s.c.s. ☆ j.jh ☆ ayakashi series | ✔

jaehyun [six]

At your apartment that afternoon, you were greeted by Taeyong's typical hug and scenting ritual.

"Hey, bud," you squeezed him back. "Jae's coming over later to study, so you've got to be my pet cat Tama for tonight, okay?"

Taeyong pulled back to wrinkle his nose, "Fine."

"Thank you."

To keep your mind off your worries of seeing Jaehyun one-on-one, you busied yourself with tidying up your apartment: clearing off your coffee table and end table, folding the blankets over the arm of the couch, fluffing the pillows and cushions of your couch, picking up miscellaneous things that were strewn about your living room and kitchen, clearing up your bathroom counter and making sure there was no hair on the wall of your shower. You grabbed your schoolbag and brought it over to the couch, pulling out your textbook and notebook to set them up on your coffee table.

Checking the time once again, you saw that it was only four. Over two hours until Jaehyun was supposed to arrive. So, in another attempt to distract yourself from your internal panic, you turned on your show that you and Taeyong had been watching unintentionally—then intentionally—together. He laid down on the couch in his true form, resting his head on your thighs. You absentmindedly pet his head like you would if he were a cat. But it still wasn't enough to keep your mind away from your thoughts. They'd gone back to the ones you'd imagined last night at Jaemin's, of holding Jaehyun's hand, cuddling together, just small acts of intimacy. And it was nice but squeezed regretfully at your chest. You couldn't.

But why couldn't you?

You frowned as you thought this over, ruminating on Jaemin's words. It was annoying having him psychoanalyze you like that, but that didn't make him any less right. You were wary of having a romantic relationship, especially since you were so inexperienced in that area. And as you thought back in your memories, you couldn't remember a time in your life that Jaehyun didn't have a girlfriend, until now. Admittedly, you were only family friends, you hadn't seen him that frequently, and kept up with his love life even less. Surely there were periods of his life where he was single for an extended amount of time. But you couldn't fathom up one of those moments yourself. When you were in elementary school, you supposed, but he still had girls confessing to him weekly even then.

As you were still pondering this, there was a firm knock at your door.

"Shit!" You cursed, jumping in your seat.

Taeyong paused the TV for you before promptly turning into a cat and hopping off your lap. You shot to your feet and shook your head to clear your mind as you rushed for the door. Throwing it open, you were greeted by the tall figure of Jaehyun. He was in his casual attire that he wore at the shop, his own bag slung over his shoulder and a plastic bag in his hand.

"Hey, you didn't reply to my texts when I asked what you wanted, or when I said I was on my way," he stepped in as you stepped back, closing the door behind him. "So I just went to Lenticular and got takeout. I let Johnny know I was getting something for you too, so if you don't like it, it's not my fault. He also gave me three entrees, said something about you probably needing leftovers."

Jaehyun set his school bag down on the couch, then the food on the table. Taking the food out, you were actually able to laugh when you saw that they were emoji tupperwares.

"Johnny said you can bring them back to him when you're done with them," your friend added as you scanned the options.

The raw tuna tartare was definitely Taeyong's, so you grabbed that container to put in the fridge. Walking back over to your couch, you finally spoke, "Sorry about missing your texts, I was watching a show."