shot clock || na jaemin (the court series #1)

quarter two: minute one

it turns out that the rain was a fucking tsunami. unfortunately for serena, the tsunami had a name. serena much preferred to call her 'little bitch' but, apparently, her more publicly used name was 'park jisoo'. 

ever since the disaster that had been serena's attempt to get jeno to talk to their mom, they'd withdrawn once more, mirroring how they'd been during 'the incident'. but they had a mutual understanding that if their father found out they were on bad terms, it would break his heart, meaning that they would pretend to get along in front of their father.

these terms were alright up to her brother. but because of little bitch, serena was now forced to extend it to na jaemin and park jisoo.

in all honesty, serena knew she really had no right to get upset with jaemin. technically, he had followed through on his side of the deal: he tried to get jeno to talk to their mother. and as much as she hated to admit it, he did what was right for jeno at the time and got him out of there. if she was in his position, she would've likely done the same.

but serena still remembers the tears in her mother's eyes, threatening to leak but stubbornly staying trapped, blinding her until she just couldn't pretend and crumpled to her knees, not feeling the harsh pelts of the pouring rain as her pretty sundress had gotten soaked. it had been the second time serena had ever seen her mother so vulnerable. 

the first had been when jeno said he wanted nothing to do with a cheater like her, just over eleven years ago.

so serena puts on the façade, both of them dancing around the fact that neither of them was really upset with each other, but had loyalties which were far more important to them than their relation to each other. 

the real problem was park jisoo.

she had started appearing a little under a month ago, around a week after the disaster. at first it was alright; she was polite to coach lee, never overstepped her boundaries, and only came with jaemin when she was invited. but then, it started to change.

she started to turn up without jaemin, her smile turning softer and softer every single time she visited, treating coach lee like a close uncle more and more. serena hated it. she didn't know what this little bitch was up to, but she'd be damned if that witch tried anything on her brother.

serena knew this game. she'd been played in this game.

tragic incident, hero(ine) comes swooping in, makes you feel alright again before getting what they really wanted and leaving you for the dead.

cliché story.

unfortunately though, technically, jisoo wasn't breaking any rules. she hadn't made any moves on jeno that serena could recognize, and they always sat in his room with the door open. they mostly talked, jisoo nodding thoughtfully as she listened to jeno's broken words. 

serena didn't mean to eavesdrop. she really didn't! but she needed a reason for jeno's blatant rudeness to her mother and it seemed as though this jisoo girl knew and serena didn't.

and with a start, serena stops in her tracks, nearly knocking over a speeding little boy on a skateboard, coming to a scary realization.

jisoo knew why jeno didn't want to talk to their mother and serena didn't. and serena didn't like that little bitch knew and she didn't.

she's about to come to the (correct) conclusion of her deductions when she sees a familiar raven-haired boy jogging distractedly on the path behind her. right at her. 

serena is able to barely side-step jaemin to avoid becoming lakeside (pondside?) roadkill, fixing him with a stern glare.

jaemin tugs the earbud out of his ear, looking to see who the victim of his careless running was before meeting eyes with serena. his face falls into an impassive set, masking the confusion underneath. was he supposed to act like he hated her? did he hate her?

"jaemin," serena says dumbly.

"jaemin," he agrees thoughtfully.

they look at each other and serena almost laughs at the sincerity of his voice when he says his own name before realizing who exactly she was speaking to. 

"jaemin," serena repeats, not sure exactly what to do or say. jaemin cocks an eyebrow, a slight shred of amusement sneaking into his all-telling eyes.

"you already said that line, serena," he says smartly, putting the earbud into its charging case. serena huffs at him, rolling her eyes.

"look, what you did was shitty," serena retorts, eyes blazing for a moment. but she sighs and the fire subsides, jaemin already knowing what she's gonna say. "but thank you for taking my brother away from that situation."

jaemin softens a little bit. he wasn't really upset with serena either, to be fair. she was doing what she thought was right. what was going to get her family to come back together. but that still wasn't enough to warrant her a reasonable explanation of what had happened after they had left. so jaemin just nods in response, humming lowly to fill the silence.

"you know," jaemin begins, against his better judgement. "i think the problem was that your mom had a choice of whether she wanted to reach out or not. you didn't give jeno a choice."

serena sighs once more, carding her fingers through her hair.

"you know my brother better than i do, na. you should know that he'd be too stubborn to come of his own accord," she says quietly, sitting down on the bench across from the lake. jaemin pauses for a moment, before sitting down on the other end of the bench.

"yeah. but i also know that he's a good guy. if...if he thought that talking to your mom was a good idea, i think he would've wanted to do so on his own terms. not yours or your mom's." 

"maybe."

neither of them say anything for nearly half an hour. they just sit in silence and wonder the same thing: when had life gotten so fucking hard?

+++

a/n: and she's back! our favorite couple has finally reconciled in their own weird way. i'm super sorry about the late update; life has just been hectic and adhd has not been very helpful with that. if school/life doesn't get better, i might have to switch to updating twice or three times a week or some other schedule that's a little bit easier to deal with. but i hope everyone's well and healthy! how's life guys?

jisoo is friends with jeno? jaena (jaemin/serena...lmk if you come up w a better ship name) have sorta made up! jeno and serena are back on bad terms :(( what do you think is going to happen next with these kiddos?