Chapter Text
he always smelled like raspberries and roses.
that‘s the first thing he remembers about him.
they had just come back from winter break; reportedly ‘the coldest winter on record’.
the halls were loud and crowded as per usual, but something felt different. though jeno couldn’t say what.
he makes his way to his locker and inputs the code 1308, the code designated to him by the school. it’s then that he overhears a conversation between two particularly loud girls who he recognises to be in his class.
“have you seen him yet?”
“who?”
“the new student in our class. he’s starting today.”
“oh. no.”
jeno’s interest is piqued, but only for curiosity. he really couldn’t care much less about the new addition as long as it didn’t affect him negatively.
after grabbing his books, he wanders across the campus to their classroom; taking the long route in order to psych himself up some more. first class was biology, so not a big deal.
he arrives at the door, sighs and slides it open. he sighs again, in relief this time, when he sees that he’s one of the first there. good. i can pick a good seat.
he selects the one in the far right corner and sits down, praying his glasses allow him to see that far to the front.
the classroom steadily fills up while jeno rocks on his chair and gazes out the window. miserable weather, really, but then it’s january so not much else could be expected. not unless you want to be disappointed.
finally, the teacher enters with a student in tow. the class quietens down and the teacher speaks. jeno stops rocking on his chair to pay attention.
“hey, welcome back. we’ve got a new student starting today.” he turns to the kid, “introduce yourself.”
the kid stops staring at the floor ahead and snaps his head up to look forward. he’s stood with his hands in his pockets, leaning back. he looks quite relaxed, jeno thinks, for his first day.
“greetings.” he waves his hand from left to right once, “i’m jaemin.”
jeno returns to his previous state of seeming very interested in the weather outside. he seems okay.
“alright, jaemin, pick an empty seat and sit in it.” mr jung sighs, ordering his papers on his desk.
jaemin scans the class quickly and makes his way over to the seat next to jeno which the latter hadn’t even realised was empty.
noticing the sudden movement in his peripheral, jeno turns around and makes eye contact with his new neighbour.
“hey.” he drawls and jeno just stares, nods and looks back out the window.
after a couple of minutes, jeno notices the faint scent of raspberries with something else sweet and vaguely floral waft in his direction.
he’s always hated raspberries, but can’t bring himself to hate this smell.
it was warm.
-
having all their lessons with the same class, in the same classroom, was both a blessing and a curse.
on one hand, it meant that there was almost no chance of ever being late.
on the other, it was very hard to sit still through three consecutive lessons and the surroundings soon become stale. there’s only so many hours jeno can spend staring at the same flickering lamppost, after all.
this meant that physical education were the best classes of the week. hands down. a chance to move outside of break and lunch? sign him up. jeno’s always been one for sports and expending energy.
it’s still their first day, fourth period, when they have their first pe class of the new year. and it’s outside. in january. typical. phys ed teachers really have no remorse.
but it’s not until after they’ve changed into their kit and made it up to the pitches that jeno notices jaemin stood with the teacher still in his uniform.
he frowns, but shrugs it off. he’s probably injured or something. not a big deal.
their next class is english and jeno’s concentration spikes after letting off all his energy in football. he’s finished the work in twenty minutes, and resumed his study of the walkway outside.
there’s suddenly a tap tap on his arm and he whips around to look first at the affected area and then to the source of the disruption.
jaemin looks at him with a bored expression on his face, “can you help me? i am pure shit at english and you’re finished already.”
jeno hums and studies him for a minute, getting his first proper look at the boy while he considers the request. his eyes roam his face slowly and-
oh, he’s attractive.
jeno coughs and chews the corner of his mouth, “sure. what are you stuck on?”
jaemin moves his work onto jeno’s desk and slides his chair over too and jeno has to breathe a little bit when he does.
oh, jeno thinks, so he’s the one that smells like raspberries and... is that... roses?
shaking the thoughts out of his head, he helps jaemin with the english work and, thankfully, jaemin seems to actually understand a little.
it’s after his fourth deep sigh of the last five minutes that jeno says something, “don’t keep sighing, you’ll get it. you’re doing fine.”
jaemin looks him in the eyes and jeno’s heart skips a beat despite the fact that the look he’s being given is one that’s not particularly good. but it’s not bad either.
he’s not sure jaemin can give a bad look when his face always looks so nice.
he heaves another big breath and says lazily, “thanks for your help, i think i get it now.” he moves back to his own desk and jeno is left with a messy mind, a flushed face and a hammering heart.
and that was the first day with na jaemin as his desk neighbour.
-
it wasn’t until he got home that he discovered jaemin was his actual neighbour too. what the fuck is this luck.
jeno’s parents tell him to take the meal they made for the new neighbours over to them and he swears his life is a drama at this point.
so here he is now, in front of their door with a dish of lasagne in his hands and he heaves a sigh before knocking.
the door opens and he hurriedly introduces himself and welcomes them to the neighbourhood and explains that his parents made them this as a gift but his mother is insistent she gets the pyrex back-
“jeno?”
he realises he’s been staring at the dish the whole time and snaps his head up at the sound of his name.
and he blinks and stops for a second before, “jaemin? wait, you know my name? wait, you live here?”
