Jeno was on what seemed like a sugar high. He felt like running twenty laps around the court and then some, he felt vibrant, with energy rolling off him in waves, even though he should have been exhausted. He'd had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop the continuous jitters. Most of his teammates looked like they wanted to take a nap, though grins adorned their faces like Christmas decorations.

Jeno had just played his first basketball match against an actual school in years. Against a previously dreaded school. When they had arrived at Cube, they had been exposed to a stagnant atmosphere — they'd just been a joke on the strings of their previous defeat, here to lose again. Apparently, last time they'd had a match with Cube, things just hadn't gone well for them. 

"But now," barked the coach, a notepad squeezed between his clenched fingers, "Now, we have a  fast-as-hell player, Moon, and a new center they'll never see coming." He'd grinned sharply at Jeno. "They'll never see any of us coming this time."

He'd been right. They were seriously underestimated this time around. And they had won.

Of course, it was only a single victory and Jeno shouldn't have been this elated, but he was. He couldn't help but feel like it meant more — he'd been scared that maybe he'd only be good in practice, that he'd freeze up and cost them everything. But they'd won, they'd won, they'd won...

The only person as hyper as him was Kevin, who was ranting about whatever to Sunwoo and Younghoon. Juyeon and Eric had just thrown all their fucks out the window and were holding hands, swinging their arms carelessly. Jeno had been forced to dig his fingers into his palm to attempt to stifle his urge to kick something out of second-hand softness when they had begun doing that. They were both annoying as all fuck, but they were also cute. 

Jaemin jogged up next to him, and Jeno couldn't help but shoot him a happy smile, obscuring half his own vision in the process. 

"So, that went well," Jaemin grinned back. 

"We really butchered their sorry asses," replied Jeno, unable to control himself. "You should have seen  number two's face when I got the ball over his head, he was shaking in his sneakers."

Jaemin nearly snorted, but nodded impressively all the same. "Oh yeah, you mean Jung Wooseok? I remember him from the last time we played Cube. He's actually okay, but he's literally ready to sever limbs when he plays."

"Oh? The team in general seemed pretty good, but they were rusty, it was easy, to be honest," Jeno commented generously, and Jaemin agreed. 

"They were really good when we first played them, but they really slacked off this time. But," Jaemin poked Jeno's side and he laughed, "some of the credit goes to our new team members, who played extremely well."

Jeno's cheeks tinged rosy at the compliment, "Thank you, you played great as well." 

And Jeno meant it — when Renjun had dragged him to one or two basketball matches last year, he'd always made a point to not let his eyes venture near Jaemin's darting body. But he never missed the springy jumps, like he was on a trampoline, the enthusiasm, the way he played like he was the strongest link in a chain. He held the team together and held their weaknesses together at the seams. It was even clearer now — and Jeno had the feeling he would be taking over as captain when Jaehyun graduated. 

Just then, Eric came bounding over, Juyeon being dragged behind in his wake. Jaemin shot Juyeon a smirk and linked his own hands in front of him, mouthing something crude. Juyeon just shrugged, as if to say what can I do about it? Jeno snorted, then paid some attention to what Eric was saying. 

Eric held his hands out to stop the rest of the team walking past him. "Guys! I have decided that we are having a party because we're so legendary and cliché." 

Jaemin paused and pretended to be shocked, while Jeno looked at the other boy in confusion. "We — what?"

"Well, to celebrate our victory with our newest members, I have decided to go through the trouble of hosting a little get together at my house, just for you guys!" He placed his fingers on his chest and turned his chin up pompously. 

Juyeon snorted, "He wants to show off the new paint job his parents just got done on their house."

Eric slapped his arm and hissed, "Not cool, dumbass!" 

Juyeon shook his head solemnly, before uttering, "Bros before hoes." 

Eric looked scandalised. "I'm both, though!" 

Juyeon's mouth moved soundlessly, fish-like. "Did you just bro-zone me?"

