The Lodger; Noren NCT

✿*｡ Thirty-Two ｡*✿

Renjun's eyes flutter open and he squints against the lights that leaked through the window. He groans and rolls over, stopping himself before he fell off the edge of the bed.

Through tired eyes he glances at his phone screen, it takes a moment for his mind to process the situation before he throws his covers off and practically leaps out of bed. "Shitshitshit" he kept muttering under his breath as he pulls out a pair of jeans and a random sweatshirt from his closet, throwing them on.

Quickly, he brushes his teeth as he runs his fingers through his messy blonde hair, trying his best to make it look somewhat presentable and not like a birds nest. Once he was done he grabs his laptop, shoving it into his bag before running out of the room, almost falling down the stairs.

Jeno stood leaning against the kitchen counter, scrolling through his phone, his other hand swinging his car keys around his index finger. Renjun doesn't even bother saying good morning, he sits at the bottom of the stairs and pulls on his worn out pair of converse. Only after he had done that did he allow himself to go into the kitchen and grab an apple from the fruit bowl, taking a huge bite.

"Woah, I was wondering if you were actually gonna wake up" Jeno laughs as he shoves his phone into his back pocket, running his hand through his silky brown hair.

"You didn't bother thinking of waking me up?" Renjun asks before taking another bite of the apple and moving towards the front door "you know what never mind, I'll see you later I guess"

"Wait!" Jeno yells causing the blonde to pause "what are you doing?"

Renjun tilts his head to the side, not quite sure whether Jeno was asking a trick question or not. "I'm going to school...what else would I be doing?"

Jeno doesn't say anything, only moves closer to Renjun and grabs a denim jacket off the coat stand. "I'm giving you a ride" he says, throwing the jacket on and opening the front door, unlocking his car.

"Just because of what happened yesterday doesn't mean you have to-"

"Just get in Renjun" he interrupts which caused the blonde to leave the house, locking the door before getting into Jeno's car.

After their chat the morning before, Jeno hadn't mentioned it again. To some extent Renjun understood this but at the same time there was still a lot of questions he wanted to ask, but he didn't want to anger Jeno again.

"I can't believe I forgot to set my alarm" Renjun mutters and he pulls down the mirror and tries once again to make his fluffy blonde hair look a little more tamed. That was until Jeno reaches over and pushes the mirror back up.

"Leave it" he says "I looks better a little messy". He didn't bother looking over at Renjun, his attention was on pulling out of the driveway.

The elder slumps in his seat, focusing his gaze out the window. This is what he wanted to avoid. The awkward silence. Was it too late to get out and just ride his bike to school?

He quickly erases the thoughts. He appreciated that Jeno was at least trying to be nice. Renjun was still incredibly undecided o how to feel about Jeno. He'd gone from wanting to be his friend, to being his fuck buddy, to hating him and then being his friend? It didn't add up but Renjun had decided that he was going to give Jeno another chance, and that meant they were friends until Jeno did something to fuck it up... or Renjun.

"What are you thinking about?" Jeno suddenly asks, only taking his eyes off the road for a fraction of a second to glance over at Renjun.

The blonde shrugs, his fingers pulling on the hem of his sweater and only now spotting the small hole in the cuff of the sleeve "just...stuff" he mutters, rolling his sleeves up, exposing his slightly tanned arms. How did he even forget to set his alarm? He never did that.

The car pulls up outside of Jaemin's house and Jeno turns to look at Renjun. "look" he starts, not really sure whether he wanted to look Renjun in the eye or not. "About what happened yesterday, can we just forget about it?"

Renjun didn't know if it was just him, but he sure as hell wasn't forgetting about it that easily "what do you mean?"

"I mean can we just start over? Like we've never even met before and we didn't... yanno" he looks over at Jaemin's house and spots the pink haired boy coming towards the car.

Renjun thinks for a moment before nodding, "fine, I'm Renjun and I'm renting the guest room in your house" he says, holding his hand out for a friendly handshake which brings a smile to Jeno's lips.

Jeno quickly takes his hand "nice to meet you, I'm Jeno"

And that was that. They let go of each other's hands just as Jaemin was climbing into the car. "Good morning!" He says cheerfully, his usual bright smile on his face. "Jeno are you still going to rehearsal tonight?" He asks as he struggles with his seatbelt, which in the end meant Renjun hand to lean into the back to help him out.

"Yeah, are you okay waiting back a hour, I mean you could get the bus if you really wanted to-"

"Heck no!" Jaemin interrupts "last time I got a bus I ended up in the middle of nowhere, I'll wait. Besides, I have Injun to keep me company" he states to which Renjun was quick to object to.

"I can't I have an assignment due and-"

"Just bring your laptop into the theatre you can do it in there. Please Renjun I don't want to be left alone with the drama geeks they freak me out" Jaemin begs and Renjun actually glances over at Jeno to see if he had taken offence to anything Jaemin had just said.

With a sigh, the blond slouches a little but nods "okay, I'll stay back"