They had started to practise the play for real now. That meant no script reading, and also that they had to wear costumes. Luhan had originally complained when he was presented with the dress he was supposed to wear, especially since Tao, who played the queen, didn’t have to wear one. Tao’s outfit was more a dress and trousers combo with boots and a vampire-like cape. It was weird-looking, sure, but it wasn’t as feminine as Luhan’s dress. However, after a short time, Luhan had told Jongdae that while he did look kinda dumb, it “feels a lot more free, if you know what I mean”. Jongdae did not need to hear that.

His own outfit was pretty much just like all the other dwarfs’ (a simple shirt and trousers, combined with a long coat and a hat), except his came with a small handkerchief to blow his nose in. Sleepy, who was played by Jongin, had a pillow with him at all times and whenever it wasn’t his turn to be on stage Jongin lay down on it to get into the role of his character. Or because he was tired and it was nice to be able to relax with a fluffy pillow during class. Jongdae thought it was the latter.

Sehun, on the other hand, had an actually nice outfit. Both his shirt and trousers looked fancily expensive, and he also wore a crown, an old-fashioned (also fancy-looking) coat, a cravat, and boots that complimented his long legs. Those legs looked even better without anything covering them, Jongdae decided when they dressed into their costumes.

Most of them had chosen to change clothes in the large props storage, Sehun and Jongdae being a part of them. While Jongdae had hurriedly dressed up behind a clothes rack, not wanting anyone to see him in a state of undress, Sehun had been completely unashamed and changed clothes out in the open among some of the other more unafraid students. Jongdae had almost choked on his breath when he saw the other’s slender, hairless legs (either he hadn’t reached puberty yet - which was kind of unrealistic considering his age, height, and voice - or he actually shaved them) and had to try to collect himself.

Unluckily, Sehun spotted him while he was creepily staring at the younger, and gestured him to come closer with a tiny smile. When Jongdae reached the other boy, breath still threateningly close to hitching, Sehun asked him to hold his coat for him while he changed shirts. He then proceeded, to Jongdae’s both dismay and delight, to turn around and take off his t-shirt right in front of Jongdae, leaving him to stare at the slim back in front of him while his face rapidly heated up.

In mere seconds Sehun had dressed himself in the other shirt, and Jongdae unfortunately had to tear his eyes away from the no longer exposed skin. Sehun then thanked him while wearing his usual stoic expression, and Jongdae returned the coat to the other boy. After that he quickly made his way out of the props storage, mouth feeling ridiculously dry and chest throbbing.

The fact that they had started to practise the play for real also meant some less exciting changes. Such as Sehun and Luhan having to practise the kiss scene. Also for real. Jongdae found that his heart was beating faster and faster the closer they came to that particular scene. He couldn’t stand the thought of the two of them kissing, not at all, especially now when Luhan had told him he didn’t mind kissing Sehun. That just made it, if possible, worse.

When they after what felt like hours of anxiety reached the scene where the dwarfs were gathered around Snow White’s unconscious body, watching the prince enter the stage, Jongdae felt like his heart was going to burst. It was evident that both Luhan and Sehun were nervous, but Jongdae was sure that nobody was as nervous as he was. Observing Sehun making his way up to where Luhan was lying, he felt like he was going to be sick. Maybe he would faint just like Snow White. Having Sehun wake him up using the same method as the prince did with Snow White wouldn’t be so bad.

Jongdae involuntarily giggled at the thought and he had to compose himself, hoping no one had noticed. They probably hadn’t, because all of the gazes in the classroom were directed at Sehun, who was closing in on Luhan. The room was completely quiet, but the collective thought of “Are they really going to do it?” was in the air and it was almost making the atmosphere tense.

Sehun now stood right in front of Luhan and was slowly bending down, the distance between the two boys’ faces becoming smaller and smaller. A sudden thought popped up in Jongdae’s head, and he realised he had to act fast.

