Chapter Text
Donghyuck discovers very quickly that fake dating Jaemin is a lot easier when nobody knows about it.
The problem is that everybody knows about it now.
The realization follows him through the entire next morning, settling over his shoulders like a coat he can't take off no matter how many times he tries. It starts the second he opens his eyes and remembers exactly what happened the night before. Not the fake confession. Not Chenle nearly launching himself across Renjun's living room. Not even Jaemin casually wrapping an arm around the back of Donghyuck's chair as if they hadn't spent the previous twenty-four hours building the relationship from scratch.
The problem is that everybody believed them.
Donghyuck lies motionless beneath his blankets for several minutes staring at the ceiling while that thought circles his brain with increasing hostility. He had expected skepticism. He had expected interrogation. He had expected at least one person to point out that announcing a relationship in the middle of a gathering sounded suspiciously convenient.
Instead, Chenle had looked personally betrayed, which somehow feels worse. His phone buzzes against the mattress beside him. Then again. Then three more times in quick succession. Donghyuck doesn't need to look. The group chat has been active since seven in the morning. At one point during the night he'd muted it. At another point he'd considered leaving it entirely. Unfortunately, doing either of those things only encourages Chenle.
The lesson had been learned years ago. The phone vibrates again. Donghyuck reaches for it with the reluctant acceptance of a man approaching his own execution and immediately regrets the decision. Sixty-four unread messages. The group chat has been renamed.
This time the title reads:
WE WERE RIGHT
Donghyuck closes the app before he can read anything else. Absolutely fucking not. Whatever conversation is currently happening there can happen without him. The phone buzzes once more. This notification comes from a different conversation.
A familiar one.
Jaemin: Good morning ☀️
Donghyuck stares at the message. Then he drops the phone onto his chest and groans.
Of course Jaemin is awake. Of course Jaemin is cheerful. Of course Jaemin has somehow managed to emerge from the disaster they created yesterday in a good mood. Fuck him genuinely.
The typing bubble appears before Donghyuck has even decided whether he wants to respond. Actually, never mind.
Jaemin: Chenle called me.
Donghyuck immediately sits up.
Donghyuck: Why?
The reply arrives so quickly it feels less like texting and more like a conversation taking place through a very inconvenient medium.
Jaemin: He wanted to know which one of us confessed first.
Donghyuck laughs before he can stop himself.
The sound catches him off guard. It has been happening more often lately.
Somewhere between Mark's breakup, the endless pitying looks, and every well-intentioned conversation that somehow managed to make him feel worse, he'd forgotten what it felt like to genuinely enjoy things. The feeling had returned in pieces over the last few weeks. A dinner here. A stupid joke there. An argument over grocery store cereal. Tiny moments that didn't seem important until he looked back and realized they had been carrying him forward the entire time.
His phone buzzes again.
Jaemin: I told him you confessed.
Donghyuck nearly chokes.
Donghyuck: What???
The typing bubble appears.
Jaemin: Disappointed?
Donghyuck: You're unbelievable.
Jaemin: Thank you.
Donghyuck: That wasn't a compliment.
Jaemin: I know.
The irritating thing is that Donghyuck can practically hear the amusement in Jaemin's voice anyway.
The apartment feels strangely quiet around him. Sunlight filters through the gap in the curtains, stretching across the floor in uneven strips of gold. Somewhere outside, a car door slams. A dog barks. Somebody starts mowing a lawn despite the fact that no reasonable person should be awake enough for yard work at this hour.
For a moment, Donghyuck simply sits there with the phone resting in his lap. Yesterday still feels oddly distant. He keeps replaying different moments and arriving at the same conclusion every time.
Nobody questioned them. Nobody laughed. Nobody called them ridiculous. Nobody looked surprised.
The more he thinks about it, the worse it gets, because if people had believed the relationship immediately, that meant they had already seen something there. Something neither of them had intended to show, or maybe something neither of them had realized they were showing. The thought makes him uncomfortable enough that he immediately abandons it.
His phone vibrates again.
Jaemin: Coffee?
Donghyuck stares at the message. Then at the ceiling. Then back at the message. The invitation shouldn't make his stomach do whatever weird thing it just did. They get coffee all the time. They have gotten coffee together for years. Coffee is not new. Which is exactly why it suddenly feels dangerous.
He narrows his eyes at the screen.
Donghyuck: Only if you're paying.
The reply comes immediately.
