| Fan Fiction |
by Ephemeral Euphoria
Junsu blinked. He stared at the colorful card thrust before his face. He then looked up at the person holding the card.
"What's this?" he asked, confused.
The other boy cleared his throat, seeming somewhat uncomfortable and awkward. "It's an invitation."
"Where to?" Junsu pressed on, still clueless. His best friend rolled his eyes at him.
"My birthday, you idiot."
Junsu snorted with laughter. Then, with an expression of disbelief in his face, he pulled the invitation out of his best friend's hands to examine it carefully. "Whaaat? You're kidding, right? The oh-so-tough Eunhyuk is having a birthday party?"
"Oh, shut up." Eunhyuk rolled his eyes. "My halmoni is coming into town just for this event, and Umma wanted me to make it extra special for her by introducing her to all of my friends."
Junsu reached over to pinch Eunhyuk's cheeks. "Awww... Her grandson's going to be a big boy now that he's turning eighteen years old!"
"Hey!" Eunhyuk slapped Junsu's hand away. He rubbed his cheeks, which were red from being pinched so hard. "You'd better respect me. Now that I'm officially eighteen, that makes me even hyung-lier than I was yesterday!"
"Oh, right, my bad." Junsu shrugged apologetically. "I forget that you're still my hyung."
The bell suddenly rang, and they both headed out of the classroom. Their somewhat tall heights came as an advantage to the both of them as they made their way towards the door. Several of the shorter students were struggling to find their way towards the same direction but unlike Junsu and Eunhyuk, were unable to see just where they were headed towards. To stop and tiptoe would certainly help them get an idea of whether they were headed towards the door or unfortunately towards the other direction, but stop and actually do so would also mean to get shoved deeper into the middle of the crowd, from which getting out was nearly impossible.
"Dongsang, you might want to go in that direction," Junsu lightly told a young girl who looked bewildered and completely lost. He pointed out the way towards the door, past the squirming people that were blocking the path. With a relieved expression on her face, she smiled and opened her mouth to speak, but a few taller boys pushed her aside before she had the chance to thank him. Junsu waved his hand without looking behind him to see her mouth a thank you to him. Just helping others out made his day, whether or not he received thanks for it.
"I think she's going to develop a little crush on you," Eunhyuk commented. They made their way outside, stepping into the sunlight. From behind them, a bunch of other students filtered out, including the girl that Junsu had helped previously. She was, as Eunhyk had expected of her, staring at Junsu with a lovestruck expression on her face.
"I'm fine with it just as long as it's not some crazy stalker-like obsession like that other girl did." Junsu shuddered at the memory. Eunhyuk chuckled.
"Can you blame her for being such a stalker? And shame on you for not knowing her name even after all that effort she put into transferring into all of your classes and finding out your phone number." They crossed the street, heading towards the soccer field. Several players had already assembled and were practicing kicking balls into the net. Eunhyuk laughed at the sight of the poor goalie struggling to block all of the balls aimed towards him. It was a tradition that all underclassmen were given a hard time, a tradition that had remained unbroken until Junsu had come along. He had impressed everyone with his skillful coordination and willingness to work hard to improve himself.
"Of course I know her name," Junsu retorted. "It's just that I don't want to say it out loud. Who knows if I'll end up jinxing myself? She might end up appearing behind that bleacher!"
"I doubt it. That restraining order you laid on her was pretty harsh," Eunhyuk responded. They arrived at the bleachers Junsu had pointed out merely seconds ago and sat down, observing their teammates practicing.
"You would've done the same if a girl managed to somehow get a replica of your house keys and appeared in your room in the middle of the night, claiming that she's ready to have your children," Junsu protested. He cringed at the memory. He still often woke up from nightmares about it in the middle of the night.
"Not if she's hot. Plus, you can mainly blame yourself for making her go nuts all over you in the first place. Don't you get it? You may think you're being friendly by offering to help her carry her books, but to girls...it's some secret code that means 'I want to spend the rest of my life with you'," Eunhyuk pointed out. Junsu rolled his eyes. They both started to pull off their school uniforms, revealing their soccer team uniforms underneath. "So anyway...about my party. Are you coming?"
"Not sure. What time is it going to be at?" Junsu pulled off his black shoes and slipped his feet into his dirty but much more comfortable sneakers.
"Didn't you read the invitation?" Eunhyuk examined the scab on his knee that was the result of falling down while playing a one-on-one basketball match against Junsu last week. Although Junsu showed promise in that sport as well, Eunhyuk's athletic skills were more geared towards soccer. He seemed to somehow be better at handling a ball with his feet than he was able to handle a ball in his hands.
"Are you still whining about that little scratch?" Junsu teased. He got up and stretched his arms, groaning as he did so. All those hours stuck sitting at a cramped desk in school was definitely not helpful for warming up. "And anyway, I only read up to the part where it said 'You are cordially invited to Eunhyk's 18th birthday party'. The neon colors were too blinding for me to read any further."
"I was not whining! I was just concerned that it would get infected. Didn't you hear about that guy who died from an infected paper cut?" Eunhyuk asked. He reached into his bag for his lucky headband-the one that Junsu had given to him the first time they had met as young boys who both bonded over their love of soccer. "And it's two hours after practice today. That'll give you time to freshen up if you'd like."
"Exactly how many people did you invite to your little party?" Junsu asked. He reached down for his toes, welcoming the familiar pressure he felt behind his knees as he did so.
"About forty."
"Forty?" Junsu repeated.
"As it turns out, many girls find the colorful invitations to be lovable. No idea why. Nowadays, every weird little thing is cute to them. 'Awww, how cute! So cute! Cutecutecutecutecute! You're so cute!'" Eunhyuk's voice became high-pitched as he did a good imitation of the typical teenage girl. "Seriously, I will never understand gir-"
A whistle interrupted Eunhyuk. Both he and Junsu turned their attention to the source of the noise. Their coach beckoned for them to join the other teammates.
"Yeah, sure I'll go," Junsu told Eunhyuk as they ran to join the others for the next few sweaty hours of practice.