IN A HEARTBEAT ⋮ nomin

𝟭𝟮: frenemies

Renjun is lucky that Jeno doesn't want to beat him when the shield goes down. The matchmaker, however, still teases the half-human by saying, "How nice! I don't need to return home because I am home!"

Jeno ignores his remarks and thinks of what he should do about his heart and Jaemin. Knowing that the human boy is also involved with this, Jeno feels better. But when he thinks about taking the first step, he feels like freaking out.

"Renjun, no matter how much I'm thinking about this, you did badly for matching me up with him," Jeno says out loud.

His roommate just chuckles.

"I don't think so. You both need love and what could be better if not get together?"

"But we're so different."

"That's why you need to learn more stuff about him," Renjun sighs as he sits on his bed in front of Jeno. "Do I need to help you out with this? I can–"

"No, Renjun. He lacks something and I have too much of that. We don't match."

"Then fill whatever he misses. That's how love works."

"What about lust? How does lust work?"

"Lust is something you should avoid. Let it control you only when you both get together."

"That's the problem, Renjun. I can't. Lust is everywhere for me."

Jeno stands up and takes his shirt off. Renjun watches him with no reaction until he sees the black symbol on his roommate's back.

"Don't tell me..." Renjun gasps. "What did you do, Jeno? Did you make a contract with the demon? On top of that... With that demon? Oh my, Cupid! That's the worst!"

"No..." Jeno mumbles. "The demon of lust is my father."

Renjun pops his eyes out.

"Your father?" he yells.

Jeno watches how Renjun seems to have a breakdown as he starts walking around the room. Looking at his reaction, it appears that Asmodeus isn't very loved by the love God's assistants too.

"Well, no wonder I want to hit you sometimes!" Renjun says all of sudden. "You're a son of the demon!"

Jeno laughs in confusion. "What?"

"My father is Cupid. He hates your father."

"Why it's not surprising me anymore?" Jeno laughs again, this time more confidently. "Mine hates yours too."

"Weird. Because it does surprise me. How can the son of the love God and the son of the demon end up being roommates?"

Jeno frowns as he's questioning that too. But before he could speak, Renjun rolls his eyes.

"Well, I don't care about your father. I just want to match you up with Jaemin, so you better do your best, lust boy. Control yourself and love Jaemin, please."

➷

Jeno is involuntarily dragged out of the dorm to meet with Jaemin. Renjun has everything planned and wants to see the ship sailing, therefore he persists to help even when Jeno doesn't want him around.

"You'll embarrass me," Jeno barks. "You'll ruin everything, I swear."

"I'm a matchmaker. I don't ruin relationships unless they're toxic."

"Just go away, I don't want to see–"

"Hey, guys."

"Hi, Jaemin."

Jeno's personality shifts just in a second. A grumpy face gets replaced by an eye smile and gratitude towards the human who just approaches them more freely now.

"What will we do today?" Jaemin wonders looking around the place they standing.

It's a sauna building behind them. Jeno knows what's up but Jaemin is still green.

Renjun takes a step toward Jaemin and begins to tell his plan but in other words. He says only the parts that sound innocent and don't have any hints.

"We thought why don't we go to saunas, right Jeno?" he nudges his frenemy. "You know, we all work hard and such places help us to relax."

"It's a great idea, but I hate sweating," Jaemin shrugs slightly.

"As a med student, you have to know that sweating is good for your health at times!" Renjun gasps.

Now that Jeno knows who his roommate actually is, he easily notices that Renjun appears to be manipulative.

"Right. But there are things that even, we, medical students, skip. If we don't like it, we simply don't do it."

Renjun looks over his shoulder at Jeno. Without even communicating, they shift to plan B.

"Do you want to play golf then?"

Jaemin laughs.

"All of sudden? So we're going from saunas to sports."

"Why not?" Renjun just shrugs. "Our plans variate especially when we have Jeno with us."

Jaemin gets interested when Jeno is mentioned. Renjun takes the chance.

"He always talks about sports. This time he said he wanted to try golf but I was sure that we'll go to the sauna so I ditched that but now..."

"We can try playing golf," Jaemin smiles at Jeno.

Both of them blush and look away. Jeno can feel how his heart is dancing and can't help but lack breath when he realizes that Jaemin picked something just because of him.

"Thanks," he says.

"I'm a bit interested in golf too," Jaemin adds but still looks away. "I've never played something like that before."

"Let's go then!"

Renjun goes ahead just like he told Jeno he'll do when he still planned this thing. The two are left behind but they try to catch up with the third boy. But no matter how much they attempt to go near Renjun, they end up together, side by side.