Chapter Text
“I don’t trust people who drink tea. That shit’s disgusting, it tastes like wet grass. Tea-drinkers are just cowards,” Jaemin huffed, sitting opposite of Jeno in their usual booth at their go-to Starbucks, waiting for his regular order, an americano with about 6 too many espresso-shots.
Jeno turned his head in slight panic, noticing multiple people giving the two of them a nasty look. He tried to smile to them, apologetically, patching up the wounds Jaemin’s words made in their sensitive tea-loving hearts. “Goddammit, Nana, you gotta learn how to shut up,” Jeno turned back to Jaemin, giving him a scolding look. He didn’t last for long, though, and a smile broke through, his eyes turning into crescents. “You’re right, tho.” Jeno was whipped for Jaemin, after all. Damn him and his cute fluffy morning hair.
Jaemin heard someone cough beside him and he lifted his eyes to stare right back at a pissed-off-looking short boy with dark brown hair. The boy’s eyes narrowed even more when his eyes met Jaemin’s. Cute . Jaemin’s heart squeeled in exciment and the strays of his bubblegum pink hair tried to reach towards the new, shiny boy. Jaemin’s instinct told him to pinch his cheeks and lift him up, possibly carrying him out to the sea until he was Jaemin’s. Jaemin was suddenly so grateful he didn’t believe in mind reading.
Jeno noticed the extra spark in Jaemin’s eyes and shook his head, amused. Aaand here he goes again, he though. He didn’t mind though. Maybe because a lovesick Jaemin was good entertainment, maybe because the waiter boy was cute and tiny and probably had spikes like a hedgehog.
“Here’s your order. Have a wonderful day,” the boy said as he sat the two cups down with a bang, ironia filling his words, venom dripping through.
Jaemin grinned up at him. Two can play this game, he thought to himself. “Oh, why, thank you! I’ve never met a Starbucks-waiter so adorable!” Jaemin lowered his eyes to check his name tag, “It was a pleasure to meet you, Renjun-ah. Next time, don’t hesitate to ask for my number,” Jaemin winked at him and Renjun’s cheeks turned even redder, either from his flirting or from being angry. Maybe both, Jaemin hoped. Jaemin kinda wanted to coo at him, but he also kinda didn’t want Renjun to punch him in the middle of the cafe. Jaemin liked his face too much.
With an eye roll and a frustrated huff, Renjun turned on his heels, with a slight flip of his hair.
“Well isn’t he cute,”Jeno smirked at Jaemin after Renjun was a safe distance away from them, just to avoid anymore trouble.
“Yeah, he is,” Jaemin answered, voice much more quiet now, almost serious, as he reached to take his drink from the table. Jaemin was smiling, an all too familiar smile. A smile that he had given Jeno when they’d first met. The rest was history.
Jeno had been expecting a joke or something in response, something to try and cover up the facts, not this. “Wait, you’re being serious. You think he’s cute. You want him to ask for your number,” Jeno was a bit taken aback, after seeing what kinda first impression Renjun had given to them. But then again, it was Jaemin, so he wasn’t really surprised. Not only did Jaemin love everything and everyone, but he specially seemed to like the spicy ones. Plus, that Renjun guy was illegally cute, Jeno must admit. “Which by the way, isn’t going to happen if you treat him like that.”
Jaemin looked at him, his face in a mocking shock. “Jeno, what do you mean! Everyone loves my flirting! You love my flirting!” Jaemin gasped and put a hand on the right side of his chest. “My heart is hurting, how dare you betray the love of your life like this,” he said, pouting at Jeno.
“The heart is on the left side,” is all Jeno answered to him, laughing at his idiot of a boyfriend. “And you know what I mean.”
Jaemin had just taken a sip from his drink and was now coughing, his eyes wide and almost watery. He stuck his tongue out, a disgusted look on his face. “Yah, what is this! This isn’t my coffee! It’s fucking tea!” Jaemin turned to glare into the direction of the counter, searching for the culprit and finding him giggling behind the counter, bent in half with his hands holding his stomach. Jaemin forced his face into a sweet smile as he noticed Renjun looking at him, but he was pretty sure he didn’t succeed very well, the bitter taste of tea still in his mouth. His smile probably turned out looking just ironic and suffering. Which is probably exactly what Renjun wanted. Fuck him.
