Chapter Text
Jaemin was always praised for his tech skills. The whole school website was designed by him. Everyone in the school knew of him as that one tech guy. Even if people considered him a nerd, he didn’t care, in fact, he had pride in himself knowing that people associated him with his talents.
Because of that, it was pretty common for students and teachers to come to him for requests. Usually, he would reject his classmate’s requests. He didn’t want to be editing someone’s homework or their Youtube videos. He had better things to do. So, when a student came up to him one day asking for help with his computer, he would normally turn them down. Normally.
But, this time he was cute. Really cute. Jaemin was simply distracted by the small boy who babbled about ghosts in the old building or something like that. Jaemin wasn’t really listening; he was too focused on the way the boy’s eyes sparkled. In fact, he was so distracted that he simply just nodded at the boy when the boy asked if Jaemin would help him. Help him with what, Jaemin couldn’t remember. But the way the boy jumped up and down and smiled so brightly at him when Jaemin nodded had Jaemin feeling weak.
The thought of taking that smile away left a bad feeling in Jaemin’s stomach. But Jaemin felt he might have to tell the boy he can’t. Jaemin had been stressing about a video competition. It was bad enough that he was way behind in classes; he couldn’t just add another project, even if that meant working with a cute boy. On the other hand, he didn’t want to disappoint the boy.
He was in a dilemma.
When he stupidly agreed to help the boy earlier that day, the boy ran toward his next class. Jaemin didn’t even give him his contact information. He didn’t even know his name. Just that they were going to meet at the entrance of the old building after school.
And there was Jaemin waiting for the boy. Waiting to be the bearer of bad news. He wished the other boy was just a figment of his imagination and he had imagined the whole thing. Now that he thought about it no boy would be THAT cute. But much to Jaemin’s dismay, that very boy was running toward him. Jaemin pinched himself to make sure he really wasn’t just imagining things.
The boy stopped in front of Jaemin trying to catch his breath.
“Sorry I was late,” he breathed out. “My teacher wanted to talk to me about something.”
Jaemin blinked. He didn’t know it was possible but the boy got even cuter, who was now wearing an oversized hoodie. His hands barely showed up from his sleeves, and his hair was a bit disheveled. Yeah, he was really cute. Jaemin couldn’t help a little smile that formed on his face.
“It’s okay I just got here too,” Jaemin lied. In fact, he had been there for fifteen minutes. Which wasn’t really that bad but it was cold and Jaemin only had a shirt on.
“No it isn’t,” the other boy frowned, “you look like you’re dying from hypothermia.”
“You’re over exaggerating.”
The other boy grabbed Jaemin’s hand. “No, I’m not. Your hand is freezing!” He grabbed the other hand.
Jaemin’s brain short-circuited. His hands felt warm but honestly, he couldn’t feel anything but his heart speeding up. The cute boy was so close to him.
“Oh yeah, my name’s Renjun!” The corners of his eyes crinkled.
“M-my name is Jaemin,” Jaemin stuttered. He wanted to slap himself. He couldn’t seem to stop embarrassing himself in front of Renjun. All he could think about was how cute the name Renjun was and how cute Renjun was.
Renjun laughed and Jaemin thought this must be what heaven sounded like.
“I know what your name is. I don’t think anyone in this school doesn’t know about you.” Renjun rolled his eyes as if it was the most obvious thing.
For the first time, Jaemin felt somewhat embarrassed because of that. He knew everyone knew of him because of how their principal kept boasting about him. Usually, he would just scoff at people who judged him or take pride in it. But, now he was embarrassed for reasons Jaemin couldn’t decipher. For some reason, he didn’t want Renjun to think of him as just some smart guy who knew about technology.
“What,” Jaemin cleared his throat, “what did you need my help in?” Jaemin mentally slapped himself. He was there to NOT help the cute boy. He was there to say no and leave but there he was asking him what he wanted help in. Good going Jaemin.
“Oh yeah!” Renjun let go of Jaemin’s hands. Jaemin internally sighed. His hands already missed the warmth.
