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Jeno sags against the car seat as the door closes behind him. The tinted barrier separating the back section of the car from the driver’s is up and it’s the first time since he left home he is completely alone.
He closes his eyes and mentally reviews the packing list he wrote that morning as a way to get rid of the residual tension in his body. His fingers play with the handle of the weekend bag beside him while the rumble of the car engine helps calm his racing thoughts.
Leaving the comfort and certainty of his apartment for reasons other than work is always difficult, especially to travel by himself. Today those worries are overshadowed by the excitement of what’s waiting for him at his destination.
It’s not even been a full week since Jaemin left for Japan, but Jeno has already become restless in his absence. Not even the daily texting and occasional videocall have been enough to calm down the itch below his skin, growing stronger each day that passed.
Jeno hates how needy he is.
Jaemin doesn’t mind it and has told him so multiple times. More than happy to fulfil Jeno’s need for emotional reassurance whenever he can, emphasizing he himself is the first one to be vocal and demand his own when the time comes.
They have enough trust and care for each other to do that.
Still, he cannot help but feel embarrassed at how even having exchanged several texts before and after landing, his fingers keep lingering on top of the phone’s keyboard, wanting to take more from him than he already has these past few days.
“How is the academy? Is the teacher good?”
“Do you like the apartment?”
“Are you eating well? I can arrange for meals to be sent to you.”
“Are you cool enough at night? There is AC in your room, right?”
“Do you want me to bring you anything when I go?”
He has been living glued to his phone.
Jaemin laughs at him and calls his fussing cute, fondness coating his tone while he teases him about it.
Throughout his time knowing him he has always been a very independent person, keeping his troubles and pains to himself so as not to burden others – a smile plastered to his face and a shoulder to cry on ready on demand. Jeno’s priority is changing that, eager to coax any need out of Jaemin and help him understand how he also deserves to be taken care of.
Jeno couldn’t be happier he decided to go on this language-learning trip to Japan. He knows how long Jaemin has been wanting to do so, how serious he is about his Japanese progress. The beginning of the year had been hard enough on all of them with the final leg of their tour, so a little rest was due.
“We are here”.
Jeno startles and opens his eyes to the driver looking at him through the rearview mirror, so lost in his thoughts he hadn’t even noticed the car stopping and the barrier being lowered.
“Thank you”. He quickly mutters before bowing and leaving the vehicle.
In front of him, leaning beside the building’s entrance stands Jaemin, clad in some comfortable street wear with a smirk slowly growing on his face. “Took you long enough”.
Jeno feels a pleasant current going up his spine and warming his body at having those eyes once again looking his way. All his worries and pains disappearing in an instant.
He smiles back and huffs. “You are the one that left us”.
Jaemin fake gasps and replies with mirth in his eyes. “I’m sure Luke and Lucy are happy enough to have had you all to themselves as soon as I was out of the picture”. He pushes himself upright and starts approaching Jeno. “My Luna is the only one who really loves me”.
After stocking up on his monthly dose of allergy medicine and being left in charge of the kittens, Jeno had decided his best way of getting revenge against his solitude would be to flood Jaemin with pictures of his three fur babies. Childishly wanting to make him feel a little guilty for leaving.
Luke and Lucy had always been more attuned to Jeno, immediately on top of him as soon as he sat down on any surface at their shared apartment. Luna was a bit shier, hiding under the bed or behind the couch before reluctantly coming out once she heard the familiar sound of the food container shaking or Jaemin’s voice sweetly calling her through Jeno’s phone.
“Come home, the babies miss you”. Jeno had jokingly said once, Luke’s head under his chin and soft purrs escaped his little mouth.
“What about you?”
“Mmm?” had been his reply, feigning uninterest while stroking the kitten’s soft fur.
Jaemin’s eyes, tired after an entire day of studying, lit up with the beginning of a half-smile on his face. “Do you miss me?”
Jeno’s weak heart couldn’t help but to immediately return the smile. “You know I do”.
Without a second thought, Jaemin grabs his wrist and starts guiding Jeno inside the hotel lobby. An old habit of pressing his thumb against his inner wrist, he softly strokes the thin skin of his pulse point as he guides them towards the elevator.
Jeno’s anticipation grows as the doors close behind them, finally alone together for the first time in six days. He turns to Jaemin and finds him already looking back.
Grip on his wrist a little tighter - eyes a little sharper - he intently watches as Jeno steps towards him, meeting him in the middle as his other hand finds his way to his cheek.
For a moment they just stand there, millimetres apart. Jeno feels his warm breath softly hitting his lips and closes his eyes, eager to focus on the sensation of having Jaemin close to him again.
“I missed you so badly”. He confesses.
The soft tip of a nose rubs against his lovingly and Jeno opens his eyes, finding Jaemin’s fixed on him.
“Me too baby, terribly”. He replies before lightly tilting his head to finally slot their lips together.
The first kiss they share is a mere press of lips, basking in each other’s presence.
Jeno snuggly places his right hand on Jaemin’s waist and starts pressing little pecks against his lips.
Jaemin reciprocates and gets even closer to him, the hand on Jeno’s face slowly moving to his jaw while he deepens the kiss, eager to get a taste. Slowly tracing Jeno’s bottom lip with his tongue before coaxing his mouth to open gently guiding him with the hand on his jaw.
He tastes of the americano he probably had earlier as his only breakfast and of something so inherently Jaemin it makes Jeno’s head spin.
Now more than ever, with the younger once more in his arms, he is certain he can wait a lifetime if it means getting to hold him at the end of it.
They quickly separate as the elevator dings and stops two floors below Jaemin’s to someone that doesn’t end up stepping in as they were heading downwards to the lobby. A few awkward smiles and bows later they resume their way upwards.
Jaemin sheepishly smiles at Jeno before circling an arm around his waist and pulling him towards himself.
“Have you eaten? We can leave your bag here and go for a quick lunch”. He looks down at his phone, held in his left hand. “We need to be downtown in an hour”.
“What for?” Jeno frowns.
“I have a detailed schedule for the next two days”, he says before suddenly going very serious – a tingling in his eye the only thing revealing his true light-heartedness. “You better be ready for some FUN!” he shouts.
“Shhh, Jaem”, Jeno quickly scrambles to cover his mouth while laughing, “Lower your tone or we will be kicked out. I don’t want to be stranded on the streets of Japan”.
He can feel a sly smirk growing below his hand. Jaemin takes Jeno’s wrist, keeping him from being able to move it away, before slowly and thoroughly licking a fat stripe across his palm.
Jeno makes an affronted face and struggles against the hold, “Yah! Don’t be disgusting Na Jaemin”.
Jaemin lets him go chuckling darkly, “Oh baby wait until tonight and let’s see if you keep finding it disgusting. We can give the neighbors a real reason to kick us out”.
Blush high on his cheekbones, Jeno is quite literally saved by the bell as the elevator dings once again, this time on the correct floor.