Chapter Text
The first time Jeno saw Renjun he thought that he was perfect.
It was the first day of the new year at highschool and he was there early not wanting his teachers to negatively notice him already on the first day. He was sitting on his seat in the second row and texted with his best friend Jaemin to make time pass faster. Around him were some other people talking but when suddenly everyone became quiet he lifted his head expecting to see the teacher. Who he saw instead was a boy so pretty Jeno instantly wanted to start crying. He probably stared at him for too long but when suddenly the boy looked directly at him he shyly looked back down and blushed.
JN: OMG JAEMINIE I JUST SAW THE MOST PERFECT BOY IN THIS UNIVERSE!
JM: That can't be because I am nowhere close to you 😉😂
JM: Anyways tell me more, dude 😏
JN: He just walked into the class room and HE EVEN LOOKED AT ME. JAEMIN, HE NOTICED ME!!!
JM: Dude, calm down. It's just some boy. You don't even know him.
JN: I will get to know him...
After he sent that message the teacher walked in and Jeno tried his best to focus on the lesson. He couldn't stop himself from stealing a few glances at the unknown pretty boy who had decided to take a seat in the first row. "Even the back of his head looks pretty", Jeno thought.
When the lesson ended the perfect boy was faster gone than he could say "Annyeonghaseyo".
The second time Jeno saw Renjun he thought that he was perfect.
Some weeks had already passed. He was sitting in the library studying for maths. Suddenly someone placed books on the table next to him and then took a seat. Jeno only wanted to quickly take a look but when his eyes saw the unknown perfect boy he wanted to cry again. Just like the first time they ran into each other Jeno couldn't take his eyes off the boy, in the end the perfect boy caught him staring, again, and the younger one quickly looked back into the book. He noticed a small giggle from the table next to him and Jeno thought it was the most adorable sound his ears ever heard.
After a while Jeno got up to get himself a different book and then he returned to his table. He quickly glanced at the one next to it and sadly had to realise that it was empty and the perfect boy was once again gone before he had the chance to talk to him.
Later that day he met up with his best friend. They were sitting on Jaemin's bed while eating chips and talked about everything and nothing. Suddenly Jeno remembered something "OH MY GOD! I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO TELL YOU! So today I studied at the library and guess who I saw." "Dude, am I supposed to give you a serious answer? Because we both know I can't do that.", Jaemin replied.
"Okay, you're right. I'll tell you. Remember that perfect boy that I texted you about a while ago?", Jeno looked at Jaemin who slowly nodded "I saw him again."
"Wow! That's cool. Did you finally talk to him?", Jaemin said and Jeno avoided his stare "Dude, you should finally grow up and talk to him. Admiring him from afar will change nothing."
"But he's on a completely different level. Out of my reach. Someone like me will never have a chance with someone like him. He has those perfectly brown eyes which I wanna get lost in. That soft tanned skin. And his hair looks so extremely soft. Also today I heard his laugh and ...", Jaemin interrupted him "Dude... You're completely whipped. Talk to him."
"Maybe I really should...", Jeno thought to himself while giving the younger one a small nod.
The third time Jeno saw Renjun he thought that he was perfect.
On the following weekend Jeno and Jaemin went to the city together because the younger wanted to get a new pair of soccer shoes and Jeno had to get some things for school. After both of them got what they wanted they decided to visit a cafe and eat some ice cream. While Jeno was enjoying his chocolate ice cream he let his gaze wander around in the cafe and suddenly spotted a familiar face. He nearly chocked on his ice cream. Jaemin noticed it and looked for the person Jeno was staring at. As soon as the brown haired boy also spotted the unknown perfect boy he sent a questioning look at Jeno. But the older one didn't even realise that because he was too absorbed in admiring the perfect boy from afar. Today he was wearing a simple white T-shirt with a black leather jacket and Jeno felt like dying because damn the unknown boy looked hot in that outfit. After some time he noticed a hand in front of his face and he looked back at Jaemin.
"Ok Dude, what the fuck was that? AND who is that cutie?", Jaemin asked. Jeno immediately got protective "That cutie is the perfect boy I told you about. You remember it, right? Also: hands of my man!" Jaemin looked at him and laughed "Dude, he isn't your man. You don't even dare to talk to him. You had your chance so now is my time to shine. See you later, dude." The younger quickly ate the last bit of his ice cream, wiped his mouth and walked towards the table the perfect boy was sitting at. Sadly Jeno couldn't hear what they talked about but he noticed that the perfect boy laughed because of what Jaemin said. He was so jealous and angry. Why didn't he dare to talk to the perfect boy earlier? Why was he such a shy shit? What was he afraid of? While Jeno regretted several life choices Jaemin returned to the table, smiling happily.
