Chapter Text
Day one.
“If you do anything to upset Renjun,” Donghyuck begins.
“Let me guess,” Jaemin says. “You’ll make sure I never see the light of day.”
“No,” Donghyuck corrects him. “ Renjun will make sure you never see the light of day, and Jeno will be sad because his best friend is gone, and then I’ll have to deal with a sad Jeno. So, don't do anything to upset Renjun.”
They’re squeezed into Jeno’s kitchen, which is too tiny to be called a kitchen, really, but what can you do when you’ve barely two years of work experience under your belt and a bank balance to cry over? Jaemin can empathise, but not for the first time he wishes he were in his own kitchen, where he’d have the right tools for the job.
“Let him be,” Renjun sighs, dragging Donghyuck away. “Lunch will never get done at the rate we’re going.”
“So work faster!” Donghyuck exclaims. Jaemin just smiles as Renjun takes his place beside him.
“Sorry about him,” Renjun apologises. He picks up where Donghyuck has unhelpfully left off, with a half packed dumpling on the table and fillings half-spilling out.
“No no,” Jaemin shakes his head. “He’s nice and he cares about you. He and Jeno make a good pair, too.”
“Stop trying to butter me up!” Donghyuck screeches from the living room. One of Jeno’s cats screeches back at him. Jeno shushes them both.
“I don’t think I’m very good at this,” Renjun frowns, awkwardly trying to press the edges of the dumpling together. “I’m actually quite good at cooking, you know, but this doesn’t look anything like what it should.”
“Don’t they have something similar in China?”
“Jiao zi,” Renjun says. “I’ve never made it from scratch before, though.” Jaemin’s deft fingers have finished folding three in the time it’s taken Renjun to make one. Renjun puffs his cheeks out dejectedly.
“Jiao zi,” Jaemin attempts, and beams, pleased, when Renjun nods.
“You know, I stupidly logged in to my work inbox this morning and saw multiple emails from my manager waiting for me,” Renjun recounts, finishing one dumpling and reaching across Jaemin to grab the ingredients for another.
“Ignore him,” Jaemin says. "Set an 'out of office' alert."
“I did!” Renjun declares. “I’ll get chewed out when I get back to office, but it’ll be worth the peace I get today.”
“Exactly,” Jaemin sing-songs. “I did the same thing, earlier. Our new year resolutions are coming along great.”
He finishes wrapping one more dumpling and silently counts them. “Jeno, how many have you managed to make?”
“Ten,” Jeno yells from the living room. “But Hyuck and Bongsik keep trying to steal some.”
“Don’t talk about me like I’m one of your cats,” Donghyuck huffs.
“You are, though?” Jeno says, and yelps when Donghyuck retaliates.
“We have eighteen here, that’s seven for each of us,” Jaemin calls back. “We still have noodles and fish cakes, and also fried chicken, so that’s just about enough. You guys can start eating while I cook these.”
“Yay!” Donghyuck cheers.
“What would you two have eaten today if Jaemin and I hadn’t decided to come over?” Renjun says to Donghyuck as he carries the rest of the food out, leaving Jaemin to cook the dumplings. “Take out?”
“Don’t diss the take out, it’s what kept you alive for two years.” Donghyuck shoots back. “Also, weird flex, considering the two of you just met yesterday – what the hell , by the way?”
“Not again,” Renjun rolls his eyes.
“Renjun, let’s go to the movies! No, Donghyuck, I’ll just wait for it to come out on Netflix. Renjun, let’s go cycling by the river! No, Donghyuck, it’s too hot to leave the house. Renjun, let’s go drink champagne in a park! At midnight! In the middle of winter. SURE!”
“Shut up!” Renjun yells, swatting at Donghyuck and praying that Jaemin can’t hear them over the pan sizzling.
“Just tell me one thing,” Donghyuck deadpans. “Did he kiss you?”
“N-no. Not really! It barely counted.”
“That fiend ! What else did he do to you?!”
