Mid Summer

forty eight,

"Eat my dick," Mark spits, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I would, if I wasn't a minor!" Jaemin sasses, also crossing his arms over his chest.

"I hate you," Mark settles on saying, glaring at the door.

In walks Donghyuck, tilting his head and furrowing his eyebrows at the tension between the two other boys.

"Sexual," he announces, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Absolutely not," Jaemin scoffs, standing up and moving away from where he was sitting beside Mark. He seats himself criss cross on his bed instead, shooting Mark another glare. "Sleep in your own bed tonight."

Mark all but scowls, not even remembering the last time he slept in his own bed. Whatever though, Jaemin would cave in twenty minutes, tops.

Stupid silence fills the room, Jaemin pouting at his bedsheets, Mark scowling at the floor and Donghyuck snorting at the two of them.

His boyfriends are so stupid.

Soon enough though, the door opens again and Jeno walks in, all happy smiles and crescent moon eyes, stupid tension not bothering him at all.

"Hyuckie!" He calls, dropping his bag by the door. Jeno doesn't stop smiling as he stalks up to Donghyuck, who's sitting comfortably on a kitchen table chair, scrolling through his tumblr feed. He perks up though and looks at Jeno when his name is called, putting away the apple slice which was close to his lips. "Hyuckie, Dongyoung said he'd hook us up!"

Donghyuck's eyes brighten up, and Mark and Jaemin just stare, out of the loop.

"That's sounds illegal," Mark comments, side eyeing the two who were at the table. "I don't condone."

"No one asked you to condone," Donghyuck scoffs, turning back to Jeno and excitedly starts talking up a storm.

Jaemin lost interest in the conversation very rapidly.

"Markie hyung~" He calls, making grabby hands for the elder. Mark has to refrain from rolling his eyes at Jaemin, he knew that he wouldn't be able to last for long. "Come cuddle."

Mark sighs, pushing himself up only to walk to Jaemin's bed and engulf the younger with his arms.

"You're a piece of work," Mark mumbles against his neck, feeling his Adam's apple move up and down as Jaemin giggles.

"But you love me," the younger mumbles, not realizing his words until they slip. He doesn't take them back though.

"Maybe..." Mark whispers, so quietly that Jaemin is the only one who can hear it, along with the smile in Mark's voice. Mark didn't want to say no, he didn't, but he didn't want to say those three words yet. Not now, he wanted the moment to be perfect. All four of them together.

On the other side of the room, Jeno is now the one talking animatedly, eyes wide and sparkling with his hands all over the place.

Maybe Donghyuck wasn't retaining the information, and maybe all he was doing was staring at Jeno, who just looked so pretty like this, but that was fine. For Donghyuck, Jeno would repeat himself a thousand times.

——

Walking out of the art room, Renjun doesn't expect to find Jeno and Mark standing on the opposite wall, looking quite intimidating if he had to say so himself.

"Huang," Mark calls, pushing himself off the wall, walking towards him. Renjun really shouldn't be as uneasy as he is. "Got a minute?" But then he looks up at Mark, and it's just Mark Lee. The same Mark Lee that Renjun is friends with. The same Mark Lee that Renjun has had sleepovers with, that same Mark Lee that is one of his best friends. The same Mark Lee who's first boyfriend is Renjun's four year long crush. And suddenly, Renjun has a reason to feel nervous all over again. He can't even look at Jeno, find a loophole through looking at Jeno; he's Donghyuck's too.

"Sure," he says nonetheless, walking down towards the end of the art building. Just because he said yes to have a talk with Mark and Jeno didn't mean he didn't have to get home; his roommate was probably moping around because he wasn't there to cook dinner yet.

"How's school been?" Jeno asks, walking on the left of Renjun. "Do you live on campus?"

Renjun hums, turning a sharp left.

"I live with Yukhei. Best friends with Jungwoo, remember?"

The other two hum.

It's awfully silent while they exit the building, but it isn't for long when Mark starts speaking.

"We know that Donghyuck and Jaemin have already explained everything," Mark mumbles, kicking a pebble in front of him. The sky was already kind of dark, courtesy of the fall season leading into winter. Before Renjun could open his mouth and say something more, Jeno does.

"Are you okay?"

That question; it's full of pity. Renjun can hear it in the way Jeno asks.

And quite frankly, no, he isn't okay. But that doesn't matter, does it? Donghyuck wasn't going to let go of three boys who he adores with his entire being, his three soulmates. All Renjun had was a pathetic crush. Donghyuck had soulmates.

"I'm fine," Renjun says through gritted teeth, walking up a bit faster. "It doesn't matter anyways," he adds.

"Injun," Mark says, and there it is again; the fucking pity. Renjun could honestly do without it. Would rather do without it. "Your feelings matter."

Renjun scoffs; Mark has the audacity to say that, like his feelings play a huge part in their relationship. It doesn't. And it shouldn't. So Renjun doesn't know what Mark is going on about.

"Clearly," Renjun barks, rolling his eyes. "Listen, I don't know why you guys came to talk to me about it. It really doesn't matter." Jeno opens his mouth to protest, but Renjun continues speaking. "I'm pretty sure you've gathered that I like Donghyuck. And I'm sure he doesn't know that. So don't tell him. That's all I have to say." He says, taking one final breath through his nose, turning around and facing the two boys who have been trailing after him the whole time. For someone short, Renjun could walk very fast. "Is there anything else?"

"Renjun, don't you want closure?" Jeno asks, his tone bordering on pleading. "You need to tell him, for yourself."

Renjun tightens his jaw at that, crossing his arms over his chest and looking away from Jeno's puppy dog eyes.

He feels his tattoo absolutely scorching on his lower back.

Donghyuck's tattoo.

"He doesn't need to know," Renjun says, teeth with gritted. "I don't want him to know. You guys are happy, he's happy. I don't want anything more."

Jeno goes to say something else, Jaemin wasn't lying when he said Jeno had a big mouth, but Mark puts a hand on his arm, effectively telling him not to say anything.

Mark knows Renjun better than Jeno does. And right now, Renjun is angry. At what or who, he's not sure, Donghyuck would be able to tell you that. But Mark doesn't want to add fuel to the fire, doesn't want Jeno biting off more than he can chew.

"If that's what you want," Mark nods, lips pressed into a thin line. There were a lot of things that Mark wanted to tell Renjun too, but he knew he didn't want to upset him any further. "Head in before it gets darker."

Renjun didn't need to be told twice before turning on his heel and scanning his card, letting himself into the residence building.

If Renjun cries tears of frustration into Yukhei's arms that night, no one needed to know.

_________

announcements:
n c t v i s i o n got their instagram account and teaser dropped literally minutes before it became 2019 in korea,,, sm just wanted to save their asses after saying that they'd debut vision in 2018
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for my last chapter of 2018, take angst :) happy new year everyone! i love you all and hope you have a fun and safe 2019!!