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Valentine’s Day.

Valentine’s Day was supposed to be a day where lovers and couples were free to express their love and affection towards each other with greeting cards, gifts, flowers, chocolates—basically doing everything sweet for each other in that particular special day.

If not, Valentine’s Day could be the perfect day where someone confessed their feelings towards the person they were in love with or had a crush on. In general, Valentine’s Day should be an amazing day filled with happiness and love, for families, friends, lovers, everyone.

However, things were slightly different for Jeno’s very own Valentine’s Day.  

Jeno was alone at that moment, sitting inside a 3 Michelin star restaurant with his black dress shirt and pants, looking visibly anxious. It was 8 P.M., and he was supposedly waiting for his date to arrive at said restaurant.

Yes, you read that right. His date.

It was Valentine’s Day, and being the considerate and attentive friends Renjun and Donghyuck were, they decided to plan a blind date for the only single friend in their circle—named Jeno—to spend the entire evening with. The two asses went as far as booking a private room in the restaurant under Jeno’s name, as well as finding one of the single ladies from their faculty who would be interested to have a casual yet romantic dinner with their friend.

Finding a girl to be Jeno’s blind date was not exactly difficult, especially since the entire faculty was smitten with the boy. He was good-looking, well-known, smart, a gentleman, had wonderful leadership skills, never had bad blood with anyone, the professors loved him—What else? Of course, none of them would pass the opportunity to have a dinner with The Jeno.

Jeno himself had never even cared about Valentine’s Day, throughout the twenty-one years of his life. At first, he had shrugged Renjun and Hyuck’s idea of a blind date off, especially since he had always been single his whole life that he barely knew what he was supposed to do or say during a date. However, after several rounds of convincing, the boy decided to agree with his friends’ plan for once.

Well, Jeno eventually thought that it probably would not be so bad to actually spend Valentine’s Day like how normal youngsters did, and nothing could possibly go wrong with a single, harmless blind date, right?

That was what Jeno had kept in his mind, until he found himself sitting inside the private room of the restaurant all alone, with his phone in his right hand. It was 8 P.M., and his blind date was supposed to arrive an hour ago, as they were supposed to have a dinner together that evening.

Jeno even made an effort to show up at the restaurant 30 minutes earlier than the appointed time, as he did not want to give a bad first impression towards his date.

He did not know who his date for the night would be, as Renjun and Hyuck had only told him her name beforehand—which Jeno was unfamiliar with, anyway. Jeno was also not even given her contact or phone number, and it was even more frustrating for him, since he did not know if he was supposed to wait any longer or not.

The waiter of the restaurant also kept returning to the private room ‘he’ booked, asking him multiple times if he was ready to order.

And for a second, Jeno slightly regretted that he agreed with his friends’ antics to set him up with someone else just to spend Valentine’s Day together, that evening.

He could be sleeping inside his dorm, he could be comfortably watching a football match on TV, he could be doing his assignment which was due in several days—he could be doing anything more valuable and important, rather than spending one hour and a half inside a restaurant without even doing anything.

After the fourth—or was it fifth?—time the waiter of the restaurant returned to the private room to ask if his companion was arriving any time soon—which Jeno answered with not yet, the college student could only let out a heavy sigh while sitting on his chair, staring at the empty seat across from him. He was definitely wasting his time there, yet he could not simply walk out of the restaurant. Just in case his date actually showed up late, Jeno thought.

Sighing, Jeno started to unlock his phone, his thumb finding its way to dial Hyuck’s number. When the other party answered his call, he could immediately register the noise present through the line, making Jeno realize that his friend was probably outside, just like him.

“Hey, Jen! What’s wrong? Why did you call?” Hyuck said to the phone, and Jeno could hear that the boy was practically shouting, probably trying to make sure that his voice was heard in the middle of the noise he was surrounded with.

Hearing this, Jeno could only sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger. “Where are you?” He asked, sounding audibly annoyed.