“Let me guess,” Jeno cuts in, moving sideways so Renjun has space to join them on the floor. “I know what Jaemin would have done. Something romantic, right? Like hold your hand, or maybe kiss your forehead, or put your hand in his pocket to warm it up, or message you all the way until you both fall asleep.”
“I’m not answering that,” Renjun says quickly.
“You two are gross ,” Donghyuck sneers.
“Your feet are in Jeno’s lap and he’s literally feeding you food right now,” Renjun says accusingly. Jeno hurriedly retracts his chopsticks, and Donghyuck wrinkles his nose but keeps his feet firmly where they are. “Anyway, how does Jeno know so much?”
“You forget that Jaemin and I practically grew up together,” Jeno explains. “I’ve seen the way he dates. Not,” he adds, guessing the reason for Renjun’s sudden silence. “That we’ve dated before, mind you. It’d be like dating my brother.”
“I,” Renjun fidgets. “That wasn’t what I meant.”
“You liar, you totally thought it,” Donghyuck grumbles, taking a bite out of a fish cake. “Anyway. At least Jaemin can cook. Jeno could learn a few things from him.”
“Now that’s just mean,” Jeno sighs. “Anyway, I think it’s cute, the way you two met. It’s like fate.”
“ That’s being overdramatic,” Renjun protests. “It’s just coincidence. Besides, we’re, uh,” he drops his voice, although he and Jaemin had already discussed this while shopping for groceries earlier. “We’re taking it slow.”
Donghyuck lets out a loud snort, and Seol yawns from where she’s perched in his lap. Being the only one who had to bribe his way into Jeno’s house with an entire chunk of chicken meat before Seol would stop hissing at him, Renjun finds it unfair how comfortable the cat is with both Donghyuck and Jaemin. But then again, he’s not the one dating Jeno, nor did he grow up with the guy.
“Make way now,” Jaemin says, as he makes his appearance with a plate of steaming dumplings. “Here, eat first.” He puts the plate down in front of Renjun.
“Blatant favouritism,” Donghyuck objects, and reaches over to pick one before any of them can move, just to spite them.
They end up staying the entire afternoon after Donghyuck strongarms them into playing a few rounds of online games with him, then they put on a movie that eventually gets forgotten when Donghyuck and Jeno describe how their countdown had gone. (“We got stopped by four different groups of tourists for directions,” Donghyuck says. “Halfway through some others thought we were playing drunken charades and decided to join in.”)
Eventually the unanimous decision is made to part before dinner, just as the sun is going down. “If we go out for dinner now,” Renjun points out. “We’ll probably stay out late, but I have a long day at work tomorrow and I don’t want to feel like death. I’m just going to grab something quick on the way back.”
“Same,” Jaemin sighs, and Donghyuck relents.
“Let’s do this again soon,” Jeno suggests. “Renjun, this is my first time seeing Jaemin in two months, I’m glad you were able to get him out of the house. I’m counting on you for a repeat performance.”
“That’s if Renjun doesn’t stay home himself,” Donghyuck sniffs, but there’s no real malice to his words, so Renjun lets him off with a light poke to the ribs.
“I know you said no to dinner earlier,” Jaemin begins, when they’ve said their goodbyes and are making their way out of the building. “But maybe we could grab a quick bite together? We stay pretty close to each other and if we eat around the area I’m sure we could be home by eight, tops.”
“Let’s,” Renjun agrees.
They settle on a small café near Jaemin’s place that Jaemin praises to the high heavens (“I loved their food so much I offered to take photos for their new menu,” he grins and flourishes the laminated booklet at Renjun. “The Americano here is especially good!”) and find a space in a quiet corner. A comfortable silence falls between them after their orders are made, and they study each other for a moment.
“Yesterday,” Renjun begins. “You said we’d, um. Arrange for a date?” Jaemin had been the one to bring it up when they were messaging each other the previous night, and Renjun had enthusiastically sent three smiling emojis in response, before agonising over whether he should have sent just one instead.
“I’m counting this as date number one,” Jaemin answers. “If you want it to be. If not-”
“I do want,” Renjun says decisively, and Jaemin’s lips twitch upwards, pleased.
