Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Prologue
“whatever, your personal hell”, mark mumbled as he flopped down on the bench, seemingly concerned at his smiley-eyed third year buddy who was stuck staring at his other third year friend from afar. renjun immediately caught on to the conversation, it being too easy as soon as the sound of mark lee’s scolding reached his ears.
“what is? his chances or his feelings?”, he asked teasingly, joining jeno as his gaze fell on jaemin as well. they’ve discussed this matter probably a billion times before, with it always ending with mark announcing that jaemin’s just not his type, and he does agree with one of his bestfriend’s lingering feelings towards the other. the brown-haired boy was pretty, smart, sweet and approachable. and if he sees it, so does everyone in their university. leaving the jock, jeno, with an unsaid crush on the medical technology student.
“ha-ha. shut up, he’s coming”, the lovesick boy mumbled as he picked up his sad bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich. the other two chuckled, patting him on the back as he shrugged them off— begging them to act normal.
“renjun, you haven’t been attending rehearsals?”, jaemin scolded the boy as he sat beside mark. his eyes glued on the literature major who could only roll his eyes.
“xiaojun-hyung’s been holding me and, you know who, hostage the whole week. something about rekindling the spark or some shit”, he mumbled tiredly. jeno’s grumbled laugh mixed with mark’s high-pitched one made his ears hurt, admittedly more on edge just talking about it.
“why not just quit the recital? you’ve been doing it since you started here, not like it contributes much to your major”. mouth full, with jaemin wiping a bit of mayo off his cheek, jeno’s smile widened after his sentence finished. renjun ignored his friend’s very obvious grin, attempting to reply before a loud yell interrupted his thoughts.
“listen up, fuckers!”, donghyuck walked up the grassy field as he eyed every student sprawled out. pulling on a tall freshmen, who in renjun’s perspective, had glossy eyes and reddish lids. in an instant, the three glanced at mark with a knowing look while he could only flip them off. the rest of the students lazily gave the red-haired boy their attention, some of them squealing while others looked terribly nervous.
“i don’t care who you think you are, but this”, with a threatening gaze, he pulled on the boy’s shoulder, “is one of the most talented dancers in this city– shut up, let me talk– this fucking city. if you don’t like the fact that he’s younger than you yet he’s teaching you how to fucking dance, then maybe you should get your limbs checked because he sure as hell isn’t the problem. got that?”
“ah, right. i knew i’ve seen him around”, jeno suddenly realized, whispering to his friends as donghyuck left the area— not wanting to seem like he was gossiping.
“who? jisung?” jaemin asked, looking around and snorting as he spotted a few members of their org glaring towards where the two walked off to.
“who’s jisung?” the oldest asked, both confusion and curiosity etched in his voice. the silver-haired boy pinched his cheek, commenting about how their older friend sounded jealous and jeno immediately agreed.
“the new choreographer for the recital, ten-hyung assigned him since he’s too busy with his dance studio”, he explained a bit but the rest of his words didn’t really register in renjun’s head— still thinking about the boy’s puffy eyes and embarrassed stance beside his older friend. his eyes caught a few of the people he knew from their org, all tapping away on their phones and rolling their eyes at what just occurred. subtly, he peeked at his notifications and just like he thought, complaints were filling the dance recital’s group chat up. his eyes moved past the newly added members and only saw the blatant hatred he didn’t really to understand.
‘still a freshman, fuck lee donghyuck’s threats’
‘the moves he wanted were inhumane, how is that a good choreographer?’
“in my opinion, they’re just jealous because jisungie’s an amazing dancer despite being new”, jaemin’s words snapped the boy out of his thoughts— surprised at the nickname.
“jisungie? you’re close?”, mark chuckled at the jealousy dripping from jeno’s voice.
“no. but we can be, he’s cute” his pout and his words sent renjun snorting, subtly glancing at the jock.
“yikes, ex-girlfriend alert”, mark suddenly signaled— giving them enough time to busy themselves while still listening in on the possible conversation.
“renjun”, lia, his girlfriend for more than a year and now ex, called out to him as her sandals crunchily stomped on the dried leaves surrounding the group’s bench. even through his face full of dread, the boy mustered up the courage to at least glance and acknowledge her presence.
