wednesday. just four days left of waiting.
jaemin couldn't let that fact leave his mind as his entire body tingled with excitement. he doesn't think he's ever been excited to see anyone before. it was a weird feeling he definitely wasn't used to, but renjun and jeno were different. just something about them....
it was confusing and didn't make sense almost to the human as he sipped on his coffee, hardly listening to his friends' conversations. why does he feel so... different about them?
though, he would say it was nice to be outside of the house again. sure, he was grounded and most things he wanted to do was extremely limited by the two adults who take care of him, but enough asking got sicheng to give in and let him go to the café with the mystery gang.
"i'm so going to fail that test," yukhei said, his hands on either side of his head as he looked down at his practice paper. "that subject never made sense to me, anyways."
"i say i'll do really good," donghyuck said proudly before leaning over to press against mark and bat his eyelashes in his direction with a smile. "especially you, mark. science is your strongest subject."
mark responded with an arm now around the brown-haired male and a "yeah, i guess so."
"i guess so?" jisung scoffed. "you're great at it."
it was a surprise that jisung was even there at the moment. everyone just (jokingly, of course) expected him to turn them down because he had a date with chenle. to their great shock, they didn't have anything planned.
"yeah," yangyang agreed with a grin. "you should be a scientist."
"i dunno about that," mark chuckled. "i think engineering would be cool though."
"or professional sports," donghyuck chirped. "i love watching you play football. oh! wait! i — " everyone just looked at him curiously as his cheeks went crimson. that came off a bit too affectionately. " — you're amazing at it."
now mark was pink in the face. "t-thanks. but engineering all the way."
"so," jaemin eventually said after awhile. "i guess i'll have to make up that test when i come back from my suspension."
"correction: loads more than just that test," yukhei said helpfully though jaemin obviously knew that.
"i think he knows that," jisung said in response, as if he read jaemin's mind. yangyang then cut in, saying, "nothing has been going on recently either. so you really aren't missing much."
"well, but the weird thing with daehyun," yukhei pointed out.
"i told him that," donghyuck said, his face then twisting with disgust. "if anything, he's lucky to not see daehyun's ugly face."
"definitely," yangyang agreed. "i wish he wasn't allowed to be anywhere near the school or us in general."
jaemin just sipped his coffee, though a huge part of him agreed. but that was wistful thinking. the only way to never see him at school anymore if he gets expelled, which seems like a faraway possibility. daehyun was like glue that was hard to wash away, to be frank, like the universe didn't want him to leave poor jaemin alone.
"look mates, it's motherless!"
jaemin turned his head with the most annoyed expression he could muster, his hand unintentionally gripping his coffee cup a bit too tight. flanked by his two goons that outdo him in both size and physical strength, arrived daehyun, his usual sneer on his pale face.
"that's it," jaemin hissed under his breath. "the universe officially hates me."
"thought you'd find your dad at the café, eh?" daehyun went on. "i bet that's a tough task. i wish you luck on your quest."
"hey piece of shit, leave us alone and go back into whatever toilet you crawled out of," donghyuck said loudly, still snuggled up against mark's chest.
"i came to order some coffee but i thought i'd stop by and say hi," daehyun shot back, his face a deep shade of red. "especially to you."
as if mentioning jaemin's non-existent dad is anyway to say 'hi' to donghyuck....
he didn't say anymore and turned on his heel and walked off, his goons following after him. jaemin let out a sigh of relief — the encounter didn't last longer than it needed to.
"he's so obsessed with you, nana," jisung snorted, breaking off another piece of his pain au chocolat and lifting it up to his mouth. "he's got a crush on you."
"i thought he liked donghyuck," yukhei said, perplexed.
donghyuck wrapped his arms around mark tightly with a frown. "ew, he better not."
jaemin wasn't so sure about that. happy enough to relish daehyun's quick departure, he spoke up again. "him having a crush on you is proof you're cursed."
everyone laughed at that. jaemin joined in, of course, but his mind started to return back to his original topic — jeno and renjun. those sudden feelings were like the ones he felt for yujun. before he knew he was a complete dickhead, of course.
then that's the answer. he has a crush on two people. two. never something he would've expected.
that excitement came back as he smiled to himself, putting his coffee cup back onto the round table, hearing his friends' voices sound once more as he hardly paid attention.
crushes. the thing that always gave them those feelings of butterflies and daydreaming. though, he wouldn't know if they seemed close enough to actually grab, to pull closer and possibly become something more as in a relationship of three.
jeno flirts a lot... but jaemin couldn't help but wonder if he's like that with everyone. and renjun... renjun ended up always holding his hand and telling him things about their world. jeno was a troublemaker and rule breaker while renjun was extremely knowledgeable and followed the rules to a tee.
there's something to admire and love about the both of them. even if jeno seemed annoying flirty and renjun always seemed to nag at first, jaemin's opinions on them definitely changed.
(their good looks were bonus.)
"nana, are you daydreaming?" donghyuck cooed teasingly, snapping jaemin out of it.
"wha — huh?"
"you were staring off to space and smiling like an idiot," jisung said bluntly.
"who are you dreaming about this time?" yangyang chirped, his brown eyes shining. yukhei looked at him curiously.
"absolutely no one you need to know about," jaemin said, his smile curling downwards into a frown. those words just made his friends press on.
"do you have a new crush?" donghyuck was the first to speak again.
two crushes, jaemin corrected him mentally. "no. shut up."
"oh, it just looked like you were in your own world," mark shrugged before casually getting distracted and booping donghyuck's nose with a finger, his face instantly lighting up.
donghyuck just smiled up at him, a hand coming up to hold his and his eyes closing contently as he rubbed his head against mark's chest a few times before settling into a position he liked.
was jaemin the only one who knew?
and the only one who noticed? yangyang was trying to snatch a piece of jisung's pain du chocolat as the other became occupied with his phone, happily texting someone else. yukhei was looking at his practice paper again, pressing the tip of his pencil's eraser to his lips.
another big sip of his coffee. it had to be nearly empty at this point. craving more, jaemin just quickly finished the rest, tossed his cup away, and got up to get one last thing of coffee.
it felt he was waiting in line forever but it gave him time to check his wallet to see if he even had enough money. thankfully, he did, since he doesn't spend it on anything else, truthfully.
too focused on waiting for his turn to order, he hardly noticed the person purposely heading in his direction —
"oops! i'm so sorry!" jaemin heard as he felt hot coffee soak his shirt, his eyes wide as a gasp of pain slipped past his lips. he turned his round eyes onto daehyun, his cup crushed and the top of the floor between their feet.
of course, he wasn't sorry. he just hid his smirk behind his hand. a worker who stood off to the side bowed their head, clearly upset that she had a (purposeful) spill to clean up.
"y-you did that on purpose!" jaemin burst out, his eyes starting to well up with tears. it burns. "you fucking jerk!"
"i only meant to throw it away and i didn't see you," daehyun shot back.
"you could've gone around him," yukhei spoke up from where he sat. yangyang basically jumped from his seat to check on his best friend.
"i doubt it was hot enough to leave a serious burn, but you need a new shirt," he said reassuring before glaring at daehyun and leading jaemin away from him.
of course that made sense. jaemin's blue shirt was soaked. though the slight pain had gone as well and he was able to wipe his growing tears away.
daehyun just huffed before walking back to his table, the upset worker hurrying over to mope it up and throw the top away.
on a scale of 1-10, how much do you hate bae daehyun ?