Irreplaceable (Nomin)

18

Renjun's mom ends up leaving in the early afternoon and Jeno has stayed the whole time. He wants to wait around for Jaemin of course and Renjun is fine with it. His exhaustion is at peak level when he starts to cry again.
"Jeno, you are going to dehydrate. What's wrong?"
Jeno tries to stop the tears, he's kind of embarrassed that he can't keep himself together but he is an emotional wreck at the moment.
"I'm just so sorry. This wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for me being selfish, and I don't know why you would even want me to be here."
Renjun sighs and painfully moves himself to the opposite side of the bed. Once settled he chuckles.
"The nice thing about being small? I have more room for two." He pats the spot next to him and Jeno looks skeptically at him.
"Just come, please? I'm cold and I want someone to cuddle me." He reluctantly crawls in, very carefully and cuddles against his side without squishing him and Renjun smiles before rubbing his head.
"I never thought you were the snuggly type." Jeno says through his sniffles.
"For the right person, I am." Renjun continues to play with his hair and softly speaks.
"You aren't selfish and really anyone in your position would have tested it at some point right? Like you didn't know if he was really like that or if he was just scaring you." Jeno keeps wiping his eyes.
"B-but, that was careless and stupid on my part. You got hurt because of me and..." Renjun just shushes him.
"We're both tired, how about we nap before they all get here?" Jeno hums, already feeling really relaxed thanks to Renjun's hand in his hair.
Eventually they both drift off to sleep.

When they all finally arrive at the hospital Jaemin takes the lead. They had stopped and got flowers and balloons and some snacks to cheer him up and it all took too long in his opinion. He knows Jeno said he wasn't with and wasn't hurt but he feels like he needs to check on him anyway. The sad, lost tone he heard in his voice this morning stuck with him.
He knocks softly and hears nothing so he slowly opens the door to see one of the cutest things he has seen. Little Renjun lying in his bed with Jeno curled up next to him. Renjun's fingers are curled into Jeno's hair even as he sleeps. Jaemin sets the flowers down and walks quietly to the side Jeno is on and sits beside the bed. The others except for Yangyang who stands in the corner,quietly file in and find seats while cooing at how cute they are as quietly as possible.
As if by instinct Renjun wakes after only a few minutes.
"He's an angel you know." Renjun says gently to Jaemin who looks up with a soft smile.
"He's been with me since my mom called and refuses to leave even though it's hard for him." Jaemin looks fondly at his sleeping boyfriend and reaches over to touch his hand.
Jeno stirs and groggily looks around, seeing everyone sitting in the room and sits up.
"Hey." He says quietly looking at the group. His eyes brighten up when he finally makes eye contact with Jaemin.
"Hi." He almost whispers.
Jaemin stands and helps him off the bed before softly kissing his lips. Neither care that they have an audience, they missed each other.
"Hi." Jaemin says in a breathy tone. He smiles and kisses him once more on the cheek before turning to hug Renjun softly.
"How are you feeling?" He asks as he backs away.
"I'm ok, it  hurts but at least I have you guys." His eyes scan the room and he finally notices Yangyang in the corner. His smile falls a little, at least enough that Yangyang notices and tenses up. He turns to look back at the others and gets a crooked smile.
"Wait, wait. What is this? Are you two holding hands?" He asks Mark and Haechan. Jeno looks over surprised and smiles knowingly.
"Yeah, we are boyfriends now." Haechan says happily while Mark sits with a soft smile gracing his features.
"That's great! You all make beautiful couples." He smiles on the outside but his heart aches a little.
"Did I miss anything good today?" Everyone looks around at each other.
"The only topic of conversation was you." His face turns red as he looks down.
"What were people saying?" He asks shyly.
"Everyone was just wondering what happened and who did it." Chenle answers honestly.
"I want to sit up, but it hurts too bad." Jeno jumps up and hands him the button to move the bed and helps him adjust his pillows.
"Thank you." He says with a sweet smile. Jeno goes to stand off to the side, making Jaemin frown at him.
"You guys visit, I was here for a long time." He steps out into the hall to unfortunately read an unwanted text. Jaemin tries to get up to follow but Renjun, sensing Jeno's distress asks him about school to distract him.