After another round of noise and cheers which could be heard through the call, Hyuck finally responded, “Huh? Renjunie and I are at the campus right now, they’re holding a music festival and bazaar since afternoon, remember! It’s so fun! We—”

“Yeah, right, okay, you’re outside,” Jeno cut Hyuck off, furrowing his brows. “You do know that I’m supposed to be on the blind date, right? Who was it again—Yeeun? Yeeun, was it? But it’s been an hour and she has yet to show up, what am I supposed to do?” He continued, scratching the back of his head before pulling his ear slightly away from his phone, unable to bear the noise on the other end of the phone.

“Huh! What! She did not come? We did ask her to come to the restaurant at 7 P.M. straight! How come she didn’t show up?” Hyuck answered, still confusedly shouting through the phone call while being obviously distracted.

Great, they don’t even know anything as well.

Just by talking to Hyuck through the phone, Jeno could tell that both of his friends were as clueless as he was. Jeno then heaved another deep sigh that evening, regaining his composure. “Never mind—enjoy the festival, dorks. Don’t get wasted,” Jeno then hung up the call, realizing that he was probably meddling with his friends’ evening hang out session.

With an unreadable expression on his face, Jeno decided to leave the restaurant without any word, after convincing himself countless times that his date would probably not show up at all, anyway.

So much for a wonderful Valentine’s Day, this year.

“Nono, is everything alright?”

A light, dreamy voice rang in Jeno’s ears, yet the man being called did not even spare a glance at the person who was calling him. He was finally back in his dorm room, with his dress shirt and pants still on as he sat on the sofa, looking dejected. As Jeno was giving the man behind him a silent treatment, he could hear soft footsteps nearing the sofa where he was seated, approaching him.

Once Jeno felt a gentle hand on top of his left shoulder, he tilted his head up, looking at the person with his pair of tired eyes.

Jaemin.

Jaemin was Jeno’s roommate, and they had been living together in their dorm ever since the first year of college—which meant that they had been roommates for almost four years already.

Although Jeno had only known Jaemin since they enrolled at the same college, the boy always thought that Jaemin was even closer to him in comparison to his circle in college, since the two practically spent their days with each other.

The fact that Jeno was from the Faculty of Arts and Jaemin was from the Faculty of Medicine was not an obstacle for the two boys to grow closer to each other over the years.

Jeno had always been comfortable with Jaemin’s presence, mostly due to the fact that the medical student was a rather soft and reserved individual, unlike the mess that Renjun and Hyuck could be defined as (Jeno loved both of them, though. Just don’t let them know!). They went along very well, that even Jeno sometimes felt as if he was being taken care of under Jaemin’s wings.

Jaemin had always been attentive towards him, like how a mother would be towards her child. It was so easy for Jaemin to sense whenever something happened to Jeno, as Jaemin could easily read through Jeno’s emotions and behavior when he was around him. Again, like a mother.

That was the reason why Jaemin knew something was definitely off with Jeno, as soon as the latter entered their dorm room with an irritated expression on his visage and did not even utter a word to Jaemin.

As soon as Jeno stared up and met Jaemin’s hazy eyes, he almost felt guilty for giving him the cold shoulder right away.

Jeno heaved a sigh, shaking his head gently before he leaned his head on top of Jaemin’s lap, the latter was sitting on the arm of the sofa next to him. “Nothing much. I just wasted hours of my evening alone in a 3 Michelin star restaurant, and apparently my Valentine’s Day date bailed on me,” He said, his voice sounded sulky as he talked to Jaemin.

Whenever he was with Jaemin, the childish and clingy personality traits inside him often showed up without any reason, literally how he always acted whenever he was around his mother. Jaemin somehow always offered Jeno with a sense of trust and comfort, which was normally difficult to be found in other people.

Jeno then could hear a snort coming from Jaemin, then a hand reached down to gently caress the top of his head, the latter’s fingers toying with Jeno’s hairstrands. “The one prepared by Hyuckie and Junnie? I didn’t expect that your date would bail on you. You’re literally The Lee Jeno,” The boy continued in a playful manner as he continued by massaging Jeno’s scalp.

Of course Jaemin knew that he was going out on a date. They were roommates and best friends, after all—Jeno found it difficult to hide anything from Jaemin. Not that he ever wanted to do so, though.