“well, yeah, they do the register in every lesson at school so i’ve already heard it six times and that was only today. and, yeah, no shit i live here.” he sounds irritated but smirks and looks amused and jeno just pushes his glasses up in embarrassment.
“oh. yeah. well here’s the lasagne and please remember to bring the dish over or i will get it from my mother.” jeno explains, handing over the gift and making to leave.
he’s about three metres down the path when jaemin calls, “wait.”
jeno turns back, surprised, “yeah?”
jaemin carefully chooses his words, but finally settles on, “should we walk to school together? i mean, you live right there and we sit together too so we may as well be friends.”
for the third time in the short encounter, jeno is shocked. it’s not that he’s never had friends before, he has, he was best friends with renjun up until the first year of high school. but nobody recently had made the effort and being alone didn’t bother him.
“um... sure.”
“enthusiastic. i like it.” jaemin raises an eyebrow, “i’ll meet you out by your gate at 8.” and with that, he turns around and closes the door.
what... the fuck.
-
but, sure enough, at 7:55 the following morning, jeno looks out his bedroom window and sees jaemin leaning on his front gate. he turns and looks up at him, waving once left to right and jeno smiles slightly.
he goes out to meet him and notices that jaemin smells even more strongly of raspberries and roses in the morning, presumably because he’s freshly dressed.
jeno may or may not have grown fond of the smell, despite his fervent hatred of raspberries.
the walk to school is quiet, but not tragically so. jaemin shoves one of his earphones in jeno’s ear and the other in his own and dictates the music but jeno doesn’t mind because it’s good.
they reach the school gate and jaemin reclaimed his shared earphone, earning him a look of confusion from jeno.
“i’m not coming in. yet.”
“what?” jeno questions him, “why?”
jaemin gives him a mischievous smile and replies simply, “i’ll meet you at lunch.” and with that, he’s gone.
what the fuck.
-
the lessons pass slowly and jeno would be lying if he said the empty space next to him didn’t make him feel lonely.
he can’t help but wonder why jaemin walked to school with him if he wasn’t even coming in.
luckily, period two was p.e. again so jeno had a distraction from his thoughts and boredom for an hour.
and, again, as promised, jaemin meets him at lunch with a bag in one hand and a quick wave in the other.
“salutations.”
jeno laughs, what a weirdo, “where did you go?”
“aw. did you miss me?”
“no. i was just worried.”
“cute.”
jeno is floored on how to answer that one and so changes the subject.
“why did you want to meet me?”
“follow me.”
and jaemin grabs jeno’s hand with his own free one and drags him off to wherever it is that he’s going.
he’s not sure whether he should trust the taller boy, but jeno follows him despite his better judgement. this boy is an enigma, he decides.
something about his hand in the other’s makes him feel like he might do anything.
they end up at the rooftop, jaemin stepping over the barrier across the top of the stairs and jeno following suit.
“we shouldn’t be up here.”
jaemin laughs, “do you think i care?”
he sits down in the middle of the roof and begins rooting around in the bag he’d been carrying before he stops and looks up at jeno, “are you going to sit down? i don’t like being below you.”
jeno wonders whether that was supposed to be a double entendre or not but just sits down because, honestly, trying to figure out na jaemin is pointless.
the latter sets out a load of convenience store food between them and grins proudly when he sees jeno’s shocked face.
“what is this.”
“you brought us dinner last night, so i’m returning the favour.” jaemin shrugs.
“you didn’t need to.”
“no, i wanted to. it was a nice excuse anyway. got me out of school and in to eating lunch with you. win win.”
“it doesn’t take three hours to go to the convenience store.”
“hah. no, maybe not. be quiet and eat, will you? or i will not hesitate to feed you.”
jeno isn’t going to argue.
they eat in silence for a while before jeno asks more questions.
“are you going to be in class this afternoon?”
jaemin grimaces, “what do we have?”
“uh... maths, chemistry and literature.”
somehow his disgusted expression deepens, and jeno laughs at him.
“if you weren’t so cute laughing at me, i’d be mad.” he sighs, “but, then again, it’s not english or p.e. so i guess i can manage. as long as you’ll help me.”
oh, right.
“no, we had p.e this morning. speaking of, why don’t you do it?”
jaemin freezes, suddenly speechless. a rare moment.
“i don’t like it.” he laughs, brushing the question off, “my parents got me out of it.”
jeno doesn’t believe him, and spends a minute trying to decide whether to press the situation further.
he doesn’t, and they continue eating and making small talk until fourth period starts.