Unknown: How did you like my gift?

He shudders and wants to hit the call button and yell and scream and cry but he has to keep it together. He doesn't want to make him angry again and he doesn't want anyone asking questions.

Jeno: I hate it, please stop.

He has a hard time stopping the shake in his hands as he changes the contact name.

Monster: you need to understand that I am serious, now go be with your friends in this troubling time.

He paces back and forth, trying to calm himself but it's almost impossible. The sinister connotation of the last text shakes him up a lot.
Jaemin has had enough really, he's been without Jeno all day and he wants to be with him. Renjun can't stop him this time as he bolts up and heads out the door. He doesn't make it too far before seeing Jeno. He's pale, shaking and pacing the floor. He walks up and looks in his eyes before pulling him into his chest.
"Hey, this is hard huh?" Jaemin asks as Jeno nods yes into his shoulder, only one of them knowing they are talking about two separate things. Jaemin squeezes him tightly and comforts him. He feels protected and he loves it.
Jaemin tries to pull back a little but Jeno doesn't let him go and the latter doesn't mind a bit. He rubs his back and hums softly. They stay this way for a significant amount of time before a few of their teachers come around the corner with balloons and flowers.
"Oh hi boys." Mr Jung says. He's with Mrs. Lee and a couple others.
"Hi." Jaemin says simply. Jeno looks up with his tear stained face as Mr. Jung touches his shoulder.
"I'm so sorry about your friend Renjun, I know this is hard for you all. Such a useless act of violence." He says making the other teachers nod. Jeno smiles softly.
"I'm sure he will be happy to see you." Jaemin says as he leads Jeno away from the room.
"Come on, let's give them all some time. How about we go pick up some food for all of us?" He asks Jeno who is more than happy for the distraction.
"Thank you Jaemin. I know this being our first official day of being boyfriends hasn't been the best but, thank you for being here for Renjun and especially for me." He chuckles making Jaemin stop to look at him.
"You always seem to know just when I need you and I couldn't be happier about that." He says before kissing him softly on the lips. Jaemin smiles widely.
"Kiss me again." He whispers into Jeno's lips. He complies easily and kisses him again.
"I really did miss you so much today." Jaemin says softly.
"Me too, I don't feel right when you aren't by my side. Wait, is it too soon to be this attached? Am I moving too fast?" Jeno asks him, watching the other giggle.
"No, it's just right. I feel it too, don't worry." They walk hand in hand to a restaurant down the street and with every step they take, Jeno feels more at ease. Literally just being in his presence makes him feel so much better.
"Are you feeling better now?" Jaemin asks gently.
"Yes, much better. Thank you. Im still really looking forward to Friday night." Jeno says shyly. Jaemin smiles as wide as humanly possible.
"Me too. I've already got the perfect date planned." Jeno chuckles and touches his face as his cheeks warm up.
"I've got the perfect sleepover planned for after." He says in a hushed whisper.
"Jen, I hope you don't think that you have to do certain things for me or with me. We just started dating and we've moved awful fast. So please just go at your pace." Jeno chuckles, face still a lovely shade of pink.
"Jaem, I know all of this and honestly I don't want you to think that's all I want or anything. I just love kissing you, so much and I know where it can lead and I'm ok with where ever we go as long as it's together." Jaemin smiles and opens the door to the restaurant.
They ordered a lot of food and were happy to see the teachers who came, left already.
Everyone was starving, everyone except for Renjun and Yangyang. Everyone started to feel the weird tension and it was uncomfortable, for sure. After everyone ate Chenle suggested that they should leave so Renjun could rest, they all agreed and honestly, Jaemin couldn't wait to get Jeno home and out of that environment.
After everyone else left Yangyang finally stood and slowly walked toward the other.
"Why are you here? Why did you waste your whole afternoon to sit here?" Renjun asks coldly.
"I just need to talk to you, to explain."