Mid Summer

forty seven,

"I got a job!"

"You got a job?" Chorus three voices.

"You guys sound surprised," Jaemin pouts, a signature, before letting his backpack drop. For a change, they're all at Donghyuck and Jeno's dorm room. Jaemin isn't complaining through, that just means that he doesn't have a mess to clean by the end of the night.

"I mean," Donghyuck starts, scratching right behind his ear, laughing awkwardly and meeting the eyes of the other two boys in the room. "Are you sure you can handle one?"

Jaemin's eyes widen, cautiously sitting down between Mark and Donghyuck.

"Don't tell me what to do?" Jaemin says cautiously, questioning lilt in his tone, tilting his head to the side. "Where is this coming from?"

"It's just that you have a lot on your plate," Mark says softly, bumping their heads together. "Too much stress isn't a good thing, remember?"

Jeno rolls his eyes at that.

"I think we all remember, thanks hyung." He scoffs, nonetheless pressing his cheek against the eldest's shoulder. And if Jeno nuzzles a bit closer, reminding Mark of a cat, no one needs to know.

"It's not that much," Jaemin shrugs. "It's just the library."

"The library?" Donghyuck asks, question dying in his throat when Jaemin nods his head, as if he's able to read the younger's mind. "With Renjun..."

Jeno stiffens, only the slightest bit; the only person who could tell being Mark.

When Jaemin heard there was an opening at the library, it was from Renjun himself. He had been eager on wanting to take up the offer, extra cash in his pocket was always a good thing. And plus, since normally sometimes he'd spend a few dollars on Jeno, he'd now have to spend a few dollars on Jeno, Mark and Donghyuck.

When he received the email about how he's been accepted for the job, it had been after Donghyuck had explained their relationship to Renjun. None of the four boys had spoken to Renjun since then, maybe the occasional smile or wave when they pass him on campus, but nothing more than that.

And it didn't really matter.

Until now that is.

"Have any of you talked to him?" Mark asks, more to Jaemin and Donghyuck than Jeno.

Donghyuck shakes his head, looping arms around Jaemin's neck as he shuffles into a position where he's straddling the other's hips.

"Have you?" Donghyuck asks the boy he's sitting on, lips turned into a natural, cute, pout. When Jaemin shakes his head, Donghyuck leans forward more and puckers his lips, and closes his eyes. However, he doesn't meet Jaemin's slightly chapped lips like he thought he would. Instead, his lips makes contact with a smooth surface, somewhere Donghyuck has already kissed multiplie times.

When Donghyuck opens his eyes, Jaemin's skin is flushed a light shade of pink. The older boy's eyebrows are furrowed, and he brings his hands to the younger's cheeks, turning his head so that Jaemin was facing him.

"Why'd you dodge?" He murmurs, tuning out Mark and Jeno's curious eyes. But he can tell that Jaemin doesn't forget that the other two boys are there, skin flushing darker and heating up more every second.

"I-I..." Jaemin stutters, eyes fleeting to look anywhere but the boy in front of him, or the boys beside him. "'M nervous..."

Donghyuck barely hears him, Jeno and Mark just don't hear him, and the youngest is embarrassed by the words which leave his mouth. I mean, there really wasn't anything to be nervous about, so Jaemin doesn't know why he's making a big deal out of nothing. He's kissed boys before, so it's nothing huge. But Jaemin can't ignore the butterflies swarming in his tummy and the way his heart beats way too fast at the thought of kissing Donghyuck.

"Nervous?" Donghyuck teases, lifting Jaemin's chin up with his two fingers. Now with the elder looking into his eyes, Donghyuck can see how Jaemin's eyes fleet around, bottom lip caught anxiously between his teeth. "There's nothing to be nervous about."

When Donghyuck says it, it makes colour bloom more intensely on Jaemin's cheeks, and Jeno can see it run down past his collarbones from where he's sitting.

"I—" Jaemin stutters, swallowing down the salvia building up in his throat before continuing. "O-Okay..."

Pleased, and somewhat endeared, Donghyuck brings two hands up to cup the younger's soft cheeks, pulling Jaemin's face close enough until their noses were touching.

Jaemin's eyes shut on their own accord, and Donghyuck can see his eyelashes fluttering against the highs of his cheek. A smile breaks onto his lips before he can control it, he pecks Jaemin's forehead once just to tease the younger.

"You're so fucking cute," Donghyuck whispers, hot breath hitting Jaemin's face, before leaning in and pushing his own lips against the younger's.

Never mind Jeno and Mark watching with wide eyes, of course.

——

Jaemin's first shift at the library couldn't have been more awkward.

Renjun had been assigned to help Jaemin around for the week until he got the hang of things. And that would've been fine, had the circumstances been different. Jaemin tried to avoid speaking to Renjun at all costs, but it probably wasn't as subtle as he wanted it to be. Renjun was definitely side eyeing him, seeming either annoyed or confused. Jaemin didn't look at his face long enough to determine which one it was.

"Okay," Renjun finally snaps, making Jaemin flinch as he stacks fiction books away, authors A-L. "What's your deal?"

"Hm?" The younger asks, feigning dumb. It must've been obvious, since Renjun scoffs and rolls his eyes.

"You've obviously been avoiding me. I can tell, I've been working with you the whole day. So I'll ask again; what's your deal?"

Jaemin still doesn't look at Renjun, continuing to absentmindedly put the books away properly on the shelf. But he doesn't say anything. 

"Jaemin," Renjun sighs, a bit more bite to his tone.

"Does it bother you?" He asks in a whisper, slowing down his movements. He still doesn't bother turning around, not knowing if he can handle staring at Renjun's face, the face of his best friend. "Donghyuck... Jeno... Mark..."

Renjun sighs through his nose, Jaemin can hear it. But he doesn't see how the elder pinches the bridge of his nose, running a hand through his hair in order to calm himself.

Because yeah. It did bother him. A lot.

But he can't control who Donghyuck likes or doesn't like, who Donghyuck will love or won't love.

So he doesn't tell Jaemin anything.

"No. I'm not bothered by any of that. You and Hyuck, you guys are like my only friends," he laughs, trying to lighten the atmosphere, and the gloomy feeling in his heart. "Jaems, why would I ever have an issue with the people I love being happy?"

Jaemin finally turns around at those words, shy smiling on his face.

"You... Really mean that?" He asks, twiddling his thumbs.

Renjun swallows the lump in his throat before answering.

"Of course Jaems. If anything, I just want to know how you all got together. Weren't you and Jeno a thing? As well as Hyuck and Mark?"

Jaemin wastes no time before going on to explain how everything fell into place, with the brightest smile Renjun has ever seen on his face.

__________

merry crisis kids!! i love you all <3