“Fuck this Renjun guy, seriously,” Jaemin threatened, his eyes still on the laughing Renjun.
“You wish,” Jeno cackled back at him, he even had the nerve to wink at Jaemin. Jaemin was shocked and disgusted.
“Shut up, Jeno. I’m never coming back here again.”
--
Renjun should have never agreed to take up drama classes. But Donghyuck could be very persuasive when he wanted to. Which was often. Which is why his friends got to suffer. Renjun, in specific.
So here he was, against his free will, in the middle of weird, loud people, already hating everything, holding his thermos still half full of his favorite jasmine tea ( the only good thing in this situation, Renjun thought), and that’s when it all went even more wrong for him. Because that’s when the two guys from yesterday walked in. The tea haters. The pink haired one, who had ordered the most disgusting, black coffee, way too strong for a baby-faced boy like him. Which is exactly why Renjun had switched his order to matcha tea. Just for his (Jaemin’s? Renjun recalled having written on his cup) sake, obviously. And his friend, the one whose constant smile probably kept the earth spinning. As for his order, Renjun had only added triple the amount of sugar to his already sweet order. He, Jeno, didn’t even seem to mind, thought. Renjun didn’t know if he should’ve been disgusted or a bit in love.
“Oh, Renjun-ah! You’re here!” Jaemin spotted him, a grin splitting his face. It looked a bit too sincere and not annoying enough for Renjun to hate him for it. I hate him, Renjun thought.
“That’s Renjun-hyung for you,” Renjun snarled quietly in response, keeping his eyes on the floor. He felt Donghyuck’s questioning gaze on him. He would’ve liked the ground to swallow him whole.
Jeno snickered at his remark and slapped a hand on his mouth to keep quiet. Renjun noticed and had to bite his lip from smiling at his adorable giggle.
Jaemin looked a bit taken aback. “Oh. Oh! Right, I’m sorry, I should’ve asked you first, hyung. You just looked so tiny and cut-- and how exactly do you even know my birthdate? Did you look me up?” And there it was, his signature smirk. Renjun really did hate him. He didn’t even have the time to enjoy the sound of Jaemin calling him hyung, which was really a pity.
Stammering with his words, Renjun felt his cheeks get warmer. “What? No, I just, uhh, just happened to…” He looked to Donghyuck with pleading eyes. Donghyuck only raised his eyebrow back at him. What an asshole of a best friend he was. Renjun made a mental note to make Donghyuck pay back for that one.
“Ugh, just sit still and quiet like your friend does and maybe you’d look as pretty as he does,” Renjun stomped his feet, storming away to sit in the farthest corner of the classroom.
“But that would be no fun,” Jaemin muttered after Renjun had gone. He turned to Jeno. “Pretty? He thinks you’re pretty? Isn’t that the same as confessing he likes you?” Jaemin pointed his finger at Jeno, stabbing his chest with it, his lips pursed, accusing.
“Yah, are you saying I’m not pretty? I’m offended.” Jeno fake pouted right back at him.
Jaemin rushed to assure Jeno he was the prettiest thing on earth (well, maybe after Renjun, but he didn’t need to hear that right now), kissing his cheek and petting his hair until Jeno had to physically stop him (“We’re in school, Nana! Where’s your manners!”). The only problem was that these days, Jaemin was working out a bit too much and Jeno was falling behind. There would come a day when Jeno couldn’t stop his attacks anymore and would have to just suffer (because Jeno would never admit to liking it when Jaemin was like that. Never.).
When Jeno had gotten Jaemin back in check, he shrugged, “Plus, I can’t help it that I’m popular.”
Jaemin groaned in frustration and hit Jeno’s chest with more force now. “Don’t lie. Why must you...” Jaemin clenched and unclenched his fist in front of him.
“...Be so handsome everyone falls for me?” Jeno smirked and giggled.
Jaemin wasn’t listening anymore. He had his eyes on Renjun, Jeno could basically see the hearts he was shooting towards the back of his head. He kinda felt bad. Only kinda, though, because he had known Jaemin long enough to see him crush on someone new every week.
