RENDEZVOUS

07 | safety first

saturday rolled around and by six fifty jaemin was bounding down the stairs, all dressed and ready to go, wondering if 10,000 won was too thrifty for a birthday gift.

"hyung!" he called, checking his phone one more time before he reached the bottom of the staircase.

jaehyun had promised to drive him to xiyeon's house for the party, but he was nowhere to be seen. jaemin looked down at his outfit whilst he waited for him: lightwash skinny jeans, baby pink sweatshirt, white converse. he didn't look too bad, he reasoned with himself.

at that moment, jaehyun rushed past him to the front door, shoving on his shoes at top speed. he was debating over two jackets and held them up for jaemin to see. "what do you think, jae? leather or denim?"

jaemin blinked at him. "uh..."

"leather looks hot!" a voice called from the living room.

jaehyun smiled bashfully and started sliding an arm into the black leather jacket. "you think so, yongie?" he stuck his head into the living room where a guy with hair the colour of candyfloss was playing gta on the family playstation.

jaemin trailed after him, still feeling a little confused.

"duh, i'm always right," said lee taeyong from where he was curled up on the couch, being swallowed up by a mountain of fuzzy pillows.

jaemin wasn't even surprised at this point. jaehyun and taeyong had been best friends since kindergarten, inseperable from the day they'd met. taeyong had gotten into the habit of letting himself in and using their tv and their food, and the family had gotten so used to him that they let him do it.

it was a common occurence to find taeyong in the house at any given time, his pink and white vintage car parked out the front. he and jaehyun spent almost every waking (and sometimes sleeping) moment together... or they had before jaehyun started dating yeri last year. that didn't stop taeyong from coming over though.

"uh... hyung?" jaemin frowned up at jaehyun. "are you going somewhere...?"

"yeah, yeri asked me to come round," jaehyun answered, "why- oh... oh my god, jae, i'm so sorry, i totally forgot."

"what's going on?" taeyong asked, his head popping up from the other side of the sofa, blinking in the cutest way possible.

jaehyun sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "jaemin's got a party tonight and i completely forgot about it," he groaned. "i'm supposed to take him, but i've also got to get to yeri's and she lives on the opposite side of town. what am i supposed to-"

"i'll take him!"

"wait, you will?!" jaehyun's face lit up and he ran over to hug taeyong roughly and squish his cheeks before rushing off again. "thank you so much, yongie! i owe you one. you really think leather looks hot?"

"on you it does," taeyong quipped with a cheeky grin.

jaehyun was beaming as he came back in having grabbed his phone and keys. "thanks," he smiled back at taeyong. "right, jae, you okay for taeyong to drop you down? have fun, don't drink too much, and call me if you need anything, okay?"

"yeah, yeah, whatever you say, hyung," jaemin agreed, nodding his head.

"what he really means," said taeyong, pausing his game and leaping up out of the pillow den he'd created, "is drink until you pass out and call me in the morning to bring you painkillers."

"tae!" jaehyun protested from where he was already halfway out the front door, "you are such a bad influence!"

taeyong smirked. "i know," he said. "right, mini jae, you get a ride in the batmobile tonight!"