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Chenle wouldn’t say that embarrassing his brothers was something he was particularly good at it, but he had to admit that he had a knack for saying the worst things at the best times.
Right now, Yukhei was trying, and failing, to pretend to know everything about weddings. For the past ten minutes he’d called a rehearsal dinner the practice wedding. Mark looked on, eyes confused.
Yukhei grabbed another slice of pizza, on a roll now. “Yeah, the first practice wedding I went to was in high school. The bride ran into the cross thingy and got a nosebleed. She had to wear her backup dress the next day.”
“Who was getting married again? If you were in high school that means Chenle and I would’ve went,” Renjun said.
Yukhei swallowed a gulp of water. “Nah. They were one of my coaches, haha.”
Chenle tilted his head. His brother was so dumb. “Then I should definitely know them. The lacrosse coaches haven’t changed in fifteen years.”
Mark wiped his mouth cautiously and grabbed Yukhei’s hand. “You’ve never been to a wedding, have you?”
“Uh.”
Chenle held back a smile. “Check his browser history. His last search was a Buzzfeed article on weddings.”
“Oh, fuck off. ”
“Oh, you know you don’t have to go to Kun’s wedding right?” Mark reassured.
“I’d feel bad if I didn’t,” Yukhei mumbled. “Besides, I’d want them to come to our wedding someday.”
Chenle and Renjun gagged.
Chenle unceremoniously shoved the suits into the back of Jisung’s 2004 sedan and slammed the door. As the only member of his family that had been to a proper wedding, he was responsible for renting every suit. Which he wouldn’t have had to do if Yukhei wore suits. Like at all.
“Where to now?” Jisung asked. As his best friend, and only person who listened to him, Jisung was his unofficial, official chauffeur. Without wages.
“Target. They said they needed a new blender on their wedding wishlist thing.”
“Do you care which one we go to?”
“Nah.” Chenle leaned his head back and closed his eyes. “I’ll just be in and out.”
Honestly, fuck Target Corporation and their need to hire every desperate teenager in the suburbs. Because now, Jaemin was smiling at him from across the register, Looney Tunes stickers dotting his nametag.
“Cash or card?”
Chenle held up Yukhei’s bank card without a word and completed the transaction on the keypad.
“How’s your leg?”
Chenle finished typing in the PIN number and glanced at the purple bruise near his knee. Jaemin had somehow launched the lacrosse ball at his leg at practice yesterday and not the goal.
“Purple.”
“Ah. Sorry about that.”
“Are you, though?”
Jaemin tugged the receipt from the register. “Eh. Kinda sorta.”
“You little-”
“Can we save the trash talk for when I’m off the clock, please? Thanks.”
“I-”
“Have a good day sir!”
(If Chenle spent the entire car ride home deep frying every photo of Jaemin he possessed, then that was his business and no one else’s.)
*
“Renjun.”
“Hell yeah, that’s me.”
Chenle plopped onto the bed next to his brother. “I hate all of your friends.”
“Even Jeno?”
The image of Jeno and Yukhei knitting together last Christmas Eve crossed his mind. “Nah, not Jeno. He’s too sweet.”
“So just Jaemin?” Renjun combed his hair back and Chenle felt like he was five again.
“Your boyfriend is kinda gross too. He wears the same David Bowie shirt everyday.”
“I think it’s cute.”
Yukhei peeked his head in from the hallway. “Ooh. Are we sharing secrets?”
“Nah, Chenle just wants to be babied today.”
Yukhei hopped over and jumped onto the bed. “What’s wrong, bud?”
“Renjun’s friends are assholes.”
“Even Jeno?”
“No. I think he and Jaemin got into an argument again.”
“You guys get into arguments all the time though.”
Chenle couldn’t explain it, couldn’t find the words to properly capture the scribbling in his chest so he sobbed once, then, “I think he hates me.”
Renjun wiped a tear away, hesitant. “But we already knew that. That’s like, his thing.”
“Well tell him to get a new thing!”
Chenle let out another sob and his brothers held him tighter, confused, but full of love.
*
The stupid thing was that Chenle hadn’t always hated Jaemin. It just happened gradually.
Jaemin and Renjun didn’t become friends until sophomore year when Jaemin went through a fine arts phase. (It didn’t last very long.) After that, he was at their house every other day, just loitering.
And before that, Chenle was fine with seeing him at lacrosse practice but seeing him at home too? Way too much. Especially when he waltzed into Chenle’s room every time he was over, smiled, politely asked what the WiFi password was, and blew a kiss upon exiting. Every fucking time.
Renjun was kind of oblivious to the fact that he had asshole friends, mostly because he was the biggest asshole out of all of them.
“He’s probably just flirting with you. He does that,” Renjun had said.
