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"So you don’t like telling people that I’m your boyfriend."
Jaemin looks up from the book he was attempting to read as Donghyuck’s voice cuts through the silence in the room. His tone is flat, and the question feels more like a statement than an inquiry. Jaemin is confused and waits for clarification of some kind.
Jaemin hears Donghyuck drop his keys onto the counter and open the fridge, not offering any further explanation for the accusation he'd casually tossed out as he walked in. He considers ignoring Donghyuck until he comes into the room, since Donghyuck’s probably just messing with him, but he sighs and gets up anyway.
Jaemin walks into the kitchen, stopping just two steps away as Donghyuck stands in front of the microwave, finger poised on the stop button as if in some kind of race, and watches him groan in defeat as it's metallic “ding!” echoes through the dead air.
“Hi, what was that about?” Jaemin asks, just as Donghyuck turns around and startles comically.
“What—Dude, can you make a sound?” Donghyuck says, one hand pressed to his chest as he walks toward the table, mumbling under his breath about a bell.
“I can, do you want to make me?” Jaemin retorts, which makes Donghyuck turn back around, an eyebrow raised.
“Not when you go around telling the whole campus that you'd rather be Renjun’s boyfriend forever and ever and ever,” Donghyuck says, placing the plate on the table before turning back to cross his arms over his chest.
Jaemin blinks, then laughs, recalling the conversation from the cafeteria the day before. Jisung had started a deeply political discussion about the horrors of a zombie apocalypse, which had somehow devolved into a “who would you hook up with if you were about to die” trivia game.
“No, Hyuck. I said I wouldn’t hate being Renjun’s partner, not that I wanted to.”
Jaemin closes the gap between them, laughter still bubbling in his chest, his arms wrapping around Donghyuck. Donghyuck snuggles closer, his face now buried in Jaemin’s chest.
Donghyuck mumbles something into Jaemin’s chest, but Jaemin can’t hear him and prompts him to repeat what he said.
Donghyuck moves even closer, uncrossing his arms to wrap them around Jaemin’s waist and effectively gluing himself to Jaemin’s torso. Chuckling, Jaemin lifts a hand to the back of Donghyuck’s head, threading fingers through soft brown strands, tilting it up just enough to uncover his face.
“Now, say that again.”
Donghyuck pouts when he tries to shake his head out of Jaemin’s grip and fails, looking up at Jaemin through his eyelashes, a clear manipulation tactic. “I said, that’s basically the same thing.”
Jaemin can’t hold back his laugh at the absurdity of Donghyuck’s choice of argument for the day, nearly doubling over with Donghyuck still in his arms. Donghyuck protests with a scoff, twisting to move out of Jaemin’s embrace. The sudden shift throws them off balance, and they both end up sprawling onto the floor. Donghyuck’s head hits the table behind him with a sound too loud to be comfortable, and it has Jaemin sitting up almost immediately.
He moves to check on Donghyuck for injuries, but Donghyuck turns his head away with another complaint. “Ow! You did that on purpose, didn’t you? You want to kill me so you can ride off into the sunset with the campus’s favorite boy.”
Jaemin rolls his eyes at the theatrics. “Oh, shut up. Let me check if you’re about to die from excessive blood loss.”
Jaemin pulls Donghyuck closer by the arms, maneuvering him onto his lap. He moves to place a hand on the spot where Donghyuck’s head hit the table, but Donghyuck turns away again.
“Fuck you, don’t touch me.”
“I’m trying to see if you need to be taken to the health center. Stop acting like I’m assaulting you.”
“You assaulted me when you told Renjun you’d rather fuck him than me.”
“Wha—That’s not even the conversation we had, Donghyuck.”
“Did I ask? Maybe Renjun did.”
Kind of fed up with this back and forth, Jaemin slides one arm around Donghyuck’s waist and uses the other to tilt his chin up to face him. With barely any space between their noses now, Jaemin raises an eyebrow, challenging Donghyuck to continue.
Donghyuck deflates instead, his face falling into the crook of Jaemin’s neck. Jaemin would be amused by the speed with which Donghyuck’s mood seemed to shift if not for the fact that something seemed to be genuinely bothering him.
“Sorry.” Donghyuck’s voice is barely above a whisper, Jaemin feeling it on his skin more than he hears it.
“What?”
Donghyuck exhales heavily before facing Jaemin again, still pouting. “I’m sorry. I’ll play nice now.”
Something in Donghyuck’s expression makes Jaemin pause, making him reconsider just how serious the situation might actually be.
“Somehow, that’s more concerning.” Jaemin carefully stands up, keeping Donghyuck in his arms. He stumbles just a little, but manages to reach a chair without falling again.
“I’m literally just trying to make your life easier by shutting up. Be grateful,” Donghyuck mumbles, his arms now loosely wrapped around Jaemin’s neck.
“Donghyuck. Sunshine, you don’t have to do that. I like you just fine even when I want to throttle you.”
“But th—”
“What did you hear?” Jaemin cuts him off.
“Hm?”
“I’m asking what you thought that conversation was about,” he reiterates as he starts rocking them gently back and forth, absentmindedly thinking about getting a chair specifically for this.
Donghyuck looks surprised “Oh, hey, I was just joking. You don’t need to get all serious and—”
“Sure, but tell me anyway.”
“Well, I heard you guys were discussing potential boyfriends and that you’d only agreed to date Renjun.”
Ah, bingo. The rumour mill had done its thing.
“Hyuckie, the conversation was about the zombie apocalypse, and I was asked if I’d be okay with Renjun as a partner if me and him were the only ones alive.”
Donghyuck blinks up at him and remains silent.
“Do you want me to call Jisung? He was there, and so was Renjun.” Jaemin reaches for his phone, but Donghyuck suddenly crushes himself into Jaemin’s chest.
“Wow, this is so embarrassing. Can we pretend this never happened? Let’s pretend I literally just woke up this morning.”
Jaemin grins. “Now where’s the fun in that?”
Donghyuck groans and pushes further into Jaemin’s chest, making the chair wobble.
“Let’s not do that again,” Jaemin says, gently pulling Donghyuck to sit up properly and face him.
“Back to the topic at hand—do you want me to wear a collar with your name on it?”