While the two bickered lovingly in the background, Jeno turned to Jaemin, seeing that he wasn't the least bit surprised at the proposition. "So, these... parties are normal?" He tried to mask the apprehension in his voice.

"Kind of," admitted Jaemin sheepishly, "I mean, we had a little party with just the team when Chan joined and he had his first game with us and we've had about seven for no reason. It's almost always Eric who hosts them. Also, when you've known him long enough, nothing really surprises you anymore." He ended with a little laugh that lent a smile to Jeno's face.

"Boo!" 

Jeno jumped slightly and Jaemin looked back over his shoulder, unimpressed to see Sanha grinning innocently. "It wasn't me."

"Fuck off, Sanha," Jaemin smiled faux-sweetly and Sanha made a face at him. Jeno nodded at Jaemin appreciatively, and Hyunjin snorted from where he was walking near them. They then reached the area where the bus had been parked and piled into it.  Sanha fell back to sit by Hyunjin and Lee Chan, who he had apparently been talking to just before he had decided to jump Jeno. 

Jeno and Jaemin fell into their seats and watched as the rest of the team traipsed over, collapsing into the bus and immediately chatting. Yukhei had his normal glasses back on his face — usually he took them off and replaced them with contacts during games, which Jeno didn't get. He just kept his on.  Eric turned around from where he was sitting near the front of the bus and cleared his throat a couple of times to get everyone's attention, though everyone could hear Mark and Jaehyun snoring. 

"We're having a party at my house, just the team. You know, to welcome our newest members to the team and congratulate them on literally carrying the team." Eric pulled up Kevin by the collar of his shirt and shook him slightly. Kevin huffed, then fell back into his seat still grinning. Eric tapped his chin, squinting at the floor. "How about on Friday at say, 8? My parents are running off to some villa for the entire weekend so it's kinda ideal. They were supposed to leave me with my older brother Hyunjae, but he's going to be off on a road trip with his friends. Not that he would stop us from doing anything. He might even have joined us."

The rest called out that they were free, then settled back into tired chatter or silence. Jeno was not sure about this at all. He had never really been to an actual party with people his age, and even though it would only comprise of a few people he knew, he had no idea how these things worked. After thinking for a second, he leaned forward tentatively and tapped Eric on the shoulder. "What will we be doing?"

"Hm, I don't know," Eric tapped his chin, "Probably just some dumb shit — What did we do last time?"

Chan put up his hand, "We tried to make lasagna and Yukhei nearly died. Also, Juyeon nearly broke the fridge because 'do it for the vine'. We watched some Peppa Pig because Jaehyun was high and feeling nostalgic."

"Oh yeah! No fucking weed this time. Jeno's a baby," Jaemin said sharply, perfectly seriously, pointing a thumb at Jeno. He was turning red from not laughing.

"I'm not a baby!" protested Jeno, brow furrowed. "I'm older than you!" 

Jaemin bit his lip, probably not to laugh, and nodded, frowning mock-seriously, "Sure, babe."

Jeno felt his ears turn red and cupped his hands over them while Eric and Juyeon laughed at them in the background. He needed Jaemin to stop saying things like that — he'd break his circulatory system. Apparently that was just how Jaemin spoke, flirting subtly or even overtly at everything that moved. Everyone seemed to be much more immune to it than Jeno. It was so unfair — How would Renjun ever get over this guy?

≠

Jaemin would never get over this guy. Every time their shoulder pressed together on the bus, every time their knuckles brushed up against each other's when they were walking, Jaemin knew his nerves suffered an override. His face threatened to flush every time Jeno laughed at one of his jokes. He was even scared to talk to Jeno, because for the first time in a while he was worried of someone judging him. His carefree nature was overridden by Jeno's existence. 

Jeno was dozing off next to him, his glasses finally slipping down his nose. Jaemin bit the inside of his cheek. Even after a whole match, playing fucking center, Jeno was still large as life, still exuberant, like white fire burned away under his skin. 