Nobody noticed him quickly removing himself from the stage, everyone were focused on the two in the centre of it. Upon reaching his destination, the fuse box, Jongdae looked over his shoulder to see Luhan’s and Sehun’s faces only a centimetre or so apart. A mere second after that everything went black.

Several shouts were heard as Jongdae directed his steps to the stage again, carefully feeling with his hands in front of him as to not bump into something, or worse, someone. He would be done for if somebody discovered that he was the reason why the electricity turned itself off.

Jongdae knew he was close to the stage when the voices of his classmates became louder and louder. About half of them were shrieking in panic over the sudden lack of light and the other half were shouting at the first half to calm down and be quiet.

“Relax, everyone, it’s only the power that went off”, Miss Hwang said loudly and succeeded in calming her students down for a second. Then suddenly there was a loud “thump!” and a yell from what sounded like Luhan, who probably fell down from the table that represented Snow White’s death bed. Luhan’s yell made the others erupt into a loud mess of noises again, and Jongdae could arrive at the stage smoothly without anyone noticing.

After Minseok and Yifan had used the lights from their cell phones to guide them to the fuse box, the electricity was working again. However, it had taken some time, and when everything was finally back to normal class was over. Jongdae hurried home, feeling both worried about the risk of someone spotting him, and satisfied with the fact that his plan had worked.

Luhan and Sehun hadn’t kissed that lesson, either.

Feeling confident because his previous idea worked, Jongdae kept on trying new ways to stop the kiss sequence from happening. He was well aware that it was risky, if someone found out about his schemes he feared he might get kicked out from the play, but somehow the risk was worth it. The longer he could postpone his two classmates’ kiss, the better. Preferably, it wouldn’t happen at all, but that was too unrealistic, considering his past tries to remove it from the play. Still, he could dream...

The only actual positive thing about the kiss scene was the fact that his classmates had been so chill with it. Not one of them had seemed troubled over the fact that two boys were kissing (even though one of them was portraying a girl), and that was a huge relief for Jongdae, who’d spent all his years in middle school trying to hide the fact that he didn’t only like girls. Actually, he was sure he wasn’t the only one in the group who did so, with Tao’s previous crush on Yifan and Luhan’s comments about Sehun’s attractiveness (although the latter example wasn’t exactly something Jongdae’d wished for happening).

Anyway, the first thing Jongdae tried out the lesson after the Electricity Incident was to call Luhan during the time Sehun was just about to close the distance between their lips. The result had been hilarious.

Everyone in the room had been silent, again, and Jongdae quickly took out his phone and dialled Luhan’s number. As Sehun moved his face closer and closer, Luhan’s pocket started vibrating and a TVXQ song blasted through the silence of the room, making all its occupants jump (except Jongdae). The person reacting the strongest was obviously Luhan himself, who knocked his head into Sehun’s and shouted out in pain, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his smartphone. Ignoring the teacher’s glare (“You’re supposed to have your phone on silent mode during class!”) he checked the caller id and and made a small sound of frustration, to Jongdae’s delight. Jongdae had of course hidden his number before calling Luhan in order to stay sneaky. Hopefully Luhan, or anyone else for that matter, didn’t suspect him.

Another time, Jongdae prepared his plan in advance, having stopped by a shop on his way home from school the previous evening to buy a toy cockroach. When the kiss scene was about to take place, Jongdae took Chanyeol aside and asked him “hey, wanna do something fun?”. If there was something Jongdae had learnt about Chanyeol after being the other’s classmate for such a long time, it was that the tall boy could never refuse taking part in his pranks. And so he made Chanyeol his accomplice for the afternoon.

He ordered the taller to sneak up behind Tao, fake cockroach in hand, and softly place it on the other’s shoulder. Tao had instinctively turned around at the touch, and being the resident bug hater, he screamed his lungs out when he spotted the insect replica. The screaming made the people sitting around him react as well, rising to their feet at the same time Tao did, expecting there to be some sort of dangerous situation. Very similar to the domino effect, the rest of the occupants of the room also flinched at the ruckus, bringing a stop to the kissing for a third time.

