Work Text
Jaemin walked into the art class, taking his normal seat at the back corner by the wall of windows. As the bell rang. He pulled out his sketch book taking out the reflection sheet for the most recent project he'd finished.
Did I test new techniques discussed in the lesson?
Jaemin gave himself a 5. Does this piece reflect the project objective? Jaemin gave himself a 5 again.
Was this piece different than my previous works? (to create a diverse portfolio)
Jaemin stopped. He glanced at the watercolour piece in front of him. It was of some flowers, cornflowers mixed with a couple smaller daisies to be exact. The purple from the petals flowed and faded into the background with blurred stems. Jaemin sighed thinking back to the last three projects he'd done. First, a charcoal project, he'd drawn a rose. Second, a cubism project, he painted a cube dahlia. Third, a "drawing from the outside in" project, a poppy. Finally, the cornflowers and lilies. "Alright class." Mrs. Kim, the art teacher's voice distracted him from the reflection sheet. "Today, we will be starting a new project." She smiled. A couple students looked at each other both excited and confused as to why this project wasn't paired with a long lecture. "So," she started, "the project will focus on collaboration. Being able to work with another style different from yourself will be important. So you will be getting used to a form of art most of you probably aren't used to. Now, I'm sure you're all curious and I can already see you guys discussing about who you want to be partners with but-" Mrs. Kim was interrupted by a knock on the door. The class watched as she walked over to answer the knock. "Mr. Jun." She gleamed. "Nice timing, I was just telling the class about the assignment. Please, come in." Once she stepped aside, a small flood of kids their age poured in. Everyone went to the table of someone they knew. Jaemin didn't know anyone. Being the only one at his table, a group of other boys came over and sat across from him at the large square tables. Jaemin recognized them, of course. Who didn't? Lucas Eric and Jeno from the other class, and then Jisung and Hyunjin from his class moving from another table to sit with their friends. They were all chatting with some girls at a table beside them. "Alright." Mr. Jun announced. "For those of you that don't know me, I am Mr. Jun. I teach a few classes here but mainly photography, also known as visual arts." "And I am Mrs. Kim, the art teacher here." The two teachers went on to explain the project, handing out the rubric. A student from each class would be paired together and they'd have to use different methods learned through the year thus far to create a collaboration project, with thought and cooperation from both sides. "I know who I wanna collaborate with." Lucas whispered causing his group to all snicker. Jaemin mentally sighed and rolled his eyes. A waste of art supplies. He thought to himself. Jaemin had the firm belief that kids taking any class for "an easy A" were the worst kind of teenager. "Lucas." Mr. Jun said. "Yes, Mr. J." Lucas smiled. "I know you thought you were being quiet but you weren't. We have already picked your partners." "Don't worry, I'm excited." Lucas told him. Mr. Jun nodded before continuing with explaining the project. At some point Jaemin tuned him out because it was clear that this really was an easy A project. Just come up with some type of concept and then hand your pieces in. The month away due date seemed quite unnecessary, even with the two classes only coming together one or two days a week. "Now time for partners." Mrs. Kim said excitedly. The two started listing off pairs and with that, students shuffling around to sit with their partners. "From photography, Song Yuqi, and from art, Park Jisung..." "Yes Jisung, get me in." Lucas whispered- actually quiet this time. "Photography, Wong Yukhei and art, Zhong Chenle." Lucas stood "Chenle, nihao man." He called out, walking over to him. The rest of the kids at Jaemin's table got paired off except him and one other kid, Jeno. "Lee Jeno from photography and... Na Jaemin from art." "Na Jaemin, nice... who's Jaemin?" Jeno asked some of his friends. Jaemin furrowed his eyebrows for a half a second. "Me." He said. Jeno turned around to find the voice. "Oh, cool." He moved his chair to be adjacent to his new partner. "I'm Jeno from photography." Jeno offered his hand out. Jaemin knew the handshake was just some sarcastic move he was making to amuse himself and for a moment Jaemin just started at judgingly, but still, Jaemin shook it anyway. "Jaemin." "Did you go to this school last year?" Jeno asked. "Yup." "Really?" Jeno's tone went up and down with fake interest. Jaemin nodded hoping he'd stay quiet for a while. "Did we have any classes together?" Jeno clearly didn't want the peace and quiet Jaemin did. "Yeah, bio and calc." Language arts, history and general sciences the year before, then cooking in their last year of middle school, and the same homeroom the year before. Jaemin would bother to tell Jeno the long list of common classes they'd had but clearly Jeno didn't care enough. "Oh yeah, I think I remember you." Jeno nodded thinking. Jaemin glanced back to his reflection sheet before shoving it back in his sketchbook. "Can I see some of your art?" Jeno asked. Jaemin thought for a second. "No... no, you can't. Maybe another day." He said before putting his book in his bag. "Come on. How are we gonna do this project if I've never seen your art? Show me your portfolio." Jeno leaned on the table and smiled, eyes turning to crescents. Jaemin leaned on the table too. "You first. Show me your portfolio and I'll show you mine." Jeno nodded, slowly sitting back in his chair. "Maybe you're right. Another day." Jaemin sighed. He seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. This time, because he missed his bus. His mother could come and get him, but only about an hour later. While figuring out what to do for another hour- mainly contemplating which subject to do homework for- he saw a couple kids run in the school. They two ran over to the water fountain a few paces away from Jaemin. The boys were sweaty. They had a jersey on unrecognizable to Jaemin. Their cleats clicked on the floor as they walked out of the school. A school soccer game. Jaemin could appreciate a school soccer game. Not exactly the game, but the boys playing it. He soon found out it was hard to check out boys that were constantly running or panting or laying on the ground. He saw some familiar faces from class earlier that day. A few kids like, Guanlin and Samuel from math, Hwiyoung from language arts, Jisung, and Jeno from art. Jaemin couldn't say he understood the appeal of sports but he definitely preferred this version the students than the in class version. Instead of being cocky or intentionally ditzy, they were focused and giving their all. Even though Jaemin was busy assessing everyone from the opposite team, he still didn't miss the goal Jeno made against the goal keeper Jaemin had been ogling. The crowd, although somewhat sparse, cheered. Jaemin clapped- though he'd made a mental note that it was due to the situational pressure of the moment. Time went on and eventually Jaemin left to wait for his mom at the front of the school. After many minutes of scrolling through his explore page, Jaemin noticed the influx of people walking by. Mainly parents and players with the occasional coach. At the end of the flow, Jeno walked with Lucas and Jisung. "See you." Jeno bid before turning back to face the school. That's where he saw Jaemin sitting on a bench- concrete block is a more appropriate name- to which his eyebrows raised. "Jaemin." He called out. Jaemin looked up. "Yeah." "What're you still doing here?" Jeno sat next to him. "Missed my bus." "Hm..." Jeno hummed. "Did you win