On The Line | Chensung

Like Dogs, People Also Sniff One Another

Jisung skipped beside Jeno as they walked to school, more questions bouncing around his head like the dvd logo. He had been bounding up and down on their way down and he knew that it was slowly creeping Jeno the hell out. But it's not like it mattered. Jisung had been unnaturally happy since the morning, so much so that he made a smiley face with whipped cream on his pancakes in the morning. His mother had questioned him earlier, even as Jeno stopped by his house to collect him, but he simply smiled and waved it off as if it were nothing.

"Dude," Jeno finally cut through Jisung's bumbling thoughts, the young boy's head darting down to him, "why are you like this?"
"Like what?" Jisung grinned, swaying from side to side, the weight of his bag dragging him around slightly.
Jeno gestured around him vaguely, "like that."
Jisung simply laughed as they treaded on to the school ground, the concrete path diverging beneath their feet. Jisung inhaled deeply, taking in the cool morning breeze as Jeno looked at him bewilderedly.
"Jisung, you're creeping me out," Jeno blinked at him in fear before both their attention snapped to Donghyuck screaming in the distance.

Jisung's face dropped slightly as reality set into him, both boys sighing and rubbing the bridges of their noses in synchronisation. The younger shoved his hands in his pockets, following Jeno a few steps behind as they walked up to their disastrous friends.

They walked up to find Renjun physically trying to restrain Donghyuck from attacking someone.
"HE DESERVES BETTER THAN YOU!" he clawed at the guy awkwardly shuffling backwards. Jisung looked toward the guy, Kunhang, and nodded toward him. "I'm so sorry about him."
Kunhang awkwardly chuckled, saluting to the group before spinning around and walking away. The young boy turned back only to see the fire in Donghyuck's eyes had grown, now more fiercely trying to escape from Renjun and now Jeno's grip.

Mark sighed, looking up to Jisung, "Kunhang asked if I was single and before I could say shit, he lost it." Jisung nodded, laughing a bit as it sounded...well it sounded very Donghyuck. Mark scratched his head, "he's stupidly clingy, dances and sings around very loudly if he's not talking, which is a constant, and tries to fight everyone and anyone," he nodded before breaking out into a silly smile, "yeah, I think I'm in love with this guy."

Jisung chuckled, patting Mark on the back gently, glad that Donghyuck had fallen for a guy like Mark. He still didn't really know Mark, but from what he could tell, the guy was sweet and treated Donghyuck like a prince, which was all Jisung could ask for his friend.

He looked to Jeno, his smile faltering slightly as he saw him looking down to the floor. It was upsetting that Donghyuck found this kind of happiness at the cost of Jeno's. At least there was still a chance with Renjun, though whether or not Jeno could really be fully comfortable with only dating one person seemed to be indecipherable.

With a small clap, he turned toward Renjun, "you're hanging around us today?"
Renjun smiled fondly back, reaching up past Jeno and ruffling Jisung's hair, "yeah, Lele's late."
Jisung's lips tilted up unconsciously at the boy's name, Jeno quirking a brow at him. "What happened after your meltdown the day before, huh?"
"Huh?" Jisung snapped his attention to Jeno, falling into a grin as it clicked in his seemingly slow mind what Jeno had asked, "oh, I think I was just overreacting," he waved off dismissively. Which was both a lie and a truth. Because while now he can deal with the fact that Chenle wasn't exactly normal and that it would be overreacting if he were to act like that now, it definitely wasn't the case two days ago.

Because sometimes when Jisung got scared, he could see Chenle's dark red eyes piercing into the depths of his soul behind his closed eyelids. He had never come into contact with anything he naturally put into the column of not real, and now with Chenle's mere existence, it opened up a world of possibilities. What else was real? What could Chenle do? What other myths were real? Jisung just wanted to pester him with more questions, both out of curiosity and spite. He liked annoying people and he liked to learn, what a perfect combination for him to find out such a fact.

Renjun furrowed his eyebrows, sharply cocking his head toward Jisung, "wait, meltdown? What happened, bub?"
Jeno snorted, punching Jisung's shoulder playfully, "He had to go to Chenle's house for a project and ran cause he was weird apparently."
Jisung giggled awkwardly as he turned to Renjun who simply stared blankly at him. The younger shifted his weight on his feet as Renjun tilted his head, seeming to examine him and his body language. If Jisung wasn't showing discomfort and fear previously, he definitely was now. He unconsciously curled his shoulders upon the elder's hardening gaze, eyes darting up to an oblivious Jeno.

"What do you mean weird, Sung?" Renjun asked monotonously, Jisung flinching as he spoke. Now Renjun sounded like Chenle that day (or any day he guessed) and if that wasn't worrisome enough, he didn't know what was.
The elder boy took Jisung's hand with a tighter grip that he was anticipating, making it almost impossible to pull his hand away.

And to think that Renjun was the weakest of them.

Renjun tugged his hand up to his face and, for some reason Jisung couldn't really fathom, took a deep inhale of his skin. Jisung looked up to the rest of the guys for help yet none of them seemed to pay attention. Jeno had moved and was having an animated conversation with Donghyuck, and Mark was clung to his boyfriend's waist staring up at the clouds in awe. Jisung looked back down to Renjun, slowly trying to take his shaking hand from Renjun's grip, yet to no avail, he couldn't even pry it out.

"Did Chenle do something, Jisung?" Renjun asked, his voice still flat as if there were no life running through his veins. His grip had loosened slightly, letting Jisung yank his hand away, stumbling backwards from him. Jisung swallowed sharply as Renjun stared at him with hollow eyes.

"No no no," he waved off, laughing slightly to hide his growing fear of the elder. Renjun had never struck him as actually hostile ever in his life. Sure, the boy had an attitude and he and Donghyuck were constantly at each other's throats for the fun of it, but Jisung had always seen Renjun as the caring, protective hyung, who got emotional over butterflies and went on crazy tangents about the meaning of existence. Never was Renjun scary. Never was Renjun strong.

"Are you sure, Jisung?" and yet the lack of emotion within his voice suggested that maybe Jisung was really really wrong.

"Yeah," Jisung nodded, taking a step back, "yeah, his room is just violently dark, you know."
"Ah," Renjun smiled, laughing a bit. And just as quick as it had left, happy bouncy Renjun was back.
"Forget duality, what the hell was that?"  Jisung chuckled in response, inhaling sharply.

Renjun's eyes darted to the side, grinning and waving exaggeratedly, "CHENLE!" Jisung turned his head to see 'Darker' walking in, black hoodie on, hood over his head, sunglasses on and dark skinny jeans. Seriously, the kid looked like he escaped from the 2004 goth community. Renjun slapped Jisung's chest, it lighter than the grip he had experienced and Jisung had no idea what to feel about his hyung anymore. "That damn kid, man," Renjun laughed, "wow he's late." He ruffled Jisung's hair fondly, smiling at him brightly, "I'll see ya around, kiddo."

Jisung watched Renjun skip up to his friend, punching his arm as Chenle looked down at him, sighing to himself. What a weird duo.