Of course, it felt silly when they discovered the source of the chaos to be a plastic cockroach. Chanyeol had laughed so hard he got hiccups, and Baekhyun probably imitated Tao’s scream at least seven times throughout the rest of their lesson.

Because he hadn’t seen that it was Chanyeol who’d placed the bug on his shoulder, Tao didn’t have anyone to blame for the incident, and was therefore in a very bad mood when class was over. He shocked everyone when he yelled at Baekhyun in irritation and stormed off, Baekhyun rushing after him shouting what sounded like half-assed apologies (but Jongdae didn’t really know). Chanyeol hit Jongdae on the back in what was probably supposed to be a friendly gesture, congratulated him on coming up with such a great prank, and asked if they could do something like that again soon. Jongdae simply smiled and shrugged in reply.

Of course, the inevitable had to happen some day. Jongdae knew he couldn’t avoid the kiss scene forever, his teacher’s patience was wearing thin and he had also run out of ideas on how to stop it. So when his teacher announced the next lesson that this time they were kissing, even if there were disturbances, Jongdae gave up. There was no way he was gonna completely stop it from happening.

Knowing this, Jongdae was in a bad mood throughout the whole lesson. He wasn’t exactly angry, he was more feeling kind of uneasy and irritable. This was apparently visible on the outside too, because just before practise started Baekhyun walked up to him, asking him what’s wrong. Jongdae didn’t really know what to answer (since when was Baekhyun of all people so caring?) so he just lied that he was catching the flu, or something similar. Baekhyun didn’t seem to believe him, though.

“Are you sure? You’ve been like this for the past bunch of lessons. Actually, ever since we started practising in costumes. Is your costume itchy, or something? Or is it…” Jongdae could practically hear the wheels turning in his classmate’s head. Why was Baekhyun suddenly noticing stuff?

“No, it’s nothing like that.”

“Really…” Baekhyun moved closer to Jongdae, whispering conspiratorially. “Because, now that I think about it, you’ve been very keen on stopping that kiss from happening.” He grinned widely, and Jongdae was just about to innocently say “what kiss?” but stopped himself, realising how stupid that would sound. Instead he just frowned, which Baekhyun took as an invitation to continue speaking.

“Don’t think I didn’t see you instruct Chanyeol to put that bug on Tao’s shoulder,” he snorted at the memory, “a nice prank, though. But it made me think… if you were the one behind the other stuff, too. Like calling Luhan hyung, for example.”

Jongdae tried to keep calm at the suggestion, rolling his eyes.

“Are you dumb? Luhan hyung has my number saved, he’d seen if it was me who called. And are you seriously implying that I shut off the electricity? How would I even have done that, I was at the stage with you guys during the whole time.”

Baekhyun shrugged.

“Maybe you had an accomplice. Anyway, why do you want to interrupt the kiss scene so badly?”

“I told you, I haven’t been trying to interrupt it!” Jongdae was growing very annoyed at Baekhyun, who he usually was pretty good friends with.

“You know what, you can tell me anything. Anything, Jongdae. Even stuff like, I don’t know, having a crush on egg yolk and egg white over there.” He gestured at Luhan and Sehun, who were getting ready for the first scene. Jongdae put his face in his hands.

“Oh my god, Baekhyun, why are you implying-”

“I think the whole class have noticed, to be honest.”

“Noticed what?” came a voice from above them. Baekhyun grinned even wider at the arrival of Yifan.

“Y'know, the whole thing about Jongdae having a crush”, he said smugly, and Jongdae felt mortified. What had he done to deserve this? Okay, he had tried to sabotage the play a few times, but still. It wasn’t anything too serious.

