drivethru [nct dream]

s1e17

[unedited]

surprisingly, jisung's mother was able to let him go out with his coworkers.
given his situation, he really thought his mother would insist on him coming home. so when she said it was okay for him to go out, he was a bit shocked by her approval.

so there he was... sitting in the car, waiting for everyone else to come out of the building. in the car with him was donghyuck in the passenger seat, chenle on his right, and jaemin on his left.

"so you still in school, jisung?" donghyuck asked, looking at him through the mirrors.

he looked up from his lap. "uhm... i'm still in high school so..."

"ugh, i don't miss high school at all!" jaemin groaned, sliding down in his seat.
"what's high school? don't know her."

"yeah, calm yourself... hasn't even been a year since you graduated." chenle reminded him, reaching behind jisung to pat the older on the back.
jaemin just playfully scowled at his response.

"you don't get it," he replied back. "private school and public school are completely different."

"you went to private school?" asked jisung, turning to him.

"still do. it's my last year."

"mine too!"

chenle smiled at the boy, leaning back in his seat.
"i figured. it's nice to not work with hags all the time."

"watch it!" donghyuck called from the front seat, only earning a devious chuckle from him instead.

jisung couldn't help but laugh too. it wasn't really at donghyuck, but rather at the dynamics of the three.

he heard car  doors open, bringing his attention to the drivers seat.

mark slipped inside, now sitting in front of the wheel. he turned his head to donghyuck.
"i got gum in the glove compartment. can you get me some?" he mumbled.

"what's the magic word?"
mark playfully rolled his eyes, reaching over the glove compartment himself.

"i-i was thinking..."

mark turned to the backseat, ready for jisung to continue.

"wouldn't the roller rinks be closed by now? i mean, it's kinda late right now..."

"well, not really. we usually get to the rink ten minutes before they close. and mark's pretty close with the guy that closes there, so he lets us stay extra." jaemin explains, jisung nodding in understandment.

💫

"shit, we gotta get going soon. i think we're the last ones."

renjun moved on to his other shoe, the laces running over his fingers. he twisted the one in his right hand around a few times before poking it through the hole.
"kinda surprised it isn't mark this time." he remarked, earning a soft chuckle from the other.

jeno leaned against the wall, watching as the older tied his shoe. he thought about how renjun walked out on him talking this morning, and pursed his lips in thought.
he tried to find the right way to bring it up.

"hey um...."

renjun looked up after he finished tying his shoe. "hm?"

"about this morning..."

renjun broke eye contact for a moment, softly sighing.

"i wasn't sure if i should ask but um... why did you walk out of our conversation?"

since he was trying to find some excuse, he didn't answer right away.

"did i say something that upset you?" he asked. "do i talk too much—?"

"jeno, it wasn't you," he assured him. "i just wasn't feeling well, that's all..."

renjun stood up to grab his coat. as he did so, jeno eyed him in suspicion and a bit of concern... mainly because his excuse was a bit unbelievable.

"you seemed really upset though—"

"jeno," he stood up, giving him a small smile. "i'm fine. you don't have to worry."

the younger pursed his lips, crossing his arms.
"okay, then. but uh..."
he reached for the door handle as renjun began walking towards him.
"y'know, you always listen to my problems and i don't know... i guess it's because i trust you? what i'm trying to say is that if you're comfortable with it, you can trust me...like, with whatever you need."

renjun's smile grows a bit wider, a short chuckle escaping his lips.
"i trust you too."

his smile had reached the younger, who could feel a warm feeling growing in his chest. he figured it was because he was starting to get even closer with him.
"okay then," he reached for his hand, starting to drag the two out of the building.
"i already wrote our hours, so let's get going."

"o-okay..."
renjun looked down at their hands briefly, swallowing hard as he felt his cheeks grow hot. he mentally cursed himself for being so obvious about his flustered state.
and yet at the same time, he was kind of glad that jeno didn't let go of his hand just yet.

as they stepped out into the parking lot, they saw donghyuck's torso sticking out of the passenger seat window.

"hurry up, you turtles!" he yelled out at them.
renjun felt jeno's body move from his laughter.

"turtles? that's the best you can do?!" he yelled back as the two made their way toward the car.

donghyuck got out to open the trunk of the car, causing jisung to look at him in confusion.

"wait, they're going in the trunk?" he asked.

"last two to get to the car have to go in the trunk..." jaemin explained, but his eyes were glued to jeno and renjun who had already made their way to the trunk.

"oh..."

"it's really just because mark's car is kinda small." chenle added.

"makes sense..."

"don't listen to him, jisung," mark said, looking at him through the car mirror. "he doesn't know what he's talking about. chenle has fancy cars that drive him everywhere."

"okay, listen–"

"let's get a move on!" donghyuck interjects, sliding back into the passenger seat.

as the car began rolling out of the parking lot, renjun was kind of surprised that nobody said anything about him and jeno holding hands walking to the car, and even now — especially jaemin.
but he must have thought too soon because jaemin was looking back at their hands with a frown played on his lips.
renjun felt this swarm of guilt build up in his stomach as he saw his eyes on them. so, he pulled his hand out of jeno's and looked out the back window to avoid any looks from either one of them.
so he wasn't able to see the small look of disappointment from jeno who then just looked the other way.