always ↬ leading me on || l.dh • h.rj • z.cl

·twenty six·

"So, that's Mark," Jaemin pointed towards the rather serious looking black haired boy that stood close by Donghyuck's side.

"And this here," he said, as they finally reached the group of friends after the crowd split for him, "is my baby, Jisungie~" he sang, slinging an arm around the tall blonde.

"Hyung!" he whined, and Renjun thought that his deep voice didn't do justice to his baby face, but then again, nor did his height, "I thought I made it clear to you that I'm not your baby and you're definitely not my mum."

"Hush, Sungie. I practically raised you," Jaemin silenced him as he squished his cheeks together, the other boy seemingly annoyed with his actions, tried to pry away the brunet's hands from his face.

Around them, the crowd had started to cheer and though Renjun didn't know exactly what for, he concluded that it had something to do with the interaction that was happening in front of him. Solely based on the pupils that were consistently screaming Jaemin's and Jisung's names at the top of their lungs like it was their only option of survival in a pit full of cobras.

Almost everyone had their phones out, recording and taking pictures of the duo as if their reunion was a national event that demanded celebration. Renjun found it all rather excessive and annoying, not liking the amount of noise and people he was surrounded by.

It seemed to have irked Mark as well, his head snapping up from where it was previously positioned, looking down at the floor. He glared at everyone around them and they immediately muted as a result of the action.

Suddenly, the whole campus entrance was pin-drop silent and Renjun internally scoffed at the effect these few boys had over the majority, if not all, of the school. It was laughable to see the way everyone was so easy to manipulate; falling into their hands even as they were looked upon with no interest from the ones they praised and admired so dearly.

It was funny, how the world was filled with fools.

"Fuck off," Mark growled, voice raspy and filled to the brim with exhaustion. It was only two words, yet it was enough to make the whole group of students surrounding them, disperse with apologies leaving their lips like they were prayers.

‣‣

The bell signaling the start of school had rung just over five minutes ago; the seven of them walking to the picnic benches at the back of the main campus building in silence, no words needed to be spoken — the sun beating down on their heads in smiling waves was enough to fill the air around them just as a conversation would have.

Jaemin had guided the boys to sit down so that there were three of them on each side, situating himself on top of the wooden surface of the table itself. Jeno sat on the edge of one bench — closest to Jaemin — resting his head on the brunet's thigh, beside him was Renjun and then Chenle. On the other side, Donghyuck — who was directly opposite Jeno, and then Mark and Jisung.

"So guys, meet Renjun and..." Chenle opened his mouth to offer his name, but Jaemin shook his head and stopped him from doing so. A minute passed as Jaemin racked his brain, wide smile spreading across his face as recognition flashed in his eyes, "Renjun and Chenle," he said, content lacing his voice, filled with the satisfaction of getting the boy's name right.

Renjun couldn't help but beam at the honest display of Jaemin wanting to make up for his past mistakes.

"Hey! It's nice to meet you I guess," Jisung greeted, trying his hardest to be discrete as he squinted at Chenle, swearing that this was the same boy his friends would never allow him to talk to no matter how much he begged.

"Yeah, I guess it's nice to meet you too," Renjun croaked, his throat completely dry, clasping Chenle's hand tightly underneath the table. See, he wasn't even looking at Jisung, gaze locked with inky black orbs that belonged to Mark, who stared him down from his side of the table.

Renjun wasn't the type to get nervous easily, but there was an unsettling dull emptiness that swirled around in the depths of the black haired boy's eyes that sent shivers down his spine.

Donghyuck must have observed the tension between the two because in the next few seconds, he clapped his hand down on Mark's back, pulled him down by his ear and hissed, "Jaem likes him, don't you dare scrutinise him so blatantly and ruin his chances."

Then, as if he hadn't done anything at all, he let go of the ravenette's ear and forced a smile in Renjun's direction. Mark pouted cutely while rubbing his ear and muttering an 'ow' as he gave Hyuck a look of hurt.

Renjun gaped at the complete 180 in his attitude and blinked a few times. In the span of a moment, the deadness in Mark's eyes was gone, replaced by a gleam that screamed free and unstoppable youth. It was like a completely different person had appeared in front of him.

Haechan was watching the Chinese male stiffly, the smile that was still etched onto his face looked uncomfortable, like he was waiting for the right moment to return to his normal expression. He side-eyed Mark and glanced at Renjun again, who was opening and closing his mouth like a fish at a loss for words.

Staring directly at the boy on the other side of the table, he reached out and felt beside him for the curve of Mark's nose before pushing his head into the table and in an almost robotic voice stating, "don't mind Mark, he's just experiencing jet lag from his long flight."

"Hyung, it's been two day-"

"Yes, as I was saying, he's really tired at the moment, I sincerely apologise for his attitude and I can assure you he will make up for it later," he cut Jisung off.

Now both Renjun and Chenle were confused and scared. Donghyuck suddenly speaking so formally to them threw them off track and silence filled the air heavily before Jeno burst into a fit of laughter, followed by Jaemin.

"This, Hyuck, is the reason why I never let you join the drama club," he let out between chuckles as he wiped away his imaginary tears.

"To be honest you're actually pretty good when it comes to acting," Jaemin chided, "you're just completely shit at improvising."

Donghyuck retracted his hand from where it was holding Mark's head down to slap Jaemin's arm, "I am not shit at improvising, thank you very much."

"You were practically frozen, what are you talking about? 'I can assure yo-'" Jeno couldn't finish his imitation as his orange haired friend lunged at him from over the table.

"LEE FUCKING JENO. GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!"

‣‣

"Jisung's our maknae, Mark hyung's the eldest," Jaemin informed as Jeno and Donghyuck returned to the table after chasing each other around and making a fool of themselves for a good ten minutes.

Mark was currently asleep, head resting on his crossed hands as he snored lightly. The sun radiated off his skin in a way that made him look years younger, like a child who slept after a hard day in a world that was still so new to them. Chenle realised, as he smiled softly in his sleep, why everyone doted on him even with his constant detached and nonchalant attitude.

He didn't know much about the elder, but he knew that Mark worked for everything he achieved.

Mark worked hard in everything he did, never taking a break or going easy on himself. And there was an eternal beauty in times like this, when he let the fatigue wash over him and let himself rest. Where he was just a normal teenager again, not as busy, not as stressed, not as tightly wound, a time where Mark was just Mark, at peace with a full heart and nothing but light surrounding him.

Deep inside, Mark was untainted by the twisted and selfish ways of the world, honest in everything he did.

"He gets like that around anyone he's not close to, don't let it intimidate you. He's only a baby lion at heart," the brunet explained while staring fondly at the sleeping male, calming Renjun's nerves a little.

See, Jaemin's explanation was much better than whatever Donghyuck had tried to do, which only freaked him out a hundred times more. The ravenette couldn't help but think about the orange haired boy with endearment nonetheless.

His stupidity was just positively charming.