-

“Jaemin-ah! I got us seats for the premier viewing of Annabelle.” Jeno came rushing holding two tickets of the said movie. He was pretty excited to inform the younger, running towards their dorm right after purchasing the movie tickets. 

Jeno went through a lot of trouble to get them. First, he begged their manager to allow them to go out and watch the movie- which was not that easy. Especially when they’re in the middle of practicing their comeback for the first quarter of the year. 

2017 passed like a bliss and it’s already January of 2018, just about the time where NCT DREAM finally got their smiling engine Na Jaemin back. They were all happy that dream7 is finally happening, and Jeno is more than glad to welcome his bestfriend when the brunette came to move into their dorm again. Jaemin became a hundred times more dedicated to practice now that he got a lot of catching up to do, and he wanted to show his fans who patiently waited for him for more than a year a good comeback stage. If this wasn’t a horror movie we’re talking about, Jeno bets Jaemin would never set practice aside. 

Another dilemma that Jeno encountered was the difficulty of purchasing the movie tickets. Jaemin wanted to be one of the first few people who’ll see the film, and the movie franchise is pretty popular in Korea. Many people lined up for the ticketing because reservation online wasn’t available. He even tried using his connections just to buy the tickets with ease but to no avail. So he woke up early that morning, and when he said early, Jeno meant 6am in the morning. He dragged his sleepy to get in the line with all the hopeful buyers while waiting for the selling to start. The ticket for the movie is also triple the price of the normal movie, making Jeno groan in annoyance as he pulled cash out of his wallet.

After hours of waiting in the line in the coldest weather of the year in Seoul with freezing -2.4°c, Jeno was finally able to get the tickets. Not wasting any more time, he hailed a cab after deciding that he can’t walk to the bus station anymore. After paying the driver and getting out of the taxi, he immediately ran to the building where their dorm is, cursing the sky when it started to snow right before he could enter the door. 

Fortunately, the dorm was a lot warmer. Jeno guessed their manager already had their heater fixed. They couldn’t afford getting sick since their comeback is nearing, ofcourse they’ll fix the heater for them.

“Oi Jeno! Tone your voice down! The maknaes are still sleeping.” Their leader half whispered-half yelled at the younger when Jeno entered their dorm screaming in excitement. 

The dancer rolled his eyes when he found Mark sitting in their sofa with a sleepy Donghyuck on his lap. The latter becomes really soft every morning, and Mark enjoys waking up early just to see that side of Donghyuck. 

Leaving the couple, Jeno walked to the direction of his and Jaemin’s shared room with a much lessened enthusiasm. He entered the room slowly not to wake the younger who was still sleeping soundly. Jeno immediately melted when he saw Jaemin laying down on Jeno’s bed snuggling unto the plum haired’s pillow and blanket. Jeno remembered sleeping besides Jaemin the night before but he didn’t expect the younger to stay on his bed after he left. Usually, Jaemin would move back to his own bed when he wakes up without Jeno besides him. 

Jeno approached his bed that’s too small for two teenage boys to fit, but with Jaemin everything is possible. With Jaemin, Jeno can make everything possible. It might be obvious by now that the famous NCT lead dancer, visual and gentleman Lee Jeno is absolutely whipped for his bestfriend, Na Jaemin. Plus the fact that he’s actually feeling mushy just by looking at his Nana’s angelic sleeping figure. (This is so becoming cringey)

Jeno shook his head to stop himself from thinking how adorable Jaemin looked and finally decided to tap Jaemin’s shoulders lightly. It’s already time to wake up and eat breakfast anyways, having exactly and hour and a half to prepare before they go and practice. 

Or. 

It was just an excuse that Jeno made up to make himself believe that he wasn’t being overprotective and possessive and that he didn’t wake Jaemin up so that Mark has no reason to come to their room anymore to wake the younger up and he won’t be able to see Jaemin in this state. 

Who takes up 1 hour and a half to prepare anyways? No one in this damned dorm. 

Jeno’s attempts were seemingly successful as his bestfriend finally stirred and cracked his eyes open, blinking a few times when Jeno’s blinding eyesmile greeted him. He grinned immediately, happy that he finally got to wake up with Jeno’s face being the first thing he sees. 

Jeno leaned back to give Jaemin some space as the brunette sat up and stretched his limbs. “Goodmorning Nono!” He chirped before getting out of the older’s bed and washing his face in their bathroom while Jeno waited for him to finish up. 

