Haunting; Noren NCT

♱•Ten•♱

Renjun sat at an easel in the art room, letting his mind wander as he continues to work on painting the boy sat opposite him. The class had been told to partner up with someone in the class and paint their portrait. It was to practice proportion (although Renjun wasn't really concentrating on that). Since Renjun was still pretty new to the school, and had only been attending for three days, he was sill getting to know people. There was only one person he 'knew' in this class and so they partnered up together.

The boys name was Donghyuck. He seemed nice enough although he was a little too sarcastic for Renjun's liking, he couldn't seem to tell what was sarcasm and what wasn't. He had faded light brown hair although there were still small streaks of orange visible and his roots were dark. His skin was fairly tanned but it suited him well. If the word 'sunkissed' was a person, that person would be Donghyuck.

Since Renjun had a natural talent for art and painting, he didn't need to concentrate all that much, his hand seemed to move the brush without even thinking about it. He'd spent the last two days thinking of how he was going to make Jeno more believable to his parents. He was putting way more thought than was necessary into what kind of person Jeno would be if he were a modern day teenager.

Jeno didn't seem to fit nerdy stereotype, although Renjun thought he would be able to pull off any look visibly, he definitely wouldn't be able to pull it off physically. His personality and choice of words didn't fit the concept of someone who spent more time studying and reading books than talking to people.

Then the was the option of the jock stereotype. It would fit Jeno pretty well, he definitely had the build to pass for a guy that played numerous sports. But Renjun wasn't sure his parent would approve of him being friends with this kind of person. Sure he would be 'fitting in with the popular students' but his parents were always a little weary of the more popular students. It was the same when Renjun had first become friends with Lucas back in China. He was in the grade above and was hella popular, but that was mostly down to the fact he could start a conversation with anyone, anywhere and about god knows what. Everyone knew him. For someone with so many friends Renjun's parents worried that he would be forgotten. But thankfully that had never been the case.

He sighs, letting his eyes focus on his canvas once again, only now having a clear view of what he had painted. It was pretty much finished. This was strange since it uasually took Renjun hours to finish a painting yet this one could have been deemed complete that very second.

Turns out he works faster when his mind wanders.

"You haven't made me look bad have you?" A voice says causing Renjun to snap out of his previous thoughts. He glances over at Where Donghyuck had gotten up, moving around the easel and glancing at the painting. "Whoa" he breathes, admiring Renjun's work. "This is amazing"

"Thanks" he says a little shyly. Although Donghyuck may think the painting was great, all the mistakes and bad proportions seemed to be all that stood out to Renjun. Maybe next time he should concentrate more.

"Wanna see mine?" The younger asks, already grabbing ahold of Renjun's arm and leading him over to his own easel.

Renjun studies the painting for a moment, trying to think of what to say about it that wouldn't hurt Donghyuck's feelings. It was obvious he wasn't the most skilled when it came to art.

"Soooo, what do you think?" Donghyuck asks, waiting for Renjun's thoughts on the portrait. Renjun didn't like lying but he also didn't want to be honest since the other boy looked rather proud with how his piece turned out.

Renjun smiles and looks over at the younger boy "your colour match near perfect" he says and the comment seemed to please Donghyuck enough, which was a relief.

"I know right" he says smugly, crossing his arms over his chest "turns out I'm better at art than I thought I was".

Renjun only nods in agreement, not offering any further comments on Donghyuck's painting.
•••••
When Renjun gets home he greets his mother who sat at the kitchen table with Mrs Park, both had a steaming cup of tea in front of them. Over the past few days Mrs Park had been coming over to help Renjun's monther with a few final touches to the house whist his father was at work. She was almost always there when he got home from school.

Usually his mother would come and pick him up since the school was on the other side of town, but Renjun had insisted that the walk helped clear his head. And he definitely had a lot on his mind.

Finally, after a long interrogation from his mother on how his day had been, he reaches his bedroom and closes the door behind him.

To his surprise Jeno was nowhere to be seen, which was strange since he'd usually be sprawled out on the bed or snooping through his things.
"Jeno?" He says, dropping his bag down on his desk chair, moving over to his closet and opening it up before moving to crouch down and check under his bed.

Where the heck was he?

Renjun wasn't left guessing for long though because as soon as he jumped back to his feet he hears a loud yell from behind him which only caused him to fall back down again. He holds his hand over his chest where his heart was pounding like crazy. One day Jeno would give him a heart attack, and then Renjun would be a ghost too and annoy him for eternity.

Jeno was doubled over with laughter but he holds out his hand to help Renjun up. The brunette goes to take it but stops himself, not wanting to risk frost bite.
"Stop jumping out on me" he mutters once he finally staggered back to his feet, only then did he take in the ghosts appearance.

"Sorry, but do you like the outfit?" Jeno asks and gives Renjun a little turn so he could see his new clothes.

Jeno's usually messy black hair was now styled neatly and he no longer wore the old tatted white shirt. He now wore a grey turtleneck along with a leather jacket and black skinny jeans. He looked...normal.

"Where did you get the clothes from?" Renjun asks, still trying to take in Jeno's new look. Why was he only now realising how good looking Jeno actually is.

Wait no. Jeno is a ghost. It wasn't right to look at him that way.

"You don't need to know about that" Jeno waves off the question and flops down on Renjun's bed. "All that matters is that I now look like someone from out there" he says, pointing towards the window.

In a way he was kinda relieved. Originally he was just going to lend Jeno some of his own clothes, but now he could see the ghosts build much more clearly, his smaller clothes definitely wouldn't have fit him.

Renjun smiles a little and nods "yeah you do"