Chapter Text
[INTERLUDE #1 - EIGHT YEARS AGO, JAENO'S FIRST MEETING - FLASHBACK]
"Egoist,"
"Sloppy,"
"Pompous,"
"Brat!" Jeno huffed, launching the dictionary he'd been gripping with sure-fire aim at Na Jaemin, who took one look at the incoming projectile and ducked, using the new position to shove the desk he'd been leaning on into Jeno's legs.
Knocked off balance, Jeno scrambled to find purchase on anything which resulted in him grabbing hold of a model skeleton and bringing it down on top of himself.
Amused, Jaemin straightened back to his full height and casually dusted off his pants before leaning against the wall and taking in the sight of Jeno, splayed across the floor with a raised eyebrow. "Maybe next time you should use that dictionary to come up with some more creative insults instead of resorting straight to violence, which by the way, was a bad idea because I forgot to mention that I'm fully trained in Hapkido."
Jeno chose not to reply, sneering while attemtping fruitlessly to stop the stupid plastic ribs from damaging his ribs. Call it childish but Jeno couldn't even remember when this war had started, his wole attention focused on the fact that their scores were currently even and he'd do anything to one-up the opposition, namely one Na Jaemin. The younger of the two had joined the school less than two months ago and he'd already managed to earn himself a reputation as popular, smart, athletic and intolerable (In Jeno's opinion.) They probably could have been friends if Jaemin hadn't taken one look at Jeno on his very first day and said, "So you're the popular kid here? What a waste." Maybe the war had started the following day when Jeno had kicked his chair out from beneath him as he went to sit down in class or maybe it had been when Jaemin got his revenge by rearranging Jeno's class schedule with the principle which in turn made him late to every single class that day.
That led them to the current moment, in the biology lab despite the fact that school had long since ended, neither moving as they watched the other with wary eyes, well aware of the tension that enveloped the atmosphere.
Jeno winced, finally managing to push the plastic monstrosity off himself before shifting into a sitting position, clutching his side when a sharp pain shot through it at the movement. For a second it looked as though Jaemin was going to apologise, his usually hard eyes softening into something that looked like regret before it vanished again in an instant. "Clumsy as well..." He commented, every word having it's intended patronising effect as Jeno stiffened but didn't dignify him with a response.
"I probably would have found you cute if you weren't such an asshole," Jaemin continued offhandedly, watching with a smirk as the older boy became more and more offended with every word. Unlike the Jeno, he remembered exactly how their little war had started and he was completely aware that it had been his fault but it was too late to take back the words he'd said on impulse when he first saw the boy.
In fact, Jaemin concluded that he should really learn how to express when he likes someone better because he'd been a little star struck when he'd first walked into that classroom but his words hadn't been a very good reflection of that fact. That hadn't improved over time either, instead their meetings had become increasingly hostile until Jeno had now ended up hurt inadvertedly.
With that thought, he turned and left the room, not offering Jeno a hand to get up despite seeing that he was obviously in pain. He really had to stop being such a coward, but not today.
This time, he didn't look back.
•
For all his faults, Jaemin was far from uncaring or insensitive and although he acted like an asshole (well, as bad as a nine year old could be) it was only an outward reflection of the insurmountable awkwardness that he really possessed. So when Jeno didn't show up for school the next day, the inevitable trickle of worry wouldn't leave the back of his mind. Had the boy been so badly injured that he was unable to make the trip?
It wasn't until he heard from Hina that Jeno was sick, that his restless mind was put to slight ease. If you asked him later, he'd say that he wasn't sure what possessed him to volunteer to deliver Jeno's missed notes to him but in that moment, he'd only thought about confirming whether the older was really okay with his own eyes.
•
Jeno kind of felt like he was dying, but that was probably a slight exaggeration because his doctor didn't look too worried (well, no more worried than he ever looked when these inevitable house calls occurred). He'd known for a long time that he wasn't a particularly healthy child, he'd already moved schools once after the sickness made him take a large amount of time off and he didn't feel comfortable going back but everytime his fever spiked and he found it difficult to move his limbs, let alone get out of bed it always came as a surprise.
Surprisingly, his first thought when he woke with the telltale headache and heaviness in his limbs, the first thought that ran through Jeno's head wasn't about the school he'd surely be missing but instead, the fact that he wasn't going to be able shove Na Jaemin's face into a locker as repayment for the bruise that now decorated his side.
"It's not too bad, he'll probably be better by the end of the week so long as he stays hydrated and takes his medication on schedule but make sure to call me if his temperature spikes again or his condition goes downhill." He could hear the doctor explaining to his mother in the hall, the hushed tones making it no less difficult to hear in the otherwise silent house.
Likewise, he clearly heard the sound of the doorbell when it rang several hours later and his eyebrows shot up in surprise (and distrust) when he realised that he could clearly make out Jaemin's voice in addition to his mother's. For a moment he wondered if he was having in a really weird dream but heavy footsteps in the stairs proved that theory wrong and he held his breath to see what would happen next.