Renjun started walking inside the building, Jaemin following behind. The inside was the same as the outside, old and unkempt. Desks and chairs were thrown all over the place. Only some of the lights worked. There was dust everywhere. In other words, Jaemin just wanted to leave and get whatever they were doing over with. As much as he wanted to stay with Renjun a bit longer, he didn’t like sneezing every fifteen seconds.
He didn’t even think they were even allowed there. The old building was just that: old. They were given a new and improved school building and Jaemin was pretty sure the school was going to destroy the old building too if it didn’t somehow destroy itself by next year. As to why Renjun waltzed in like he owned the place and had keys to open the front door, Jaemin didn’t know, and he didn’t want to know. Jaemin was getting mixed feelings about Renjun.
“How come I’ve never seen you before?” Jaemin asked. He wanted to distract himself from the crumbling state of the building and the thought of it collapsing on him.
“That’s because we don’t have any classes together,” Renjun answered.
“Still, I think I would see you in the halls of something.”
I think I would remember someone so cute.
Renjun snorted. “Do you even pay attention to anything besides your computer?”
Jaemin was taken aback. Did he really seem that closed off to others? Sure he would rather fix a computer than talk to others. Sure he did eat alone at lunch. Sure he didn’t really pay attention to his classmates. But that was because he thought that he didn’t really need them. He didn’t need to remember his classmate’s name or face because in ten years when he would become rich and successful it wouldn’t matter. So why did he feel so wrong about that? Why did he feel so offended by what Renjun said? He didn’t know.
They remained silent for the rest of the walk.
“Here we are!” Renjun stopped at a classroom door with a sign.
‘Paranormal Research Club’ the sign read. Jaemin raised his eyebrow. The what club? He didn’t even know such a club existed. Well, Jaemin didn’t really know a lot about his school. But he knew clubrooms should have been in the new building. Why would this club be there? It seemed to be the only club room there as he didn’t see any other signs in the other doors.
As if Renjun was able to read his mind he explained, “We asked if we can have our clubroom here. You know a lot of spooky stuff happened in this building.”
“Like what?” Jaemin asked. He was genuinely curious. All he knew about this building was that it was old and was going to be destroyed soon.
Renjun gave a mischievous smile, and Jaemin was pretty sure that once he started he wouldn’t stop or let Jaemin go, but Jaemin figured he wouldn’t mind listening to Renjun rant about some ghosts.
The only problem was that Jaemin never believed in ghosts. Maybe it was the realistic and technical side of him, but he just couldn’t wrap his head around paranormal things. It just didn’t make sense to him. The idea of a being that you couldn’t see or feel or hear just seemed unreasonable. But he wouldn’t tell Renjun that.
He braced himself for the upcoming rant about there being ghosts in the old building but it never came. Renjun just simply opened the door.
“As much as I want to talk about that, we would be here for hours and Jeno would get mad at me.”
“Jeno?” It didn’t quite sit right with Jaemin, hearing Renjun say another guy’s name.
Renjun let out another snort. “Yeah, Jeno. He’s my childhood friend and another member of this club...I’m not surprised you don’t know him.”
“Hey! I know some people in this school!” Jaemin defended himself. He didn’t know why, though, since he really didn’t know anyone in that school.
“Yeah, like who?” Renjun shot him a smug look. “The principal doesn’t count.”
Jaemin grumbled. He couldn’t really argue with Renjun, but it wasn’t like he could just suddenly lie to him and tell him he knew people. Well, he could but he knew that Renjun would see right through it.
“Let’s just fix this computer.” Jaemin sounded more annoyed than he wanted to. He hoped Renjun didn’t notice but Renjun’s cocky smirk seemed only to grow. Jaemin wanted to take back his previous comments; Renjun was definitely not cute.
“Renjun the one who lights up the world!” Renjun flipped the light switch and the whole room lit up. Okay maybe he was still cute but Jaemin would never admit that.
Jaemin looked around his surroundings. The classroom was filled with bookshelves. There was a bulletin board filled with papers and pins. Strings attached to the pins on the bulletin board made it look like some spider web contraption. Jaemin didn’t want to know what the heck was going on with that so he didn’t ask. He looked towards Renjun who kept eyeing said bulletin board. Maybe next time Jaemin would let him explain to him what it is. Would there be a next time, though?