"What did he say? What happened? What did he do? What exactly did you say that made him laugh? Also oh my god he looks so cute when he laughs!", Jeno practically screamed at the brown haired boy when he noticed his existence. Jaemin only laughed and said "Dude, we should leave now. I have my soccer training soon and I still need to finish my english homework before that."
Jeno obeyed and then they left the cafe. After he arrived at home he just couldn't stop thinking about the perfect boy and Jaemin. What did they talk about?
The fourth time Jeno saw Renjun he thought that he was perfect.
Today Minjun, a close friend of Jaemin and Jeno, was throwing a big birthday party. He was turning 18 and his parents were out of town.
When Jaemin and Jeno entered the house they already smelled the sweat, alcohol and the smoke. If it wasn't for their friend, who walked towards them already, they would have left immediately. Minjun was walking surprisingly normal and his breath didn't smell like alcohol at all when he greeted the boys.
"Dude, didn't you drink anything? It is your 18th birthday, you should celebrate that!", Jaemin stated. "I can't do that. My parents told me that I am responsible for everything that happens here while they are gone and my alcohol tolerance is very low so I don't wanna take the risk. My parents are usually very strict. There originally was no alcohol anyways, only some idiots brought something. But I have to go now, kick these smokers into the garden otherwise my parents will scold me when they come back.", Minjun said and before the younger boys could realise he was gone again.
Jaemin and Jeno exchanged a glance before they walked into the house. In the living room they saw a big buffet with kimchi, hotteok, tteokbokki, mandu, some drinks, sweets, chips, popcorn, and there was even a cotton candy machine. The two boys grabbed some food and then walked around the house admiring the expensive looking furniture. In one room they even found a chandelier. When their food came to an end they walked back to the living room where some people had started playing 'Truth Or Dare'. After grabbing more snacks Jaemin and Jeno decided to join the more or less sober group.
While the first boy, a senior called Mark, started spinning the bottle Jeno took a closer look at all the other people in this round. A bit shocked but positively shocked he recognised the face of the perfect boy. The brown eyed boy was wearing black jeans and a red hoodie today. Jeno also noticed he had his hair styled differently. He still looked perfect as always.
The game had already been going on for a while but the bottle had never landed on Jaemin, Jeno or the perfect boy. Slowly it was getting boring for the two korean boys but when they were just about to leave the bottle suddenly landed on Jaemin. "Truth or dare?", a boy called Donghyuck, who shared a few classes with Jeno and Jaemin, asked while wrapping his arms around Mark next to him. "Dare", Jaemin responded. "Ok, let me think. Ah I got something. You have to kiss the person the bottle lands on!", Donghyuck spinned the bottle again.
"Oh my god. Please let it not be me. I don't wanna be kissed by my best friend.", was all Jeno could think of while the bottle was getting slower and slower.
Suddenly the bottle stopped. Facing the perfect boy. As soon as Jeno's brain realised Jaemin was about to kiss the perfect boy he screamed. Inside his brain of course.
"Oh interesting. Jaemin, you have to kiss our hot chinese boy, Renjun.", Donghyuck said and giggled. Jaemin got up and walked towards the boy without saying a word. As soon as he was next to the perfect boy, Jaemin got down and without hesitating he pressed his lips onto the ones of the perfect boy. Jeno was dying inside. When Jaemin and the boy, whose name seemed to be Renjun, parted, the Chinese boy winked at Jaemin and gave him a small smile.
The rest of the game Jeno was more or less spaced out. One time the bottle landed on him and a girl told him to kiss the person the bottle landed on, which ended up being Donghyuck. But Jeno never had the chance to do so because as soon as Mark realised that he grabbed Donghyuck's hand, said "Nobody kisses my boyfriend except for me!" and they walked into another room and closed the door. Jeno didn't see them again that evening, all he could hear were occasional giggles.
