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

·twenty seven·

"Here's the catch up work you asked for Renjun, take your time with it and if there's anything you don't understand, please don't hesitate to come and ask me," his maths teacher said to him as he handed the boy a heavy stack of papers.

"Thank you Mr. Kim, I'll make sure to keep that in mind," said man simply nodded and smiled at him in return, dimples splitting across his cheeks, before he went back to marking the exams laid out in front of him.

Heaving a sigh that caused his teacher to look up in momentary concern, Renjun adjusted the pile in his hands and steeled himself as he walked out of the classroom. He had obviously not thought it through properly when he had sent that email asking for extra work and now he was stuck with a load of papers to carry around for the rest of the day.

Chenle was waiting for him outside as usual, leaned against the wall with his phone in hand. Most students had already left to lunch, but there were still an odd few who were loitering around the hallways.

Renjun greeted the distracted boy with a small cough, startling him enough that he nearly dropped his phone. Chenle glared at him after recovering from his shock, slipping the device back into his pocket as he took half of the papers from the elder's hands and shoved him lightly.

"Why the hell did you ask for so much work? Like, if you actually finish all of this - which I doubt you will - that'd totally make you superhuman." Chenle chided, their shoulders bumping together slightly as they walked towards the canteen side-by-side.

"Y'know, I still don't get why we call them superhumans when they aren't even the slightest bit human. They're literally aliens, so why don't we just call them that? I swear..." as Renjun went off topic, Chenle drowned out his words, instead focusing solely on the velvety sweetness of his voice and the little splodge of ink that stained the bottom-right corner of the sheet placed on the very top of his pile.

"-le? Chenle are you even listening to me! Chenle!"

‣‣

Renjun shouldn't have been surprised at the scene that had greeted them as soon as they stepped through the doors of the canteen. He really shouldn't have been, but he still was. There was yet again, another crowd gathered around the centre table, where Donghyuck and his friends sat. It seemed that with the extra addition of Mark and Jisung, the students were even more desperate to get their attention.

Chenle snorted when he noticed Donghyuck struggling to get rid of a tall brunette who had stuck herself to his side shamelessly. Renjun followed his line of sight and locked eyes with the orange haired boy, laughing along with his friend at the sight of the younger's distress. He could easily get her away from him with a single command, but if his furrowed brows and exasperated expression were anything to go by, Renjun could tell that he was clearly too tired to actually think properly about the situation.

"Hey," he whispered to Chenle, "do you think we should go help them?" the chuckle slowly faded from his voice, but his face was still playful as he continued to stare at the crowd.

The boy he had addressed let out a scoff, "I'm pretty sure they could help themselves if they wanted to. Maybe if Jeno and Mark stopped sleeping and Jaemin and Jisung stopped-" he took a moment to squint at the duo, "-whatever it is that they're doing, they could get rid of the crowd easily."

Renjun grinned as he watched Chenle make his way over to a table and put his papers down, moving to do the same.

"And I don't really know why Donghyuck isn't doing anything, he probably likes it. But sure, if you're up for making a scene, let's go," they shared a wicked glance with each other as the blonde finished his sentence and turned around.

They spent the next minute perfectly maneuvering themselves through the group of students so that they were standing directly behind Donghyuck and the girl.

Chenle turned to Renjun and nodded subtly before pushing him slightly into Donghyuck, where Renjun leaned in the tiniest bit and rushed a quite, "play along Hyuck," before pulling back. The exchange went unnoticed by everyone else and since the crowd was big and students were squished together it just seemed like Renjun had stumbled a little.

After Donghyuck turned his head slightly and sent the other a small confirmation, the oldest Chinese let his arms wrap delicately around his shoulders, carefully drifting up to card through his soft locks.

One by one, students started to become silent as they noticed the two, waiting for Donghyuck to throw Renjun's hands off of him and fight or do something — anything, because Donghyuck never let anyone get that close to him apart from his friends. Even the girl at his side had kept a certain distance, not having any actual physical contact with him.

However, that moment didn't come, instead Donghyuck leaned in to the touch and let his head fall back onto the chest behind him. People gwaked in surprise and even Jaemin had unlatched himself from Jisung to observe what was happening opposite him.

"Duckie," Renjun said, fingers gently tracing over his ear, "you know I don't like it when you let people get so close to you. Tell them to leave," his voice suddenly became cold, thumb stilling where it had previously been rubbing circles into the younger's cheek. His eyes were set into a firm glare directed towards the brunette who was staring at them with wide eyes.

And all it took was one look from Donghyuck, spurred on by the new atmosphere in the room, for everyone to disperse and go back to their individual tables with muttered apologies dying in the air.

Chenle felt like he just got smacked in the face with déjà vu.

Again.