the game?" Jaemin asked, deciding that silence now would be awkward and not peaceful like earlier. "Yup." Jaemin nodded glancing at something in the distance. "You'd know that though. Since you were watching." Jeno looked at him. "I didn't really watch." Jaemin kept his sights on anything that wasn't Jeno. "I saw you watching when I scored." "I also left fifteen minutes early and got there half an hour late." He finally turned towards the soccer player next to him. "Hm..." Jeno went back to glancing around. "That goal was the highlight of the game so... don't worry." "I bet." Silence. Jaemin felt the need to start the conversation again. "Why aren't you going home?" Jaemin turned back, attempting eye contact. Jeno shrugged. "Ride's not here yet." He kept staring in the distance, obliviously. Jaemin eyed the lanyard in Jeno's pocket, the lanyard he'd seen Jeno swing around many times, always with keys attached. "Right..." Jaemin changed his sights onto the parking lot where he saw the car he'd seen Jeno drive in- many times. Jaemin's mom showed up a few minutes later. "Uh, do you need a ride?" Jaemin asked as he picked up his bag. "Nah, thanks though." Jeno looked to him. "Alright, see ya then." Jaemin walked off.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Then on, Jeno made a point to say hi to Jaemin in the hall. The latter didn't exactly enjoy the attention, knowing it was for his own amusement, but he'd give a small wave or forced smile back. The two weren't particularly efficient for the first two weeks of the project either. Whenever the classes would join, Jeno would leave Jaemin- claiming he'd be "back in a minute"- to go sit with his friends. This left Jaemin a lot of alone time, time he used to get ahead in his other classes. Eventually, the pair was forced together. Lucas and Chenle's group always sat with Jisung and Yuqi- which Jeno knew not to intrude on. Then, Jeno's other friends decided to start getting work done, leaving Jeno to go and do the same- though they never really did. At some point, they both realized that they were falling pretty behind on the simple project. Yet still, neither of them did anything about it. Until one Friday night, Jaemin received a text. Jenooo (9:38pm) :hey jaeminwanna work on the project tomorrow¿ Jaemin scoffed, both at the name Jeno gave himself in his phone and the upside down question mark. Na Jaemin (9:40pm) :sure Jenooo (9:41pm) :greatwanna meet up and do some planning then maybe go out and takes pics or whatever? Na Jaemin (9:50pm) :yeah sure Jaemin hesitated before writing his next message. Na Jaemin (9:51pm) :wanna come to my place? Jenooo (9:55pm) :sounds good This gave Jaemin a weird feeling. He'd just made plans with Lee Jeno. One of the last people he thought he'd ever make plans with- at his house nonetheless. Despite the weird feeling, Jaemin continued making the plans. He told Jeno his address and planned for 11am. Jaemin ended the night confused by a text from Jeno saying he was going to sleep. Reminded of the plans he'd made by his alarm going off at 10, Jaemin dragged himself out of bed, not understanding why Jeno decided 11am was a good time. He got himself dressed, throwing on a random top paired with some jeans he could find. Finally, the time came. Almost falling asleep while looking through a painting theory book, Jaemin was woken by his doorbell ringing. The artist didn't realize how much he'd been dreading the moment until he opened the door to Jeno's smiley face. "Hey, just leave your shoes there." Jaemin let him in. "Thanks." Somehow, he smiled wider. "Nice house." Jeno said as they walked up the stairs to Jaemin's room. "Thanks." Although intended as a statement, came out as more of a question. Jeno didn't comment on it. He just followed Jaemin, looking oblivious. "Here we are." The latter said as they entered his room. "You can sit at the desk if you want." Jeno just nodded as he looked around while walking to the desk chair. Jaemin's room was pretty bare. He had a few posters and one or two art pieces displayed but most other things only seemed to be around for practical use. "Oh, I just remembered..." Jeno started looking through his backpack. "I brought..." Jeno pulled out a thin book. "My portfolio." He offered the book toward him. Jaemin was surprised, to say the least. "Um, okay." He reached for it. "I just put a few things together. They're not much." Jaemin disagreed. He might not exactly be a photography kind of person but the pictures Jeno took all looked pretty cool. There was a lot of pictures that didn't seem to have one singular focus but were just a general shot of a place, like a cafe or a park. There was some focused shots as well, and some of his friends posing. What surprised Jaemin most was that they weren't just pictures of places around the school like he expected. "This is your school portfolio?" He asked. "Nah. That's some stuff I took for fun and whatever." "Oh..." The silence was only broken by Jeno a few moments later. "So..." his voice had a slight tinge of uneasiness and regret. "Can I see yours now?" "Oh, uh yeah." Jaemin went to his desk. "This drawer," he opened a drawer, "has a bunch of stuff. Anything I do on canvas is usually thrown away or my mom takes it and puts it somewhere. I have a few smaller things but, that drawer is where a lot goes." Jaemin went over to his bed to start looking at the project rubric. "This is really good." Jeno commented. "Ha- thanks." Jaemin couldn't say he loved attention, especially when it's because of his art. The only thing worse than focus for his art was being the focus of the art. Photos, drawings, anything. "I like this one." Jeno smiled holding up a half finished painting of a cat. "This one too." He held up yet another painting of a cat. "Another one!" He said, referencing to yet another cat painting. "Spring break last year I visited some family and the neighbourhood had a lot of cats so... yeah." "I like cats." Jeno mumbled, smiling to himself as he put the painted pieces back. "Huh?" Jaemin asked, just to make sure he heard him right. "Nothing. Let's work on the project." After few lame suggestions from each boy on the topic of their project, they decided to go out to "find inspiration"- as Jeno reasoned. After a small walk closer to town through a park, filled with small talk by Jeno, it was decided- again by Jeno- that they should eat. Making a decision for once, Jaemin took them to a cafe. The cafe was in a quieter area of the town. On one side of the cafe was the town which got busier the farther you went, and on the other side was suburbs and parks. Jeno shot down Jaemin's suggestion of getting something to go so they could "look a little harder for inspiration." Jeno gave the reason that "knowing eachother better" would result in a "better project." They decided to sit outside. Despite Jeno's reasoning of getting to know each other, not much talking was done. Until Jeno broke the silence. "How long have you been into art?" He asked before taking another bite of his sandwich. Jaemin looked up from his current position of slouching back, sketching on a napkin. "Um... since I was like, 9 maybe. I wasn't very good but I liked to draw and paint and stuff." Jeno nodded along to show he was listening. "I'm pretty sure I painted a picture of some sheep or something, then my mom praised me because it was "amazing" and then she put me in an art class and I've just gone with it ever since." "You do actually like art right?" Jaemin gave a light laugh. "Yeah... I don't really seem like I like but..." Jaemin shrugged. "How long have you been into photography?" He asked trying to quickly move the topic away from himself. "I think I was about 12 when it all started. My mom used to be into photography and it rubbed off on me. When my parents got me a camera I was disappointed that it was so low quality