Read 'em and Weep! {NA JAEMIN}

THREE

Jaemin leapt up from his office chair, snatching the Patches signature he had on his corkboard and bringing it up to his computer screen. He compared it to the scanned drawing of yours, the signatures naturally matching. No way. Jaemin felt crazy. He rushed out of his room, running over and barging into Sungchan's room.

Sungchan was surprised by his roommates' boldness, shutting the book he was taking notes on and waiting for Jaemin to speak.

"Y/N, when she was younger, did she write a lot? Draw a lot?" his voice was panicked, and he rushed through his words.

"Oh yeah, duh. All the time."

"Did she draw animals a lot by any chance?"

"Hmm," Sungchan thought it over before he got up from his bed, digging around in his desk to take out a notebook from high school. Flipping through a few pages, he found the doodles you had left there for him before passing it to Jaemin who stared at the works in awe. "Hers and Hendery's nickname for me was a baby deer," he pointed at the numerous tiny deers before pointing at the anthromorphic wolf in the upper corner, "but this was her favorite thing to draw."

"Holy shit," Jaemin spoke under his breath. That was your main character- albeit, slightly more rudimentary than what he was now, but it was obvious. "Y/N is Patches."

"It took you that long to figure it out?" Sungchan took the notebook back from Jaemin's shaky hands, tucking it back away into his desk.

"Wait, you knew?"

"Oh yeah. It was obvious, but I've just never said anything. I figured if she was going by a pseudonym, it was for a reason," Sungchan shrugged as he laid back in his bed to keep reading.

"I... I told her I thought it was Hendery," Jaemin gulped. He was ashamed that he didn't know, but didn't know why he felt this way.

"Yikes, she was upset huh?" Sungchan returned to reading his book, only glancing up at his friend to give him a 'you fucked up' look.

"I have to go talk to her," Jaemin sloppily put on the first pair of shoes by the front door, grabbing his phone as he rushed down the stairs and into the streets headed to your place. He chastised himself as he ran through the rain, knowing he would catch a cold even if your place was only a few blocks away from his.

---

"I plan to reveal to the writer from GameLabs, and make my first in person appearance at the WizMedia conference," you told Kun at the end of your meeting, earning a sharp look from him.

"I thought you were going to reveal at the conference," Kun whined, flipping through his notes to verify your original discussion. While this was your original plan, you knew that for Jaemin, getting your identity was one thing, but if he managed to also get an interview from you confirming this, it would do wonders to have under his belt.

It was a stupid thing, but, so was falling for Jaemin.

"I changed my mind. I'll have him run the interview by you beforehand, Kun," you paused then, "and thank you for everything. I can't wait to start on this next series."

Kun was taken aback by your sudden note of appreciation, momentarily forgetting the corrections he was going to have to make. "It's been great working with you so far, and I can't wait to keep making more great works with you."

After hanging up, you sat on your living room couch, listening to the rain pounding outside. Your roommates had left to work earlier, so all that was left was seeing Jaemin before class. There was a loud knock at your door, drawing your attention from your own thoughts as you got up to open it.

Your eyes widened to see Jaemin out of breath and drenched in the rain, clutching his chest.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm sorry!" he shouted over the rain, catching you off guard.

"Jaemin oh my god come inside!" you ignored his apology, rushing him inside and shutting the door. "I'm grabbing you a towel."

When you came back with a towel, Jaemin took to sitting on your kitchen floor, holding his knees to his chest as the rain dripping off of him pooled around his hunched figure. "Now why would you run in the rain when you have a car?" You were doing your best to dry his hair, passing the towel over in a frantic mess. He grabbed your wrists gently, and you looked down at his hooded eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said again, his voice low. You huffed, passing the towel over his face to dry off the rain that sat on his cheeks, trying desperately to ignore how handsome he looked despite the mess.

"What do you have to be sorry for?" you decided to ask, since he seemingly wasn't going to let go of whatever it was.

"I'm sorry I didn't see you until now," his eyes were pleading, his hand moving up to make you let go of the towl and hold on to his hand. "I accused you of being a fangirl and didn't even... consider... that it was you. You're Patches," he choked out, squeezing your hand tightly as if you'd let go. You blinked quickly, surprised that he figured it out before you told him.

"H-How?" you sputtered out.

"You signed your assignment as Patches, and everything else just... fell into place."

You let go of your other hand to smack your forehead, realizing that you indeed impulsively signed it as your pseudonym. "I'm an idiot," you groaned. "I wanted to tell you myself."

"Why would you want to do that?" it was his turn to be surprised, dropping both of your hands onto his lap.

"I want you to get that job promotion. You hate it there, but a couple months in a senior position would help you easily get a job in Sports Artistry. I wanted you to do an interview with Patches," your voice when soft, the two of you staring diligently at the other in an attempt to search for any other meaning behind the others' eyes.

"I don't want a job that requires me to potentially hurt someone I care about for a promotion," Jaemin sighed, moving the towel with his free hand off his head. Maybe it was the way his hair fell on his face when it was half wet, maybe it was the pleading way he was looking at you, or maybe it was the feeling you got when he said that he cared about you, but whatever it was it set a feeling off inside you that you couldn't control.

Jaemin surprisingly leaned forward first, and your lips met him halfway in a crash. You had been wondering how soft his lips would feel against yours, and they were better than you could have imagined. His hand held yours still, tighter than before. It was as if he was scared that you were going to slip away from him.

"It was probably a dumb decision to run here in the rain, huh?" Jaemin chuckled, your foreheads leaning against each other. He moved his hand to caress your cheek, and stare into your eyes, watching as they seemed to gleam looking back at him.

"It was a great, stupid decision," you affirmed, kissing the tip of his nose before going to meet his lips again. A wonderfully dumb decision, and the first of many you two would make for each other.