Jaemin: I always pay.
Unfortunately, that is true.
Donghyuck throws the blankets aside and drags a hand through his hair before standing. Somewhere in the apartment, his coffee maker waits patiently for him to remember it exists. His group chat continues exploding. His friends are probably constructing conspiracy theories in real time. Chenle is almost certainly planning something illegal.
And somehow, despite all of that, the thing occupying the most space in Donghyuck's mind is the fact that in less than an hour he's going to be sitting across from Jaemin again pretending everything about this situation is normal.
The worst part is that it probably will be. That has always been the problem. Pretending to date Jaemin should feel strange. Instead, it keeps feeling alarmingly easy.
By the time Donghyuck arrives at the café, he has already received three separate messages from Chenle, two from Yangyang, and one deeply concerning voice note from Jeno that somehow contains no actual words. The recording is only fifteen seconds long, but it consists entirely of Jeno making a disappointed noise directly into the microphone before hanging up. Donghyuck has listened to it twice and still has no idea what it means.
The café itself is busy enough that nobody pays attention when he walks inside, which is exactly how he likes it. A steady stream of customers moves through the line near the register while conversations blend together into a low, constant hum. The smell of coffee settles over everything, warm and familiar, and for a brief moment Donghyuck thinks he might actually survive today.
Then he spots Jaemin.
Immediately, he changes his mind.
Jaemin is sitting near the windows with a drink already in front of him and another resting across the table in the empty seat opposite. The sight annoys Donghyuck on principle. He hates when Jaemin is right about things, and unfortunately, Jaemin had been right when he predicted Donghyuck would come despite pretending otherwise. Worse, he looks entirely too comfortable. There is no visible evidence that their lives had become significantly more complicated in the last twenty-four hours. No sign of panic. No sign of regret. If anything, he looks rested.
The betrayal feels personal.
Jaemin notices him almost immediately and lifts one hand in greeting. “You’re late.”
Donghyuck drops into the seat across from him and reaches for the coffee without asking permission. “You said that yesterday.”
“You were late yesterday too.”
“I was not.”
“You absolutely were.”
Donghyuck takes a sip before responding and immediately regrets it because Jaemin has already bought his usual order. Of course he has. The drink tastes exactly the way he likes it. Not too sweet. Not too bitter. Annoyingly perfect.
Across the table, Jaemin notices his expression and smiles.
“Don’t,” Donghyuck says.
“I didn’t do anything.” Jaemin counters.
Donghyuck squints his eyes at him. “You’re doing something right now.”
The smile widens.
Donghyuck considers leaving. Unfortunately, the coffee is good.
For a while, neither of them talks about the fake relationship. The conversation drifts naturally between topics the same way it always has. Jaemin complains about a client. Donghyuck complains about Chenle. Jaemin informs him that Chenle apparently called Renjun at six-thirty in the morning to continue discussing their relationship timeline.
Donghyuck nearly chokes on his drink. “You’re lying.”
“I wish I was.” Jaemin says, grimacing.
“Renjun answered?” Donghyuck asks.
“Apparently.”
Donghyuck stares into his coffee. “That's actually his fault then.”
Jaemin laughs.
The sound settles comfortably between them, familiar enough that Donghyuck stops noticing it after a while. That has always been the strange thing about Jaemin. He slips into every part of Donghyuck's routine so naturally that his presence rarely feels disruptive. There are entire weeks where they speak almost every day without either of them making a conscious effort to do so. Grocery stores become shared errands. Coffee turns into a standing invitation. Dinners happen because one of them is hungry and the other happens to be available.
The problem, Donghyuck realizes, is that all of those things suddenly look different now, not to him but to everyone else, or maybe not only everyone else. The thought appears before he can stop it. He immediately shoves it away. Across from him, Jaemin is saying something about Yangyang's latest conspiracy theory. Donghyuck catches the last part just in time.
“—and apparently we've secretly been dating for like six weeks.”
Donghyuck blinks. “Six?”
“That's what he landed on.” Jaemin answers.
“Why six?” Donghyuck is confused.
Jaemin shrugs. “He says he felt a vibe.”
“Of course he would feel vibes.” Donghyuck replies, deadpan.
Jaemin nods his head in agreement. “Very romantic ones.”
Donghyuck drops his head into one hand. The worst part is that Yangyang having his senses tingling is something everyone seems to think is true. Before he can continue complaining, his phone lights up on the table. Both of them look down automatically. A new message appears in the group chat.
