The Clockmaker's Son #1: Renounced (Lee Jooheon of Monsta X x Reader fanfic)

Part Three: Everyday

Ding! Ding! You awoke to the sound of your notification bell going off. The bright tinkles noisily rang throughout your small bedroom, forcing you to sit up and sleepily rub your eyes. Was that your alarm? You didn't recall it just being a few bells?

Picking your mobile phone up from its spot on the bedside table, you peered at the screen in the darkness. They... were all messages from Jooheon. Seven in total. You checked the unblinking digital time on your phone. 4:24 a.m. Suppressing a groan of frustration, you instead unlocked your device to check on those texts.

[Lee Jooheon] Y/N! Good morning!

[Lee Jooheon] Let's have a good day today yeah?

[Lee Jooheon] Y/N FIGHTING~!

These texts were followed by four selfies, two of them being mirror selfies. You stifled a yawn, having had a late night last night due to study. Looks like Jooheon was working just as hard. Though... He really didn't have to send you any messages this early in the morning. Still, it was cute he thought of you at this time.

You typed out a grateful text for him, reminding him to stay hydrated and not to overwork himself. Pausing for a moment, you proceeded to ask him if he wanted to have breakfast with you later at the café opposite Spaceship Entertainment. Hitting "Send", you rubbed your eyes some more, deciding that you might as well climb out of bed now and get ready for the day. The reply didn't come for another half hour. You were in the middle of brushing your teeth in the shower when the notification bell sang out from your dorm bedroom.

Speedily getting through the rest of the shower, you hurried out to the phone wrapped up in a fluffy towel.

[Lee Jooheon] breakfast sounds good!

[Lee Jooheon] how about we get something to eat at 8am?

[Lee Jooheon] you're awake early tho haha

You contemplated blaming him for your being up early but in reality you really could've just ignored those texts earlier today. Either that or left your phone on silent. You'd been friends with him long enough to know about his early-morning-texting habit.

[S/N Y/N] something, something early bird gets the worm?

[Lee Jooheon] that's the spirit!

[Lee Jooheon] oh hyungwon's back ill c u later

[S/N Y/N] see ya

Tying your wet bangs out of your eyes, you began dressing, wondering what you should have as a snack before breakfast with Jooheon. It was only half past five, so you still had a lot of time until the meeting.

'Maybe I should do some revision...' You wondered aloud, pursing your lips together.

When it came to study, you didn't really enjoy it. However, from a very young age you'd been made it a habit to keep on top of things to avoid the unnecessary stress schoolwork tended to put on the people around you. The result of that was you having no real hobbies to pursue, meaning that in your free time you'd simply revise some more or study an optional topic of the classes you were taking.

Despite this, you knew your body well enough to take a break when it was required. Jooheon did too. But he would continue to work and push himself until he collapsed. It's happened quite a few times, as Hoseok had mentioned during the pizza lunch outing. You'd had a feeling that Jooheon overexerting was a thing, but he'd never told you about it, perhaps to spare you the worry.

'...'

Dressed now, you pulled out the hair-tie out of your bangs, checking yourself in the mirror. What a modest outfit. It was only breakfast after all. You spent your time on some revision.

'I'm late again!' Jooheon announced remorsefully, dashing into the café and finding his seat opposite you. He pulled out the chair so quickly that it fell, causing a ruckus that drew the attention of the other customers.

'Jooheon...' You were a little embarrassed but this was quite natural. You find it more amusing than anything else.

'Sorry! Sorry!' Jooheon instinctively bowed to the surrounding patrons before bowing deeply to you. 'I didn't mean to be late again Y/N. I was just training and the time got away from me and-'

You gently smiled throughout his mini-rant, knowing full-well how akin to a broken record this all sounded. Hadn't he spouted the exact same thing last time when he'd forgotten about your park lunch together?

'-anyway what I really mean to say is I'm really, really sorry!'

'I know you are Jooheon, you don't need to explain yourself every time you are.'

This only seemed to make him feel guiltier.

'B-But-!'

'That aside, do you want to order something now?' Your gentle smile remained.

You knew Jooheon. You knew full-well what type of person he was. His habits. His dreams. His fears. You were the one who chose to stay. So he shouldn't have to apologise every time. Though... I suppose it would be nice to have him turn up to an outing on time. But hey, nobody's perfect.

The two of you ordered some coffee and cakes, happily bantering over the small, round table in front of you. Slowly you watched the guilt from earlier ebb out of Jooheon's expression and body language. You felt happiness seeing him happy again.

'There's this one move I'm practising and Changkyun is always telling me to be careful because he thinks I'll sprain my ankle doing it.'

'Really? Have you almost sprained it though?'

'There've been a few close calls where I've landed badly,' was his thoughtful reply. 'Ah but I didn't end up spraining my ankle! My foot just hurt for a little bit before passing.'

'Jooheon.' You let out a dramatic sigh, making him loudly deny having hurt himself at all. You ignored his clearly false statements. 'You need to take better care of yourself Jooheon. Even if it's with training. Don't push yourself into doing a tough move if you're already fatigued.'

'But I wasn't! I was fresh as a daisy!'

'For some reason I doubt that.'

'Y/N!'

Jooheon huffed and pouted his cheeks, scarfing down the rest of his cake in order to soothe himself. You couldn't help but giggle at his stuffed cheeks.

'It's good that you're so enthusiastic about training but... Please take care of yourself. Take lots of breaks, okay? You're still a trainee so...'

Jooheon leaned back into his seat, nudging at the crumbs on his plate with the small, silver fork.

'But that's exactly why I should train harder Y/N. I'm only a trainee. I need to prove myself to the company that I'm worth debuting.'

'Jooheon...'

'And the other trainees are worth debuting too. They're so cool and so talented... If I can, I'd want to be able to debut alongside them.'

Hmm, perhaps you'd been a bit ignorant to his situation... You apologised for this, but he quickly reassured you that it was alright.

'You're worried about me,' he mumbled, cheeks a little pink. 'So it's okay... I understand.'

...Why was he blushing?

You thanked him for his understanding, unable to stop blushing yourself.