HIKE

20 | dead batteries

jaemin was having the time of his life, surrounded by girls in the close proximity of nancy and xiyeon's tent. at the same time, his honest ears were also burning, and he had a little trouble breathing.

"did you really faint, jaemin?" eunbin asked, eyes wide.

"uh... yeah, i did," jaemin mumbled shyly.

"did you, like, completely fall over and shit?" hyeyeon grinned.

"y-yeah-"

"like, on the ground?"

"well-"

nancy shoved hyeyeon's arm and rolled her eyes. "he fainted just like every other person faints, hye," she said.

"okay, nance, shut up with your smarts already," hyeyeon grumbled.

"are you okay now, jaemin?" xiyeon put in with a kind expression.

jaemin propped himself up on the blankets the girls had brought with them. "i'm okay," he nodded, "just tired, really."

"i need to pee, be right back!" eunbin announced rather abruptly, and left the tent in haste.

"she's always like that," nancy laughed. "do you wanna use xiyeon's wifi hotspot while we wait?"

"hey!" xiyeon objected, throwing a small pillow at her friend, "get your own wifi hotspot!"

"too late, you already gave me the password," nancy taunted her, throwing xiyeon a teasing smirk.

"it's okay, jae, you can use it, i'm just kidding," xiyeon assured him.

"actually... my phone's kind of dead," jaemin admitted. he wiggled the phone out of his pocket to show them.

"oh, no worries, i brought a portable charger," nancy shrugged, taking the phone from jaemin and turning to find the charger in amongst the rest of her stuff.

jaemin's breath caught in his throat as her hands brushed his. his attention was soon diverted to the head that stuck itself back into the tent.

"yeonie!" eunbin hissed, looking slightly frightened, "it's dark, come to the bathroom with me..."

"okay, fine," hyeyeon agreed. "i guess i need to go to. let's go then, eunie."

hyeyeon and eunbin hurried off, leaving only jaemin, nancy and xiyeon in the tent.

"here it is!" nancy smiled, plugging jaemin's phone into her charger.

"thanks," jaemin replied gratefully, returning the smile.

xiyeon looked restless and quickly excused herself too. "i should go find hyuckie," she said, eyes filled with concern as she bit her lip.

"go check up on him, xi," nancy encouraged, "it's been a long day."

xiyeon nodded and crawled out of the tent, leaving the last two in a somewhat comfortable silence.

"i was worried about you," nancy confessed. she shuffled a little closer to jaemin. "after lucas said you passed out, i... i don't know. i couldn't relax until you got here."

jaemin's heart melted at her words. nancy cared about him, worried about him? maybe his hopeless crush wasn't so hopeless after all.

then he realised he had to respond in some way. don't worry, nancy. it's so nice of you to worry about me. i feel a whole lot more relaxed now that i'm with you...

"do you play starwars battlefront?" jaemin blurted.

fuck, no! jaemin, you stupid, stupid-