Just Dudes Being Guys (or gays) // nomin/jaeno

48. prom night

do you smell the end?

Jaemin nervously steps into the restaurant with his parents and examines his surroundings. He immediately spots Jeno standing with his mom and dad, getting negatively startled to see the latter, who was supposed to be abroad. His hearts breaks a little at the fact that all graduates are accompanied by their parents while Renjun is alone since his are in China.

The boy waves at his friend, calling out his name and the latter dashes to him smiling happily.

"Mom, dad, this is the most talented, funniest, intellectual and as you see handsome boy and my close friend, Renjun", he puts his arm around the boy's shoulder and Renjun does the same.

"He kinda exaggerated but this is true. Nice to meet you Mr and Mrs Na. Jaemin, you look like your mom, she's beautiful"

"Oh, you are so adorable, I bet our Jaeminie kisses and hugs you a lot, he's so addicted to skinship", the woman flashes the boy a bright smile and her husband laughs heartily.

"Yes, I'm sick of him to be honest", he pretends to be annoyed but then bursts out laughing and the others follow him.

"Look, Jaemin, over there. It's your friend Jeno, I'm dying to meet his parents", Mr Na rushes towards the Lee family and Jaemin follows him sighing.

The families get along well, though Mr Lee keeps a distance as usual. Jeno approaches the younger and nudges his side smiling,
"Hey, your parents are amazing like you"

The boy flashes him a smile and nods, "Yeah, I know, they are the best"

Jaemin looks around once again and spots Wonyoung, who's coyly gazing at them from afar. He heads to her and she happily smiles.

"You look stunning, my little princess", the boy hugs her and tilts their bodies from side to side.

"You too! You are the cutest boy in this room", the girl chimes and examines his face with a little smile,
"They said we're gonna dance in a couple of minutes, be prepared"

The school principal makes a long boring speech and finally all the couples take their dancing positions. Jaemin can't help noticing that everyone around is pointing at him, whispering to each other enthralled. At first he wonders why but then remembers that he dyed his hair and giggles to himself. The music starts off and all the pairs start twirling and circling, mesmerizing the audience.

"You said we're lovers today!", Wonyoung utters in a low voice and grins as they face each other.

"Sure", he grins back crinkling his nose in a cute way.

The moment the music ends and the couples bow, they're greeted with loud applause and cheers. Jaemin turns his head to the side a bit and meets Jeno's eyes, who looks at him troubled. However, at their eye contact the boy smiles immediately and the younger does the same.

After a couple of dances and performances it's Jeno and Minjoo's turn. The boy starts to play the guitar and Jaemin immediately recognizes the song as it's one of his favorites, 'Peter Pan' by EXO. He used to listen to this song since he was a little boy and it made him a better person in a way. Jeno plays the guitar singing along with the girl with a frown then he finally looks up and meets Jaemin's eyes. The younger could bet that at that moment it hit both of them that it's the end; all they had together through the years is over. It makes him feel so unbearably sad that he can't even cry, yet he gets frozen at the spot unable to move.

The song finally ends and when Jeno passes by him looking down, as if in a slow motion, Jaemin feels his heart plummeting down and breaking into pieces. He realizes that it's not just because he loves the boy, but because it's time to finally grow up. Face the harsh reality of life, which is merciless and full of disappointment. He's not Peter Pan, his name is Na Jaemin. He doesn't live in Neverland, he lives in the cruel world, where society never fails to make you feel useless and stupid. All this time their life with Jeno was all fun and games. Just a couple of spoiled brats going crazy and being reckless and selfish, that's what they were.

Maybe Jeno was right? They should care for their family, listen to them and follow their paths. They went through this phase, so their parents probably knew what's best for the boys. The older's father is an intelligent and successful man, who created a perfect childhood for his son with his hard work and persistence so the latter was right to obey him.

"Sweetie, I want you to play something for us, you do it so well but very rarely"

Jaemin snaps out of his thoughts distracted by his mother's voice and blinks at her gaping.

"Play something?"

He looks down thoughtfully and it hits him again that it's actually a good idea to leave all of his past: his love, childhood, fun, friendship, all these precious moments here, with a song. He makes up his mind and smiles upon the melody he decides to play. The melody which is full of miracle and magic, the melody which depicts all his life up to this day which he first heard watching the anime he loves the most: Howl's moving castle.

He walks to the piano and takes a seat before inhaling deep and running his fingers on the tiles gracefully. He closes his eyes to feel every sound of it, smiling both from happiness and sadness. Everything seems to stop around him, since he can't hear any sound but the gorgeous music he's creating.

Jaemin doesn't know how many minutes pass until he hits the last note, his head falling down and his chest heaving from excitement. It takes the boy a while to collect the pieces of his gracefully shattered heart before he stands up and heads to the door neglecting the loud cheers and claps of people around. He feels a pair of hands grabbing him by shoulders and gets thrilled turning around and seeing a familiar smile full of care and kindness.

"Jaemin, dear, please stay for a while"

Jaehyun. Jeno's older brother who used to be one for him as well. He used to take care of Jaemin for so many years and supported their friendship or something more to the fullest.

He encloses the gaping boy into a tight embrace and he hugs back, feeling incredibly happy all of a sudden. It's when Jaehyun leans to his ear and whispers the words that make the boy's heart skip a beat and jump to his throat.

"Jaemin, be patient and you will be so happy. Just stay here and wait, trust me" 

Jaehyun, i love this guy btw, he's a god
thanx to my lovely reader for votes and feedback.