A photo. Donghyuck narrows his eyes. Then widens them.
“No.” Is the only word to leave his mouth.
Jaemin immediately starts laughing.
“No,” Donghyuck repeats.
The photo is from yesterday. Specifically, it is a picture of him and Jaemin sitting on Renjun's couch. Neither of them had noticed someone taking it at the time. Donghyuck is leaning toward Jaemin while arguing about something. Jaemin is looking at him instead of the camera.
The caption beneath the image reads:
EXHIBIT G
“What happened to Exhibits A through F?” Donghyuck asks.
Jaemin wipes at his eyes. “I don't know.”
Donghyuck can’t believe these people are his friends. “You sound proud of him.”
“I am a little proud of him.” Jaemin shrugs.
“You shouldn't be.” Donghyuck might be the only sane one.
The phone buzzes again. Another message appears.
THEY DON'T EVEN REALIZE THEY DO THIS
Donghyuck immediately flips the phone over. He doesn't know why. The picture isn't embarrassing and nothing inappropriate is happening, they're just talking. Still, something about seeing the moment from someone else's perspective makes him unexpectedly uncomfortable.
Across the table, Jaemin's amusement begins fading. “You okay?”
The question is casual. Donghyuck should act casual too. Donghyuck looks toward the window instead. Outside, people move along the sidewalk carrying shopping bags and coffees and conversations of their own. Nobody knows who he is. Nobody knows what happened yesterday. Nobody knows about Mark or fake relationships or group chats that have somehow transformed into investigative committees.
The normalcy is strangely comforting.
Eventually, he looks back at Jaemin. “It's weird.”
Jaemin doesn't ask what he means. He understands immediately. The smile on his face softens.
“Yeah,” he says quietly. “I know.”
For a moment, neither of them says anything. Donghyuck wraps both hands around his cup and stares down at the surface of the coffee. Yesterday, he'd walked into Renjun's apartment expecting to spend the entire evening thinking about Mark. He'd expected every conversation to circle back toward the same ache he'd been carrying around for months.
Instead, he'd spent most of the night arguing with Chenle. The realization sneaks up on him. By the time he notices it, it's already settled somewhere deep inside his chest. For the first time in a very long time, Mark had not been the center of the room, and somehow, that feels a little bit like breathing again.
The conversation eventually drifts away from group chats and conspiracy theories, though not because either of them successfully changes the subject. The group simply finds new ways to be annoying. By the time Donghyuck finishes his drink, Yangyang has somehow produced a second timeline, Chenle has threatened to interview former classmates for evidence, and Jeno has continued contributing in ways that are somehow more concerning because they involve significantly fewer words.
At some point, Donghyuck stops checking the messages entirely. Self-preservation is important. The decision lasts almost twelve minutes before curiosity wins and he checks again. Unfortunately, nothing has improved.
"They've gotten worse," he informs Jaemin while standing to throw away his empty cup.
Jaemin glances at the screen. "Yeah."
"That's your entire response?" Donghyuck is getting pissed at Jaemin now.
"What do you want me to say?" Is Jaemin’s reply.
Donghyuck sighs. "I want you to fix it."
Jaemin considers this seriously, then he shakes his head. "No."
Donghyuck hates him.
The café has become noticeably busier while they've been sitting there. The line near the register stretches almost to the entrance, and several tables that had been empty when Donghyuck arrived are now occupied. Conversations overlap throughout the room. Music drifts softly through the speakers overhead. Somewhere behind the counter, someone drops a tray.
For the first time all morning, the atmosphere feels normal. The fake relationship follows them anyway. It follows them when they gather their things, when they leave the table, when they step outside.
The weather is warmer than Donghyuck expected. A light breeze moves through the street, carrying the smell of food from a nearby restaurant and the distant noise of traffic. Around them, people move in every direction, completely unconcerned with the fact that Donghyuck's life has somehow become a romantic comedy against his will.
He is still mentally composing a strongly worded message to Chenle when a familiar voice calls his name.
"Donghyuck?"
He turns automatically. Then immediately regrets it.
Jisung is standing halfway down the sidewalk holding two shopping bags and looking confused.
"Oh," Jisung says.
Then his eyes move toward Jaemin, then back to Donghyuck, then back to Jaemin again. A slow realization begins spreading across his face. Donghyuck already knows exactly what's happening.
