"Chenle, Jaemin could use your help.." Chenle raised a brow at Renjun before glaring at Jaemin.

"Get on with it then." Chenle said passively, standing up from the floor and picking up the toys laying around him. He looked down at the pink dinosaur with a smile as he remembered how happy Jeno was to have the toy in his hand.

"Um, well... Jaemin needs an apartment. You don't have to fully buy him one, you could just rent one, and you-"

"Will Jeno be living with you?" Chenle asked, not even looking up from the toys on the ground. Renjun looked at Jaemin who nodded.

"Of course. I've always taken care of him." Chenle stood up straight and looked at Jaemin.

"Then I'll buy you an apartment. Just promise you'll take good care of him? He really looks up to you Jaemin." Jaemin looked taken aback. It's not that he didn't know, it just felt more real to hear someone else say it. Jaemin nodded.

"I swear to you I will take good care of him." Chenle nodded and walked toward the door of the room.

"Let's go search for an apartment with Jeno then." Chenle suggested as he walked out of the room. Jaemin looked at Renjun.

"What's up with his Jeno obsession?" Jaemin asked quietly, sounding a bit disgusted as he turned to look at Chenle walking away. Renjun scoffed.

"He didn't say anything bad. He just cares." Jaemin scrunched up his nose at Chenle's back, making Renjun chuckle.

"What?"

"You're jealous. It's cute." Renjun said, ruffling the younger's hair. "Don't worry Jaem, Jeno is all yours." Renjun began to walk to the living room, a light pink dusting Jaemin's cheeks at the idea of Jeno being 'His'. Jaemin shook his head and followed the older to the living room.

"M-mama, d-don't leave me... Please D-don't. You still have to sing me your s-song." Jaemin felt a slight panic go through him as he heard the olders mumbling. Was Jeno having his bad dreams again? Jaemin thought that they had stopped. Hopefully, they weren't getting worse..

"Jeno, Jen, I won't leave you. Hyuckie won't leave you." Jaemin listened to Haechan's words and couldn't help but remember what Renjun and Haechan had told him about earlier. He smiled gently at the thought.

He turned into the living room to see Jeno laying in Haechan's arms, carefully nuzzling into his chest. The sight warmed his heart, to see his baby so comfortable and content. Then he remembered what he heard Jeno say earlier.

Haechan looked up at him with a calm yet worried gaze.

"He called me his mother.." Haechan murmured to Jaemin, keeping his voice down so that he didn't wake up Jeno who was sleeping peacefully in his lap. Jaemin smiled gently and walked over, sitting on the couch beside Haechan. Jaemin smiled down lovingly at the sleeping Jeno, reaching out and carefully moving a bit of the olders hair from in front of his eyes.

"He can sleep for a while.. Let me know when he wakes up." Jaemin said softly, running a hand through the boy's fluffy hair. Jeno instinctively smiled and leaned into the touch.

"Jaem.." Jeno muttered. It was then that Haechan realized something crucial:

Jaemin was Jeno's anchor.

His call back to reality.

When Jeno had Jaemin around, he could remember where he was, who he was, and more importantly who the people around him were. It was like Jaemin had all of his memories safely in his hold, and he would give them to Jeno whenever he needed them.

In a way it was sweet, but it also worried Haechan.

That meant that if ever they had to separate, they may lose Jeno to his little space forever.

Jaemin stood up and looked at Chenle and Renjun who were both standing, watching his every move. A smile had made its way onto Chenle's face as he watched the two boys interacting.

"Let's go to my room," Renjun whispered. "We have a computer in there." Jaemin and Chenle nodded before they all began to head upstairs, leaving Haechan and Jeno to cuddle on the couch.

"I was hoping Jeno could be with you so we could get his opinion but, it doesn't look like that's an option," Chenle said with a smile as he sat down in front of the computer as if it was his own. "Now, let's see what we can do and how fast we can get you into the apartment."

After a lot of searching on various sites, they finally found an apartment that they liked.

It had two bedrooms in case they needed a place for Jeno to be alone and just enough space for the two of them, three if they needed it.

(AN: Hey Hey the reason this chapter took 20 years was cuz I actually designed them an apartment so expect those pictures periodically throughout 

Like, here's the floor plan I made. 👌👌

Okay sorry continue)

"Do you think Jeno will like it..?" Jaemin asked carefully as he looked at the images for the house. Chenle smiled, nodding his head.

