"he still doesn't like me..."
"we have to be patient, but he's warming up to you, and this is a good thing!" jeno replied, patting the rabbit hybrid's head as jaemin looked utterly sad at the thought of renjun still holding a grudge against him.
"no... he still hates me."
jeno's head shot up to look at the boy when he heard him sniffling. immediately, a wave of panic hit jeno as he realised the rabbit hybrid was crying.
"h-hey, jaemin, don't cry..." jeno said, scooting closer to the boy and gently wrapping his muscular arms around him.
as soon as he was caged in jeno's embrace, jaemin allowed himself to lean against the boy's muscular body, letting his tears soak the soft material of jeno's shirt.
"why are you crying?" jeno asked, slowly rubbing jaemin's back to help him calm down.
"i-i... i feel like he'll never like me..." jaemin admitted, stopping in the middle of his sentence to sniffle.
"of course, he will like you, nana..." jeno whispered in the boy's ear. "he's already starting to interact more with you, which means that he likes you more than he did. and things will keep evolving."
"n-no..." jaemin muttered. "he still hates me..."
still sniffling, jaemin's hands found the fabric of jeno's shirt, tugging on it as he cried some more in jeno's comforting embrace.
as much as jeno tried to make him believe that renjun was warming up to him, jaemin couldn't believe that. he understood why jeno could think that way, because it was true that renjun did lots of efforts in front of jeno to make the rabbit feel like he belonged in their family. renjun accepted to cuddle both jeno and the rabbit, he had even petted him in front of jeno a few times, and he had stopped calling him 'it' and used the right pronoun.
in appearance, renjun's behaviour was perfect, and for the sake of his boyfriend, he had overcome his hatred towards the rabbit to the point he now accepted him and even started liking it.
but this was far from being the real truth, the truth that jeno wasn't aware of, but the truth that jaemin was painfully confronted to.
jaemin remembered them all. the dozens of monologues that renjun had murmured into nana's bunny ears in secret for the past month, behind jeno's back. all those times he had repeated how much he hated him and how he would never change his mind about him; those times he had assured that he knew something was wrong with him and that he would discover what it was; and those times he had promised that he wouldn't hesitate telling everything to jeno and making him hate nana as well...
jaemin couldn't get those conversations out of his mind, and it hurt so bad knowing that one of his owners was doing everything to make his disappear from their lives. and god, how much he wanted jeno to realise how bad renjun was to him, but how could he? renjun was too good at hiding things... and jeno was so in love with renjun that jaemin could never tell him all the mean things renjun had whispered to him. he wouldn't want jeno and renjun to argue because of him.
so, considering all of that, the best solution for jaemin was to stay silent and trust jeno. maybe one day, renjun will really warm up to him, and he'll finally be accepted.
and in the meantime, he'll just enjoy the feeling of being held against jeno's muscular chest as the older boy comforts him so well.
"i'm sorry that you still feel like he doesn't like you..." jeno spoke slowly, caressing the top of jaemin's head and his bunny ears. "i'm so sorry that you don't feel as loved as you should be feeling... i'll try harder, i promise." he continued.
and jaemin couldn't help but feel his heartbeat accelerating at these promising words.
"thank you, jeno..." he whispered, pulling jeno's body against his. "thank you for everything."
"it's normal..." jeno hugged him back tightly. "i want you to be happy and to feel loved... my little nana..."
and the same way a band-aid prevented a cut to get infected, jeno's words coated jaemin's broken heart with a layer of protection and love that jaemin knew he would cherish and protect as much as he could.
it felt so good to feel loved, and it seemed like jeno was the best at making people feel that way...
⊗
"renjun, what are you doing?"
"mmh..."
the young chinese male raised a brow, staring at his older friend who obviously hadn't listened to his question because he was too busy doing whatever on his phone.
"renjun?" chenle called for the boy again, hoping to get a real answer this time.
the boy didn't even lift his head up, and chenle started wondering if he had heard him.
seeing that renjun's full attention was still on his phone, chenle heaved out a sigh before snatching the device from renjun's hands and taking a few steps back so that renjun didn't catch him immediately.
"hey! chenle!" renjun exclaimed. "give me my phone back!"
"i will, but you'll have to listen to me first." chenle replied, placing the phone behind his back, and making renjun roll his eyes.
"yeah, okay, tell me." he told, crossing his arms over his chest.
"your break ended 20 minutes ago, and you still aren't back. thank god the manager was in a good mood, otherwise i can't imagine how bad it would have been for you." chenle explained.
"my break is finished already?!" renjun let out surprised before checking his watch and realising that, yes, his break had ended long ago, and that he had been too engrossed in his research to realise that time had passed.
"yeah, now you're expected at the cash register." chenle stated as he switched renjun's phone on again and curiously checked what had renjun so busy.
"what are you- "
"seriously, renjun?" chenle let out a loud snort as he looked between the text on renjun's phone and the phone's owner. "don't you think you're going a bit too far?"
"what again...?" renjun rolled his eyes at chenle's reaction.
"you're reading mister na's biography. i suppose you're reading this to find out more about jeno's rabbit, once again..." chenle sighed out of exasperation.
"chenle, something is not normal with that rabbit, i know it." renjun muttered, his tone more serious than before.
"renjun, come on..." chenle tsked, handing the boy back the phone. "you've had this rabbit for a month, and you still haven't found anything..."
"but i know i'll find something soon!" renjun assured.
"yeah, or maybe this means that there's nothing to find." chenle tackled back.
