Chapter Text
Renjun always wants to achieve those “that-girl” lifestyle. You know a person who wakes up at 7 am, works out, has their shit together and overall having the dream life.
Ever since he moved from his old neighborhood and moves to the one is closer to his college, he knew that this is going to be his stepping stone of success. Well, according to that random tarot reading video in youtube that this year will be his year — He hopes.
It was Saturday, meaning he had only two days from going to the deep hell hole — college. He had already eaten the healthiest food, yogurt, and oats with orange juice. He steps out of his house and got his bike and his book in hand too.
Renjun already roamed all across the neighborhood. He saw a playground that is abandoned now and a convenience store that’s in an unusual location. He also saw one odd swing that is by the side of the main road. It’s a single swing but two people can ride it. It is a metal swing that is painted in black and red, and you can see rust on the sides.
It was a good spot since there’s a huge tree beside it and a table and chair that are made out of clay. However, the chairs are a bit small for adults, maybe kids can only seat on them, but it was a nice place to sit and read. There was a farm behind the swing, though it has a brick barrier covering it. It was a nice neighborhood, after all, Renjun noted.
He plugged his earphones on and puts his phone in the pocket of his pullover hoodie. Listening to mainstream music while biking is his thing, he almost got into an accident one time for blasting Olivia Rodrigo’s Deja Vu so now learned from his lesson, he only plugs only in his right ear.
He hums as he feels the warmth of the sun at 7 am and the breeze coming through his cheeks as he pedals. After a three-minute ride, he saw a familiar swing, and he plans to finish the book that he impulsively bought because of TikTok.
He saw a bike, a red bike that is leaning toward the swing, he looked around and he see no one in the area so he assume that it was parked there.
As he opened the page where the bookmark is, he tip-toed as he launches himself to the swing and let go. The bike fell, it wasn’t that loud crash but he was flabbergasted, as he saw one pink-haired man in front of him, with his mouth opened.
“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t thinking before riding the swing.” Renjun apologizes as he picked up the bike and put it back in its original location. And quickly, rides on his old rusty white bike and went away fast to avoid any embarrassment from that.
He’s cursing himself mentally but you can read his face of embarrassment. He pedals so rapidly that he wants to go home to his old neighborhood. Sounds dramatic, he’s a drama student after all.
As he arrives at the playground, he drops his bike since it doesn’t have a stand. His converse steps on the sandy land as he saw one swing that is old and obviously hasn’t been used for a long time, as sees the rusty-red spots on the metal swings.
He sat on one and started swinging himself. The location of the playground isn’t that good compared to the other swing. It is dark since a big tree is shading the playground, still, you can feel the morning breeze on your cheeks.
As he opens his book, which is historical fiction. He doesn’t like historical stuff that much since he always buys romcom books or romance books, he thinks for a switch-up. His day went on, he also did work out. He followed those workout videos on youtube since he cannot afford a trainer and the gym is too far away from his new neighborhood.
Like a clockwork. He ate oatmeal with berries and orange juice, which he squeezed himself. And he went out to do his daily morning biking. He brought his book again since he wanted to finish it in a day, after all, college is starting tomorrow.
He pedals and he sees the familiar swing that he once embarrassed himself, at the same time as yesterday. Fortunately, he doesn’t see the red bike or the boy with pink hair. He can see that his day will go on normally and not a Romcom movie that he just watched last night, totally ignoring his sleeping schedule. He sat down and tiptoed as he launches himself to swing. He open his book on the page where he left a bookmark on.
“Are you going to crash my bike again?”
Renjun looks up instantly and looks at the familiar pink-haired boy, now with a black shirt and joggers, he looks like he just woke up. He points at himself, questioning the boy if he’s the one he’s talking to. The pink-haired boy puts his hands in his pockets, gave him a straight smile, and nods.
