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yes, the microwave clock indicates in blaring red numbers, it is nearing 4 am. yes, jaemin thinks to himself as he eyes the clock, he is still awake. on a normal friday night, he would have gone to bed a couple of hours ago, but jeno had specifically asked him to stay up to open the door for him since he “didn’t want to bring his keys to a party and lose them”... which, okay, makes sense.
even though both him and jeno usually go out together, jaemin had really wanted to finish this goddamn coding assignment tonight so he would have a free weekend. self-discipline is sexy, right?
"you could probably just finish this tomorrow, babe," jeno had said while getting dressed. "knowing you, you'll end up finishing it in less than an hour. also, mark's gonna be sad you didn't show up to his first party of the year."
and as always, jeno was right. jaemin had sped through the assignment (thanks stackoverflow!) and found himself spending the rest of his night on the couch alternating between youtube and reddit. mark had texted him a string of various sad emojis, which he.. will respond to later.
jaemin yawns and glances down at his phone, which continues to have No Notifications (other than the one from mark). he’s a little worried, but he’s not going to be some overbearing boyfriend asking “wya???” every single time he can’t track down jeno. it’s almost as if the universe reads his mind, because as soon as he clicks on a new tasty video, there’s a knock at the door.
he jumps to his feet, runs over to the door, and throws it open.
before he left, jeno had promised jaemin that he would have enough fun for both of them. from the looks of it, he definitely had drank enough for both of them. jeno steps into their apartment very lopsidedly and jaemin wrinkles his nose when he smells the alcohol on jeno’s breath.
"hi there cutie!" jeno says very cheerily, beaming at him with his signature eye smile.
at any other time, jaemin would appreciate jeno’s excitement at seeing him, but he kind of just wants to go to sleep. "hi jen, can we-"
he’s cut off as jeno giggles and presses a finger to his lips. "as handsome as you are, stranger, you can't call me that because only my boyfriend is allowed to call me jen." jeno moves his hand away to take off his shoes, and then goes to plop down at their kitchen table and stare into space.
jaemin rolls his eyes and walks over to the kitchen to get jeno a glass of water. it’s definitely not his first time seeing the other boy drunk, but it is his first time seeing him this inebriated. after placing the glass in front of jeno and waiting for him to drink all of it, he leans on the counter across from jeno.
“so, why don’t you tell me who this boyfriend of yours is?” he asks.
jeno immediately sits up. “my boyfriend! his name is jaemin, but i call him nana, and…” he squints at jaemin before he keeps going. “you kind of look like him but that’s absurd since he’s one of a kind. nobody can be like him. not even you.”
it’s official. jaemin’s boyfriend is stupid. he takes jeno's glass and turns around to put it in the sink while nodding to the previous statement. “yep. i’m just a stranger who let you into your own apartment. don’t mind me.”
he grabs jeno's hand and starts to lead him down the hallway to their bedroom. after only a few steps, jeno clings to jaemin's arm like a big, floppy puppy and whines the rest of the way there about how any movement makes his head hurt.
"should've thought about that before getting completely shitfaced, huh?" jaemin grumbles as he turns jeno around to slide his jacket off.
jeno abruptly pushes jaemin away and shakes his head firmly. "stop that! my boyfriend wouldn't want someone else taking my clothes off."
jaemin, dumbfounded, sits on the edge of their bed and watches as jeno struggles to take off his own shirt. "does that mean you aren't going to come to bed?"
"i think i'll just sleep on the floor if that's okay with you," jeno says, and proceeds to collapse on one of the (thankfully) fluffy rugs they have, completely forgetting about his clothes. "but we were talking about my boyfriend. can we talk more about him?"
meh. jaemin can have some fun and tease jeno later about this. besides, he isn’t strong enough to force jeno up from the floor to brush his teeth. "sure, tell me about this guy."
“he’s a little weird sometimes, probably because he drinks more coffee than a normal human being can handle, but he’s also really handsome and he has the prettiest eyes even though he tells me that mine are prettier?? which is like, wrong, but,” jeno rambles on. “i kind of just let him win whenever we argue so he’s happy so i’ve let it go.”
jaemin eyes jeno, who's still curled up on the floor. he pulls out his phone and sets up a reminder to force jeno to take an ibuprofen in the morning. “well, your boyfriend would probably want you to go to sleep since it is very late right now.”
“you’re right,” jeno agrees. jaemin’s moved on to arranging pillows under jeno's head when jeno says something that makes him freeze. “nana always takes care of me better than anyone, that’s why i love him.”
what the fuck?? he looks at jeno with wide eyes, and jeno seems to pick up on his silence.
“well, i’m just not sure how to tell him in the right way.” his voice drops to a whisper and closes his eyes. “it’s kind of stressful, y’know? like, how do you tell someone how much they mean to you in a genuine way but not in a serious way? and sure he likes me but does he love me?”
jaemin lets out a laugh and turns to rummage in their closet for an extra blanket. “you can trust me on this. your boyfriend loves you too, so you don’t need to worry about that.”
it seems that jeno has finally gone quiet, because there isn’t a response for a few minutes. “jen?” jaemin glances back to see his boyfriend softly snoring into a pillow, limbs askew. he looks strangely comfortable on the ground, but jaemin still throws a blanket over him in case he gets cold overnight.
he tiptoes over to jeno and leans down to press a kiss on his forehead before turning off the lights.
“love you too, jeno.”