or whatever so I'd always sneak into my mom's closet and use her camera. I'd never leave the closet though so all my best pictures were of hanging clothes." "Do your friends know how good you are at photography?" Jaemin asked, this time out of genuine curiosity. "No... they don't know I'm into it at all. I mean, obviously they know I'm in photography and whatever but to them I'm trying to just bring my average up." "How come?" Jeno paused. "I... I don't know. I cant even say that I just avoid the topic 'cause when someone like Eunbin or Yena ask someone to go out one day and take pictures with them I'll bring one of my good cameras and when they say something about it I tell them I just took it from my mom and that I barely know how to use it but-" Jeno stopped himself after noticing he was rambling. "I don't know." Something in Jaemin, during that moment decided it was time to be supportive. "That's fine." That was when Jaemin realized he didn't know how to be supportive. "You don't have to tell your friends everything." He pushed the napkin he had to the side. "I guess you're right." A few moments of silence fell over the two. Jaemin really really hated this kind of silence. "Maybe if I take my sketch book out I can find some... inspiration." Jaemin reached for his sketchbook, opening to a new page. "Smart idea." Jeno fumbled through his backpack pulling out his camera. Jaemin stared at the blank page in front of him. He knew the whole "inspiration" thing he'd just made up was to fill the air. The artist had been spending a lot of time lately staring at blank pages. "Let's play a game." Jeno said, causing Jaemin to glance up raising an eyebrow. "Can you sketch or draw or... whatever the buildings across the street? Just your view of it nothing special." "Okay..." Jaemin picked up his pencil. "But..." Jeno started as Jaemin seemed about done with the basic shapes and a bit of detail. "Make it so it's night time... in the picture." Perplexed, Jaemin looked at his page. After a second of thought, he started drawing in some details. He made the sky a bit darker, made the street lamps lit, and added some shadows. "Okay, now... make one of the windows of that building there cracked, and one's lights lit." Jeno listed off, sitting back to play around with his camera settings. "Now what?" "Um... Put in a man closing that shop, two people waiting at the bus stop- one is standing and one is sitting- and two people outside the apartment building." "What are the two people doing?" Jaemin asked after a minute. "They're finishing a date." Jeno looked back to the boy across him. Jaemin nodded becoming more and more concentrated. He was so concentrated he didn't notice his project partner pointing his camera at him. Then taking one shot as he looked intently at his paper and one shot when he looked up to compare his sketch to the real thing. "What's next?" He only realized pictures were being taken of him when he looked to Jeno to see the camera focused directly at him, to which Jeno took another picture. Jaemin froze. Jeno wouldn't tell him but he liked the deer in the headlights look. Jeno put his camera down and smiled. "Try drawing some plant pots at the entrance of the apartment building and some cracks on the sidewalk. Then... make the stoplight red." Jaemin had lost his voice, but he nodded- barely- and turned back to the sketchbook.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Jeno had invited Jaemin out the following Saturday morning as well. At this point, they'd come up with their concept and Jeno had planned out where the pictures would be taken. "I had this idea for the first one to be of the cross walk. It might not work out but I'll take the picture and see how it works out. Wanna get in the picture?" Jeno explained. "What do you mean?" Jaemin furrowed his eyebrows at the question. "Just... walk ahead of me, be in the picture. Like... as a little easter egg." Jeno told him. "Uh, I'm good." Jaemin took a step backwards. He realized how silly he looked- from denying his back being in the picture to actually taking a step backwards. Jeno realized too. "Okay, that's fine." He raised an eyebrow. Jaemin nodded. "Oh look, we can cross." He signalled for Jeno to go first. "Right." Jeno mumbled before crossing, camera in hand. Jeno told Jaemin he'd check them later and that they should keep going. Their next stop was a car parked on the side of the road. Then the window seat of a restaurant, that luckily no one was sitting at, from outside the window. After that, a park. This is where Jeno took the most pictures. Jaemin just followed him and watched. "You wanna try?" Jeno asked holding his camera out. Jaemin looked down at the camera. "What?" "Mrs. Kim said we'd get bonus marks if we try out each other's art form." "Oh..." Jaemin stared at the camera. "Sure." Jeno slipped the camera strap around Jaemin's neck and showed him a quick run down of the camera before stepping back to let him go for it. "What do I take pictures of?"Jaemin asked suddenly feeling awkward. "Anything. I've got the settings set for general outdoor shooting so it should look okay. Just take a picture. Anything. We can keep walking and you just take pictures." Jaemin looked through the lens as he followed Jeno's slow pace. After not taking any pictures for a solid minute he decided to look straight up and took a picture. After that, the artist just kept taking pictures, pressing the button at random times. Still looking through the lens, Jaemin pointed the camera at Jeno. He took a few while the boy was looking around. Then a couple when Jeno looked at him, and another two when Jeno laughed at him. Jaemin didn't move the camera even when Jeno had stopped laughing. At some point the two had slowed to a stop. Jeno just stood there as Jaemin continued taking pictures of him. Jaemin moved around zooming in and getting closer. "Are you having fun?" Jeno spoke up. Jaemin moved the camera away from his face. "Yeah." Jaemin smiled. "You're a pretty good model." He said, looking through some of the pictures. "Let me see." Jeno looked over Jaemin's shoulder and looked through a few, letting Jaemin hold the camera. Jaemin glanced over to Jeno. Despite having just taken dozens of picture of the boy, being this close to him helped Jaemin realize how attractive Jeno really was. Maybe all the girls swooning over him were valid. "Wanna keep taking pictures?" Jeno's voice broke Jaemin's trance, luckily right before Jeno had managed to look up from the camera. "Maybe a few more." He mumbled looking around. The two started walking again. Jaemin decided not to go crazy with the pictures this time. "The pictures probably suck, sorry." Jaemin gave a half hearted laugh. Jeno breathed out a laugh. "No such thing as a bad picture." "Wow, you sound like my mom." Jaemin laughed. Jeno furrowed his eyebrows. "What?" "When I was younger, and I got mad that my painting didn't end up how I wanted it to she'd say things like, "don't worry Minnie, there's no such thing as bad art!"" Jaemin mocked Jeno's comment. "Your mom calls you Minnie? That's adorable." "Sometimes, not too much anymore b- wait, that's not the point!" Jeno laughed at Jaemin's flustered response and pink cheeks. The latter pouted, looking back towards the path they were on. Jaemin gasped as they turned the corner. "Hm?" Jeno looked at him. Jaemin had stopped right as they had entered an area of the park decorated with flowers- lots of flowers, and lots of different types of flowers. "I'm gonna take some pictures." He mumbled before walking off. Jeno had just stayed back and watched as Jaemin focused on the flowers. After about 15 minutes Jaemin felt satisfied- only feeling as if he'd taken 5 minutes- and gave the camera back to Jeno. After a few more locations Jeno also felt he had enough pictures. "Wanna get something to eat? I'm starving." Jeno