“It’s a step up from a park bench out in the open, but it’d be nice if we could have more time, I guess?” Jaemin taps his fingers against the table absentmindedly. “Do weekends work for you? Weekday dinners are out for me because of, well,” he grimaces. “Work, as you know.”
“Weekdays are definitely a no-go,” Renjun says wryly. He mentally runs through his week’s schedule. “I’m good for next Saturday? Sunday is kind of my own time to recharge before the new work week, so I’d rather not do anything that day.”
“Saturday works for me,” Jaemin responds. “Anything you’re craving in particular?”
Renjun mulls this over. “We can decide later in the week, maybe? I’ve no particular preference right now, but I’ll let you know if it comes up.”
They’re interrupted by the waiter delivering their drinks and cutlery. A question teeters on the tip of Renjun’s tongue as he turns it over in his head, wondering whether to make it known.
“Don’t think too hard, it might hurt.” Jaemin’s teasing lilt cuts through his thoughts, and Renjun gives him a swift but light kick under the table, never breaking eye contact while doing so.
He can tell Jaemin wants to press further but is holding himself back, unsure amidst the newness of their relationship. Renjun sighs. If there’s one thing he’s learnt from work, it’s that nothing ever got done by keeping mum. He decides to go for it.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that we’ve hit it off this well, but. Do you think it’s weird that we’re so…” Renjun ponders his choice of wording. “Comfortable with each other? We’ve only known each other for less than twenty four hours.”
“Definitely,” Jaemin replies immediately. “And honestly, I’m glad that you’re thinking it too.”
“Right?” Renjun laughs. “You already know I’m not the best at dealing with new people, but… I don’t know. This is all a bit new to me."
"Same," Jaemin agrees. "I was worried that we got along well last night, but what if in one week's time we run out of things to talk about? And, well," he makes a face. "I'll admit, I’m actually rather relieved that today’s lunch went well. I was kind of thinking that you’d distance yourself.”
His voice quiets down a bit towards the end with the admission, and Renjun itches to link their fingers together, just like they did the day before. He settles for placing his hand on top of Jaemin’s wrist, not quite daring to cover the back of his hand.
“I nearly did,” Renjun concedes. “I lowkey panicked before leaving the house today, but I’m glad I decided not to be an idiot about it.”
Jaemin beams, and turns his hand around so that he can loosely grasp Renjun’s hand. Renjun tries in vain to will his answering blush away.
“I meant it when I said we could take it slow,” Jaemin adds. “Really, okay? Just let me know if I do anything that you don’t like.”
“And same for you,” Renjun insists. “Anything at all.”
“We’ll work something out,” Jaemin agrees. “Anyway, let’s focus on getting through the work week first. Ugh, I can’t believe there’s a whole week to go to the weekend.”
“It is way too early to be thinking about work,” Renjun complains, shuddering. They look at each other and both groan at the thought of going back to the office the next day.
“So, Saturday?” Jaemin prompts.
“Saturday,” Renjun confirms, and squeezes Jaemin’s hand lightly.
One week.
“Saturday!” Renjun half sobs. “Why am I here on a Saturday!”
“Shut up, shut up,” Donghyuck chants. He’s clicking through a file on his laptop as he tries to pick out the information he needs. “The sooner you stop whining the sooner we can get out of here.”
“This is so weird,” Renjun says. He’s spinning around in his office chair with his arms raised – it’s barely been an hour since they came in to work on the weekend and the central heating is off, but there’s nobody else in the office to judge him for being loud. “Normally it’s you who’s complaining at me while I do all the work.”
“Love changes people,” Donghyuck declares, and Renjun scowls at him in retaliation. “Don’t give me that look, you know what I’m talking about.”
“It’s too early to be attacked like this,” Renjun rubs his eyes irritably. They’re both sleepy and tired and would much rather be anywhere but here, but seeing as they had failed to finish their work the night before and had together decided to come in early on a Saturday, they have no choice but to live with the consequences of their actions.
Donghyuck tuts, looking away from his laptop screen. His screen is a mess of invoices and numbers – Renjun can only guess at what they mean, finance has never been his strong suit – but he seems to have made significant progress, so Donghyuck pushes his laptop away for a bit to rest his eyes.
