HIKE

28 | talk to therapist lee

"we should probably stop for lunch?" donghyuck suggested a little later, giving a long stretch and sitting on a nearby rock.

they came to a stop and jeno put down a restless renjun, sitting him down safely on a bank of grass near where donghyuck had sat.

jaemin checked the time on his watch and slowly nodded his head. "yeah, we should," he agreed. "i mean, it's gone half past one already..."

"great!" donghyuck exclaimed. he took jaemin's small backpack from him and sent him on his way. "renjun and i will prepare lunch while you guys look ahead for a bit."

"uh... okay," jaemin agreed with a puzzled chuckle. "let's go then, je!"

"deja vu, woah," said jeno, but let jaemin grab his wrist and drag him ahead on the path.

"wow, jeno, you know a big word!" jaemin's laugh could be heard from down the route.

"shut the fuck up, na!"

renjun took a stretch as donghyuck shuffled over to him. renjun frowned. "what do you and your suspicious ass want?"

"huh? nothing," donghyuck insisted. but his curious expression said otherwise.

"i was born in china, hyuck, not yesterday," renjun drawled. "come on, spit it out."

"okay," donghyuck grinned mischievously. "...how was last night? with jeno-"

"oh my god, shut up," renjun cut him off in embarrassment, shoving donghyuck's arm with a weak amount of force.

"at least hit me like you mean it," donghyuck grumbled. then he smirked. "or do you save that for-"

"stop talking!" renjun screeched. "just stop! for the love of ramen, please."

"fine, fine!" donghyuck held his hands up in defence. he became suddenly serious, thinking hard. "jokes aside, ren-ren... what is going on between you?"

renjun thought about it for what seemed like a long time, but in reality was only a minute or two. he thought about all the times he and jeno had joked around over the last few years they'd known each other, how sometimes they'd make each other laugh until they could hardly breathe, how bickering would end in dangerous tickle fights, and how succesful soccer games would always end in lung-crushing celebratory hugs.

but now things were different.

"i... i don't know," renjun admitted quietly.

donghyuck frowned at him and slapped his arm lightly. "ren, how can you not know?" he asked. "what happened last night?"

memories of the kiss in the shower block flooded back into renjun's mind and he tried not to blush so hard. "nothing happened!" he denied.

donghyuck snorted then and rolled his eyes. "lies," he said. "you kissed, didn't you! you definitely did, i can't believe-"

renjun clamped his hands over the ginger boy's mouth. "shut up!" he hissed. "and... so what if we did?"

"i called it!" donghyuck exclaimed once he was free from renjun's grasp. "so? does he like you back?"

renjun felt his cheeks heating up as a shy smile spread across his lips. "...yeah..."

donghyuck let out an excited shriek at the revelation. "i'm so fucking happy for you, ren-ren!" he laughed. but his happy mood was quickly brought back down by renjun's worried expression.

"i... i like him, hyuckie..."

"yeah, duh, i know th-"

"but part of me thinks it's never gonna work out," renjun whispered. his lower lip was suddenly quivering and his hands trembled as donghyuck grabbed hold of one of them.

"hey, don't say that," donghyuck snapped, breaking renjun out of his misery-trance. "why wouldn't it work out?"

"we're both boys, hyuck... isn't that enough of a reason?"

"oh, come on," donghyuck reasoned, trying his best to put the smile back on renjun's face, "you aren't going to let something like that stop you, are you? so what if people don't agree? if it makes you happy, then fucking do it."

renjun started to smile again, but he still looked unsure. "i guess you're right," he said. but he was still hiding so many thoughts and doubts behind that smile.

"and when i say do it," donghyuck added quickly, "i mean do his ass real good-"

renjun turned a warm pink. "yeah... i don't really think i'd be the one to-"

he clamped his lips shut again as jeno and jaemin came bounding back to where they were sitting. renjun hastily snatched his hand away from donghyuck's, but jeno's eyes had already caught them. renjun fought the urge to roll his eyes, and giggle at the same time.

"good news!" jaemin burst out happily. his grin quickly faded as he looked at the lack of lunch donghyuck had prepared. "where's the food?" he asked.

donghyuck scoffed at him and started rifling through the small rucksack. "who's the fatty now?" he muttered.

"what's the good news, jae?" renjun questioned then.

jaemin smiled again and opened his mouth to explain, but jeno proudly wanted to be the one to tell his renny.

"we're really close to the finish line thingy," he beamed at him.

jaemim shut his mouth and shot jeno a glare.

renjun's eyes widened in surprise. "really? how close is close?"

"maybe forty minutes to an hour?" jaemin guessed, and attempted to explain. "i recognised this landmark that's on the map, and it's super close to where we're meeting mark-hyung."

"in that case," said donghyuck, "let's eat all the leftover food and then leave so we can get out of this shithole."

so they all sat down to eat, binging on leftover cookies and cashew nuts (which jeno loved and insisted on reminding them that he loved nuts so much) and finished off donghyuck's bottle of lukewarm fanta. within twenty minutes, they were ready to set off again.

"ready, renny?" jeno asked as he crunched on one last bite of cookie. somehow he'd managed to get the crumbs all around his mouth and it was hard for renjun not to laugh.

"come here," he beckoned, urging jeno to come closer with the wave of a hand.

jeno slowly leaned in closer until their faces were inches apart. he closed his eyes in anticipation. but all renjun did was brush off the crumbs and pat his cheek when he was clean.

"done," he smiled at him, and then requested to be picked up with a pair of grabby hands.

renjun didn't usually like having to depend on people, but for some reason it was different with jeno. he liked the novelty of being carried everywhere, and the closeness and the comfort he felt being snuggled up against the taller boy.

despite all that had happened on that damn hike, it was a place away from the rest of the world. and it was a place renjun almost wished he could stay in.

jeno hoisted renjun up easily onto his back again and started marching after the others. renjun was wide awake this time, determined to make these last few moments last.

"to the finish line!" jaemin yelled from the front of the group, grinning in delight.

"to the finish line!" the rest of them chorused.

they were almost there now, they had to make it. they had to.

__________________

a | n
aaaand i have an exam
tomorrow whoops lol

predicting 2-3 more
chapters until the end btw

i want to start the next
one asap since it will be
set during 00 line sitting
exams and beyond!

but i'll tell you about that
when hike is completed :)

thank you for all the support!
(we reached 10k yikkeess!!)