"Hey, Jaem, what's your favourite number?" 

"Huh?" 

Jaemin looked up to see Jeno grinning at him from where he was leaning against the locker doors, eyes crinkled around the edges like he had a joke to tell. Jaemin pressed his lips together, wondering whether Sanha had pulled Jeno into some prank. 

"Why do you ask?" 

"No reason. What is it?" 

Jeno was being very fucking cryptic, right now. Monday morning was not the time to be fucking around in the hallways and confusing your friends, but here we were. Jaemin was already feeling iffy from the proceedings of the previous night. After he'd told Renjun to go and meet Jeno, he'd walked home in a daze, the feeling of Renjun's flushed skin beneath his fingers and against his lips ingrained in his brain. Kissing him was probably the only thing that had gotten Jaemin through the night.  

He'd gone home and taken a long bath, eyes closed, like he could cleanse himself of everything that had happened, like he could sink beneath the water and come back up completely free of worry. There had been no hurried, grieving texts or calls from either Renjun or Jeno. So he could only assume it had gone well. 

But here Jeno was, without having told Jaemin anything of the fruits of his efforts, unfairly using an eye smile to disarm and soften the boy. 

"Well, probably thirteen, since I was born on that day in August," surmised Jaemin suspiciously, closing his locker. 

Jeno nodded, looking thoughtful. "Well, mine's three. Wanna know why?" 

Jaemin was now very confused, but he played along. "Perhaps?"

"Because, one plus one plus one." 

Jaemin broke his facade, reduced to a laughing mess right there in the hallway. Jeno's earnest grin was killing him. "You're really fucking around now —" he broke off into more laughter. It was either giggles or tears of confusion. 

Jeno shook him slightly, though he was laughing as well — "It's true, though!" 

"Whatever you say, Jeno. Sure — three's a pretty neat number." 

=

Next, Renjun tapped him on the shoulder in music class, a pen tucked artfully behind his ear. "Hey — psst, Jaemin!"

Jaemin turned around embarrassingly quickly, the teacher far too laidback to even care about the fact they were talking. "Yeah? What's up?" Maybe you can tell me the verdict of Jeno's confession? Please?

"You play the piano, yes?"

"Right, but not well," jested Jaemin, foreseeing the poke he got in the shoulder. 

"Shut up, you were second in the whole class. Anyway, what's your favourite kind of chord on it?"

"Huh?"

"Your favourite kind of chord! You know," Renjun placed his hands on his copy like it was a grand piano, putting down a couple of fingers, elegantly tapping out a few notes and chords of absolutely nothing. "When you press the keys at the same time. What's your favourite kind?" 

Jaemin was lost again. But, going out on a limb... "Um, a triad?" 

Renjun snapped his fingers. "Correct! I love triads." 

Jaemin blinked. "It's just three notes stacked on top of one another." 

"I know!" 

Jaemin laughed so hard under breath, he got hiccups. What was with his crushes and this fucking number?

=

Jeno passed Jaemin the ball, wiping his glistening brow with the back of his hand. Jaemin stopped to watch for a second, and Jeno paused suddenly and grinned. "Hey, Jaem, know how many hearts an octopus has?"

"Fuck, wait, hold on, I know this one Jeno — four? One for every two limbs or something?" 

"No, dumbass. Three!"

"I really should have known."

=

"Jaemiiin," sang Renjun, tapping his pencil against his treated wooden desk, having abandoned his maths homework. They were at Renjun's house, and surprisingly, it was Jaemin's first time visiting. This was also the first time the three of them had been alone in an enclosed space for more than ten minutes since Jeno had met with Renjun at Timeless Cafe. Jaemin still didn't have an answer — when he'd asked Jeno about it, he'd changed the subject. Jaemin wouldn't loserish-ly pursue it. 

"Jaemin," repeated Renjun, dropping his pencil and swivelling around on the chair, his eyes searching out Jaemin's own. 

"Yes, Injun?" Jaemin looked up from his book and cupped his chin with his palm, mocking captivation. 

 "I'm bored, do you wanna watch a movie?" 

"Why are you just asking me? What about Jeno?" 

Renjun laughed. "I know he wants to watch a movie. He's been playing on his phone for the past five minutes." 

Jeno hissed in defeat and turned around, revealing his phone from where he's been hunched over it, pretending he was doing work. "I finished maths! I'll do the rest when I go home!" 