“Mhm,” Jeno mumbled a reply, both of his eyes were closed as Jaemin’s fingers worked wonders against his scalp. “I really shouldn’t have agreed to their plan. I dressed up nicely for nothing,” He continued, letting out a dry chuckle afterwards. And for some reasons, the bite that was previously evident in his speaking tone was no longer found.

“Don’t be so dejected. The girl doesn’t know what she just lost,” Jaemin soothingly said, using one of his hands to pinch Jeno’s cheek. An annoyed whine ripped out of Jeno’s throat at the action, causing Jaemin to giggle at his reaction. “It’s kind of a shame, though. You dressed up really nicely tonight. Smelled really good, too,” He continued, slowly pushing Jeno’s head off of his lap before standing up.

At that, Jeno huffed, leaning his back against the sofa afterwards. “You have anything in mind?”

“I do, kind of,” Jaemin replied nearly immediately, both of his hands rested on his waist while he turned his back to face Jeno again, a wide smile plastered on his lips. “The campus is holding a music festival and bazaar since this afternoon, and I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to end this midnight. You wanna go?” He continued, both of his eyebrows raised, expecting a positive reply from Jeno.

Right, Hyuck and Renjun are there too, Jeno thought to himself, remembering how both of his friends were supposedly also at the campus music festival the last time he tried to contact them.

“Maybe it won’t be a bad idea,” Jeno answered, shrugging lightly before standing up from where he was originally seated. He then shoved his hands into the pockets of his dress pants, continuing, “I mean, I’m already all dressed up and neat, anyway.”

And there both of them were, awkwardly standing in the middle of their campus field, surrounded by numerous bazaar booths and college students of their age along with pop rock music blasting through one of the Bluetooth speakers used.

Around them, they could see how lots of people were having the time of their life—Playing with their friends, making a mess inside the game booths of the music festival and bazaar, being on a date with their significant others, and so on. Both Jeno and Jaemin truthfully did not know what they had in mind when they decided to go to their campus festival that evening, since they had absolutely no idea what to do when they stepped into the festival.

“It’s... Crowded,” Jeno quietly murmured, quiet enough so that Jaemin was the only one who could hear it.

Jaemin let out another chuckle, slightly turning his head to face the other boy. “Makes sense. It’s literally Valentine’s Day, everyone is happy and celebrating!” He replied. Jeno only rolled his eyes, slightly scrunching up his nose before looking away from the younger. “Not me, though,” The older mumbled in an even smaller volume, sounding sulky as ever.

In a millisecond, Jeno could feel a pair of warm and soft hands squeezing both of his cheeks, alerting the boy as he diverted his gaze back to Jaemin.

“Ugh, stop being sulky! Okay, come on, let’s have fun. We’re not leaving this festival until you cheer up, Nono,” Jaemin nagged at the older. Before Jeno could even respond with anything, the boy had already retracted his hands from his face and pulled one of Jeno’s arms instead, dragging him away from the center of the campus field.

And that was how both of them ended up sitting face to face inside a Face Painting Booth. Jeno had his eyes closed, whereas Jaemin had a paintbrush in his right hand, a wicked grin playing in his lips as he gave numerous brave strokes on the older boy’s face.

Jeno heaved a sigh, his eyebrows knitted as he could hear Jaemin’s playful giggle in front of him.

“For the love of me, Nana, I swear, if you decided to paint weird things on my face, I’d sulk for the rest of the evening,” Jeno said, which only caused Jaemin to burst out laughing at his friend’s impatience.

“Hey, don’t keep doubting me! I’m Jaemcasso, my painting skills are literally out of this world,” Jaemin replied after his laughter died down, painting a huge red heart on the entirety of Jeno’s lips, until the bottom of the heart reached the boy’s chin. Seeing his masterpiece, Jaemin could only hold in another round of laughter, which definitely did not go unnoticed by Jeno although the latter had his eyes closed.