The morning after Jeno slept until 1pm and then spent the whole day sulking and ignoring Jaemin who spammed him with messages. As good as possible Jeno focused on his homework but occasionally his mind drifted to the perfect boy. "Renjun. What a perfect name for a perfect boy. But he's chinese according to Donghyuck. I wonder what brought him here. I wish I was confident enough to ask him...", Jeno thought and then concentrated on his maths homework again.
On monday on his way to school Jeno didn't sit next to Jaemin on the bus. In the breaks he went either to the toilet, acted like he was busy with some homework or exchanged some words with Donghyuck if he wasn't currently glued to his boyfriend. But when Jeno got home he noticed how exhausting this was. Jaemin was basically always where he also was. They had a ton of classes together and often spent even the evenings with each other.
It went on like that for the rest of the week and when Jeno got home after school on friday he just immediately fell into his bed and cried himself to sleep. He wasn't sure anymore why he even was ignoring Jaemin but today the brown haired boy avoided him and talked to some of their classmates. Jeno didn't dare to talk to him.
When Jeno woke up around 3 hours later he felt terrible and just wanted to die. His usual other option would be to run to Jaemin, who nearly always managed to make the older one feel happier, but this was obviously not an option this time.
The fifth time Jeno saw Renjun he thought that he was perfect.
Jeno was already prepared to spend the whole weekend alone at home and either watch YouTube or study. So he was slightly surprised when Donghyuck messaged him Saturday morning and asked if Jeno would want to accompany him and Mark to the cinema in the evening. The boy nearly denied the offer but then he thought it wouldn't be too bad to socialise and it couldn't be worse than spending the whole weekend in his room. After the red haired boy had told him all details Jeno went to take a shower and then got dressed.
The black haired boy arrived in front of the cinema five minutes too early but then he noticed that the couple was also already there.
The three boys got some snacks and drinks. Afterwards they had to wait in front of the cinema hall for around 10 minutes and in these 10 minutes Jeno realised that Donghyuck was extremely fun to be around. He was literally a ray of sunshine and the black haired boy started to feel comfortable around him. Jeno even was able to genuinely laugh after he had been in a pretty sad mood for the last week.
Finally the doors of the cinema hall opened and the boys took their assigned seats. While there were still only ads shown on the screen Jeno let his gaze wander around in the cinema hall. He noticed an extremely familiar figure enter with another person. As soon as they came closer and took their seats two rows in front of him he was able to properly see their faces. He felt like somebody had ripped his heart into two pieces, it was Jaemin with Renjun, who looked as perfect as always (not like Jeno could see a lot in the rather dark cinema hall but he assumed so).
Afterwards they went to a cafe and all three ordered some smoothies. While Mark and Donghyuck talked about the film Jeno just sat there and nodded occasionally. To be honest he didn't remember a lot of the movie. He was too caught up in his own thoughts and glaring at Jaemin and Renjun, who didn't even notice anything. These two were too focused on the movie, talking to each other from time to time or holding hands. The latter started when both grabbed popcorn at the same time and their hands touched. Jeno wanted to throw up.
"Jeno, are you alright?", Mark asked him, voice filled with concern. Only now the black haired boy noticed he had been staring at his smoothie, lost in his thoughts, for too long.
"Yeah, I'm fine don't worry.", was what Jeno wanted to say. Instead sobs came out of his mouth when he opened it. He placed his head on the cold table and wanted the earth to swallow him.
The couple exchanged a glance and then Mark pulled out a tissue while Donghyuck softly comforted Jeno. After the black haired boy calmed down a bit and his tears stopped running the other two boys decided to go somewhere else with the hurt boy. They went to a park nearby which was nearly empty and sat down on a bench.
"It's okay if you don't want to tell us why you suddenly started crying. But if we don't know we can't do anything about it.", Donghyuck softly said. "Also we don't wanna see our friend cry and sit helplessly next to him.", Mark added while wrapping an arm around Jeno's shoulder.
"It's not your fault.", the boy in the middle stuttered and felt the sadness creep up again "it's just teenage boys problems, I guess..." He hoped that they would leave him alone now so he could get drown in his tears. Usually when he used the excuse with adults it always worked but not with Mark and Donghyuck. "Well funny thing, we are also teenage boys", the red haired boy stated. Jeno was caught in a trap. He tried another excuse "It's not important." This time Mark gave him a response "Jeno, you started crying in a cafe. It must be important to you, so it is also important to us. I know we don't really know each other well yet but you can trust me. I promise." The couple smiled at him.
