoo all the time, but defying all logic, it does. 

"Are you even listening to me?" Kyungsoo waves his hands in front of her face. Ara jerks out of her though, ignoring her racing heart and puts on ,what she hopes is, an impassive face. 

"Yes, your president-ness, should we start?" 

There's a lot of drawing, and labeling and cursing involved as Ara and Kyungsoo plan out the two horror rooms, the would-be star attraction of the raiser. 

"So finally, Chanyeol will be in this room, as Frankenstein's monster, jumping out at anyone who wants to leave. We'll put one of the mannequins from the props department as a dismembered body under one of the sheets. Minseok oppa will chase people down this line, in the second room. Kris ge and Tao will jump out at people before they exit. Also, Amber and Victoria jie will throw rubber snakes at people from here. Got it?" Kyungsoo peers over her shoulders and Ara gulps, feeling his hair brush against her cheeks. "A- and we'll play white noise and a constant dripping sound." 

"What about lights? Filtered green for the first and pitch black for the second?" Ara nods, focusing solely on the sketch before her. "Great then, we'll build it after college tomorrow." Kyungsoo draws back and Ara turns to face his heart smile, the funny feeling in her stomach awakening again. She returns it with one of her own. They don't stop smiling at each other until the doors slam open and Baekhyun marches in with a,

"Yo peeps!" Jongdae follows shortly shaking his head at his best friend. Ara waves at both from the stage. In the little while that is left before class, the four trade notes and plans and Ara assigns Baekhyun, club Secretary, the job of informing everyone of their duties. Jongdae barely pays attention to anything for reasons that don't become clear until lunch.

At lunch, Ara is the last to join the table of three, finding Kyungsoo pouring over notes, while Baekhyun ruthlessly decimates Jongdae. 

"Ara, grab a seat," he says. "Tell him he's hopelessly in love!" Jongdae's ears turn a furious red as he protests amidst a mouthful of food. "He's been staring at Kim Haneul ever since she walked in." 

"I have not!!" He protests, stuffing his mouth with salad. 

"He has," Kyungsoo says, without lifting his eyes from his notes. Ara stifles a giggle. 

"She's cute," she says to Jongdae. 

"You should have seen him yesterday! Shaking like a massage chair while handing her a bottle. So embarrassing!" Baekhyun snorts into his fries.

Once Haneul moves out of his line of sight, Jongdae glares at his friends. 

"Can we please change topics? By the way Byun Baek, I won the bet." 

"What bet?" Ara hears Baekhyun say as she returns to her bills and counterfoil arranging. She zones out of the conversation as the numbers add up and she begins worrying about the turnouts from each stall. Worse still, if the two main attractions didn't work out, they'd be at a huge loss considering that they were the most expensive ones. Ara sighs and looks up with a pout. Jongdae wraps an arm around her shoulders. "Don't make that face here, some people will have a heart attack." Baekhyun cracks up while Kyungsoo shakes his head, muttering under his breath. Ara looks at him and sighs mentally again. Jongdae takes the opportunity to poke her cheeks meaningfully.

"I should get going, you guys look busy..." 

Ara looks up surprised. She hasn't realized when Kim Haneul has joined them at the table, standing nervously behind Jongdae, who looks surprisingly calm. 

"Kinda," she says, detaching herself from Jongdae. "We're going over bills for Saturday's fundraiser for the drama club." Haneul nods. Then, on an impulse Ara says, "hey, you should come if you're free." She smiles brightly at Haneul, hoping she'd agree for Jongdae's sake. 

"You should," Jongdae adds. Ara grins mentally at his excitement. "We'll all be there." He almost reminds her of a puppy now. 

"Bring your friends," Kyungsoo says, looking up for the first time. Ara clicks her tongue and laughs at him for being so Kyungsoo amidst the blossoming love. 

"Stop trying to make money!" She kicks him under the table. 

"It's a fundraiser for a reason," he smiles at her lazily, nudging her foot back. Baekhyun rolls his eyes at them. 

