Mid Summer

twenty one,

Donghyuck didn't go to the library. He went straight back to his dorm, quite violently throwing the door open.

He was mad.

Really, really mad.

And maybe he was also a tad sad, but his anger was blinding him at the moment.

"You're gonna break the door," Jeno says, sounding surprised because of how much anger Donghyuck had possessed in this moment. "And I'm too broke to pay for repairs."

"You," Donghyuck starts, pointing a finger at Jeno. "You're gullible, aren't you?"

Raising his eyebrows in surprise, because Donghyuck doesn't speak to him, let alone speak to him like that.

"Why?"

Donghyuck scoffs, something akin to a smirk coming onto his features.

"Where's Jaemin?" He settles on asking.

Jeno doesn't know why Jaemin's location would matter to Donghyuck, but he answers nonetheless.

"He said he had to go buy some school supplies," Jeno shrugs. "Why?"

"You believe him?" The younger asks, cocking a head to the side.

Slowly, Jeno nods. Why wouldn't he believe Jaemin? Why shouldn't he believe Jaemin.

"Jaemin doesn't lie, Jaemin hates liars," Jeno points out matter of factly, not knowing how much he was humouring Donghyuck.

Because Jaemin did lie, and at the moment, was the embodiment of a hypocrite.

"Well, Jeno hyung," Donghyuck starts, startling Jeno by, one, sitting next to him on the bed, and two, calling him hyung. Donghyuck has never done that, and Jeno didn't know how to feel about it. "Jaemin is lying to you."

It's how blunt Donghyuck is which catches Jeno off guard at first, instead of the statement which left the younger's mouth.

Jeno frowns.

"He wouldn't." It's not a protest, and it's not Jeno standing up for Jaemin. It's more of Jeno trying to convince himself that Jaemin wouldn't lie, especially to him.

"I didn't think Mark hyung would lie to me, but there's a first time for everything."

Jeno ignores that sentence, his mind is still struggling to wrap around the fact that Jaemin had lied to him.

If he wasn't out buying school supplies, then what was he doing? What couldn't he tell Jeno?

Before he knew it, Jeno was getting mad. His temper wasn't something which was a problem, but something seemed to trigger it when he heard Jaemin was lying to him.

Perhaps this was how the younger felt when Jeno lied to him.

"Whoa there," Donghyuck chuckles, but there's no humour in it. He eyes Jeno's slight glare and hard expression for a few seconds before continuing. "No need to get mad at him." He says simply, truly meaning what he said.

For starters, Donghyuck wasn't even mad at Jaemin. He was mad at what Jaemin did, but he didn't blame the younger in the slightest. Because Jaemin is acting upon his feelings, and Donghyuck knows that once you're intrigued and infatuated, there isn't really much running through your mind in the logical sense.

Plus, Donghyuck can't be mad at Jaemin for liking his boyfriend when Donghyuck likes Jaemin's boyfriend.

So no, he isn't mad at Jaemin.

And Jeno shouldn't be either.

"What do you mean?" Jeno asks, voice very monotone.

"He's on a date with Mark."

Suddenly, the glare is wiped off of Jeno's face and his expression goes from hard to soft.

Donghyuck must feel hurt too, Jeno thinks.

If Mark was out on a date with someone who wasn't Donghyuck, Jeno was sure the latter would be angry and upset too.

So he doesn't know why Donghyuck was handling it so well.

For some reason, it was quite eerie.

"And you're okay with that?" The elder asks, genuinely curious because the Donghyuck that he knows, (granted, the Donghyuck he knows is a Donghyuck he doesn't know too well) would've been flipping his shit and searching for Jaemin to castrate him right about now.

Donghyuck nods his head, much to Jeno's surprise.

"Jaemin is Mark's soulmate. It was bound to happen at some point, Mark hyung falling for him," he says, and Jeno is just so shocked, because there is not one ounce of bitterness in his voice. "And I don't really care. I'm open to... Multiple partners," Donghyuck shrugs.

Jeno doesn't think much about what Donghyuck said about multiple partners, because he was okay with that too.

"You're okay with Jaemin?" That was what he was thinking about, since he knows about how much Donghyuck had loathed Jaemin to begin with.

Unsurprisingly, Donghyuck shakes his head.

"I don't know," the younger replies. "Maybe someday."

The next few seconds go on in silence, Jeno forgetting about his anger and trying to dismiss the fact that Jaemin hadn't told him what he was doing. The younger must've been scared of Jeno's reaction, and Jeno deems it unfair if he gets angry and blows up because he's done the exact same thing before because he was afraid of Jaemin's reaction.

But then, Donghyuck speaks.

"Plus, I can't be mad at Mark hyung for asking someone else on a date when I like someone else too."

Jeno eyes almost bulge out of his eye sockets at what Donghyuck says.

The younger smirks without looking at Jeno, but he can feel the elder's gaze on him. 

"You're hot." Donghyuck says, and he doesn't even have to look at Jeno to know that the elder is blushing. "So I don't have the right to be mad at Mark. If I'm being honest right now, I wanna go on a date with you."

Donghyuck was so blunt and so straightforward that sometimes Jeno couldn't keep up. Now being a good example.

"M-Me?" Jeno stutters, pointing a finger to himself when Donghyuck finally looks at him. "You like me?"

Donghyuck remains calm, nodding his head.

Although the fear of rejection is burning inside him, he pushes it deep down and tries to focus on how this could positively.

"B-But I'm dating Jaemin—"

Donghyuck cuts the elder off with a snort.

"Haven't you been paying attention to this whole conversation? Your boyfriend is on a date with my boyfriend. We're all liars and cheaters Jeno, there's no reason for you to play good cop. I've seen the way you look at Mark hyung like he's the best thing that's ever happened to you anyways, cut the bullshit. Just admit that you've fallen for someone who isn't Na Jaemin."

Jeno blushes when Donghyuck mentions how he looks at Mark, and he's amazed at how on point Donghyuck is with the description.

"You wanna go on a date with me?" Jeno mumbles, eyeing the younger up and down when the revives a nod as a response.

A smile breaks its way onto his face. 

"Then I'll take you on a date."