Chenle wasn’t exactly averse to the idea that a really cute boy was flirting with him, so when he had brought it up to Jaemin, the latter had scowled before saying, “I’d rather square dance with a possum before flirting with you.”
And Chenle kind of took that as a declaration of war. (He has started out by stealing one shoelace from each pair of shoes he left at their house. Brilliant.)
*
Chenle had ended up falling asleep in Renjun’s bed after crying for God knows how long, and shuffled down the stairs the next morning, face puffy and splotched. Mark and Yukhei were in the living room trying to decide which shoes to wear, and Chenle could hear Renjun humming in the kitchen.
Yukhei set a pair of loafers down. “How you feeling, big guy?”
“Sleepy.”
Renjun whisked into the living room with a plate of pancakes. “Here you go, Lele. I made your favorite so you’d feel better.”
Chenle had never seen his brother look so sincere. “Thanks.”
“Well Mark and I are going to head out. Call us if you need anything, okay?” Yukhei and Mark left and Renjun stared at Chenle as he ate pancake after pancake.
“You know, you and Jaemin are probably the nicest people I know.”
“What about Jeno?”
Renjun stared off for a moment. “Well. Besides Jeno.”
“That’s fair.”
“Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that Jaemin is quite literally an angel. He rarely acts mean or teases people on purpose. He’s thoughtful.”
Chenle set his fork down. “So let me get this straight, Jaemin is literally the nicest person in the world to everyone else, except me?”
Renjun held a finger up. “No, what I’m saying is that Jaemin has the emotional complex of an elementary school student. He probably just has a crush on you.”
Chenle shuddered. Jaemin? Having a crush? On him? The thought itself made his stomach coil.
“Jun, that’s worse.”
“Whatever, I know I’m right. Please date him so he can stop third-wheeling me and Hyuckie.”
“Do you ever not have an ulterior motive?”
“Do you ever shut up about Jaemin? That’s what I thought.” Renjun said. “You should call Jisung. I feel like he could offer advice too.”
Chenle considered this and dialed his number after Renjun left.
“Hey, Lele!” Chenle could hear music blaring in the background. “What’s up?”
“Hey, do you think I like Jaemin?”
Jisung let out a squeak. “I don’t think I’m qualified to speak on this.”
“You’re literally my best friend.”
“Okay, I’ll rephrase that. I don’t want to speak on this.”
Chenle sighed. Jisung was no help. “I’m so confused right now.”
“Why don’t you take your hammock out and go to the park? We did that before finals last year, remember?”
Chenle sat up. An afternoon spent pondering about his weird love life while eating Twizzlers in a hammock sounded wonderful. “You’re a genius Sungie.”
“No problem! Hopefully you stop talking about Jaemin after this!” He hung up.
“He’s lucky he’s a baby,” Chenle muttered.
*
The park wasn’t very crowded when Chenle arrived, carrying a box of Twizzlers and his hammock. There were a few families spread out on the grass and a few people by the play set. He set sights on a tree near the clearing, mostly shaded from the sun.
As he got closer, he noticed a sickeningly familiar person-sized lump near the tree.
“Hey, Jaemin.”
Jaemin sat up from where he had been laying on his blanket. His hair was messy now and an unfinished rainbow loom bracelet dangled from his fingers. “Oh. Hey.”
Yeah, Chenle wasn’t going to get any weird love life pondering done today. “Are you making a bracelet or something?”
Jaemin looked down at the bands like it was his first time seeing them. He motioned to a pile of finished bracelets by his leg. “Uh, yeah. They’re fun to make if you’re bored.”
“Oh. Really?” Chenle could practically taste the awkwardness.
Jaemin smiled. “You wanna make one?”
“Uh, I,” He pointed to the hammock on his back.
“Oh! You totally have plans, I’m sorry!”
Chenle’s brain was working rapidly, trying to save the situation. He was gonna make a bracelet, damn it.
He tossed the hammock on the blanket and sat down. “No, I don’t. Teach me how to make one. Please.”
Jaemin nodded and he began his explanation, face bright. Chenle followed along with orange and blue bands, hooking them over when Jaemin told him to.
“Nice job! You can probably add the clip now.”
“You can do it,” Chenle handed over the finished product and watched as Jaemin expertly tied it off. “You know, I think this is the first time that we haven’t argued. Or tried to kill each other.”
Jaemin tugged the bracket Chenle made onto his wrist. Chenle pretended not to notice.
“I guess. Do you want to be arguing right now?”
“No. This is nice.”
Chenle pried the top off of the Twizzlers. “Do you want one?”
“Yeah! I love Twizzlers.”
(The two former enemies spent the afternoon eating Twizzlers and making bracelets, and no they did not enjoy a second of it.)
*
Chenle slid his phone out on the bus to their game, carefully watching Jeno’s expression. He was still asleep.