"So?" Jongdae asks again. When Haneul nods, Ara can see the honest smile that Jongdae flashes at her. It seems so much brighter.  "Great! See you Saturday evening." 

As Haneul walks away, Ara whispers,

"Jongdae and Haneul sitting on a tree~ K—" Jongdae doesn't give her chance to say any more as he pulls her into a half-hug, half-headlock and cover with a,

"Yah!!" While Baekhyun laughs. "So juvenile," he says, letting her go. Kyungsoo clears his stuff off the table, and as he passes by Jongdae, he finishes the song.

".....I-S-S-I-N-G," with a devilish grin and Ara hears him hum the rest of the song as he walks away leaving a fuming and pink Jongdae. 

On Friday, the day before the fundraiser, Ara spends most of the morning tallying her expenditure list with the other three lists, while listen to Jongdae freak out over his not-really-a-date-but-I-wish-it-was date with Haneul. 

"What if I say something stupid?! What I say something funny but she doesn't get it and thinks I'm dumb?! What if I look funny?! What if—" 

So when Kyungsoo walks into the auditorium after his classes, Ara waves at him energetically from the stage, yelling,

"My savior!! Get me away from this moping troll!" Kyungsoo laughs a little, walking on stage and sitting down next to Jongdae. "He's having a panic attack," Ara jerks her head towards Jongdae. "Tell him he's not stupid and that she'll like him anyway." Kyungsoo raises his brows at Jongdae.

"Seriously?" Jongdae lowers his head like a kicked pup.

"She might hate it..." He whines in a small voice. Kyungsoo thumps his back hard a few times. 

"Idiot, if she doesn't like you she'll be the stupid one." Jongdae grumbles a bit more and Kyungsoo smacks him sharply on the back of his head. "Get to work," he says gruffly, and then smiles at Jongdae, "I think she already likes you, so stop worrying." Ara nods in confirmation. 

"Really?" Two simultaneous nods. "Thanks... I'll go help Baek, see you guys around." Jongdae dusts his jeans and Ara sees the small smile playing on his lips as he walks away, reminded of her own smile a few nights back.

"How do you know...?" She whispers in wonder to herself. 

"What?" Kyungsoo looks at her, getting up himself. She shakes her head, taking his proffered hand and pulls herself up. 

"Nothing," she smiles, hooking her arm through his as they walk off the stage. 

The first language class room doesn't need much decoration, so Ara and Kyungsoo deal with it alone, leaving the other one, with the maze to Chanyeol, Minseok, Kris and Tao. It takes about half an hour to create little piles of furniture, stuffing a dismembered mannequin under one of them with an arm sticking out, and then draping them with white sheets taken from the infirmary. Chanyeol's hideout takes a while longer, considering the fact that they need to make it comfortable for him. 

"How should we do the light?" Ara asks as they finally add a drape over Chanyeol's spot. Kyungsoo purses his lips and looks up at the lights. 

"I've got green nightlights.... If we used them, maybe about three, we'd get just enough light?" Kyungsoo plugs in one of the lights to the switchboard, and then climbs up on a chair to replace one of the CFLs. Ara does the same to one near the door, except she doesn't realize that her chair is a little rickety until she's done and ready to climb down. 

"Ara, you done?" Kyungsoo calls, jumping nimbly off his own chair. Ara lifts a foot and the chair moves so violently that she freezes. 

"Uhh... Kyung?" 

"What? What?" Within moments Kyungsoo comes running from the other end of the classroom, eyes wide and worried. 

"This chair is a bit wonky..." Ara grins guiltily. Kyungsoo lets out an exasperated sigh and hits her lightly on the knee. 

"You idiot! I though you got hurt or electrocuted... Wonky! I have half a mind to leave you up there," he says, making a move to walk away. Ara screws her eyes shut as she tries to remain unmoving on the chair. 