“Remember that I drew pretty flowers for your face painting! Don’t make me regret this, sheesh,” The older boy whined once again. It was true—the older had previously drawn several daisies and sunflowers all over Jaemin’s face, and the latter had even complimented him as soon as he looked into the mirror. He really took his job seriously as an art student.

“I already have a bad feeling about this. God, we should’ve stayed in the dorm and gone to bed instead,” He continued. Ignoring Jeno, Jaemin moved his wrist up, using black and navy paint to draw more hearts surrounding his closed eyelids.

“It’s your fault that you painted my face nicely! Literally no one looked good when they stepped out of this booth. Plus, you’re the art student between us two, not me,” Jaemin answered jokingly, using his free hand to hold onto Jeno’s head to stop it from moving.

After countless whines and complaints rolling out of Jeno’s lips, Jaemin finally retracted his hands from Jeno’s face, audibly squealing in satisfaction.

“Okay, done! Now, open your eyes!” Jeno could hear Jaemin say. As he slowly opened both of his eyes, he was immediately greeted with the sight of his own face—Jaemin already held up a hand mirror in front of his face for him to look.

Seeing how his usually handsome face looked after Jaemin’s face painting session, Jeno’s eyes widened, sucking in a deep breath.

He had three black and purple hearts surrounding his eyes, a huge red heart on his lips, pink star stickers messily thrown all over his forehead, a big black triangle on his nose, and thick puppy whiskers on both sides of his cheeks, along with sprinkles of glitters scattered all over his sculpted face. Jeno, looking absolutely betrayed, shifted his attention to a grinning Jaemin in front of him, looking satisfied with his so-called artwork.

“Nana, you’re literally going to pay for this,” Jeno said, stifling an embarrassed laughter as he grabbed the hand mirror in front of him, already standing up on both of his feet.

As if Jaemin could already tell what was going to happen, the younger laughed, immediately letting go of the mirror he originally held before fleeing out of the Face Painting Booth, along with Jeno who was already chasing him from behind. Both boys left the other students in front of the booth confused, seeing how Jaemin was running for his life from Jeno with a huge, happy smile plastered on his face.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Jaemin had yelled right after Jeno caught one of his arms in the middle of their chasing, the older playfully doing a headlock and tickling Jaemin’s sensitive sides without even minding the confused stares directed towards both of them. 

“Oh, really? You are? You don’t look sorry, Mister,” Jeno replied, grinning cheekily as he continued tickling the boy in his arms, looking at the way Jaemin writhed and begged for mercy while trying to wriggle himself out of Jeno’s continuous tickles.

“Valentine’s Day photo booth? Really?”

Jeno asked to Jaemin, his eyes visibly twitching as he looked at the photo booth located just a few meters from where both of them were standing. As Jeno scanned the photo booth, he could see a few couples queueing in front of it. The photo booth had a huge heart-shaped frame covered with heart decorations in different shades of red and pink, as well as numerous Valentine’s Day-themed cardboard props.

He inwardly cringed, turning his head to face Jaemin, who was standing next to him. “Are you sure you want to take pictures there? I mean, it’s filled with romantic couples...” He trailed off, subconsciously reaching a hand to awkwardly scratch the back of his head.

As soon as the words left his lips, Jaemin immediately pouted, his eyebrows knitted in a sulky manner before the younger started tugging onto the sleeve of his shirt. “But we should make memories here! Valentine’s Day only comes once a year, you know,” Jaemin started justifying himself, turning to look at the photo booth once again. “I mean—What’s wrong if the photo booth mainly for romantic couples? Best friends can take cute pictures too!”

Jaemin’s whining only enticed a light chuckle from Jeno, who shook his head unbelievably at the way the younger was behaving. Best friends, huh?

“Okay, stop whining. You’re like a kid lost in the middle of college students, you know,” Jeno answered, playfully reaching a hand up to pinch a good amount of Jaemin’s fluffy cheek, making the latter whine at the sudden action. Jeno had always had a thing for Jaemin’s cheeks, especially since they were very much mochi-like—Soft, cute, fluffy, bubbly, that Jeno could not help but to pinch and toy with them whenever he had the chance to.

