orenjimaru
in
inorae
A Tale of how Loneliness was no more.
Author: orenjimaru
Rating: PG
Genre: AU
Fandom/Pairing: JayHo, OT7, other ninja!pairings
Summary: This is the story of a group of boys who didn't wish to remain lonely, and fought for what they believed in.
A/N1: My first AU. Prs to tell me if it sucks.
Disclaimer: I own JayHo, but not 2PM. (Be very jealous. Hurhurhur.)
A Tale of how Loneliness was no more.
It was the Age of Loneliness.
Everybody living in this age was lonely. They couldn't do anything about it; they weren't allowed to. Any kind of kinship or affection was strictly forbidden.
Children never knew who their parents were; they were taken away as soon as they were born. Mothers didn't even get to cuddle their babies before masked nurses carried them off to faraway wards. Kids did not play with each other; they were all given electronics to occupy their time instead. In education, there were no actual teachers or mentors; computer programs were used. Even the ruling elite, the government, were made up of unknown individuals; they were never displayed to the public, never given a face to attach to their personas.
As a result, all people had were their names and empty posessions. Everyone looked out for everyone else, but at the same time, didn't take care of anyone but themselves.
"Relations lead to all sorts of complicated feelings, feelings that cloud our perceptions and dim our senses. Feelings that no one needs, feelings that we are all better off without. Society functions better without such troublesome matters. In the long run, everyone benefits!"
That's what the government claims. That's what the people are brought up to believe in.
But once in a while, people push on to something better. Something found just beyong the pain of going at it alone and just beyond the bravery and courage it takes to let someone in. Or to give someone a chance. Something beyond the quiet persistence of a dream.
This is the story of a group of boys who didn't wish to remain lonely, and fought for what they believed in.
-------
Lee Junho doesn't believe a word of what the higher-ups are feeding the people.
He hears stories; fearfully whispered words of youths who hang around the alleys sometimes, disgruntled mutterings of frowing grannies, alcohol-tinged slurs of the local drunkard. Stories about a time in the past when people mingled freely, when there was such a unit in society known as a "family". Stories about a powerful force that people called "love".
Junho listens to all these snippets, takes it all in, carefully stores them in a box in his memories, and hopes that one day he will get to experience this world for himself.
Unsurprisingly, Junho has always been lonely. What was surprising was the fact that this emotion registered with his consciousness. Most people in the Age of Loneliness go through life feeling empty inside, but never realise what it meant.
It was different for Junho. His insides feel hollow no matter how much he eats, and the beating of his heart is weak and minimal. He feels, and knows, that it is fundamentally wrong.
If there's one thing every kid needs growing up, it's a best friend. Someone you trust. Someone who trusts you. Someone you measure yourself against. You go through everything together. Important things. Stupid things. Things that matter. Things that don't.
Dangerous words, Junho knows, but he scribbles them inside his tattered notebook anyway.
It's the middle of autumn, but the small room in which he lives feels unbearably hot. Snapping his notebook shut, Junho stands and makes his way to the nearby park. The sky, as ever, is gray and cloudy, with hardly any sun peeking through. He sighs, shoves his hands into the kangeroo pocket of his hoodie and trudges along under the gray sky, along the gray path, kicking up gray piles of leaves along the way.
Then abruptly, a flash of colour flits at the edge of his peripheral vision.
Whirling around, Junho is faced with what he reckons is the most impactful sight he's ever come across in his life.
A group of boys dancing to the beats issuing from a boombox, half hidden in a dingy back alley. It's not so much the actual action of what they are doing, but rather the way in which the motions are carried out. Cartwheels, headspins, handstands, windmills, airflares, shuffles, hand glides, pop-locking, ticking, waving; the more Junho watched, the more his eyes bugged. This wasn't just dance, this was pure emotion put into actions.
A short boy wearing a bright pink hoodie, not much older than him by the looks of it, dances up taking centre stage and Junho's jaw drops. This, this is art. His chest feels weird and tight, but it's not wrong at all. This must be what I wanted to feel all this while. It takes him a few minutes of grappling with his inner vocabulary, but finally Junho decides that "admiration" was the right word to pin onto this group of strangers and what they evoke in him.
