around you | nct

21

jeno
i'm outside
come down whenever you're ready

upon receiving the message, yoonmi skipped down the stairs and out of her apartment complex, approaching jeno's car before noticing a couple of heads in the back. she opened the door to see a grinning jeno.

"hi, yoonmi."

"hi jeno," she replied, smiling back as she climbed into the passenger seat. "thanks for giving me a ride to the party."

"oh wow, she's even prettier in real life," a voice noted from behind her.

"i told you," another chimed in, and yoonmi turned her head to see renjun and jisung staring at her.

"oh my god, hi guys!" yoonmi greeted them before noticing a head of hair snoring against jisung's shoulder.

"chenle," renjun supplied before she could ask and yoonmi laughed.

"yoonmi gets aux now," jeno said, handing her his cellphone and jisung groaned.

"not fair! renjun had it for the whole ride here." he complained and renjun wagged his tongue out at him.

"here," yoonmi offered him the phone but he shook his head.

"it's fine, i want to see your music taste anyway."

"i hope you guys are into exo, because that's all i really listen to," yoonmi admitted and renjun laughed.

the rest of the car ride was comfortable, with chenle stirring awake just moments before they reached their location. they'd exited the car in a long driveway that was full of other cars, three of them yoonmi recognized as ahrin's, taeil's, and kura's.

"is everyone already here?" she asked as they made their way up to the door.

"everyone aside from mark and the birthday boy," jeno responded, reaching for her arm as they climbed the concrete stairs.

jisung and chenle fought their way up the stairs, racing to see who could turn the doorknob first. yoonmi assumes chenle won, as he flung open the door triumphantly, leaving a wailing park jisung on the ground.

"hey, everyone!" chenle yelled, and yoonmi laughed at the course of applause and cheers that emitted throughout the house.

renjun helped jisung up and jeno ushered yoonmi inside.

the party set up was a lot nicer than yoonmi expected. a great big cake sat at the center of the table and there were huge gold balloons with the number 20 scattered throughout the room.

"yoon!," a voice called and she turned to see kura waving at her from across the room.

"oh, that's mimi? i've definitely seen her at our house before," yuta chimed as yoonmi approached them and kura shoved at his shoulder.

"yoon, you look great," she complimented, wrapping her arms around yoonmi's neck.

"as do you," yoonmi replied, her own arms circling kura's waist.

"i'm telling jeno," choa piped up, a popsicle dangling out of her mouth as she eyed them.

kura rolled her eyes at the youngest. "just say you're jealous and go."

"ahrin unni!," choa yelled, leaving to go find her, "they're being mean again!"

"noona!" chenle called, running up to yoonmi. "they wanna meet you!"

he introduced her to yangyang, xiaojun, and hendery. it was strange to go from joking with each other over messages to awkwardly greeting each other in person. they engaged in conversation for some time before being interrupted.

"he's here!," johnny called, peeking out of the window. "they're coming up the stairs, quick everyone crouch down."

someone ran to shut off the lights as kura and yoonmi dropped behind the couch in hiding. they all waited with bated breath as mark and haechan made their way up to the house.

"who's breathing so loudly?" a voice suddenly snickered in the dark.

he was met with a loud chorus of groans and several shouts of "shut up, ten."

they quieted down and immediately heard faint voices talking from outside the door. there was the jingle of keys and the clicking sound of the door being unlocked.

the door swung open and a pregnant pause followed before being interrupted by a loud party popper and the shouting of 'surprise!'.

the lights shut on and hyuck blinked at them. "i knew this shit was going to happen." he said, and the room erupted into laughter.

"happy birthday, donghyuck," mark smiled, setting a party hat around the younger's head.

the party ensued rather loudly as jungwoo and yuta took turns selecting songs to blast from the speakers. somehow ahrin and kura got their hands on some alcohol and yoonmi observed them giggling to themselves in a corner.

"yoonmi," a voice suddenly whispered in her ear, and yoonmi swung around to see jeno. "come here."

jeno wrapped his fingers around her wrist and dragged her out of the loud house and onto the moonlit porch.

"it's colder out here," yoonmi breathed in relief, taking in the cool night air as he shut the door behind them.

"here," jeno shrugged off his jacket and set it around her shoulders.

yoonmi blushed at the gesture and watched as he took a seat on the pretty porch swing. he patted the seat next to him and yoonmi sat down.

"i feel like i haven't spoken to you in a while," jeno spoke, eyes trailing over to study her face.

"yeah, you still have some explaining to do." yoonmi reminded him, nudging his arm with hers.

"about what?"

"why'd you tell nara and joon that we were dating?"

"why not?" jeno shrugged, blinking at her in confusion.

"because we're not?"

"yet," jeno added and yoonmi felt her face flush.

she looked away from him, instead deciding to focus on the dark sky. there was a pool in taeyong's backyard, and she thought of how nice it would be to swim at night.

"i like you, yoonmi. but i'm sure you knew that." jeno said softly, and yoonmi felt her heart leap into her throat.

"oh."

jeno reached for her hand, intertwining their fingers. "yoonmi, do you want to be my girlfriend?" he asked, voice reserved as if he wasn't sure what she would say.

yoonmi looked up to meet jeno's eyes. "yes," she answered without hesitation.

he laughed, eyes folding into those perfect crescent moons and yoonmi couldn't help but lean over and press a kiss to the mole above his cheek.

"i've always wanted to do that," she admitted and jeno laughed even louder before bringing their mouths together.

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hi!! kind of a long chapter <3
thanks for reading !