“i talked to xiaojun and told him about this new choreography ryujin-“
“oh, fuck” jeno whispered, glancing at the two who mimicked the same expression. jaemin more mad than surprised, but all in all still as wide-eyed as the other two.
“your cheating buddy? yeah, what about her?” he quipped, causing mark to sputter in laughter as he hid behind the sleeve of his hoodie. the girl rolled her eyes, wanting to explain yet finding it bothersome to.
“she suggested that me and her should dance together instead so we could move forward with the rehearsals, since you’re not comfortable rehearsing with-“, renjun chuckled in disbelief— trying to figure out if it sounded just as absurd in his head.
“you’re kicking me out as one of our org’s representative, and you wanna bring your new girlfriend in? that’s what you’re telling me?”, his eyes void of any emotions but forced humor. it was a meltdown waiting to happen, one he’s been suppressing since he found out he had to dance alongside her again.
“chenle!”, a voice caught their attention, the name being familiar to them. but the voice, not so much.
“i told you guys it’s fine” the tall boy complained, jeno being annoyed at how he found it endearing in a way. even renjun had to turn to look at the commotion, spotting his younger friend pushing one of the ballet dancers in his org.
“what happened, chenle?”, his tone concerned as walked over to them with a calmer demeanor. renjun was used to chenle’s hotheaded manner, being familiar with the kid since they lived in the same neighborhood. you could say they’re childhood friends, making it easy for him to understand that he wasn’t messing around. the raven-haired arts student was pissed.
“that fucker had the nerve to belittle jisung and even donghyuck-hyung, that’s outright cyberbullying. he was in that stinking group chat of yours”, the boy explained with a finger pointing angrily at the dancer who seemed unapologetic. in a way, it pissed him off too despite not knowing shit about the younger boy who seemed to be elbowing chenle out of embarrassment.
“we’ll talk to xiaojun-hyung about it, chenle. we’ll contact ten-hyung as well, maybe he could knock some sense into these people” jaemin replied, his university council nature popping up with a warm smile he tried to offer the other as he walked over as well. renjun hoped it would help appease him, but the younger one only sighed. it made him want to chuckle, realizing how shitty the day has been for a lot of people.
“no need..”, the tall boy, jisung(?), spoke up. jaemin hummed in a questioning tone, also in the sweetest way the friend group swore they’ve ever heard.
“i’d rather quit, i don’t really need it anyway. i was just asked a favor…” he always ended his sentences like he was dragging it further, renjun noticed. or maybe it was him wanting the boy to talk more, finding his voice interesting.
“you can’t quit, renjun needs you”, a panicked jaemin suddenly said. in an instant his cheeks flushed, furrowing his brows at his friend who could only offer an apologetic smile.
“for what?”, chenle asked. protectively stepping in front of jisung who was genuinely confused and embarrassed, even as the small crowd dispersed around them. renjun noticed it, equally flustered at the situation his friend suddenly created. his friend who wasn’t an A+ student for nothing.
“since lia’s dancing with her girl, then injunie should have a twist in his longtime role too. dancing with a guy, just to, you know… make the story have much more sense than you just throwing him away to dance with someone else”, he tried to not make the last part sound mean— sparing his friend’s feelings. “right, jeno?” he turned towards the innocent boy eating his sandwich in peace, mark pushing his head up and down to form a nod.
“see, it makes sense” he cheerily turned towards the confused duo, his distressed friend and lia who seemed like she was considering it.
“jisung’s not good with crowds, that’s why he was only asked to chore-“
“chenle…”, the tall boy whined. renjun noticed how jaemin giggled inwardly, and he would’ve too. if he wasn’t too busy secretly laughing at jeno’s reaction.
“see, he’s even embarrassed now. how do you expect him to dance at a recital?”, chenle pointed out. ignoring the boy pulling him away, asking if they could just leave.
he wasn’t sure if it was his own embarrassment eating him up alive or maybe it was how the tall boy obviously didn’t want to be there any longer, but renjun spoke up. clearly. fixing everything up for everyone, except himself.
“then just rehearse with me, i’ll find someone to do it with on the actual recital. just, help me rehearse and choreograph then… i’ll find someone…”, he dragged his words as well. unconsciously imitating how jisung talked. chenle frowned in confusion, seemingly unsure about the whole thing. but the freshman nodded slowly, obviously doing it for the sake of getting out of there.
“i’ll let xiaojun-hyung know”