home, jaemin

chapter twenty-six

"so none of us know how to skate?"

"practically."

"and we still decided to come to a skating rink?" jiyoung asked, tightening the laces on her skates.

nayeon looked over at her, "i mean jaemin and me are kinda good so you can stick with one of us if you'd like." jiyoung nodded.

"kinda good?"

the two girls turned around to see a few of their friends walking towards them with the skates while the others got finished getting theirs from the stand.

"you guys were ranked in 2nd and 3rd place for speed skating and you're only "kinda good" now?" renjun asked, sitting down near them.

jiyoung looked at nayeon a bit surprised, her mouth opened wider than normal. "really? second nationally?"

"okay so maybe a little better than average." nayeon shrugged bashfully, fixing her skates. "and i was third, jaemin was second."

"where is jeno?" mark asked, sitting down with the rest of the group.

nayeon pointed towards the boy's restroom, "bathroom, he said he needed to use it before he was trapped in skates for two hours."

jisung and chenle stood up at the mention of the bathroom, "good call." they walked away from everyone else, thankful for the mention.

"i guess it's a good thing there's like no one here." donghyuck remarked, standing up shakily. his feet moved back and forth without his own control, making him grip the wall.

"why is that?" jiyoung asked, rolling her feet back and forth against the floor to get a feel of the wheels.

"so i can fall flat on my face without being embarrassed about it." the group laughed, waiting patiently for everyone to finish getting ready and using the bathroom.

"so have you ever been skating before?" mark asked jiyoung, clipping his helmet on.

she shook her head, putting on her own matching black helmet. "not that i recall."

nayeon stood up with ease, holding out a hand for jiyoung to grab. "it's not that hard. come on i'll show you while they finish up putting their gear on."

jiyoung grabbed her hand, standing up a bit and wobbling but still a bit sturdier than donghyuck had.

they had been sitting near the entrance of the rink and only had to take a step or two to actually get inside.

nayeon thoroughly went through each step, making sure to point out what jiyoung did correctly and what she needed to fix.

before the boys all made it out on the rink she was already skating like it was normal.

"you're a natural!"

"need help?"

chenle turned around at the sound of a voice directed towards him, "definitely."

jiyoung skated forward, linking her arm to his waist while he clamped around her shoulders to keep himself from falling.

"you need more confidence. you're really good but you keep going slowly. you'll fall going too slow." she informed him.

he nodded, letting go and taking her advice. it worked nicely, he was no longer wobbling like before and had a better foundation.

"i thought you said you weren't good at skating." he laughed, skating closer towards her.

"i just said i've never skated personally, not that i haven't ever seen people skating" she shrugged, "and plus i'm just average. i just used common sense and math to help you."

"that's disgusting."

"i take it you're not good at math?"

"more like average, you could say. not very up there but not bad either."

jiyoung nodded, continuing to skate next to him. "average is good. you're not expected too much of but you're also not held to low standards either. it's like the middle ground."

"well, then i guess i like the middle ground. that way i can't get in trouble when i get an 85 on my test but my parents don't act likes its worldwide news that i make a 100 every now and then."

"i wish my dad was like that."

"what's he like?"

"i guess you could say the stereotypical asian father. work hard, do this, do that. make good grades or you'll never meet your full potential later in life. you know, the usual for tv shows."

"i see what you mean. honestly, i don't think grades are all that." he shook his head.

"me either. but there's not much i can do with him always hovering over his phone just staring at my grades and waiting for a mistake."

chenle nodded, he understood what she meant clearly. the two were close friends in the group thanks to the similar ages.

"jiyoung! chenle!"

the two friends looked towards the seating area to see a few of the others sitting down with food and drinks.

immediately their first thoughts were to stop and turn to get out but instead, they were met with two more bodies crashing into them in an instance.

the four bodies all fell to the ground with harsh thuds, each of them letting out low groans of pain that emitted from the crash.

the others all rushed into the rink to help them, not caring that they weren't supposed to be there without their skates.

nayeon and jeno helped up jiyoung and chenle while mark and renjun helped up donghyuck and jaemin.

painfully, they each made their way back to the table where jisung had panically retrieved ice packs from the staff.

"sorry, we probably should have waited until you finished that lap." renjun apologized, setting the ice pack on chenle's ankle.

"please note, never stop on the rink. just finish the lap before you get off." jaemin informed them, wincing slightly at the ice touching his elbow.

chenle and jiyoung nodded, "sorry."

the day went on afterward, the four of them slowly healing. while they had to sit out for a bit, they spoke with one another over random topics.

slowly, jiyoung and jaemin were finally managing to get a few non-blunt words out for a rather civil conversation.

the answer from last chapter? not much but slow progression ;)

but anyways did y'all know chenle is actually like crazy smart and i think he was even the math representative at some point? don't quote me on that though.