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“Hello? Are you listening?” Jaemin asked again, waving a hand in front of the boy’s face. He looked familiar; he’d seen him on his Instagram feed before. Light brown hair, tanned skin, sparkling eyes. At least on social media he seemed responsive.
“What?” The boy finally whispered out, dazed look in his eyes.
Jaemin ran a hand across his face. All he wanted to do was check on his best friend and then leave. But Renjun’s teammate was kind of making that more and more difficult. “I asked if Renjun was here. You know, the best guy on your team?”
The boy finally pulled out his daze. “Oh. Yeah. He, uh, ditched. Like an hour ago.”
Jaemin should’ve known that Renjun had went home when he stopped answering his messages. He had driven across town for nothing. “Oh, thanks. Good luck on your rounds, dude.”
“Um. Yeah. Cool. Thanks. Bye,” The boy choked out. His ears were bright red at this point.
Jaemin smirked as he walked away, adjusting the beanie on his head. Speech kids: one, debate kids: zero.
*
The next day, Renjun bursted into Jaemin’s room, obviously annoyed.
“Hey, hubby,” Jaemin chirped from his bed. “How’s Sunday treating you?”
Renjun plopped next to him on the bed, kicking his sneakers off. “You broke my teammate, you fucking harpy.” He shoved his phone screen in his face, blue messages blurring in his eyes.
“Jesus, Renjun, back that shit up, I can’t see anything.”
Renjun pulled it back a bit and Jaemin could finally make out words.
debate tingz
Donghyuck [Saturday, 3:25 P.M.]
Renjun i will literally cut all of your cards for next month if you give me your friend’s number
Or snapchat
He’s so pretty I’m crying
I was literally speechless
Holy shit
Renjun please answer before I accidentally like one of his posts from 103 weeks ago
Is he dating anyone
Oh my god is he straight
RENJUN
Jisung [Saturday, 4:05 P.M.]
Is this why you were late to your round
Renjun [Saturday, 5:12 P.M]
I’m muting this gc
“Oh,” Jaemin said before laughing. “So that’s why he was so flustered.”
Renjun shut his phone off. “How did you meet Donghyuck?”
“I went to your tournament yesterday because you weren’t answering my messages. Duh.”
Renjun pouted. “I love you.”
Jaemin shrugged. “I know, I know, I’m the best friend in the whole world.”
“Yes.”
“You know what would make you the best friend in the whole world?”
Renjun sat up, away from Jaemin’s suspicious eyes. “You’re not getting his number.”
“But what about-”
“Or Snapchat. You’ve broken him just by meeting him and qualifiers are soon. I need him focused.”
Jaemin flopped back onto his pillows, brain stormy. He was cute, Donghyuck was cute, it was a perfect idea. They’d make a wonderful couple.
“It’s not fair that you’re like, dating Jeno, but I can’t even talk to Donghyuck.”
Renjun made a startled gurgling noise. “I’m not dating Jeno. How’d you even think of that?”
“Uh, you called me after ditching a round yesterday because you suddenly have the hots for Jeno, and then you leave the tournament. That’s very sus, babes.”
Renjun’s face turned a frightening shade of red. Jaemin knew him too well. “Fucking fine. We can hang out next Sunday. Me and Jeno, you and Donghyuck. Happy?”
Jaemin threw an arm around Renjun’s shoulders. “I’m over the damn moon.”
*
“Donghyuck, just go in,” Jisung pleaded, desperate to escape the cold and enter the Starbucks.
“I can’t,” Donghyuck mumbled, eyes transfixed on the cashier through the window. Dark brown hair fell over his brows, bright smile flashing every so often. “It’s Renjun’s pretty friend.”
Jisung yanked the door open, and pushed him inside. “Well, Renjun is here, so maybe he’ll introduce you two.”
The two made their way into the shop, Donghyuck ducking his head every time Jaemin so much as looked up. Donghyuck was severely underdressed to have an interaction with him; stained grey sweatpants, debate camp sweatshirt from middle school, and muddy Vans. He was a walking nightmare.
“Oh, you guys are here. I was just about to text you,” Renjun said, sweeping his notes to his side of the table. Donghyuck and Jisung slid into the booth, and to the former’s dismay, found himself facing the cash register head on.
Jisung tugged his cap off. “He got distracted by your friend.”
“Who?” Jisung made a pointed look and Renjun turned around. “Oh. Jaemin?”
“That’s his name?” Donghyuck asked, smile forming. Now the list went: pretty face, pretty voice, pretty name. He wasn’t real. He couldn’t be.
Renjun whacked him on the head just as he had taken to staring at Jaemin. “Oh no, no, no. I’ve already arranged a meeting for you two for Sunday. I need you focused right now.”
Donghyuck pouted. He was literally right there and Renjun was playing fucking gatekeeper. He’d have to re-evaluate their friendship.
After Donghyuck cooled off (Read as: Jisung bought him two blueberry muffins.), the trio set out on writing their cases for the new resolution. As Lincoln-Douglass debaters, they prided themselves in their independence and resourcefulness, but it didn’t hurt to discuss possible rebuttals or value criteria with each other.