"Kyu~ng! Please!!" Kyungsoo looks up at her with fake-bored eyes. Ara musters the best helpless-puppy look that she can, using all her acting experience to make her eyes watery and big. Kyungsoo breaks into a smirk and rolls his eyes. 

"Alright cool it drama queen." He stands in front of her chair, placing his hands on her waist. That weird feeling rises in her stomach again. Was this the metaphorical butterflies? She places her hands on his shoulders gingerly banishing all thoughts of butterflies from her mind. "Ready? One, two..." The chair wobbles violently as Ara steps off it, but she's already safe in Kyungsoo's hold, as he gently lets her down on the floor. Ara swallows a little and smiles nervously at him. Kyungsoo frowns down at her, not yet letting her out of his hold. 

"Who asked you to climb a broken chair?" 

"I didn't notice..." She mumbles, embarrassed for more reasons than one. Kyungsoo shakes his head. 

"I forbid you from climbing chairs ever again."

"Yes your president-ness, now can we go take a look at the others?" Ara let's out a tiny breath as Kyungsoo relinquishes his hold and walks towards the door. Her chest thuds as she watches his back and she chooses to ignore it, following after him. 

The next room seems almost finished with large sheets partitioning the room into a maze of sorts with enough place for the club members to hide and jump out at people. Kyungsoo grins deviously as Tao shows him how they'd grab ankles as people pass by. 

"We should bring Baekhyun here as the last person. He might leave destruction in his screaming wake, but it'll be worth it," and Ara can't help but exchange a laughing high-five with him. 

As the last bits of sunlight fade out, Kyungsoo reminds Ara that they still have to see if their ambient light works. It does. Bathing everything white with a depressingly green glow, the night lights work beautifully in giving just enough light so one could see vague shapes without seeing everything. 

"This will be mildly disturbing with the background music, don't you think....?" 

"Either that or we'll have ripped people off, but in any case we'll make money." Kyungsoo's heart-shaped grin looks slightly creepy in the green glow. Then again it's also probably his dark eyes which seem to be glowing faint green. It probably wouldn't be wrong to say she forgets herself and blatantly stares at his side-profile. 

"Guys," comes a deep whisper behind them. Ara squeaks and latches onto Kyungsoo's arm while Kyungsoo utters a low yelp and latches onto hers. Park Chanyeol gives them a guilty smile. 

"What the hell Yeol?!" Ara hisses at the giant, whose flashing teeth look ghastly in the dim light. Kyungsoo glares at him, still keeping an arm on Ara's shoulder. Chanyeol rubs the back of his head.

"Sorry... Just wanted to tell you guys that we're ready to head out." Ara just about strangles him, but she doesn't really mind the excuse to be this close to Kyungsoo. 

While walking home, Kyungsoo notices Ara chewing her bottom lip and slings an arm over her shoulders. 

"It'll work out," he says, giving her the best smile he can. Somehow it makes her believe that it really will. 

On Fund Raiser D-day, Ara stuffs with toast and then races over to Kyungsoo's house with her things. Dumping her bag in the living room, she runs upstairs when she hears Kyungsoo is still in bed. 

"Kyungsoo! Kyungsoo! Kyungsoo!" She pounces upon the empty space in his bed, shaking him by the shoulders, leaning over him. Kyungsoo starts awake and stares at up her grinning face, wide eyed for a few seconds. 

"Wha—?!" He mumbles, blinking up at her. 

"Wake up! It's fundraiser day!!" Kyungsoo's wide-eyed blinking soon turns into a sleepy glare. 

"That's what you're waking me up for?" He mutters, voice gravelly with sleep. Ara her head to a side. 

"What else would I be...?" Kyungsoo turns over, grumbling and buries his head into his pillow. 

"Go away, come pester me some other time." With all her strength Ara manages to flip Kyungsoo back into facing her. 

"No! Wake up! We've got funds to raise!" 

After minutes of bickering, blanket pulling and shaking, Kyungsoo sits up in bed, rubbing his eyes and glaring at Ara. 

"You know I hate you for this." 