"I also thought that I could trust Jaemin. And now he went on a date with the boy he knows I am crushing on!", before Jeno could realise it the words left his mouth.
"Jaemin as in the smiley boy who was at the party last weekend and who had to kiss Renjun?", Donghyuck asked.
Ouch, that hurt. The black haired boy had pushed the memories about the party far far away. Nevertheless he lightly nodded.
"And I'm assuming your crush is Renjun?", Mark asked. Startled Jeno looked at the Canadian boy "How did you know that?"
"I saw your reaction last weekend and I also noticed they were in the cinema earlier. So, I figured.", Mark knowingly smiled at him.
"Is there anything we can do to help you?", Donghyuck wanted to know.
"I don't think so. As Jaeminie already said to me I just have to 'grow up' and then it would work out. And it's not like I have any chance against Jaemin.", tears started flowing down Jeno's face again.
He felt both boys hugging him from the side, which made the black haired boy smile, and then Donghyuck said "Anyways I want you to know that we are here for you in case you need anything, Jeno."
The next weeks went by with Jaemin and Jeno still ignoring each other. Instead the black haired boy spent a lot of time with Mark and Donghyuck. Somehow they really became friends. With time Jeno got used to the other two boys being cheesy and totally in love. He didn't mind third wheeling, though deep in his heart he wished he also had someone he could be cheesy with. Somehow his "crush" on Renjun was slowly disappearing but then he last saw the chinese boy around three weeks ago. In the cinema with Jaemin.
Jeno didn't talk about that with Mark and Donghyuck but he really missed his old best friend. These two were really nice and he genuinely enjoyed spending time with them but Jaemin had been his friend since elementary school and he knew him like the back of his hand. Well, at least that was what Jeno had thought until suddenly Jaemin went out with his crush.
Jeno let out a deep sigh which made the couple next to him end their kiss. The three boys had met up to watch a film at Mark's house because his parents were out of town for this weekend. But to be honest it was more something like Jeno watching the movie while occasionally getting lost in his thoughts with the couple making out next to him. Jeno felt extremely lonely.
The first time Jeno heard Renjun's voice he thought that he was perfect.
Today was Donghyuck's 18th birthday.
The red haired boy had told him that he would invite Mark, Jeno and a few other friends. What the black haired boy wasn't expecting was a crowded entrace hall. So he just stood there in the door feeling terribly lost. Finally he saw Donghyuck approaching him and Jeno smiled. The two boys hugged and when they let go of each other, Mark appeared behind Donghyuck and placed his hands on the eyes of the smaller boy. The red haired boy just giggled. That's when Jeno realised it was time for him to leave the couple alone.
He strolled to the buffet and grabbed some sweets along with a handful of chips. Then he wandered through the house, all alone, feeling lonelier than ever before. He was trying so hard to not think about the mess that is called "the last few weeks" but Jaemin kept trying to push himself into his mind with a ton of persistence. So Jeno just ended up staring outside a window, holding the last chip, while his mind was racing like crazy. He had lost his love and his best friend at once. His life was turned upside down and he still didn't know if he would ever find a friend as good as Jaemin ever again.
Suddenly he heard Jaemin yell "Don't touch him ever again, you pervert!", followed by a loud bumping sound and people cheering. He dashed downstairs, his mind racing in fear that Jaemin was hurt by some asshole.
Before he even reached the bottom floor, Donghyuck grabbed his hand and pushed him into a small bedroom, he turned around confused when he heard the keys turn around. "I'm sorry, Jeno, but this is the only way.", he heard the birthday boy yell before his steps became more quiet.
So there he was now, in a dark bedroom, all alone. Great. Suddenly he felt a hand touching his upper body and jumped back while screaming like a little child. So much to being all alone. "Shit, I'm gonna be devoured by a monster now, is this really how it'll all end?", was running through Jeno's anxious mind. Then he heard a quiet "shit". Jeno crawled back more until his back touched the wall and tried to find the light switch, when he got it the room suddenly turned so bright he had to close his eyes at the sudden mass of light. When he opened his eyes again, his heart skipped a beat. It was the perfect boy. Right in front of him. His leg just mere centimetres away. His mind blanked out and all he could do was smile like an idiot. He was here, with him, he had him all for himself.
The boy opposite of him just blushed and muttered "Hi, I am Renjun."