“I could have been at my own desk, finishing my own work, but instead I’m here, at your desk, accompanying you out of the kindness of my heart. And what do I get for it?”
“You were the one who said you’d come over to my desk!” Renjun protests indignantly. “You said, and I quote: ‘ I was going to watch a movie at Jeno’s last night but I couldn’t because of work, if you’re working tomorrow let me go disturb you at your table to dispel my loneliness’ .”
“Lies,” Donghyuck said loftily.
“I speak only the truth.”
“Okay, fine, I was a bit lonely. But that’s not the point. The point is – you have a lunch date with Jaemin in about two hours, why are you not working faster? ”
“Ugh!” Renjun makes a sound of distress, half-whining. “I don’t want to work, I want the lunch to be nowwww.”
“I really wonder about you sometimes,” Donghyuck comments. “I’ve always told you that you cared too much about work, right? Just last month it took me every ounce of effort to get you to leave work before ten. You blew off so many invites from me – me! – to have a nice dinner out instead of a measly one-hour work lunch. You turned down malatang!”
“I already apologized for those,” Renjun groans. “I had to cover for my colleagues.”
“And even if you didn’t have work to do, you’d refuse to hang out with others,” Donghyuck steamrollers over him like he never even heard him. “Goodness knows how many group karaoke sessions I’ve invited you to that you’ve turned down. And the next thing I know, you’re drinking champagne in the park with someone you’ve never met before, and whining about not being able to make it to a lunch date! Like I said – love changes people .”
Renjun falls silent. He bites his lip, turning Donghyuck’s words over in his head, and maybe the silence stretches on a bit too long, because Donghyuck then grudgingly nudges his chair with his foot.
“I’m kidding, okay?” Donghyuck says, half-apologetically. “Sort of. I know I’ve been harping on it a bit and I’ll tone it down once I get used to the idea of you and Jaemin, I promise. Just ignore me.”
“What do you mean, get used to it?”
“It’s just,” Donghyuck sighs. “Look, you were a bystander in romance and it’s like you suddenly decided to hop on the bullet train of love, you get what I mean?”
Renjun shoots him a look.
“I don’t mean that you’re moving too fast, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Donghyuck continues. “Different people move at different speeds, right? It’s just that you went from actively avoiding new people, to kissing a guy at your first meeting. You’ve been texting Jaemin all week, and you normally hate texting. It’s a bit jarring, the way I see it.”
“I guess,” Renjun sighs. “I’ve thought about it myself, whether it’s weird. You know he dropped by my place on Wednesday?”
Donghyuck sits up. “He what?”
“He made me dinner,” Renjun sighs. “Because my New Year resolution was to eat healthier, so he said I should stop ordering take out, and he made me dinner.”
“So that’s what happened,” Donghyuck marvels. “Jeno was telling me that Jaemin left work on time that day, which is as rare an occurrence as you leaving work on time-”
“Hey!”
“-and it turns out he was making you dinner? Damn,” Donghyuck shakes his head. “He’s too good to you.”
“He is,” Renjun agrees.
“Nah,” Donghyuck says. “You deserve the best.”
“Make up your mind,” Renjun rolls his eyes, but he’s grinning, pleased. “But like I was saying, he made me dinner, he stayed a bit so we could eat together, and after that-”
“You didn’t!” Donghyuck claps a hand over his mouth in mock horror. “Don’t tell me you…! And him…!”
Renjun shoves him. “Get your mind out of the gutter! We just hung out, chatted about work, watched some YouTube… it was nice. But...”
Donghyuck settles back in his chair and crosses his arms, staring at him. Renjun frowns at him, fidgeting a bit under his scrutiny. “What?”
“You don’t need me to tell you this, because knowing you, you’ve probably been thinking about this the entire week,” Donghyuck says. “But as long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters.”
“But how will I know if I’m happy?”
“Easy! You’re going to meet him in two hours. Are you happy?”
“But that’s-”
“Answer the question!” Donghyuck jabs a finger under his nose. “Are you happy?”
