#ch. start

[jaerk]

fall from grace

                                                                                         ━      ♘  ┊  @rklnaeun​​      、

he was really minding his own business. 

just hanging out at the patio of his local convenience store to kill some time. if anything, he was really staring out into space. procrastinating on his communications notes he should be reviewing for the exam in a couple of days. he was going to get to it but as always, his excuse of ‘ i need some air ‘ always held a higher precedence over anything. he was tired  --  ‘ i need some air ’  --  he needed time away  --  ‘ i need some air ’ ; it was the best excuse he could pull to get him out of anything, even his own mind, it seemed.

he wafts through the daze, staring out into the street as he snacks on the chips he had bought earlier ; dusting his hands off to rid it of the leftover crumbs. he watches from the side as the upstairs tenant drops water off the side  --  they were probably watering their plants on their balcony again. he shrugs, moving his gaze from the stream of water to crowd of people that passed, watching as each of them skillfully avoided the sprinkle of water. 

all except one.

“hey miss!” he says, raising his voice at the slightest to warn her  --  eyebrows furrowing as it becomes apparent that she had not heard him.

he groans, “yah! you’re going to get --” jaemin can feel his agitation rise at the obliviousnes of the girl before he finally standing, feeling his reflexes burn at how fast his arms and legs moved to reach her in time; pulling her back, effectively crashing her into him as he turns them just as the water hits his back and he’s drowned in cold water. “wet.”

it’s a second, eyes going from the sky where the tenant had finally realized their plant water had run off to the person he had apparently saved  --  lightbulb finally going off. 

“damn  --  “ he scoffs, finally recognizing the face he’s seen more than he likes to admit. this was becoming a burdensome string of coincidences ; raising his eyes to meet hers ; knees straightening to pull himself back to his full height as he drops his hands from her. “we really got to stop meeting like this it’s starting to feel like some dumb drama.”

[jaerk]

no more dream

                                                                                    ━      ♘  ┊  @rkxrm      、

there are days jaemin thinks it’s useless. living as blindly as he does, he, much like everyone else, wants meaning in his life. the problem with it -- at least for jaemin -- was going out and finding it. he’s lived his life without it, well much of it, at least. so, now, to be looking for something that wouldn’t eventually find him  --  or be given, it was something he’s never had to do before. all his life, he’s been given more than enough, too much that he never needed to really ask for it. 

it’s why, when he decides to put a direction to his life, it feels weird.

it feels ... wrong?

after years of living how he does, doing something out of the norm feels off. even is aunt had shown concern by how he’s been acting. trying new things, making things happen, it wasn’t like the jaemin she knew considering all he really ever did was live day by day, taking it whatever life gave him and making the most out of it. fingers tap against the side of his glass, condensation licking at the tips of his fingers. “hey,” he softly calls after the other ; eyes blindly looking away from one end of the room and to the other who sat beside him. “when did you realize you had a dream?” if namjoon had been going at it with his company for years  --  that must mean he has one, right? a dream, that is.

[jaerk]

who are you really

                                                                                     ━      ♘  ┊  @rkjeno      、

while jaemin had never been one to frequent pc rooms  --  it was odd that he was friends with the owner of one; a friend of a friend who he’d known in high school --  it was a place where he and their small group of friends were able to get away from and hang out while the bustle of students and out of work folk came and congregated at the computers at the front of the shop. the back of the shop, however, was saved for them. decorated as infrequent and as maintenance as possible with just a cough and a few select games like an out of order arcade machine and a pool table ; the television that lay low on a buzz near the door was the only source of noise as jaemin came bounding through the door.

and to his surprise, he finds the person in the room somewhat of a ghostly presence. do his eyes deceive him or was this really his best friend in the flesh? “jeno?” the surprise in his tone is second to the smile that immediately rises to his face as he literally jumps beside the other on the couch. “where’ve you been, dude? feel like i haven’t see you in a while.” an arm slouches around the other’s shoulders as he holds him in a slight headlock, “don’t tell me you got a girlfriend and that’s why you’ve been avoiding this place.”

