"jeno?"

the bunny hybrid that jeno and renjun had adopted months ago passed his head through the living room's door, searching for the korean male desperately.

"mmh?" the boy hummed, not diverting his eyes from the tv that he had been watching before jaemin arrived.

"you left without me..." the hybrid said, and jeno could hear him pouting, causing him to want to pinch his cheeks and coo out loud. but instead, he stayed static, not moving an inch.

"yeah, i had some kind of... disagreement with your friends... and i just left."

"oh..." jaemin let out, his tone considerably saddened. he ha dimagined that jeno and his friends would click well, they were all so sweet and open-minded... but it seemed like it hadn't been the case seeing as jeno had left early and as he looked so mad.

jaemin didn't have many friends. it was only his hybrid friends, their boyfriends and him. and recently he had started to count jeno and renjun among them, believing that they wouldn't have any trouble fitting within his inner circle. but how saddening was it to realise that you had no more than eight friends and that they didn't like each other...

and so, slightly hurt by what he came to realise, the hybrid walked away from the living room, heading on his own towards jeno and renjun's bedroom where he'd be able to cry his pain away.

actually, jeno wasn't spitting complete bullshit when he said that. him and jaemin's three human friends had truly argued for a while.

the second jeno had explained what he planned to do – meaning distancing himself from both his boyfriend and jaemin so that they lost whatever feelings they had for him – taeyong, donghyuck and sicheng had assured that it was an awful idea. they claimed that it wouldn't work, that feelings like those didn't wash away in a day, that jeno himself will end up hurt...

but what if he ended up hurt?

he deserved to be hurt seeing how awful of a boyfriend he was to think about other men while having a loving boyfriend.

and anyway, as long as the two boys he had developed feelings for were fine, it was okay.

nothing else mattered.

⊗

for the nth time that day, jeno switched his phone on, checking the date.

february 14th. that day was valentine's day, right? the day when couples were celebrated, the day you spent with your significant other being all lovey-dovey and romantic.

how could jeno forget about that day? two years prior, renjun had offered him the best thing jeno had ever been gifted: a full day of love and passion.

the korean male recalled how his boyfriend had first brought him a wonderful breakfast in bed before claiming that they should go out for the day.

jeno was so surprised but touched when renjun brought him to the gym and trained with him for a while. he was aware that the chinese male absolutely hated these kinds of places, and he really appreciated how he had set his hatred aside to please his boyfriend.

after a nice shower, the two boys had then stopped by the mall where they chose outfits for each other and purchased them.

next, jeno and renjun had visited a spa where renjun had booked for a couple massage so that they two of them could relax and enjoy this special day.

and to end the night in beauty, after stopping by a small Italian restaurant that they loved to eat at, the two lovebirds had spent the night together, wrapped in each other's loving embrace and moaning each other's names.

oh god, how could jeno forget this oh-so-perfect day?

right, he couldn't, and it was precisely images of this exact day that kept flashing through his mind as he desperately tried to sleep the night before.

why was he so agitated? simple. he judged that if he wanted renjun to break up with him, he would need the worst boyfriend ever. and this was exactly what he had in mind when he decided he wouldn't buy his boyfriend anything for valentine's day. but now, guilt was eating him so hard that he couldn't find sleep.

he was a bit scared of the reaction renjun could have. jeno was aware that he needed renjun to break up with him, but it pained him so much to imagine what the chinese male could think about him after realising that he didn't buy him a gift for this special day.

on the one hand, jeno was trying his best to appear like the worst boyfriend ever against his will; but on the other hand, his heart screamed at him to be selfish and abort this stupid mission and love renjun forever. and boy, was he conflicted between those two choices...

but he didn't have much choice anymore. valentine's day was in a few minutes only and he didn't have anything for his boyfriend.

however, there was one little thing which made him feel a tiny bit better in this whole situation – just a tiny tiny bit, though.

usually, the weeks before valentine's day, renjun would be all excited and happy as he always had the most amazing ideas of presents and dates for the d-day. unconsciously, the boy became more excited at the sole thought of having prepared the best surprise for his boyfriend. but jeno hadn't noticed any change in the boy's behaviour that year.

could that mean that renjun had forgotten about valentine's day? he had no idea...

and so, after hours of overthinking and remorse, jeno's eyes fluttered close and sleep took over his body as his sanity held simply to the hypothesis that renjun wouldn't react badly the next day because he'll have simply forgotten what day it really was...

⊗

"e-everthing alright? you look sad..."

"my boyfriend forgot about valentine's day."

jaemin's eyes widened slightly as these words left renjun's mouth so calmly.

valentine's day was actually three or four days before, but renjun and jaemin hadn't met ever since.

the hybrid felt worse and worse these days. and he couldn't understand what was happening around him.

at home, jeno was being more and more distant, both with him and with renjun. the human didn't come back home early to spend the afternoon with jaemin anymore. instead, he stayed out late, and even sometimes arrived home later than renjun. and when he was home, he barely talked with renjun and barely showed affection anymore. the atmosphere around the house had gotten way colder increasing considerably the tension.

as for renjun, the chinese male didn't seem to be bothered by what was happening either as he didn't try to initiate any kind of skin ship with jeno despite both of them sleeping in the same bed. hell, it had been so long since jaemin even heard the two of them making love...

but the weirdest part of this all had to be their acts towards nana. jeno who used to be always glued to the rabbit and very protective or cuddly with him barely approached the animal anymore. but on the contrary, renjun who used to be almost rued and mean to the animal was now acting like he cared about him.

jaemin had mixed thought about this whole situation which pained him considerably.

he couldn't understand what had happened from one day to the other for the two boyfriends' behaviours to change like that.

anyway, his feelings were having a hard time as his heart shattered more every single time he witnessed the two boyfriends acting like complete strangers. they used to be so perfect, so romantic, so couple-goal...

