[ tangled ] nomin

the rescuers

Jeno applied on a whim. He had no prior acting experience, had been to Disney world once in his entire life, and was definitely not the tall, white, brunette man they were type-casting for. But two months after his final day of high school, lost and void of scholarships, he received a call. They wanted him to come in for an interview, despite the obvious differences, and Jeno knew why. It was the only reason why he was hired for most of the odd jobs he did throughout school to help his father: he was Asian.

Jeno didn't give a flying fuck why they called him back. All that mattered was that they did, and if his interview went well, he could be on his way to Disney World. The pay wasn't great, and he was sure the benefits sucked equally as bad, but it was a job that he could stick with. So a week later, he made the thirty-minute drive to Disney in a stuffy suit that pinched his neck.

The interviewer asked him the standard questions, name, address, ethnicity (oh, jeez, I wonder), and why he wanted to work at Disney. Jeno's answers were bland, honest, and sounded like he pulled them straight from a reddit blog, but the interviewer ate them up. She nodded at his cliche ambitions and smiled when he made up a teary sob story about his immigrant father. It was going amazingly, and Jeno was seconds away from securing a job when somebody knocked on the door.

"Come in!" The lady called, setting her clipboard on the table between them. The door cracked open, and a head of shiny blonde hair poked through. It cascaded down the person's slim shoulders, the ends skimming the edges of the purple dress hugging the person's figure.

"Mrs. Sweda, we have a problem," the voice said, and Jeno's attraction shattered. Jaemin fucking Na was standing in the doorway dressed like Walt Disney's wet dream, if Walt Disney's wet dream was an Asian Rapunzel. And then it hit him.

Jaemin was his princess. Motherfucker.

"Ah, Jaemin! I was just about to call for you. Have a seat." Mrs. Sweda pointed with the end of her pen towards the couch, and Jaemin followed her directions. He stepped over Jeno's feet like he had snakes for toes and kept an entire cushion between them, even though the armrest dug into his ribs. "This is Jeno Lee. He's your new co-star."

"What!" Jaemin yelled, standing from the couch.

"What?" Jeno asked at the same time, staring stupidly between the two.

"Mrs. Sweda, with all due respect, Jeno has no experience or the credentials to even work here, and with children for that matter. Is he CPR certified? Does he have acting experience?" Jaemin scoffed when Mrs. Sweda shook her head, and Jeno was appalled at the audacity of him. He already took one thing from Jeno and now he was trying to ruin another? Hell no. Jeno would not lose at the hands of Jaemin Na ever again.

"I was a swim coach for a children's division at the Y(MCA), so yes, I am certified. How sweet of you to be concerned for the children." Jeno smiled and patted Jaemin's side in a condescending manner. Rapunzel's dress was silky beneath Jeno's fingertips, and if his pat lingered longer than necessary on Jaemin's slim waist, that was his business. God, it sucked that someone as pretty as Jaemin had an ugly personality, or people would be tripping over themselves for a chance with him.

"Jaemin, I understand your frustrations. I know you liked Anthony, but he quit-"

"What?" Jaemin interjected, eyes wide. "You think I liked Anthony? Mrs. Sweda, every single day Anthony found some way to violate my personal bubble in front of the children and say awful, crude things behind the scenes. I liked Flynn Ryder because that's my job, and I'm a good actor."

Mrs. Sweda rubbed her eyes and sighed. "Look," she said sternly, "just give it a trial run today, and if it sucks, I'll consider other options."

"No, you won't. You say that every time." Jaemin laughed humourlessly and grabbed Jeno's wrist. "Come on, Jeno, let me show you to the dressing rooms."

The dressing rooms turned out to be a small trailer buried behind Rapunzel's tower. It reeked of Axe body spray and a sugary perfume that made Jeno's head hurt. There was a metal rolling rack of clothes nestled in the corner and a couch next to it, covered in suspicious stains.

Jaemin saw him staring and laughed. "Tell me about it. I'm pretty sure the white stains are, you know, but no one will fess up. The red is either gatorade or period blood, can't say for sure. And do you see those teeny tiny red dots all along the arm rest." Jeno nodded. "That's when I punched Anthony in the nose. Shit got everywhere, but it was totally worth it."

Jaemin walked to the rack of clothes and Jeno followed wordlessly. He didn't know what to say anymore; he was in Jaemin's territory now, and one wrong move would get him killed. So he stayed still while Jaemin walked around him in that stupidly long wig, eyeing his measurements and picking at his clothes. When Jaemin was measuring his shoulder width, Jeno could see the edges of his green contacts, where his painted blush exposed his natural tan skin. For a second, Jaemin relaxed, and it reminded Jeno of his days in the theater. The face Jaemin made when a show went well and the audience wasn't laughing at his sad excuse of a cast.

"Jaemin, why do you put up with it?" Jeno asked, taking the clothing items from Jaemin's hands.

"What else am I supposed to do? Nobody on Broadway wants to hire a boy from a shitty theater program in Orlando." Jaemin shrugged and replaced the pants in Jeno's arms with bigger ones.

"But you're good." Jeno persisted, tossing his t-shirt onto the suspicious couch. "It doesn't take a random talent scout to see that."

"That's the problem. They don't take Disney actors seriously, and I don't blame them. No offense to you, but look! They hired you with zero acting experience, and I worked my ass off for years to get here." Jaemin bit the inside of his cheek and shook his head. "It's not fair, but whatever. Payback, I guess."

Jeno changed into the itchy costume and sat quietly in the torn rolling chair as Jaemin did his makeup and hair. Really, the entire Tangled Disney experience would struggle without Jaemin around, and nobody seemed to care about him. Which led him to another question.

"Why did you give up with Mrs. Sweda?"

"What do you mean?" Jaemin mumbled around the hair clips in his mouth. He parted Jeno's hair with a fine-toothed comb that scratched his scalp, clipping one side into a messy bun.

"The Jaemin I know wouldn't stop fighting until I was gone from the acting business forever. So, what's up? Ow! Watch it, bitchface."

"You watch it, dickmouth." Jaemin jokingly pulled his hair again with a smug smile. "Well, Anthony was a perv, so was the guy before him, and before him, and blah, blah, blah. At least if it's you, I know I won't be treated like dirt. For what it's worth, Jeno, you're not a bad dude. You just have shitty taste in friends."

Jeno hadn't spoken to his teammates since school ended, but he heard some awful things about them through their mutual aquaintences. They smoked too much weed and slept with too many girls to be happy. Jeno was glad he cut off contact.

"That's fair." Jeno shrugged, making Jaemin curse as one of his precious clips tumbled to the floor. "For what it's worth, Jaemin, I forgave you a long time ago."

Jaemin pulled his hair again, and Jeno slapped his arm playfully.

"Yeah, well, I didn't. So don't get too cocky, Jeno Lee." Jaemin's smile told him otherwise, but Jeno played along, grinning at him through the mirror.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Jaemin Na."