“He’s so pretty, Jeno-ah,” Jaemin whined. Jeno patted him on the back sympathetically. I know.
--
“Why did you drag me here,” Renjun whined to Donghyuck as soon as they had sat down.
“So I could find out about your crush, apparently. Wow, I’m smarter than I thought,” Donghyuck patted himself on the back.
“I don’t have a crush! He’s an annoying asshole and I just want to punch his face in!”
“Aww, that’s sweet. As expected, from our Injunnie,” Donghyuck reached out to pinch his cheeks but Renjun gave him such a scary stare that he decided against it. Donghyuck quite enjoyed living. “How do you even know them in the first place? The semester literally just started, even I don’t know them yet.”
“It’s a long story. Basically they visited my work place and acted like fifth graders who are trying to be tough by copying their homework at the last moment,” Renjun grimaced at the memory.
“Ah, I gotta make sure to befriend them, then. We’d get along well.”
“I’m sure you would,” Renjun muttered.
--
Renjun was pretty sure the whole universe was against him. Their first exercise in this god-awful drama class, was to make short performances in groups of four. And not that, but when Jaemin asked (or actually sat next to them as if they’d already agreed) if they could team up with Donghyuck and Renjun, Donghyuck was too quick to agree for Renjun to stop it from happening. All he could do was to angrily glare at Donghyuck and suffer.
And not even that, but then they were given first loves as a key word. Great.
“Ah, how fitting!” Donghyuck and Jaemin exclaimed at the same time. All three of them burst into laughter but Renjun only managed a tight smile. His palms were starting to sweat just at the thought of what the other three would plan for his death. What if it involves hand holding? Hugging? Something equally horrifying? Renjun’s heartbeat picked up and his stress levels suddenly skyrocketed.
"So, as we only have three minutes for the scene, I think we should get right into it. The good stuff, you know," Jaemin winked at them (Renjun pretended it was meant for Donghyuck. It clearly wasn't.), eyes shining with mischief.
"But it should be about first loves, though. Like the shy, awkward, cheesy stuff," Jeno tried but Donghyuck beat him to it; "Ah, yes, first kisses! Renjun here is more than willing --". The rest was mumbled against Renjun's palm, the tone rising in the end as Renjun had Donghyuck's head in a headlock.
Jaemin looked torn between being a supportive boyfriend by standing behind Jeno’s idea, and taking the chance to do a steamy scene with Renjun.
Renjun sighed in desperation and decided he had to do the only safe thing in this situation: take the lead with planning and not let Donghyuck and Jaemin plan his funeral any further. "Jeno, good point," he said, exchanging small smiles with him (well, Jeno apparently can't really do "small smiles", but a smile nevertheless).
"Okay, so, here's what we're going to do," Renjun clapped his hands together, his game face on, doing his best to ignore Donghyuck's and Jaemin's stupid ideas.
They ended up acting a scene full of shy smiles, some Instagram-stalking ( thanks, Donghyuck ), hand holding (Renjun almost died, thanks for asking. Jeno has really big and warm hands and Renjun wanted to drown in them), kisses (Jaemin insisted, Jeno happily agreed to be his partner in crime (partner in kiss?) and stargazing (Renjun's heart was so loud, he was sure everyone could hear it hammering a hole into his chest, laying down sandwinched between Jaemin and Jeno, Jaemin's soft, cool hand carefully intertwining with his and lifting their hands up to point at an imaginary star constellion. Renjun's eyes stayed on Jaemin's pretty, pretty face instead. There was one way too long second when Jaemin turned to stare right back into Renjun's heart and soul. It made Renjun almost forget where they were. Thankfully that's when the three minutes had passed and everyone started clapping. Like they'd been acting or something. Renjun wanted to either cry or laugh.)
But at least the teacher was satisfied and Renjun's heart didn't combust (yet), so it's all good.
--
You were right, hyung. You’re my senior. I did my homework. Sorry again, hyung.
Wǒ shì nǐ de bǎobèi ㅇㅅㅇ
Yours,
Na Jaemin xoxo
ps im totally prettier than jeno just admit it !
Renjun rolled his eyes at the letter in his locker but couldn’t stop the smile spreading onto his face. Donghyuck gave him a suspicious look and tried to steal the letter, not succeeding, of course. He only ended up with a sore spot on his chest.
