JunDylan ? A Game with No Winners

Dylan stirred awake slowly, the rays of golden morning sun gently kissing his cheeks. For a moment, he kept his eyes closed, letting the ghost of dream-like memories brush over him. He could remember Jun, his lullaby of a voice, and the gentle scent of coffee, which still seemed to float around him.

Finally, he forced his eyes open, staring directly at the spot Jun had been lying in. It was no surprise to see that the space was empty, as Jun never stayed till the morning. Dylan reached out, touching the empty chair with the back of his hand, a strange habit he had, estimating how long Jun had been gone. The lingering warmth was barely a memory of the heat Jun always brought with him.

Led by the smell of fresh coffee, he walked into the kitchen, carefully massaging his aching neck from the poorly slept night. It wasn't much of a surprise, seeing Jun there absent-mindedly sipping coffee from a ridiculously large mug, which Pepper had once bought him as a joke. It had a text saying, "I drink just one coffee a day", but the cup fit enough liquid that someone might accidentally drown in it.

They only looked at each other for a moment, the silent understanding passing between them as they chose not to speak. Dylan only reached out, stealing the cup from Jun's hands as he leaned on the counter, standing right by his side.

The next event arrived quickly, and Dylan could feel his nerves tingling as he stepped on the stage. It was Jun's turn to play, and Dylan was dying to see what Jun had come up with. He expected something grand, something that would overshadow all of their previous actions. But Jun only looked at him, both his gaze and smile so incredibly gentle. The whole event was wasted as Dylan waited for the ball to drop, to see something obvious he had missed, but that moment never came. It seemed like Jun was satisfied just gazing at Dylan from the other side of the stage, and this made Dylan feel unnaturally nervous.

The uneasiness in Dylan's heart only grew when the next event was the exact same. No bold flirting, no clear game moves, or obvious pretending. The confusion seemed to render Dylan paralysed as all he could do was stare at Jun, suddenly not daring to make any moves of his own either. There was this sinking feeling in his gut that maybe they had already stopped playing, and Jun just hadn't bothered to tell him about it.

As they stepped off the stage, Dylan prepared himself for the embarrassment of asking Jun about his recent actions, but he was saved from the humiliation by Nano's sudden, excited clapping.

"You are driving the fans crazy!" Nano beamed, almost skipping to catch up to Jun.

Dylan could only frown before the light bulb suddenly turned on inside his brain. With quick fingers, he dug his phone from his pocket and opened social media, already knowing what he would see there. The fans were going absolutely crazy as they tore apart every smile and look Jun had given him during the past two events. And not just that, they were also going back in time, doing detective work to see when the look in his eyes had changed.

And Dylan couldn't help himself from wondering the exact same thing. Since when had Jun looked at him with such absolute adoration? Dylan stopped walking, now scrolling through the thousands and thousands of posts, catching that same look in Jun's eyes in almost every one of them. It was odd, and momentarily it made Dylan forget how to breathe.

It looked so real.

So real.

Could it...

The echo of Jun's smug voice made Dylan crash back to reality. He forced his brain to let go of the direction where his previous trail of thoughts had started taking him. He was too familiar with the truth to let himself be whisked away by fan theories.

They were just playing a game, and Jun was an actor. Pretending to be in love should be an easy feat for a professional. Dylan shook his head, shedding the unwanted thoughts from his brain.

It was just a game.

Just a game.

A game.

Which Jun seemed to be currently winning. Dylan suddenly felt blind sighted by the sudden change in rules, feeling stupid for taking such a long time to catch on. Jun clearly wasn't going for the shock effect anymore, but he was determined to make it seem real enough for the fans to truly believe in it. And it looked like he was succeeding. With growing determination, Dylan started walking towards the dressing room. If Jun could do it, then he could do it too.

Dylan spun the pen in his hand absentmindedly, the paper in front of him painfully blank despite the hours he had spent sitting by the kitchen counter. He had always taken pride in his creativity, but it seemed like it didn't reach the topic of "pretending to hide a pretence relationship". It was so stupid that it almost made Dylan laugh out of pure frustration. This definitely wasn't his ideal way of spending a day off, being consumed by thoughts of Jun.

And as if by cue, Jun walked into the kitchen, throwing his cardigan on the back of the chair before sitting down.

"Why do you look so sour?" Jun cocked in head, attempting to catch Dylan gaze, but Dylan's eyes had already been caught by the sliver of black and white fabric peeking over Jun's shoulder.

Eureka!

Dylan was on his feet in an instant, abandoning his pen and notebook as he snatched the cardigan from Jun and quickly retreated to his room, ignoring Jun's questions and words of protest. He locked the door after him, leaving Jun stuck on the other side.

And he knew that it had been an absolute stroke of brilliance the second the pictures went up on his account. All Dylan needed to do was post one selfie in that stupid cardigan, and the fans did the rest. Score! They were now even, and it only made Dylan want to try harder.

So, for their next fan event, Dylan showed up wearing Jun's earrings, instead of his own regular hoops. It was so small, but something so painfully obvious that it didn't take long before the fans started asking questions. Dylan only smiled slightly, letting his eyes fall on Jun's face instead of answering. He raised his eyebrows once, coaxing Jun to answer in his place, but it seemed like Jun had finally run out of words to say.

Dylan lifted his hand over his mouth, pretending to be shy as he covered his widening grin. There was something quite ecstatic about beating Jun in his own game, especially because by the look in Jun's eyes, Dylan knew that he wasn't backing off this time. And Dylan couldn't wait to see what would happen when Jun finally started to play seriously.