"Where's Jaemin?" Jeno almost rolls his eyes just by hearing the mention of his best friend.

Maybe he's being too bitter and being dramatic, that's just something he thinks about at random times.

"He's not here, obviously." He gestures to his side, no one standing there occupying the spot like before and now has been replaced with... Nothing but air.

His friends exchange glances with their eyebrows furrowed when they heard the tone of voice Jeno is currently using.

"What's with the attitu– ow!" Chenle grunts, glaring at Jisung beside him who glares back after kicking his foot.

"Did he say why?" Mark gently approaches with his tone.

Jeno shrugs his shoulders as he drops his backpack on the floor before dragging it lazily towards where the others were.

"He has a date." He replies to Mark.

"WHAT?!"

"HA?!"

"Oh shit."

Meanwhile, Renjun shakes his head while pinching the bridge of his nose as if he was disappointed– well, he kind of is.

Mark stands up from his spot on the carpet floor and takes Jeno's hand, pulling him along to sit back down with the younger boy immediately complying.

"I mean– he can date whoever he wants, but... You know..."

"We understand, that shit hurts." Mark drapes an arm around his shoulders and rubs his arm to comfort him.

Donghyuck raises a brow and asks, "who is his date?" Mindlessly throwing his book to the side and rests his chin on his fist, intrigued.

Jeno hums, ignoring Mark's eyes glaring at Donghyuck, as if telling him to shut up and not bring up the topic any longer.

"He said Xiaojun hyung."

"Wait, him and Hendery aren't a thing?" Renjun scrunched up his nose, forehead creasing as he tries to process it, still confused.

"Yeah, I thought they had a thing?" Chenle comments with a frown on his face.

"I don't know but they for sure have a date," Jeno said, trying to be nonchalant about it like he doesn't really care.

But they all know he does.

Hence the looks he's getting afterwards, it has him sighing. "Can we please just study or something?" He grumbles.

Snatching the book Renjun was previously reading before he got here and flipping through a random page, then staring at it blankly.

Mark looks up at them, gesturing for them to change the topic if ever starting a conversation as Jisung stands up to get some snacks.

❈

"Hi, Jeno hyung!" The said raven haired boy almost shrieks in surprise, taking a deep breath and exhaling in relief when he sees it's just Jisung.

"Shit, Sungie. You scared me."

The younger boy scratches his nape sheepishly with a shy smile, "sorry, I didn't mean to." Getting a light giggle from Jeno in return.

"What did you need?"

"Oh, Renjun hyung just asked me to give you these notes," he said as he takes out something from his backpack.

"He had to handle some stuff in his club and since Chenle is absent today, he's kind of really busy." He explains.

Handing out the stack of papers to Jeno, he patiently waits for what the elder boy has to say next. "Gee, no wonder he was a little cranky this morning."

"Yeah, some of the club members are in trouble, so he's figuring that out."

"Anyways, thanks Jisungie!" Jeno beams at him as he then hugs Jisung, giggling when the taller boy returns the sweet gesture and rubs Jeno's back.

Something they've been doing and had grew more comfortable with since Jisung's confession.

If you're wondering, does Jaemin know?

Well, originally, he was supposed to.

Jeno was planning on telling him alongside with Jisung since it was about the two of them.

He planned it out and everything, asking for the others' opinions as well as their permission, especially Jisung's.

But oh well, that unfortunately didn't happen. Has been postponed for a while now.

Why? Jeno doesn't really know.

Sometimes he suddenly gets scared, as soon as he's about to tell Jaemin, he either changes the topic or the elder boy had to go for an urgent call.

Point is, it could be wrong timing.

Since, the times he was really feeling the confidence and really wanting to tell Jaemin, with Jisung who has already and always been ready this whole time, Jaemin is the one to ruin it.

He somehow, weirdly enough, has this thing where he distracts Jeno. Or says something that changes Jeno's mind and adrenaline.

Like for example, that one time Jaemin suddenly talked about this cute boy in his Biology class, Jeno's face fell as he tries to listen to Jaemin's rambling.

Up until Jisung finally managed to excuse themselves to Jaemin and drags Jeno away from his best friend.

But Jeno already heard enough, apparently Jaemin had been trying to get the guy's number.

Well, unfortunately for him later on, Jaemin gets informed that the guy is already taken. So he went to flirt with another one.

Xiaojun; Jeno guesses.

❈

"Hey, Jaeminie! Are you ready for our movie night?" Jeno excitedly asks through the phone, he has it on speaker while he's trying to prepare for their said movie night.

But his whole body freezes when he hears Jaemin's reply, "I'm so sorry, Jen. But I can't make it right now."

"O-oh? Why so?" His fingers trembled, almost dropping the big comforter he found in his closet.

Supposedly going to use it for when Jaemin gets here and the two of them would cuddle under it until they fall asleep.

Again, Jeno's plans have been postponed.

He didn't really hear Jaemin's answer to his question, but he managed to get "Xiaojun" and "late night walk" somewhere along there.

"We can try again next time? Would you like that, Jen?" He snaps out of his stupor to hear Jaemin talking again.

Of course you moron, I obviously would love to. Anything to be with you. Even for a little while.

"S-sure." He stammers with a croaky voice, cringing afterwards as he hears Jaemin.

"Are you okay?"

Biting his lower lip at the voice filled with worry, he hums, not really trusting his voice until he clears his throat.

"Yeah, just... A little bummed out." He answers, slightly being honest.

It's true, he is bummed out. But he didn't say anything else as to why.

After exchanging goodbyes and reassuring Jaemin he'll be fine, they'll try this movie night plan again next time, the phone call ends.

But as soon as Jeno was about to throw his phone on his bed so he can (sadly) clean this all up, he gets another phone call.

Seeing the contact name on his screen, his lips twitched and formed a small smile.

"Yes, Sungie?"

❈

I'M SORRY I MADE JAEMIN MEAN BUT I SWEAR EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE AND Y'ALL WILL HAVE A HAPPY ENDING :P

THOUGHTS???