Mid Summer

twenty three,

"You like gummy worms? I like gummy worms." Donghyuck says, throwing a pack of gummy worms into his backpack. "You like peanut butter cups? I like peanut butter cups." He continues, throwing a pack of peanut butter cups into his backpack. "You like pretzels? I like—"

"Donghyuck," Jeno says, cutting the younger off with a grimace. "Just pack whatever you want."

Donghyuck hums, seeming content with that answer.

"Now we're talking," Donghyuck says, putting pack after pack of whatever chocolates and candies his eyes land on into his backpack.

Jeno remembers something in the back of his mind, remembers when Mark told him that Donghyuck had the worst case of a sweet tooth.

He doesn't comment on it though, he just watches as Donghyuck fills the backpack to the brim with snacks.

"Where are we going?" Jeno asks, eyeing the bag. "Are we watching a movie?"

"Sure," Donghyuck shrugs, finally turning back to Jeno. "I hate paying for snacks."

"Cool," Jeno nods, agreeing with Donghyuck's statement. "Which movie are we watching?"

Donghyuck pauses to think for a moment, before resuming his activities.

"New release, never seen before," he says, shrugging his shoulders and putting his backpack on. He turns to Jeno, who's just sitting on his bed, dressed, with his legs crossed. "Ready to go?"

Jeno nods, hopping off of his bed and heading out the door, waiting for Donghyuck to lock their dorm before they start on their way. To where; Jeno has no idea, but he knows there's a movie theatre a fifteen minute walk from their dorms.

"You know," Donghyuck chuckles, staring straight ahead. "This is a bunch of bullshit."

Jeno raises his eyebrows at Donghyuck's choice of words, waiting for the younger to elaborate.

"I mean," he scoffs. "Why can't we all just go on one big mega gay date?"

Jeno bursts out laughing, eyes crinkling in the sweetest way Donghyuck has ever seen someone's eyes crinkle.

"Mega gay date?" He asks, wheezing as he tries to catch his breath.

Donghyuck nods.

"Yeah."

"I love that," Jeno agrees, putting a mental note in the back of his mind to ask Jaemin if he would be interested.

"Anyways, like I said, this is a bunch of bull. There's four of us, why don't any of us have balls?" Donghyuck shrugs, asking his question casually as they exit the dorm building.

The younger starts walking through campus, and Jeno thinks that it was probably a shorter journey than walking straight off of campus and around. He hadn't done that much exploring anyways; he doesn't really know where anything is. Besides his department building and dorm of course, but that's about it.

Jeno continues to follow Donghyuck in silence, not knowing how to start a conversation.

He hasn't really been on a first date in... Years.

"By the way," Donghyuck starts, always being the one to break the ice, always being the one to start a conversation. "Who are your tattoos?"

Okay, but Jeno wasn't expecting that to be the ice breaker. What kind of question was that? And how was Jeno even supposed to answer that.

Those stupid tattoos were what got them into this web of lies and love and relationships and morals and ethics, and all things messy. Soulmates and soulmate tattoos were supposed to be something you'd look forward to as a kid and when you got yours, you'd cherish it.