Roommates | Noren

it's ok, mate

"Jeno....Jen...Nono..." It took a couple tries from Jaemin before Jeno stirred and opened his eyes.

"Mm?" He said, still half asleep. He lifted himself with his hands to sit and stretched his body a little while forcing his eyes to focus on his roommate, who was standing at his door like always.

"You're gonna be late if you don't wake up right now," Jaemin smiled. He wasn't as loud as he usually was in the morning.

"Oh, ok." He yawned and the details around him became more clear to him as he started to feel not as groggy from sleep anymore. He looked Jaemin up and down. "What's with the fit?"

Jaemin rubbed the back of his hand with his other thumb. "Date with Jaehyun," he smiled and nodded.

"You look nice," Jaehyun said casually, although his heart beat faster just by saying those words. He tried not to show any panic on the outside and got out of bed. "I hope he appreciates that you've dressed up for him today. Not every day that I see you in a button up."

"You would never catch me in a real button up! This one has sort sleeves, bitch." Jaemin laughed. "I'll get going now, though. I have class early today. I probably won't be home until late because of the date so eat dinner by yourself, aight?"

"Okie dokie. Have fun." Jeno watched Jaemin wave and exit the room. He really did look good today. Jeno just wished it could've been him that Jaemin wanted to look good for.

He didn't see Jaemin for the rest of the day. Now he was doing assignments with Chenle in his dorm's living room, and while the thought of his roommate crossed his mind many times that day he tried not to let it distract him from spending time with a friend.

"How much have you done so far?"

Chenle looked up from his work and put his pencil down. "More than you. I'm halfway through the word count."

Jeno's jaw dropped. "Bro, how? I've barely gotten a paragraph down."

"You seem distracted, so just have your eyes on the paper instead of the abyss and you'll get shit done," he looked to the side, tapping the table impatiently. He was only joking with his attitude, but part of him this time was actually hurt by what Jeno said and he was trying to cover it up.

"Sure, sure," Jeno chuckled, "except I really don't wanna do any of this." He sighed, rubbing his temples. Homework was his least favorite part about high school and now in college also.

"We still have time, but I thought we promised that if we both finished by tonight then we could have an epic sleepover and watch a movie or something," Chenle smirked, watching his friend flustered over his dilemma.

"Okay, okay, I'll try to focus," Jeno sighed. "If you see me distracted, call me out, ok Lele?"

Chenle nodded, struggling to make a sound come out of his mouth because he was too busy running the nickname over and over in his head.

A harsh knock at the door startled the two of them, and it didn't stop, hitting the door in a disordered pattern with some force. Jeno and Chenle exchanged a nervous glance and Jeno stood up and rushed over to the door to open it. When he did he was met with Jaemin, who was crying hysterically.

Jeno caught him in his arms when Jaemin rushed forward through the door, and he held him close. "Jae, are you okay?" he said gently, almost whispering.

He felt Jaemin wiping tears off of his face and heard him sniffle. "No," he managed to choke out, and started to cry again.

"Okay, sit down on the couch and to calm down. I'll bring you some water, alright?"

Jaemin nodded and let Jeno guide him to where he was sitting before answering the door. Then Jeno sped off to the kitchen area.

Jaemin tried his best to stop crying, but he was too emotional. Attempting to return to normal beyond shaking and tears, he smiled the best he could at Chenle. "Hi, Chenle. Sorry I came in like this."

Chenle shook his head, "It's alright, don't worry about it." He seemed genuinely concerned for the guy.

Jeno returned with a glass of water and sat down next to Jaemin, putting it up to his lips to help him drink. Jaemin grabbed at the bottom of the cup and slowly drank some. After about half of the cup was emptied, he pulled it away from himself and Jeno took it and let it rest in his lap in his hands.

Jaemin managed to quiet down and wiped the tears that had been rolling down his face. "Thanks, guys."

"What happened, Jae? Do you wanna talk about it?" Jeno asked.

"Jaehyun..." Jaemin took a deep breath, "He broke up with me."

"What??" Jeno exclaimed loudly, surprising all three of them. "How could he?"

"I don't- I don't know. Well, I do know the reason, but it happened suddenly and technically we could've still dated." Jaemin slumped back against the couch. "We went to a nice restaurant, and then he said he had something to tell me. Next thing you know, I didn't have a boyfriend anymore because he said he was moving to America and no matter what idea I proposed to him to continue the relationship he shut down all of them."

"Shit," mumbled both Jeno and Chenle at the same time. They watched Jaemin close his eyes and rub his whole face.

"Did I do something wrong? We dated for a long ass time and he pulls this shit all of a sudden. Was I not good enough for him or something? Like, he wouldn't tell me anything."

"It's entirely his fault, Jae." Jeno shook his head.

Chenle nodded in agreement, "You put a lot of effort into that relationship. It couldn't be you. Also he didn't communicate properly so that's even more his fault." He scoffed, "What a jerk."

Jaemin was going to say something in response, but Jeno recognized that look of distress on his face and interrupted him. He reached out and caressed his hand like it was a subconscious habit, "You're too good for him. If he didn't appreciate you enough that's his fault. You're good enough and you just got matched with a person that wasn't good for you for a while. It's okay to be sad."

Chenle fiddled nervously with his fingers, and he was glad nobody was paying attention to him because he didn't know what emotions were on his face right now. He felt bad for Jaemin, because this would be so upsetting for anyone, but his feelings were getting in the way. He was paying attention to how close the other two guys were and his eyes drifted jealously down to their touching hands. It was so embarrassing for him to feel like this when he should have been helping Jeno comfort Jaemin.

He stood up and started to pack his work into his bag. "I'm gonna leave you two in private, I don't wanna interfere too much. I can do your homework for you if you need, Jeno. I hope you feel better about this soon, Jaemin." He waved to them and headed to the door. He heard them saying bye to him, but didn't turn around. He made sure the door was closed behind himself to finally take a deep breath and a second to calm down.

He obviously didn't want Jaemin and Jeno to like each other. But that wouldn't happen, right? Jaemin still had feelings for his ex, considering they just broke up, and Jeno is just close with and cares for him because they're roommates.

There was no way they would end up together. He would confess eventually. But now wasn't the right time. Chenle sighed and walked back to his dorm, hoping that Jaehyun wasn't there because he wasn't so pleased with him right now either.

a/n

Hey people! Sorry I haven't written in so long, but here's a new chapter <3