"I can live with that. Well I can't— but I'll live with it for now," she grins. "Hurry up now!" Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow. 

"You're sitting here." 

"Yeah... so...?" 

"Would you like me to take my shirt of about now?" Grins Kyungsoo, raising his hand to his collar. Ara smacks him squarely in the chest with a pillow. 

"!" 

Kyungsoo laughs, pushing her shoulders gently. Glares at the stairs once she's out but is assaulted mid way by Kyungsoo's wide eyes and half-parted lips which had stared up at her. Her breath stops for a moment at that thought. No, today is fundraiser day, no weird thoughts, she thinks, shaking her head furiously while walking downstairs. 

In twenty minutes, Kyungsoo is downstairs in all black as usual, just like her. Ara finds herself heaped with praise by Kyungsoo's mother, whom she hasn't seen in a while, as she makes Kyungsoo toast. 

"Look at this child, you're growing up so well," Mrs Do says, from the kitchen as Ara places the toast before Kyungsoo.

"Thanks, did you have breakfast?" He asks. Ara nods and smiles at him, before replying,

"Don't worry eomonim, umma thinks Kyungsoo would make a great son-in-law. She can't stop gushing over him." She shakes her head at Mrs Do, who emerges from the kitchen. 

"Well, in your defense," Mrs Do places an omelette in front of her older son. "You'd make an excellent daughter-in-law too." Suddenly the room is full of choking sounds as Kyungsoo splutters over his coffee, with tears in his eyes. His older brother thumps his back while snickering. When the coughing subsides, Kyungsoo wipes his lips and grabs his toast. 

"I'll take this to go umma, it's dangerous to sit in this house any more," he says, pecking her cheeks, "see you hyung." 

Ara waves silently as she grabs her things and follows Kyungsoo out the door. 

"Still nervous?" Kyungsoo asks between mouthfuls of his toast. She nods, taking a bite out of the toast he holds out. 

"A bit," she slips her hand through his elbow. "But it'll be fine." 

Ara doesn't see Kyungsoo much after getting to college, having to rush to different places, until she feels like she needs to be everywhere at once. At three in the afternoon, she finally catches a breath, helping her senior, Yixing, set up his stall. She can't help the giggles as she ties the scarf around his head and dangles beads and such from it. 

"This has got to be the most terrible yet brilliant of ideas that you've ever come up with!" Yixing nods seriously at her. 

"It is." 

Ara breaks out into another fit of giggles as the beads jangle when he bobs his head up and down. 

"Girls will line up just to hear you speak!" Then she remembers what she'd originally come to find him for. She fishes out a small piece of paper from her pocket and hands it to Yixing before returning to fixing his scarf-turban. 

"What's this?" 

"Well... you remember Kim Haneul, from engineering?" Yixing nods with a loud jangle. 

"The one Jongdae is swooning over? What about her?" 

"Think you'd recognize her if you saw her?" More loud jangling. "That's the fortune you're to tell her if she comes."

"You're in love," he reads, "and you're wondering if he likes you too. I'll tell you what he feels, but for a small amount— what is this?!" Yixing breaks out into laughter. "Did Kyungsoo add that last line?" Ara nods, rolling her eyes at the memory. 

"Yeah, almost blackmailed me into it," she finishes ties the scarf tightly and adds a pin for safety. "Okay I'm done. Promise to do that for me?" More jangling as Yixing nods. 

"Sure, no big deal." Ara gives him a quick hug, and picks up the sign, ready to fasten it to the stall. "Oh, though I have a fortune for you." Ara raises her eyes at him.

"You're trying to pull that off on me?"  

"Play along, you'll be my first customer." 

"I'm not paying you," she says crossing her arms in front of her chest. Yixing shrugs.

"Okay, since you're my meimei, I'll do it for free." Ara narrows her eyes in question. Yixing clears his throat and lowers his voice. "There is a man... there is a man who will come calling and you won't be able to say no. That man, he will be The One." 