Jaemin was delirious. 

He poked the guy's arm apprehensively to make sure he was asleep, then quickly pushed his glasses up his nose. When Jeno stayed asleep, he sighed, but another voice pierced his calm.

"What you doing there, pal?" Hyunjin was suddenly right behind him, leaning his chin on top of the seat. Jaemin's mouth opened in shock. Uh oh. He didn't just see that. 

"I nearly died, Hyunjin. Don't do that," Jaemin glared at the boy pointlessly, trying to remove the subject from his mind. Jaemin didn't need Hwang Hyunjin on his case right now. He was the gayest straight boy Jaemin had ever met. 

"I thought you'd been acting weird lately!" laughed Hyunjin. "So Jeno?" 

Jaemin shook his head vehemantly. "Nope, you fucking idiot. Don't go there. That's just weird and super strange and nope. Could never be me. Or Jeno." He said all this far more nonchalantly then the words suggested he was. He completed the act by closing his eyes and pretending to go to sleep. But Hyunjin just smacked his head. 

Hyunjin raised his eyebrows. "It's over and done, bro. I'm not gonna believe that. You're dumb if you think I'm that dumb." 

"The fuck's that supposed to mean?"

Hyunjin rolled his eyes, then turned his head to face the rest of his teammates, scattered up and down the bus. "Fellas, is it gay if you push your bro's glasses up his nose while he's sleeping?"

"Fucking totally," was the modal reply. Hyunjin flinched upon Jaemin's immediate smack attack. 

"You're a fucking dick! There's nothing going on here." huffed Jaemin, fighting the sudden urge to start wearing a helmet so he didn't have to worry about fighting down blushes all the damn time. "Look, I just hate it when people's glasses look like they're about to fall off, alright? They might break or something! Imagine, Hyunjin, imagine being, like, blind, and you wake up and your glasses are broken on the floor!" 

Hyunjin visibly considered this, but his eyes remained narrowed as he slid back down into his seat. "I'm onto you, Na Jaemin."

Jaemin pulled his hands down his face, cursing his fucking impulsiveness. He couldn't go one day without someone on this team saying some out of pocket shit that was completely true. And now Hyunjin, who consumed so much drama that he shat glitter,  was 'onto him'. Fuck.

"Jaemin?" Jaemin stopped himself from shooting up out of his seat and yelling out of stress. Instead, he just accepted the onslaught of emotions brought about by Jeno's sleepy voice and turned to look at him slowly like a normal person. 

"Yeah?" 

"You're coming to the party, right?" Jeno looked adorably nervous. 

"I'm sure I'll be allowed to come — My brother's the only person at home right now, so..." Jeno nodded and seemed to relax slightly, but then he rushed to add, 

"Will there be any weed there? I know you asked them not to — and I'm not a baby..."

Jaemin decided to mess with him a bit. "Not unless you want there to be," he said, winking naturally at Jeno and laughing to himself when he saw Jeno somehow pale and flush at the same time. 

"No! My mom would — no —" Jeno took a deep breath while Jaemin willed himself not to coo. "Not until I'm legal," he stated firmly, and Jaemin pretended to frown, shaking his head in mock disappointment.

"So boring."

Jeno smiled sheepishly and Jaemin shook his head, laughing. "I'm just kidding. None of us actually smoked the weed other than Jaehyun, and no one can account for him. So, no weed. And if there is, he won't ask you to smoke any. Eric might give us grape juice, if you're okay with being drunk," he added teasingly.

Jeno shook his head, chuckling slightly, "I just don't wanna end up doing something stupid if I'm not thinking straight. It  would probably be really bad since I'm always doing dumb stuff anyways."

Jaemin laughed, wishing Jeno could be more carefree. What could possibly happen, anyway? It's just a dumb party.

***

a lotta stuff jaemin