--
“What the fuck are you doing,” Jaemin’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped as a mad-looking Renjun grabbed his arm, hard. Jaemin hadn’t known he was so strong. He was kinda impressed. And kinda scared, because Renjun had just yelled at him and now he was squeezing his arm, his eyes basically shooting draggers and lightings at him.
“What.” is all Jaemin got out, unable to take his eyes off Renjun’s gaze. His arm was slowly going numb.
“You’re a drug dealer, huh, top of being disrespecting and rude and having an awful taste in drinks? I can’t believe this,” Renjun scoffed, his voice disappointed.
“I, uh, drugs? What are you on about?” Jaemin was truly lost. His eyes had gotten even bigger at Renjun’s accusation, it looked almost comical.
Renjun grabbed the small plastic bag from his hand, the one Jaemin had already forgotten he was still holding, and thrusted it onto Jaemin’s face. “This! Is what I’m talking about.”
Jaemin slowly moved his gaze to look at the bag, the white cubes in it. He cocked his eyebrow at them and then at Renjun, who was still looking at him like he’d committed the worst kind of crime.
“Those are my sugar cubes, Renjun.”
“Hyung.” Renjun corrected.
“Renjun-hyung,” Jaemin wanted to roll his eyes but didn’t dare, Renjun’s hand still holding his arm and eyes piercing into his, “They’re my sugar cubes, you know, made of sugar. For me. To eat. They don’t even look like drugs, haven’t you ever seen real drugs before?” Jaemin didn’t point out that the only place he had seen “real drugs” was crime tv-series.
“Uh. Sugar?” Renjun eyed the bad skeptically, holding it far from him like it might attack any moment. He looked like he wasn’t buying it. “And why on earth would you carry sugar cubes with you, for you, to eat? Only toddlers eat sugar cubes.”
“Because I like sugar? Because I like sweet things?” Jaemin said slowly, like the wrong word could make Renjun snap and breake his arm or heart or something.
“Or you’re mentally five,” Renjun sighed and finally let go of Jaemin’s arm, accepting being mistaken for once, which was very rare, him being Huang Renjun after all. He was used to being mostly right, at all times. “You’re weirdest human I’ve ever met,” Renjun shaked his head in disbelief. “Plus, sugar is disgusting. Too sweet. Bad for health. As addicting as cocaine,” Renjun listed, counting with his fingers as he went on. He was just trying to help. Jaemin clearly had a problem, maybe not with drugs, but sugar was almost equally bad, if you asked Renjun.
Jaemin cut him off before he could really get into it, “What’s so weird about me liking sweet things, that’s literally why I work at a candy shop! That’s why I like you, too!” Jaemin exclaimed. Renjun wanted to either punch him or runaway. He did the one he knew how to. He turned his back to Jaemin, he and his slightly warm cheeks, and waved his hand half-heartedly at Jaemin. The wave was less like a goodbye and more like an aggressive swing, though.
Renjun heard Jaemin giggle as he walked away. Asshole.
--
“Didn’t you say you’d never come here again?” Jeno teased and looked as the first snowflakes of the year fell, drippling onto Jaemin’s hair and getting stuck on his eyelashes. Moments like this, Jaemin still succeeded to make Jeno breathless, just by being. Moments like this, it felt like day one all over again. Jeno squeezed Jaemin’s hand a little tighter.
Jaemin huffed and rolled his eyes. “But where else would I get my daily caffeine from?”
“Ever thought of just brewing it by yourself like a normal pers–”
“Shh, look! It’s the tiny tea boy! Isn’t he cute today,” Jaemin squealed, snowflakes slowly dying and melting into his hair as the room temperature suddenly rose by at least like 0.47 degrees. The temperature of crushing was still much lower than that of love’s, Jeno knew. “I looked him up on the magical internet and wow, he’s from China! So obviously I went and learned some phrases, just the really necessary ones…” Jeno listened to Jaemin babbling on excitedly, reciting the few lines of chinese he had taught himself, and smiled fondly at the idiot. Cute idiot.
They startled as someone coughed right beside their table. “What would you like?” Renjun asked them, dressed in a cute, oversized yellow hoodie, his eyes moving nervously between the table and their faces.
