He felt star-struck, looked like it as well. His entire body stiffened at the sight and it seemed like all the air has been taken out of him, the thief knowingly taunting him in silence. Jaemin knew he shouldn’t be feeling like this, but a little bug in his mind couldn’t help but want to be under the gaze of a popular troublemaker. Lee Jeno had a certain gravitating pull to him that everyone was attracted to. Be it someone who has known him for years, or like Jaemin- someone who has known him for less than 24 hours, no one seems to be immune.

Lee looks back at him with a smirk adorned on his face, his face slowly inching closer. The brunet simply ogled back, not moving or reacting. Voices started to blur around them as everyone turned quiet. Jaemin's face started to feel warm and his neck stiffened, but Lee looked comfortable and familiar. His smirk grew along with his confidence and he dared to come closer. Their noses were almost touching and Jaemin swore that he could feel his warm breath near his cheeks as Lee tilted his head. Almost on instinct, he neared his face towards the warmth, but Jaemin wasn’t one to submit.

Jaemin clasped Lee’s neck and brought his head forward so he his lips were near his ears. He let a quiet giggle out so Lee, no- Jeno, with the lack of personal space between them, Jaemin risked calling him the name people were afraid to call. He wanted Jeno to hear every breath and feel every vibrate as his laugh turned to a sultry giggle.

    “Miss you? I think it’s the other way around,” Jaemin whispered, as he ran a soft hand down Jeno’s nape. “I don’t even ing know you, Jeno Lee.”

Anticipation lingered in the touch as Jeno was unmoving. Feeling victorious, Jaemin started to slink away from him, but a sudden pull prevented him from doing so. Jeno’s hand clasped the back of his head and urged him to go even closer, soft lips grazing the shell of his ear. His hand carded through his hair briskly. Jaemin’s heart rocketed in his chest but his breath caught in his throat.

    “Nana… Just because you don’t know me doesn’t mean I don’t know you. It doesn’t mean I don’t know the inner workings of your mind and your life.”

Jeno broke away from the modest touch, eyes lidded in satisfaction. He leaned on the suspense that hung in the room, eyes still zeroed-in on the brunet sat before him.

The words around him started to come through, the conversations dancing around the two.

    “Tell Jisung good luck on his audition.”

Jaemin wanted to say something, anything, to clapback against this bastard. But whatever response died in his mouth as he recalled what Jeno had said.

    “Wh- what the he-, what are you talking about?” he managed to hiss out.

The words echoed in his head and his mind blanked.

Jeno merely smirked back and turned his back to Jaemin and the crowd finally dispersed as one of the main attractions walked back to the front and took a seat.

What is he going on about now? Say good luck to Jisung? For what? He doesn’t have an audition, I mean, not that I know of at least… no, no! Jisung tells me everything!

For the remainder of the day, it’s safe to say that he was more distracted now than when he first discovered the beauty of men.

He’s frustrated yet invigorated to finally play chess rather than rock, paper, scissors. Jaemin knows if he were to make one mistake, he risks submission to the opponent. He prays that if the day comes, he has enough pieces to fight back.

It was the end of the day, and the tsunami of students that washed through the front doors imitated that of a stampede. The tall brunet tiredly trudged to his locker, a fidgety Jisung awaiting his arrival.

    “Jaemin! I need to tell you something,” the younger said excitedly, his backpack bouncing on his back.

Jaemin smiled at the sheer adorableness of his cousin, the large smile that was plastered on his started to reflect on the older. It brightened his mood immediately, warmth erupting in his chest. He took his phone out and glanced at his screensaver. It was picture if Jisung  in a chick onesie, taken when he was 15 and Jaemin’s smile reached to fullest. Only now has he realized how much he had been so distracted. He didn't even have time to coo at the younger.

“Ah, Jisungie! Don’t you have basketball practice today? What are you doing here?”

Jaemin went right past Donghyuck’s locker, choosing to ignore the lack of presence of his best friend. He knows- somewhere in his mind or heart, or whatever psyche he possesses- that Donghyuck is in a safe place. His best friend can be kinda retarded, but he had common-sense.

Jaemin recalls the times of when Donghyuck had thought it was a good idea to bring a giant teddy bear to school  to jokingly ask his tutor and the president of the student council, Doyoung, to be his date for the homecoming dance when he was in sophomore year.

