trio / jaemin + jeno

05

"do you think the date is going well?"

"mhm."

"do you think they're having fun right now?"

"definitely."

"do you think we should spy on them?"

"jeno, please." haeryeong snorted and laid her head on her arms. "let them have peace for once."

"i can't believe i'm the one who got the nickname jenojaem when you're the one who has absolutely no jams at all," jeno clicked his tongue and muttered about how haeryeong has no jams at all. sitting opposite jeno, haeryeong was too sleep-deprived to reply with anything. she had stayed up doing god-knows-what, and jeno didn't even want to know about it.

"hey," haeryeong started hoarsely, bringing jeno's attention to her. "what?"

"before we could walk, what was it that we do all day? eat and sleep? is that all? man, i wish i could go back to the old days." haeryeong sighed, her voice muffled as she buried her face into her arms. jeno snickered a little, his eyes forming little crescent before replying, "hmm, i guess so."

"i wonder what nana is doing right now." haeryeong continued her little pointless ramble, talking about whatever comes to her mind first. jeno had grown used to this, it was one of her usual things she does when she's sleep-deprived. he even woke up to her nonsensical texts a few times at two in the morning. "is he enjoying the pancakes? as i said that, he's probably already sipping his drink. maybe he's talking to haru. i wonder what are they talking about."

"with jae around, you never know what he's up to." jeno said. "he might even be talking about that phrase he learnt in thai."

"karb," haeryeong bursted into a fit of giggles. jeno stared at her in disbelief, holding himself back from laughing at how lame his bestfriend actually is. he went quiet for a moment, thinking that the atmosphere would be more fun with jaemin around. it wasn't that jeno isn't enjoying haeryeong's company, it's one of those days when he felt like they - himself and haeryeong - were missing a piece of themselves. and that one piece was jaemin.

they decided to play some simple games of rock-paper-scissors to kill the time. as usual, the trio's version of rock-paper-scissors involved the winner slapping the loser as the punishment. so far, jeno and haeryeong were tied and they both were fuming, the need to win getting stronger as each moment passed by.

"rock! paper! scissors!" haeryeong yelled, her voice echoing throughout the empty cafeteria in the mall. a few passerby jumped, startled, but they looked away afterwards and continued on their way. jeno had his eyebrows pulled together, determined to win this round. he has to win, otherwise his pride will be hurt.

(don't mind these two, they just hate losing and love being the winner.)

jeno had rock out and haeryeong had scissors out. she let out a yell as jeno cheered happily and slapped her cheek giddily, sticking his tongue out in front of her just to tick her off. jeno leaned his chin onto his palm, eyeing haeryeong - who had stopped yelling - smugly. it was really hard to be mad at him when his eyesmiles appear.

"looooooseeeeer." jeno dragged out the word just to tick haeryeong off. she let out a "tsk" and turned away, ignoring him and his attempt to annoy her. jeno did a few more weird actions to get her attention again but she was still not bothering to move and look at him.

while those two cheeky teenagers were doing that, they didn't notice their bestfriend walking towards them with his shoulders slumped. jaemin had a visible frown on his face, a frown that makes people think "oh my god, did his pet fish die?" or even "oh my god, did something happen to his family?".

jeno and haeryeong did not notice jaemin until he finally arrived at their table. they both shot up from their seats with excited looks that instantly fell when they were met with jaemin's sad gaze.

"okay, tell me what she did and i'll beat her up - "

"i didn't get to finish the pancakes." jaemin stared up at the ceiling, leaving haeryeong a bit stunned. was it just that? did she just threaten haru for not letting jaemin finish his free pancakes?

jeno, who could relate to how jaemin felt, pulled him into a hug and patted his back. haeryeong was reminded of this meme where these two guys were hugging each other and almost forgot the main reason why the three of them were at the mall. "how was the date?"

"that.." jaemin trailed off, his tone even sadder than before. (if it was even possible.) "she broke up with me."

silence.

"she didn't deserve you anyway, jae! you deserve someone way better, someone who appreciates you!"

"yes, nana. it's okay. don't beat yourself up for this, okay? there's many more fishes in the sea."

the two bestfriends continued showering their sad bestfriend with comfort and love, the three of them in a tight hug. jaemin was overwhelmed by everything - he really appreciated the support his bestfriends gave him when he needed it the most. losing haru was something worse, but jaemin couldn't even bring himself to think what would happen if he didn't have jeno and haeryeong by his side.

"i," jaemin was speechless. really, he was. "i.. thank you so much, guys. i really appreciate you both and everything.. you do for me."

"we appreciate you more, nana!" haeryeong grinned and jeno nodded in agreement, both having wide smiles on their faces. haeryeong ruffled jaemin's hair and pulled both of the boys closer, "we're always here for you, nana. no matter what. don't forget that, okay?"

jaemin felt like he was on the top of the world.

the trio stood in the middle of the empty cafeteria in a tight hug, appreciating each other's presence. at that moment, they all had forgotten what the definition of sadness was. because really, how could you be sad when your bestfriend is with you?

jeno was the first to pull away from the hug. he had the brightest eyesmile on his face as he exclaimed, "let's all go get ice cream and watch movie together!"

the rest of the day was spent well, even though it started off badly.

--

(a/n)

i lOVE LOVE LOVE this chapter so much as i think that it brings out the main idea of this story, ah!!! i'm also sorry that i haven't updated for two whole months :-( skkdjdfkf oh my god. i hope you all have been well though!

p.s. did anyone catch the two nct references in this chapter? let me know what it is! xo