"I'm going to lose." Jeno moans as he drops his head down to his folded arms on the table, almost knocking down the glass of orange juice near him.

Jaemin raises a brow at him and shakes his head, "since when was this project of yours a competition?" A chuckle escapes his lips afterwards.

The raven haired boy peers over his arms to slightly glare back in response. "Mine is horrible!" He continues to complain instead of answering Jaemin's question.

"And how could you say that?" Jaemin frowns, low-key a little upset that Jeno is still stubborn as ever about his photography skills.

Even after showing him his works, trying to give him advices and reassuring wise words, helping his self-confidence to rise up, Jeno isn't getting it.

Maybe not yet.

However, Jaemin tries to understand. He knows it isn't an immediate thing to happen, and he shouldn't have high expectations for it to be.

It doesn't work like magic.

All he can do is keep going, patience is the key for helping Jeno rise up his self-confidence and feel more free.

To which Yangyang had joked about a bunch of times after Jaemin hangs out with Jeno, asking the tattoo artist how their day went and then teases him about it.

"I saw my classmates' works."

"And?"

"They're really good, I bet our teacher will give them an A plus or something by just one glance." Jeno pouts, chin resting on his forearm.

Looking over his shoulder to check on the younger boy, Jaemin quietly coos at him."So? It's not like it's an actual judge." He replies.

Jeno scoffs as Jaemin turns around after cleaning up the mess Jaehyun made behind the front desk, it happens when you're bored and it's not a busy day.

"Show me their beautiful and original works you're talking about." He emphasizes whilst crossing his arms and leaning back against the shelves.

Jeno blinks before scurrying to get his phone out of his pocket, almost dropping it in the process as he then opens up his gallery.

"How did you know I took pictures of it?"

Jaemin shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly, "wild guess." Lie.

It was actually because Donghyuck and Mark told him about it, apparently Jeno was showing it to them at lunch, downing himself and the usual.

Taking the phone in his hands and scrolling through the several pictures Jeno took, quietly chuckling at the quality as he finds it pretty good.

And cute if he wanted to flirt with Jeno right now. But not the time, unfortunately.

Humming, he hands the device back to the rightful owner and sighs. "I need you to listen to me, pretty boy." He starts off.

The younger boy furrows his eyebrows, "use the photos I told you about, the ones I know that shows off you."

"B–"

"No buts, I'm saying this not because I feel bad and I like you," flashing him a wink that has Jeno caught off guard. "But I'm saying this to help you."

"Can you at least tell me why else?" Jeno looks at him with doe eyes, it has Jaemin melting and he isn't complaining.

Sighing, he walks over to where Jeno is and places a hand on his shoulder, "some of your classmates' works are good, original and stuff."

"But it shows who they are, you need to show you. Yourself. Isn't that what your teacher said? The main point of all this and whatnot?"

Getting a small yet hesitant nod, Jaemin continues, "photography is art, your teacher is saying you should express yourself through it."

"How are you going to do that if you're going to try one up someone else instead of trying to figure yourself out?" Tilting his head to the side, challenging Jeno to answer him.

But the latter was speechless, didn't really have anything else to say as his brain is still a little chaotic right now.

"Another thing is there are also some of those works that aren't... Original." Jeno widens his eyes hearing that.

"What?" He gasps, inching closer in instinct when he gets curious and intrigued.

Jaemin across from him curses at the desk between them filling the gap; which is also stopping them from getting any closer.

But he brushes it off and smiles in amusement, "let's just say some people did their research for this project." Winking in a teasing manner.

Jeno who was flustered (because of what Jaemin said, shut up) blinks several times trying to process and put things together.

He'll see if Jaemin is lying and just trying to lighten up the mood or he's actually being deadass serious.

"We're passing it tomorrow..." Jeno mumbles, mindlessly fiddling with his fingers.

Jaemin moves his hand up to gently cup Jeno's cheek, eliciting a gasp from the younger boy as their eyes meet.

"Jen, trust me." Staring at him intently, it has Jeno gulping for some particular reason. "Use the photos."

𑁍

"Jaemin!" Jeno calls out, breathless as he sees the familiar blob of pink hair amongst the sea of people.

He fastens his pace and tries to catch up to the tattoo artist who had just took out his earphones, eyebrows knitted together when he felt like someone was calling him.

"Na Jaemin!" Turning around, he beams when he sees Jeno getting closer and closer, he himself stopping on his tracks for the younger boy to catch up.

He lets Jeno regain his composure and smiles when the younger boy finally looks up, "yeah?"

"You were right!"

"Huh?" Jaemin pretends to be clueless.

Oh come on, his eyes couldn't miss the mini album in Jeno's grip the moment he turned around.

"What you said, they– they, the others!" Jeno wasn't thinking properly, hence he couldn't form a proper sentence as his hands were everywhere, showing off his current emotions.

Jaemin bites back a grin and pats Jeno's shoulder, "take a breath, doll. I don't want you passing out," he jokes about.

Jeno surprisingly nods instead of glaring him. "The others, they were using pictures from Google and other people's works claiming it as theirs!"

"And what about you, hm?" Jaemin lilts, not really caring about Jeno's classmates who have been caught plagiarizing.

"My teacher liked it, she said it was amazing and couldn't stop complimenting me." Jeno blushes recalling the event just hours ago.

He looks at Jaemin before launching himself into Jaemin's arms, "thank you, Jaemin!" He squeals.

Jaemin recovers from his shock state due to the hug, returning the gesture with his arms around Jeno's body, chuckling dreamily whilst Jeno was caught in the moment as well.