No one ever dared to ask the strict leader to anything that even had a drop of fun in it. Doyoung may look welcoming with his bunny-like looks, but they’ve learned to never, ever judge a book by it’s cover. It stuck to Jaemin when him and Donghyuck were walking home from school one day and saw the president fight five other people. The two watched because of course, who wouldn’t? Mr. Goody- Two- Shoes was kicking some . Donghyuck had wanted a closer look, but when they heard muffled sobs and the bunny’s comforting voice, they dashed.

They had always wondered about their relation and whatever happened to the sobbing boy.

The older man was surprised by the brash proposal by his pupil, but he had graciously accepted. Everyone knew he had a soft spot for his younger pupil, and really anyone of the younger students in his school. But he had accepted not knowing that the senior boys basketball captain was trailing behind him with a small, yet elegant bouquet of flowers.

He’ll be fine, he is fine. The brunet tried to tell himself, his already high stress levels at a stand-still. Jaemin didn’t want to think about Donghyuck, or his crazed boyfriend who had disappeared after their confrontation. He didn’t want to start balding at his age, he didn’t want to end up like the music teacher, Mr. Park Chanyeol and the bald spot rumor that started earlier that year. Or his own Taeyong. There’s too much dye and bleach getting poured into his scalp, I wouldn’t be surprised if it hasn’t corroded his brain.

Jisung already had Jaemin’s locker open for him, and that surprised the him quite a bit, Jisung isn’t usually one to do any sort of niceties to anyone, even to those who are older than him. It looked like he was holding something in his hand.

    “Um, Jaemin, there was this note in your locker. It doesn’t look like one of the love letter confession things you usually get. It’s like-,” before Jisung finished, Jaemin took the letter from his hands and ripped it open, recognizing the rushed, neat writing that can only belong to a certain Soundcloud rapper. He dismissed the obviously poorly-hidden annoyance from his cousin that grumbled something along the lines of ‘okay, be like that,’ and ‘guess you don’t like Nice Jisung.’

His eyes widened as he read the message and he slapped it shut. Jisung looked at him weirdly, but didn’t say anything to the older.

    “Anyways, so you know about the scout that saw me dancing during the talent show last year?” Jisung asked hesitantly, as if he was testing the waters.

Jaemin decided to shake off the message, no matter how concerning it was. He was talking to Jisung now, the literal apple of his eye, his baby chick, his-

“Oh, yeah, I remember you telling me about that. Has he called you back?” Jaemin asked, honestly curious for the answer.

Last year, when Jisung was a mere freshman, he had been scouted by a popular dance studio during their school’s annual talent show. Normally, it was mundane and incredibly boring to watch, the people’s ‘talents’ always falling short. But it wasn’t always like that, the previous years were always so exciting with the the elders of the school spicing it up with a performance. NCT is what they called themselves. Jaemin’s personal favorite was ‘Cherry Bomb.’ But Jisung had stolen the show with ‘Lemonade’ and really shocked everyone in the auditorium. He popped and locked his way into people’s hearts and girls slipped and slid into his dm’s. It’s safe to say that jaws weren’t the only thing that dropped that day.

Jisung nodded excitedly and his heart shaped lips grew bigger as he smiled. “Well, he said that I had landed myself an audition for to be in their studio!”

Jaemin’s eyes widened and he squealed excitedly for his cousin, clapping a hundred times per second.

“And! And, it’s not over yet,” Jisung continued, clasping the brunet’s hands together to quiet him down, “the scout said that the owner of the studio, Lee Taemin himself, wants to be there personally!”

Unable to contain their excitement, the two started to celebrate in the middle of the hallway. But Jaemin suddenly stopped short, leaving Jisung to bounce around by himself.

He remembered the sly smirk Jeno held as he retreated to his desk, and the words that he had uttered to Jaemin hours before.

‘Tell Jisung good luck on his audition.’

Jaemin felt his jaw clench tight. Don’t tell me…

“Well, I need to head to the studio now. My audition’s in an hour and the coach said I was excused for practice!”

Jisung waved goodbye to the brunet and headed for the school’s main doors, located at the end of the hallway, leaving Jaemin alone with a jumbled mind and fluttering thoughts.

He emptied his arms of his books, putting them in his locker and grabbed his near empty backpack, grabbed his jacket and scarf, and closed his locker. Walking outside of school, he saw some girls bidding him with farewell. Normally, he’d send them a wink and a flying kiss, but all he could muster up was a weak wave. Jaemin thought they might be disappointed from the lack of a boisterous response, but the sighs of satisfaction told him otherwise.

