Chapter Text
"Alright, what about..hm...Huang Renjun?" Jeno asked, a playful smirk on his face as he jutted his chin out towards the said male far across the cafeteria.
"Huang Renjun? That quiet artsy kid that has like, only two friends? You think he would be that gullible?" Jaemin asked, an eyebrow arched slightly as he looked at his friend from across the table skeptically.
"Well, he doesn't seem to be excruciatingly gullible enough to buy it right away, but maybe we should slow the pace a little, you know? Jaemin, you become friends with him at first, get to know his a little more, butter him up. Then start to hint at a little 'more', eh? And then we'll get the ball really rollin' after a while." Mark responded to Jaemin, accepting Jeno's fist bump of approval over the so-called amazing idea.
Everyone nodded in agreement. Well, everyone except Park Jisung, the youngest and least "rebel-like" of the friend group. He just looked between the other three boys with a confused expression on his face.
"Remind me why we're doing this again?" The young boy asked as he shook his head in disapproval, his eyes darting over and across the cafeteria to look at the group of boys they were previously talking about, who were currently engaging in conversation amongst themselves.
"Because young one, this damn school is boring, and quite frankly, we need some more entertainment around here." Jeno piped up enthusiastically, a smug look on his face as he patted the youngest's head, causing Jisung to groan and attempt to swat his hand away.
"But hyung, that doesn't mean-"
"Hush Jisung. We all know that you don't wanna do this because Chenle is one of Huang's friends. If you weren't such a wimp you would've manned up and made a move on the kid already." Jaemin smirked and stood up from his seat, already prepared to set the first move into action. "Just sit back, relax, and watch me work."
And with that he set off, starting to walk over to the other end of the hall, chuckling when he heard cheers and whoops from who he assumed to be Jeno and Mark.
Jisung could only scoff and pinch the bridge of his nose. "How did I get roped into something stupid again?"
The trio at the other end of the cafeteria were in the middle of a humorous conversation when they noticed a figure approaching them a little too closely, and the all turned to see Na Jaemin standing across from them, his eyes specifically trained on Huang Renjun.
"Sorry guys I hope I'm not interrupting. I just couldn't help but come over." Jaemin flashed his million dollar smile, making sure to not let his eyes wander away from Renjun's for too long.
"I'm sorry, do we know you?"
Jaemin recognized the boy who just responded. It was Chenle, the boy Jisung always glances or smiles at when he thinks no one else is looking at him. He was a lot sassier than he expected.
"Well I mean, everyone knows who I am-" Jaemin started, but was soon cut off by the same fiery boy.
"But we aren't friends, are we? You seem awfully comfortable interrupting our lunch time." Chenle stated bluntly, looking up at Jaemin with no amount of amusement.
"Cool it Chenle." The third boy said and slapped Chenle's shoulder, resulting in Chenle just shrugging and raising his hands as if to ask 'what did I do?'. This new boy was a little tanner than the other two, with a softer voice and brown hair that Jaemin had to admit looked super fluffy. The boy turned to Jaemin right after scolding Chenle, eyeing him up and down briefly before speaking.
"We know who you are Na Jaemin. We're just curious as to why you've come over here so suddenly when you haven't ever muttered a single hi to us before."
"Well um...god, this is kind of embarrassing..." Jaemin chuckled, a hand going up scratch his nape as if he really was embarrassed by what he was going to say. This was world class acting in Jaemin's eyes. He continued, his eyes on Renjun once again.
"I've been seeing Renjun around lately and I couldn't help but notice how...how awfully cute he is. I just wanted to introduce myself so we can become friends."
"Friends? I don't-"
"Donghyuck, stop it." Renjun finally spoke, poking Donghyuck to prevent the said boy from any more dialogue. Donghyuck just sighed, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Thanks for the compliment Jaemin," Renjun continued, plastering a friendly smile on his face, "Sure, we can be friends." He dug his spoon into his apple sauce nonchalantly, bringing the food up to his mouth and consuming it.
His friends stared at him with furrowed brows for a moment, then looked at each other in mutual confusion.
"But," Renjun spoke up again, prompting everyone to look in his direction. "Please don't be a nuisance. I don't like being friends with people that'll just get on my nerves. These two are already enough as it is." Renjun pointed his spoon at Chenle and Donghyuck, and the two said boys yelled out a "Hey!" in unison.
This one's kinds feisty, Jaemin thought as he watched the three start to bicker a bit in front of him. I like that. It'll keep this fun.
"Sure, don't worry I'll make sure to stay annoyance-free." Jaemin flashed another smile, wanting to seem as genuine as possible to the smaller boy.
"Great! You can leave now." Chenle piped up, peering up at Jaemin with an unbothered look as he munched on a carrot.
Jaemin just nodded politely, waving goodbye as he returned to the area he came from.
Once he was out of ear shot, Renjun chuckled and spoke. "You guys are so mean." He took a sip of his orange juice, watching as Chenle dipped his carrot in ranch aggressively.
"What? The bastard deserved it! I know his motive too well Junnie." He looked over and glared in the direction of Jaemin's table, where the rest of his friends seemed to be cheering and fist bumping Jaemin as he approached the table and sat down. "You need to be careful. Guys like him are only after one thing."
"Chenle's right Junnie. They're obviously up to no good. We're just trying to protect you." Donghyuck added, eating a spoonful of jello.
"I know that guys, thank you for looking out for me. But...I know their intentions. You think I would agree to be that jerk's friend for no reason?" Renjun asked, observing how the other two boys looked at him in perplexity.
"What do you mean?"
"Na Jaemin seems to be on too high of a pedestal, don't you two think? I think it's about time he got nudged off."
"Oh? Am I smelling some sort of devious plan? I'm in!" Chenle responded to Renjun, already smiling mischievously at the thought of doing something sneaky. "What are we gonna do, publicly embarrass him? Trick him into doing something for us? Better yet, we should include all the rest of his friends too!"
"I'm game! If only one of Jaemin's friends wasn't so damn hot though..." Donghyuck spoke in pout, sighing dramatically and resting his chin in his palm.
"Oh shut it Hyuck," Renjun could only giggle at his friend's daydreamy behavior, his attention soon being brought to the bell that signaled the end of lunch. "Lunch is over. I'll text you two all of the details later once I think of a more coherent plan."
The other two nodded, watching Renjun stand with his lunch tray and start to walk to the trash cans, which just so happened to be near Jaemin's lunch table.
How convenient. I guess chapter one of the plan can start now. Renjun thought, smiling to himself as he got closer to their table. He dumped his excess food into the trash bin and placed the plastic tray on the designated tray return area, and after doing so he made sure to turn around and look towards Jaemin, smiling and waving innocently.
Of course, Jaemin was already staring at Renjun by the time to other boy waved. He smiled and waved back, looking back to his friends and chuckling once Renjun walked through and out of the cafeteria doors.
"The plan is moving along wonderfully, boys!" Jeno remarked cheerfully, high-fiving Mark and Jaemin while Jisung just rolled his eyes.
But little did they know, Renjun and his friends had a sneaky little plan of their own. A plan that would mark Huang Renjun down in history as the only one to outplay the player himself, to tame the lion that is Na Jaemin.