-
months pass, spring arrives, and jaemin and jeno still spend every minute of the school day together. except p.e.
jeno doesn’t mind that, though, because jaemin sat and watched them do p.e anyway and it was the perfect opportunity to show off a little.
they take turns bringing lunch to share, always going up to the rooftop to be away from everyone else. it was like their little haven, their safe place.
one day, though, jaemin seems... weird. he’s less witty, quieter and just gets on with his work in class. jeno would be lying if he said he wasn’t worried, but remembers that he bought jaemin’s favourite for lunch today. maybe that’ll cheer him up.
it’s not until jaemin is five minutes late to lunch, having told jeno to go up without him, that he gets really worried.
when he finally shows up, jeno hands him his sushi and raspberry rolls with a clear look of worry on his face.
“don’t look at me like that.”
“what’s wrong, jaemin?”
he lets out a raspy laugh that makes jeno’s heart jump, “you’re too perceptive.”
“no, you’re just different.”
“you’re right. i’ve got stuff on my mind.”
“so talk to me.” jeno practically begs him.
he is very aware of jaemin studying his face carefully while deciding his next move.
“alright.” he starts. “i’ll talk to you.”
“have you ever been in a situation where you want to tell someone the truth, but you’re scared it’ll push them away?”
jeno lets out a ‘hah’ before saying “yes.” and then adding, “stop dancing around the subject, na jaemin. what do you want to tell me?”
“so many things, jeno, and i don’t know which to start with.”
“just start anywhere and the rest will fall into place.”
jaemin takes a signature deep breath, holding it and then letting it out slowly, looking slightly pained.
“alright let’s start tame. i’m gay.”
jeno just laughs completely openly at him for that.
“why are you laughing?”
jeno recomposes himself “you said that like i didn’t know already.”
“...how?
“jaemin, you call me cute every eight minutes. straight people don’t do that.”
“oh.”
“but, please, keep going. sorry if my laughing put you off.”
“so you’re not mad? or grossed out?”
“no! of course not.”
“oh okay. so... to continue...” he trails off, unsure.
“there’s someone i have a crush on.” jeno’s heart drops but he ignores it, “but he’d never want to date me.”
“why? is he straight?”
it’s jaemin’s turn to laugh at that, “i don’t know, but i have a complicated situation. i don’t think anyone, regardless of their sexuality would date me.”
and this makes jeno unreasonably and inexplicably angry, but he lets jaemin continue.
“jeno... the reason i don’t do p.e, the reason no one should want to date me... i’m trans.”
jeno had not expected that one, he’ll be honest.
“oh my god, jaemin, is that it?”
“what?”
“you’re such a drama queen. if someone didn’t want to date you because of that, then it’s not your loss. somebody who truly wanted you wouldn’t care. i’m sure.”
“but that’s the issue, jeno! i’m too much of a guy for the straight guys and i’m not enough of one for the gay ones. i can’t win.”
“who is this guy you like? i’m gonna beat him up if he turned you down because you’re trans.”
“i haven’t told him.”
“oh. well then you can’t possibly know he wouldn’t like you then. you should tell him.”
“hah. yeah? i should?”
“yeah.”
“okay. jeno, i like you.”
oh.
okay maybe jeno is dense.
“oh.”
“but you’re so obliviously straight and, besides that, you’re my best friend and you probably hate me now since you didn’t before.”
“oh my god you’re no less oblivious, are you?” jeno says loudly, “jaemin, i’m gay, i’m just not as obvious or confident about it as you.
“i came out to my best friend in the first year of high school and he left me because of it. so i hid it from then on. i had such a big crush on him, it was unbelievable.”
“oh.” jaemin murmurs.
“yeah, oh. and for what it’s worth, i like you too, dumbass.” jeno rolls his eyes.
they sit on the roof in silence for a minute, letting the air clear and letting themselves calm down.
“so, you like me?”
“yes.”
“so, it’s okay if i do this?”
suddenly jaemin is beside him and, then even more suddenly, his lips are on jeno’s and jeno’s arms are around jaemin’s neck and it’s better than jeno had ever imagined it to be.
jaemin tastes like raspberries from eating his cake rolls and jeno hates it but it’s okay because it’s jaemin.
his skin and lips are soft like the rose petals he always smells of and jeno swears he could die kissing him and he’d die happy.
it lasts, and it lasts, and it doesn’t end and jaemin is a really good kisser and jeno doesn’t actually want it to end.
they finally break apart and jeno laughs in his face, but not in the mean way.
“i can’t believe you thought i was straight. i was whipped for you since day one.”
“okay but, in my defence, you didn’t know i liked you either.”
“at least i figured you were gay.”
“shut up. you’re so cute when you’re being cocky.”
“stop giving me mixed signals.”
“yeah? okay then. take this very unmixed signal: jeno, be my boyfriend.”
“hm. can i get back to you on that?”
“i hate you.”
they laugh and jeno kisses him again.
“of course i will.”