It turned out that he wouldn't have to wait long because his door was pushed open (with way more force than was actually necessary) moments later and Jaemin strolled in, looking more cautious than Jeno had probably ever seen him before.
"You look--" He started to say before seeming to bite his tongue and struggle for what to say. Jeno found it ironic that in the one situation where the younger boy could truly insult him, he didn't know which words to use (after all, he was constantly teasing Jeno using his advanced vocabulary so why stop now?)
"Like death, ugly, gross as hell?" Jeno supplied in a tone that was supposed to be sarcastic but came out sounding raspy and bitter. Jaemin didn't make a sarcastic comment or raise his eyebrows at the statement, eyes narrowed and eyebrows drawn as he thought carefully about how to phrase what he wanted to say.
"Uh-- I was gonna say 'Sick' actually," he finally finished, surprising the older boy with the lack of negative intonation in his voice.
"Oh," was a Jeno couldn't think to say and if Jaemin had been himself at the moment, be probably would have criticised the poor word choice but all he did was watch hesitantly, the corner of his mouth tipping up into a wary smile. "Yeah," Jaemin replied, equally intelligent but just as uncaring about his own lack of creative word choice.
"So why are you here exactly?" Jeno coughed, silently berating himself for sounding as lost as he did. Jaemin shifted uncomfortably, once again unsure of what he should say. He'd rushed over to the older boys house without really thinking about what he was going to say once he arrived and once questioned, he released that he didn't really have legitimate reason for taking the meagre task from one of Jeno's actual friends (Jisung had been about to volunteer).
"You didn't come to school..." Jaemin muttered by way of explanation, trying to collect his thoughts into a passable order so that he didn't end up sounding awkward or obviously lost when he spoke. "I wondered-- I guess I thought that I might have hurt you yesterday and my conscience wouldn't let me stay away. Someone had to bring you the work you missed..." He finsihed lamely, scratching the back of his neck to try and diffuse some of the awkward tension that had filled the room.
When Jeno didn't reply immediatly, Jaemin shuffled forward, dropping the woksheets he'd been gripping like a lifeline before turning and walking out of the room as quickly as he possibly could.
Maybe it was a trick of the light but Jeno was sure that he saw his own name scribbled in small, concise letters on the back of Jaemin's leg.
It wasn't until he found the matching tattoo, baby pink in scratchy childish handwriting displaying Na Jaemin's name for all to see across the back of his left hand that things finally started to fall into place.
•
Jaemin knew a thing or two about soulmates, the basics that every kid learnt and the way in which his parents publicly displayed their affection for one another becoming the basis for his understanding of the concept. So, to say that he was confused when he found Lee Jeno's name printed on the back of his knee would have been a huge understatement. Sure the older boy was attractive, hell it had been the first thing he'd noticed when he'd laid eyes on him but their relationship as it stood, was far from the way he'd commonly seen soulmates behave and Jaemin struggled to understand where his newly-discovered soulmate bond fit into the the societal view of the subject.
As mature as he liked to think he was, Jaemin was still young and his first response to the revelation was to completely and utterly ignore Lee Jeno, going as far as to make no effort to contact the older when he dropped out of school permanently two weeks later due to the unpredictable nature of his sickness.
Real mature.
It was his mother who eventually set up the meeting between the two of them after becoming worried tht Jaemin was purposefully distancing himself from his soulmate and that it would adversely effect his future. He'd been unwilling to go but over the seperation, Jaemin had managed to sort his thoughts to the extent that maybe talking to Jeno really was the next step in understanding his own feelings.
For his part, Jeno had been calm and undertanding of the situation, only throwing two insults snidely into the conversation which Jaemin returned in kind and neither of thier parents appeared to notice (or they just didn't care).
"Do you hate the idea?" Jeno had asked, not looking put-out or upset with the way Jaemin had chosen to behave upon recieving the new, but also looking slightly uncomfortable with the unconventional situation. The younger boy shuffled, looking anywhere in the room other that it's other occupent, "I don't," he mumbled in response, part of him hoping that Jeno wouldn't hear him and maybe just drop the subject all together.
Chancing a look up at the older boy when he didn't hear a vocal respons, Jaemin was met with what was probably the kindest smile he'd ever recieved and it made him pause, admiring the way Jeno's smile only added to his looks.
Jaemin had noticed how attractive Jeno was the moment they met but with a smile on his face, Jeno looked a hundred times better and the younger boy found himself truly lost for words for the first time in his life.
"As long as you don't hate it, I think we'll be fine." Jeno affirmed with a concise nod of his head, the grin never once leaving his features.
(Fine was an undertstatement, the two of them were best friends within the year and Jaemin was ready to fight anyone who so much as looked at Jeno the wrong way. By the time they met their other two soulmates for the first time, they were practically two halves of the same person which led to Jaemin not liking the idea of additional soulmates a whole lot, and the rest as they say, is history.)