“The queue is going to be longer the more we stand here, let’s just go!” Jaemin hurriedly said as soon as he saw more people starting to queue in front of the photo booth, which made him drag Jeno’s arm to power walk towards the booth, without realizing that he had already linked their arms together in the process.

And Jeno, being way too conscious about their postures, immediately diverted his gaze towards his and Jaemin’s linked arm. The younger had yet to let go of his arm even after both of them had already stood in the queue for the photo booth, which made him grin in a cheeky manner.

When he turned his eyes to look at Jaemin, Jeno saw how the other boy was staring at the photo booth with curiosity, as if scanning which props he was going to use when it was their turn to take their silly pictures. Without realizing, a genuine smile had already blossomed on Jeno’s lips, before he subconsciously reached his hand down to clasp Jaemin’s hand in his while waiting. Neither of them moved nor flinched, as if it was a common thing for both of them to do. And it felt right.

“Nana, this looks ridiculous. Absolutely,” Jeno complained as soon as Jaemin handed him a red homburg hat, paired with a red cardboard moustache to complete his look. Jeno could only shake his head, finding the fact that almost every single prop of the photo booth was either red or pink-colored ridiculous. Probably to keep up with the Valentine’s Day theme, Jeno thought.

Hearing Jeno, Jaemin emitted another amused giggle while helping the other in properly putting on the red hat and moustache. The accessories or props Jaemin picked for him only made Jeno look way more ridiculous than intended, minding that the results of their face painting from the previous booth were still intact on their faces.

“What do you mean ridiculous? You look handsome. You’re the most handsome man in the whole world,” Jaemin answered without further thoughts. He then put on his own props which he chose since the beginning, which was a pink bowtie, black frizzy wig, and pink-colored heart-shaped sunglasses.

All and all, both boys looked like a hot mess—Mainly Jeno, though—as they started posing in front of the photographer and behind the huge photo booth frame, allowing the photographer to take numerous pictures of them.

Their poses went from normal, all smiley, and peace signs to poses of them nearly choking each other, making ugly faces, frowning to the camera, and other weird poses they had in mind. It felt as if it slipped through their minds that it was supposed to be Valentine’s Day.

“Okay, last pose! What do you want to do? Should we make cute faces? Do aegyo?” Jaemin asked in a hurry while taking more lettering cardboard props to hold. Jeno only nodded mindlessly at his friend’s suggestion, immediately turning to face the photographer once again, preparing for his last pose—Supposedly a cute face.

What Jeno did not expect was that when the photographer clicked the shutter of the camera, he felt a pair of soft lips instantly pressed against the side of his cheek, which was immediately pulled back as soon as the picture was taken. Jaemin kissed his cheek.

Puzzled, the older immediately turned his head to his side, his widened eyes met Jaemin’s doe ones. Jaemin looked back at him amusedly, looking as if he was satisfied with his attempt to baffle his friend. The mission seemed to succeed, though, seeing how Jeno could barely form a sentence as his brain was still trying to process what had just happened while staring still at Jaemin, even when the photographer had walked closer to them and told them that the pictures would be ready in 5 minutes.

Jaemin then dragged Jeno to where the printing table of the photo booth pictures were, the latter not saying a word as he did so. “Come on! It’s Valentine’s Day, remember? We’re supposed to have at least one cute picture as a memory. Stop looking at me like I’m a criminal,” Jaemin reasoned, batting his lashes repeatedly while tugging onto Jeno’s shirt sleeve again.

Out of nowhere, Jeno ended up feeling bashful, one of his palms reaching up to gently caress the side of cheek where Jaemin pecked him. “I mean, you could’ve given me a heads-up,” Jeno murmured, averting his gaze somewhere else—Somewhere else other than Jaemin’s eyes, as if he did not want the younger to actually notice that his simple gesture could affect him that much.

Hearty yet playful giggles could be heard coming from Jaemin, the boy reaching out to squeeze Jeno’s cheeks once again using his palms, just like what he did when they first stepped their feet on the campus music festival and bazaar earlier.  