“I have a surprise for you Nana.” Jeno informed the younger from the outside, making Jaemin frantically wipe his face with a clean towel and brushing his teeth at a record time. No matter how hard he would argue, everyone knows Jaemin’s a kid. He would literally leap off a window at the mention of the word “surprise”. 

Chuckling, Jeno approached the brunette who just got out of the bathroom. He got a big- grin on his face and his eyes were expectant, growing larger than they already are. Jeno had a hard time calming his nerves because dang, Na Jaemin is just too cute for him to take. 

The older gulped visibly as his hand traveled to the pocket of his hoodie, taking out the tickets he’d been itching to reveal. “I got us seats for Annabelle’s.” He told Jaemin as he waved the said tickets in the air to emphasize his point. 

Jaemin audibly gasped as he dramatically brought his hands to cover his wide opened mouth, his eyes animatedly sparkling like he saw a bag of gold bars. He immediately leaped to embrace his bestfriend as he muttered a series of ‘thank yous’ unto Jeno’s ears not minding how the latter’s body temperature rose when he did. 

Jeno tried composing himself as he pried the younger off him, thanking the heavens that Jaemin was too excited to even take notice of Jeno’s flushed cheeks. “You’re really the best Nono! How did you do that? I heard it was really hard to get the tickets.” 

The plum-haired boy just threw Jaemin a smug look as he laid down on his bed wanting to get some sleep before practice. They got home really late after last night and waking up early for the ticket selling didn’t help his case. But atleast, he made Jaemin happy. That’s all that matters. 

“Na Jaemin how dare you doubt your own bestfriend? Who do you think I am? I’m Lee Jeno ofcourse I could get us seats for the horror movie you’ve always wanted to watch.”

 With that he closed his eyes drifting off to sleep, but ofcourse not before hearing Jaemin chanting “WE”RE WATCHING ANNABELLE, LOSERS” as he made his way to their dorm’s living room, waking everyone on purpose. 

-

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer.” 

Jeno averted his gaze as soon as he heard Donghyuck’s mocking statement targeting him again. It wasn’t new to him but it’s still embarrassing to be caught staring at your bestfriend while he was sweating in front of the mirror of their dance room. 

“I was watching his dance because he asked me to help him polish Donghyuck, that’s the only reason why I was staring.” Jeno retorted, still not lifting his gaze back to Jaemin. He fiddled with his water bottle, opening and re-closing the cap repeatedly. 

“It’s valid, yes, so why did you stopped when I teased you like a guilty kitten.” If Jeno could see Donghyuck, he knew that the other was smirking, enjoying the taste of Jeno’s misery.

Jeno rolled his eyes but he thought of the question. Was he really staring because he was helping Jaemin and not being lost in the boy’s gorgeousness and fluid body movement that he forgot he got a task at hand?

If the answer was the second one, you can’t really blame him, Jeno thought. Jaemin is just so beautiful no one could take their eyes off him when he’s dancing, or even when he’s just walking and talking. Jeno could see a certain hypnotic charm in Jaemin that no one could resist, even him. 

But he won’t let Donghyuck win and admit it to him right? He’s that petty.  

He finally faced Donghyuck after convincing himself. “That’s because you all keep giving malicious comments. I don’t want  things to become uncomfortable for me and Jaemin.” 

He saw the other shrugging before getting his own water bottle that was besides Jeno to give to Mark who was now done practicing with Jaemin. He saw the two boys walking towards them and saw how Mark smiled at Donghyuck as the younger welcomed him with a towel and water. 

It was an envious scene; it was something Jeno wanted to do with a certain someone since day one.

He didn’t notice Jaemin sitting beside him and getting his water before chugging it down. When he finally looked at him, he was already done with Jeno’s water, and tiredly gazing back at him. He didn’t look away this time, downing the beauty of Jaemins features as he stared openly. It surprised him when the younger blinked a few times and looked down, his face flashing a pretty shade of pink. 

Jeno believed it was the after-effect of dancing.  

-

“Sooooo, what did you plan lover boy?” 

Jeno jumped on his place when Jisung suddenly talked. Averting his gaze to the door of his room, he saw the said male leaning on the door frame with his arms crossed while looking at Jeno with high expectations. 

He quirked a brow at the maknae, not understanding what he meant. He was just rummaging his closet for a perfect outfit that he could wear for his and Jaemin’s “purely platonic movie date” before Jisung interrupted him. 

The younger can’t help but roll his eyes at his hyung. He carefully closed the door and walked to Jeno’s bed, push