119 • NOMIN ✔️

i like it like that

Jaemin was bored, to say the least. There wasn't much to look at, and all the other members seemed to be mildly paying attention to what their manager was saying. He thought that he should try as well, but meetings like these didn't really interest him, and Jaemin knew Jeno would tell him after anyway.

He glanced around at the boys that surrounded him, smiling softly. The past few months had been quite hard on all of them, with Mark's departure from Dream affecting them more than they thought it would. It hadn't really been until Mark left that they realised how different things were. It was the small things, like Mark not being in this meeting eating on some watermelons, or Mark not dragging them to practice dances to their older songs, even though they were on break, that made them all realise how important both Mark and everyone else on this team were. They all knew that Mark was still their brother and best friend, but it still hurt. It felt wrong to be discussing a new era of Dream without him, but he supposed that's just how it was. Jaemin didn't even know where he'd be this time next year, so he tried his best not to worry about it, but sometimes he couldn't help it.

He looked over at Jeno, who was taking down neat notes in his notepad, listening intently to the words of their manager and the other important people. Jaemin had forgotten their names already. He rolled his eyes as Jeno carried on his note taking, muttering "Nerd" under his breath as his eyes moved to Renjun and Haechan, who sat next to each other, annoyed yet slightly amused expressions on their faces. He assumed they were fighting underneath the table, which wouldn't surprise anyone at all. His head turned then to look at Chenle and Jisung, who both looked nearly as bored as Jaemin. Jisung had somehow snuck his phone underneath the table, playing some sort of game as Chenle glanced at him enviously from time to time, only causing Jisung to smirk at him. Jaemin shook his head at the two of them, remembering how that was him and Jeno before their debut, always bored, just wanting to play and have fun. He missed those days.

Jaemin sighed, letting his eyes now wander around the room itself, his brain counting the bricks that were exposed along the back wall. Yeah, he was really bored.

Jeno waved goodbye to the people as they left the meeting, placing his pen down and glancing over his notes quickly. He knew Jaemin would ask later on about it.

"Why do you even take notes Jeno? You know we finished school like two years ago?" Haechan snorted, leaning against the table to look at him. Jeno glared at the younger, shutting his notebook with a loud bang, causing Renjun to jump slightly, "Shut up, I believe you're the one always asking me for them anyway."

Haechan stuck his tongue out at Jeno, causing the elder to wonder how Haechan could possibly even be 18, supposedly turning 19 this year. His birth certificate must be fake.

Renjun pushed his chair back, deciding to leave before Haechan and Jeno started cat fighting, which would only cause Jaemin to get involved, and he knew that was a brat fight he definitely did not want to be involved in. Haechan noticed the boy next to him attempting to sneak away immediately, and much to Renjun's delight, Haechan had decided to let Jeno off right now and to follow him instead. Renjun sighed, mumbling a goodbye to Jeno and Jaemin, bolting out the door, with a smaller tanned boy trailing behind him.

"Haechan is crazy," Jeno declared, turning to look at Jaemin. It was only the two of them now, as Chenle and Jisung had disappeared, probably playing video games at this very second. Jaemin was staring at the wall, a concentration look on his face, his lips moving apart ever so slightly. Jeno couldn't help but look at Jaemin. He never quite understood how Jaemin managed to look so good at every moment. His hair was a dull brown now, and ir cascaded over his forehead, making his eyes somehow look bigger. His cheeks were glazed with the slightest hint of pink, and Jeno wondered what the boy was thinking of, to be off in such deep concentration.