The song ends, and he was still trying to decide if he should go up to them when one of the boys, of medium build with a spiky chin mask, calls out, "Oi! You lurking over there!"
Junho's head snaps up.
"Shut up, Jun.K, you want the authorities on us? Kid wasn't lurking anyway." A tall, smoky-eyed youth hisses, smacking the first boy on the bicep.
"Quit it, you two. Yo, step up here for a bit."
The one with the pink hoodie calls across to Junho. He gulps slightly and makes his way over to the group, now clustered loosely around a corner.
"Hey," Junho greets with a small quirk of his lips, trying to appear braver than he feels.
Pink hoodie boy takes his time looking Junho up and down - this must be what a show dog feels like - but finally offers a smile, though it doesn't quite reach his slanted, sharp eyes.
"You with the Big Man, or just trying to be a groupie?"
Wha-?
Junho realises he must look thoroughly confused or shell-shocked, because another boy nearest his own height leans foward and clarifies, "He wants to know if you plan on reporting us anytime soon." Junho glances into his laughing face, noticing the slight fear and tension playing across his features, and feels a bit better.
"No, I - I just - what you guys were - I mean, I was only -"
"- admiring?" Pink hoodie boy offers, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
"...I think so," Junho states lamely.
The other boys all laugh, and Junho hangs his head to hide his burning face, but then a hand claps down on his back and a voice is proclaiming, "You're alright, kid, you're alright."
Ears still slightly red, he looks up to find six boys smiling at him, and slowly grins back. The boy who helped him out earlier piped up, "You've got a nice smile. So what's your name?"
"Lee Junho," Junho states.
"I'm Jang Wooyoung, he's Hwang Chansung," the boy, Wooyoung, nudges the smoky-eyed one, "the big guy's Ok Taecyeon," the tallest one gives Junho a toothy grin, "this one's Kim Junsu," pointing out the boy who has taken off his chin mask to reveal a kind smile, "pretty boy Nichkhun," a decidedly good-looking youth near the back waves, "and Park Jaebeom."
The boy in the pink hoodie, Jaebeom, smiles approvingly at him, and Junho's stomach clenches involuntarily. He takes over the talking, and Junho decides he's probably the leader of the little gang.
"So kiddo, we know we're breaking rules doing this stuff, y'know, banding together and all that. But we don't give a shit, and we're not going to back down. You know our names, you know where we hang; you're either going to rat on us, or hop on board. Which one is it going to be?"
Junho looks around at the huddle of boys, each filled with hopes and aspirations, keeping together in the hopes that their emotions can be expressed without restraint.
It's Junho's own dream as well. He takes a deep breath.
"Count me in."
A loud cheer breaks out and is quickly hushed up by a grinning Taecyeon, but that moment's the happiest that Junho's felt in...well, forever.
-------
And so Junho moves into the spare bed in Jaebeom's room in Junsu's apartment. The boys accept him immediately into their midst; Jaebeom even lets him have the bigger bed, claiming "it's too spongey" for his liking. It's cramped and noisy and there is almost no privacy, but the entire place is filled with hopes and light, which more than makes up for the lack of space.
They call themselves 2PM, a tribute to the brightest and hottest time of each day.
As Junho soon finds out, their gang does more than just dance; they are all rounded performers. Junsu has the most experience in singing, so he has the role of lead vocalist. Wooyoung usually starts their songs due to his unique voice. Taecyeon and Chansung are the main rappers. Jaebeom raps too, and sings most of the chorus parts, but his main job is to dance the socks off anyone watching. Junho is deemed to have a "dope" voice, and joins Nichkhun in singing whenever they're needed.
They all learn the dance moves, choreographed by Jaebeom, and put their words into song every spare second, accompanied by Nichkhun's piano and Chansung's old guitar. Practicing everyday is tough, and several times they have to run and hide from the authorities, but they're all doing what they love, and life works out in the warm little corner of the world that belongs exclusively to 2PM.
With each passing day, Junho feels more for the boys, and he tells himself that the day of the Great Change is coming closer, almost within reach.
