Beautiful time (Noren)

3

When his alarm goes off this morning Renjun wants to throw it across the room. He feels like he could die. Every muscle in his body hurts from walking too much in the cold and he's just plain sleep deprived. He forces himself out of bed and tries to make himself look fresh even though he knows it's futile. He grabs a small bite to eat and hurries out the door. He hops on the bus and has to Will himself to stay awake, so he doesn't have another incident like last night. When he gets there and sees one of his more upbeat coworkers, he rolls his eyes. He loves him like a brother but when Jaemin gets going he's insane and he's just not in the mood for that.
"Hi Renjun, you look awfully tired this morning?" He says in kind of a question form. Renjun chuckles.
"Didn't sleep well, good morning Jaem." He walks past and spots Yangyang standing by Xiaojun's desk and smiles shyly.
"Hi." He says quietly to which they both reciprocate as he keeps walking. Sometimes he feels like he's in school all over again, crushing on the popular jock. He has to remind himself at times that he is an adult but it's hard, he's shy.
He quickly goes to his cubicle and turns on his laptop. His area is cuter than most, at least in his opinion. He has a few sketches that he drew up and some other cute plushies and flowers too.
By around noon, just about lunch he gets a text. It surprises him really, none of his friends text him during work, well most of them work here too. He quickly opens it to see an unknown number, his frown turns into a smile when he realizes who it is. He quickly adds a contact and calls him coach, he chuckles to himself and figures out what to say. Jeno had only texted "hi, this is Jeno," and Renjun will never know how hard that was for him.
He texts back hello and asks him how his day is and before either of them know it, it's been an hour. Renjun pouts because he missed lunch but he would never tell Jeno, he had too much fun talking to him. Jaemin brings him a half a sandwich and tells him to quickly eat before the boss makes his rounds. Renjun thanks him, he would have suffered if it wasn't for him.
He gets back to work and before he knows it, it's time for his afternoon break. He walks down to the coffee shop in the lobby and sees Yangyang sitting by himself and decides to be brave and talk to him.
"Hi." He says softly. Yangyang smiles and points to the seat across from him which makes Renjun's cheeks heat up.
"So, how's work going?" He asks awkwardly.
"Good, good." Yangyang says looking around. They sit in mostly awkward silence before Xiaojun comes over and starts talking sports with Yangyang. After only a few minutes of that Renjun excuses himself. He's a little bummed that he can't get the conversation flowing but at least he got to have coffee with him for a short while anyway. He goes back to his desk and sees another text from Jeno and smiles.

Coach🏀: my good day just went bad, im going to be stuck doing paperwork for hours. Can't wait to play ball tonight.

Renjun chuckles, his job is literally paperwork all day so he wonders just what Jeno does for a living but wants to ask that in person.

Cutie🦊: that's literally my job everyday, but it pays the bills.

Coach🏀: Sorry if I'm bothering you, my partner isn't here today and I don't like most of  my other co workers so I thought I'd talk to you.

Renjun laughs, he can picture the look on Jeno's face as he says this and it's so cute. He tries but fails to wipe the smile off his face as Jaemin walks up to greet him.
"What's got you so happy? Do you have a boyfriend? Oh my god you do don't you?" Jaemin starts bouncing, causing a scene so Renjun grabs his arm to stop him.
"Will you shut up? I don't have a boyfriend, I was talking to a new friend." Jaemin frowns.
"Where did you meet them?" He asks suspiciously.
"At the gym." Renjun says quietly. Jaemin tries not to laugh but picturing Renjun at the gym is quite comical.
"Ok, sure. Either way, you look happy when you talk to him so I just thought." He says clearing his throat.
"Oh? Well we are friends and he does make me happy. He is so kind and thoughtful, he's fun to talk to and he's really handsome." Jaemin smirks listening to him.
"So he will be your boyfriend then." Renjun hits his arm.
"Shh, someone might hear you." He whispers looking around.
"Oh you mean Yangyang?" He asks in a judgy tone that doesn't sit well with Renjun.
"You are supposed to be my friend." He says with a pout.
"I am, very much so but that doesn't mean I have to agree with your choices in men." Renjun frowns.
"I've seen you talk to him." He says pointing to Yangyang.
"And just now? You looked happier talking to him." He says pointing to his phone." Renjun pulls his phone away and pushes him out of his cubicle.
"He's a friend and I just met him two days ago." Jaemin chokes.
"Wow that was quick." Renjun huffs and turns to his computer to start working.
"Bye Jaem." He says sassily. Jaemin just laughs and walks away.
"Junieeeee." Mark singsongs as he walks through the office towards him.
"Will you come to my place this Saturday? I want you to finally meet my fiancé." Renjun smiles widely.
"I've wanted to meet him for so long, what's the occasion?" Mark leans against his desk.
"It's his birthday and I'm having a party for him and I want to introduce all of my friends to his friends and yeah, I think it will be fun." Renjun purses his lips.
"That sounds like a lot of people." Mark shakes his head.
"It's not that much, just a few. Please? You don't have to stay long but I've told him so much about you and he really wants to meet you." Now Mark pouts making Renjun giggle.
"Fine, I'll go for a while." Mark hugs him excitedly and moves on to Jaemin.
By the time Renjun is finished with work he is exhausted. He rushes home to try to take a little nap before he goes to the gym with Jeno. He changes into some sweats and a t shirt so he's ready when Jeno calls .
When Jeno finally calls him he's still asleep. He's been pushing it so much lately that he slept the whole time. He gets startled by his phone and jumps up, he misses the call the first time and quickly calls him back. He clears his throat so he can try not to sound too sleepy.
"Hi, sorry, I was in the bathroom." He says hoping he will believe it which he seems to.
"No problem, are you ready? I'm almost there." Renjun nods then realizes he can't see him and shakes his head.
"Yes, I'm ready." He says excitedly. Jeno giggles and tells him to go ahead and wait outside. Renjun is excited. He's of course excited to learn so he can hopefully impress Yangyang but he also wants to hang out with his new friend. He gets outside rather quickly and waits by the door until he sees his car pull up.
He waves excitedly and opens the door.
"Wow, you seem full of energy tonight." Renjun is lucky it's dark because his cheeks are red already, unfortunately for him he can't lie to his face.
"I had a bit of a nap after work." Jeno smiles and looks at the road as he pulls away.
When they get there Jeno starts throwing the ball into the hoop, one after another, just to let off some steam and Renjun is in awe again.
"You are so good at that." He says dreamily making Jeno's face heat up.
"Sorry, that's just how I relieve stress. It was a long day." Renjun nods with a small smile.
Jeno starts walking him through holding the ball again, just to drill it in, then he works on proper hand movements for shooting the ball. Renjun practices some but he still can't get it up into the hoop. They practice for a few hours.
"I think we should go now." Jeno says as he watches Renjun struggle, he can tell he's tired and needs sleep desperately.
They shower separately again and Renjun is a little more awake when he's through.
"Hey, you want to maybe come over to my place? I have tea too." Renjun smiles softly.
"But then you will have to leave to take me home or maybe if it's close enough I could walk home?" Jeno smiles and turns his head to try not to show just how happy this person makes him.
"I don't mind, and besides I want you to meet someone." Renjun's face shows how shocked he is but he doesn't say anything. He starts thinking of all the possibilities of who it could be. A girlfriend, a boyfriend, a parent or sibling? By the time they pull up his head is swimming and he's extremely nervous. He braces himself as he steps out of the car and follows him up to his apartment.