“Well... There’s no bike in here. Don’t worry I won’t crash your bike again.” He awkwardly smiles and reads where he left on. He can hear the boy walking toward his side, he can feel the presence of his eyes to him. He looks up to see if he was looking at him, and he met his eyes. The boy raised his eyebrows, and Renjun shook his head. He can feel the awkward air and he is very uncomfortable about everything.
“What book is that?” The pink-haired boy asked. Renjun closes his book and shows the book cover to the stranger.
“It’s Seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo?” Renjun looks at the boy again with innocent eyes.
“I heard that’s a good book.” The pink-haired boy commented as Renjun’s shoulders shrug.
“Yeah... It’s very well written.” By now they can feel the awkward tension between the warmth of the sun and the breeze coming through the trees.
They both blinked, and one of them tried to open their mouth but changes their mind.
“Are you new here?” The pink-haired boy asked as if he was a new student in the school.
“Yeah, I just moved two weeks ago.” Renjun’s eyes were on the boy then later on his book, not reading it, just so he can avoid being awkward about them.
Renjun can sense that he should go now, he cannot continue this conversation due to the awkward tension between them.
“I have to go now since the sun is getting hotter and I need to prepare my bags. You know college starts tomorrow.” Renjun bid goodbye as he plugs his earphones and pedals to escape the terrible hole.
Lies, all lies. Renjun already set up his things or he is well-prepared for the new school year. As an upcoming second year, he was nervous but also excited, since he has something to do now.
Time flies so fast, that he finished two movies now, completely ignoring his workout alarm. To pay for that missed workout, Renjun decided to bike again. It was quite windy and he can see kids running through his screen door while preparing his phone and earphones. Renjun cannot live without his mainstream pop music and biking.
As he stepped out of his door, he can already feel the cold breeze, the sky wasn’t that bright or dark, it was perfect for him.
The usual. He can see others biking too and he almost got into a collision with a kid biking. But he slipped it away and goes on with his Spotify recommendation playlist.
“Are you going to crash my bike again?” A sudden but familiar voice appeared. He knew who’s that person as he turned his head to the left.
“Why are you following me? What do you want? Also, there is no bike on here. Clearly, you ARE riding it.” He pauses, “I’m not going to crash your bike, don’t worry.” You can sense in Renjun’s voice the stress. Though the boy is grinning with his red bike.
Instead of replying, the boy left out a chuckle. And he smiled at him as they turned left.
“You know it has a catch on it. Maybe it’s my catchphrase for you.”
“Then why are you following me?” Renjun said and the pink-haired boy immediately grabbed Renjun’s handlebar and turned it to the right, as the truck overlap their way. Renjun thanked the boy, as they rest on the sidewalk of the road.
“Are you okay?” The boy held the other boy’s shoulder and Renjun met the concerned eyes of the pink-haired boy.
“Yeah. I’m okay, you obviously saved me so.” Renjun chuckled, then he gets off his rusty white bike and the boy followed him too. They walked to the familiar swing, where they first met, or when Renjun knocked off the boy’s bike.
“I’m going to ask you again. Why are you following me?” Renjun raised his eyebrows, giving him questionable eyes as you see in detectives’ interrogating.
The pink-haired boy chuckled, “I wasn’t following you, I just saw you on the way and I wanted to say Hi.” The boy then defended himself but Renjun still has his eyebrows raised.
“Okay, I already said my reasons. Why are your eyebrows still at the top of the Everest?” Then the boy showed his gum smile, laughing at how Renjun morphing into those detectives in movies.
“First of all. You didn’t say hi at ALL. Secondly, you said ‘Are you going to crash my bike again’ When I already apologized, and your bike functions fine!” Renjun then breathed deeply, calming his blood pressure.
The pink-haired boy kept his silent chuckles as Renjun asked him what was so funny and the boy shook his head and says. “You are just adorable.” The tension between them became lighter after some dialogues. Renjun wasn’t fully sure he was comfortable with him but it was better to say that he enjoys his presence, especially his smile.