reminisce 》jaeyong

25

Although difficult, Taeyong had decided to just get this over with, even engaging in a little conversation with Jaehyun. Not much, but it was a start.

"Do you remember that weekend we went up camping?" Johnny chuckled, forking another bit of food into his mouth.

Knowing exactly what he was referring to, Doyoung grinned. "And I heard those sounds outside my tent? I was so convinced it was you or Jaehyun trying to pull something, but it was really just a bear!"

"If I remember correctly, we had to go home a few days early because it ate all our food." Jaehyun muttered, remembering how they almost starved.

"Johnny was so sure he could keep us alive for a few more days, so he tried catching us fish, but just kept falling in the river instead." Taeyong gave the American a smile, ignoring the look he received.

"That's our outdoors man." Jaehyun mocked the older, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, at least I tried." Johnny chuckled, reminded of the freezing water and his unfruitful attempts. "Taeyong was seconds away from feeding us poison berries."

Oh, how Taeyong had hoped that fact would be forgotten. The Lee mumbled, his eyes dropping to his plate. "They looked like blueberries, ok?"

"Well it's a good thing we had a full tank of gas because we all would have died out there, no question." Doyoung snickered, not very impressed by their wildlife skills.

"Now we know that we are just not wilderness people and that we should never go camping again." Jaehyun eyed them all. Sure it was an eventful experience, but he'd do it again in a heartbeat.

"You got that right." Johnny was so glad he agreed to meet up, he didn't know why they didn't do this years ago.

Taking a sip of his drink, the American was reminded of another event. "Do you remember when Jaehyun got suspended for blowing up the science lab?"

All eyes went to the Jung except Doyoung's, which were closed with laughter.

"The best part was Jaehyun wasn't even the one that did it." The Kim's accusing attention turned to the silent boy at the table.

"Listen," Taeyong groaned, his gaze diverted. "How was I supposed to know that those two chemicals together would create an explosion? I was failing that class for a reason!"

"Luckily no one got hurt." Jaehyun smiled, remembering Taeyong's shocked expression the moment his experiment went wrong. "It was an honest mistake."

"Yes, and Taeyong pawned the blame off on someone else." Doyoung stated, painting the Lee as some bully. 

"That's not true! I tried taking responsibility for it, but Jaehyun wouldn't let me!" The accused retorted, eyes on the Jung. "It's not like I asked him to!"

"Why did you do it?" Johnny was genuinely curious, he'd never heard the other side of the story.

Jaehyun just shrugged.

"Taeyong was months away from graduation and already in trouble with his parents." His eyes traveled to the mentioned Lee, his gaze soft. "Why wouldn't I?"