Jaemin gave Jeno a look, “I didn’t know they serve to the tables,” but Jeno kicked his ankle under the table to keep him quiet. Jaemin made a dramatic shriek of pain and pouted.
Jeno ignored him and turned to smile dazzlingly at Renjun, “Ah, yes, an americano with just a little espresso and a caramel frappuccino with extra caramel and whipping cream, please!”. Again Jeno only ignored Jaemin’s protest of needing more caffeine in this cold and cruel world.
Renjun’s pen hovered over his orders-notebook, eyes on Jeno, even after he’d stopped talking. Jeno’s eyelashes were black from the melted snow, making them look longer than usual, cheeks a bit red from the cold, hair falling carelessly over his forehead. And that smile, reaching his eyes and scrething as wide as the universe. Renjun felt his heart beat in his chest, time ticking on, but he couldn’t force his eyes away from Jeno. He was too breathtaking for his own health.
Renjun fell back to this world as he heard Jaemin laugh. He turned to look at him, his pen still poised and ready, but just as time had started to flow at normal speed, it slowed down again; Jaemin’s pretty jawline, slightly damp hair that was just a bit more curlier than normal, and –
No. Nope, this wasn’t it. Renjun had to pinch himself to focus. He quickly lowered his eyes and scribbled their orders down, turning to leave. Before he could, though, Jaemin grabbed his sleeve and carefully pronounced “ Wǒ shì nǐ de bǎobèi”, all the while smiling proudly, “Is that right?”.
Renjun stared at Jaemin’s fingers around his wrist for a moment, “Please don’t use that word ever again,” he said as coldly as he managed, “Plus, I’m still older than you,” and finally escaped into the kitchen. His heart was doing stupid, silly things again. Damn them and their pretty faces.
“But that’s what I meant, I mean, bǎobèi, meaning younger, right? ” Jaemin demanded Jeno, who was even more clueless than he was. “Right?” Jaemin raised his voice and clinged to Jeno’s side when he didn’t answer him.
“Fricking hell, Nana, just google it! I don’t know chinese!” Jeno tried to pull his arm free but ended up just giggling at Jaemin’s fake-upset complaining sided with aegyo. Jaemin was really a handful and a half. Maybe two-threes. A full two on a good day.
--
"I thought you didn't like sweet things," Jaemin's face smiled at Renjun, the sweetest thing in the room filled with rows on rows of candy, colorful, bright, tempting. “I thought you couldn’t distinguish sweet from illegal .”
But how can I not like sweet things, when it's you.
"I thought you didn't dye your hair to fit into a candy shop," Renjun muttered, not looking at Jaemin but instead eyeing the shelves full of sugar, the exact same shade of pink as Jaemin's fluffy hair, "I thought you had a deep meaning behind it."
"What, should my hair be treated like a painting? A piece of art? A poem? 'Oh, how thee sunsets were full and so was my soul'," Jaemin mocked, waving his hands like he probably thought Hamlet did, snickering afterwards. "It's just hair."
Renjun scoffed at him, rolling his eyes and stuffing his hands into his coat pockets. Idiot. His delicate, classical poetry-loving heart ached.
"Oh, hey! Hands where I can see them! I can't have my job taken away from me just because you decided to steal candy from a bǎobèi ," Jaemin pointed at him, quite convincingly, Renjun noted, as Renjun slowly pulled his hands out of his pockets out of shock. As Jaemin threw his head back, holding his stomach with his arms as he laughed, Renjun felt his cheeks warm, anger and embarrassment settling in.
"You should've seen your face! If I didn't know better, I would've thought you actually did steal something and got caught!" Jaemin cackled at him as Renjun's face got more and more red, blood boiling inside him.
"I told you to stop using that word."
"What word? Bǎobèi ? Oops, sorry hyung, my bad," Jaemin smirked at him. Renjun wanted to punch him with his fluffy pink hair and as pink lips. Probably sweet, too. Not that Renjun was thinking about Jaemin or how sugary sweet his mouth would taste on his. Goddammit.
"Why are you here anyway? It's not like you came to buy candy for yourself – Aah, you're to see me at work? How sweet, Renjun-hyung, you couldn't wait for me to come get my coffee from you in the morning?"