offered. "There's this new restaurant I've been wanting to go to lately." Jaemin checked the time on his phone. "My mom wants me home in like an hour so I better not." "Oh, want me to drive you home?" "That's okay, it's like a half an hour walk." "Or, a ten minute drive." Jeno held up his keys. Jaemin sighed. "Sure." The two headed towards where Jeno had parked earlier and both got in. "Do you want some gas money?" Jaemin asked. "For driving you home? No, that's fine." "You're still using your gas on me." Jeno shook his head, brushing it off. Jaemin brought up the gas money again when Jeno took the long way, making some wrong turns along the way. Jeno assured him it was okay. During the drive, the two had somehow found a topic they could both relate and laugh to. Suddenly the 15- turned 20 minute- drive seemed to only last five minutes and they were outside Jaemin's house. "Thanks for the ride." Jaemin smiled at him as he got out. "No problem. See you at school." "Yeah." Jaemin was about to close the door but hesitated. "Sorry for not being able to eat with you. Maybe another time?" Jeno grinned. "Definitely." Later, Jaemin regretted saying that. Sure, he had fun that day, but he wouldn't forget about the social hierarchy. He wouldn't forget that Jeno definitely wouldn't have ever talked to him if it wasn't for the project. He could admit that Jeno was nice, but that's all he was. Jeno was nice and that's the only reason Jaemin found himself wanting to hang out with more. Though, Jaemin was having trouble believing that himself. But what were the chances they'd even talk in school? Jeno and Jaemin had chemistry in the same period that year. They weren't in the same class, but all the classes were following the same curriculum. Today's lecture involved some experiments as examples, so the teachers decided the classes would have a joint lecture that day. "Here comes the other class." Renjun, the friend Jaemin sat with, pointed out. Jaemin watched as the small group of students slowly flooded through the door. Both classes were small, meaning they were able to fit in Jaemin's class comfortably enough. He waved to a friend- Mark- causing him to walk over. "Hey." Mark said as he sat next to him and Renjun. "Hey." "Why do you sit so far away?" Mark asked. "Cuz then Mr. B can't see when I'm not paying attention." Jaemin scoffed; Mark furrowed his eyebrows. "I've basically carried him through this whole course so far." Renjun budded in. "Whatever, what're you guys doing at lunch?" "Leadership meeting. " Mark responded. "Chenle wants me to take him to get food." Renjun told him. Before Jaemin could even open his mouth to complain that his friends were leaving him, someone else had spoken. "Hey, Jaemin." He looked up to see Jeno smirking at him as he walked to a desk on the other side of the class to sit with Jisung. Mark snapped his fingers. "Stop staring." Jaemin didn't usually pay attention during chemistry class but today he was distracted, by Lee Jeno. Whenever he looked around the room he'd find Jeno looking at him. The two would make eye contact and all Jeno would do is smirk, holding the eye contact, before looking back to the teacher. "Why are you so red?" Renjun asked. "Nothing. No reason." Jaemin told him, expecting him to just drop it. "You're just... red?" He didn't drop it. "Yeah, I'm just red." Jeno seemed to be everywhere that day. Even in his second class that day, he could've sworn Jeno passed by the door five times. During lunch, Jaemin stood at his locker unsure where to go with all his friends off doing other things. "Hey, Jaemin." Jaemin closed his locker to see Jeno, with Jisung. "Hi." "What're you doing for lunch?" He asked. "Uh, I don't know. All my friends are busy so I was gonna just... do some homework or something." Jisung’s presence mare Jaemin a little awkward. "Wanna come eat with us?" Jeno asked. It took a moment for Jeno's offer to fully register in Jaemin's mind. "I don't think your friends are gonna want me there." He laughed lightly. "They don't care." Jeno looked to Jisung. The blond was too focused on his phone to notice. Jeno elbowed him, causing the boy to look up. His eyes went from Jeno to Jaemin and back. "Whatever." He said before going back to his phone. "See." Jeno smiled. "Lucas has a table on the third floor. Can we hurry? I wanna eat my lasagna." Jisung told him. Jeno looked to Jaemin and raised his eyebrows. "Sure." Jaemin agreed. The artist followed the two up to the third floor where Lucas- along with a few other kids that Jaemin deemed popular- sat at a table. "This is Jaemin." Jeno announced to the group. "Jeno, they all know who Jaemin is." Jisung laughed sitting down. "Yeah, he's in my art class. Besides, most of us have been going to school with him since middle school." Yuqi spoke up. "He didn't know about me until we were forced into that art photography project so..." Jaemin trailed off. "Jeno." Eunbin scolded. "You're so unobservant!" Jaemin had been pretty set in his views. He believe there was a divide between popular kids and non-popular kids. He didn't particularly care about the divide, but he also knew he didn't want to be friends with anyone that wasn't on his side of the divide, his side being non-popular. He'd been sure that all the kids on the other side were stuck up and entitled. After meeting Jeno that view had already been a little distorted but especially after a lunch with that group, Jaemin wasn't too sure anymore. All the girls he'd believed to be "bitches" turned out to be welcoming and sweet. While, all the guys he'd labeled as "asses" didn't treat him any differently than the other guys. Being friends with Jeno, had brought him a new perspective. As if he wasn't already confused enough as it was, this made him more confused.
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Jenooo (5:23pm) :wanna go to that restaurant i mentioned last week??tomorrow ! Minnie (5:24pm) :ahh i can'ti'm trying to finish the art pieces for our project Jenooo (5:26pm) :boooocan i come over and see the pieces? maybe weigh in a little? Minnie (5:30pm) :if you want to yeah i guessmight be boring thojust me painting and stuff Jenooo (5:31pm) :sounds fun be there at 3 :) Jaemin had an easel set up in the middle of his room. He'd also been so focused that he didn't hear Jeno's knock on the front door, or his bedroom. However, his bedroom door opening broke his trance. He looked over to see Jeno. "I met your mom. She's nice." "Oh god. I'm sorry I didn't hear you." Jaemin checked his phone to see if he'd gotten a text or call. "That's fine. Like I said, your mom's nice." Jeno walked over and sat on Jaemin's bed to look at the piece on the canvas. "Oh, the restaurant one!" Jeno grinned looking at the picture he'd taken that Jaemin pinned up as a reference. "Yeah, I'm getting pretty close to done actually. Just some more detail with the girl's face and hair, then probably some detail wth the window and wood outside then I'm done." Jaemin smiled proudly at his work. "Does that mean we can go to restaurant I wanna go to?" Jeno asked. Jaemin thought for a moment. "Sure." "Yes." Jeno whispered. "Just keep painting." He spoke up. "I'll just be here." Jeno lay down going onto his phone. Typically, Jaemin didn't like it when people were in the room like this when he was painting or drawing, but he felt oddly comfortable with Jeno behind him. He was actually able to work quite well, getting lots done. "Jaemin." Jeno spoke up after about 45 minutes of comfortable silence. "Yeah?" Jaemin kept working. "Why do you draw so many flowers?" He asked. "I think artists are like flowers." Jaemin's brush stroked the canvas slowly. "How come?" Jaemin paused, bringing his arm down. "Flowers only need two things, water and sunshine. Artists only need two things too, inspiration and art supplies." "Oh... cool but why so many?" Jeno