"No, you won't, glasses."

"Snaggletooth!"

"I don't even have one anymore."

See, now, that was what was bothering Jaemin. They'd been acting completely normally. They had their usual banter going on, they still hung out with Jaemin all the time — It was like Jeno had never confessed. It was like none of it had ever happened. Jaemin went hot and cold simultaneously at the idea, like any hope would give him a fever. They continued arguing in the background, Jaemin engrossed in his own ideas, until Jeno poked his shoulder. Renjun was trying to ask him something. 

"What movie do you wanna watch?" 

"I'll go for some Avengers right now, to be honest." 

"Cool, it's been ages since I've last seen one." Renjun's face brightened with an idea. "Hey, you know which Avenger movie's the best?" 

Jaemin scrunched up his face, trying to remember the order. The original, Age of Ultron, then... 

"Infinity War. Since it's the third one, right?" 

"Right!" clapped, Renjun, extremely happy with himself. Jeno was grinning too — no surprise. Jaemin forced down his bemused smile but was unable to ward away his blush, so he just settled on looking down and shaking his head. "What is with you guys and that number? Is it a joke?" 

"It is not a joke," replied Jeno, his face stoic, far too seriously. "Let's go watch the best Avengers movie." 

Renjun stopped Jaemin when they were about to leave the room, leaning in an inch, speaking quickly, like it was a secret: "You'll know why we like that number soon, Jaemin. Soon!"

Jaemin turned crimson, his breathing got a little shallower, so he ran his hands down his face like he was stressed, which he was. "Yeah, I hope so. I'm getting more confused by the day." 

Jaemin reacted like this every time either Renjun or Jeno came near his face. He must have been on some new type of drug when he'd kissed either of them. Jaemin wasn't exactly a prude — he flirted with everyone, and hugged everyone else. He'd been at least three guys' first kisses. If these two fucking dorks could reduce him to a puddle of heartbeats and blushes by just looking at him, he thought, watching them fight over a fluffy blanket, then if they kissed him, Jaemin would be a goner. 

=

Jaemin bounced on his heels, getting his last few books out of his locker and dumping them in his bag, before heading off out into the tennis court for lunch. This was where he, Renjun and Jeno met up every day, to talk and to eat. Forgetting everything he'd done to try and cut himself off from whatever was happening between them, it was nice to have these little things to himself. Today was Friday, which marked a whole five days from the enigma that was Jeno's confession. But for the first time, Jaemin hadn't thought about that today. He'd had other things on his mind. 

"Nearly spring break, huh?" piped Jeno, landing on the astroturf with a huff, his school-bought sandwich in a crinkling brown paper bag. Jaemin had no idea how he got that shit down — no matter what flavour the cafeteria sold, it always tasted like processed prawn purée. 

"I've got so much shit planned," replied Jaemin, falling backwards on the sun-warmed ground, fake grass poking his neck, his eyes turned to the sky. "The weather's been so good this year — the last week of the break, my mum's gonna come back from her business trip and bring me and Dongmin to this cabin by the sea. It's not actually that far from where we went with the team, Jeno." 

Renjun poked his arm tentatively. "But you'll hang out with us beforehand, right? On the first week  of the break?" 

Jaemin flushed, and he threw a hand over his face. "Of course I will, you dumbass. I'd die if I didn't," he said, voice muffled. It was hard to sound sarcastic when you actually meant it. 

Renjun laughed, and Jaemin saw his face darken a shade. The hand laid over his shoulder warmed, and suddenly, Jaemin felt a prick of confused anger threaten his balloon of happiness. 

He sat up, brow furrowed, putting his bagel aside for a second. What... what were these two doing? What were they even fucking up to? Somehow, they'd managed to merge strange behaviour and normal behaviour into one way of acting. Jaemin knew something big had happened Sunday night. He knew that sometimes, they had to notice him looking their way for a bit too long. Jaemin knew that they knew he saw them staring back. Jeno always watched him when he was drinking water after basketball — and Renjun had always flushed a little more easily than he did with other people when he was talking to Jaemin — he always had. 