An evening after a long dance session, Junho strolls into his shared room after a shower, towelling his wet hair, only to find Jaebeom sprawled carelessly on his bed, casually flipping through his notebook. Junho feels a blind moment of panic - there's stuff in there that no living soul's meant to read, and he's thumbing through it like a freaking storybook!
"Hyung!"
But as soon as Jaebeom lifts his gaze to meet Junho's, he knows it doesn't matter. Jaebeom's eyes are filled with warmth and appreciation, and nothing else in the world matters.
"Hey, Junnie. It's good stuff you've got here."
Junho makes a motion between a nod and a shrug and mutely walks over, plopping down beside the older boy. He weighs the words in his mind, twists them around on his tongue, before voicing them out, "Do you think we'll make it?"
Jaebeom rolls over, taking his time to think before answering, "Yeah. As long as we believe we can, we will."
"Believe..." Junho savours the dual syllables, and decides he likes the taste of the word. He lies down next to Jaebeom.
"I don't care if I get hauled away for doing this. It's not death I'm scared of. It's the fear of not leaving something behind in this world. I - I'm just scared of being forgotten. That's worse than death."
"Junnie, life is nothing but repetition, the same things over and over. Somebody might give you a trophy and that's supposed to mean you're making progress, but there's no such thing. The fights you fight today are the fights you fights until you die. We'll fight this one together. Even if nobody knows, even if nobody remembers, the rest of us will. We'll fight."
Junho smiled. "Together."
"Yeah, together."
That night they both fall asleep on Junho's spongey bed, legs tangling awkwardly together. Chansung, who has the job of waking them up, spends the next few days teasing them about how they must have fallen asleep holding hands - "Your fingers were just micrometers from each other's, I swear!" "Chansunggie, do you even know what a micrometer is?"
-------
Finally, the day comes when all the songs have been sung to perfection, when all the dance steps become second nature to them.
They decide to go for it there and then. "No time as good as the present," Nichkhun states, Wooyoung quips "Yah, not bad coming from someone who doesn't even speak our language," which earns him a round of cheek pinching, and the rest all chime in with their piece of general agreement.
Jaebeom hollers for attention, and gathers them all around him. The boys form a tight circle and drape arms around each other's shoulders.
"Alright guys, this is it. We're going out there and making history. We're going to do ourselves and our families proud. We're going to stand up and make the world a better place. Don't put all your trust into what you see -"
"- but all your faith into what you feel!" they roar.
Junho looks around at his bandmates, his team, his friends, his brothers, his family, and pure affection wells up in him.
"What time is it??"
"2PM!"
-------
Their act is met with shock.
Junho can feel it, palpitating among the murmuring crowds and faces gathered around them. The sound of an approaching police siren draws nearer. The air pulsates with unvoiced energy, and something untangible trembles, on the verge of snapping into pieces.
Junho shivers despite the heavy dancing, and feels faint. Junsu whirls past him, and shoots him a concerned frown. He gives himself a mental shake and picks up the tempo again.
Just as the tension becomes unbearable and Junho feels like the sky was going to crash down on their heads, a young boy slips out from the throngs.
Quietly, he joins in 2PM's dance, stumbling a little, movements jerky, but slowly and surely intergrating into their choreography. After a minute, another two bravely step forward, and then another few from the side.
The world spins off its axis, and the something breaks into tiny shards, disintergrating into nothingness. All of a sudden, the clouds looming overhead disperse, and sunlight filters through. As the warm illumination reaches down to touch them, awareness dawns on the faces of the masses.
For a second, there is no movement at all.
Then exhilarated shouts break out everywhere as people understand all at once that they do not necessarily need to be lonely and empty, do not need to feel unhappiness anymore.
The boys break rank as the full realisation of what they have accomplished hit them. Taecyeon, with an ecstatic Chansung clutching onto his arm, runs around high fiving random strangers. Wooyoung stands to one side, sobbing to himself until Nichkhun breaks free of the grabby hands belonging to the teenage girls in the crowd and engulfs him in a hug. Junsu is polite enough to bow to the crowd before laughingly stopping a happily stripping Jaebeom from getting arrested for indecent exposure.
