HIKE

23 | girlfriend helpline

"morning, jae," said donghyuck the following morning. he was in a surprisingly good mood - for once.

jaemin just groaned and remained still, lying on his front with his face squished against the inflatable pillow.

donghyuck slapped his ass, making jaemin yell out in protest. "wake up, you fat nerd," he laughed. "i'm going for a shower, 'kay?"

jaemin grunted again and listened to the unzipping and rezipping of the tent door as donghyuck left with his shower stuff. being the light sleeper he was, there was no way jaemin was getting back to sleep now, so he eventually rolled over onto his back and yawned.

"knock, knock?" said a voice from just outside.

alarm bells instantly started going off in jaemin's head. that voice was a very special voice, a very beautiful voice, and a voice that made him very fucking nervous.

"yeah?" he called sleepily.

nancy unzipped the tent door a little and stuck her head in. "eunbin made pasta and i thought you might want some," she said with a shy smile.

"oh," said jaemin - and anything, anything he could've said would've been a better option.

nancy's face fell a little with disappointment. "uh... i mean, if you don't like pasta then it's okay, i just-"

"no!" jaemin yelped, instantly sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "i love pasta, i don't know what i'm saying..."

nancy looked a little relieved then. "really? well, i brought some in a bowl-"

"come in, come in," jaemin beckoned through another big yawn, and nancy welcomed herself into the tent where she sat cross legged in the space where donghyuck's sleeping bag had once been.

jaemin wondered how donghyuck had mananged to pack it away so quickly, damn.

"here you go," said nancy, offering him the pasta, "it's penne with a tomato sauce-"

she cut herself off when jaemin opened his mouth expectantly, and she started giggling instead. "you big baby," nancy said, whilst feeding jaemin a piece of pasta.

"i'm tired," jaemin pouted in protest.

jaemin did and said all kinds of things he wouldn't normally when he was tired.

"how are you feeling?" nancy asked then, instinctively reaching out to press a hand to jaemin's forehead. she retreated though, embarrassed, and passed it off by feeding him another pasta piece.

"better," jaemin admitted, "yesterday was pretty shit, but i'm feeling okay now."

he prised the fork out of nancy's hand and took it for himself, going in to feed her a piece of pasta in return. nancy leaned in, lips parted, but her gaze drifted away from the fork and lingered on jaemin's lips for a moment too long.

it was like a million different signals were being sent to jaemin's brain in that moment. slowly lowering the pasta back into the bowl, he tilted his head and closed his eyes, slowly leaning in too.

"nancy, get your ass over here and help me wash up!"

the yell from outside was enough to make nancy look over her shoulder in response. it broke the moment and jaemin's eyes snapped open again.

"you can finish this," nancy said, gesturing to the pasta, "i should go."

however before leaving, she leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to jaemin's cheekbone, her own cheeks blushing rosily. jaemin sat there gaping, stunned, as she left the tent and zipped it up behind her.