started with a dare | NORENMIN

25 | SOLVED (part 2)

and now, it was his choice on whether he wanted to tell the other two about it or not.

"what more do you want to hear from me?! i already told you why i'm hurting! can't you just leave it at that and move on with your lives?" jaemin knew he was being too harsh, and yes, ending the conversation there would cause a lot of unresolved problems and issues to emerge since nothing was really clarified. but the brown haired boy didn't want to talk about it at all, so he decided to dodge the topic.

but renjun seemed to know what he was planning to do because the shorter male only brought the topic up again. "if you're not hurting because of what you say you've been hurting for, then why are you in pain?"

a scoff was heard from jaemin, finding it ridiculous that they were really still talking about this. "there's no other reason. stop making it seem like there's a different meaning behind my words."

"the reason why we're bringing it up is because we know that there's a different meaning behind your words!" jeno exclaimed, wanting his friend to let it out already. no matter how much the other brown haired male tried to keep it inside, jeno knew there was something else behind what he was saying.

he just didn't know what it was.

silence piled into the room as the three boys said nothing further for a few minutes. none of them knew what to say; jaemin was reluctant to admit the reason as to what was truly hurting him, jeno was patiently waiting for the other brown haired male to answer him, and renjun couldn't find himself to intervene. it was a dead silent atmosphere, the tension between the two brown haired boys being clear to anyone who would've walked in.

then suddenly, jaemin started crying, and the other two didn't know why. the stern faced jeno and spaced out renjun immediately turned their attention towards the brown haired male, the tallest male immediately softening his facial expression and the shorter showing a look full of worry upon seeing their friend cry. it wasn't necessarily a rare sight to see the other cry, but because neither of the two expected it to happen, it was surprising.

"jaemin...? what's wrong? why are you crying?" jeno asked the other brown haired boy, worry filling into his eyes at the sight of his fried crying so desperately.

"i... i-" no words came out. jaemin could only stand there as he choked on his own words that refused to come out.

"jaemin..." renjun butted in, putting a hand on the taller's shoulder to cry and calm him down. but the brown haired male only shook it off.

"i feel... i can't..." jaemin took a shaky breath. "you... you guys always s-seem together. every time i-i come across you guys, there's-s always something that m-makes me feel like i w-walking into something.

"the picture from the car ride e-earlier this summer, the two of you accidentally s-sharing a kiss, the fight, the m-moment you two shared the day chenle r-returned, even just now, when you b-both came back from buying food...

"all of it seemed like there was something g-going on between the two of you that i didn't know about, and the more and more it h-happened, and the more i saw it happen, the more... the m-more i felt like i was just intervening in whatever relationship y-you two had."

hearing his words, his broken tone, the hurtful look in his eyes at feeling left out from the two, renjun and jeno shared a guilty look with each other, disappointed with themselves at the idea that they had never taken jaemin's feelings into consideration. they didn't think that everything that happened between the both of them would affect their brown haired friend this much, and it was hurtful to see jaemin crying about something that was purely unintentional.

"it made me feel l-left out and insecure and guilty at the fact t-that i would ever even think a-about being together with both of you because this," jaemin created an air triangle with his right index finger, pointing to each of them standing together in their shared dorm room. "will never be possible. we can't be together, the three of us. it will never work..."

"jaemin, listen to me," jeno said, putting his hands on the other brown haired male's shoulders to calm him down. "we can work, the three of us. it was never impossible, and it won't be even now."

"you were never interfering because you were always apart of us, jaemin," the chinese male said, looking back and forth between his two taller friends, with one of them looking down and the other trying to catch his eyes.

"b-but i'm just someone who had unrequited feelings for both of you. you guys like each other, as more than friends, and i'm j-just here. i'm no one."

"what made you think your feelings for me were unrequited?" the other brown haired male said, catching jaemin's attention and causing him to look up.

"w-what...?" almost as if the light in the room changed, jaemin's eyes seemed to sparkle the slightest bit, and anyone would be able to see the small glimmer of hope in his eyes.

the red haired male in the room placed one of his hands on top of jaemin's shoulder, subsequently placing it on top of jeno's hand as well, and let out a sigh. "just like you had feelings for me for a long time before you even realized them, jeno also had feelings for you, longer than you would think. it was just that he only put his focus on his feelings for me, just like you had focused on your feelings for him."

jeno looked over to renjun real quick and gave him a small smile, turning back to the other brown haired male who was still looking at their chinese friend, until jeno spoke, catching jaemin's attention. "i like you too, as more than a friend, and for longer than you would've known."

a small smile made its way onto jaemin's lips as he let out a small chuckle and a few more tears of happiness. jeno pulled his friend into a much needed hug of both reassurance and sincerity of his feelings and let jaemin cry the rest of his tears out.

the chinese male in the room had a small smile on his face as he patted jaemin's back to help him calm down. over jaemin's shoulder, the tallest male was able to see the red haired boy, and soon pulled him into the hug as well. their group hug lingered for quite some time, mainly to help jaemin calm down and reassure him that his two friends weren't going to go anywhere, but also to let each other know about their feelings towards one another.

pulling away from the three-way hug between the roommates, jaemin wiped away the rest of his tears and now had a beautiful smile on his face. it was bright enough to melt renjun and jeno, and they both knew that this was the side of jaemin they loved to see.

"will..." yes, he was about to ask the question. maybe it wasn't the right time because he had just cried in front of his friends while the three of them were in somewhat of an argument, not to mention that their argument had just ended without a solid, clear resolution, but jaemin didn't care. things have been delayed for much longer than needed, and knowing that all three of them felt the same towards each other was enough for the brown haired male to have enough motivation to ask.

"will you guys be my boyfriends?"