upstaged || markhyuck

60: warm heart.

jaemin and daehwi special chapter

it was christmas eve. snow had fallen overnight, leaving a sparkling layer of white crispness on every surface. the air was still and the world around was calm. everything was quiet.

jaemin roused himself in the early morning, gazing out at the snow-covered street out of his bedroom window. he showered, got dressed, made himself breakfast and ate it greedily. he couldn't remember the last meal he'd had and mentally thanked himself for bothering to take care of his health that day.

he was sitting at the foot of the stairs with the pile of letters staring back at him.

he tied his shoelaces.

na jaemin was the type of person to avoid confrontation at any cost. that was, until he had literally stumbled into lee donghyuck in freshman year, the then-chubby boy rudely telling him to watch where he was going. jaemin was startled of course, but slightly in awe of the boy who oozed with confidence (how much of it had been faked, he didn't know). but his confident was catching.

jaemin had been even more surprised when donghyuck said 'hello' to him the next day when he decided to sit next to him in bio. and the two had somehow become friends, adding renjun and then jeno to the group.

jaemin was out in the cold biting air before he even realised, the slight breeze sending a shiver through his body. his chapped fingers clutched the hard edges of the letters in his coat pocket, the pressure that cut into his skin almost reassuring; he knew the letters were there, and he knew their purpose. now that he had started, he had to finish what he meant to.

the first letter had gone under jaehyun's bedroom door.

jaemin's hands shook a little as he recalled the contents of the letter. he hoped jaehyun would understand. jaemin barely understood himself, but jaehyun always saw right through him. he dreaded the onslaught (although jaehyun would be tentative and calm about it) of questions when he got back home, but with jaehyun's sexuality out in the open, jaemin had no reason to hide himself from his brother.

he arrived outside donghyuck's mom's house. he walked up to the front door with reluctance, slipping his letter through the letter box before walking away.

the letter for donghyuck was concise, but heartfelt, and jaemin hoped it would be enough for donghyuck to consider being friends with him again.

because jaemin felt so alone.

in freshman year, jaemin, donghyuck and renjun were casual friends. they were kind of outcasts, in a way, relying on the company of each other. the boys that liked soccer all hung together, with the team if they were popular enough. the three of them weren't exactly popular.

well, that was until donghyuck made the team. donghyuck, of all people, jaemin had thought, and was vaguely jealous at the time.

but it was donghyuck who had alerted lee jeno of their existence, and soon jeno was sitting at their lunch table. which soon became the soccer team's new lunch table. donghyuck just had this magic that could make people want to be friends with him. jaemin wished he could be like that.

he had written a letter addressed to both renjun and jeno, because it made sense. he knew how close they were, and how much closer they had become when jaemin had stayed home from school all those months. he'd felt a pang of jealousy when jeno and renjun had come to visit, suddenly bffs when previously they hadn't talked much at all.