"The One? Seriously?" Ara stares at him. "That was so cheesy gege!!" 

"ARA!" Ara doesn't have to look to see who's calling out to her, but she turns to see Kyungsoo at the steps of the west building, beckoning to her. She turns back to Yixing with large eyes, while he gives her a meaningful grin. 

"This means nothing gege!" She says, ing the sign into his arms and racing over to the building while shaking her head. Kyungsoo raises his eyebrows at her flustered face.

"It's nothing, I just think we should NOT have let gege put up that stall. He'll mess with people's minds all evening." Kyungsoo grins. 

"As long as he gets them to empty their wallets." 

Kyungsoo leaves her, at the classroom doing Chanyeol's makeup, in twenty minutes, when Baekhyun drags him off to check on the preparations for the bonfire dance. Ara pauses for a while, brush poised, staring at Kyungsoo's back, when Chanyeol sneezes, snapping her back. 

"Sorry," he says sheepishly. "Didn't mean to break your stare-a-thon but the brush was tickling my nose." Ara glares at him and stabs him harder on the cheek with the power brush each time. 

At five people begin trickling in slowly, until Ara sees a bigger turnout than the one she's expected. She sees Jongdae with Haneul for a bit, smirking mentally at how smooth Jongdae had become when she sees his jacket over her shoulders. She even manages to casually tell Jongdae to take her around. She can't help mirror his grin when he runs back to her, whispering, "best wing-woman ever!" before walking off (with a hand on Haneul's back, that smooth player!).

The haunted house seems to be a big hit as she hears shrieks and screams from within while sitting in the small classroom next door, where all the sound system equipment is monitored by Krystal. She even notes a few couples stumbling out, clutching onto each other and feels rather proud for aiding in the cause of love.

A little before eight she wanders along the stalls, buying herself some cotton candy and sitting down on the steps of the college building, wondering if she should find out what Kyungsoo was up to.

"Ara!" Jongdae comes racing up the stairs panting for all his life's worth. Ara stares at him a little taken aback.

"Is everything okay?" 

"Yeah, I forgot to take the dance passes!" Ara remembers the tiny slips of paper sitting in her wallet. She hands them to Jongdae, and pats him on the back. "I want to ask her out..." He sighs, "what if I'm being to fast?" 

"I think you'll know when the time is right... Do what the moment calls for, okay? Don't over-think it." Jongdae pulls her into a hug before running off. 

For a few minutes Ara sits silently finishing her cotton candy when she hears someone call out from behind her. 

"Lulu ge!!" She jumps up, beaming at the petite man who was an ex-member of the drama club— now a TA in Economics. "You came?!" Luhan smiles, ruffling her hair. 

"I heard you guys pulled this stint off, I had to come. Also had to introduce my boyfriend to you." Ara looks carefully at the tall man emerging from the building. He seems incredibly familiar. 

"Oh Sehun?! You're dating Oh Sehun?!" When Sehun looks mildly offended at her outburst, she glares at him. "Haneul-ssi said you had plans? Lulu ge was your 'plan', I presume?"  At least he has the humility to look guilty— for a second only. 

"We were going to get coffee," Luhan steps in, "it was my idea to come see you." Ara doesn't stop glaring at Sehun. 

"She's going to the Last Dance so I'd go the other way," she huffs. Sehun nods. 

"Thanks," he mutters.

"You'd better tell her!" Ara yells after him. Sehun raises his hand to his head in a mock salute as he wraps an arm around Luhan's shoulders. "Bye gege!!" 

Ara breaks put into a tiny grin wondering how bright Luhan ge had managed to date impassive Oh Sehun. Most people make their way towards the dance and Ara wonders if she should head back to the Haunted Rooms and tell everyone to head out, for the lack of anything else. Her phone buzzes.

@do_Kyung: dance with me?

The soccer field is packed when Ara walks in. The Last Dance is a bigger hit than any of them had hoped for. Ara spots a familiar figure in the audience stands and climbs up. 