"No," he says.
Jisung blinks. "What?"
"Whatever you're thinking." Donghyuck gives him a stern look.
"I wasn't thinking anything." Jisung says, but Donghyuck knows he is lying.
Donghyuck decides to let him know. "That's a lie."
Jisung looks offended. "I was literally just saying hi."
Donghyuck narrows his eyes.
Beside him, Jaemin is doing absolutely nothing helpful. The traitor looks amused. The realization fully settles over Jisung a second later.
"Wait," Jisung says slowly.
Donghyuck can practically hear disaster approaching. "No."
"You're dating?" The question hangs in the air. Jisung looks genuinely surprised.
Donghyuck is very confused.
Before he can answer, Jaemin does. "Yeah. You were there last night and you are part of the groupchat."
Jisung's eyebrows rise. "Oh."
Donghyuck stares. Holy fuck Jisung can’t read a room, or test messages for that matter. Donghyuck turns toward Jaemin. Jaemin is visibly trying not to laugh. Jisung shifts one of the bags higher on his arm.
"I didn't know. Congrats!"
Donghyuck opens his mouth. Then closes it again.
Unfortunately, Jisung continues. "You guys are good together. Maybe you should like go on a double date with —"
"No." Is Donghyuck’s immediate response.
"I didn't even finish." Jisung states.
"You were going to say something stupid." Donghyuck says with a shrug.
Jisung glances at Jaemin, then back at Donghyuck like he discovered something magical. Ten minutes ago, Donghyuck had thought coffee would be the most difficult part of the day. Clearly, he'd underestimated his friends. Donghyuck lets Jaemin explain and hold the rest of the conversation with Jisung as they make their way back.
By the time Donghyuck gets home, he has come to three conclusions. The first is that Chenle should lose phone privileges. The second is that Jisung is significantly more oblivious than anyone gives him credit for. The third is that fake dating Jaemin might actually be ruining his life.
Unfortunately, only one of those problems is currently fixable. He is halfway through reheating leftovers when his phone buzzes again. The sound immediately raises his blood pressure. At this point, every notification feels vaguely threatening.
Sure enough, the message comes from the group chat.
Renjun: Game night tonight?
Donghyuck stares. Then he stares some more. The message itself isn't concerning. Game nights happen all the time. The group rotates apartments, argues over rules, accuses each other of cheating, and somehow turns every harmless board game into a personal conflict.
The problem is the replies.
Chenle: YES
Yangyang: YES
Jeno: Sure
Chenle: The couple better come
Donghyuck closes his eyes. Chenle is like a sorcerer that insists on doing everything Donghyuck wishes not to. His phone vibrates again.
Chenle: I'm serious
Chenle: If they don't come I'm cancelling
Chenle: This is my event now
Renjun: It isn't
Chenle: it is now
Renjun: it really isn’t
Donghyuck throws the phone onto the counter. It vibrates again. He ignores it. It vibrates a second time, then a third. Eventually curiosity wins. The newest message is from Jaemin.
Jaemin: We should go.
Donghyuck narrows his eyes.
Donghyuck: Why are you encouraging him?
Jaemin: Because it'll be funny.
Donghyuck: You're the worst.
Jaemin: Thank you.
Donghyuck hates that Jaemin's responses have become so predictable. More importantly, he hates that he already knows he's going to end up going. Three hours later, he finds himself standing outside Renjun's apartment again. This feels like a mistake. The feeling only grows stronger when the door opens.
Chenle takes one look at them and points dramatically into the apartment.
"Called it."
"You called what?" Donghyuck asks.
"The synchronized arrival."
"We drove separately."
"You still arrived together."
"That's not—"
"It's romantic."
Donghyuck immediately walks past him. Behind him, Jaemin is laughing. That fucking traitor. The apartment is already crowded by the time they arrive. Someone has connected a game console to the television. Drinks are scattered across every available surface. Yangyang is arguing with Jeno about something completely unrelated to the evening. Renjun appears to be regretting hosting.
For a few minutes, Donghyuck almost relaxes. Then teams get assigned. The disaster begins immediately.
"Jaemin and Donghyuck together." Chenle says it without looking up from the game box.
Donghyuck blinks. "No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"We don't have to do everything together."
The room goes suspiciously quiet. Chenle slowly raises his head. Yangyang raises his head too. Jaemin looks amused. Donghyuck hates all of them.