“Don’t sulk, what a baby. It’s just for one picture, just one!” Jaemin cooed, purposefully toying with Jeno’s cheeks as he knew all too well that the older would whine even more if he did just that. And that was exactly what Jeno did—Whining, trying to pry Jaemin’s hands off of his face.

Jeno thought that it was at least a good thing Jaemin did not seem to notice a faint blush to creep on his cheeks, it would be a problem if the younger did.

Once the printed version of their pictures were finished, Jeno could not help his curiosity from kicking in as he looked at their last taken picture, wanting to get a clear look of both of them. He took that specific picture out of the stack, and there they were, Jeno with his cute pose and Jaemin who had both of his eyed closed, lips pressed tightly against Jeno’s cheek.

Looking at how they were, Jeno could not help but to feel warmth blossoming in his chest, a small smile playing on his lips. They did look adorable in all of the photographs, especially this last picture, and it was a memory that Jeno would like to cherish and remember for as long as he possibly could.

“See? It turned out cute!” Jaemin barged in with his playful tone, bursting Jeno’s bubble of thoughts as the younger immediately took the printed picture from Jeno’s hand, staring at the photograph result for a while before putting it back on top of the stack of their other pictures and shoving them down his pocket.

Jeno did not even have the chance to comment on anything regarding the picture, as Jaemin was already linking their arms together again, dragging him somewhere else.

“Hello, welcome to our food tent!”

The cheerful, bright voice of a female student rang in both Jeno and Jaemin’s ears as soon as they entered the food booth of the bazaar, welcoming both of them inside. At that, Jaemin threw the student a small smile in acknowledgement as both Jeno and him walked closer, looking at the menu board placed in front of the cashier.

“What do you want to eat?” Jeno quietly murmured, leaning over Jaemin’s shoulder to take a peek at the menu board, as Jaemin was currently standing in front of the older.

On the other hand, the younger was busily scanning through the menu board, trying to decide which food to order for both of them. “I think I’m good with just the usual iced Americano, though. What about you?” Jaemin replied, turning his head slightly to the back to look at the older.

“Every food seems to be sweet because of the Valentine’s Day theme,” Jeno said, chuckling lightly while propping his chin on top of Jaemin’s shoulder, before scrunching up his nose. “Mm, I’d like a scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream and two chocolate chip cookies, please,” He finally said, his lips curving into a tight smile as he looked at the waiter in front of them.

“You two make a very cute couple!” The waiter squealed instead, catching both Jeno and Jaemin off guard. Both boys immediately looked at each other, puzzled, then turned towards the girl in front of them again.

Before either of them could say anything, the girl already had a wide grin over her lips, writing down their orders on a small sticky note. “Since today is Valentine’s Day, every couple coming here receives a special 15% discount to celebrate the day! I’m going to take 15% off from your bill,” She continued.

“But we’re not—” “Thank you, we’ll take the special discount!”

The boys replied at the same time, Jaemin being the louder one between the two as he had a bright smile on his face, gladly thanking the waiter for giving them a discount. Even after their payment was done and the waiter had been dismissed afterwards, Jeno kept standing still next to Jaemin, his eyes widening as he silently stared at the boy.

Jaemin, realizing that Jeno was being too quiet, then turned his head with his furrowed brows. “What? 15% discount is a good deal, you know. Both of us are borderline broke, if you don’t remember,” Jaemin said, shrugging his shoulders as if what he said was not a big deal.

Jeno then rolled his eyes, lazily dragging Jaemin to one of the empty tables near the cashier. “At least she said that we made a ‘very cute couple’,” Jeno mumbled, sitting down on the chair.

Jaemin then followed, sitting on the chair right across him before emitting light giggles. “Really? That was what you focused on instead?” Jaemin replied in a teasing tone, playfully kicking Jeno’s feet under the table as he observed Jeno’s reactions. “Why, why? Do you like the thought of us being a ‘very cute couple’, as she said? Huh? Answer me, answer me,”

Jeno responded by kicking Jaemin’s feet back under the table, jutting his bottom lip out. “Stop teasing me, I swear to God,” Jeno whined, only causing Jaemin to laugh even louder at the older’s antics.