"I thought we were dancing," she grins at him. Kyungsoo holds out a stick of cotton candy.

"I lied?" Ara shakes her head and sits down, a little disappointed but the cotton candy makes up for it.

The bonfire slowly comes to life and Baekhyun starts playing track after track of waltz music. Sitting with shoulders pressed against Kyungsoo's, Ara can't help but grin at the couples dancing before her and the gentle humming beside her. 

"Looks like this is a big hit," Ara whispers softly. Kyungsoo nods, tearing off some of the pink candy.

"Yeah I think we made the most money here." Ara laughs, shaking her head.

"I was talking about the love, Shylock!" 

"I have my money, speak not against my money." 

"Oh my—" Ara can't help the giggles that break through. "Did you just paraphrase Shylock?!" Kyungsoo grins impishly at her. Ara bumps her shoulders against his, shaking her head, and catches Jongdae and Haneul headed towards the exit, holding hands. She waves at them, receiving shy smiles from both. 

"The sight of lovers feedeth those in love," Ara mutters.

"Love is merely a madness and, I tell you, deserves as well a dark house and a whip, as madmen do and the reason why they are not so punished and cured, is, that the lunacy is so ordinary," Ara looks at Kyungsoo in surprise and mingling awe. "That the whippers are in love too." Kyungsoo's voice is low in her ears and his eyes have a strange look in them, intense and caring all at once so that Ara gulps. 

"Are we going to have a Shakespeare spouting contest now?" She asks, laughing nervously. Kyungsoo offers a lazy smile and takes a sip from his coke before passing it back to Ara. 

A little after nine people begin to leave in ones and twos as Baekhyun announces the end of the dance and thanks everyone on behalf of the club. Ara finds herself mesmerized by the dying fire in the empty field, watching the glowing firewood unblinkingly, contemplating if they should be leaving to find the groundskeeper and get him to douse the flames. 

"Dance with me?" 

Ara jerks her head up, finding Kyungsoo standing and extending a hand. 

"Now? With no music?" She asks impassively, pursing her lips. Kyungsoo gives her a small smile. 

"Humor me." Ara gives in, slipping her fingers through his as he leads her down the stairs to the field. 

What is probably supposed to be a silent slow dance, ends up as a hug, as Kyungsoo wraps his arms around Ara's waist and she puts hers around his neck, placing her head on his shoulders, while they move to the soft crackle of the dying fire and Kyungsoo softly humming an old song she can't quite remember. The metaphorical butterflies rise swiftly in the pit of her stomach.

"I can't believe Jongdae asked her out," Ara says softly after a while. 

"You asked her out first, to be fair." 

"What?" 

"Yeah, 'hey, you should come if you're free!' and you sounded very excited too." Even though she can't see his face, Ara knows he's smirking. She smacks his back.

"Very funny." 

"Hmm... shame, I was waiting for you to ask me out that excitedly." 

"Hey, you should come, if you're free!" Ara says into his shoulder. "Happy?" 

"Where to?" 

"Home... tonight...?" 

"That's mighty forward of you," Kyungsoo laughs and Ara pulls back, wide-eyed and hits him on the chest. 

"For dinner! Geez! Get your mind— aargh!" She looks sideways, flustered and hot in the ears. They stop moving, standing still in the soft glow of the fire. Ara's hands slip down Kyungsoo's arms and he intertwines their fingers. 

"I got curious and visited Yixing hyung's stall..." Says Kyungsoo guiltily, biting his bottom lip. Ara narrows her eyes.

"And...?" 

"And he told me it'd be good if I asked someone special to dance." 

"Did you?" Ara can't believe the calm in her own voice.

"Yeah..." Kyungsoo gulps visibly. "But I chickened out and then this happened." 

"This is nice..." Ara murmurs as Kyungsoo looks down at her. 

"Hey umm... If you uhh... if... hit me if..." Ara sees the painful confusion in his eyes as he lowers her head towards hers, understanding every bit of the heavy "if"s and  realizing how horribly wrong it could all go. "Hit me later but let me do this...." Kyungsoo's voice is now down to a cracked whisper. As she remembers her own advice to Jongdae that evening Ara tilts her head up. 

