Chapter Text
Renjun and Donghyuck were best friends. That’s what everyone thought.
They were the kind of best friends who shared boba straws and hoodie sleeves and entire Spotify playlists titled “Songs For When Hyuck Misses Me Even Though He Just Saw Me Five Minutes Ago (Loser).”
No one batted an eye anymore when Donghyuck sat on Renjun’s lap instead of an actual chair. Or when Renjun routinely opened Donghyuck’s mouth like a Pez dispenser to feed him popcorn, one kernel at a time. Or when they exchanged long, unblinking eye contact across the couch and Jaemin would dramatically gag while Mark muttered something about “being allergic to secondhand intimacy.”
They were weird. But harmless. Everyone had just… accepted it.
Until New Year’s Eve.
But we’ll get there.
Group Scene 1: Game Night from Hell (a.k.a. Monopoly and Murder)
“Jisung, you cannot buy Boardwalk just because you ‘feel emotionally connected to it.’”
“But it’s calling to me,” Jisung said, pressing his palm flat to the board like he was communicating with it.
“You’re bankrupt,” Chenle deadpanned.
“Emotionally connected and fiscally challenged,” Renjun muttered. Donghyuck snorted beside him.
“Hyuck, trade me your utilities,” Jaemin bargained. “I’ll give you the orange set and one (1) forehead kiss.”
“You think my electric company can be bought with cheap affection?” Donghyuck sniffed. “Try again.”
Jaemin turned to Renjun. “He’s being dramatic.”
“He’s always dramatic,” Renjun said fondly, handing Donghyuck a sour gummy worm without looking.
Mark, who was trying to read the actual rulebook in the corner, blinked slowly. “Are you guys… like… okay?”
“No,” they chorused, heads leaning together.
Mark blinked again.
Group Scene 2: The Failed Horror Movie Night
They had all agreed—unwisely—to watch a horror movie in Chenle’s basement.
It was fifteen minutes in, and Donghyuck had already thrown popcorn at the screen twice and declared the villain “a knock-off Voldemort with worse skin care.”
Renjun had climbed halfway onto Donghyuck’s back at the first jump scare. “Okay but why did he open the closet door when clearly something was breathing inside it—”
“I’d open your closet,” Donghyuck whispered, nose buried in Renjun’s shoulder.
“I’ll punch you.”
From the couch, Jaemin tossed a pillow at them. “Can you guys flirt quieter? Jisung’s about to cry.”
“I’m not crying!” Jisung cried, clearly crying.
Mark sighed and adjusted the volume. “Okay, we’re watching Shrek next time. No one’s allowed to flirt during Shrek.”
Donghyuck turned to Renjun with mock seriousness. “You did say Shrek was your sexual awakening.”
“STOP,” Chenle yelled, and threw a sock at them.
Group Scene 3: The “We’re Not Dating” Sleepover
Jeno found them the next morning curled together on the floor under one blanket.
“You two know there are like, six other blankets in the house?”
Donghyuck didn’t even open his eyes. “Renjun runs cold.”
“And he has weird circulation,” Renjun added groggily.
Chenle raised an eyebrow. “Your toes were in his hoodie pocket, bro.”
“It’s a trust exercise,” Donghyuck replied without shame.
Mark blinked again. “Wait… have you guys always been like this?”
Renjun sat up. “Yes?”
Donghyuck rolled over and spooned him dramatically. “Let us live.”
Jisung took a photo. “You’ll thank me later when you’re married and want this framed.”
“Jisung, you sweet summer idiot,” Jaemin sighed. “They are married. Spiritually.”
Everyone laughed.
Everyone believed it was a joke.
Scene 4: The New Year’s Party
It was Chenle’s idea. A rooftop party. Warm lights strung across the railings, cheap champagne chilling in buckets, Jisung DJing with a questionable Spotify playlist titled Songs to Ring in the End of the World.
The group was counting down.
“Ten! Nine!”
Donghyuck reached for Renjun’s hand, fingers lacing between his like he did every day.
But this time Renjun was smiling at him in that way.
“Eight! Seven!”
Jaemin popped a confetti cannon in Jeno’s face. Jeno screamed. Chenle wheezed.
“Six! Five!”
Mark was filming them all, already tipsy and laughing too hard.
“Four! Three!”
Donghyuck leaned in. Renjun didn’t hesitate.
“Two! One!”
They kissed.
Not a quick peck. Not a joke. Not a bit.
A real, full, “I’ve-been-in-love-with-you-for-a-year-and-I-like-to-prove-it-at-midnight” kiss.
The rooftop went silent.
Jisung dropped his phone. Mark dropped his champagne. Chenle dropped an entire plate of dumplings.
Jaemin blinked. “Wait—WAIT. ARE YOU GUYS DATING?”
Renjun, very calmly, pulled back. “Yes.”
Donghyuck beamed. “For like, a year?”
Jeno: “A YEAR??”
Mark: “That’s… wait. Wait wait wait—”
Chenle: “I knew it!”
Jaemin: “No you didn’t!”
Chenle: “Okay but I suspected!”
Jisung: “Are we being punk’d?”
Renjun leaned his head on Donghyuck’s shoulder. “You guys really didn’t know?”
“YOU SHARED A TOOTHBRUSH ONCE,” Jaemin screamed.
“We had a spare! You just saw the wrong one!”
“I CALLED YOU PLATONIC SOULMATES!”
“You weren’t wrong,” Donghyuck said sweetly.
“YOU—” Jaemin’s brain short-circuited. “I need to lie down.”