In the midst of all the chaos stands Lee Junho.
A smile is stretched across his face and his eyes are curved into twinkling crescents. Boiling heat fills him up from inside out and is showing no signs of dissipating any time soon. Junho grins more and decides he is completely fine with that.
A bundle of warmth crashes into him in the form of a yelling Park Jaebeom, and Junho is glad to see that the leader's eyes reflected the same emotions that he felt.
He grabs the other boy's hand and places it on the left side of his chest. "Can you feel my heartbeat?"
Jaebeom nods and smiles with understanding. Junho's heart is thumping harder than it has ever beaten before.
Impulsively, before he could second-think anything, he leans down and presses his lips softly against Jaebeom's. Jaebeom responds encouragingly, hands finding the back of Junho's head. It's a kiss of desperation, of need, of unspoken affection, of want, of infinite gratitude, of love.
After eons and a few seconds more, they pull apart and slowly grin.
"We did it!" Junho crows triumphantly.
"Together, kiddo," Jaebeom raises an eyebrow.
Junho's eyes practically disappear as he shyly holds onto Jaebeom's hand. "Yes sir, almighty leader. We did it together."
-------
It is the Age of Love.
Everybody living in this age is full of Love. They lead joyful lives, filled with friendship and sincerity and warmth. They are all brought up to believe in the power of the emotion known as "love".
But they know of a time in the past, a dark time when people were not allowed to form any kind of kinship with anybody else. And they know of the famous revolutionary group called 2PM, the band of youths who were brave and courageous, and stood firm in their beliefs, and ultimately fought to bring about this time of peace for them.
There are also whispers of the first couple who dared to make their relationship public; two of the youths among 2PM.
Without Park Jaebeom, Kim Junsu, Nichkhun Horvejkul, Ok Taecyeon, Jang Wooyoung, Lee Junho and Hwang Chansung, the Age of Love would never have come about, and the world would still be stuck in the murky depths of the Age of Loneliness.
The people of the Age of Love continue to spread their story, letting the world know of their previous deeds so they would remember how Loneliness was defeated, and celebrate 2PM as the hottest and most passionate time of each day.
Rating: PG
Genre: AU
Fandom/Pairing: JayHo, OT7, other ninja!pairings
Summary: This is the story of a group of boys who didn't wish to remain lonely, and fought for what they believed in.
A/N1: My first AU. Prs to tell me if it sucks.
Disclaimer: I own JayHo, but not 2PM. (Be very jealous. Hurhurhur.)
A Tale of how Loneliness was no more.
It was the Age of Loneliness.
Everybody living in this age was lonely. They couldn't do anything about it; they weren't allowed to. Any kind of kinship or affection was strictly forbidden.
Children never knew who their parents were; they were taken away as soon as they were born. Mothers didn't even get to cuddle their babies before masked nurses carried them off to faraway wards. Kids did not play with each other; they were all given electronics to occupy their time instead. In education, there were no actual teachers or mentors; computer programs were used. Even the ruling elite, the government, were made up of unknown individuals; they were never displayed to the public, never given a face to attach to their personas.
As a result, all people had were their names and empty posessions. Everyone looked out for everyone else, but at the same time, didn't take care of anyone but themselves.
"Relations lead to all sorts of complicated feelings, feelings that cloud our perceptions and dim our senses. Feelings that no one needs, feelings that we are all better off without. Society functions better without such troublesome matters. In the long run, everyone benefits!"
That's what the government claims. That's what the people are brought up to believe in.
But once in a while, people push on to something better. Something found just beyong the pain of going at it alone and just beyond the bravery and courage it takes to let someone in. Or to give someone a chance. Something beyond the quiet persistence of a dream.
This is the story of a group of boys who didn't wish to remain lonely, and fought for what they believed in.
-------
Lee Junho doesn't believe a word of what the higher-ups are feeding the people.
He hears stories; fearfully whispered words of youths who hang around the alleys sometimes, disgruntled mutterings of frowing grannies, alcohol-tinged slurs of the local drunkard. Stories about a time in the past when people mingled freely, when there was such a unit in society known as a "family". Stories about a powerful force that people called "love".