"He'll love it. How about you two go back to the living room and hang out with Hyuck and Jen. We can all go get something to eat later but I'm gonna call and see when you can move in." Chenle smiled at them as he spoke, all signs of anger from earlier had dissipated as they had scrolled through the various apartments. Jaemin smiled gently and nodded before following Renjun out of the room and into the hallway.

Once they were out of sight of the room, Renjun suddenly grabbed Jaemin's hand and brought him to the guest room, shutting the door behind them. Jaemin looked with wide-eyed bewilderment. What was it this time?

He began to feel his nerves getting the best of him as he sat there on the guest bed, watching Renjun shut the door and sigh before turning to him.

"Jaemin.." The younger looked up with wide eyes at Renjun who looked at him with a look of almost sadness. He was clearly bothered by something. What was it?

"Yeah?"

"I... Remember that one time in the library?" Jaemin gulped at the thought. Of course he could remember. How could he forget when he secretly had wished to feel those soft lips again.. He knew it was wrong to want it. He knew he wanted Jeno's kisses more, he really did. But, something about the kiss with Renjun at the time had felt so good.

"Oh, Y-yeah, yeah I do...." Renjun sighed and locked the door behind himself before walking over and sitting beside Jaemin.

"I... I wanted to do it again." Renjun confessed, earning a surprised look from Jaemin. He heald up his finger to stop Jaemin from protesting. "Not because I want to ruin our relationships and not because I'm horny or some shit like that. Jaem, I need to know something for sure."

"I need to find out if I liked the kiss because I like you or just because in the moment it felt right. Because if I liked it cuz I like you then I want the chance to strengthen my relationship with Hyuck. But if I just liked it in the moment then I will feel a bit better." Jaemin nodded slowly as Renjun finally came to a stop, letting out a huff when he finished. He clenched his jaw and swallowed before looking at Renjun.

"So you.. You wanna kiss me?"

Renjun nodded.

"Uh.."

"It's okay if you don't want to. I understand that the first one was probably more than enough for you I just-"

"Yes." Jaemin suddenly said with his eyes shut before lowering his tone. "You can kiss me as long as you swear there are no feelings. And nothing more than kissing innocently. This is purely to make sure you really love Haechan." Renjun nodded at Jaemin's words and shifted a bit before cupping Jaemin's face and leaning in.

The kiss was just what Renjun promised, the sweet and gentle pressing of their lips against the other memorizing Jaemin.

But the whole time, his brain was only screaming one thing.

I can't wait to kiss Jeno later..

🍰

"MmHaechanie..?" Haechan smiled down at the boy as he awoke in his hold, sitting up carefully. He looked dazed, his hair a mess from repeatedly snuggling up to Haechan and his lips pouty as he searched around the living room. He reached up a hand and wiped at his eyes.

"Where's Nana hyu- mmNana?" Jeno said, stopping himself from calling the younger 'hyung' with the shake of his head. Haechan reached out to stroke Jeno's hair gently with a smile.

"Nana, Injun, and Lele are upstairs taking care of something." Jeno tilted his head at Haechan's words.

"What?" He asked as he laid himself back down and continued to play with the other boy's fingers, eventually settling on just folding them together and setting them between the two. Haechan smiled.

"Chenle's gonna buy you two an apartment." Jeno sat up, eyes widening. He made a surprised puppy noise and wore his pout to match.

"Really?" Haechan nodded.

"Yep." Jeno looked down, a distant smile making its way onto his face as he sat back again. Haechan raised a brow, still smiling. "What are you looking all excited about?" Jeno blushed a bit.

"I'm just happy we're gonna have a place to ourselves. I really love him Hyuck." It was then that the realization dawned on Haechan that Jeno must not be in his headspace anymore. It wasn't that Jeno couldn't say these things when he was little, it was just the subtle things like his movements and expressions that made Hyuck realize that he wasn't in that headspace.

"Oh?" Jeno nodded.

"I... I wanna show him that too. I want him to know that I really love him and trust him with my everything...." Jeno trailed off for a moment, his eyes fixing on the television that wasn't even on as he let his mind wander.

He wasn't gonna lie, he wanted Jaemin to know he trusted him with everything in every situation.

And his young adult mind went straight to the idea of sex.

It was nothing that they had spoken about together really. They were both teenagers who had their desires but they (mostly Jaemin) always kept them to themselves considering the circumstances of everything. But, Jeno really did trust Jaemin.