asked, he'd been curious about this since he'd looked in Jaemin's drawer of art pieces. "I've been lacking some inspiration lately, which is one of the things artists need. So, flowers." Later, Jaemin finished the painting. After some praise from Jeno made him a bit shy, the photographer dragged him to the restaurant excitedly. "I'm so excited." Jeno said as he looked through the menu. "Jeno!" The two looked over to where the voice came from. It was Sunwoo, a boy- "popular boy" as Jaemin would say- that went to their school. "You should come eat with us." Sunwoo gestured a few tables away to his friends. Jeno glanced at Jaemin. The latter was trying to stay neutral, but Jeno could see the distaste on his face. "Nah, I think I'm good." "Come on man, you can bring your friend." Sunwoo told him. "You guys've already gotten your food. We haven't even ordered yet. We're good." Jeno assured. "Whatever dude. You're missing out. Oh, and remember last time we were here you told me to remind you to never get that gross iced tea." Sunwoo said before walking back to his table. "I thought you'd never been here." Jaemin raised an eyebrow. "I don't think I've said that." Jeno said looking at the menu. "I-" Jaemin stopped and decided not to continue. The two had a nice time. The food was pretty good and the table cloths were paper- with crayons supplied- which let Jaemin have some fun. ("Did you just draw me on the table cloth?") However, Jaemin had become pretty suspicious. He could've sworn Jeno had mentioned never going to the restaurant before. He also wondered why he'd deny sitting with Sunwoo. The other group hadn't gotten there much before them and definitely didn't have their food yet. Most of the kids in the group were ones that Jaemin had eaten lunch with the other day, so he couldn't see why Jeno wouldn't agree. He brushed it off anyway and invited Jeno back to his house so they could go over and sort out their project. "Here's the ones I have done. I've still gotta do one more." Jeno looked through the art pieces. Jaemin wanted to try using a variety of different materials. This meant, one was sketched, another was made with coloured pencils, another with oil paints and so on. "These are so good." Jeno reacted as if he hadn't asked to see each piece five times after Jaemin had finished them. Jaemin shrugged. "I don't know..." He trailed off. "No, Jaemin. They're so nice." Jeno smiled at him. "I- uh." Jaemin stuttered, a light blush appearing on his cheeks. "They're not that good." He adverted his eyes. "Jaemin." Jeno said, causing the artist to look at him. "I don't understand why you don't want to accept my compliments. They're really nice." "Thank you." Jaemin whispered so quiet Jeno could barely hear it. "Can I paint something?" Jeno asked. "Huh?" "For bonus marks. I'll pay you back for all the supplies and stuff." "Um... That's okay. It can pay off all the driving you've been doing for me." Jaemin stood up to find some supplies. "What kind of paint?" "You can choose." Jeno said happily waiting. "Right... what do you wanna paint?" "Ooh! Here, I have a picture." Jeno took his phone out. "This one." He turned his phone around. "Is that-" "Yep." On the screen, was one of the pictures that Jaemin had taken in the park the other week. It was of a yellow daisy. "Okay..." Jaemin went to get paint colours and canvas before sitting down with Jeno. "Can you sketch it out?" Jaemin asked. "Sure." Of course, Jeno's sketching wasn't perfect, but it was pretty good. It served its purpose. Jaemin did his best to explain what to do without showing him. Jeno was able to do a lot by himself but sometimes Jaemin wasn't able to put actions into words. "You'll want to stroke it like... uh... here." Jaemin grabbed Jeno's hand lightly. "Like this." He guided his hand. "Are you getting this?" Jaemin looked over to see Jeno wasn't looking at the canvas but had frozen on looking at him instead, faces only a few centimetres apart. Jaemin couldn’t help but get stuck in a small trance. The solid eye contact with Jeno did something that made Jaemin stuck. At some point Jaemin barely brought himself back to reality. "Um, you're not looking at your flower." He whispered Jeno was blushing and Jaemin wouldn't be able to say he didn't find it adorable. Jeno's eyes moved down to Jaemin's lips and back before going to the canvas. "Right." Jaemin was at another soccer game, this time by invitation, not by missing his bus. The game had just finished with another victory by his school. He approached Jaemin and Jisung as they stood talking. "Good job guys." He told them. "Thanks." Jisung smiled. Jaemin smiled back but before he could say anything, Jeno budded in. "Jisung, do you need a ride." He asked, looking at Jaemin expressionless. Jisung and Jaemin were both confused, to say the least. "Um, no." His furrowed expression mirrored Jaemin's slightly. "Well, we gotta go." Jeno smiled at him. "See you in chem." He dragged Jaemin off to his car. "What was that?" "I'm tired, that's all." Jeno dropped his bag in the trunk as Jaemin got in the passenger seat. "Nice goal today." Jaemin complimented, hoping to lighten the mood. Jeno smirked. "Was it good?" He asked, pulling out of the parking lot. "Well I wouldn't really know but, I assume so. Everyone cheered really loudly." "I've noticed something about the way you watch soccer." Jeno brought up. "What?" "You're very distracted." "Well clearly you are too if you're looking at me and not the ball." Jaemin scoffed. "I wasn't even on, when I'm on my eyes are glued to the ball. You on the other hand, you watch the goal keepers and defenders a lot." "I also watch you." "So you admit it?" "What? No. I'm not distracted. I'm just... looking at everything." Jeno's eyes became crescents. "Everything except the ball." Jaemin huffed. "I don't even know what defenders are." Jeno laughed. "The ones near their own net." "Ohhh, so..." Jaemin thought back to the game. "Eric... Guanlin... I think Minho at one point... and Jisung... right?" Jeno clenched his jaw at the last name. "Yup." He took a breath before relaxing again. "See, I'm right." "I could definitely name the... the other ones too then." "Forwards? Do it then." Jaemin paused. "You... and that's all that matters." "Right answer." Jeno smiled. Jaemin laughed. "Forwards just... move a lot. That's it." "So you'd prefer to look where the action isn't?" "Well something that isn't moving is easier to watch." "Mhm." Jeno hummed as he slowed to a stop. "Thanks for the ride. See you tomorrow." Jaemin thanked as he got out of the car. "See ya." Jaemin walked to and unlocked his front door. He turned to see Jeno waiting like he always did. The artist waved. The latter responded by blowing a kiss before driving off. To say the least, Jaemin was still quite confused.