Chenle is the first to speak. "That's literally what couples do."
Donghyuck opens his mouth. Nothing comes out, because he is right. The worst part is that he doesn't actually have a response. Across the room, Jaemin leans back into the couch cushions and watches the situation unfold with entirely too much enjoyment.
"You could help me," Donghyuck says.
"You seem to be doing great." Jaemin replies, grinning at him.
Donghyuck hates him. "I hate you."
"That's not very supportive boyfriend behavior." Jaemin answers.
"Neither is yours."
Donghyuck stares at Jaemin. Jaemin stares back. Neither of them breaks eye contact. Then Jaemin grins. The sight immediately confirms something Donghyuck has suspected for a while now. Jaemin is having the time of his life, which means someone has to suffer. Apparently that someone is him.
By the time game night finally ends, Chenle has become significantly more irritating, especially after midnight. Donghyuck spends the entire evening attached to Jaemin’s side, because everybody insists they do. At some point, Donghyuck had given up fighting it.
Everytime the teams are assigned Jaemin ends up right next to him. Donghyuck decides this is for the best and forces Jaemin to be competitive with him, at least one thing should be familiar in that room. The apartment gradually empties around them. Yangyang leaves first. Jeno follows not long after. Chenle somehow manages to take twenty minutes to say goodbye despite standing directly beside the door.
"Next time," Renjun says while collecting empty cups from the coffee table, "someone else is volunteering."
"Not it," Chenle says immediately, leading against the front door.
"Not it."
"Not it."
The responses overlap for everyone else. Renjun looks deeply disappointed in all of them. Beside him, Mark laughs.
The sound catches Donghyuck off guard. Mark seems truly happy next to Renjun. At one point, it was next to him. Donghyuck looks away from the two and he simply stands there. Waiting, expecting the familiar ache, the discomfort that feels his heart. The twisting feeling that had followed him for months. Nothing comes.
Mark is still there. Renjun is still there. They're still together. Yet somehow, for the first time, it doesn't feel like the center of the room anymore. The realization settles unexpectedly, but invitingly. Before he can examine it too closely, Chenle points dramatically across the apartment.
"Jaemin."
Jaemin looks up from helping Renjun gather dishes. "What?"
"Take your boyfriend home." Chenle answers.
The room immediately falls silent. Donghyuck closes his eyes. Of course this is happening.
"Chenle—" Donghyuck is interrupted.
Chenle seems proud of himself. "I'm being responsible."
"No, you're not." Donghyuck argues.
"I absolutely am." Chenle states, looking at Donghyuck smiling like an idiot.
"How?"
Chenle looks offended by the question. "It's late."
Donghyuck stares. Then stares some more.
Across the room, Jaemin is visibly trying not to laugh. Traitor. It does make sense thoughz that is what a boyfriend does.
Renjun shakes his head. "Please leave before he gets another idea."
That, unfortunately, ends the discussion.
Ten minutes later, Donghyuck finds himself in Jaemin's passenger seat while the city drifts past outside the windows. The roads are mostly empty at this hour. Streetlights cast long stretches of gold across the pavement. Music plays quietly through the speakers.
For a while, neither of them speaks. The silence feels comfortable, the kind that comes from years of knowing someone. Donghyuck rests his head against the window and watches the city blur by. He's tired, more tired than he'd realized. The events of the last few days finally seem to be catching up with him.
Beside him, Jaemin glances over. "You okay?"
Donghyuck looks out the window for another second before nodding. "Yeah."
This time he means it. Donghyuck feels the relief in the deepest part of his heart, just because, for the first time in a long time, he can honestly say it.
He is okay.
The car continues moving through the quiet city. Neither of them notices when Donghyuck eventually falls asleep. The first sign is his voice fading midway through a sentence. The second is his head slowly dropping against the side window. The third is complete silence. Jaemin glances over, then immediately looks back at the road, a small smile appears anyway.
Jaemin pulls into the parking space beneath Donghyuck's apartment building and shifts the car into park, but he doesn't reach for the keys immediately. The engine continues its quiet hum for another few seconds before he turns it off, and just like that, the music disappears with it. The silence that replaces it is gentle rather than awkward, broken only by the occasional car passing somewhere out on the street and the faint tapping of rain beginning against the windshield. He glances toward the passenger seat almost absentmindedly, already opening his mouth to tell Donghyuck they were home.
