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

·thirty nine·

"Fucking hell, I never wanna go back in there," Jaemin groaned, rolling his shoulders to alleviate the numb cramps he felt within them.

He and Jeno had just finished an hours long editing session where they picked out and enhanced the clips they were going to be using for the music video and he was tired. They had to cut out various scenes in which either Renjun and Chenle had been caught making out or Mark and Jisung had been captured fighting and though they weren't any better themselves, they were still going to complain.

The past three days had been eventful for the group, they'd finished filming and started on recording the song with some extra help from Chenle's brother, Kun who'd just arrived from abroad.

Everyone had been given the opportunity to loosen up as well, with the fading tension between certain pairs of people, they managed to have fun. Jisung and Mark were able to melt back into their usual personas around the others for the first time since they came back from Canada and both Renjun and Chenle swore that if they had properly met the two earlier, they would be living their best lives.

"Shit-" Jeno mumbled, staring at the clock that was hung up on the corridor wall before turning to look Jaemin in the eye, "Jaem, we're gonna be late!"

"Fuck," Jaemin whispered, eyes widening in realisation as he remembered that the seven of them were supposed to meet up for lunch today. He shared one glance with Jeno and then they were off, sprinting down the hallway and hoping that they'd get to their destination on time.

‣‣

When the duo had burst through the doors of the café that they'd all agreed to meet in, they were completely out of breath and tired. Jeno was hunched over, huffing for air and Jaemin sagged against the wall with a small 'sorry we're late.'

All the people in the building stopped to stare at them for a while before resuming their conversations, but they could still hear Donghyuck's distinct laughter as he pointed at them and snickered to Mark about how unfit they were, contrary to popular belief.

"I can't believe I ever called you my friend, you asshole," Jaemin glared at the orange haired boy as he made his way over with Jeno. He slumped against the back of his chair the minute he sat down, exhaustion evident on his features.

"You know, you're only like-" Renjun paused, grabbing Mark's hand and staring at the watch wrapped around the elder boy's wrist, "eight minutes late, we wouldn't have killed you or anything."

Jeno snorted at that, stretching before resting his head against the hard wood of the table, "you obviously haven't known Jisung for long enough then, that kid will throw tantrums if you fail to arrive on time."

"Oh?" Chenle raised an eyebrow in a way that showed his curiosity and looked over to where Jisung was quietly sipping away at his milkshake, "do tell me more."

Mark laughed into his coffee, spilling it over his hand as he lifted his head away from it, "you know, there was this one time where Haechan and Nana were caught up in traffic and he-"

"Hyung, don't you dare."

"He cried because he was scared we got lost," Donghyuck continued on, ignoring the scandalised gasp that left the youngest boy's mouth and the napkins that were thrown in his direction.

"I trusted you!"

‣‣

"So, tell us more about yourselves," Jaemin spoke up in the middle of their meal, gesturing towards Chenle and Renjun.

After they left the café, they went shopping together and ended up finding their way into a fancy restaurant as the sun set and midnight struck. They got a lot of stares because of the way they were dressed, but none of them really cared and the staff seemed to recognise Chenle so they had gotten themselves seats without any prior reservations.

Renjun hummed , picking up his glass of water to drink from, "what exactly do you want to know?"

"Anything really," the brunet said, stealing some salad off of Donghyuck's plate, "like, although we're friends now and we hang out, both of you still haven't told us anything about- well... about you, I guess."

Chenle's lips split into a ridiculous grin at Jaemin's words. He'd never thought the day would come where they'd actually call each other friends, but here they were, all sitting around a table and enjoying each other's company. He really never wanted this to end.

"I think the most important thing I can tell you about myself is that I think Chenle's a spoilt brat," the ravenette beside him exclaimed, causing him to snap his head around to playfully glare at him.

"And I think that gege's a pain in the ass, but you don't hear me complain!" the blonde screeched; squealing when Renjun started to tickle him in retaliation.

Donghyuck didn't realise that he was staring until Mark nudged him subtly with a shit-eating grin on his face. The younger boy didn't even have any time to open his mouth before the black haired boy was wriggling his eyebrows up and down unceremoniously and making kissy faces at him and wow, he didn't really think he'd ever feel such a potent urge to slap someone until now.

‣‣

"Are you sure you're sure about this Chenle?" Jaemin asked again for probably the hundredth time, eyes gentle and filled with care.

"Seriously hyung, you make it sound like I'm giving up my life for you guys, it's just a sleepover!" Chenle rolled his eyes in response, teeth glinting in the light as his lips pulled up into a pretty smile.

"I just want to make sure you're sure!"

"Quit whining Jaemin, it's too late to go back now, we've only got Mark hyung's house to go to next and then we're making our way there," Renjun sighed, "plus, Chenle's mother wanted to meet you guys."

"I still can't believe we're meeting the in-laws already."

"Say that one more time Hyuck and I swear I'll hurt you."

"I still can't belie- WAIT, OKAY I'M SORRY, I'LL STOP! I'LL STO-"