Jaemin was never close with Donghyuck. Sure, they were the same age, lived in the same house, ate the same food and even showered together once (they never spoke about it after it happened). But Jaemin never actually sat down with Donghyuck, unless Jeno and Renjun were there, and vice versa. It wasn't as if there was something between them that was stopping them from being friends — then again it might've been because Jaemin had once insulted Donghyuck's choice of shoes and they didn't talk to each other for a month — it was just that Jaemin and Donghyuck had never been close.

So when Jeno entered Jaemin's room, ready to vent out all his problems through some excessive hugging, he was surprised to find Donghyuck under the sheets with him, phones in both of their hands as they giggled at each other. He wasn't sure what was going on, but they looked happy.

"Hey?" Jeno asked, confused. They hadn't noticed his presence until he spoke up, and Donghyuck almost jumped out of the bed if it wasn't for Jaemin's leg wrapped around his. "What're you guys doing?"

"Nana said he could beat me," Donghyuck snickered, sitting up and showing his screen. "I've beaten him a total of five times now. Are you proud of me, Jeno?"

"Yeah, sure," he answered half-heartedly. He wasn't here to make conversation with Donghyuck, or really any conversation at all. "Should I come back later?"

Without any hesitation, the two on the bed nodded and Donghyuck fell back again, snuggling even closer to Jaemin than before. Jeno's eyes twitched at it, but to avoid getting anymore embarrassed, he rushed out of the room, ignoring a surprised Renjun as he shut his door with a loud bang.

Jaemin never asked him why he never returned.

-

Jeno had to take a second look when he caught Donghyuck in the kitchen. He knew Donghyuck was a good cook, Mark always reminded them when they were thinking about having homemade food, but Donghyuck never actually stepped into the kitchen without people begging him to do so. Seeing Donghyuck in the kitchen was a miracle, one that only occured if Mark was present or if Jisung and Chenle were whining in the background. But this time, there was none of that.

"Donghyuck?" Jeno stood by the door and leaned against it, his eyebrows raising as the blonde turned around to face him. "You're cooking? What comes?"

"Nana asked me to help him out," Donghyuck explained, a fond smile on his face as he spoke and Jeno felt a burn in his chest. "He went to his room to change out of his clothes before we got started."

"Oh, alright," Jeno hummed and took a seat on one of the chairs by the counter. He picked at the grapes in front of him and eyed Donghyuck as he moved around the kitchen. What was he up to? Donghyuck never got close to people without a meaning behind it — as bad as that sounded, it was somewhat true. Donghyuck had become friends with Jeno because he was their dance teachers favourite, an easy way out of getting in trouble. Donghyuck had befriended Renjun to get his Chinese skills better and show off in front of the others (he also became his friend because he genuinely liked the older, but they always teased him for his first reason).

Why did Donghyuck want to get close to Jaemin? Jeno couldn't figure it out. Perhaps it was because of what they had discussed nearly over two months ago? Jaemin did seem to be the same, nothing had changed — the extra hours he spent at the practice room were staying stable (maybe even increasing) and his mood was always jolly. It was almost scary how consistent his behaviour was.

"Jeno," Donghyuck clicked his fingers and snapped Jeno out of his trance. He looked up at the blonde, blinking his eyes slowly as he remembered where he was. "You spaced out for a while, you okay?"

"I'm fine," Jeno grumbled back, feeling a tinge out guilt for taking out his frustration on his friend, but then again that friend was the source of his discomfort. "Why is Jaemin taking so long?"

"I only took five minutes," Jaemin said from behind, offended. Jeno stole a glance at him before turning to Donghyuck. Only five minutes had gone by? He hadn't even realised. "Anyways, what brings you here, Jeno? To our territory?"

"He's been rubbing his fingers over our grapes, Jaemin. I don't trust him," Donghyuck dramatically pushed himself against the fridge. "What if he was sent by Renjun to poison our food?"

"We can't let that happen!" Jaemin replied with the same amount of enthusiasm. "Begone, Jeno! Leave our grapes alone!"

Jeno barely managed to dodge Jaemin's hands before Donghyuck shoved him out of the kitchen, closing the door on his face. He let out an exasperated sigh and stormed off to his room. Unbeknownst to the duo in the kitchen, Jeno spent the rest of the day angrily texting Mark about his issues.

