“gosh, that’s incredible. you’re even uglier up close,” ten said as he made his grip on jaehyun’s hand tighter. the other glared at him.

the two had been in an argument who would shower first that night. ten had come to the conclusion that the winner of an arm wrestling match would gain the right to shower first and the unofficial title of strongest. and so the two began as they said harmless insults and called each others names. the match served better as cheap entertainment to the rest of the members, who were too tired to argue and figured that they would let the two figure out the disagreements among themselves.

“well my girlfriend likes to say otherwise.” jaehyun smirked as he watched ten’s arm go down.

“jaehyun-hyung has a girlfriend?” chenle asked the other members as he watched doyoung attempt to console ten who had dramatically fallen to the ground upon losing all whilst the doe-eyed boy laughed.

“they’ve been dating for seven months,” taeyong informed him as he ate out of ten’s bag of chips. “now that i think of it, you guys have never met.”

of course, they hadn’t met. by the time chenle and renjun moved into the nct dorm, jaehyun had been out busy with nct-u promotions leaving there to be little time to interact with the new members.

“that settles it. jaehyun,” taeyong called out to jaehyun, who was bent over rubbing his win in the latter’s face. hearing taeyong’s voice, he stuck his tongue out one last time and straightened his back as he stood up. smug, he walked over to the rest of the members. “call jimin and invite her over tomorrow.”

jimin was supposed to come, be introduced, and then spend the rest of time with jaehyun, but she hadn’t even sent him a single glance glanced since she found out that renjun was also obsessed with moomin.

after she was introduced to renjun and chenle she was told to sit down on the couch, her place between renjun and jaehyun. she was listening to taeyong update her on his life when she had looked down at renjun’s phone. in doing so, she noticed his brightly colored wallpaper.

“oppa, i’m sorry to interrupt your story,” she apologized to taeyong as she removed jaehyun’s arm from her shoulder, so she could turn to renjun. “but i have to ask: is that moomin?”

“yes it is,” renjun said as he placed his phone facedown. his face turned red from embarrassment. the other members always gave him a hard time for liking moomin, and now jimin was going to the same. he looked down at his lap trying to think of something to change the subject.

“shut up.”

“i’m sorry?” renjun asked looking back up. he expected a judgmental glare but instead found a huge smile on jimin’s face.

“i. love. moomin.” her voice was high as she could barely contain her excitement.

“you do?”

jimin violently nodded her head. she reached in her back pant pocket to pull out her phone. she her phone and shoved it to renjun’s face revealing a similar wallpaper. “see?”

“would you look at that? jimin and renjun are basically best friends.” johnny said after two hours had passed since jimin came at nct’s dorm. besides johnny, jaehyun and renjun the other members had retreated back to their rooms.

“what’s so exciting about about a cartoon character?” jaehyun huffed as he watched jimin and renjun go through all of renjun’s sketches of moomin.

“don’t tell me you are perhaps jealous?” johnny asked with a snort. hearing no reply, his jaw dropped. “you are!”

johnny called it was jealousy, but jaehyun couldn’t wrap his head around the concept. how was it possible he was jealous of renjun and whatever that white squishy thing was called?

shaking his head, jaehyun stood up and walked to the two on the couch. before he could speak, jimin looked at her phone and frowned slightly. “time goes by so quickly. i have to leave already.”

jaehyun opened his mouth, but before his words could leave, renjun beat him by asking “already?”

“sorry renjunnie. i’d love to stay but it’s already eight,” jimin said. seeing renjun frown, jimin placed her hand on his shoulder and said, “don’t worry you can text whenever you like.”

renjun hugged her, and jimin was taken aback. however, she still hugged him back. she turned around and

cupped her hand around using it as a makeshift speaker. “bye everyone. i’ll see you guys next time.”

through the walls of the dorm, the members’ voices rang as they called out to her bidding her goodbye.

standing in the dorm frame, jaehyun held onto jimin’s waist. he bent his neck to kiss her, but she pulled away.

“sorry babe. renjun is watching,” jimin whispers before reaching up and pecking him on the cheek. “and you know how intense you get.”

“do you really have to leave?”

“i do. i’ll be going then okay. love you.”

“love you too.”

yawning, jaehyun entered the kitchen to fetch himself a cup of water. as he drank from his cup, renjun entered the kitchen. he walked toward the kitchen with his eyes glued to his phone.

jaehyun immediately tried glaring at renjun, but it was impossible when he watched as renjun looked up and broke into a smile.

“hey hyung.” renjun said. he placed his phone down on the counter and shuffled over to the refrigerator.

“so how’d you like jimin?” jaehyun asked as he listened to renjun rustle around.

renjun popped his head out from the refrigerator and exclaimed, “jimin-noona is the best. i can’t believe she likes moomin too.”

what was he thinking? renjun was just a kid. jaehyun was actually relieved that his girlfriend and group member got along. it was settled. jaehyun was just overreacting.

“i’m glad you like her,” jaehyun said with a gentle fondness. it was quite difficult for renjun to make friends because of his shy nature and it didn’t anybody he found friendship with jimin.

renjun poured himself a glass of milk. hearing the sound of a notification, he flipped his phone over and looked at it. after reading, his text message he began laughing.

“who are you texting that’s got you laughing like that?”

“jimin-noona.” renjun replied. he downed his glass of milk.

renjun placed his phone against his ear and started talking into it with a “hello noona.” before he walked away, he turned to jaehyun and mouthed “goodnight hyung.”

“at least put your cup away.” jaehyun’s voice went unheard as it trailed off. he watched renjun run back into his room his smiling face.

jimin never texted him past nine pm. it was currently eleven forty three, and apparently, jimin was now having a full blown conversation with renjun. what did that make jaehyun?