three is the perfect number || jaenoren (norenmin)

quinze

Jaemin, Jeno and Renjun sat scheming on the front steps to the former's house.

"There's an Apache's nearby," muttered Jeno, some other ideas obviously circulating in his mind.

"We've already had pizza," replied Renjun, massaging his temples with his eyes screwed shut.

Jaemin sat back, his head almost touching the ground and stone steps pressing into his back. "We can't let anyone from school possibly see us. If whoever sees us hasn't skipped out they're going to snitch."

"We bury ourselves for five hours."

"No, Jeno."

"Come on, guys, it's not that deep," said Jaemin, standing up and stretching. "There's a basketball court nearby, let's just go there."

Jeno hopped up faster than Jaemin could follow with his eye. "Basketball?"

Renjun curled in on himself a little. "Is there anywhere else? I can't really play basketball —"

Jeno interrupted him by yanking the boy up by the arm. "We'll teach you! Won't we, Jae?"

Jaemin clapped his hands together determinedly. "Yes, we fucking will. You're going to be a pro once we're through with you."

Renjun screwed up his face sceptically. "Doesn't sound fun at all. We do something else or I go home."

Jaemin thought hard for a second. "Okay," he said, not physically able to stop the grin on his face, "There's a video game store nearby. It's got anime stuff too."

Jeno looked conflicted for a second, probably wondering whether he should continue yelling for basketball or vouch for anime. Jaemin winked at him to let him know he had a plan, but only succeeded in turning Jeno red. He ran a hand through his hair, wondering how Jeno was meant to woo Renjun if he blushed at the slightest gesture from someone he didn't even like.

Renjun looked between Jeno's red face and Jaemin's distraught one. "So what did I miss?"

"Absolutely nothing!" exclaimed Jaemin, far too loudly. He then wondered whether he should really do this, as his mental health wouldn't fare too well.

Fuck it, part two. Jaemin put his hands together placatingly. "I have something to tell Jeno." He took the guy by the shoulders and spun him around, walking off about ten feet until he was completely sure that Renjun couldn't hear. He was currently looking at them like a confused puppy and Jaemin felt his first pang of the day. Doing this was going to hurt.

"What is it? You're acting so weird, man," rushed Jeno immediately.

Jaemin was sure he had his scheming face on, so Jeno really had every right to be scared right now. "We're putting a plan into action now."

Jeno look positively terrified now. "What plan?"

"You know how jealousy works, right?" Jaemin watched as the colour somehow drained from Jeno's face while he simultaneously turned red. "I'm guessing you are," piped up Jaemin, trying to keep his own blush down too. "Remember that plan I said might work, when you first told me about Renjun? I feel like as much as your new hair is doing you a service, we could still try out jealousy."

Jeno visibly winced, unconsciously placing his hand on his own hair as if he wasn't so sure about it. "It... it could work, right?" He bounced slightly on his heels, throwing a nervous glance towards Renjun, who was very angrily playing something on his phone. "I don't want to hurt his feelings too much."

Jaemin felt his head spin from the amount of stress he was under. Approaching exams were nothing. "That's not the aim. Since you're best friends, do tell me if Renjun gets very angry."