It slowly dawned to Renjun that he had indeed made a mistake. He had no reason to be here, in a candy shop, and everyone with any sense knew it. And he sure as hell wasn’t going to take back his claim of not eating candy, ever. For one, because he didn’t, and for two, because that would give Jaemin the satisfaction he craved for. Renjun tried to come up with an excuse, eyes trained on his fiddling hands, cheeks burning. "I...I mean, uh, I'm just...just buying some candy for Mark-hyung, yes." Renjun smiled victoriously, staring at Jaemin, a look that dared him to argue with his explanation.
"Mark-hyung, huh? Why, is your friend sick or something?" Jaemin clenched his teeth together; he hadn't even met this Mark yet but he already hated him. How dare Renjun be here, in his shop, for any other reason than him? For someone else?
Renjun started to answer his question, but Jaemin didn't really care to listen to any more talk about this other guy, "He's not your hot, older boyfriend now is he? That's why you're here buying gifts for him?" Jaemin knew he was acting silly, basically laying all of his cards on the table, but he realized this one beat too late. Renjun had all the rights to have a boyfriend, or boyfriends, or girlfriends, after all. Jaemin had one, too. He had no right to say anything, but imagining Renjun looking at this Mark, who was clearly very handsome and dark and had more muscles than Jaemin and Jeno combined and money to spend on Renjun, Jaemin couldn’t take it.
"Well, it’s a bit complicated-- wait, why do you care? He might as well be, that's none of your business. Or are you jealous?" Renjun crossed his arms over his chest, cocking his head with a teasing smirk on his lips.
"Me? Because of you? Absolutely not, I couldn't care less, actually," Jaemin sputtered, words tumbling onto each other, quick to find his hands something to do as he turned his back on Renjun under the excuse of organizing the stacks behind him.
"Sure, Jaemin. If you say so. I'll just get my candy and go, then. You do have the tiny, salty black things, right? They're Mark-hyung's favourites," Renjun said, enjoying the look of hatred on Jaemin's face. It was cute, seeing him being the one to stutter for once.
As Renjun picked candy, holding the shovel as far away from himself as possible, trying to hold his breath so he wouldn’t breath in too much sugary-fumes, he occasionally glanced over at Jaemin. He was sitting behind the counter, sulking, phone in hand. Jaemin was probably texting Jeno to rant about how Renjun was dating a hot, foreign, older boy and not him.
Jeno was probably just laughing at his misery and reminding Jaemin he himself was also dating a hot, older boy. To which Jaemin probably answered: That doesn’t count!
Just to tease Jaemin a bit more, Renjun turned back by the door, “It was a pleasure, Na Jaemin. Although it could’ve been more of a one, if Jeno was here. What a shame. This shop could use some eyecandy, if you get me,” Renjun grinned and let the door close behind him, Jaemin’s faint frustrated groan following him out.
--
"Why is there a bag of candy on the kitchen table? Injunnie?"
Renjun sighed, not really caring to explain to Mark about his little problem, if that's what he should even call it.
"I don't even know myself. Maybe I got a brief lapse in sanity or something. I'll just give them to Chenle tomorrow or something."
Mark looked at the candy and then Renjun, a knowing smile growing on his face. Renjun didn't like where this was headed to. He knew that look. It said endless teasing.
"You went to that boy's, Jaemin's, shop, right?" When Renjun turned to stare at the floor, embarrassed, Mark cooed and pinched his cheek, ignoring Renjun cursing Donghyuck for telling probably literally everyone about Jaemin and Jeno and the fiasco of a drama class.
"Aaw, how cute! Our Injunnie has a crush!" Mark exclaimed.
"I don't! Jaemin's an asshole and I hate his pretty face!" Renjun punched Marks arm weakly and tried to hide his face into his hands. It was a weak attempt of denying it, even in his own ears. And what comes to Jeno, Renjun didn’t even want to go there.
"Aha! You do like him! Wait, wasn’t it the other one you liked? Jeno?” When Renjun didn’t answer, too busy burying his face into Mark’s sweater, Mark shrugged, already on his phone, spreading the news to their whole friendgroup. Great , Renjun thought. No more peaceful days for me, then.
--