“Yes,” Renjun says, and he bites his lip to stop from grinning too widely. They’ve only met twice now, barring their first meeting in the supermarket, but he likes the way Jaemin’s eyes always seem to light up when they meet his. He likes the way Jaemin has started naturally leaning into him, whether they’re having a meal or sitting on the couch, or when Renjun’s sending him off at his doorstep.
Donghyuck studies his face for a moment, then nods decisively. “Okay. That’s all I need to know.”
Renjun looks down. “But what if-”
“Nope!” Donghyuck snaps his fingers, forcing Renjun to look back up. “Will you be happy tomorrow? I don’t know. Will you be happy in a month? Hell, I don’t know! You don’t know! That’s a problem for future-you to handle. And I know it’s practically second-nature for you to question everything, but you’ll handle it when it happens, I know you will. Okay?”
The stillness of the office in the wake of Donghyuck’s speech feels almost unbearable for Renjun all of a sudden, and he clears his throat awkwardly in an attempt to dispel his discomfort. He’s gotten better at vocalizing his feelings, over the years, but Donghyuck has a way of summarizing his thought processes so succinctly that Renjun sometimes wonders whether Donghyuck has a direct line to his mind.
From his jeans pocket, his phone chimes, and Renjun reluctantly smiles. “Okay,” he says.
Donghyuck stares at him, eyes narrowing. “That was a special ringtone for Jaemin, wasn’t it,” he says accusingly.
Renjun’s grin widens. “Yep.”
“You two are gross!! ”
One month.
“So, what are you making for Renjun tonight?”
Jaemin switches the sound options on his phone so that Jeno’s call is put through to his AirPods, leaving his hands free to work. He shifts the groceries around a bit on the kitchen counter, mentally calculating how much to use, and sections out a portion enough for two. “Malatang,” he answers. “He said he was craving it.”
“That’s nice,” Jeno says, before sneezing loudly. Jaemin hears him blow his nose noisily on the line before Jeno continues blearily, “Hyuck has been complaining all week about missing Chinese New Year eve dinner with Renjun.”
“Well, then the two of you shouldn’t have fallen sick at the same time. Renjun was pretty disappointed too, to be honest.”
“We’re sorry,” Jeno apologises as sincerely as he can while sounding like he’s got a furball stuck in his throat. “The good news is that I’m at least well enough to be up and about, and Hyuck’s sleeping it off as we speak, so we’ll probably be good to meet up sometime next week, if all goes well.”
“Should you even be on the phone?” Jaemin asks. “I’d much rather you sleep it off instead of depleting your energy by calling me.”
He can practically see Jeno’s grin as his friend replies, “I’m just jealous that Renjun has seen you a total of five times this month, while I’ve only seen you once. The two of you are spending an awful lot of time together.”
“Well,” Jaemin sighs, picking up the knife and starting to cut the vegetables. “That’s because my best friend decided to pick an apartment that’s a forty minute train ride away. Renjun’s place is practically next door to mine, in comparison.”
“You know what I mean,” Jeno says. Jaemin merely hums, arranging the neatly sliced vegetables in a wide plate he had brought over from his own place. Jeno continues, “I’m happy for you, I might tease, but I mean it – I was getting kind of worried that you would burn out at work towards the end of December, but after you and Renjun got to know each other it feels like you’ve become more… aware of the concept of work-life balance.”
He’s not wrong, Jaemin thinks. His promotion at work had been formalized in November and he’d been quickly overwhelmed by the number of things he’d had to do while transitioning out of his previous role – working overtime was already part of his daily routine, but suddenly it felt like twenty-four hours in a day just wasn’t enough time, and he’d been pushing himself to just get things done .
There’d been a constant, aching pressure in his chest at work whenever he’d had to face down obstinate colleagues or play nice with upper management, that hadn’t quite alleviated even outside of the office; yet Jaemin’s come to realise that these days, he can breathe easier, his heart feels a little lighter, and the occasional twinges from the pressure to perform have transformed into heart flutters every time he sees his phone light up with a message from Renjun.
