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

quarter 1: minute 3

if there was one thing jaemin had learned in his eighteen years of life, it was to never cross lee jeno. for all of his polite and serious demeanor, pissing off jeno was like pulling the pin from a grenade and sitting right on top of it. so when he sees jeno and serena coming out of the same car, with icy looks and less than kind body language, jaemin thinks shit's about to hit the fan.

it seems chenle and jisung have come to the same conclusion because they both jumble something together about having second year orientation (school started over a month ago; it was literally the beginning of april) and run in the direction of the second year classrooms. serena takes one last look at jeno, says something that the rest of the boys can't hear, and walks in the same direction. 

jaemin had no idea what serena had said but by the look on jeno's face, he could tell that it wasn't something that was readily discussable. he didn't look mad, like jaemin had expected him to. he looked lifeless, as if all the fight had gone with his estranged sister.

"let's go to class?" renjun proposes, and jeno just follows, head hung and thoughts all over the place. 

none of the boys comment on jeno's sullen behavior for the next three days. their schedule consisted of the same few things: pretend like everything was alright within the group, go to class, disappoint serena at practice some more, and repeat.

honestly, it was suffocating. nothing could ever impress serena - it was as if she had glued a stick to the inside of her ass. there was literally no other reason for her shitty attitude, jaemin concluded, voicing as much to chenle, who snorts and nearly alerts jeno who just looks up at them dully and looks back down to his half-finished korean homework.

which jaemin's pretty sure wouldn't even be possible, given the fact that jeno's pretty much braindead at this point, going through the motions without any speck of humanity showing through. it was as if serena had ripped the soul clean out of him.

two days before the game where the scouts would be coming, haechan decides to stage an intervention. 

"come on, jeno. you have got to get out of your head," haechan protests, looping his arm around the aforementioned boy. jeno whips up, shaking haechan off of him in cold fury.

"i am not in my head about anything. just...just leave me alone. i don't want to say or do anything i regret," jeno says, and for the first time in three days, jaemin sees a little bit of his old self shining through. and desperate times call for desperate measures so jaemin does what he has to: pisses him off.

"chan's right, for the first time in his life," jaemin starts, ignoring the whines from haechan and cautionary looks from jisung. "you're being an asshole, jeno. what. so your sister's a bitch. it's not like you can do anything about it."

jeno's eyes are viciously red, as if the devil himself decided to incarnate within him for a split-second. his fists are balled at his sides, arms tense, and jaemin could practically see the thoughts flying around inside the older's head. 

"don't call my sister a bitch." the words come out low, dangerous, and concerning. what the fuck. what the fuck. what the f - what. 

jeno had been in a pissy mood for the past four days because of his sister and now he's offended that jaemin says it? 

"look, i get that you guys are worried, but don't insult my sister. i've got a lot on my plate right now and i really don't to make it worse by fighting with you guys." and with that, jeno is gone, and the boys are left more worried than they had been before.

"what, and i cannot stress this enough, the fuck was that all about?" chenle says when jeno's out of earshot. haechan and jaemin are both silent. was there really an answer?