shot clock || na jaemin (the court series #1)

quarter 1: minute 1

according to jeno, jaemin has an issue with rules. in his defense, rules usually never held any meaning to him anyway. why restrict yourself from living your best life because of silly things like rules? all the happiest people never lived by the rules, and that was that. jeno had sighed and shook his head, turning to renjun to remind him about the game the next afternoon and jaemin and shrugged and continued to pretend to listen to haechan's endless arguing with jisung about something definitely scarring. 

(it turns out, dolphins were the spawn of underwater satan, but hey, what's new?)

besides, it wasn't as if he went out of his way to break the rules! jaemin had things he wanted to do and those pesky little rules just always happened to be in the way. like the time he had desperately craved a proper lunch after experiencing the horror that was the cafeteria's 'beef ravioli'. jaemin wasn't sure it was even actual beef and had snuck out of school to eat edible food. or the time that oh jinyoung had been wearing that skirt that she knew drove jaemin crazy in the middle of biology. definitely no regrets on that one. what was he supposed to do? not drag her into the janitor's closet and go to town? please.

but everything changed the moment his shoes hit the waxed floors of the basketball courts. jaemin was aggressive, smart, and viciously charismatic in every facet of his being and he always used the rules to his advantage. cherry picking became his favorite past-time and there was usually very little that the other team could ever do to prevent him from straight up snatching the ball from them and effortlessly sink a three-pointer. best case scenario? jaemin hit a bunch of threes. worst case scenario? jaemin hit a bunch of people. never enough to get taken out. but just enough to make sure every single person - audience, coach, and player alike - knew exactly who was on the court and what he was on the court to do: win. 

in fact, the only reason why the coach even put up with one hundredth of jaemin's bullshit was because of his sheer talent. he wasn't 'the phantom' for nothing, after all.

 jaemin was dangerous, in every single aspect of the word. he was cruel and mysterious, a complex creature who existed as the phantom and little else for those who didn't know him. for those who knew him, he was a demon but in a different sense - a succubus. insatiable thirst for girls and guys alike and he never went dehydrated. who would ever pass up a chance with na jaemin? an oh jiyoung one day and a jung hyunmin the next day. jaemin wasn't picky.

but for those who were close to him, they knew him as a kid just trying to live the best teenage life he could. and who could blame him? in this world, with everyone always running for something or another, whether it be an admission into the best college or a promotion at work, and jaemin simply didn't have that. his ambition in that aspect was restricted to the court and only the court. 

jaemin was a breath of fresh air. something genuine people knew was tangible. perhaps he slept through class sometimes. he completed the assignments and never tried to sweet talk the teacher into giving him a better grade, like they so often saw from other students. perhaps he had his arm wrapped around the waist of some boy or girl. he never lead them on and never lied to them. he treated them well and made them feel loved for the few days that he had them under his wing for. 

na jaemin was a jewel, inside and out. charming, precious, and maybe a little dangerous. addictive. not perfect. but pretty damn close. 

"you know, my dad asked me about you and jeno the other day. says that he's gonna send a couple scouts to the game," chenle says in between bites of his sandwich. renjun, jisung, jeno, jaemin, chenle, and haechan are sitting in the courtyard of their high school, some doing homework and others choosing to play games on their phones instead. renjun looks up from his calculus briefly to nod in acknowledgement. jeno, on the other hand, perks up interestedly, setting down the pencil he had been completing english homework with.