"o-oh..." he let out, feigning surprise. he was well aware about this, he was present in the house the whole day. "i-i'm so sorry to hear about that..."

"it's fine though." renjun replied simply, his tone still flat. "i didn't remind him."

"huh?" jaemin raised a brow, not understanding what renjun meant.

"i didn't give him a gift or anything either." the chinese male explained. "it was just like any other day..."

as much as he tried not to be affected by it, jaemin couldn't help but get hurt by the saddened look in renjun's eyes. he could see that renjun tried not to show it, but he was truly pained by this all act that he had set in place.

"i-i'm sorry..."

"you're not at fault, don't worry." renjun shrugged it off. 

jaemin bit his lip, guilt brining inside of him as he kept the painful truth locked in his heart.

as much as he tried to push these thoughts away, he kept wondering if he could do something about this whole situation. if he could make renjun and jeno stop acting like they hadn't spent years of pure bliss being lovesick for each other.

he wondered if he should act. after all, he knew that renjun had developed feelings for him, and as flattering as these feelings were, he knew that they were the starting point of this whole mess – well at least from renjun's side, he still had no idea what had happened to jeno.

and so, he kept asking himself if he should speak out and tell the painful but real truth which would hopefully arrange things between all of them.

because yes, at first jaemin had chosen to be selfish and say nothing to enjoy the fluttery feeling caused by having a crush on two people. but now that things were going downhill, he was starting to suffer from this as well, and he doubted that saying the truth now would make things much better...

⊗

renjun smiled brighty at the fluttery feeling that took over his insides when he noticed the tall boy he had grown to like so much sitting on his own on a bench. the surprise of meeting him when they hadn't planned an outing made everything even better, and so, the chinese male who wasn't particularily having the best day became immediately happy and giddy.

"guess who?" renjun sneaked behind the male, placing his hands over his eyes and causing him to let out a surprised yelp. however, before the male could give a name, renjun had pulled his hands away and placed them on his shoulders to turn him around. "wait- are you crying?"

his eyes widened and his soft heart shattered at the sight of the boy's eyes, glossy and red from crying.

"oh my god, jaemin, why are you crying?"

renjun immediately walked around the bench, coming to sit right next to jaemin and wrapping his arms around the taller male in an attempt to comfort him.

this action seemed to have a reverse effect as jaemin started sobbing, nuzzling his face against renjun's neck while letting his body lean against renjun's slim frame.

"shh, it's okay... everything will be alright..."

jaemin drank renjun's sweet words, letting himself drown in them until his heart didn't hurt that much anymore, and until he was convinced that – as renjun claimed – everything would be alright.

he had no idea how long he had been crying over renjun's shoulder – at first sobbing loudly, and then simply whimpering and sniffling – but he had to admit that he would gladly stay in this position forever. he felt so safe, so protected by renjun's embrace... it was as if he was meant to be there.

"what made you so sad, jaemin...?"

"i-it's just that..." the hybrid paused for a second to sniffle. "...someone close to me has been distancing themselves from me lately..."

"really?" renjun raised a confused brow, legitimately not understanding why someone would want less of jaemin in their lives. "why would they distance themselves?"

another sniffle from jaemin. "i-i... i don't know..." he answered truthfully as more tears welled up in his eyes at the sole thought of jeno becoming more and more distant with him.

he couldn't recall what had happened.

one day, jeno was perfectly fine, staying close to him and being overprotective in a way that made jaemin's heart flutter. and the next, jeno started changing, leaving him alone and ignoring him, causing the poor boy's heart to break a bit more every day. and this, without a single explanation...

seeing how silent tears were starting to cascade down jaemin's cheeks again, renjun sighed, feeling his own heart clenching in his chest. who was the asshole that dared hurting jaemin this bad? renjun swears that if he came to find himself face to face with him, he wasn't sure he'll manage to get a hold of himself and not lunge at him.

and so, the chinese male cupped jaemin's with one of his hands, keeping the other around the boy's waist to pull him close. with a delicate move of his thumb, renjun brushed away the salty drop that left jaemin's eye causing the hybrid's chocolate orbs to look at renjun.

"you shouldn't cry over someone like that. they do not deserve you." renjun whispered, a comforting smile appearing on his face as he let his heart speak. "if they cannot realise how precious you are, then they are blind and stupid, and they definitely do not need you to cry over them."

jaemin's cries intensified again. renjun couldn't understand the situation. he couldn't understand that he was talking about his own boyfriend when saying those words. but jaemin couldn't tell him the truth. not now, at least. "b-but..."

"there is no 'buts', jaemin." renjun assured. "you deserve the world, and this person is completely brainless not to notice that." he continued, his hands sliding onto jaemin's body until they reached for the boy's hands which were placed on his lap.

renjun gulped, weighing the importance of his next words as he took jaemin's larger hands in his palms, warming them up and protecting them.

"they may not notice it, but i do, jaemin." he voiced out. "and i promise that i will do everything to make you feel like the precious jewel that you are."