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It was the day of Jaemin and Jeno's project presentation. They had to present their concept and then their pictures and art pieces. At the beginning of class, Jaemin walked over to his usual spot at the back. When Jeno came in he sat with his friends a few tables over. Jaemin couldn't say he was surprised. No matter how nice Jeno was being to him, he was still expecting the popular boy to stop talking to him once the project was done. However, that didn't mean Jaemin wanted it to happen. "Class, lets get started." Mr. Jun said. Jaemin was looking over his pieces when he saw someone walk up in the corner of his eye. He looked up to see Jeno. The artist forced a smile before looking back at his art. Jeno sat down next to him. "Are you nervous?" He asked. Jaemin shrugged. "I know you hate attention for your art, so..." Jaemin sighed. "I finally got my pictures printed out." Jaemin hummed a response. "Wanna see?" "Sure." He turned. As he was looking at them, Mr. Jun gathered their attention again, to call the first group up. "Do you like them?" Jeno whispered as the first group started their presentation. Jaemin nodded. "They're nice." If Jaemin wasn't so distant, maybe he would've looked over and seen the smile he'd created on Jeno's face. "Wanna eat lunch with me? Me and my friends?" Jeno whispered. Jaemin thought for a second. "Sure." He whispered. "Want a ride home today?" "Really?" "Mhm." "Jeno, are you paying attention?" Mr. Jun's voice interrupted their conversation. "Yep." Jeno smiled at him. Once the teacher had looked away, Jeno, eyebrows raised, looked at Jaemin. The latter sighed, then nodded. Jaemin was actually surprised about some of the concepts people had come up with. A few groups just had the artist paint something that the photographer had taken. Jisung and Yuqi did that one, except Yuqi had changed all the colours- Jaemin enjoyed the individuality. He was also surprised to see Lucas had come up with a different concept. "What's up everyone, it's Lucas." His loud voice rang through the class. "So, concept. My boy Chenle and I." Chenle rolled his eyes at how much Lucas was playing up his personality. "Me and Chenle are both Chinese. So, we decided to go to China town." Chenle sighed. "What we did was, Lucas would take two pictures of a place and I would create the space between them. Here, Lucas took two pictures of some markets and I drew the one in the middle." He pointed to three pictures pinned in the board. "I drew it with watercolour pencils." "The next one, it's a dragon." Lucas said, pointing to the next piece. "Chenle did the middle one with..." He turned to Chenle. "Pastels." "Lucas is an idiot." Jeno whispered, laughing slightly. After another two presentations, it was Jaemin and Jeno's turn. Jaemin didn't particularly care about speaking in front of crowd. It was the talking about his art and the fact that Jeno wanted to "wing it" that was bringing on some anxiety. "Hi, my name is Jeno and this is Jaemin." Jeno smiled at the class. "Our concept was, a story being told in empty spaces. I'll just show you what we came up with." Jeno held up his first picture. It was the one of the car. He gestured for Jaemin to hold up his too. Jeno's picture was of an empty car early in the day. Jaemin's drawing included a man holding the door open for a woman as she got out of the car, sometime in the evening. He let Jeno explain before speaking up. "Um, I did this one with wax pencils." "That's a fancy word for crayons." Jeno said gaining a few laughs in response. "Next one." Jeno held up his picture of the empty restaurant window. Jaemin held up his picture, instead having a couple eating a candlelit dinner. His art got a few little remarks of admiration. "What's this one?" Jeno asked. "Oil paint." He mumbled. "Oil paint." Jeno said louder as he continued to explain. "Next." Jeno held up his third picture. It looked like the picture Jaemin had received as a reference, but it was different. It was in the same spot on the trail of the park, everything was almost the same except, Jaemin was in the picture. All you could see was Jaemin's side view as he walked. In the picture Jaemin has been given, the path was completely empty. Jaemin blushed. "Little easter egg, Jaemin's in the picture right here. He didn't know that I took it. It also wasn't the picture I sent him for the reference. So that's why he looks a little confused." Jeno glanced at his partner. "And mad." Jaemin sighed before showing his piece. "This one might be my favourite." Jeno said before explaining. Jeno's picture was of a bright, almost empty path. Jaemin's picture was lit by lamps along an empty path, only including a couple holding hands. "This one's acrylic." Jaemin told the class. "Now, the last one." Jeno held up a picture he took the first day they hung out. It was of the buildings Jaemin had drawn. Jeno's picture was, again, in the middle of the day of a bright street. Jaemin's was at night, the streets were almost empty, again, mainly only being occupied by the couple outside the apartment building. The artist had fixed the sketch up a bit but Jeno requested that he keep it as a sketch and do minimal changes. "When we were trying to come up with a concept, we'd gone to a cafe. Jaemin took out his sketch book hoping to get some inspiration and I thought of a game. I told him to draw the buildings across the street but as he was drawing, I told him to change a few things. That's how we came up with our concept. That's also why this last one's only a sketch. I asked him to keep it the same." Jaemin was ready for the presentation to be over but Jeno kept going. "Also," he started, "for bonus marks, we tried each other's art form." Jaemin raised his eyebrows. "You didn't tell me we were gonna show them." He said quietly. Jeno ignored him. "I painted this flower." Jeno held up his painting of the painting proudly. "Jaemin helped a lot." "What do you think Jaemin?" Mrs. Kim spoke up. "I think it turned out really nice. He did really well. I was sort of expecting it to just look like something I'd make since I was directing him but he made it look like his own." Jaemin told her. "Thanks." Jeno put the painting down. "Now, I gave Jaemin my camera while we were in the park. Other than getting some Instagram worthy pictures of me- which you would've seen if you follow me." He winked. "He also got some nice ones of other prettier stuff." Jaemin didn't agree. He liked flowers and all, but Jeno was the prettiest thing he'd taken a picture of that day. "Here's the picture he took, that I painted." Jeno held up the picture of the flower next to the art piece. "So, that was our project, hope you enjoyed." The bell rang, signalling the end of art. As Jaemin picked up his stuff, Jeno's friends from the class came up to them. "Eunbin got a table on the second floor." Yuqi told them before leading the group to the table. "Yay! Jaemin's back!" Eunbin gushed as Jaemin sat next her. "You should've seen his art today." Yuqi said sitting across from them. "It was so nice." "Oh! I wanna see." Yena looked towards Jaemin eagerly. "Ah, it wasn't that good. I really liked your pieces though, your concept was really cool." Jaemin tried to divert the attention away. Yuqi scoffed. "Nothing compared to yours. I had no idea you were so good!" "Do you have any pictures on you?" Yena asked. "Um..." Simply, Jaemin was flustered and didn't know what to do. "Jaemin." Jeno budded in. "I need you to come with me." He said grabbing onto his arm, dragging away. "Where're we going?" Jaemin confusingly asked. "The water fountain." Jeno told him as if t was obvious. "Uh, why?" "Where else should we go that won't make us look suspicious?" "Suspicious of what? I'm so confused. Why did you need me?" Jeno sighed. "To get you out of that conversation." The two stopped when they arrived the water fountain. "Oh god, now I actually have to drink." Jeno complained. He bent over the water fountain and started the water for half a second before turning to walk back. "Water at that fountain sucks." Jaemin stayed quiet for another moment. "I'm... still confused." Jeno sighed again, shaking his head. "You were panicking. I could see it. Besides, I know you hate talking about your art anyway. So I just, took you out of the situation. You should be thanking me." "Oh..." "You're welcome."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
