It had been almost a week. Almost a week of not speaking a word to each other, not going near each other even to work, and Jeno was the most exhausted he had ever been. Everything hurt. Physically, mentally, his whole body and mind hurt. 

It was his day off from doing lifeguard duty, Jaehyun taking his place, so he was taking the opportunity to lay down in the cabin. That's all he'd been wanting to do ever since he and Jaemin had fought. 

Laying in bed, he wished he could just nap but his mind was in too much turmoil to let him sleep. So he laid there, staring at the door, wishing something would relieve him from the aching in his heart. 

As soon as he heard the door start to crack open Jeno shut his eyes, pretending to sleep. His cabinmates would probably just leave him alone if he pretended he was asleep and that was all he wanted. 

"Jeno," a soft, low voice sounded, and Jeno's heart did flips in his chest at the sound. He blinked his eyes open to Jaemin looking just as dead as he felt. 

Love for Jaemin began to overwhelm Jeno simply at just the sight of him. Something in Jeno's heart told him he couldn't let this go on any longer. "Jaemin, I-I know we're both angry," he choked out. "B-but we can't throw away five years of love on just one fight. We just can't." 

Jaemin paused for a long time. "I agree," he answered, and Jeno breathed out a sigh of relief. "Can I sit next to you?" 

Jeno nodded and sat up, making space for Jaemin. Jeno watched Jaemin pull a small, ruffled and crumpled up piece of paper. Looking over, Jeno could tell how much time he had spent on this paper. 

"I planned an apology because I...I wanted to say it right. And didn't wanna forget anything." 

Jeno's heart healed and broke all at once at that. But all Jeno could do is nod at him and watch him read the letter with his trembling fingers. 

"Jeno, baby, my love, 

I'm sorry. I am so so sorry. I can't believe I got that angry with you. I was angry but I should never have talked to you like that. My worst fear is you thinking I got angry because you didn't wanna do it with me because that's absolutely not it at all. I would never want to have if you didn't want to. Ever. Even if you were just a little bit doubtful I wouldn't want to do it. I should have realized so much sooner how you felt. As soon as we came to camp I should have called the whole thing off. Deep inside I knew but...but...I dunno." Jaemin's shaking got worse and Jeno saw the tears begin to well up in his eyes. "I love you so much. I love you so, so much," he choked out. "Even if you never wanna have it's okay. It's really okay. I love you for every reason possible except that. What I mean is my love for you does not include stuff. I dunno if that makes sense..." he sighed and tears began to fall onto his cheeks. Quickly, Jeno wiped them up with his fingers. "I just hope I didn't ruin everything," he sobbed. 

As soon as Jeno wiped all of Jaemin's tears away he held him tight in his arms. "You didn't ruin everything. You didn't," Jeno mumbled. Jaemin looked at him hopefully, eyes still soft and wet. "It took me a while to come to terms with what you said. I understood but I didn't want to think about it, you know? I...I should have trusted you. I should have trusted you to understand how I felt. I just didn't want to disappoint you but...lying about how I felt is much, much worse than disappointing you. I get that now. I love you, I love you so so much too. All I want is to just make you happy forever. Really, these days have been so terrible because I haven't been able to talk to you and I know how unhappy you've been, and that's just the opposite of what I want." 

Jaemin sighed deeply. "I'm sorry, I-I should have approached you to talk earlier. I just didn't wanna talk to you before because I wanted to find the best way to apologize." 

"God you're so sweet," Jeno mumbled into Jaemin's shoulder while they tightly held on to each other. "But don't be sorry. I stayed away too. I needed time to make sense of everything that happened. I...I'm not ready now. I can admit that to you now. I think that might change? But I really don't know. But what I do know is that I want to be with you forever." 

"That's all I want too," Jaemin choked out. "I just hope you know that that doesn't disappoint me, at all. I'm not disappointed." 

"But...but weren't you looking forward to it a lot?" 

"I was looking forward to getting closer to you in a way we were both excited for. But you not being excited for it makes me not want it at all." 

"But the..." Jeno blushed thinking about it. "Other part?" 

Jaemin gave Jeno his first smile in days. "That's what my right hand is for." 

At that, Jeno couldn't help but laugh out loud, and relief washed over him. Finally, things could go back to normal. Even better than normal in fact; they could have a more grown up relationship without the pressure of all of that. It gave Jeno more peace in his and Jaemin's relationship than he had felt in years, at that point. He knew now that Jaemin was not disappointed. He could never be disappointed. And it just reaffirmed the knowledge Jeno had always had, that Jaemin truly loved him for who he was on the inside, just like the way Jeno felt for Jaemin. 

"Are you mine again?" Jaemin mumbled shyly, like he was afraid any wrong move would take Jeno away from him. 

"Baby, we just fought. I've always been yours, and you mine," Jeno quietly answered. 

"Is it...is it okay if I kiss you?" Jaemin asked, genuinely curious, and Jeno's heart thumped at Jaemin's caution. 

"Of course. But wait," Jeno interrupted, stopping Jaemin who was already leaning in closer. "I just wanna say that everything we've done so far has been fine. Nothing we already did in the past made me uncomfortable." 

"So kissing is fine?" Jaemin asked, and Jeno nodded. 

"Making out too. Holding each other's waists. Even sharing the same bed. I like it all a lot," Jeno explained. 

Jaemin grinned at that and cupped Jeno's cheek, leaning in slowly. Their eyes fluttered shut and lips were on lips, no more nervousness or expectation behind them, and Jeno felt the last of the weight in his stomach dissipate. Things were better than before, so much better. 

"I just wanna say," Jaemin mumbled, looking down at his lap as he and Jeno pulled away from the kiss. "I'm sorry if I ever even made you slightly uncomfortable. I'm sorry if I pressured you. I'm sorry." 

"Jaemin," Jeno breathed out. "This isn't your fault at all. I never wanted you to know how I felt about all of this. I know if you had any idea that I didn't want to you would have stopped bringing it up immediately. I did my absolute best lying job, as wrong as it was. It's just...it's just not your fault. Please don't blame yourself for all of this. You never did that. You're all good." 

Jaemin smiled slightly. "Do you promise?" he whined. 

Jeno held his hands tightly. "I promise." 

"Jaemin, where the hell are you? I know you and Jeno are in a bad place but we are severely understaffed and we need you guys to work sometimes!" Doyoung yelled very loudly, slamming open the door to Jeno and Jaemin and the rest's cabin. He froze when he saw Jeno and Jaemin smiling for the first time in a week, at each other too, sitting on the same bed and holding hands. "Oh," he spoke. "You guys made up." 

"Yeah," Jeno admitted proudly. 

"Sorry we've been skirting our work," Jaemin said and he and Jeno shared a sheepish chuckle. 

"It's okay. It was more important you two made up," Doyoung softly answered. 

"Well, we won't skirt our work any longer," Jeno said firmly, standing up. 

"Yeah," Jaemin added, standing up as well. 

"We'll go be lifeguards right now," Jeno spoke. 

"Together?" Doyoung questioned. 

"Together," Jaemin answered. 

"Finally!" Doyoung groaned, grabbing the walkie talkie. "Jaehyun you're finally off life guard duty! They made up!" 

"YES!" Jaehyun screamed way too loudly and Jaemin and Jeno chuckled. 

"Meet me in the office as soon as the boys arrive?" Doyoung said. 

"Oh yeah," Jaehyun answered, and Jeno and Jaemin shared an uncomfortable look. 

"Oh," Doyoung spoke, pink dusting his cheeks as he remembered Jeno and Jaemin were still in the room with him. "Get a move on you two." 

Jeno and Jaemin giggled. "We will."