He opened the Snapchat from Jaemin and had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing. It was a photo of Jeno sleeping, just like he was now, with the word “SLUMPED” typed in cursive.
me
you’re so mean wtffff
dumbass
you literally laughed out loud
fucking hippo crick
me
how long did it take you to come up with that
dumbass
u r so mean
I’m so smart it came naturally
me
lol r u wearing that bracelet again
dumbass
yeah
the ref will have to pry it off of me
this bracelet is like the fucking treaty of versailles
me
jaemin you got a two on the ap us history exam
dumbass
blocked!
Their team won the game and Yukhei clapped Chenle on the back six times before finding the right words to say.
“I’m never not proud of you, Lele,” Yukhei said. Tears were gathering in his eyes.
“For fucks sake, it’s still the regular season. Get it together, bro,” Renjun said in disdain. He turned to Chenle. “Yukhei has to take me to dress rehearsal for our concert. You’ll probably have to walk home from school.”
“I can drive you home,” Jaemin volunteered. His face was still red from the game, but his face looked as happy as ever.
Renjun raised an eyebrow and Yukhei glanced suspiciously between the two.
“Oh hell no,” Yukhei said. “You’re not killing my baby bro in your fucking Honda.”
Chenle ruffled his brother’s hair. “It’s fine, Yukhei. He can drive me home.”
Yukhei looked like he was about to say something else but closed his mouth last minute. Until,
“I don’t give a shit about pedagogy, Na. I’ll literally fail you in Calc if my brother comes home with a single scratch. Got it?”
Jaemin smiled and nodded. “Yep! Drive safe!”
His brothers left after that and Jaemin slumped against the bleachers. “Jesus. Your brother is terrifying.”
“Renjun is scarier.”
“Honestly… Yeah, you’re right. I tripped him on the stairs last year and he fucked up the footnotes on my term paper.”
“Really? Tell me on the bus.”
As they made their way onto the bus, Jaemin moved his hands animatedly as he spoke, orange bracelet still clipped to his wrist.
*
“I’ve never been to a practice wedding before! I’m so excited,” Yukhei said as he drummed his hands on the steering wheel.
“Babe, it’s a rehearsal dinner. Not a practice wedding,” Mark said gently from the passenger’s seat.
“Shit. I keep forgetting. Can you quiz me on the words again?”
“Ten’s gonna hate them even more after this,” Renjun noted.
“Yup. Definitely,” Chenle agreed.
As soon as Ten saw Mark and Yukhei, he rolled his eyes before opening the door all the way. A great start.
“Everyone is out back. Please don’t mess up my string lights,” Ten pleaded.
“We’ll keep an eye on them, don’t worry,” Renjun assured.
Halfway through the dinner, Renjun slapped Chenle on the arm. “Look, Jaemin’s here.”
Chenle turned back and forth. “Where?” Renjun pointed to a smiling figure by the fire pit. “Ah. I see.”
Jaemin was wearing a grey button up and dark jeans. It was the first time Chenle had seen him not wearing joggers, shorts, or sweatpants. Chenle looked down at the green polo shirt Renjun had picked out for him.
“You should go say hi to him,” Renjun said.
“He seems busy, I’ll talk to him later.”
“Lele, he’s literally just eating shrimp. Go.”
Chenle nodded. He could totally do this. He and Jaemin were practically BFFs now. Talking to him was easy.
“Hey, Lele! You look nice.”
“Uh. Yes. Thanks. You look nice too.”
Jaemin lifted his wrist. “The bracelet matches my outfit.”
“I have a feeling that even if it didn’t match your outfit you’d still wear it.”
Jaemin scratched his neck, embarrassed. “You noticed, huh?”
Chenle shrugged. “I just think it’s kind of mean that you stole the one that I made and didn’t even make me one.”
“What makes you think I haven’t made you one?”
“Huh?”
“I spend all of my breaks at work making bracelets. What makes you think I haven’t made you one?”
“Oh. I don’t know.” Chenle’s mind was kind of blank.
Jaemin giggled and slung an arm around his shoulders. “You’re so cute, Lele.”
“Don’t say stuff like that.” His cheeks were red and Jaemin knew he didn’t really mean it.
*
“So are you and Jaemin dating or something?” Yukhei questioned during the ride home.
“Um.”
Renjun saved him. “It’s less dating and more like ‘or something’.”
“Cool. Just don’t kill each other, please.”
*
(In the middle of Ten and Kun’s wedding, Jaemin slid a red and purple bracelet onto Chenle’s wrist.
“What’s this?” He whispered.
“Your bracelet.”
“Now?”
“Shh. It looks cute on you,” Jaemin said before lifting a finger to his lips. He grabbed Chenle’s hand and locked their fingers together. “Hehe. We’re matching now.”)