The gentle crackle of the dying embers and the warm glow it casts on Kyungsoo's hesitant face is all that she sees before she closes her eyes. 

I think you'll know when the time is right... Do what the moment calls for, okay? Don't over-think it.

Kyungsoo's lips feel soft, pressed lightly against hers; his hands warm in hers. The butterflies are unharnessed now, making her curl her toes and tighten her fingers around his. Kyungsoo smiles against her lips and she doesn't want it to end when he pulls back. 

Ara opens her eyes to a nervous smile and warm eyes. 

"I should have done that ages ago..." Kyungsoo gulps again. It's comforting to Ara that he's just as nervous as she is. 

"Yes," she chews her lower lip as Kyungsoo places his forehead against hers. "You should have....." 

"Is it a little too early to say I love you...?" Kyungsoo runs little circles with his thumb on Ara's hand. 

"No..." 

"Then I love you." 

"I love you too." 

Maybe it's the firelight but their smiles seem a little brighter. 

As they walk home, swinging their clasped between them, Ara remembers something from the morning. 

"Why were so mad at me waking you up this morning?" 

"Hmm?" 

You know.... you looked like you were expecting me to say something else..." 

"Well..." Kyungsoo his lips and rubs the back of his neck. "When a man is woken up by a pretty woman early in the morning, he doesn't expect to be carted off to a fund raiser..." Ara furrows her brows at him. 

"So.... what? You were expecting me to Sleeping Beauty you?" 

"Not really... but that doesn't sound too bad," he grins. Ara rolls her eyes. 

"I'll wake you up tomorrow morning and fulfill all your Disney Princess dreams, okay?" Kyungsoo laughs as they reach Ara's porch. 

"Hey, I—" 

His words are cut short by Ara's mother opening the door with a big smile. 

"I thought I saw you kids coming down the street! Was it a hit?" Then as her eyes trail over her frozen daughter, a rather nervous Kyungsoo and their failed attempt at discreetly letting go of each other's hands, her grin turns positively impish. "Well something was a hit alright," she says, as she makes a move to close the door. "I'll leave you kids to your goodbyes. Remember that the whole street can see you, though." With that Mrs. Cho shuts the door. 

"Umma!!" Ara yells, flushing a bright shade of red. Kyungsoo laughs and pulls her to face him. 

"See you tomorrow?" 

Ara nods and Kyungsoo leans in and presses his lips against hers again. This kiss is deeper and lasts longer. Kyungsoo holds her close, wrapping his arms around her waist and Ara raises herself on her toes, weaving her fingers through his hair. Kyungsoo's lips are a little cold from the night air, but tastes sweet from all the cotton candy they've devoured all evening. 

"I could get used to that," he grins, as he breaks away. Ara can't help but return it with a giddy smile.

She keeps that smile on as she enters her house, ignoring the curious looks her mother gives her. She almost skips to her room, giddy, dizzy and light headed from everything that night, falling into her bed with no intention of doing anything but dreaming about her firelight kiss with him. Her phone buzzes. She contemplates letting it be but then decides to check it in case it's important. 

@do_Kyung: don't you dare skip dinner. See you tomorrow, drama queen. 하트. 하트. 

Ara grins and sends him a quick reply before racing downstairs, and then remembers Yixing's "predictions" about The One from the afternoon. She sighs. He was much too gifted in the art of messing with people's heads. 

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A/N: This is much longer than I'd expected at 6.4k words... I understand that it might be boring to anyone who doesn't know the inspiration behind Haneul and Ara. But I had a lot of fun after a long time writing something and I think I'll let this remain here :)

Thank you very much for reading if you did read till the end. 

In case anyone is wondering the quotes that Ara and Kyungsoo use are from As You Like It. 

Thank you once again. 

I might write an epilogue for this...let's see~