Chapter Text
Renjun’s feeling a little out of breath as he pushes his cart of things up the hill.
A student helper is pulling on the other side while Renjun regrets that extra box of crafts that he just had to bring. He should have left them at home and just bought new supplies here if it meant that this climb would be a tiny bit more bearable. The sun is bearing down even though it's mid September, and the heat permeates the air making everything that much harder.
“Aaand here’s your room!” The student helper chirps, suspiciously sweat free and with an unflinching smile.
“Lucky for you, it looks like your roomie isn't here yet so you get to choose your side of the room! I’ll leave you to it!”
Renjun looks around the small dorm room with the bare furniture and drab carpet. His stomach swirls with emotions, anticipation, anxiety, loneliness, and hopefulness. He doesn't regret making the decision to transfer universities, but now standing here in an empty room realizing that he doesn't know anyone here, he’s regretting that his past self didn't make the right decision in the first place.
Renjun shakes his head, hoping it'll maybe physically shake the stomach-swirling thoughts out of his mind and gets to unpacking.
—
“Oh my god.”
Renjun stops in his footsteps before he can bump into the person who just stopped right in front of him.
“Renjun?”
Renjun locks eyes with the person and is hit with a wave of memories.
“Mark?” He looks the same as he did at 13 but also wildly different. He’s lost all his baby fat and his face looks more defined and his shoulders are broader. But he still has the same bright eyes and smile.
“Oh my god it is you!” Mark exclaims pulling Renjun into a hug. “Dude it’s been like forever!”
Renjun can’t help but laugh, Mark doesn’t seem to have changed at all. Renjun hadn’t realized how anxious he was and seeing a familiar face brings a relief that calms his nerves.
“I know,” Renjun says, pulling back. “The last time I saw you, you still had braces.”
“Wait, this is so cool.” Mark’s eyes sparkle and has a huge grin on his face. “I didn’t even know you went here.”
“I actually just transferred here,” Renjun explains. “I didn’t realize you went here either though.”
“Dude wait this is actually insane. Jeno and Jisung will be so surprised, we have to go meet up with them.” Mark takes out his phone and starts typing frantically.
“Wait, they go here too?”
“Yes!” Mark says emphatically. “Which is why this is so crazy! It’s literally fate.”
Fate. Renjun believes in fate like how he believed in Santa Clause. At first with his whole heart, and then slowly losing faith but still having that small tiny hope that he was still real. Starting at a new university, and all alone at that, Renjun wants to believe with his whole heart that this is the right decision, but in a world with so much chaos how can you be sure of anything? But maybe at least he won’t be so alone anymore.
Mark looks up from his phone. “Looks like they’re caught up in class—wait you don’t have a class to go to or anything right?”
“Yeah, I just finished my last class for the day.”
“Ok nice, we should get lunch then! We can go to my place after and they’ll come too after their classes.”
Renjun and Mark start walking to the nearby Panda Express on campus as they fill each other in on the past six years that they’ve missed.
“I still can't believe this is real.” Mark remarks, with a sense of awe that reminds Renjun of the time they found a small secret pond in their neighborhood. They started hanging out there everyday after school until summer arrived and they got eaten alive by mosquitoes.
“How has everyone been?” Renjun asks.
Renjun has never been a social media type of person, he thinks influencer culture just promotes capitalism and breeds jealousy, but he cannot deny that he doesn’t see the appeal of knowing what your friends are up to. He’s only ever kept a low key profile, only for close friends and only uploading pictures of his drawings or street cats.
“They’ve been good!” Mark says, “I mean, in general I think everyone’s doing well. Although you know, everyone’s got their good and bad days.”
It’s a very Mark answer and it makes Renjun smile.
“What about you?” Mark asks excitedly, “How was the east coast?”
“Colder.”
Mark laughs immediately, his nose scrunching up making him look exactly like he did all those years ago.
“I liked it and all, snow was nice and I like winter fashion.” Renjun says, “It was nice but after my parents went back to China last year, I didn’t feel like I wanted to stay really. So I somewhat impulsively just applied to transfer and luckily it all worked out.”
“I still can’t believe you applied here without even knowing that we go here. The universe is crazy man, haha.” The MarkTM mannerisms are so apparent Renjun can’t help but smile.
“Definitely crazy.”
—
They walk back to Mark’s apartment, it’s a little bit off campus and gives them plenty of time to talk and catch up, Mark trying to fill Renjun in on the last six years.
The apartment is up a small flight of stairs, and as soon as you open the door there's a small pile of shoes instead of a shoe rack. The apartment is fairly clean for an apartment with four guys living in it, there’s a small piano in the corner, a gaming console below the TV, and a small coffee table with a few cans of Diet Coke scattered on it.
Mark goes to put his stuff away and Renjun hears someone from behind the door.
“Markkk.”
