Chapter Text
Ding. Ding. Ding.
“It’s lunch time! Come on, let’s go!”
The shouts of excited children ranging from ages 4 to 16 can be heard from all around the slightly worn down building as they all rushed to the mess hall for their meal.
Well, all except a 7 year old Lee Jeno, who didn’t quite see the point in running. They would all get their meal eventually so what was the hurry? But then again, he didn’t really ever crave seconds unlike most of the kids that were there.
As he walks into the building from where he’d been reading the new book he’d picked out during recess, he hears talking.
“Now don’t worry, everything’s going to be alright. It’s time for lunch so everyone will be heading to get their food now, I’m sure you’ll be able to make some new friends.”
Jeno peaks around the corner to see a young boy, around his age properly, talking to Madame Eunha. Seeing as he didn’t recognize the boy, Jeno figures that he was probably new, decides to not eavesdrop (as he had been taught that eavesdropping is wrong), and continues on his merry way to the dining hall. Not much is different than usual: he waits in the line for years 1 to 3, gets his lunch (oo mac’n cheese today) and sits at his usual table in the corner with his book.
Now something about Jeno: he’s not extremely interested in talking to others. He has nothing against socializing and he did have quite the number of “friends”, but he was just as, if not more, content with being by himself. His “friends” never really approached him to sit or hang out with them, and they were honestly “close acquaintances” more than anything.
Part of his lack of interest in befriending others might have stemmed from that one incident when he was 5, but he’d rather not think about that. He didn’t really make an effort to go out of his way and talk to others, and neither did anyone to him.
Which is why, as one can imagine, he is quite surprised, and confused, when he hears footsteps getting closer to his table. He looks up from his book.
“Hi, do you mind if I sit here? Everyone else seems kind of…”
It’s the boy he’d seen talking to Madame Eunha as he was making his way inside the building. He nods, and watches as the other boy places his tray down carefully and sits down. They sit in awkward silence for a bit as they eat (Jeno decided that reading his book may make him seem cold), when the other boy decides to speak again.
“So uhm… I’m new here. As you can probably tell. My name’s Na Jaemin, it’s nice to meet you, what’s your name?”
“Lee Jeno. It’s nice to meet you,” he mumbles back with a mouthful of food. The other boy laughs and gives a blinding smile.
“No need to be shy Jeno. We’re friends now! Or at least, can we be?”
The boy, now known as Jaemin, looks hopeful, and upon close inspection, slightly scared, maybe of having his offer of friendship rejected. Jeno is slightly baffled. It’s not uncommon for other people to come up to him for a short conversation or a quick “Hi, wanna join our game?”, but he’s never experienced someone genuinely wanting to get to know him more. He’s also never had anyone ask to be his friend.
It’s different. It’s nice.
“Sure,” he replies back with his signature eye smile, “I’d love to be friends.”
“Yay! Oh, and since we’re friends now, you can call me Nana sometimes if you want. That’s what my parents would call me sometimes.”
Nana. Na Jaemin. His first friend.
Jeno finds out later that day, as he and Jaemin are playing in the game room, that Jaemin is his new roommate. Up until that point, he’d had the room to himself, the bunk beds left unoccupied and most of the space left empty. Although the freedom to be alone was nice, Jeno had to admit that it did get quite lonely sometimes.
The rest of the time until dinner is spent helping Jaemin move in and the pair take the opportunity to get to know each other more.
Jeno learns a lot about Jaemin. One of the first things is that Jaemin has a lot of stuff. Like, a lot. Jeno’s pretty sure it’s more stuff than he’s had all his life. The second thing he learns is that Jaemin came from a very loving family. He spoke highly of them.
“And then he fell off the boat! It was hilarious, and the best part? He never got the fish!”
Jeno chuckles along with Jaemin as he brings in a heavy box.
“What’s in here?” he asks. Jaemin walks over and takes the box, placing it on one of the bottom bunks softly. He opens it, and takes out a frame, smiling fondly.
“This box just has a bunch of things so I remember them. Like this picture. See? There’s me, my mom, my dad…” he trails off, stroking it softly. Jeno doesn’t know how to respond and isn’t quite sure what to say. Should he ask how Jaemin ended up here? They were friends now but then again, they’d only met 3 hours prior.
His deep contemplation and cyclone of thoughts are stopped as he hears Jaemin sigh really loudly.
“I know… you’re probably curious about why I’m here. But, I just don’t think I’m ready to share that yet. I’m sorry. I know we’re friends now, but this is all just so sudden and-”
“It’s okay,” Jeno asserts, cutting Jaemin off as he sees the boy start to slightly shake. He walks over and takes the frame gently from Jaemin’s hands. He looks at it for a second. There Jaemin is, with his mother and father, the family smiling happily.
But there’s also another person in the picture, a little girl, that Jaemin’s father has on his shoulders.
Jeno isn’t extremely well versed in handling social situations, but he does have enough sense to know what to do, so he carefully puts the picture on the nightstand by the bunk bed that Jaemin would be sleeping in, and gives him a hug.
Jaemin startles and straightens.
“It’s okay,” Jeno says again, quieter this time. “I understand if you’re not ready to talk about it. This must be really scary and strange to you, and we’ve only just met. Take your time, you don’t have to tell me yet, or ever. Whenever you’re comfortable, if you do want to tell me, you can. I’ll listen. I’ll be here. Always.”
Jeno feels Jaemin’s stiffened body start to slightly deflate as he brings his arms around. And then, Jaemin hugs him back, tightly, and buries his head in Jeno’s shoulder. Jeno feels Jaemin’s tears start to pour out as the boy starts to quietly cry and tremor.
“Thank you,” Jaemin whispers through a choked sob. Jeno doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t need to and just holds Jaemin closer and tighter.
They stay like that for a while when they hear a bell go off.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
Jaemin lets go and wipes his tears with his sleeve as he steps back.
“I guess we should go eat now,” he says softly. Jeno nods.
“Yeah. I guess we should.”
They stand there in not saying anything, the only sounds coming from shouts and running feet. The silence isn’t awkward, no, if anything, it’s the opposite. They’ve come to an understanding without having to say anything. Jaemin is the first to break the silence.
“Do you promise?” he asks.
“Promise what?”
“That you’ll always be there.” Jaemin knows that in this type of system, the likelihood of that is fifty-fifty. But he asks nonetheless.
Jeno knows it too. They both do, but it's the feeling of security that his answer will bring that’s important.
“Of course! And no matter what, we’ll always be together, we’ll find a way.”
At that, the two of them smile at each other.
“Okay! Let’s go then,” Jaemin says excitedly, grabbing Jeno’s hand. “I’m starving! All this moving used up all my energy.”
Jeno laughs as they run down the hall to the dining room, following a few other stragglers.
“Me too!”
And so, the single turned into a duo.