“He has a crush?” Yifan looked surprised, but was soon smiling something similar to Baekhyun’s smug grin. Said grin had faded a little bit from Baekhyun’s face, since his theory about everyone having noticed was proven wrong by Yifan’s apparent surprise. He carried on talking nonetheless, Jongdae wanting to shove a brick in his mouth more than ever before.

“Yeah, on either Luhan hyung or Sehun. Do you have any idea which one of them?”

“Hm, I actually saw him accompanying Luhan home the other day, but I don’t know-”

“Can the two of you shut up? I don’t see how it’s any of your business, anyway”, Jongdae spoke through gritted teeth.

“Woah, no need to be so aggressive”, Yifan held his hands up, “but okay, I’ll leave you to figure out your little problem by yourself.” He then patted Jongdae on the shoulder and went over to talk with Junmyun, or someone, Jongdae didn’t care. He just wanted the earth to swallow him whole. Never mind that he was currently in a classroom on the third floor.

“Okay, I won’t tell any more people, if that’s what you want”, Baekhyun patted him on the same place Yifan had previously patted him, “but my point is, almost everyone’s probably already noticed. You haven’t been very subtle in your attempts to change the scene. But, keep fighting! I’m sure you’ll woo Luhan hyung someday.”

Jongdae sighed. Well, Yifan probably wouldn’t tell anyone since he wasn’t the gossipy type anyway. And if Baekhyun said he’d be quiet about it, then…

“It’s actually Sehun”, he said. Baekhyun flashed him a victorious grin.

“Yeah, that does make sense. You were the one who tried to get someone else to play the prince in the beginning”, he laughed a little. Jongdae felt embarrassed.

“You think I’m stupid.”

“No, no, not at all. I mean, I’d probably do the same if it was- never mind. Anyway, I totally understand you. And I’m a supportive friend, so just keep fighting!” Jongdae involuntarily smiled a little at that.

“Y'know, just because you’re portraying Happy in the play doesn’t mean you have to be constantly happy in real life, too.”

“What’re you talking about? This is me!” Baekhyun laughed and stood up, flicking Jongdae’s forehead, then running away to bother Tao before it was his turn to enter the stage.

The actual kiss scene wasn’t that bad.

Okay, who was he kidding, it was bad. Even worse than he thought. It was a good thing he’d interrupted all those kiss scenes before, because when Luhan and Sehun finally got to kiss each other, they did it for real.

Their lips touched to the sound of half of the class shouting, and they didn’t part until five and a half seconds later (Jongdae counted). There was even a gross noise from their mouths moving against each other. Jongdae winced, and Baekhyun patted him on the back once just to move forward and take multiple pictures of them with his smartphone, joining in on the yelling. So much for being a “supportive friend”, huh.

When the two parted, both faces somewhat flushed, everyone whistled and clapped their hands. Everyone except Jongdae. He just couldn’t. A rude gesture, perhaps, but it wasn’t as if anyone noticed, anyway.

After the scene was done and over with (for the day, at least), several of the students gathered around Luhan and Sehun, asking them how they felt. Luhan assured everyone that yes, Sehun was an alright kisser, and no, they hadn’t practised this beforehand. This was their first time kissing. At that, Sehun apparently thought it was a good idea to add that it was his first time kissing altogether, and Jongdae nearly choked on his own saliva.

So, Sehun’s first kiss ever had been with Luhan. In a play. Not that his own first kiss had been very meaningful, but still. Jongdae almost felt like crying.

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a/n: don't hate me for the not-so-desirable events in this chapter (u know what i'm talking about) ;; there's only two chapters left though, and hopefully they will be more satisfactory u v u

on another note: should i make a poster for this? it's my first time publishing a multi-chaptered fic on here, so i might just try it out (even tho my editing skills aren't the best in the entire world haha)

so?? yeah???? tell me what you think!!!! or should i make a poll? AAHh idk orz