fourteen days and twenty-eight kisses ; nct jaeno

day 1 ;

Jaemin buried his face in his hands as he let out a loud groan that was left unheard because of the noise of the huge crowd in the school cafeteria. "I can't believe you made us do this!"

He parted a few fingers to look through them and see Donghyuck as he curved his lips into a sly smirk.

"Well, Jisung had a point," Donghyuck said, shrugging as he took a bite from his sandwich. "Both you and Jeno were suffering from the same sickness, so if we made you do this dare, we would be helping you two help each other out."

"Yoy talk about lovesickness as if it can kill," Jaemin mumbled.

"It can, Hyung," Jisung said, closing his Iron Man lunch box. "Out of all the people, I know that you know that the most."

"I'm not lovesick."

"Says the one who sends me late night messages about how he wants to know how it feels like to have someone to cuddle every night."

"Yoy don't have any evidences. Oh, no. Oh, hold on! Don't pull out your phone! Don't—"

"Heh," Mark butted in, sitting next to Donghyuck, followed by a smiling Renjun and a silent Jeno. "What's the fuss all about?"

"Nothing," Jaemin hissed, glaring at Jisung, who simply shrugged with a smile while keeping his phone in his pocket.

Mark raised an eyebrow and looked at Donghyuck, who looked back at him and shrugged with a smile as well.

With that, conversation broke out between the boys. They were all talking about their previous and next classes after break, except for Jaemin, who was watching Jeno as he was looked at somewhere else.

Well, someone else.

Jaemin frowned as he saw the sad sparkle present in Jeno's eyes, which were actually tears threatening to spill.

"Hey," Jaemin whispered loud enough, hesitatingly tapping Jeno's hand and snapping him out of his train of thoughts.

He wanted to asked Are you okay? but the way the latter immediately wiped away the tears he tried to hide with a forced smile and an I'm alright answered it for him.

No, I'm not.

"Have you eaten?" Jaemin asked, trying to distract Jeno away from what was causing him to cry.

"No," Jeno said as he shook his head. "I'm not really hungry, so it's alright."

"Are you sure?" Jaemin asked again, standing up. "I can buy you something."

"No," Jeno repeated as he suddenly took his hand and held it, trying to insist him. "It's alright, really."

Jaemin frowned at their held hands, which was etched deeper into his face as the bell rang, signaling the students that it was time to come back to their respective classrooms.

He heaved a sigh and nodded, then felt warmth leave his hand as their hands parted.

The two boys looked at the rest of their crew, who seemed to be too into their conversation to go to their rooms, so they looked at each other and made a silent agreement to ditch them.

On the way to Jeno's classroom, Jaemin noticed how Jeno's eyes were lost and looking ahead of them, as if he was looking for something.

He didn't have to ask to know what—well, who it was.

"Hey," Jaemin said, holding Jeno's hand to stop him from walking further. "Your classroom is over here."

Jeno turned to him then to the door his room, taken aback as he realized that he had zoned out once again.

"Oh, right," Jeno mumbled, shining a small sheepish smile and scratching the back of his neck with embarrassment. "I'm sorry."

Jaemin smiled back. "It's fine."

Before Jeno had completely turned to his classroom, Jaemin called his name under his breath. "Jeno."

The called boy turned to him, raising an eyebrow. "What is it, Jaemin?"

Jaemin looked down on his feet, trying to think about whether what he was about to do was going to be a smart move, but then, he decided to screw it as he looked up at Jeno and swiftly planted a soft kiss on his forehead.

Jaemin then pulled away, fighting back his blush of embarrassment as he scanned Jeno's surprised face.

He thought that he was going to die right then and there because he didn't know how Jeno was going to react, but as the latter's lips curved into a shy smile, he felt his soul separate from his body and leave him on the mortal plane.

He then watched as Jeno kissed the back of his hand that he didn't realize he was still holding and let go of it.

Before the awkward air could suffocate them, the two turned away without another word, embarrassment filling them from their heads to their toes.