Chapter Text
"Never gonna give you up, Never gonna let you down, Never gonna turn around and---"
"Damn it, Jisung Park!" Jaemin cursed in the middle of the morning as he tried to roll across his bed to shut his alarm (that Jisung changed for the nth time that month) off and outdid himself by falling off it with his blanket tying his legs together. From the floor, he reached to his ringing phone on the top of his bedside table, only to have it fall on his face and hit him square on the nose.
After what seemed like five minutes of recovery (while lying down on the floor, seemingly lifeless), Jaemin stared at the ceiling with nearly shutting eyes.
This is going to be a shitty day.
Knock, knock!
"Na Jaemin! Get your ass out of bed already! It's 7 AM!"
Was that Donghyuck?
"It's Donghyuck, by the way!"
This is a shitty day already.
"I'm not going to school," Jaemin shouted out loud enough, so un-energetic that he almost forgot how escaping hell was not as easy as popping a bubble.
"Are you sure?" Donghyuck responded, shouting as loud from outside of the bedroom. "Have you checked what date it is today?"
Jaemin scrunched his eyebrows out of confusion at what Donghyuck said. What was the correlation between the date and not wanting to go to school?
He picked up his phone and checked the date anyway, intrigued.
February 14.
Valentines' day.
What's so special about Valentines' da---
He noticed how the dates before then were highlighted and how the date of that day had a short note: "Two weeks will be over today."
"Jaemi---"
"Donghyuck, don't be a ditching snitch and wait for me there!"
-
During the trip (through running) from the house to the school, Jaemin was trying to enumerate everything that was twisting and turning his stomach into a three-looped roller coaster, like he was listing down symptoms of some kind of sickness that he had discovered.
START NA JAEMIN DIAGNOSIS?
YES | NO
ARE YOU SURE? NA JAEMIN IS CURRENTLY RUNNING.
YES | NO
STARTING NA JAEMIN DIAGNOSIS...
SEARCHING THROUGH THE SYSTEM...
> Oxygen Level Status: Decreasing.
> Heartbeat Rate Status: Increasing.
> Mind Function Status: Decreasing.
> Urge to Scream on Top of Lungs Status: Increasing.
> Butterflies in Stomach Status: Increasing.
ANALYZING...
VIRUS DETECTED.
VIRUS UNDETERMINED.
ONE (1) SUGGESTION FOUND.
COULD THIS BE [LOVE]?
-
All that running, tripping, screaming at strangers to move away, for nothing, Jaemin complained in his head as he heaved a heavy sigh and leaned against a wall.
Apparently, the school set up the entire area with booths and everything else that were related and dedicated to Valentine's Day, as if it was some kind of special holiday that was meant to be celebrated happily.
Ironically, some of the students who attended were the bitter ones who were lowkey looking for someone to make their everyday life sweeter.
Despite the booming sound system from the Dedication Booth, Jaemin felt as if the world fell silent as soon as he started to remember everything before that day. He thought about all the teases his friends used on him before, and the excuses he used to cover up the truths.
He thought about how he used to be one of them until he received his reminder, his reason on why he was no longer so, in the form of a text.
> wru
hello to you too <
im in front of the dedication booth <
> o
> ok
> stay there
what ??? <
why ??? <
where r u ??? <
Jaemin was starting to glare daggers through the screen of his phone and type a reply to send him when he suddenly felt something firmly hold him by both shoulders, taking away all of the colors in his body out of shock.
Stiffly shifting his vision to the corner of his eye, he saw two super familiar faces smugly smiling at him, then released his breath that he held in his chest.
"Idiots," he breathed out, followed by bursts of laughter from Donghyuck and Jisung.
"Happy Valentine's Day," Donghyuck greeted in a joking manner.
"We love you," Jisung added.
Grunting, Jaemin turned to the two and crossed his arms above his chest.
"What?" Donghyuck said. "You love our company."
"Yeah, and you're not crushing on---"
"That's too far now."
Jisung chuckled at his hyungs, then butted in before the two start bickering. "Jaemin hyung, since you love our company so much, why don't you come with us?"