"Jaemin?" Jeno leaned in slightly, breaking Jaemin's thought process with his big, questioning eyes. Jaemin imagined ripping the glasses off his face, leaning in, feeling his lips one more time —

But instead of leaning forward, he had to lean back. Despite all the signs he was given, that he gave back sometimes, willingly — they wouldn't make a move. Jaemin wouldn't make a move. No one was making any moves, like their relationship was in a stalemate — like they were waiting for something, waiting for Jaemin himself to do something. 

"But what the fuck do you want me to do?" He suddenly said, sitting up quickly and shocking Jeno into tipping backwards onto his back. His grapes splayed across the ground, rolling away unseen. 

"Huh?" He said, straightening his glasses, sitting up with some difficulty. But Renjun seemed to understand. 

"What do we want you to do?" 

"You — you fucking —" Did Jaemin want to cross this line?  

Fuck it.

"You two send me all these mixed signals as if you know how I feel but at the same time don't know, or don't want to acknowledge it. And you never told me what happened on Sunday, Jeno," his voice wavered, almost breaking because he was so breathless, as he pointed at the culprit. "You never told me what happened, even though I asked you. You should have! You asked me to help, you know I cared about what happened, and then after that, you two acted as if nothing had changed! I'm just so confused... because you're not telling me anything, like I'm not involved fully in your lives. You need to tell me whether I am! Because I'm... I'm not sure, anymore. I never was," he trailed off, getting quieter and quieter, until he was whispering the last word. The silence that settled over them felt like they'd tossed a heavy blanket over themselves on a blistering summer night.

Jaemin stared at his knees. He'd done it now. 

"Jaemin," said Jeno. "Hey, look up. You're definitely a part of my life. A big part. You have been for a while. You're involved... in my and Renjun's friendship too, I think. From what I know." 

"You are," agreed Renjun, nodding slightly. "Don't go thinking that you aren't." He crawled forward slightly so that he was all but half a foot away from Jaemin. "Why did you think that you weren't in the first place?" 

Jaemin chuckled, though it came out a bit dry. He couldn't ignore the relief pooling in his chest, the bonds holding cargo to his back snapping, the weight falling off him. But there was still something left for them to tell him. 

"You guys are like fucking mystery boxes," he said decidedly, closing his eyes with a shakily exhaled breath when Jeno's fingers touched his own on the ground. "What happened on Sunday?" 

"First, tell me this, Jaemin. What's the best number?"

"Don't — you're shitting me. This? Now?" 

"Answer it," he replied lightly. Jaemin could hear the smile in his voice. 

"Three," replied Jaemin simply, just humouring them now. 

Renjun took Jaemin's other hand in his, the taller boy's eyes opening in surprise. "And you know that three is the best number, in every situation?" 

"Yes, yes," replied Jaemin, fighting to keep his voice steady. They were both holding his hands now, and he was fighting to keep his thoughts together. "You've made that clear... enough..." 

His heart sped up in his chest. His mind whirled. His mouth fell open. 

Jeno laughed, catching Jaemin's expression. "I think he got it!" 

"Shut... shut the fuck up." Jaemin hiccuped a laugh through the utter chaos that were his thoughts and his feelings right then. "Do you mean to tell me... that you spent all week conditioning me to answer to that question instead of..." 

Renjun looked like he was going to burst out laughing. "Yes. We did that instead of just asking you." 

Jaemin blinked. Everyone else had gone back to the school building for class. The three of them were going to be late. He didn't care. He put his hands to both of their chests and pushed them to lay flat on their backs on the ground. He lowered himself to squint at them like the stupidity of the current situation had rendered him short-sighted. 

"Well, yes, I'll fucking date you," he managed to get through his hysteria. His chest was burning — only they could think of something so stupid and yet so fucking romantic. They seemed to know this too, holding hands and laughing, eyes shut in glee, giddy off what must have been relief. 

Without further ado, Jaemin leaned down and peppered kisses on both of their faces, first Renjun, then Jeno, then both in tandem. They lay there shaking with laughter for two whole minutes until their resilience broke and they attacked him right back. The three of them fell around in the grass, laughing, lunch forgotten, stealing kisses wherever they could — faces, necks and chests burning where someone's lips or hands touched them. 

You couldn't get this with just two people. 

They were right, Jaemin thought, as he lay panting on the ground, twenty minutes late to class, the hands of his boyfriends held in his own. 

Three is the perfect number. 

***

this book has been a pain in the ass for two years. but here we have it. the final fucking chapter. at long last. 

thank you for reading. we're finally done here.