ᴀғғᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴᴀᴛᴇ | ɴᴏᴍɪɴ

ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ

Jaemin was never close with Donghyuck. Sure, they were the same age, lived in the same house, ate the same food and even showered together once (they never spoke about it after it happened). But Jaemin never actually sat down with Donghyuck, unless Jeno and Renjun were there, and vice versa. It wasn't as if there was something between them that was stopping them from being friends — then again it might've been because Jaemin had once insulted Donghyuck's choice of shoes and they didn't talk to each other for a month — it was just that Jaemin and Donghyuck had never been close.

So when Jeno entered Jaemin's room, ready to vent out all his problems through some excessive hugging, he was surprised to find Donghyuck under the sheets with him, phones in both of their hands as they giggled at each other. He wasn't sure what was going on, but they looked happy.

"Hey?" Jeno asked, confused. They hadn't noticed his presence until he spoke up, and Donghyuck almost jumped out of the bed if it wasn't for Jaemin's leg wrapped around his. "What're you guys doing?"

"Nana said he could beat me," Donghyuck snickered, sitting up and showing his screen. "I've beaten him a total of five times now. Are you proud of me, Jeno?"

"Yeah, sure," he answered half-heartedly. He wasn't here to make conversation with Donghyuck, or really any conversation at all. "Should I come back later?"

Without any hesitation, the two on the bed nodded and Donghyuck fell back again, snuggling even closer to Jaemin than before. Jeno's eyes twitched at it, but to avoid getting anymore embarrassed, he rushed out of the room, ignoring a surprised Renjun as he shut his door with a loud bang.

Jaemin never asked him why he never returned.

-

Jeno had to take a second look when he caught Donghyuck in the kitchen. He knew Donghyuck was a good cook, Mark always reminded them when they were thinking about having homemade food, but Donghyuck never actually stepped into the kitchen without people begging him to do so. Seeing Donghyuck in the kitchen was a miracle, one that only occured if Mark was present or if Jisung and Chenle were whining in the background. But this time, there was none of that.

"Donghyuck?" Jeno stood by the door and leaned against it, his eyebrows raising as the blonde turned around to face him. "You're cooking? What comes?"

"Nana asked me to help him out," Donghyuck explained, a fond smile on his face as he spoke and Jeno felt a burn in his chest. "He went to his room to change out of his clothes before we got started."

"Oh, alright," Jeno hummed and took a seat on one of the chairs by the counter. He picked at the grapes in front of him and eyed Donghyuck as he moved around the kitchen. What was he up to? Donghyuck never got close to people without a meaning behind it — as bad as that sounded, it was somewhat true. Donghyuck had become friends with Jeno because he was their dance teachers favourite, an easy way out of getting in trouble. Donghyuck had befriended Renjun to get his Chinese skills better and show off in front of the others (he also became his friend because he genuinely liked the older, but they always teased him for his first reason).

Why did Donghyuck want to get close to Jaemin? Jeno couldn't figure it out. Perhaps it was because of what they had discussed nearly over two months ago? Jaemin did seem to be the same, nothing had changed — the extra hours he spent at the practice room were staying stable (maybe even increasing) and his mood was always jolly. It was almost scary how consistent his behaviour was.

"Jeno," Donghyuck clicked his fingers and snapped Jeno out of his trance. He looked up at the blonde, blinking his eyes slowly as he remembered where he was. "You spaced out for a while, you okay?"