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Jeno was the one that actually started this whole thing, way back in the day while playing off by himself when he tripped over Donghyuck’s leg and insistently refused to believe that it was his own clumsiness. This was before Donghyuck was visible, before he met Jaemin, and way before Renjun became a new student at their school. He knows his boyfriends because he spent years knowing them, loving them, even if it was just as a friend.
He finds it a little funny, then, when other students seem to think he’s the oblivious boyfriend of a cheating Na Jaemin. A part of him is offended on his boyfriend’s part, because while Jaemin is many lovely things—kind, beautiful, smart, an incredible dancer to name a few—he is most definitely not a cheater. He politely tells all these well-meaning busybodies not to worry about it, that his Jaemin would never cheat on him. He doesn’t even explain the whole three-boyfriends-thing to most of them, since it’s not actually their business.
Unfortunately, some well-meaning busybodies are more insistent than can be turned away with this little piece of reassurance, specifically the small group of his fellow students stubbornly following him. One girl catches up and shoves a phone in his face with a picture of Jaemin whispering into Renjun’s ear about something or other. Jeno’s caught between crooning over his boyfriends and rolling his eyes. The girls sobs something about how, “They’re going behind your back, Oppa!” and he sighs.
“Really,” he bites out, “you shouldn’t worry so much about me. Renjun and I are close,” he almost snorts, “and I know my Jaemin.” At this point he doesn’t have the patience for any of them and jogs away with his laptop bag swinging against his side and the cafeteria calling his name.
He surveys the area once he gets there and waves at Donghyuck once he finds the boy’s horns, decorated with flowers that were about to die anyway or he wouldn’t have cut them from the stems, sitting with Mark. The second year music production major had a crush on Jaemin once upon a time, but he figured the four of them out by the end of the night. It’s sad, because they didn’t even have it figured out by then, but they’ve gotten their act together. Mark’s got a boyfriend of his own, now, too, one foreign exchange student by the name of Yukhei who’s sitting on the boy’s other side.
Donghyuck doesn’t see him, but Mark and Yukhei do, so he puts a finger up to his mouth and maneuvers himself around the room behind Donghyuck. He walks up behind him and places his hands on Donghyuck’s shoulders, leaning around to catch the boy’s cheek with a kiss. Donghyuck startles from the beginning of the movement but relaxes in time to reach up and squeeze one of Jeno’s hands.
Donghyuck motions to the spot next to him that has a tray piled with food. Jeno kisses his cheek again for good measure and digs in.
Jaemin sits down across from them, and Jeno looks up to playfully at him. “I can’t believe you’re cheating on me with Renjun, Babe,” he drawls. Donghyuck snorts. “It’s true!” Jaemin announces, hand over his heart, “I’ve been seduced by him. You’ve lost my heart, Darling!”
Renjun makes his appearance at this point and releases a long-suffering sigh. “Is this about me cheating on Hyuckie with Nana?” Donghyuck looks mildly affronted at this and adds his say, “What about me being a hoe that won’t settle on one guy, so now I have three friends with benefits?”
“That’s the closest they’ve gotten to reality,” Mark muses. It’s all the effort he uses to enter the conversation before he turns to Yukhei and tunes the rest of them out, not that they take to heart. They’re much worse when given the opportunity.
The rest of lunch passes much the same as it always does, trading bites of food and making sure no one neglects themselves. Bits of gossip they’ve heard regarding themselves come up, cause for shared laughter and looks of indignant over some of the worst cases. Once they’re all done, they work together to clean up efficiently, and they’re off toothier afternoon classes.
.
There’s a party that weekend, at Mark’s frat house since theirs are the only parties they bother attending. Jaemin and Donghyuck get dressed to the nines, leather pants and mesh blouses and eyeliner smudged artfully into subtly glittery eyeshadow. Jeno and Renjun opt for more low-key outfits, but Renjun is bad at looking average in any clothes, Jeno thinks. He tells Renjun as much, and Renjun smacks his shoulder for the cheesy line.
They walk in, and Donghyuck and Renjun escape to a couch before Jeno and Jaemin can pull them to the dance floor. He laughs at their retreating backs and tugs a pouting Jaemin with him. They swing dance as best as they can in the crowded space because that’s what they’ve been doing research papers on. Their professor loves those kinds of assignments.
They get a few odd looks as they perform the cooler lifts, Jeno almost clotheslining Jaemin into a poor girl’s face, but they barely notice. If they would look up, they might see Donghyuck and Renjun giving them fond glances.
When the night is a little older, they gather their other boyfriends from the couch. The four of them switch partners quickly and smoothly, occasionally sandwiching each other and trading kisses like text messages sent back and forth on lonely nights. They get drunk on delirium while the night goes on, leaning against each other and cuddling more than dancing.
Jeno keeps the most wakefulness in the early morning, and he makes sure each of them has a hand on him, so he can lead them out. He shoots Mark a wave good-bye when he sees the boy up against the doorpost, blushing furiously as Yukhei places innocent feather-light kisses on his forehead and cheeks, and the boy predictably doesn’t notice him.
In their dorm, Jeno lets the other three stumble onto the ground while he pulls two of their mattresses off of their bed frames and puts them next to each other with all of their combined blankets and pillows arranged together, overlapping and cozy. He gets Jaemin in, and the other two are already attached to Jaemin, so they get willingly dragged along. He turns off the lights and crawls in but doesn’t submit to sleep until he’s kissed each of them on their foreheads.
.
The next day, he walks Jaemin to their ten a.m. class, and the busybodies are back at it, except they don’t wait until Jeno’s alone to warn him about Jaemin. He scowls at them and pulls Jaemin closer to his side, the other giggling at the gesture. He sends Donghyck and Renjun a request that they happily agree to.
When their class ends, Donghyuck and Renjun stroll in arm-in-arm. Renjun grabs Jeno by the face and pulls him into a fiery, possessive kiss while Donghyuck does the same for Jaemin to the gasps of the usual busybodies. Jeno is a little breathless afterwards, but he eagerly accepts a similar kiss when Donghyuck takes Renjun’s place.
They walk to the cafeteria in peace that day.