Over the course of the month, Jaemin has questioned whether he’s been subconsciously treating Renjun as a form of escapism from work, what with the way they’ve been meeting regularly. He’s dismissed the notion repeatedly, though – if anything else, Renjun’s made him braver, more willing to take things heads-on. They exchange stories about work constantly, and while Renjun’s all too ready to lend a listening ear, he’s also eerily adept at picking out Jaemin’s underlying hesitance and prodding him towards a solution.
It scares him, it does – but only a little.
“Jaemin? Are you still there?”
Jaemin shakes himself. “Yeah, sorry. Was just getting the food ready.”
“Oh. Where’s Renjun, anyway?”
“We ran out of seasoning, so he stepped out to buy some,” Jaemin explains. He gets to work on slicing the meat, and the spicy-sweet smell of mala is only just beginning to permeate through the air as the ready-made soup stock is warmed up on the stove. “Hey, Jeno.”
“Yeah?”
“At that New Year lunch gathering we had.”
“Mmhmm?”
“You said that Renjun and I meeting was a bit like fate, didn’t you?”
There’s a bout of silence from Jeno’s end, before Jeno sheepishly says, “You heard that?”
“You weren’t exactly being quiet about it,” Jaemin points out. He frowns when one of the meat slices comes out uneven – he shifts it onto a separate plate for himself.
He can hear Jeno shuffling a bit on the line. “Don’t think too much about it, okay?” Jeno says. “It was just an offhand comment. I mean, you’ve probably guessed that Hyuck and I were thinking of introducing the two of you, but it wasn’t like we wanted to set you guys up or anything.”
“Really.”
“Really!” Jeno insists. “Hyuck had a friend he wanted to get out of the office, I had a friend I wanted to get out of the office, it just made sense to us then. But then the two of you happened to be in the right place at the right time, so we didn’t even need to do anything at all.”
Somewhere behind Jaemin, the front door opens, and he can hear Renjun kicking off his shoes. “I’m back,” Renjun calls.
“Welcome back,” Jaemin answers, turning to smile at him. “Jeno’s on the line.”
“Hi Jeno,” Renjun says, leaning in so that the mic can pick up his words. His hair is tousled from the wind and his cheeks flushed from the cold. Jaemin fights the urge to cup his face between his palms to warm him up. “We’ll be sure to eat your share of the food.”
“Jaemin, your boyfriend’s mean,” Jeno whines.
“He’s not m-,” Jaemin manages to cut himself off in time, keenly aware of Renjun’s presence behind him.
Jeno makes an all-knowing sound, but thankfully backs off. “I’m gonna go. Hyuck’s waking up and I think he’s still feeling pretty miserable.”
“Get well soon,” Jaemin says.
Renjun shuffles closer again, his breath fanning across Jaemin’s cheek. “Jeno, tell Donghyuck that if he isn’t back at work by Wednesday, he owes me Gongcha for a week.”
“Hear that, Jaemin? Renjun wants Gongcha for a week,” Jeno laughs, and before Jaemin can shoot back a retort, Jeno’s bidding him goodbye and ending the call.
“I’ll take those out for you,” Renjun says, tapping his own ears to indicate the AirPods that Jaemin’s still got on. Jaemin nods, and when he leans down so Renjun can remove them, he gets pinched for his efforts.
“I’m not that short,” Renjun mutters, trying to ignore the fact that he had nearly tip-toed out of habit.
Jaemin mentally coos at him, and kisses his forehead for good measure.
By the time they’re halfway through their meal, the smell of mala has spread throughout Renjun’s apartment, and they’ve opened one window to air it out. They’re cross-legged on the floor, eating off Renjun’s cramped coffee table, knees brushing. It’s cosy, and natural, almost domestic , and Renjun has to fight the urge to overthink things.
Jaemin asks if Renjun would be willing to share stories from back home, and Renjun obliges, pleased. He may have offhandedly mentioned that Chinese New Year is the time of year that makes him the most homesick, but he appreciates that Jaemin doesn’t shy away from it. Jaemin’s cultivated an accurate sense of when Renjun needs to talk through something, and when he just needs to be distracted. He hasn’t quite figured out what he feels about that, if he had to be honest.