Junho listens to all these snippets, takes it all in, carefully stores them in a box in his memories, and hopes that one day he will get to experience this world for himself.
Unsurprisingly, Junho has always been lonely. What was surprising was the fact that this emotion registered with his consciousness. Most people in the Age of Loneliness go through life feeling empty inside, but never realise what it meant.
It was different for Junho. His insides feel hollow no matter how much he eats, and the beating of his heart is weak and minimal. He feels, and knows, that it is fundamentally wrong.
If there's one thing every kid needs growing up, it's a best friend. Someone you trust. Someone who trusts you. Someone you measure yourself against. You go through everything together. Important things. Stupid things. Things that matter. Things that don't.
Dangerous words, Junho knows, but he scribbles them inside his tattered notebook anyway.
It's the middle of autumn, but the small room in which he lives feels unbearably hot. Snapping his notebook shut, Junho stands and makes his way to the nearby park. The sky, as ever, is gray and cloudy, with hardly any sun peeking through. He sighs, shoves his hands into the kangeroo pocket of his hoodie and trudges along under the gray sky, along the gray path, kicking up gray piles of leaves along the way.
Then abruptly, a flash of colour flits at the edge of his peripheral vision.
Whirling around, Junho is faced with what he reckons is the most impactful sight he's ever come across in his life.
A group of boys dancing to the beats issuing from a boombox, half hidden in a dingy back alley. It's not so much the actual action of what they are doing, but rather the way in which the motions are carried out. Cartwheels, headspins, handstands, windmills, airflares, shuffles, hand glides, pop-locking, ticking, waving; the more Junho watched, the more his eyes bugged. This wasn't just dance, this was pure emotion put into actions.
A short boy wearing a bright pink hoodie, not much older than him by the looks of it, dances up taking centre stage and Junho's jaw drops. This, this is art. His chest feels weird and tight, but it's not wrong at all. This must be what I wanted to feel all this while. It takes him a few minutes of grappling with his inner vocabulary, but finally Junho decides that "admiration" was the right word to pin onto this group of strangers and what they evoke in him.
The song ends, and he was still trying to decide if he should go up to them when one of the boys, of medium build with a spiky chin mask, calls out, "Oi! You lurking over there!"
Junho's head snaps up.
"Shut up, Jun.K, you want the authorities on us? Kid wasn't lurking anyway." A tall, smoky-eyed youth hisses, smacking the first boy on the bicep.
"Quit it, you two. Yo, step up here for a bit."
The one with the pink hoodie calls across to Junho. He gulps slightly and makes his way over to the group, now clustered loosely around a corner.
"Hey," Junho greets with a small quirk of his lips, trying to appear braver than he feels.
Pink hoodie boy takes his time looking Junho up and down - this must be what a show dog feels like - but finally offers a smile, though it doesn't quite reach his slanted, sharp eyes.
"You with the Big Man, or just trying to be a groupie?"
Wha-?
Junho realises he must look thoroughly confused or shell-shocked, because another boy nearest his own height leans foward and clarifies, "He wants to know if you plan on reporting us anytime soon." Junho glances into his laughing face, noticing the slight fear and tension playing across his features, and feels a bit better.
"No, I - I just - what you guys were - I mean, I was only -"
"- admiring?" Pink hoodie boy offers, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
"...I think so," Junho states lamely.
The other boys all laugh, and Junho hangs his head to hide his burning face, but then a hand claps down on his back and a voice is proclaiming, "You're alright, kid, you're alright."
Ears still slightly red, he looks up to find six boys smiling at him, and slowly grins back. The boy who helped him out earlier piped up, "You've got a nice smile. So what's your name?"
"Lee Junho," Junho states.
"I'm Jang Wooyoung, he's Hwang Chansung," the boy, Wooyoung, nudges the smoky-eyed one, "the big guy's Ok Taecyeon," the tallest one gives Junho a toothy grin, "this one's Kim Junsu," pointing out the boy who has taken off his chin mask to reveal a kind smile, "pretty boy Nichkhun," a decidedly good-looking youth near the back waves, "and Park Jaebeom."