He couldn't help the giddy smile that made its way onto his red face as he imagined Jaemin treating him so gently and sweetly, whispering calming words to him like always. He knew that if he slipped during it Jaemin would treat him so kindly and carefully like a priceless porcelain doll.

He could easily imagine Jaemin putting the older first throughout all of it, satisfying his desires and his needs before his own and only going as far as Jeno desired.

He wanted so badly to show Jaemin that he truly trusted him. He would easily put his life in Jaemin's hands at this point.

"Hello? Earth to Jeno?" Haechan's voice brought him back to the present, his bright red face glowing with a small smile. "Jeez kid what were you-? You know what, I don't even wanna know." Haechan teased, earning a laugh from Jeno as he playfully slapped the younger's arm. They eventually calmed down, both laying contently on the couch.

"I really trust him Haechan." Jeno finally said after a moment of silence. Haechan looked at him and smiled warmly.

"Then tell him that." Jeno nodded at Haechan's words.

Tell him that..

He couldn't wait until they got an apartment.

🍰

"So, we're getting an apartment?" Jeno asked nonchalantly that evening as he munched on some of the french fries from their dinner. (They had Arby's and Jeno fucking loves their curly fires then again who doesn't ✊😔) Jaemin smiled from where he stood in Renhyuck's kitchen, doing the dishes from that day. There weren't that many but Jaemin figured it was something helpful for him to do since he was there. He nodded a bit.

"Yep. Chenle's getting us one." Jeno nodded as he watched Jaemin doing dishes.

"When do we move in?" Jaemin rinsed the soap off the pan and set it on the drying mat.

"Well me and Chenle are going out on Friday morning to go shopping and we should be moved in by Saturday. Until then though we'll just stay here because Renjun and Haechan are letting us." Jeno smiled.

"That's nice of them." Jaemin nodded slowly, his smile fading.

"Yeah... Nice." Jeno didn't seem to notice the change in attitude as he continued to munch the fries and clutch his stuffed dog carefully in his other hand.

I can't wait to kiss Jeno later.

Jaemin hurriedly pulled away from Renjun's lips and shook his head a bit.

"No, I'm sorry Renjun. That's all I can handle..." Jaemin said apologetically. He really did want to help Renjun learn the truth but the longer their lips stayed connected the more he remembered how Renjun had pushed against him in the library so forcefully, not giving him any space to escape. And he remembered the burning fear and guilt that had welled inside him every time he saw Jeno and Haechan for a while after that.

He wasn't going to put himself through that again.

"It's okay Jaemin I... I think I know....."

"And..?" Relief was evident in Renjun's gaze as he answered.

"I love him Jaem." Jaemin nodded happily. It was strange to him that Renjun's method of checking their relationship was to kiss his friend rather than just talking about it with Hyuck.

Then again, not everyone had the same amount of trust as Jeno and Jaemin did..

"Nana, you're wasting water." Jaemin woke from his daze to see Jeno beside him turn off the faucet and grab a napkin off the counter beside Jaemin.

"Hey, Jeno.." The older looked at Jaemin with big eyes.

"Hmm?"

"Can I.. Kiss you?"

Jeno's eyes widened a bit for a moment, taken aback a bit.

Tell him that...

Jeno smiled.

"Nana you can kiss me anytime. You don't have to ask." He said sweetly, a cute eye smile accompanying his words.

Jaemin didn't waste another moment before he leaned forward and pressed a sweet kiss to Jeno's lips. It was slow and gentle, perfect to what Jeno imagined.

But Jaemin pulled away all too soon for Jeno's liking.

He found himself trailing after Jaemin's lips as the younger began to pull away and Jaemin complied to the olders wishes, gently pulling him impossibly closer, his lips never leaving the others.

Jeno thought that this was beautiful.

The delicate and beautiful dance of love as their lips pressed against each other, separating occasionally for air before drawing back together. This dance brought explosions of feelings to both of them like supernovas in the night sky, so beautiful yet so deadly if handled wrong.

It was beautiful to Jeno how they managed to balance and maintain this careful dance.

Finally, he pulled away, leaning his forehead against Jaemin's as he let out small huffs of breath.

"Jaemin... I-" he paused. "When we move-" should he really say this now? "When we're alone... Can.."

"What is it Jeno?"

No. This wasn't the time or place. He wanted it to be perfect.

Perfect for his Jaemin.

"Can you teach me how to make strawberry cake?"

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