Blind Date!!!

5

Haechan nodded her head and Jeno put a protective arm around the blue haired boy. 

"Alright guys! Time for pizza!"

The rest of the team cheered at the thought of nice cheesy, topping filled, greasy yet delicious pizza. The basketball players headed out of the school gym, Jeno holding Jaemin's hand the entire time they walked. 

☁️☁️☁️

"It was pretty ironic and slightly funny. But uh, Mark made it awkward."

Jeno burst out laughing as Haechan finished the story of the time the two got stuck upside down in a roller coaster. Though the entire team was hanging out, Jeno, Jaemin, Renjun, Mark, Haechan, and Shotaro had kind of split off together and sat at their own table.

"That is the weirdest thing I've heard tonight. And y'all are some strange folk!" Shotaro giggled as he reached for another piece of the extra large pizza the boys had ordered. He took a bit of the melting cheese and pepperoni and chewed thoughtfully. "So Jeno, Jaemin, how did you meet?"

Jaemin went ghost white and absentmindedly kicked Jeno in the shins under the table. Jeno pursed his lips, trying to come up with a believable lie that wouldn't embarrass him or his date.

"I thought he was cute so I asked him out."

Shotaro nodded while Mark nuzzled Haechan's nose. Renjun took a sip of his cola and bobbed his head as well. "Strange Jeno. You've never talked about Jaemin before."

Jaemin felt a pang of humiliation as the brown haired boy had one hundred percent targeted his remark at him.  

Chuckling to himself, Jaemin snatched a pizza slice from the center of the table and set it on his plate. "Maybe he just didn't want to tell you Renjun."

Renjun dropped his straw in his soda and looked awkwardly down at his feet. Mark coughed and Shotaro kept eating. Haechan on the other hand reached over to high five Jaemin.

"Thanks for shutting him up Jaemin." Jaemin made an assumption they would high five and raised his hand up. The two laughed at Renjun who squirmed uncomfortably and put his head in his hands. 

"Y'all are impossible. I'm looking at you Lee Donghyuck."

Haechan squealed in delight and nuzzled her head on Mark's shoulder. Renjun rolled his eyes and kept eating. Jaemin turned his head to Jeno who was on his fifth piece of pizza and dead silent. 

The silence at their table (not the entire pizzeria) was heavy, the atmosphere thick with an uncomfortable vibe. Breaking the stillness, Shotaro's phone rang. The Japanese boy fumbled it out of his back pocket and checked the message. 

"Oh shit. I have to go guys. I'm sorry. My stupid ass mother wants me to meet some distant relative I've never heard of before."

"Good god." Jaemin commented. "My mother would personally decapitate me and dispose of my body in the Pacific Ocean if I ever called her a stupid ass."

Shotaro looked up from fiddling with his bag and shrugged. "Mine would too but what she doesn't know can't hurt her, am I right?"

The friends, well, the companions is a better word for it waved goodbye to the blonde as he swaggered his way out the bustling pizzeria. Once he was gone they went back to chatting, sort of. 

Jeno twiddled his soda straw between his fingers as Mark and Donghyuck cuddled, pretty shamelessly might I add. Renjun ate his meal slightly jealous of the two couples surrounding him. No one except his mother had ever loved him and Renjun doubted anyone would ever love him considering who his father was. 

"Well then." Jeno stood up, pushing the table inadvertently. He put an arm around his date and propped Jaemin to come along with him. Jaemin obediently hopped up, eager to receive his  pay but at the same time gloomy that he didn't get to hang out with Jeno anymore. He shook the feeling away though, ignoring the possibility of actually falling for the brain dead basketball player. Jaemin smiled lovingly, fakely and ran his hand across Jeno's chest causing Markhyuck to whistle. 

"I think it's time we get going." Jeno finished. Much to Jaemin's distaste his hair was somehow ruffled under his beanie by his date. Curse you Jeno. Jaemin pouted but didn't make as big a scene as he could have. "I have homework to do, yes on a Friday night." He gave Renjun a pointed look and continued. "And Jaemin is probably very tired." 

"I'm not tired-"

"Good luck my friend." Mark dramatically drawled. "Don't die upon the piles of endless homework." Donghyuck went red as a tomato at the ridiculousness of her boyfriend and grabbed his arm to stop him. 

"We'll head out too. But I have something else in mind." She shot a mischievous grin at Mark (😏) who licked his lips and waggled his eyebrows. 

"You're disgusting Lee." Renjun groaned and put down his last uneaten slice of pizza, appetite shattered into a million pieces.

Jeno chuckled at the two elder teammates and Renjun's reaction to them. Intertwining his hand in Jaemin's they bid their goodbyes and padded out across the black and white checkered floor of the restaurant.

As the crisp autumn air brushed them along swiftly they shivered. "It's cold." Jeno's teeth chattered as he walked beside Jaemin. Jaemin, though freezing, didn't say anything. Jeno sighed, defeated as the blind boy really made a notion that he didn't like him back and had no interest in getting to know him. The couple returned to Jaemin's house, the windows lit up and the porch light glowing in the dark evening. 

Jaemin dashed up the steps with ease and made it to the front door. He let out an exhale heavily, his breath making small clouds in the chilliness of evening. He turned back and waved in Jeno's direction. 

"Tonight was fun. I'll see you at school on Monday." Jeno waved back and took off for his own home.

Later that night as the two boys lay in bed they realized Jaemin had completely forgotten about the payment. But that was okay. Neither of them worried too much about it.