[jaerk]

look at me now

                                                                                      ━      ♘  ┊  @rkyoojimin      、

roped into another one of his aunt’s antics ; jaemin finds himself at a part-time job. not that he really needed one, his parent’s fund was enough to last him a millennia, but of course -- his aunt being his aunt -- had taught him not to rely on what his parents left him to live. so he guesses, this was another one of her life lessons. while the job wasn’t much, and it didn’t really take up much of his day, jaemin enjoyed the feel of the water ( that is whenever he got the chance to touch it ; little kids drowning wasn’t as frequent of an occurrence as he had originally thought ); in any case he enjoyed it, generally. 

with some downtime, just before the pool was set to close ; jaemin takes a seat at the edge of the pool. dunking his legs into the water was a nice feeling. despite the chilly weather, jaemin liked the feeling of the water on his skin. he couldn’t wait for summer and the beach trips that were probably in the making now, knowing his friends’ and their anti-school agenda it would probably be all they thought of until june rolled it’s summery head. they’d all have to get through cherry blossom season first, of course, but aside from that  --  jaemin guesses that this was good enough for now.

[jaerk]

fancy, you!

                                                                                      ━      ♘  ┊  @rksxna      、

jaemin isn’t one to pry  --  he really isn’t  --  but if all he can hear are whispers of a certain someone, even someone as nonchalant as him couldn’t help but grow curious as to why those whispers began in the first place. he’s not one gossip ; but it’s sickening how malicious those words were beginning to sound as they circled like vultures ready to strike their prey. not like he’s been faced with this type of dilemma before  --  sure people in his high school talked frequently about him, but never to this scale.

never enough to warrant any type of emotional rise from him.

so, jaemin sighs  -- casting one last glance at the group who continued to spout unreasonable nonsense ; he moves from where he had originally been standing to linger at the side of the girl who’s been at the attention of these gossips since the moment he had stepped into the shop. “hey -- sorry it took me so to get here, i got lost.” he leans in close, hoping the invasion of personal space isn’t one that alarms her ; voice dropping to a volume only she can hear, “hey -- just pretend you know me and let’s go, yeah?” 

“i hope we’re not late for our movie.”

[jaerk]

play it cool

                                                                                       ━      ♘  ┊  @rkjoohyvn      、

jaemin doesn’t get starstruck often  -- perks of having had a rockstar for a dad certainly cemented his lackluster shock value to a minimum. but he’s certain from the eyes that fell upon the girl just across the cafe ; she had to be somebody, right? more or less, jaemin probably would have steered clear of the situation ; it didn’t look like this was a time for an impromptu meet and greet scenario but leave it to him to get caught up in his friends’ schemes. when they saw a cute, probably famous girl, the lot of them were like a pack of puppies, waiting to be praised ; tails wagging in anticipation. while jaemin didn’t like to be one of them, he couldn’t help but grow curious as to who this famous person was.

“i think she’s from the kt girl group -- the one named after the moon or something.” jaemin furrows his eyebrows, not entirely sure who his friend was referencing. he wasn’t too keen in kpop -- sure they had notable jams here and there, but none that were thoroughly his style or anything. “dude! do you think you can get her autograph for me? i’m too nervous.” and suddenly a set of puppy dog eyes turn to him and it’s something jaemin can’t help but roll his eyes to. not only did he not want to do that  --  it looked like he had no choice, he knew his friend was determined, and it wouldn’t give up until jaemin did it ; unfortunately for jaemin, his friend was also a coward and that always got jaemin into sticky situations.

so, with a groan; he grabs the napkin his friend tosses to him and makes quick footwork towards the girl ; side-eyeing the surroundings as he excuses himself from the horde of fans who had just left her. hand coming up to scratch the back of his own neck out of nervousness -- heck, where did those nerves come from? was he starstruck or something? nah, he needed to play it cool. 

“um,” he blinks, sliding the napkin over to the girl. “do you think i could get an autograph please?”

[jaerk]

beautiful

                                                                                        ━      ♘  ┊  @rksungmin      、

certainly, much like many, jaemin agrees that beauty is in the eyes of their beholder. but there are just some circumstances, despite his extensive artistic history, where no matter how much he liked  --  he really could not understand the beauty of it all. and these instances almost always had to do with any type of abstract art. to be honest, he wasn’t sure why he enrolled in this art history class  --  it wasn’t even his major nor was it a requirement to graduate ; but when he had been signing up for classes, the description sounded interesting enough to tie him in for a semester. that was until the professor had made it a monthly requirement to visit a museum of their choice and write a subjective essay on the trip. 

jaemin was an alright writer but when it came to things he didn’t understand  --  much like now  --  it seemed he was pulling things out of his ass to try to understand each piece of art that chanced his vision that day. by the end of it, he wasn’t sure how he was going to write this paper when he couldn’t even understand the painting before him. sure, it was blobs of colors and strict black that concealed them but other than that  --  it looked simple, not as beautiful as everyone made it seem. “this is art?” it was a critique that he probably shouldn’t be scoffing at but he couldn’t help it  --  it confused the hell out of him.