Chasing Him (Nomin/Jaeno Fanfic)

3 days after the crisis

Jaemin had been dreading this day. The day he had to face the music, face Jeno. He lay awake at night up until his alarm went off. No use of an alarm if I'm awake before it goes off, he thought. He got up and started to pick up all his stuff off the floor. The night before, Jaemin was trying to get downstairs to grab another box of tissues because of all the on and off crying. In the process of walking to his door in the dark, he knocked over his school bag and literally everything else in his way. He was too lazy and tired to pick up the clutter.

"Good morning, Jaemin. What would you like for breakfast?" Jungwoo asked, his focus still on flipping his omelette.

"Eh..." Jaemin groaned.

"That would mean 'anything will do', Jungwoo." Jaehyun spoke up, chuckling at the sight of a drowsy Jaemin.

Jaemin's eyes opened at the sound of Jaehyun's voice, the corners of his lips curving upwards. "Hyungie~" Jaemin leaned against Jaehyun and closed his eyes for a moment, he was still very sleep deprived.

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but is Jeno coming today? You know, to walk to uni with us?" Jungwoo asked quickly glancing up at Jaemin then focusing really hard on making sure his omelette doesn't fall out of the pan and on to the floor.

Jaemin's eyes opened at the sound of Jeno's name. "I don't know." Jaemin let out a heavy sigh. Just bringing up the topic of their friendship status drained him. "I don't think he is?" Jaemin's hand unconsciously went to fiddle with both his and Jeno's friendship string, still tied around his wrist. Jaehyun's hand snaked around his arm and intertwined his fingers with Jaemin's, lifting their intertwined hands up revealing the faded friendship strings. Jaemin's eyes widened slightly, now Jaehyun and Jungwoo both knew.

"Huh. I thought you only had one?" Jaehyun examined the strings on Jaemin's wrist.

"O-oh. The other one's Jeno's." Jaemin replied, unable to look up from the ground.

"Then why is it on your wrist?" Jaehyun was rather confused.

"Remember a couple days ago when I called your asking if you sent me a little pink package?" Jaemin closed his eyes, not particularly liking the fact that he had to tell him the truth. It's not like he was going to lie, though. Jaehyun hummed in response. "The package was from Jeno. He knows that I really like Ryan plushies, so that's why Ryan plushies weren't already on your list. There was an envelope that came with the plushie. He wrote me a letter and gave me his friendship string."

"Why'd he give his string to you, though? I thought you guys never took it off." Jaehyun remembered how Jaemin always wore that faded pink string and never took it off for anything."

"We don't take it off unless one of us feels like we did something really wrong to damage our friendship. Giving the other the string is basically asking for forgiveness. We were kids when we made that up, it's nothing really."

"What do you mean, it's nothing? I think that's absolutely adorable! Of course, not in this current situation, but the idea is honestly too cute." Jaehyun cooed at an embarrassed Jaemin.

"I'm telling you, we made up a lot of things when we were kids." Jaemin looked at Jungwoo for help, but Jungwoo was also very into the strings.

"When Lucas and I become a thing, we're doing that." Jungwoo stated. He then whipped out his phone, furiously typing.

[...]

Jaehyun had just walked Jaemin and Jungwoo to their class. As the other two entered the classroom, Jungwoo quickly pulled Jaemin back outside upon seeing Jeno sitting in his seat peacefully.

"Do you want me to switch seats with you?" Jungwoo whispered.

Jaemin looked at him, confused. Once he realized what Jungwoo was referring to, he smiled. "No, that's okay. I'll be fine. Come on, let's go." Jaemin grabbed Jungwoo by the wrist, gently pulling him into the classroom.