"n-no... there has to be something..." renjun said, his voice more hesitant this time. "i-i know it..."
chenle stared at his chinese friend as the older started sulking, not knowing what to think after what he had – or rather had not – discovered with his research during the past month.
"jun, stop worrying about that." chenle said sympathetically, patting his friend's shoulder. "it's been in your mind for long, but maybe it was just paranoia, and nothing is wrong with this rabbit."
"b-but... everything that happened..." renjun let out, his mind thinking again about everything they had been through with the rabbit.
"sometimes coincidences can be surprising, but they happen." chenle explained, a small smile appearing on his face as he looked at his friend.
"yeah..."
"look, let's just stop thinking about this for a while." chenle continued, seeing that renjun didn't seem eager to make a complete sentence. "tonight, you'll just go back to your boyfriend and his pet, and the three of you will have a nice evening together, as if you were a happy couple that owned a pet. everything is perfectly normal, and it should be sufficient to make you happy."
"mmh..." renjun nodded, his face brightening at the mention of his boyfriend whom he loved to the moon and back.
"well, then put a smile on your face and go back to work before you get really scolded!"
renjun immediately listened to chenle's words, running to the cash register to complete his shift. however, despite going back to work, he couldn't help but replay chenle's words in his mind.
jeno had adopted the rabbit more than a month ago. renjun had decided that something was wrong with this rabbit and he wanted to find what. but he had been doing research for a whole month to no avail. so, was chenle right? could that mean that renjun was just paranoiac? and that this rabbit was completely normal?
he couldn't be so sure about it, but for now, he accepted to pretend like everything was alright and this rabbit was completely normal.
⊗
jeno usually was a heavy sleeper. he didn't have trouble falling asleep, and he didn't wake up at each and every sound that disturbed the silence of the night.
but tonight was not like other nights. at least not for jeno.
the korean male had been in his and renjun's shared bed for hours, his head nestled in the crook of renjun's neck as his boyfriend was peacefully asleep, and for some reason, he couldn't sleep.
earlier, renjun had come back from work, and him and jeno had prepared dinner before eating, watching tv and finally scrolling on their phones together while cuddling on their bed. the night had seemed normal so far, and jeno didn't understand why he was so worked up over nothing.
but the more he thought about it, the more he understood what the matter was. he was worried about jaemin, the hybrid that lived in the body of nana, his pet rabbit that renjun didn't like very very much.
the conversation him and jaemin had had a few days ago kept repeating in the korean boy's mind, and the remembrance of jaemin's sadness while claiming that renjun still hated him pained jeno's heart. and he imperatively wanted to find a solution to this in order to make jaemin realise that renjun didn't hate him, or better, to make renjun like jaemin.
it is the research of this solution that had jeno awake at such an unholy hour while everybody else in the house was far away in the land of dreams.
the boy huffed, turning around quite violently because of frustration, and making the bed move so much that renjun awoke.
"mmh... babe...?" renjun's raspy voice broke the silence of the night.
"sorry, i woke you up." jeno apologised. "go back to sleep."
"what is the matter?" renjun asked, his words slurred and barely audible.
"i can't sleep..." jeno admitted.
immediately, jeno felt two small arms wrapping around his torso and a face pressing against the back of his neck while renjun's smaller frame spooned him from behind.
"you're tense... relax, babe.... everything's alright, i'm here..." renjun murmured, his hands caressing jeno's bare tummy to show him that he was there.
"sorry..." jeno whispered back, scooting backwards to lean against renjun fully.
"don't apologise babe... just close your eyes... relax... and listen to the beating of my heart..."
jeno listened to his boyfriend's soothing words, calming his breathing down and letting himself fall into a daze, his ear concentrated on renjun's heartbeat.
and as if the older male had performed a magic spell on him, jeno's eyes fluttered close, and the boy had joined the other inhabitants of the house in dreamland after a few minutes only.
and it's a few hours later, when jeno woke up from an amazing dream that he had finally found the solution that he had been looking for. and so, not caring about the fact that it was still 5am, jeno hopped off his bed, running to the living room where nana slept and poking the bunny so that he woke up as well.
"jaemin!" jeno whisper-shouted. "jaemin, i know!"
the rabbit painfully opened its eyes, jumping slightly when he noticed an overjoyed jeno by his side this early in the morning.
"i know jaemin, i know!" jeno assured, a beaming smile decorating his face.
jaemin morphed himself into his human form, making it easier for him and jeno to have a conversation.
"wow, you look... huh... you look cute..." jeno breathed out after his heart missed a beat at the sight of a barely-awake jaemin with messy hair and pouty lips first thing in the morning.
"what do you know...?" jaemin murmured, rubbing his tired eyes oh-so-cutely for jeno's sake and not even realising what jeno had just said.
"i know what to do with renjun!" jeno stated, allowing one of his hands to reach for jaemin's hair and to flatten his messy bed hair.
"mmh?" jaemin hummed, leaning against jeno's hand to signal the human that he wanted more.
jeno obliged, his hand slowly massaging jaemin's scalp and scratching behind his rabbit ears. this made jaemin close his eyes and smile while he let out cute little noises.
the human continued pleasing jaemin for a few seconds before he pulled his hand away – causing jaemin to let out a cute whine.
"if renjun isn't seduced by your rabbit cuteness, then i'm sure he'll be seduced by your human one."jeno explained, his smile becoming wider with each of his words.
"what does that mean...?" jaemin asked, tilting his heas to the side in confusion and making his flappy ears fall to the side.
"this means that you'll have to befriend him in your human for. and this way, once he'll appreciate you, we'll tell him the truth, and he will realise how unfair he had been."