By the end of the day, Jaemin had forgotten about the ride Jeno had offered him. So instead of going to look for him, Jaemin just went outside to wait for the bus. While he was on his phone, Jisung came up to him. "Hey Jaemin." He said. "Hey." Jaemin was still getting used to being buddy-buddy with all these new people. "How's it going?" Jisung asked. "Alright, how about you?" "Meh, I just had Mr. Yang for calc." "Ah, I had him last year. He sucks." Jaemin related. "Doesn't he!?" Jisung exclaimed. "He doesn't even teach! He just does an equation then gives us homework." "I barely got through his class." Jisung sighed. "He looks like a fricking pervy lizard." He mumbled. Jaemin started laughing. "Why is that so accurate?” "Hey guys, what's so funny?" Yuqi came up to the two, Yena in tow. "Jisung said that Mr. Yang looks like a pervy lizard." Jaemin said lowly. Yena gasped as Yuqi broke out in laughter. "That's so mean." Yena whimpered. "But it's true." Yuqi giggled. "I wanna switch into Mr. Park's class." Jisung groaned. "Well if you're concerned about looks, Mr. Park looks like a giraffe with a short neck." Yena whispered causing the other three to laugh. "At least he can teach me calculus." Jisung sighed. "You're in calculus?" Yuqi asked. "Yep." "Oh, wasn't expecting that." She mumbled. "What is that supposed to mean?" Jisung narrowed his eyes. "Nothing." Yuqi played up her cuteness. "You thought I was gonna be in that foundations class, didn't you?" He asked. Yuqi smiled. "Maybe." "What?" "Me too." Yena added. Jisung looked to Jaemin. "I wasn't exactly expecting calculus from you either." Jaemin told him. Jisung's mouth hung open in shock. "I can't believe this, my own friends have no faith in me." The other three laughed. "Don't worry Sungie, we'll support you through failing calculus." Yena told him. Jisung's use of the word friends definitely didn't go unnoticed by Jaemin. "70% isn't failing." Jisung huffed. "70%? Oh no, Jisung." Jaemin said causing them to all laugh again. "Hey-y-y." Jeno said coming up between Yuqi and Yena. "Hi, Jeno." Yena said, stopping her giggles. "Jaemin." Jeno said. "Yes?" Jaemin turned from the small conversation he'd gotten into with Jisung while the girls had kept giggling. "I've been looking for you since school ended." "Why?" "I'm giving you a ride, remember?" Yuqi gasped. "Can I have a ride too?" "What? No." Jeno scoffed. "Please, please." She begged tugging on Jeno's arm. "My house is on the way to yours." "No, I'm not going in that direction today." "Well then take me with you." Jeno took a deep breath in and out, shaking his head. Jaemin didn't like something about the scene in front of him. Jaemin started walking towards Jeno. "Lets go." Jaemin said, smiling while nudging him away from the group. "I never expected that you'd steal my friends from me." Jeno said once they were in the car. Jaemin scoffed. "I haven't stolen anything. They're still yours." "The girls literally all ask for you when you're not there at lunch." Jeno said, eyes focusing on the road. "Why does that matter? Do you see the way Yuqi looks at you?" "Yeah..." "Hm? What does that mean?" "She likes me. We both know that." "Do you like her?" "No." Jaemin stayed quiet. It surprised him how quickly Jeno shut down the idea. "So you've thought about this a lot then?" Jaemin asked. Jeno shrugged. "She's not my type." "Really? I thought Yuqi was everyone's type." Jaemin mumbled. "Is she yours?" "No." Jaemin gave a breathy chuckle. "There you go." Jaemin sat at a lunch table on the first floor with Jisung. Having both left class early, the two ran into each other in the halls. So, Jisung invited him for lunch. "Lucas is such an idiot. Does he seem like that to people that don't know him well too?" Jisung asked looking up from his phone. "Uh," Jaemin paused to decide how much of the truth to tell. "Yeah, kinda. He's funny though, so everyone likes him." "Hm... if only he could turn that charm for friends into charm for girls. It's starting to get painful." "Huh?" "He's been going for Yuqi for so long.." "Doesn't she like Jeno?" "Yep, and it's so obvious. I don't know why Lucas keeps trying. I had to deal with him for so much of that art photography project. He'd drag poor Chenle over to me and Yuqi. Chenle's so nice I feel bad he had to deal with Lucas. Oh, wanna know a secret that Chenle told me?" Jaemin nodded. "Lucas didn't contribute to the project at all. Chenle did everything. Lucas didn't even take the pictures." Jisung said quietly. Jaemin choked back a laugh. "That's kinda funny though." Jisung smiled. "Isn't it?" Jaemin let out a laugh. "Hey boys." Jeno said sitting next to Jaemin. "What's funny?" "Just Chenle and Lucas and Yuqi." Jisung said. Jeno raised his eyebrows and gave them an expression as if to say "keep going." Jaemin looked between Jeno and Jisung. "That's it," was all the artist said before he and Jisung gave a few short laughs. Jeno was about to question them more before a group lead by Yena came over to sit with them. "I'm excited to announce that today is the first day warm enough to wear shorts!" Eunbin exclaimed spinning around to show off her outfit. "I think you're jumping the gun a bit." Hyunjin said playfully, before putting his hood up. "Just because you're emo doesn't mean it's not shorts season." Eunbin responded sitting next to Jisung. "It's supposed to be pretty warm on Saturday though." Eric told the group. "Does that mean the plans are still on?" Yena asked looking towards Jeno, who just nodded in response. "You should come Jaemin. We're gonna go swimming at Jeno's." Yuqi said. "Oh, no. I don't wanna intrude." Jaemin said sheepishly. "You're not intruding." Hyunjin laughed. "You should come." Jaemin looked at Jeno. "Do you want me to go?" He asked. "Um... yeah. Sure." Jeno barely got his words out. Saturday came quicker than Jaemin expected it to. Before he knew it, he sat on the deck of Jeno's pool, on a long beach chair. Hyunjin, Eric, Jisung and Jeno were all in the water. He sat with Yena Eunbin and Yuqi. "What do you think, Jaemin?" Yuqi asked holding out her phone. "The first outfit is nice but the second one makes you look cuter." He told her. "Is that the concept I should go for?" Yuqi asked. "Jaemin, come in the water." Eric said coming up to his chair. Jaemin cringed. "Uh..." "Come on." Eric held his hand out to help him up. He dragged the artist over to the side of the pool. Before jumping in, leaving Jaemin alone. "Jump in." Hyunjin told him. Jaemin ran a hand through his hair. "I- it looks so cold." He said honestly. "Eric's a wuss and he's in. Come on." Jaemin was about to complain again, but he felt two arms wrap around his waist and suddenly, he was in the water. Once his head was out of the water he looked over to see Jisung beside him. "Holy shit Jisung, what if I couldn't swim?" Jaemin laughed. "Hyunjin's a lifeguard it's fine!" Jisung said as the few laughed. "If Jaemin's life was dependant on Hyunjin then we'd have a dead body on our hands." Jeno said as he slipped into the water. "Don't push Jaemin... we don't know how well he can swim." "Okay, mom." The five continued to hang out and fool around in the water. After the girls each jumped in a few times, they left. Eric had also left, leaving Hyunjin, Jisung, Jaemin and Jeno. Later Jaemin noticed that Jeno had swam away from the group and sat on the edge, near their towels. Thinking back to what Jeno had said about stealing friends, he decided to go and sit with him. "What's up?" Jaemin asked as he pulled himself out of the water to sit with him. "Nothing- I'm just tired." Jeno mumbled, pulling a knee up to rest his head on. Jaemin hummed in response, wrapping himself in his towel. "Thanks for letting me come. I could tell you kinda didn't want me to though." Jaemin smiled at him before looking back to the water where Jisung and Hyunjin sat. "It's not that I didn't want you to come. I mean, I did, I just..." Jaemin had kept listening to Jeno's jumble of words, but he couldn't help but watch Jisung and Hyunjin as they stood out of the water. Jaemin wouldn't say he was checking them out, but he was checking them out. The two walked over to where they kept their towels on the side. "I don't know, I felt something weird about it." Jeno mumbled. Jaemin could feel how distant Jeno was, but it was usually the other way around, so he