The boy in the pink hoodie, Jaebeom, smiles approvingly at him, and Junho's stomach clenches involuntarily. He takes over the talking, and Junho decides he's probably the leader of the little gang.
"So kiddo, we know we're breaking rules doing this stuff, y'know, banding together and all that. But we don't give a shit, and we're not going to back down. You know our names, you know where we hang; you're either going to rat on us, or hop on board. Which one is it going to be?"
Junho looks around at the huddle of boys, each filled with hopes and aspirations, keeping together in the hopes that their emotions can be expressed without restraint.
It's Junho's own dream as well. He takes a deep breath.
"Count me in."
A loud cheer breaks out and is quickly hushed up by a grinning Taecyeon, but that moment's the happiest that Junho's felt in...well, forever.
-------
And so Junho moves into the spare bed in Jaebeom's room in Junsu's apartment. The boys accept him immediately into their midst; Jaebeom even lets him have the bigger bed, claiming "it's too spongey" for his liking. It's cramped and noisy and there is almost no privacy, but the entire place is filled with hopes and light, which more than makes up for the lack of space.
They call themselves 2PM, a tribute to the brightest and hottest time of each day.
As Junho soon finds out, their gang does more than just dance; they are all rounded performers. Junsu has the most experience in singing, so he has the role of lead vocalist. Wooyoung usually starts their songs due to his unique voice. Taecyeon and Chansung are the main rappers. Jaebeom raps too, and sings most of the chorus parts, but his main job is to dance the socks off anyone watching. Junho is deemed to have a "dope" voice, and joins Nichkhun in singing whenever they're needed.
They all learn the dance moves, choreographed by Jaebeom, and put their words into song every spare second, accompanied by Nichkhun's piano and Chansung's old guitar. Practicing everyday is tough, and several times they have to run and hide from the authorities, but they're all doing what they love, and life works out in the warm little corner of the world that belongs exclusively to 2PM.
With each passing day, Junho feels more for the boys, and he tells himself that the day of the Great Change is coming closer, almost within reach.
An evening after a long dance session, Junho strolls into his shared room after a shower, towelling his wet hair, only to find Jaebeom sprawled carelessly on his bed, casually flipping through his notebook. Junho feels a blind moment of panic - there's stuff in there that no living soul's meant to read, and he's thumbing through it like a freaking storybook!
"Hyung!"
But as soon as Jaebeom lifts his gaze to meet Junho's, he knows it doesn't matter. Jaebeom's eyes are filled with warmth and appreciation, and nothing else in the world matters.
"Hey, Junnie. It's good stuff you've got here."
Junho makes a motion between a nod and a shrug and mutely walks over, plopping down beside the older boy. He weighs the words in his mind, twists them around on his tongue, before voicing them out, "Do you think we'll make it?"
Jaebeom rolls over, taking his time to think before answering, "Yeah. As long as we believe we can, we will."
"Believe..." Junho savours the dual syllables, and decides he likes the taste of the word. He lies down next to Jaebeom.
"I don't care if I get hauled away for doing this. It's not death I'm scared of. It's the fear of not leaving something behind in this world. I - I'm just scared of being forgotten. That's worse than death."
"Junnie, life is nothing but repetition, the same things over and over. Somebody might give you a trophy and that's supposed to mean you're making progress, but there's no such thing. The fights you fight today are the fights you fights until you die. We'll fight this one together. Even if nobody knows, even if nobody remembers, the rest of us will. We'll fight."
Junho smiled. "Together."
"Yeah, together."
That night they both fall asleep on Junho's spongey bed, legs tangling awkwardly together. Chansung, who has the job of waking them up, spends the next few days teasing them about how they must have fallen asleep holding hands - "Your fingers were just micrometers from each other's, I swear!" "Chansunggie, do you even know what a micrometer is?"
-------
Finally, the day comes when all the songs have been sung to perfection, when all the dance steps become second nature to them.
They decide to go for it there and then. "No time as good as the present," Nichkhun states, Wooyoung quips "Yah, not bad coming from someone who doesn't even speak our language," which earns him a round of cheek pinching, and the rest all chime in with their piece of general agreement.