Jaemin made his way to a nearby cafe in the heart of the city. His school was located downtown, so the walk to it was never too strenuous. The trees swayed with the light wind, their thin white trunks soughting warmth. It made the brunet fasten the scarf around his neck as he turned the corner and saw the dainty shop. He saw the the black and white sign that settled well against the brick wall it was installed upon. Cafe 116, it read. Sandwiched between a skateboard shop and a bookstore sat the place where beverages brewed could clean your face, raise your grades and clear your crops. They were just that good.

Entering the store, a small ring of the bell alarmed the employees of customers. The blond head of the cashier shot up, and a smile immediately decorated his face.

    “Nana! I knew you were gonna be here any second!” the cashier, Lucas, said excitedly. “I tried to make your hot chocolate, but, um…” he scratched the back of his head in what seemed to be embarrassment, “I think I burnt it? Like the cocoa? And the milk too? Maybe.”

He pointed to messy work station behind him, brown powder sprinkled the whole area and the frother had a trail of fluffy milk came around it.

Jaemin couldn’t help but laugh at the older.

    “Ah! Nana! By the way, Haechan came in earlier and told us that he couldn’t come to his shift later. He looked like he was in a rush, you know anything about it?” Lucas asked.

    “Um, y-yeah, he was just not feeling, y’know, too well. He was just heading home probably,” Jaemin replied, redirecting his gaze to anywhere but the blonde’s eyes in front of him.

He didn’t want to talk about what had happened or anything that could’ve happened to Donghyuck. But something he didn’t like to do was lie. Dire situations call for ‘dire’ actions.

    “Oh okay then, um, I hope he gets better,” Lucas threw his fist in the air, “Fighting haeyadwae!”

Thankfully, the cafe wasn't too crowded, only a dozen or so people in the large space, and they were all regulars, so they were used to the cashier’s loudness. The owner, Kun, finally came out due to said loudness with an annoyed expression. He looked as if he was ready to tell Lucas off for being loud again, but was halted by the mess.

    “Lucas, didn’t I tell you to wait for me ‘till you make it? Now look! This mess! You better, ugh,” he finished with a resounding grumble in the back of his throat, ignoring the the brunet that was standing across the counter and concentrated on cleaning the dirtied equipment.

Jaemin and Lucas continued to talk as Kun cleaned. The brunet still wanted his daily dose of hot chocolate, so he was fine with waiting. After a few minutes, Lucas was harshly shoved aside and Kun appeared in front of him.

    “Sorry about that Jaeminie, I had a call earlier. I knew I should’ve trusted my gut feeling earlier not to leave him alone,” Kun grumbled as he wiped his hands on his apron. “You still want the cocoa?”

Jaemin nodded and the older handed Lucas a broom to occupy the teengaer who was currently yapping to some of the customers who were also his friends, to clean the floor.

    “Well, what do you expect from him? His group nearly burnt down the foods lab when his group started a fire.”

Kun shrugged. “His looks make up for it though, you have to admit.”

They settled into silence as Kun went to hsi drink. Jaemin started to drink in his surroundings and relaxed at the smooth jazz that poured from the cafe’s speakers. As he was about to get lost in the music, he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. Opening it, Jaemin thought he was hallucinating. He opened his phone

1 New Message 

    3:47 pm fullsun: jaemin,, im honestly so sorry for earlier today

He felt his fingers quickly type a response, enlightened at the first sign of life or that his best friend- that he could only hope- was okay. But the messages came in quicker.

    3:47 pm fullsun: u prbbly think im doing smthn dumb,, i think so too

    3:47 pm fullsun: kk, u know i dont keep secrets,, but i’ll give u the whole breakdown latre

    3:48 pm fullsun: jsut dont tell mark okk?? The reason  im doimg this is because of that bastard

The brunet had to take a second look at the text. Why can’t I tell Mark? He’s your boyfriend isn’t he? What’s with calling him a bastard? Something definitely happened… God, Jaemin was getting really tired playing the intermediary in this ing game.

    3:48 pm fullsun: n im not ddead btw,,, im at the department store near your house,, im sorry again :(((

Jaemin couldn’t help himself but let out a loud sigh of relief. The tension in his shoulders had started to build up again, and dissipate. He finally knew that his friend wasn’t hurt, dead, or worse- with Lee Jeno.

He wasn’t going to admit, but the mere thought of the new boy sent his heart speeding in his chest. Jaemin thought he might flatline before he got his cocoa.

He wondered if Jeno will really be the death of him. If only he could see into the future, then again, he’s scared of that too.