in my own summer | norenmin

chapter 11 | clingy qualms

jeno's time spent around jaemin increased. a lot.

jaemin constantly kept inviting him along to do things with him, even asking for his input on what to do sometimes. jeno typically wasn't sure, but glad to suggest things whenever he could think of something. he was out of the house more, not around his parents even more so, and any sad thoughts of his brother seemed to fade away.

the one day jaemin didn't ask him to come over, he went out with his friends again, just excluding yuta, who decided it was a better decision to visit family he hasn't seen in a long time. the remaining four picked out going to an arcade for the afternoon. the only issue dejun had was that somehow, yangyang and jeno would guilt trip him into paying for everything, since yuta wasn't there.

"basketball first!" yangyang announces.

jeno rolls his eyes — of course. ever since he tried it out and absolutely wasn't the biggest fan of playing himself, he thought he would never touch a basketball again but yangyang seems intent on making sure his hopes never come true. but, mark ended up being his saving grace when he told the other two he and jeno would go play something else in the meantime.

mark leads him along to another arcade machine — some random game reminiscent of pac-man —and slides in two coins before playing. he does for two minutes or so, jeno glancing around the rest of the arcade space, before finally speaking. "does dejun really have a crush on me?"

jeno whips his head back to look at him, confused at why he brought it up now. "huh?"

mark gives him an exasperated look, the colourful lights of purple, red, and green reflected in his glasses. "you heard me."

jeno's lips go into a thin line. dejun claimed he was trying to get over him but being pretty much rejected sent him right back to his supposed old crush. dejun grew a little clingy again and mark was annoyed over it. but dejun never explicitly said he liked him again.

"i mean..." mark breaks the silence, looking back at the screen. he had lost his second life. "i love him and all because he's my best friend. but that's the thing — he's just a friend to me. i don't want him to like me like that anymore."

"oh, well," jeno says awkwardly. "just tell him you don't like him."

"i think i make that obvious enough," mark says before swearing. "shit. i lost my last life."

he scrunches up his face towards the screen in annoyance before shaking his head. "whatever. but still, how much more obvious do i need to be...?"

his voice quickly trails off once dejun and yangyang arrive, yangyang happily grasping a line of tickets in his fist with the biggest grin ever. looking exasperated at first, dejun brightens a little when he sees mark and goes to stand over next to them, leading mark to send a look in jeno's direction that the other tries his best to avoid.

"guess who reached a new high score and managed to win two times in a row?" yangyang exclaims, his chest puffed out a little with pride. "me. well, obviously!"

"you constantly look for any excuse to brag about any and everything," dejun rolls his eyes. "what did you guys do?"

"played this game," jeno answers, pointing to what mark had been playing. "well, mark played it."

"how far did you get?" dejun questions mark before there's a faint hint of admiration in his eyes.

"pretty fair," mark says reluctantly. "what are we doing now?"

"i want try out that racing game," yangyang answers. "je? going against me?"

there was a glint of challenge in his voice and eyes, a slight smirk on his face. he knew jeno was better than him at those games even if not by much, but he imagined one day he would come out victorious. there was only two racing arcade machines and by the time the group of four arrived, someone was already occupying one.