Everything went silent after that, both Jeno and Jaemin were just enjoying the comfortable silence between them. After a while, their orders were finally delivered to their table, and both of them continued eating in silence. While eating, they continued chatting regarding various topics—Talking about their respective college assignments, annoying professors, activities, friends, family, Jeno’s cats, Jaemin’s internship, and so on.

Every conversation Jeno had with Jaemin had always flowed easily.

Truth to be told, Jeno and Jaemin often had disagreements and differences in opinions and perspectives regarding numerous things. However, for some reasons, they clicked and got along with each other very well, regardless of how different they could be.

Before, Jeno never really thought that the phrase opposites attract made sense. He had always thought that it was easier for him to be attracted to those which have similar personality traits and preferences as his. If two people have different opinions, different thoughts, and different personalities, wouldn’t it be difficult for them to match or communicate healthily? Jeno thought.

However, getting to know Jaemin was a solid proof that the phrase opposites attract could actually make sense, at least for Jeno.

In his case, he learned that being with someone who was almost the complete opposite of him could be a small way to learn about multiple perspectives and listen to the opinions of others, as well as about how to put himself in the shoes of others on several occasions.

What was nice about his and Jaemin’s dynamics were that they were always all ears for each other, regardless of how different their thoughts might be. There would always be room for disagreements, but Jeno was always gentle and curious, and Jaemin was always understanding and patient.

A perfect match.

“Can I see our pictures from the photo booth again?” Jeno asked, in the middle of their conversation.

Jaemin, currently sipping on his half-empty iced Americano cup, wordlessly nodded and pulled out the printed pictures they previously took in the Valentine’s Day photo booth, handing them over to Jeno.

Jeno then began taking a good look of their pictures one by one, laughing and grinning at each picture that was taken. Most of them were silly pictures, which would probably end up inside their respective wallets where they kept most of their memories.

As Jeno placed down every single picture he saw on the table of the food tent, his eyes landed again on the very last sheet of picture, the picture where Jaemin was visibly kissing his cheek. He emitted a chuckle, turning the piece of paper around to show Jaemin the picture.

“Look at your lips, literally pouting like a duck,” Jeno said, pointing at Jaemin’s pouty lips that were pressed against his cheek, the older’s eyes turning into crescents as he smiled.

Jaemin giggled along with Jeno, shaking his head in disbelief. “I had only a few milliseconds to turn around, that’s why it looked rushed! Don’t judge me,” He answered, still with a wide grin on his face, letting Jeno know that he was just kidding.

Jaemin was now staring outside, looking exactly at the small stage that could be seen from the food tent, where there was a band currently playing some pop English music loudly—not that Jeno knew the titles of the songs—with a bunch of college students standing in front of the stage and singing, dancing along to the live music.

Jeno silently paid attention to the younger, as Jaemin was also quietly humming along to the music with a small smile on his visage, one of his hands playing with the straw to stir the remaining ice cubes inside his iced Americano cup.

Jeno had never really known this side of himself, but he had only then realized that he really liked seeing Jaemin’s smile. He did not even know why, or since when, but every time their eyes met and Jeno saw Jaemin smiling, the former could not help himself but to mirror the younger’s beautiful smile.

Not only that, he also just realized that he had picked up Jaemin’s habit to stare at other people’s lips while talking—except that Jeno only did that while talking to Jaemin.

Sucking a deep breath, Jeno placed one of his hands on the table, propping his chin on top of his palm. “You know what? I guess, I should be glad that my Valentine’s Day date bailed on me tonight,” Jeno uttered in all of sudden, ending it with a light, breathy chuckle.

Jaemin, visibly confused, turned his attention back to Jeno from the music festival happening in front of the food tent. “What are you even talking about?” He asked right after, knitting his eyebrows as he put his now empty cup down on the table.

Jeno shrugged as a response, looking away from Jaemin as he responded. “If I had that Valentine’s Day dinner date tonight, I wouldn’t have been able to spend the rest of the day with you,” Jeno replied, trying to act as nonchalant as possible in front of the younger. “Being with you is so much better, I can tell.” The last part—Jeno only whispered it quietly, although he was a hundred percent sure that the boy across him could clearly hear it.