Jeno pops his head through the door and starts taking off his shoes. For a moment Renjun doesn't know what to do and awkwardly waves.
“Uh, hi Jeno.”
“Renjun!” Jeno shoots his signature eye smile and it feels like it's been 6 days instead of 6 years since they've caught up.
Jeno had been the calming presence in their tight knit group—always slow to getting annoyed or angry but always willing to get up to any shenanigans. Usually with the combination of Renjun’s wit and Jeno’s eye smile the four of them got away with a lot of things.
“It's so nice to see you again.” Jeno said, pulling Renjun into a hug.
Jeno was more muscular than Renjun was expecting, his large hoodie masking his nicely filled out frame. Renjun was also now two for three on being shorter than everyone, curse his genes.
“Boo why are you guys all tall.”
Jeno chuckles, “Just wait till you see Jisung.”
“Samoyeddd.” Mark coos, coming out of his room. “Where is Jisung anyways?”
Jeno shrugs, “Maybe he got lost again.”
Renjun smiles, remembering that Jisung would get lost in the neighborhood all the time, he would see something interesting and wander off and forget how to get back. Renjun can probably credit his good sense of direction to Jisung. After it happened a few times, Renjun would make sure to not let Jisung out of his sight when they all hung out together and made sure to remember how to get back home. As an only child, Renjun liked having someone depend on him. He liked the compliments he would get from the adults and the way that Jisung’s face beamed following Renjun around.
“Oh speak of the devil.” Jeno says, looking at his phone.
Renjun hears footsteps rapidly coming up the stairs as Mark opens the door.
“Sorry, I had to stay back to discuss a group project.” Renjun hears Jisung say out of breath. His voice is low and rich.
Jisung finally gets past the door and Renjun finally gets a good look at him, and —
Woah.
Renjun is expecting Jisung to be tall. Mark had mentioned that Jisung had a growth spurt in 10th grade. He also mentioned that in the last few years, Jisung had received lots of confessions from both girls and guys. But he isn't expecting this .
Jisung is dressed in just a simple hoodie and black skinny jeans, and he looks effortlessly handsome. Jisung always joked about how tall he would be, but when Renjun moved, Jisung was still shorter than him. Now though, Jisung is a good half a head taller, maybe even a little bit more. Jisung’s wide shoulders fill the oversized fit of his hoodie nicely, and his jeans emphasize his long legs. The last time Renjun saw Jisung in person, his face was all soft lines and full cheeks, but now his features are sharp and defined.
Oh my god, his jawline , what??? How is that even re—
“What are you doing Renjun? Aren’t you gonna say hi to Jisung?”
Mark’s voice manages to snap Renjun out of his trance making him realize he was probably standing there gaping like an idiot. He sees Jisung make eye contact with him and then quickly look away.
“What? Yeah–I was just. Um...” Renjun trails off, awkwardly smiling.
“I was just surprised, you’ve gotten so tall!” Renjun lifts his arms to give Jisung a hug, “It’s really nice to see you. I can't believe it’s been so long.” He smiles softly, hoping that Jisung knows that he really means it.
Jisung gives him a small smile and walks into Renjun’s arms, “It’s really nice to see you too.”
Jisung smells really nice, Renjun notices, like fresh cotton and baby powder. Their hug lasts for maybe 2 seconds but it makes Renjun’s heart feel warm. He didn't realize how much he missed Jisung until now.
“You’re shorter than I remembered,” Jisung says cheekily after they separate.
Renjun glares at him and lightly punches his shoulder, “Not all of us are blessed with tall genes, punk.”
Jisung laughs, his eyes closing and cheeks scrunching up. It’s exactly the same smile Renjun remembers from the past and the sense of familiarity calms the swirling feelings in his stomach, but also sets something alight too.
—
“Do you think aliens exist?” Jisung asked Renjun, his cheeks rosy and eyes wide.
They were all over at Mark’s house, their usual hang out spot and Renjun and Jisung were sitting on the bed as Mark and Jeno sifted through DVDs trying to find a good movie to watch.
“Definitely.” Renjun said without hesitation. He was only thirteen then, and Jisung only twelve, but even at that age Renjun knew that the world was big and full of mysteries, and aliens couldn't be a far cry from reality.
“Just think about it Jisung, there's billions of stars and galaxies, there has to be something out there.”
Jisung nodded quickly, “We learned about galaxies today at school, and like how we're just one galaxy but there’s a bajillion others.” Jisung fiddled with his fingers, “It makes me happy that even though there’s a bajillion other worlds we ended up in the same neighborhood.”
Jisung looked up at Renjun with wide eyes and Renjun smiled, he would never say it out loud because he loved all his friends, but if he was honest Jisung was always his favorite. Moments like these reminded Renjun of why. He was just so cute.
“Looks like we’re pretty lucky,” Renjun beams.