silence - nct, norenmin

⍣ 21 ⍣

time flew by, and so did jaemin's voice.

the teenager felt better than ever

he had never stopped texting renjun and jeno, brightening considerably his days, and also, he had managed to exchange a few words with them, when the three boys were out of school.

the main obstacle to their friendship was still his voice, and jaemin had understood that while he was in school, nothing would be easy.

this place held so much trauma.

"jaemin!" renjun squeaked while the three boys were walking side by side towards a bubble tea shop.

the teenager lifted his head, looking at renjun with expectant eyes.

"what bubble tea flavour do you want?"

"huh... mango." he replied in a low voice, but loud enough for renjun and jeno to hear and coo.

"a mango bubble tea for cutie jaeminnie then!" renjun exclaimed, bopping jaemin's nose with his finger and walking towards the counter.

jaemin and jeno stayed behind, the younger beet red, and the other cooing even more.

"you should talk more, you know?" jeno told. "you really have a beautiful voice."

"thank you..." jaemin smiled shyly.

renjun came back after a few minutes, handing his drink to jeno and tuning towards jamein with a cheeky smile.

"the price to pay is a kiss there!" renjun exclaimed, pointing at his cheek which made jamein flush.

the younger boy looked around before deposing a small peck on renjun's milky skin and pulling away, redder than ever.

renjun squealed like a school girl, almost making jaemin's drink fall on the floor.

"how come i didn't get to kiss your cheek?" jeno asked with a brow raised.

"you already kissed it plenty of times." renjun replied, taking a sip of his strawberry bubble tea.

"and? can't i?"

renjun showed his cheek to jeno so that the boy could kiss it as well, which he did.

"no victory dance after my kiss?" jeno asked, kind of jealous of the sudden attention jaemin was receiving.

"i'm used to your kisses. jaemin's are special!" renjun exclaimed.

and damn, did jaemin blush that afternoon...

⍣

the day after their little bubble tea outing, jaemin walked to sunmi's office first thing in the morning.

he needed to talk.

and not the kind of talk you can have with your friends.

not the kind of talk jaemin wanted to have with his parents either.

so, the only person jaemin was comfortable with that was left was sunmi.

"come in!" she exclaimed when jaemin knocked on the tinted glass door.

the shy boy entered, receiving a warm smile from the nurse.

"hello jaemin! is everything alright?"

"yes..." jaemin nodded. "i wanted to talk."

"of course! you know you can come whenever you feel like it." sunmi smiled, inviting jaemin to sit down.

"do you want to tell me about love again?" she asked, chuckling when jaemin's eyes widened and when his cheeks turned a vibrant red.

"h-how...?"

"you look like you are in love." she replied. "i can see little sparks flying around you."

"well..."

"who's the lucky one?" sunmi asked, placing her chin on her palms.

"that's where it gets... huh... problematic?" jaemin answered after a moment.

"problematic? why?"

"because... i feel weird things towards... huh... renjun?"

sunmi let out a little squeal. "renjun! that's so cute!"

"yeah... but like... huh... jeno too..." jaemin added.

sunmi clapped her hands and squeaked like a teenage girl whose crush would have had looked at her.

"this is way too cute for me to handle!" she breathed out after a while. "okay, i have to calm down."

jaemin looked at her strangely.

he wasn't really used to being around girls, and seeing an adult behaving like this made him question a lot of things.

"so." sunmi spoke normally, after taking a few breaths. "you like both jeno and renjun."

"well... i'm not sure. it's just that... huh... yeah?"

sunmi held herself from going into a squealing mess again.

"why aren't you sure?" she asked, not managing to hide the grin that was growing on her face.

"first of all, they're two..."

"what if? the more the merrier!" she exclaimed.

"yeah, but... like... they're a couple."

"and waiting for you to become a throuple." she replied naturally.

jaemin furrowed his brows.

this girl was completely raving.

"i'm not sure- "

"listen, jaemin." sunmi interrupted him. she could see that despide being more and more comfortable in his shoes, jamein wasn't confident enough. and sadly, there weren't enough people out there to cheer on him. so, she would do it. "you are an amazing boy. look at yourself. you're cute, adorable, and gosh, i want to pinch your cheeks and bop your nose!"

jaemin flushed, hididng his red cheeks behind his hands.

"not only are you good looking, but you also have a kind heart. and you didn't need to talk for the world to notice it. you are like a fallen angel, jaemin. never let anyone say the contrary. and trust me, if someone ever does, jeno and renjun would be the first ones to come and beat their asses up."