didn't know what to do about it. "My mom wants me home soon so I'm gonna head out. Do you need a ride?" Jisung asked Hyunjin. "Sure." He said, gathering his things. The two gave Jaemin and Jisung each their own goodbye before leaving. Jeno sighed. "What's wrong?" Jaemin asked. "Nothing." Jeno muttered before getting up and walking over to the chairs set up on the pool deck. "Jeno, I can tell something's wrong. What is it?" Jaemin got up to follow. Jeno sat on the edge of one of the chairs. "It's nothing." "If it's nothing then why won't you tell me." Jaemin asked, slipping on a shirt from his backpack. Jeno hesitated. "You just... you keep checking Jisung out. It's so obvious." Jaemin furrowed his eyebrows, in the middle of shoving his towel in his backpack. . "That's what this is about? You're upset that I was checking out a boy? I really wasn't expecting this from you." Jaemin looked at him, Jeno just stared at the ground. "The problem isn't that you're checking out a boy. I'd be a hypocrite if I judged you for checking boys out. The problem is that you're checking out Jisung." Jeno looked up at him. This was all too much information for Jaemin, which somehow resulted in anger. He looked into Jeno's eyes. "Who would you prefer I check out then?" "Me."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The two had stayed in silence for a moment, keeping eye contact. Jeno's eyes were begging Jaemin but he wasn't sure what for. Jaemin's phone was what broke the silence. It was a text from his mom saying she was outside Jeno's house. Jaemin left. Jeno and Jaemin didn't talk at school the following week. Jaemin still chatted with Jisung, Yuqi and them in the halls, but he avoided Jeno's gaze. On Friday when he went into his locker, he found a folder. On the cover, My Favourites, was written. Jaemin could recognize the writing. He put the folder in his binder and went home. He didn't touch it again until the next afternoon when Jaemin found himself staring at a blank canvas, unable to think of an idea for an art project. The folder sat on top of his desk and had yet to be opened. Curiosity getting the best of him, he reached for it. Inside the folder, was the pictures he'd taken on Jeno's camera. There was lots of flower pictures, a few of the path they'd been walking on, a couple of the ones he'd taken of the sky, then the ones he'd taken of Jeno at the end. There was a series of three pictures of Jeno turning to the camera and smiling. Then a few of the ones when Jaemin had been zooming in. The last picture was one that Jaemin hadn't taken. Instead, he was the one in the picture. It was when the two had gone to a lookout- one of the locations that didn't make it into their project. On the back of the picture was the word muse. After a moment, Jaemin grabbed one of the pictures and sat back at his easel. Jaemin only had one question left on his reflection sheet. May this piece be displayed? Yes No For once, Jaemin circled yes. About a week later, Jaemin's piece ended up in one of the display cases in the hall. It was that week that Jaemin was waiting in the morning for the art room to be unlocked. He leaned against the wall across from the display case. He saw Jeno head in his direction and couldn't help but try to watch him in the corner of his eye. Jeno was heading to the photography class, which happened to be down the hall from the art room. He glanced in a display case as he passed, but something made him stop to look again. In the middle of the case was a small canvas. On the canvas, there was a painting of a boy. The painting was a close up, only showing about half the face and the ear. Jeno knew this picture. He'd been the model for it after all. There was something different about the painting though. Tucked behind the ear, a flower lay- a yellow daisy to be exact. On one of the petals, in a yellow just a shade off from the rest of the petal, was the word muse. It was hard to see, but it was there. Jeno kept walking. That Friday, Jaemin got a text. Jenooo (9:49pm) :i'm outside can we talk Jaemin was quite exhausted, and had actually been in bed. Still, he shot up and hurried down the stairs. He opened his front door to see Jeno sitting on his porch. The boy looked back once he heard the door open. He immediately stood up. "I-I wasn't expecting you to actually come down." "Do you want me to leave?" Jaemin asked. "N-no, no. Could we go somewhere else?" Jaemin took Jeno to a nearby playground. The air was silent and it wasn't a type of silence that the two had experienced together before. It was stale, full of anxiety and worry. "I liked your painting." Jeno told him as they approached the playground. "Thanks." Jaemin sat on the edge of one of the slides. Jeno sat on a swing across from the slide. Jaemin decided to fill the silence again. "It's the first thing I've painted in like three months that isn't just... a flower. Some creativity and inspiration went into it." Jeno nodded, staying quiet. The two fell back to silence. "Sorry for... making things weird." Jeno said. "I shouldn't have said what I said, like how I did." Jaemin watched Jeno but his eyes were glued to the ground. The artist stayed quiet to let him keep talking. "Everyone referred to you as... mine. Then eventually they just started calling you their friend too. Especially Jisung, he really liked hanging out with you. I know Jisung has that little crush on Chenle and whatever but... I found myself getting jealous of him." Jeno let out a chuckle. "I didn't even realize what I was saying to you that day until I actually said it." Jeno went quiet. "You know, I've spent a majority of our friendship being confused." Jaemin spoke. "I always thought kids like you were 2D and boring. You guys go to school to see your friends, play sports, eat, and sleep. But then I actually started hanging out with you. I realized you're not boring. Then... I started to admire a few things about you. Like, the way you look when you focus on taking pictures, is the same way you look when you focus during a soccer game, but the way you light up after making a goal is a lot different than the way you light up looking at the pictures you've taken. You also pay a lot of attention. I remember Yena scolded you for being unobservant but you always listened so well and noticed when I was uncomfortable,” Jaemin paused, “and that confused me. I was confused because of how you acted and how I felt and... I realized after that day at the pool." Jaemin stood up. "If you had just asked me out, I would've said yes." Jeno huffed. "I know. I messed it all up. I would've just said something and not kept everything bottled hoping you'd notice all the small things I was doing but-" "No, Jeno." Jaemin had slowly walked over to him and placed his hands on the swing chains. "I did notice." He whispered. Jeno's gaze has finally left the ground as he looked up at the artist. Jaemin gulped. "I'm not saying you messed anything up. I wasn't forward about how I felt either." Jeno stood up, moving his hands nearer to Jaemin's on the chains. "What're you saying then?" Jaemin's breathing was slow. "I'm saying... you should kiss me." They'd both be lying if they said they'd never thought about kissing each other. Yet, the idea of it once actually in the situation, seemed daunting. Slowly, Jeno leaned closer to Jaemin. It was small; it was over quickly- more than a peck but not much. Jaemin still couldn't help but smile. Jeno bit his lip. "Was that... not good?" Jaemin asked. "No, I'm... I'm just not supposed to kiss you until the third date or whatever it is." "Just ask me on a date and I'll let you kiss me anytime." Jaemin's smile got wider and Jeno's eyes went to crescents. "How about tomorrow? I'll pick you up at 6?" Jeno asked. Jaemin slipped his hands onto Jeno's shoulders. "Sounds good." He said before leaning back in for another kiss.