Jaemin coughed to get Renjun’s attention back. “So the computer.”
“Oh, right,” Renjun remembered as he walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a laptop, placing it on an empty desk and opened it. “Jeno says it’s just a virus. I say a ghost hacked into it.”
Jaemin rolled his eyes. “It’s probably just a virus, let me look into it.”
Renjun closed the laptop and handed it carefully to Jaemin. “Okay, but when you get possessed by some ghost don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
A blank space. That was the current state of Jaemin’s minds and what his video project looked like. Just blank. The competition specified to make a video that showed what was important to you. That was the problem; Jaemin didn’t know what was important to him. He could videotape himself editing and fixing computers, but he knew they wanted the contestants to show their life outside of that. Who would want to watch a video of him on his computer? That certainly wouldn’t give him the scholarship prize or get him scouted.
He took a deep breath. Maybe he needed a change of pace. His eyes wandered over the laptop Renjun had given him the other day. He might as well fix it since no ideas for the video project were coming to mind.
“There,” Jaemin triumphantly whispered. It didn’t take long for him to fix it. This Jeno guy was right, saying it was just some virus that crept into the laptop. Jaemin took a mental note to tell Renjun to give the laptop protection and maybe teach him how laptops work. Also, he should tell Renjun that he didn’t get possessed by some ghost.
Speaking of the boy, Jaemin forgot to give Renjun his contact information, again. They didn’t even discuss when Jaemin was going to give him the laptop back. He guessed he would just give it to him after school.
After meeting Renjun, Jaemin paid attention to the people in the hallways and classes to see if he could spot the blonde boy. He even walked around the cafeteria in hopes he would “coincidentally” run into him. To his disappointment, he didn’t.
As school ended he felt his nerves tense up. He felt so nervous as he walked towards the old building but at the same time exhilarated. He hugged the laptop and knocked on the door, heart speeding up at the thought of seeing Renjun again. The one who greeted him at the door, however, wasn’t Renjun and Jaemin tried not to let his disappointment show. There stood a boy the same height as him, smiling with his eyes. He was handsome and cute in a way but Jaemin thought Renjun was cuter.
“Looking for Renjun?”
“Uh...yeah.” Jaemin suddenly remembered Renjun mentioning a boy named Jeno. Maybe this was Jeno and that idea made him suddenly dislike the boy in front of him even more.
“He’ll be here soon. You can wait in here if you would like,” Jeno gestured into the clubroom.
“No it’s fine I’m just here to return the laptop.” Jaemin shoved the laptop towards Jeno. Jaemin didn’t want to stay with this Jeno kid. He could be wrong; the guy in front of him could be a guy named Dave or something but his gut feeling told him he was Jeno. He wished Jeno was less perfect-looking.
“Jaemin?”
Jaemin heard his name and turned around to see Renjun in the flesh. He kept looking better and better the more times Jaemin saw him, even if Jaemin had only seen him three times. Jaemin’s mood was already lifting, and suddenly he forgot the bad taste in his mouth looking at Jeno.
“Yeah, I’m here to return the laptop.” Jaemin smiled, hoping the other two wouldn’t notice the panic in his eyes.
“Oh already? That was fast. As expected of Na Jaemin,” Renjun exclaimed as he jokingly punched Jaemin. The boy stumbled a bit, not expecting it and he swears he heard Jeno chuckle.
“Are you doing anything after school?” Renjun asked him, puppy eyes staring right into Jaemin’s own.
Jaemin swallowed thickly, “N-no.”
“Oh, I thought you said you were just gonna leave the laptop?” Jeno smirked. Jaemin wished he could punch that stupid smile off his face.
“Jeno,” Renjun groaned. Jaemin was right, this was the infamous Jeno. He didn’t like him already.
Jeno walked back inside the classroom, taking a seat by an empty desk and opening the laptop, away from the other two’s conversation.