It’s just as Jaemin is standing up to get more soup when Renjun’s phone rings, signaling a FaceTime call. Even if he’s been expecting it, he still can’t quite quash the spike of adrenaline that runs through him when he sees who it’s from.
“What’s wrong?” Jaemin asks quizzically, when he sees that Renjun has frozen.
“It’s my cousins,” Renjun grimaces.
Jaemin remains silent, waiting for more.
Renjun visibly deflates. “I haven’t really spoken to them since New Year’s Eve…”
Ah , Jaemin thinks. Renjun had indeed brought up the fact that he’d gotten a bit short-tempered with his cousins for nagging him about visiting.
“And yet they’re calling you today,” Jaemin tsks. “Just answer the call. I’m sure they miss you.” He gives Renjun an encouraging smile, and waits for Renjun to return it before he heads towards the kitchen.
Renjun gulps, and answers the call. The response is immediate.
“Little Huang!!” Two voices yell at the same time. Renjun yelps and holds the phone away from his ear. The screen is small, but he can still make out the widely grinning faces of two of his cousins. Chaos erupts on screen while they try and arrange themselves, and Renjun waits it out as he always has.
From where he is at the kitchen counter, Jaemin looks alarmed. Renjun smiles reassuringly, then turns his attention back to the phone where his two cousins have finally figured out a way to have both of them on screen at the same time. The rapid-fire chatter in Mandarin is nearly overwhelming.
“Little Huang! We’ve missed you!”
“Little Huang! You haven’t been replying our messages, you bad child!”
“Little Huang! We’re having hotpot, aren’t you envious?”
“Little Huang! Where’s that Korean friend of yours, Donghyuck, didn’t he eat a reunion dinner with you last year?”
“ Stop calling me little !” Renjun bursts out, feeling a headache coming on. Dealing with Xuxi and Guanheng was never an easy matter - he loves his cousins, he really does, but growing up with them had been insane especially since they could be a little too overprotective. Not to mention he often felt like the oldest out of all of them, despite being the youngest in age. Goodness knows the number of times he’s had to talk them out of pranks at school.
“Sorry, Little Huang - I mean, uh.”
On-screen, Xuxi covers his mouth quickly, eyes wide, while Guanheng guffaws at him. Renjun rolls his eyes, and angles his screen so that they can see the food on the table, prompting them to ooh and aah in awe.
“Did you and Donghyuck prepare all these by yourselves?” Guanheng asks. “That looks even better than what we’ve got - don’t tell my mom.”
“Donghyuck’s sick this year,” Renjun shakes his head, and picks up a piece of meat to show his cousins. “It’s really good.”
Xuxi makes an obscene noise of appreciation, and Guanheng pushes his face away from the camera.
Looking past the screen, Renjun can see Jaemin’s scandalised expression in reaction to Xuxi, and he shoots Jaemin an exasperated look. “Like you’re any better! You sound worse than that sometimes when you’re drinking coffee!”
“Wait, who’s he talking to?”
“If it’s not Donghyuck, who’re you having dinner with?”
Renjun taps the screen so that the camera flips around. “Jaemin, say hi,” he says, switching to Korean.
Jaemin looks like a deer caught in the headlights for about a millisecond, before he turns on his megawatt smile. “Ni hao,” he greets the two, waving a hand.
“Little Huang, who’s that?”
“Little Huang, is that your boyfriend?”
“ Ohhhhh!! ” The two of them cheer and high-five each other repeatedly.
“I said, stop calling me little!” Renjun yells, ears burning. He’s infinitely glad Jaemin doesn’t understand Mandarin, and a quick look at the other man shows that he’s already turned back to the kitchen counter. Thankfully.
“Whoops, sorry!” Guanheng makes a face. “How come you’ve never mentioned him to us?”
“I just met him a month ago,” Renjun counters. He chances another glance at Jaemin’s back profile, eyes lingering over how Jaemin’s hair curls messily at his nape. “I haven’t had time to introduce him to you two.”