After that, it was silence.

None of them said anything, and if it was not obvious enough, Jeno’s heart started pounding faster, feeling the embarrassment starting to creep onto him. Once Jeno gained the courage to look back into Jaemin’s eyes, he was surprised to find that the younger was already staring back at him—And was he blushing?

After a moment of silence, Jaemin replied. “I can’t tell whether that was your attempt at a pick-up line or not, silly,” He mumbled. By that, Jeno could tell that the younger was embarrassed, although he tried to keep his composure and cool by looking somewhere else, somewhere other than at Jeno’s direction.

Jeno emitted another chuckle, reaching out his hand to again, pinch one of Jaemin’s cheeks. “I mustered the courage to tell you that, and this is how you respond to me? Huh?” He said, grinning at the way Jaemin was now giggling while trying to push Jeno’s hand away from his precious, precious cheeks.

“Stop pinching my cheeks! They’re my important assets, you know,” Jaemin playfully nagged, caressing his own cheek as soon as Jeno let go of him. The younger then sucked a deep breath, looking away once again. “But, yeah. I think I’m glad that your date bailed on you, too,” He quietly continued.

Another silence then followed. However, instead of the deafening silence, theirs was comfortable, as both boys still sat in the food tent table with small smiles decorating both of their lips.

After a while, Jeno stood up from where he was seated, catching Jaemin off guard as the younger looked up at him.

“Let’s go watch the live music? We can’t stay in the food tent all night,” The older asked, offering his hand in front of Jaemin. Puzzled, Jaemin only nodded, reaching his own hand out to clasp their fingers with each other’s, before standing up and walking out together from the food tent.

As soon as they got out, the live music playing from the stage started sounding even louder in their ears, yet neither of them could be bothered by that.

While walking closer to where most of the college students were standing, near the live music stage, Jeno took his time to turn his head once again, staring at Jaemin’s side profile intently. As if on cue, Jaemin also did the same to him, slightly surprising both boys as they realized how close their faces were from each other’s.

However, instead of backing away, Jeno only offered Jaemin a soft smile, tightening his hold on Jaemin’s hand as he pulled the younger boy closer to his own figure—in which the younger followed almost immediately, squeezing Jeno’s hand in his.

Upon seeing Jeno’s gentle smile, Jaemin looked away almost immediately, not wanting to look like a mess in front of the older as he realized that more heat started creeping onto his cheeks. “Stop staring at me,” Jaemin shyly mumbled. And even in the middle of the blasting live music, Jeno would always hear his voice, no matter how tiny.

“Stop being so cute, then,” Jeno attacked back, averting his attention from Jaemin to the live music in front of them instead, yet a teasing smile was still evident on his face. His reply was responded with a playful kick on his calf by the younger instead, causing him to burst out laughing, knowing that he successfully embarrassed Jaemin at that point.

“Don’t kick me! Just consider it my revenge—you literally kissed my cheek and admitted that we were a couple in front of many people. It’s my turn to embarrass you,” Jeno justified himself, sticking his tongue out in a joking manner.

And without any warning, Jaemin went closer, leaving a small peck on Jeno’s nose instead. That definitely did shut the older boy up, and nothing could compare to the priceless expression on Jeno’s face, causing Jaemin to giggle afterwards—without showing any remorse.

“I’m going to embarrass you even more often in front of others from now on, Lee. Step up your game if we’re both going to compete,” Jaemin replied, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly.

“You’re unbelievable,” Jeno replied, breathing out with a grin on his face as he wordlessly tugged Jaemin’s body closer to his once again, dragging both of them forward to properly watch the band playing on the stage in front of them, along with a bunch of other students.

Really, Jeno and Jaemin could get used to this. That night, they might still be labeled as best friends. But, at that point forward, Jeno already knew that he would be more than glad to spend the rest of his life with the younger boy, who was standing next to him and singing loudly along to a song with the other students surrounding them at that moment.

Thank you for not coming to the blind date tonight, whoever you are.