Jisung walks in on Jaemin and Jeno in the practice room.

Word Count: 2912

“It’s already too hot,” was the first thing that Jeno said to his best friend after settling down from practice.

The two boys had taken the extra opportunity to practice the choreography for their soon-to-be debut song together. All of the members of NCT Dream were working hard individually outside of group practice, making sure that there was no room for error. Jaemin and Jeno worked the best together, so they practiced together in their free time.

After an hour and a half of running through the dance, they found themselves sitting on the floor of the practice room. They sat side-by-side in front of the mirrors, far too close for how sticky and hot they had become.

Jeno threw his head back and chugged down half of his water bottle immediately, trying his best to relieve the scratchy feeling in the back of his throat. The liquid didn’t do much except make him feel sick for drinking too much at once, but at the very least it was cold.

Jaemin watched the boy next to him gulp down his water, eyes following his adams apple as it bobbed up and down. The small sigh of relief Jeno let out had Jaemin grinning, staring intently at the side profile of his handsome best friend.

Jeno looked into the mirror, his eyes immediately finding Jaemin openly ogling at him. The younger boy wiggled his eyebrows, no words needed for Jeno to know what he wanted.

“It’s already too hot,” Jeno rejected weakly, setting his water down in front of him.

Jaemin’s grin fell into a bitter pout at the words. He scooted closer to his best friend, invading his personal space and sharing his unwelcome body heat.

“Does that really matter?”

The older boy looked at himself in the mirror, avoiding so much as glancing at Jaemin. If he didn’t look at him, Jaemin couldn’t crack his resolve… Right?

“Jeno,” Jaemin whined in his ear. His hand came up to grab Jeno’s shoulder and shake him lightly, effectively getting him to glance at him. Who needed sound resolve when you had a cute yet annoying best friend like Jaemin?

A small smile formed on Jeno’s face at the way Jaemin brightened immediately. All Jeno ever had to do to put a smile back on his best friend’s face was give him the attention he desired.

“This is inappropriate,” Jeno stated simply as he gave in, turning his body to face the younger. His eyes crinkled into happy crescents and Jaemin found himself unable to restrain himself from kissing him any longer.

Jaemin lunged forward, grabbing his best friend’s face in between his hands and pressing their lips together.

Less than a minute later a loud gasp made the two boys jerk away from each other, their heads whipping around to glance at the source of the sound. Jisung was standing about three steps into the room, his mouth wide open in an almost comical fashion.

“Oh no,” Jaemin muttered, his eyes going wide. He scrambled to his feet and ran over to Jisung before the youngest boy could get the chance to run out.

Jisung jerked, trying to get away from Jaemin’s hold, but the older boy had his hands tightly grasped on his shoulders. He gulped under Jaemin’s harsh gaze, finding himself increasingly uncomfortable with their proximity as Jaemin brought their faces closer until their noses were almost touching.

“Jisungie,” Jaemin began, making the boy scowl at the use of the childish nickname. “Listen, you can’t tell anyone about this, alright?”

One look into Jaemin’s eyes revealed exactly how terrified the teenager was. It almost made him feel bad for what he was going to do.

“Why not?” He asked, playing along with the little-kid treatment. If they were going to treat him like a child, he was going to act like one. He mustered up the most innocent face he could imagine and shrunk himself under Jaemin’s hold.

“Something bad could happen, Jisungie. Do you want that?”

Normally Jisung would be a lot more considerate. Something bad could be a halt in their debut, issues in communication and friendships between the other members, a punishment for the two of them for trying to sustain a relationship with each other… But his sense was lost to all the spite his small fourteen year old self was holding. Just the inflection of Jaemin’s voice and his manner of speech was making his blood boil.

Jisung shook his head no, blinking his eyes a few times to seem confused. Jaemin’s grip on his shoulders weakened at the denial, the relief visible in the way his shoulders relaxed.

If he catches me I’m dead, Jisung thought to himself. He could bolt at that second but Jaemin had fast reflexes and it would be a closer call. Jisung held his breath, waiting until the olders hands slid off his shoulders and to his sides, before he turned and darted back out of the practice room.

Jaemin reacted a beat too late, his hands reaching out only to claw at empty air.

“I’m telling Mark!” Jisung called out, not looking back as he ran full speed back to the dorms where he knew Mark would be.

Jaemin ran out after the younger boy, leaving Jeno alone, frozen on the floor of the practice room. Although he was small and lithe, Jisung was faster than he was and with his head start, there was no chance of him making the catch. He stopped at the stairs to catch his breath and watched as Jisung’s ran out of his sight.

In ten minutes tops, Jisung would be spilling his guts about what he saw to Mark. Jeno and he would be ruined.

Jaemin speed walked back to the practice room, feeling rather apathetic now that the adrenaline of the chase had faded along with his panic. He knew dread would be setting in soon and took the moment to relish the indifference. He slammed the practice room door open on his way back in, finding Jeno frozen in the same exact stance as he was when he’d left him a minute ago.

The older boy looked like he was stuck on the edge of having a panic attack.

Jaemin returned to his spot next to him, burying his head into his own hands in defeat.

“This is my fault.”

Jisung ran back into the dorm, relatively out of breath and sweaty. A few members that were out of their rooms peered over at him in surprise, wondering what he was doing in such a rush. He’d only left maybe twenty minutes ago and he was back already.

“Jisung, we weren’t expecting you back for like six hours,” Mark stated, peaking his head out of the kitchen where he was drying some dishes. All of the members knew how much Jisung loved dancing, there was no good reason for the boy to be back before he even got started practicing.

"Can I talk to you? Right now?"

Mark stood