Jaebeom hollers for attention, and gathers them all around him. The boys form a tight circle and drape arms around each other's shoulders.
"Alright guys, this is it. We're going out there and making history. We're going to do ourselves and our families proud. We're going to stand up and make the world a better place. Don't put all your trust into what you see -"
"- but all your faith into what you feel!" they roar.
Junho looks around at his bandmates, his team, his friends, his brothers, his family, and pure affection wells up in him.
"What time is it??"
"2PM!"
-------
Their act is met with shock.
Junho can feel it, palpitating among the murmuring crowds and faces gathered around them. The sound of an approaching police siren draws nearer. The air pulsates with unvoiced energy, and something untangible trembles, on the verge of snapping into pieces.
Junho shivers despite the heavy dancing, and feels faint. Junsu whirls past him, and shoots him a concerned frown. He gives himself a mental shake and picks up the tempo again.
Just as the tension becomes unbearable and Junho feels like the sky was going to crash down on their heads, a young boy slips out from the throngs.
Quietly, he joins in 2PM's dance, stumbling a little, movements jerky, but slowly and surely intergrating into their choreography. After a minute, another two bravely step forward, and then another few from the side.
The world spins off its axis, and the something breaks into tiny shards, disintergrating into nothingness. All of a sudden, the clouds looming overhead disperse, and sunlight filters through. As the warm illumination reaches down to touch them, awareness dawns on the faces of the masses.
For a second, there is no movement at all.
Then exhilarated shouts break out everywhere as people understand all at once that they do not necessarily need to be lonely and empty, do not need to feel unhappiness anymore.
The boys break rank as the full realisation of what they have accomplished hit them. Taecyeon, with an ecstatic Chansung clutching onto his arm, runs around high fiving random strangers. Wooyoung stands to one side, sobbing to himself until Nichkhun breaks free of the grabby hands belonging to the teenage girls in the crowd and engulfs him in a hug. Junsu is polite enough to bow to the crowd before laughingly stopping a happily stripping Jaebeom from getting arrested for indecent exposure.
In the midst of all the chaos stands Lee Junho.
A smile is stretched across his face and his eyes are curved into twinkling crescents. Boiling heat fills him up from inside out and is showing no signs of dissipating any time soon. Junho grins more and decides he is completely fine with that.
A bundle of warmth crashes into him in the form of a yelling Park Jaebeom, and Junho is glad to see that the leader's eyes reflected the same emotions that he felt.
He grabs the other boy's hand and places it on the left side of his chest. "Can you feel my heartbeat?"
Jaebeom nods and smiles with understanding. Junho's heart is thumping harder than it has ever beaten before.
Impulsively, before he could second-think anything, he leans down and presses his lips softly against Jaebeom's. Jaebeom responds encouragingly, hands finding the back of Junho's head. It's a kiss of desperation, of need, of unspoken affection, of want, of infinite gratitude, of love.
After eons and a few seconds more, they pull apart and slowly grin.
"We did it!" Junho crows triumphantly.
"Together, kiddo," Jaebeom raises an eyebrow.
Junho's eyes practically disappear as he shyly holds onto Jaebeom's hand. "Yes sir, almighty leader. We did it together."
-------
It is the Age of Love.
Everybody living in this age is full of Love. They lead joyful lives, filled with friendship and sincerity and warmth. They are all brought up to believe in the power of the emotion known as "love".
But they know of a time in the past, a dark time when people were not allowed to form any kind of kinship with anybody else. And they know of the famous revolutionary group called 2PM, the band of youths who were brave and courageous, and stood firm in their beliefs, and ultimately fought to bring about this time of peace for them.
There are also whispers of the first couple who dared to make their relationship public; two of the youths among 2PM.
Without Park Jaebeom, Kim Junsu, Nichkhun Horvejkul, Ok Taecyeon, Jang Wooyoung, Lee Junho and Hwang Chansung, the Age of Love would never have come about, and the world would still be stuck in the murky depths of the Age of Loneliness.
The people of the Age of Love continue to spread their story, letting the world know of their previous deeds so they would remember how Loneliness was defeated, and celebrate 2PM as the hottest and most passionate time of each day.