Xuxi and Guanheng both hum in understanding. “So, is he your boyfriend?”
Renjun glares at them, but there’s no real heat in it. “Maybe? I guess you could call him that?” They haven’t exactly worked it out, and he hasn’t dared to bring it up for fear of it being too soon, but he’s been all but calling Jaemin that in his head. It just… feels right, somehow.
“Awww! Renjun’s grown up!”
“Bring him home next year!”
Renjun groans and collapses over the table. He should get paid for dealing with these two.
“Careful, it’s hot.” Jaemin returns with the soup, gesturing with his head for Renjun to move away, and he carefully covers the pot with one hand so the soup doesn’t splash out while he pours it in. “Do you want more meat? There’s still some left.”
“No,” Renjun says, shifting to make way. “Let’s keep it. You said you wanted to try making hayashi rice the other day, right? We can keep the beef for that.”
He realises he’s just invited Jaemin over again, but he doesn’t bother to take it back because firstly, he’d meant it, and secondly, Jaemin is giving him one of those smiles, the kind that makes him feel like there’s nobody in the entire world Jaemin would rather smile at, and he rather likes the fuzzy feeling it’s giving him.
“Okay, stop with the lovey-dovey eyes, we’re not gonna disturb your dinner anymore,” Xuxi laughs. “Have fun with your boyfriend!”
“Your mom said to call her tomorrow, or else there’ll be no red packet for you.”
“I got it, I got it,” Renjun sighs, but his tone is fond. “Look, I’ll call you back later after dinner, you guys are going to be up late playing mahjong, aren’t you?”
“Yeah! Wish me luck!”
“He never wins. It’s hopeless for him.”
“This year is different! Anyway, talk to you later, Little Huang! Bye-bye!”
And with that, the call ends. Renjun puts the phone down, exhaling slowly.
“Are they always that…” Jaemin begins.
“Yes,” Renjun says.
“I haven’t even finished.”
“Yes,” Renjun repeats. He allows himself a brief moment of peace, before he picks up his chopsticks and fishes out one of the pieces of meat Jaemin had started cooking while he was still on the phone. “Here, you’ve been picking out the meat for me the entire time, you should eat more.”
Jaemin silently accepts the meat, and barely even moves after Renjun has resumed eating his own meal. Renjun blinks at him. “Jaemin?”
It takes a few moments more, before Jaemin carefully enunciates three simple words in Mandarin: “Nan peng you?” Boyfriend .
“Wha-” Renjun says, startled. “Do you know what that means?”
Jaemin nods.
“How do you know that?” Renjun asks, heart beating faster. Was Jaemin upset?
“I may have,” Jaemin suddenly can’t seem to look him in the eye. “I kind of, tried looking up terms of endearment?”
“... what, in Mandarin?”
“Mmhmm.” Jaemin’s pushing food into his mouth in a bid to not answer Renjun now.
“Such as?” Renjun can’t quite help the teasing tone, his worry giving way to playfulness, even though Jaemin - Jaemin! Affectionate, sweet, flirty Jaemin! - is looking slightly embarrassed.
“Such as…” Jaemin swallows his food slowly, eyeing him suspiciously. “Don’t laugh at me!
“I’m not! Tell me,” Renjun begs, stretching his legs so that his knees are pressed firmly against Jaemin’s.
“...”
“...”
“... bao bei.” Baby .
Renjun holds his silence.
“... tian xin.” Sweetheart .
Renjun presses his lips together to keep from grinning too widely, but Jaemin’s caught him, and his own smile grows.
“Qin ai de.” Beloved .
Oh, that does it. Renjun buries his face in his hands. He feels Jaemin shift so that instead of sitting opposite him, he’s now next to him - and immediately the other man presses close, looping his arms around Renjun’s waist and pulling him into an embrace.
“Nan peng you?” Jaemin asks, a bit softer, gentler, and Renjun tucks himself into the crook of Jaemin’s neck so Jaemin can’t see how red his face is.
“Yeah.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes,” Renjun says, and revels in the feeling of Jaemin pressing a kiss to the crown of his head.