-

It was alright the first time, Donghyuck and Jaemin were only bonding, right? They were playing games and that was fine. It was okay the second time as well. They were only coming together and building their relationship. But when it happened the third time, Jeno was annoyed.

A movie? Who watches a movie in the living room when their best friend is craving some attention? Jaemin, apparently. Jeno had been looking for Jaemin everywhere. He had searched the company building, checked out the cafés he visited quite often and even asked everyone in the group chat where he was. He should've known that when Donghyuck didn't reply to him — he didn't even read the message — it was because he was spread out on the sofa, Jaemin in his arms.

They looked domestic and Jeno didn't like that.

Jaemin was his best friend, right? Why was he so close to Donghyuck? He wasn't saying they weren't allowed to be close, well he was, but he didn't want Donghyuck to take his place in Jaemin's heart. He had worked hard to gain that area. Not even Mark had managed to get close to Jaemin on the level that he was on, and Mark was close with everyone.

"What happened now, Jeno?" Renjun questioned as Jeno waltzed into his room with a frown on his face which didn't seem so out of place after the recent events. He always seemed to be in a bad mood. "Did Jisung say something again?"

"No," Jeno huffed out and dropped his body weight onto Renjun. "And what do you mean again? What has Jisung done?"

"Nothing, nothing. Pretend I never said that," Renjun nervously laughed before trying to kick Jeno off him. "You're crushing my legs."

"Jaemin never complained about that," Jeno muttered, clutching onto Renjun's shirt as the shorter attempted to push him off again.

"You're so annoying," Renjun breathed out when Jeno tightened his grip on him.

"Jaemin never said anything rude to me," Jeno mumbled, his exhaustion from the previous day's of stress coming over him.

"What's wrong? Why do you sound so sad?" Renjun asked, running a hand through Jeno's hair softly. Jeno let out a soft sigh as he pressed his head against Renjun's chest (but it didn't feel right).

"Is Jaemin closer to Donghyuck than he is with me?" Jeno pouted and looked up at Renjun through his sleepy eyes. The brunette gave him a look of annoyance and scoffed.

"Is this what all of this is about?" Renjun let his eyes shut as he caressed Jeno's head. "I'm not sure if they're closer, that's something only they would know. But Donghyuck isn't going to take your place or anything. Jaemin can have more than one best friend."

"But how did they become so close and so suddenly?" Jeno inquired, his mind unable to wrap itself around the fact that the two had become close in under a month.

"Well, for starters, they're both really affectionate," Renjun explained, his hand in Jeno's head continued on a steady pace. "They like hugginh each other and never complain about it. Maybe that's what brought them together."

"I don't complain about hugs," Jeno argued, but Renjun shot him a pointed look that quieted him down. "Okay well, I don't complain that much."

"Anyways, just go to sleep, Jeno," Renjun said softly. Jeno couldn't find any energy in him to argue and so fell asleep shortly. Renjun rolled his eyes but let him sleep on top of him. His book was abandoned on the table beside him and he stared at the ceiling trying to distract himself as Jeno snuggled closer and closer into him.

-

"No excuses," Jeno said as he ran into Jaemin's room, locking the door behind him before jumping onto the bed. Jaemin, a little shocked by what was happening, stayed still and let the older snuggle into his side.

"Jeno?" Jaemin cleared his throat and tugged at the older's hair. "What happened? Why did you lock the door?"

"I want to spend time with you, and you alone," Jeno huffed, wrapping his arms around Jaemin. "You've been spending so much time with Donghyuck, you don't even talk to me anymore."

"That's not true," Jaemin chuckled, bringing his hands to hold Jeno's waist in place. "We spoke for an hour in the morning."

"Yeah, but Jisung was there, holding your arm the entire time whilst we were talking!" Jeno whined, his face coming to settle on Jaemin's shoulder. "I asked Renjun why you and Donghyuck might've gotten close, and he said it was because both of you are really affectionate. But I like hugs! You can hug me too."

"You said you hated skinship," Jaemin teased, laughing when Jeno got even more heated and started to squirm under his hands. "Okay, okay. I'll give you more hugs, Jeno."

"Good," Jeno said and smiled to himself when Jaemin reached over to turn the light off. "Night, Nana."

"Night, Jeno," Jaemin smiled down at brunette before looking up at the wall. His plan had worked in the end. Jaemin had become the person they went to for affection.

-

I'm sorry but I love nahyuck