Donghyuck is asleep, not the kind of sleep where he's resting his eyes for a minute and pretending otherwise. Completely asleep. His head has tipped awkwardly against the window, one arm folded loosely across his stomach while the other hangs uselessly beside the seat. Somewhere during the drive, he'd stopped talking altogether. Jaemin remembers him saying something about Chenle deserving solitary confinement for emotional crimes, remembers laughing, remembers answering and then nothing.
He'd drifted off in the middle of the conversation without either of them noticing. A small smile tugs at the corner of Jaemin's mouth before he can stop it.
"You always pick the worst sleeping positions," he murmurs, mostly to himself.
Donghyuck doesn't react.
Jaemin reaches over carefully, giving his shoulder a light shake. "Hyuck."
Nothing.
He tries again, a little firmer this time. "Donghyuck."
A quiet noise escapes him, somewhere between a complaint and a sigh. His eyebrows knit together briefly before relaxing again, and for a hopeful second Jaemin thinks he's waking up. Instead, Donghyuck somehow manages to fall even more asleep.
Jaemin laughs under his breath. "Impressive."
After another minute of unsuccessful negotiations, Donghyuck finally blinks one eye open. He looks around with the unmistakable confusion of someone who has no idea where he is, stares blankly through the windshield for several long seconds, then turns his attention toward Jaemin.
"...Home?"
"We're home."
"Oh."
Another pause. "...Mine?"
Jaemin can't help smiling. "Nope, a random stranger's."
Donghyuck nods once as though this is perfectly reasonable information to receive, pushes the passenger door open, and climbs out of the car with all the confidence of someone who is absolutely not awake.
He makes it exactly three steps before his foot catches on the edge of the curb. Jaemin reaches him before he can hit the ground. His hand closes around Donghyuck's forearm automatically, steadying him until he regains his balance. Donghyuck blinks again, looking down at the pavement as if personally offended by its existence.
"The sidewalk moved," he mumbles.
"It did not." Jaemin chuckles.
Donghyuck knows it did. "It definitely did."
"It has been in the same place all night."
Donghyuck frowns at the concrete for another second before pointing accusingly at it. "I don't trust it."
"You don't have to. You just have to walk on it."
"I am walking."
"You were falling." Jaemin snorts.
They make it to the building entrance at a pace that would embarrass most elderly turtles. Donghyuck insists he's awake every time Jaemin asks if he wants to sit down for a minute, yet every answer is punctuated by another yawn, another stumble, another moment where his shoulder brushes into Jaemin's because his sense of direction has apparently decided to take the evening off.
By the time they reach the elevator, Jaemin has stopped pretending Donghyuck is capable of getting upstairs by himself.
"Donghyuck." Jaemin is in front of him now.
"Hm?"
"I'm going to help you."
"I don't need—" The sentence dissolves into another yawn.
Jaemin waits. Donghyuck waits too, apparently expecting the rest of his own argument to arrive eventually.
It doesn't.
"...Fine," he mutters at last.
The elevator ride is mercifully short. Donghyuck spends most of it leaning against the mirrored wall with his eyes closed, swaying just enough that Jaemin quietly positions himself a little closer without making it obvious. The doors slide open onto Donghyuck's floor, and they manage another few steps before history repeats itself.
This time, Donghyuck doesn't even trip. He simply slows to a stop in the hallway, lets out the softest sigh imaginable, and, without warning, leans sideways until all of his weight lands against Jaemin's shoulder.
Jaemin catches him on instinct. "Donghyuck."
"Mhm?"
"I think you've reached your limit."
"I'm... thinking."
"About what?"
"...Walking."
Jaemin bites the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. "I can tell."
As Donghyuck expected, Jaemin has the empathy level of a rock. Jaemin hesitates only a moment before slipping an arm around Donghyuck's back, shifting his weight until it's easier to support him. It still isn't enough. Donghyuck's legs are moving, technically, but only in the broadest possible definition of the word.
"Okay," Jaemin says quietly. "I'm making an executive decision."
Before Donghyuck can protest, Jaemin bends slightly and hooks an arm beneath his knees while supporting his back with the other. The movement is careful, more practical than graceful, born entirely out of necessity. Donghyuck makes a small sound of surprise as the floor disappears beneath him.
"...Cheater."
Jaemin laughs, the sound echoing softly down the empty hallway.
