𝗮 𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂; norenmin

𝚜𝚒𝚡𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚗

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The sound of the doorbell was enough to make Jaemin shiver, causing his coffee to slosh in the mug as he glowered. It was about eight in the evening....time for the raging demon to arrive.

"Jaem!" His mother called, "Jisung is here!"

I can tell, he wanted to spit back, though instead curled up on his bed and longed for an earthquake to occur and swallow the tall boy at the door up.

Footsteps ascending the staircase alerted the blue haired boy of how close Jisung was getting, and he couldn't prevent his brain from sifting through idea after idea for escape.

When his door flew open, his shoulders tensed up and he gripped his phone to his chest.

"Quit pretending to sleep, you Dumbass," the blonde hissed, throwing a copybook at the older's back and eliciting a groan from him.

"You know what, Jisung? Someone is going to land one hell of a bitch-slap on your face someday, and I have one contender in mind."

"Here's a deal you may be interested in," the younger smirked, sitting down to the desk and pulling some notes out, "If you can score ninety percent in your history test, then I'll willingly let you hit me. How about that?"

Jaemin gasped, falling off his bed to crawl towards the teen. "Are you serious? No take backs!"

"Dead serious. I need to see results, your mother wants better grades from you, and if a single hit to the face achieves that....so be it."

He's crazy, the shorter thought, scrambling to his feet in order to sit down in the other seat. Who would willingly let someone hit them?

"Now," Jisung hummed, sliding a sheet in front of Jaemin with an arched brow. "Last time, you scored a pathetic twenty eight-"

"Hey!"

"Shut it, and listen. I'm not your enemy here, as much as you wish that I was. There is no reason for us to argue, and I was willing to play nice from the beginning."

The older grimaced, sitting back in his seat and rubbing his face tiredly. "But you're such an asshole."

"Correction; you think I'm an asshole. Everyone else who knows me, likes me, and that's because they don't go out of their way to insult me. I am simply capable of defending myself."

Jaemin gritted his teeth and ripped the sheet off the desk, brandishing it in front of the blonde to imply that he was reluctantly going to listen. His eyes scanned the words....expression falling lower and lower as more and more dates were thrown at him. "Ugh, this looks like maths...."

"The dates aren't the hard part, Jaemin," Jisung started to explain, pushing the text covered page back onto the desk to run through it. "The essay writing is where people slip up, and be dates will come to you with time. There are various rhymes, songs, poems and such that can help you revise."

"I'm not five...."

"Nor am I, yet here I am. I'm telling you, primary school teachers have it all over the higher education teachers. How do you think kids learn the alphabet? To write? To read?"

The bluette reclined into the seat once again, starting to see things the way Jisung did and finding his world to be toppling over. Damn it, how does he know this stuff?

"Now, you're going to need to focus for me for just thirty more minutes. Think of getting to hit my face when you score that ninety."

"Hah, that's enough motivation for me," Jaemin grinned to himself, getting serious to pay attention.

♤♤♤

Renjun lay on his bed with only the bedside lamp illuminating the space. His eyes stared listlessly towards the ceiling, observing every minor crack and shadow cast from outside. His closed curtain fluttered gently against the breeze entering the open window.

The teen had the back of his hand resting against his forehead, chest rising and lowering in long, beneficial breaths. His mind couldn't leave the moment he shared with Jeno less than twelve hours ago. The way he was able to speak to him.

Renjun would've been the first to admit his flaws, lack of people skills being one of them. He wasn't as bad as some (Jeno being at the far end of the spectrum), yet not as good as he should've been. As good as Jaemin was. He deeply wished for even a fraction of Jaemin's outer confidence.

The look Jeno wore when Renjun called out to him. The way his eyes widened with surprise....he was equally as shocked that Renjun had initiated a tiny conversation, right? Both weren't the type to speak out of turn unless comfortable with their audience....so this was a huge leap forward.

Renjun smiled to himself, an excited giggle erupting from his throat as he rolled over onto his side and kicked his legs childishly. He couldn't believe he had done it. The first thing he thought of was telling Jaemin about it...about stepping out of his defensive bubble to talk to his crush.

But then he remembered why he kept his admiration a secret. Jaemin surely would've cracked up into laughter if he found out that he liked Lee Jeno. The weird kid who won't talk to people.

"I should tell him though...." the brunette thought, flicking his legs back and forth as he lay on his front, resting his cheek on his pillow. No, I can't. Besides, one moment of bravery doesn't mean I could do it again....I couldn't. Jaem doesn't need to know....

As his fingers came up to scratch his temple, they slowly moved down to graze against his lips ever so softly. His fingertips barely felt like anything as he tried to imagine what a kiss was really like.

At least he knew his best friend was in the same boat. Neither he nor Jaemin had ever ventured into the physical intimacy associated with their age group, and it was a small comfort to the Chinese boy to know he wasn't alone.

I can't imagine Jaemin ever having sex with someone, he thought, reaching out to flick off the light and go to sleep. He's too immature.

Oh how wrong Renjun was, for Jaemin wasn't the little boy he had met a decade ago.

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