Jisung was still in shock. “Wait… are we the last to know?”
Donghyuck blinked. “Honestly? Yeah. Chenle figured it out three months ago.”
Chenle did a smug little dance.
Scene 5: The Chaos
There were exactly five stages of grief the friend group went through.
Denial.
“Okay,” Jaemin said, pacing in tight circles like a Sims character glitching on the rooftop. “Okay, maybe that was just a joke. You know, a bit. Like last month when you both wore matching reindeer onesies and said you were married in five countries—”
“We are,” Renjun interjected, sipping sparkling cider like he didn’t just shatter six people’s worldview. “Vegas, Seoul, that one time in Denmark—”
“That was a LEGO wedding set,” Mark cried.
Anger.
“You lied to us for a year?” Jeno said, face half-covered in glitter thanks to Jaemin’s rogue confetti cannon. “A year! You’ve been living out a secret K-drama romance arc right under our noses!”
“You guys never asked,” Donghyuck shrugged, clearly trying not to laugh.
“Oh I’m sorry, next time I’ll just say, ‘Hey, are you and Renjun secretly dating while pretending to be feral besties with no sense of boundaries?’” Jeno snapped.
Renjun considered that. “Would’ve been an accurate guess.”
Bargaining.
Mark was now sitting cross-legged on the cooler. “Okay, but… have you been dating for a full year, or like, emotionally dating but not technically? Because I need to know if I missed the beginning of the arc or the whole damn show.”
Donghyuck made a thoughtful noise. “I kissed him on Christmas Eve last year.”
“So romantic,” Renjun said sarcastically. “He had eggnog on his chin.”
“And he still kissed me back!”
Chenle, who had fully moved into smug-mode, was taking selfies with them in the background. “I told you guys. I told you all. No one listened. I should’ve bet money. I could’ve been rich.”
Depression.
Jisung lay face-down on the outdoor couch. “I’m never trusting my eyes again. You guys flirted like it was your job and I thought, ‘Wow, friendship really is magic.’”
Renjun patted his back. “Friendship is magic.”
“YOU’RE A COUPLE, HYUNG.”
Donghyuck grinned. “That doesn’t mean we’re not magical.”
Acceptance.
(…Kind of.)
Jaemin squinted at them. “Okay. Fine. You’re dating. I need a minute. But fine.”
“Thanks,” Renjun said, utterly unfazed.
Jaemin narrowed his eyes. “But now I get to ask all the questions. Like who confessed first, who said ‘I love you’ first, who’s the little spoon—”
“Me,” Donghyuck answered proudly. “Obviously.”
Renjun nodded solemnly. “He likes to be held like a traumatized Victorian child.”
“Because I am one.”
Flashback: Three Months Earlier – The Clue Chenle Never Told Them About
Chenle wasn’t trying to spy.
But when he walked into Renjun’s apartment uninvited (as one does), he hadn’t expected to find Donghyuck curled up on the couch, wearing one of Renjun’s sweaters, eating strawberries out of a mug that said Grumpy But Cute while Renjun painted his nails with disgustingly gentle precision.
“Oh, hey,” Donghyuck said, not even blinking.
Renjun didn’t look up. “Can you grab me the black polish?”
Chenle stared. “I… What? Why are you—?”
Donghyuck stuck out his hand like he was at a spa. “He’s doing ghosts on my thumbs.”
“Little floating guys,” Renjun added helpfully.
Chenle blinked. “You’re not dating, right?”
“Totally not,” Renjun said, smiling.
Donghyuck winked.
Chenle narrowed his eyes. “You’re lying.”
Renjun looked at him. “Are we?”
“I knew it,” Chenle whispered, eyes going wide. “I knew.”
“Don’t tell them yet,” Donghyuck said. “Let’s see how long it takes them to notice.”
Chenle nodded slowly. “Bet.”
Present Day – Back on the Rooftop
The group had mostly stopped screaming. Mostly.
“Okay,” Jaemin declared, holding up a champagne flute like he was making a toast at a wedding he was not emotionally prepared to attend. “New rule. You two have to give us monthly updates now.”
“Relationship bulletins?” Mark asked, pulling out his Notes app like this was a board meeting.
Donghyuck leaned on Renjun’s shoulder, smug. “We can give you a PowerPoint. With transitions.”
“No transitions,” Jeno groaned. “I know what kind of transitions you’d use.”
“Heart wipes,” Renjun confirmed.
Chenle was still filming. “Okay but I want the wedding invite first.”
“We’re twenty-three!” Renjun protested.
“Yeah, and already emotionally married,” Jisung mumbled from the couch.
Donghyuck smiled softly and brushed Renjun’s hair back from his forehead. “You wanna get married?”
Renjun looked at him. “You wanna stop proposing in front of witnesses?”
“I’m serious this time!”
Jaemin: screams into the void
Later That Night…
Everyone had gone inside, either too cold or too overwhelmed to function. Donghyuck and Renjun stayed behind on the rooftop, shoulders touching, lights flickering around them.
“You think they’ll treat us differently now?” Renjun asked quietly.
Donghyuck looked at him. “Maybe. But probably not for long. They love you too much.”
Renjun scoffed. “They tolerate me because I bring snacks.”
“They love you because you’re honest. And brilliant. And sarcastic in a way that makes people feel warm somehow.” Donghyuck bumped their shoulders. “And because you love me.”
Renjun leaned against him. “Yeah. That too.”
They kissed again, slower this time. No countdown. No confetti. Just the city, the stars, and the start of a brand new year.