Carrying Donghyuck isn't nearly as difficult for Jaemin as Donghyuck expected. Within seconds he settles instinctively against Jaemin's chest, the fight leaving him almost as quickly as it had appeared. Donghyuck becomes aware of something he'd never really thought about before.
Jaemin is... strong.
The realization arrives without permission. It slips quietly into the back of his mind as Jaemin adjusts his grip, barely seeming to notice the extra weight. The muscles in his forearms tighten beneath the sleeves of his sweatshirt, and Donghyuck catches himself staring for a second longer than necessary.
Since when...
His thoughts trail off. Since when have Jaemin's shoulders been that broad? Has he always looked like this? Donghyuck frowns to himself. He is thinking of weird things, different from his usual thoughts of Jaemin.
That can't be right. He's just tired. Exhausted people notice weird things. That's all this is. Jaemin has always gone to the gym. Jaemin has always been annoyingly athletic. Jaemin has always been this way.
"...Why are you looking at me like that?" Jaemin asks, smiling his too wide smile.
Donghyuck blinks. "I wasn't."
"You were." Jaemin chuckles.
"I was thinking." Donghyuck answers.
"That usually ends badly." Jaemin replies.
Donghyuck frowns. "Oh fuck you actually."
Jaemin raises an eyebrow and loosens his hold on Donghyuck just a little. "Mhm."
"I know you won’t drop me." Donghyuck says matter-of-factly. Jaemin lets one hand go.
Donghyuck grips Jaemin's shirt like a lifeline. "If you drop me, then I’ll start screaming and the whole apartment will wake up"
Jaemin's smile grows. "I see."
Donghyuck nods once, satisfied with his own explanation, but Jaemin doesn’t pull him completely back to his chest or use both his hands. Donghyuck hates Jaemin and his stupid muscles.
“Okay, stop this and pull me up.”
Jaemin shakes his head. “You know how to ask nicely, Hyuckie.”
“Come on.” Donghyuck whines.
Jaemin presses his hand into his waist more.
Donghyuck looks away from Jaemin. “Please, Jaemin pull me up.”
Jaemin seems satisfied with that, if the grin on his face means something. “Such a good boy, aren’t you?” Jaemin coos.
Donghyuck feels his face burn red, he truly, truly hates Jaemin,
Using the key Jaemin fished from Donghyuck’s pants, Jaemin lets them quietly into the apartment. The familiar space greets them with darkness and the faint smell of coffee lingering from that morning. He nudges the door shut with his foot before carrying Donghyuck toward the bedroom. He sets him down gently, helping him shrug off his shoes before pulling the comforter over him. Donghyuck thanks him.
For a long moment, Jaemin simply stands there. Satisfied with how he settled Donghyuck, Jaemin quietly turned toward the bedroom door.
"I should head home," he murmurs to himself.
He has barely taken two steps before a sleepy voice breaks the silence.
"...Jae." Donghyuck calls out for him.
Jaemin stops immediately and turns back. He's still half buried beneath the blankets, one hand disappearing somewhere beneath the comforter.
"You leaving?"
"Mhm."
A small crease appears between Donghyuck's eyebrows. "...Don't."
The word is barely louder than a whisper.
Jaemin hesitates. "You sure?"
Donghyuck lets out another tired sigh, rubbing one hand over his face before speaking again.
"You'll drive home..." A yawn interrupts him. "...and then you'll probably come over tomorrow anyway, so just stay."
Jaemin smiles so softly, Donghyuck wants to grab his face and squish it. The room falls quiet again. Donghyuck doesn't say anything else. Jaemin watches him for another second before exhaling through a quiet laugh, shaking his head with resignation. Jaemin crawls right next to Donghyuck on his bed.
“You know, we are going to have to wash your sheets tomorrow because we are sleeping in our outside clothes, right?” Jaemin says, turning to face Donghyuck under the blanket.
“Can you shut up for one night about this and go to bed?” Is Donghyuck’s response as he positions himself closer to Jaemin for them to cuddle.
Donghyuck feels a little more clingy today, and Jaemin has always been willing to let Donghyuck close, let anyone close, if it meant comfort for the people around him. Donghyuck is grateful he is doing this with Jaemin, it couldn’t have been anyone but Jaemin.
Jaemin tightens his arms around Donghyuck and whispers “Good night” at the top of his head. Donghyuck feels at peace, it has been months since he felt this calm before bed. Within moments, Donghyuck's breathing has evened out once more, leaving only the sound of their breathing hanging softly in the air between them.