Renjun looked at Jaemin, his eyebrows furrowed together. “He didn’t say anything did he?”
“No, why would he?” Jaemin questioned.
“Oh thank god,” Renjun sighed in relief, “sometimes Jeno can be a real snitch.”
“What would he snitch to me about?”
Renjun bit his lip. “Nothing!” Renjun stammered when he responded, blushing. “Sometimes he tells people embarrassing stories about me.”
Seeing Renjun flustered caused Jaemin’s heart to squeeze. He wondered if he could make the small blonde boy flustered. Jaemin put his hand on top of Renjun’s shoulder and reassured him. “Don’t worry, he didn’t say anything like that.”
A small chuckle could be heard from the inside of the room, most likely from Jeno. Renjun shot him a dirty look before softening up his gaze when he turned back to Jaemin. “Do you want to hear the stories about this building?”
Renjun’s face glowed. He smiled so brightly Jaemin wondered if he was going blind from the brightness. He looked so excited, like some child at Disneyland. It seemed he would ramble on and on even if Jaemin said no. In the end, Jaemin agreed to listen to Renjun tell him all of the stories. Stories that Jaemin would never care about but, Renjun was telling them and he would make the stories a lot more interesting. He heard a snort coming from inside the room. What was so funny? Does this Jeno guy just laugh everything? Jaemin pondered. Renjun either didn’t hear or was too eager to tell Jaemin as he grabbed his hand and dragged him.
It was the second time Renjun held onto Jaemin; the second time Jaemin felt warmth.
They wandered around the school. “I think it would be better if we surround ourselves with the setting.” Renjun directed his hand towards the beaten down hallway. The sun was still up, casting a glow into the hallway.
“What I’m about to tell you is a true story,” Renjun began as he composed himself and got into character, becoming serious. Jaemin could feel the goosebumps forming but at the same time internally cooed at Renjun and how much he was into his tale.
“Back when this old building was the main school, there was this girl. She was constantly bullied by all her classmates. She didn’t have any friends because no one wanted to be bullied for helping her. The teachers didn’t seem to care either.” Renjun paused, “One day the bullying went too far. She got locked up in a classroom. No one showed up to unlock it. She was stuck there for the whole night. The next day she wasn’t in the classroom anymore. They found her dead outside. They concluded she jumped outside the window. The police filed it as an accident when everyone in the school knew it was suicide. They say she still haunts this building seeking revenge for those who wronged her.”
They stopped walking. It was dark;Jaemin didn’t even notice his surroundings were getting dark. The hallway they stopped in had no sources of light, lacking any windows or ceiling lights. Jaemin didn’t want to admit how engrossed he was at the story, despite his beliefs. It was a simple and cliche horror story but, maybe it was the fact that Renjun was the one telling it that made it more interesting. Jaemin looked towards the dark hallway, figuring Renjun probably brought Jaemin to there to scare him.
“The classroom the bullies locked her in is at the end of the hallway.”
Jaemin stared into the dark abyss. For the first time, he felt uneasy. Normally, he would have given no reaction when someone would try and scare him. Maybe this time it was the eerie setting the hallway gave that made him jump up when Renjun yelled “Boo!”
Renjun laughed and if it wasn’t caused by Jaemin screeching then Jaemin would’ve appreciated how nice his laugh was. However, Renjun’s laugh was directed at Jaemin, so he only felt himself heating up with embarrassment.
“Let’s go back,” Jaemin insisted.
“Okay scaredy pants,” Renjun teased.
Jaemin rolled his eyes, but he didn’t fail to notice the way Renjun’s hands were shaking, so Jaemin gripped it tighter. He could have teased Renjun about being scared too, but he thought it would be better if he didn’t.
The walk back was shorter. Renjun probably took Jaemin along the scenic route so that they would stop at that particular hallway, at that exact time. As soon as they came back to the clubroom, Renjun dragged Jaemin toward the bulletin board.
“Everyone says it’s either an accident or suicide but-” he slapped the paper in the middle of the bulletin board. It looked like a newspaper article about the death. “-what if it was murder.”
Jeno groaned and scoffed.
