Monopoly | Norenmin

strange requests

After prancing around the room for the past 10 minutes, high on endorphins, Donghyuck finally crashed down. Renjun and Mark watched as he fell in a heap on the practice room's floor, grinning from ear to ear. It was a fair response for someone who just nailed their assessment. Even Renjun was proud of him, and himself for that matter. They both had given it their all, Renjun making sure not to make Donghyuck look bad in front of his assessors and it seemed to work well. Even the strictest looking assessor there looked quite pleased with Donghyuck's presentation.

"I better get, like, 100% on that, I fucking swear," Donghyuck laughed as he heaved on the floor, "I busted my ass for that."
"And yet, you're still weak as shit. How does that work?" Mark snorted, Donghyuck turning his head and giving him a dirty look. It's not like he lied though.
Renjun rolled his shoulders back, groaning a little. "If you don't get 100, I'm gonna commit a crime."
Donghyuck placed his hand on his chest with a grateful smile, "Naw, thank you, Jun."
"Not for you, dumbass," Renjun huffed before collapsing backwards. "It's purely for my satisfaction."
He was honestly completely drained, both physically and mentally. His mind still wasn't in the greatest place, then paired with practicing for an hour before they went in took a toll on his body. He just kind of  wanted to sit in his bathtub with a bathbomb and warm water and let it engulf him. There was a lot happening around him, and though he didn't have anything he had to immediately do for his course, there were still a few things that were left hanging. He definitely felt better than he had for the past few months, but it still wasn't great. Now, all Renjun hoped was that his and Donghyuck's hard work would pay off just so he could finally lay that to rest.

As soon as they had walked out of the building, Donghyuck jumped on to him, both cheering for their success. It felt good, the dance let him be free afterwards. Yeah, he was tired, especially after putting every bit of the remaining parts of his soul into it, but man, it was exhilarating. He could feel every part of him move in sync with the world around him, he finally felt a space in the world he could slot into. Though it was a temporary feeling, he enjoyed it so much. He and Donghyuck were practically bouncing off the walls, high on adrenaline as they got back to the campus. Their energy managed to get Mark hyperactive as well, all three of them smiling like idiots as they went into the building. Even as Donghyuck signed them in, they we're all clung to one another, vibrating in happiness and excitement.

Once they reached the room, Donghyuck practically did laps around the room, over and over again, yelling about their victory. Renjun voluntarily squeezed the life out of Mark, grinning with pride at their achievement, energy flowing through their veins and into their bones. The kind of energy that made you feel like you could do anything.
It took a while for them to settle down, Renjun getting hit with sudden fatigue and crashing onto the floor with Mark looking like he just witnessed a death, but they were still very happy with the outcome.

"I'm impressed though," Mark nodded toward Donghyuck before turning to Renjun, "You guys weren't talking for like three months and still managed to do it."
"Well obviously," Donghyuck rolled his eyes as if it was always going to work. "We literally can do anything."
Renjun furrowed his brows for a moment, looking through his mind. "...I thought you had to choreograph something on the spot cause the first part was the week after-"
"Shhh no, I did not," Donghyuck piped, Renjun snapping his mouth closed. It was more just to stop himself from laughing though.
Mark nodded, dragging a little "ah" as it clicked. "That makes more sense." He turned toward Renjun, pointing downwards. "This was the second assessment?" Renjun nodded in response. It didn't matter though, at least he got to do it eventually. It was just lucky that Donghyuck was allowed to do it with another person this time too.

Mark looked back and forth between Donghyuck and Renjun sprawled out on the floor, laughing a little. He crawled between the two before flopping between them, spreading out like the starfish the other two were. Renjun turned his head toward him simultaneously with Donghyuck, both chuckling a bit.
"It's nice here," Mark nodded a little, staring up at the white ceiling. Renjun rolled his head back toward the ceiling, letting himself fall into the state of calm the walls were luring him into. The floor was cool, and with the mild breeze coming in from the window running over his warm body, it felt nice. The calm from the harsh winds and torrential downpour of his life, being in this place, at this time, it let everything slow down. He could feel himself becoming one with wooden floors, sinking down. It was nice here.

"It's only nice cause I'm here," Donghyuck winked at Mark, the older boy rolling his eyes with a smile and lightly shoving the younger. Donghyuck smiled back at him, Renjun literally being able to see the hearts fly between the two.

And that was his queue to leave.

Renjun quietly rolled away from the two laughing amongst themselves. He always got stuck third wheeling, didn't he? The day before with Jisung and Chenle, before that Jeno and Jaemin (even if he didn't want to be a third wheel), and now it was Donghyuck and Mark. Maybe that's another reason this was getting to him. Cause, compared to the rest of his friends, he was alone. And it's not like he didn't experience any romantic love either. He just was. Everyone had their somebody. Hell, even Yangyang had his two after he told Guanheng. And all Renjun had was a knack for causing problems, both intentionally and not.

He wasn't fond of it.

He didn't like being lonely.

He loved his solitude. He loved his personal space and keeping to himself. But seeing Donghyuck and Mark joking around, seeing Jisung and Chenle bickering and poking fun at one another, seeing Jeno and Jaemin laughing to themselves...
It only made him feel lonely.
He wanted someone to hold as well. Someone to shelter him from the dark. He had Donghyuck, of course, but Donghyuck had Mark. He wanted to curl up next to the two people in his mind. Not just anyone, but them. He wanted to kiss them freely, only them. He wanted them to hold his hands as they walked down a path, looking to sea. He wanted...

"Yah, your phone is ringing."

Renjun to the side, seeing his phone lit up and buzzing around. He picked it up, noticing Jaemin's contact on the screen. He furrowed his brows, answering the call. It wasn't that Jaemin never called, but it usually was later on in the day, and it was only midday. Maybe it was an emergency?
"Hi?" Renjun answered.
"Are you still single?"
Renjun blinked, pulling the phone away from his ear and looking down at it in disbelief. Seriously? Now? He was busy mourning the lack of a love life he had and now Jaemin wanted to set him up? He sighed, raising it back up to his ear. "...well way to rub it in."
Jaemin groaned slightly, "Just fuckin answer."
"Well, obviously," Renjun replied snarkily, frowning a little. It was kind of a mean question in his opinion but he wasn't going to point it out.
"Good. Stay. Single." Jaemin said assertively before adding "at least 'til the end of the day."
Renjun furrowed his brows at the strange request. It wasn't like he was going to get over them in like five minutes, so he was going to be pretty good at keeping that sort of request but "what the fuck, why?"
"Just please do it, will you?" Jaemin pleaded on the other side of the line.
Renjun sighed, shaking his head defeatedly, "Fine."
"Good," Jaemin replied, sighing a little. "Oh by the way, Jeno and I are ambushing you at like 5 at your house so be ready."
"...alright."
And with that, Jaemin bid farewell and hung up.

Renjun blinked up, slowly pulling his cell away from his ear. He looked down confusedly at the screen. He thought he was going to be set on a blind date or something and yet he had gotten the strangest request of his life. Who asked that kind of thing, what?

"What was that?" Donghyuck asked, Renjun looking back to see him leaning on Mark's shoulder, both sat in curiosity.
Renjun pouted for a moment before shrugging, "Jaemin asked me to stay single."
Mark snorted, "that's so fucking weird, dude."
Renjun nodded in agreement, but in the corner of his eyes he could see Donghyuck smirking to himself. He raised an eyebrow at him, Donghyuck pouting and shaking his head.
"How strange, Junnie," Donghyuck shook his head, poorly hiding behind feigned ignorance. So this must be what Donghyuck knew.