Jaemin looked at the two, like he was a second away from denying the offer, when he shrugged and said, "Well, I have no other choice, have I?"
With that, Donghyuck and Jisung looked at each other and smiled, then immediately held each one of Jaemin's hands and took him towards somewhere Jaemin was still yet to see.
-
A booth.
They took him to a booth.
Though, he wasn't so sure about what booth it was supposed to be, because all that was there a fancy cloth-covered table and a supervisor who was doing nothing but scrolling through her feed.
He wasn't so sure about why he was staying there either. It was mostly because the two told him to, after so much conviction. If they didn't threaten him
What was making his situation stranger was that he was receiving no message notifications.
Jaemin slouched his shoulders and sighed.
Where the hell were they?
"This next song is dedicated to Na Jaemin, from an anon who is very whipped because wow, this letter is pretty lengthy."
Jaemin's head immediately snapped upward simply to look at the Dedication Booth with all ears to listen to the speaker.
"Nana, thank you so much for fourteen days together. I have to admit: Before, I did not expect it nor want it, but now, I would be more than happy to do it all again, but that would not happen before I ask you a certain something, right? P.S I dedicated the song we sang yesterday, since we weren't able to perform it."
What?
"We have him now."
Jaemin turned around and towards the direction of the voices of the newly arrived to see Mark, Renjun, and Chenle holding Jeno, who was wearing the shyest yet shiniest smile on his face that made Jaemin's heart skip a beat.
The supervisor of the booth suddenly stood up and smiled. "Shall we start, then?"
"What?" Jaemin stuttered out, surprised.
Mark, Renjun, and Chenle said some inaudible words to Jeno and smiled at Jaemin before sprinting off, leaving them together with the supervisor.
Jaemin looked at Jeno, worried.
Jeno looked back at him, nervous but still smiling. "Calm down. It's not bad."
"What is it, then?" Jaemin asked.
"You'll see."
The supervisor of the booth took out a small bouquet of flowers which she gave to Jeno, who held it tightly to his chest as he looked down and took slow breathing cycles, as if to calm himself down.
He then looked up at Jaemin straight in the eye, making the latter feel like his entire body is heating up yet frozen in place.
"I think—Well, I hope you heard my letter from the Dedication Booth," Jeno started. "I honestly wanted to write a lot more but then I figured that maybe I should tell it to you instead but...when I looked at you I suddenly forgot everything that I practiced for." He laughed.
"With that said, I'll just tell you the one thing I want to ask of you now."
Jaemin bit his lip, anticipation building up in him with fear of collapsing dwelling below it.
"Will you—" Jeno's voice cracked, making the anticipation indeed collapse, but not what Jaemin feared.
The two cracked a smile and started laughing, breaking the tense atmosphere around them.
"As... As I was saying," Jeno cleared his throat, then did another breathing cycle.
"Will you be mine, officially?"
COULD THIS BE [LOVE]
YES | NO
FIX THIS?
YES | NO
"Yes."
Smiling, Jeno stepped closer and gently gave Jaemin the flowers, which, with a closer look, were actually fake and made of candy.
"Happy Valentine's Day," Jeno said, a simple action that made Jaemin's heart swoon in secret.
Excitement taking over him completely, Jaemin pulled the fake flowers that Jeno was still holding and leaned in, closing the gap between them and kissing him square on the lips.
28 kisses.
After a moment, the flustered Jaemin pulled away, looking at the flustered Jeno.
"You are disgusting."
"If you don't like it that much then stop liking me."
"Excuse me? You liked me first."
Insulting. Arguing. Hitting each other. Laughing at each other with each other.
All of that while walking around with their hands and fingers automatically intertwining themselves beyond both boys' attention.
END.
BONUS:
In the background, the supervisor was clutching her chest with a surprised expression on her face.
Renjun, Chenle, and Jisung were watching their best friends like they completed an urgent mission.
Meanwhile, Mark was standing there with crossed arms and a small smirk while Donghyuck was standing next to him, his madly blushing as his expression turned into complete shock