After about an hour of searching through briefs for possible contentions, Renjun laid his head on the table, exhausted.
“If I see the word privacy one more time, I might flip this table over.”
Jisung stretched and yawned. “Go take a break. Use the bathroom or something. We’ll watch your stuff.”
Renjun nodded and left the booth. Once he was out of sight, Jisung turned towards Donghyuck. “You have approximately two minutes to talk to pretty boy.” When Donghyuck just gaped, he pushed him out of the booth, onto the floor. “Buy a refresher or something. I’m helping you. Now go.”
Donghyuck didn’t need to hear it twice and shuffled over to the counter.
“Hi!” Jaemin greeted, smile blinding. Oh god, Donghyuck’s body was already going into system shutdown. “What can I get for you today?”
“Um.”
“Um?” Jaemin questioned. His smile was getting wider, which was definitely not helping the bumbling idiot on the other side.
“Strawberry lemonade refresher?” He choked out. It sounded more like a question and he wanted to melt into the floor.
“Gotcha,” Jaemin chirped. “Your name is Donghyuck right?”
Cue the Jaemin-induced silence.
Jaemin laughed, sensing his confusion. “Any friend of Renjun’s is a friend of mine. Don’t worry about paying either. It’s on me.”
Donghyuck didn’t know whether to cry or laugh so a mixture of the two escaped his mouth in a garble.
“I’ll take that as a thank you,” Jaemin laughed and moved to make the drink. Soon, the drink was finished and he slid it over the counter towards him. “You might wanna take the receipt off before you go back to your table,” he said before greeting another patron.
As Donghyuck shuffled to his table, he inspected the receipt, face burning up.
NAME: cutie!!
here’s my number :) xxx-xxx-xxxx
“What’s the smile about?” Renjun asked when he finally made it back to the table.
Donghyuck pocketed the sticker, forcing his smile to shrink. “I dunno. I just like Starbucks. There’s good energy here.”
*
Donghyuck [Tuesday, 9:44 P.M.]
hi this is donghyuck
this is jaemin right?
please don’t say this is the wrong number
Jaemin
no no this is the right number!
I’m glad you texted me
I was getting nervous lmao
Donghyuck
shhdsfhhdsdhgsdvhfd
oh btw Renjun said we’re hanging out together Sunday?
Jaemin
yeah with him and Jeno
Donghyuck
with WHO
Jaemin
his kinda bf jeno?
you didn’t know?
Donghyuck
um no?
Jaemin
oh shit
*
Jaemin could practically drag a knife through the tension present in the Qdoba booth. Renjun and Jeno were on one side, while Donghyuck and Jaemin were on the other. Donghyuck was currently alternating between glaring at Jeno and sending pointed glances at Renjun.
“You should probably eat your quesadilla before it gets cold,” Jaemin whispered to Donghyuck. He bit a corner of the tortilla to appease him.
“I was going to tell you. I promise,” Renjun said.
Jeno nodded in agreement. “Yep. He was stressing about it all week.”
Donghyuck increased the intensity of his glare. Jaemin thought Jeno would probably fry on the spot if it got any more intense. “Shut it, you utilitarianism addict.”
“I’ve used that criterion once this season.”
“It’s a novice-level criterion.”
“Not if you know how to use it right!”
“And you never use it right!”
Renjun dragged a hand across his face. “ Enough.”
He looked at Donghyuck. “Apologize for calling him a utilitarianism addict.”
“Sorry.”
Renjun turned to Jeno. “Apologize for yelling back. And defending the use of utilitarianism.”
“My bad.”
Renjun nudged Jeno out of the booth and the two stood. “We’re eating in a separate booth. I don’t trust the two of you not to start a food fight.” With burritos in hand, the pair traveled across the room, leaving Jaemin and Donghyuck alone.
Jaemin propped his chin on his hand. “That’s the longest I’ve ever heard you talk,” he remarked. Donghyuck’s voice almost sounded like childish laughter, shimmering and airy. He was thankful he did speech and not debate because he’d probably end up throwing every single round against him.
“Sorry,” Donghyuck said sheepishly. “We kinda have beef.”
“Kinda?”
“Okay, we hate each other.”
Jaemin laughed. Donghyuck had the expression of a scolded toddler. He was so cute. “It was funny when you called him a utilitarianism addict.”
“Really?” Jaemin could see his ears burning red.
“Yep. Do you sing, or do theatre or something?” Jaemin asked. There was something mesmerizing about Donghyuck that captured attention.
He looked down at his now cold quesadilla, shy. “Um, I just sing in show choir.”
“ Just? Show choir is like, such a big responsibility! How do you even do debate?”
“Stamina?” Donghyuck tried.
Jaemin sighed deeply, heart full. How was he real?
“ Hamilton or In the Heights ?”
Donghyuck thought for a moment, then, “ Hamilton. ”
Jaemin clutched his chest. “Oh my god. Marry me.”
*
(“Riddle me this,” Jisung started at the next speech and debate tournament. “What’s worse: dating your rival or dating a speech kid?”
Donghyuck glanced at Jaemin leaning on his shoulder. Jaemin smiled lazily and winked. Donghyuck’s heart stopped beating.
“Speech kid. One hundred percent.”)