“Is there something you wanted to say Jeno?” Renjun crossed his arms, challenging his friend.
“Yeah, don’t bring Jaemin into your wild theories.”
“It’s not a wild theory,” Renjun defended as he gripped his own forearms tighter, “If you listened to me you would understand.”
“The police investigated it and found that she was trying to escape from something and slipped out the window by accident.”
Renjun rolled his eyes and scoffed, “When are the police ever right?”
“Wait,” Jaemin pondered for a bit, “if the police are right then what was she trying to escape from?”
Jeno shrugged at the same time Renjun gasped, “Jaemin you’re a genius!”
“I am?” Jaemin was puzzled by Renjun’s response.
“This just proves more that she was murdered,” Renjun noted as he grabbed a marker and started drawing on the not-so-clean whiteboard.
“How does-“ Jeno tried to argue back but Renjun was already too preoccupied with whatever he was doing. “Nevermind,” Jeno muttered and returned to the laptop. “Try not to engage with him too much,” he told Jaemin.
It was too late though. Who was he to stop Renjun? He would rather listen to Renjun talk about the ghost stories of the whole country than fix some computer--Wait. Jaemin replayed that thought again. Usually, he would rather be alone with his devices. Usually, he would get tired of hearing people talk. Usually, he would be too preoccupied with his gadgets and coding to be able topay attention to classes or people. But, today he did just that and all because of a boy named Huang Renjun. Nothing was usual when it came to Renjun, and it scared Jaemin. The idea that Renjun was changing him scared him. But, he also liked it.
“C’mon,” Renjun gestured for Jaemin to come closer. “So my theory is she wasn’t in the classroom alone. There was someone else there with her. Someone that ultimately killed her.”
“Okay, but who would do that?”
Renjun smiled mischievously. “A lot of people. I narrowed it down to three. Her homeroom teacher,” Renjun pointed to a picture of a middle age woman in the bulletin board. His finger followed a red string that connected that picture to another picture. The picture was of a high school girl “the class president,” and he points to the last picture of the triangle, “or the girl herself.”
“Hey.”
Jaemin jumped up at the sudden greeting. He was getting ready to leave the clubroom when Jeno suddenly pulled him out, closing the door in the process. Jeno’s eye smile disappeared, the air suddenly turning tense.
“Did you need to talk to me?” Jaemin asked, confused.
“Yeah, are you gonna continue coming here?”
“Why, do you not want me here?”
Jeno placed his hands on top of Jaemin’s shoulders. His serious expression softened. “No, no please stay. This was the most I’ve seen Renjun so expressive since he received the news that they’re gonna renovate the place. He usually doesn’t show anyone this side of him, but he opened up so easily to you. I just don’t want him to go through people leaving him again.”
“Again?”
“Yeah, sometimes when people get to see this side of him they get weirded out. But I can tell that you’re a good person because you didn’t look at him with disgust or judgment. I told you to not engage him too much, but I didn’t mean that. Show him that it’s okay for him to act like himself.”
Jaemin pried Jeno’s hands off his shoulders. “I wasn’t thinking of leaving him,” Jaemin snapped.
“Then it’s safe to assume you’ll be here more often?”
Jaemin nodded.
Jeno’s eyes crinkled, his lips curling back up into a smile. “I’m glad,” he admitted as he extended his hand, “We haven’t had a proper greeting. I’m Jeno.”
With slight hesitation, Jaemin completed the handshake. “I’m Jaemin.”
Jeno’s hand gripped tighter, his voice dropping to a menacing snarl, “The day you make Renjun cry is the day you die.” Jeno opened the clubroom door. “Bye Jaemin and thanks for fixing my laptop.” He gave Jaemin one last smile before shutting the door in his face.
Jaemin stood there motionless, staring at the door wondering what just happened. This Jeno guy was...kind of intimidating. In any case, Jaemin wanted to see Renjun smile, not his tears so he knew there was nothing to be scared about. On the way back home Jaemin couldn’t help but feel uneasy. What if he somehow hurt Renjun and didn’t even know about it? Jaemin decided to just sleep the thought off.