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

quarter one: minute seven

the moment jaemin steps into the park household, he's tackled to the floor. it takes him a moment to register the fact that the reason he was currently on the floor was not, in fact, due to a sack by the tampa bay defense, but rather because of a much less intimidating bundle of fur and energy.

"bruno! bad boy. you can't go all clifford the big red dog on strangers," serena scolds in english, tugging at the collar around the border collie's neck, whispering in quick successions of scoldings at the dog, who looks as if he has understood the intentions of his owner, if the whimpers and hung head were anything to go by.

jaemin can't help but sulk a little bit at serena's vehement protests of his unfamiliarity to bruno. i'm not a stranger. you don't make strangers do fifteen suicides in a row. unless you had a fetish for penitentiary systems.

"so, uh, where do i put this mildly offensive cake?" jaemin asks awkwardly, adjusting his grip on the cake. serena doesn't answer, too distracted by her dog's literal puppy eyes, instead gesturing in the general direction of the kitchen.

jaemin grumbles something about american hospitality before depositing the cake in the fridge, placing it next to the seemingly infinite bottles of coffee milk.

"my daughter has a strange infatuation with coffee milk," a voice says from behind him. jaemin turns slowly to meet the owner of the voice, a lady who looks far too young to have a seventeen year old daughter with the kindest eyes he has ever seen.

"jaemin, this is my mother. mommy, this is jaemin. he's gonna be helping us," serena says, pressing a kiss to her mother's cheek in lieu of greeting. now that he's looking at the two of them side by side, the resemblance is uncanny. 

they've both got the straight eyebrows that give them the air of seriousness with eyes twinkling with mischief right underneath, hinting at something more lively underneath the stoic set of their lips. 

if jaemin didn't know the story, he might've almost made a pass at mrs. park. but just as he thinks that, a tall man comes out of one of the rooms down the hallway, giving jaemin the impression that mr. park might not be so happy with that proposition.

"is this the mr. na you mentioned, rena?" the man asks, pressing a kiss to his daughter's forehead. serena's nose crinkles at the revelation that she had spoken about jaemin to her parents, conveniently not meeting jaemin's eyes.

"james! you can't say things like that," mrs. park says, hitting her husband lightly on the chest. mr. park throws his head back and laughs a deep laugh that's infectiously jovial and jaemin can't help the smile that creeps onto his face.

"right, right, teenage daughter brings home a boy. i'm supposed to be interrogating you, aren't i?" mr. park asks with a childish grin and jaemin isn't sure what to do because both of his best friend's estranged sister's parents were really hot. 

he hates to say it, and he feels really bad about it too, but jaemin is starting to see why serena's mother left her dad for mr. park. he had this air of love that made everyone around him happy and comfortable. and mrs. park was no exception to his charm. anyone with a pair of functioning eyes could see how madly in love mr. and mrs. park were in with each other. 

which meant jeno was going to fucking demolish jaemin when he found out what was going on.

"right, uh, hello mrs. park, mr. park. i'm serena's...well, i'm on the basketball team serena manages," jaemin says, extending a hand for them to shake. mr. park stares at his hand for a second and jaemin is about to awkwardly retract his hand when he pulls him in for a hug. this has got to be an american thing. who gives hugs when you first meet them?

although, mr. park did give amazing hugs. 

god. this man was just too amazing to be real.

"thank you. i'm sure serena's told you a little bit about our...situation so i can understand that you're really sticking your neck out for us," mr. park says softly, drawing back to get a good look at jaemin, as if seeing him for the first time (which he technically was). 

jaemin just smiles awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck.

"well! now that we've got introductions out of the way, let's get planning," serena says, clapping her hands to make a point. they migrate from the kitchen into the living room, each person claiming a different spot on the floor around the low level table.

"quietly, though, please. shaun's sleeping," mrs. park says, kneeling in the spot across from serena. jaemin realizes that this is serena's younger brother when all three parks immediately start conversing in much softer tones, not wanting to wake up the sleeping child in the other room.

"so serena told me the basic goal of rebuilding the connection between you and jeno but i'm afraid i'm not really sure about anything beyond that," jaemin says, still not even fully aware of what the the hell he came to serena's house for.

mrs. park goes rigid for a moment before giving him a tentative grin.

"well, i'm sorry that serena's dragged you into this, given that you're jeno's best friend, from what serena says," mrs. park says with a cautious tone, knowing that jaemin was technically here against his will to bring together his best friend and the person he hated the most in the world. that sounded much less catastrophic on the way here.

"jeno's like a brother to me, ma'am."

that doesn't ease mrs. park's nerves at all, her shoulders tensing up even more. serena glares at jaemin, grasping her mother's hand across the table. with no context, it almost looked like the two of them were about to commit a sacrificial ritual. actually, maybe they were. maybe jaemin was the sheep. maybe - 

"jaemin! are you listening? i asked if that would be alright with you," serena says in an attempt at a terse voice, only to come out shaky and unsure. 

"what would be alright with me?" 

"well, uh, if you would be alright with kidnapping jeno."

+++

a/n: idk if it's easy to see or not because i'm a shit writer but the goal of this chapter was mostly to explore the dynamics of the park family, which plays a large part in both quarter 2 and 3 of the book :P

what do you guys think of the park family? do you think jaemin should help the parks? is mrs. park right or wrong for pursuing a relationship with her son?