SUNSETS AND SUMMER CAMP (m.jae)

three.

[ i really love this chapter. thanks. ]
☆彡

Jaehyun doesn't think he's ever played such a vicious game of Connect Four in all his life, and he's convinced the world is suddenly only filled with multiple shades of red and yellow. As if the abhorrent, off-white plaster of the ceiling didn't already look yellow enough, it certainly did now.

His eyes flicker over to the now-abandoned plastic game board (is it called a board? Jaehyun doesn't even know, anymore, it's been so long), where the counters fill each row to the top, no line of four in sight. It has been the same for 13 rounds, nobody winning but neither of them willing to call it a deuce and give it up as a fair game, competitiveness a shared attribute between the two of them.

Mark is currently taking a beverage break (it seems he really needed it, if the hoarseness of his voice after screaming at Jaehyun for the last 35 minutes was anything to go by), downing cup after cup of cheap, store-brand orange squash, never getting the right ratio of water:squash and wincing when it burns his throat on the way down. His face is a little pinker than it had been when they first started playing, and Jaehyun blames it on the pent-up rivalry.

It has, in the past half-hour, come to light that Mark Lee — cute and bubbly for all it's worth — is extremely competitive. But not just I-Really-Want-To-Win competitive; Jaehyun would go as far as saying that Mark is cutthroat, overjoyed to point out the instant that the elder male placed a counter wrong and opened up the opportunity for him to win. Even if Jaehyun had've been crying on the floor over his (unlikely) loss, he's pretty sure Mark wouldn't have been particularly choked up for him, too busy chanting his own name and jumping recklessly on their unstable beds. Or maybe Jaehyun is just being dramatic, as always.

"Wait!" the brunette boy chirps out, brows so high that Jaehyun is pretty sure they touch his hairline. "I won!"

Jaehyun looks at him with confusion. As mentioned previously, the spaces are already filled, no slot free for another counter, and neither of them have connected four, as the game title suggests you do in order to win. So how had Mark got the idea that he'd won?

"What? No," Jaehyun dismisses, right hand coming down to gingerly tap the top of the plastic board (yes, he's sticking with the word 'board' — there are no other relevant ones in his head). "You didn't win. We both lost... again."

Mark shakes his head, eyes still wide and brows still disappearing. "I see that, but I mean," he begins, lips twisting vivaciously with every pronounced syllable, "I technically won, because since you didn't, I don't have to do your chores like we bet on!" He smiles, proud of himself, and Jaehyun tells his heart that he doesn't find it endearing. Nope, not one bit.

The boy's point is true, but after the mess that was their attempt at a bonding exercise, Jaehyun had actually let their little bet slip his mind, instead choosing to make the game his number one priority. "Oh, yeah." It's bland and emotionless, but it's the best he can do. "But, doesn't that mean I also win?"

"No, because you gain nothing from playing."

Jaehyun lets out a succinct breath, not entirely pleased with the outcome of this. "Hm. You're right."

"I usually am; you'll come to learn that," Mark says, smile growing wider and brows finally loosening up. "You hungry?"

The question doesn't need answering verbally, because — as if timed — Jaehyun's stomach rumbles, loud enough for both boys to hear. It earns a smirk from the younger, and a scrunch of his nose as he holds back a giggle. "Guess I am," Jaehyun says, palms coming to cover his stomach in a far-fetched attempt to hide the shame and hunger. "Thought you weren't going to get my food for me, Lee?"