Renjun has been a little suspicious of Jeno this past week and a half; recently, the blond boy has been going off somewhere after school.

Usually, Renjun wouldn't mind it. However, he noticed how in the morning, Jeno looked awfully tired at times. Then he'd be heading off somewhere again last Saturday.

He's just concerned for his friend, what could make Jeno so busy aside from studying?

Unless....

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask..." Jeno perks up at the sound of Renjun's voice, eyes diverting away from his phone. He hums, letting his friend know he's listening.

"Where have you been sneaking off recently?" Renjun fails to make it sound like a joking manner, gripping on the straps of his backpack.

He doesn't fail to notice Jeno slightly tensing up upon his sudden question, he clears his throat and adds on, "it's just– sometimes you look tired when you get back, or irritated. Then you were also busy on Saturday, Ryo wanted to go to the park together..."

He makes it clear to Jeno, not wanting to come off as super nosy and give him the wrong impression.

Jeno eases up, taking a breath before answering, "oh, I just... They wanted to see me." His voice was soft, but there's a hint of sadness and ick hidden in it.

Renjun blinks furiously, "why would they? After–" he scoffs, a sarcastic smile appears on his face for a second before shaking his head. "What did they want?" He rephrases what he was about to say.

He didn't want to rile Jeno up this morning on their way to school, let alone himself.

From how long they've been friends, despite it being a short-term for now, Renjun has been one of Jeno's friends who he's comfortable with, it just naturally happened per se.

And knowing Jeno's situation, Renjun grew protective towards him like he is with Ryo; he treats Jeno like his own brother.

He soon learned Jeno's personality, so knowing him, Jeno's probably trying to keep it all to himself until he can't any longer.

Jeno only shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly, "they asked about school."

"Then they brought it up again, huh?"

He could only nod in response, biting his lower lip anxiously. Renjun sighs and slings his arm around Jeno's shoulders, "don't listen to them. You know what you want for yourself, right?"

"Yeah... But sometimes I doubt–"

"Don't." Renjun cuts him off mid-sentence, shaking his head as he pulls Jeno closer to his side. "Don't be, don't let yourself get swayed by their words just because of what they want you to be."

Jeno nods while listening to him carefully, he takes a mental note of Renjun's words, silently thanking him as he flashes a small smile to his friend.

Renjun smiles back and exhales while looking straight ahead, "let's go, before we're late. Can't believe Ryo decided to ditch us this early."

✮

"I'm telling you, I saw him cheating!"

Jaemin rolls his eyes and shakes his head at Donghyuck, "Hyuck, you can't really complain about that when you did the same thing earlier." He emphasizes, which Renjun snickers at.

Donghyuck knits his eyebrows and scoffs, "well at least I wasn't obvious about it!" He says in disagreement, it wasn't the exact same, he was totally discreet about copying off Renjun's paper on their quiz earlier.

"And what do you want to do about it?" Renjun raises a brow while leaning back on his seat.

Donghyuck aggressively sips on his smoothie, "it's unfair! He has a greater score than most of us!"

"Because he cheated?"

"Yeah!"

"Hyuck, you cheated too and you got 3 mistakes out of that quiz." Renjun deadpans. "He got 2, you would've been tied with him if you spelled your answer correctly."

"It's not my fault your handwriting is confusing." Donghyuck grumbles.

Renjun raises a brow at him and replies, "then don't copy my paper? Copy someone else with better handwriting."

"This argument is so ridiculous, man I got a 9 out of 15 in that quiz and yet I'm chilling." Jaemin snorts, crossing his arms with a cheeky smile. "Oh right, because it's still a passing score."

"Shut up. That was a pity pass."

Renjun sighs at their bitter friend, clearly he was being ridiculous here. Their conversation gets interrupted when Jeno walks over to their table. "Hey Jen," he greets him nicely.

Jeno smiles back, "hey Junnie." Accompanied by a little wave, Renjun then sits up straight, and before he could ask, he gets a kick on the shin from under the table.

He groans and glares at his two friends, "what?!" He hisses.

"Introduce us to your friend!" Jaemin hisses back, Donghyuck nods frantically in agreement as he glances at Jeno.

The blond boy raises a brow at the group of friends whispering to each other harshly. Soon, Renjun huffs and with a lazy hand, he gestures to them. "Oh right, Jeno, meet my idiotic friends, that's Donghyuck and that's Jaemin. Guys, this is Jeno."

Jeno wants to laugh at Renjun's introduction, it's clear his friend is irritated right now. Ignoring Renjun's brief description of them, Donghyuck waves and smiles widely. "Hey, I'm Donghyuck, but call me Hyuck. Nice to meet you!"

Jeno nods, staying quiet as his gaze shifts to Jaemin who extends his hand, "I'm Jaemin, nice to meet you." Jeno accepts his hand to formally shake it, raising a brow when he feels Jaemin's hand squeezing it for a moment.

Renjun notices and rolls his eyes, "ignore him, he's like that."

"Ahh, I see." Jeno mumbles, flashing the two boys with a shy smile. "Anyway, I came to tell you we can walk home together today... In case you were planning on going home alone or something."

Renjun smiles at him, "that's great! and no don't worry, I wasn't planning on leaving first, Ryo always wants to check if you're coming with us or not." He lets out a soft chuckle.

"Can we join too?" Jaemin butts in, earning a glare from Renjun.

"No, don't you live on the other side of town?"

"Doesn't mean I can't walk with you guys." Jaemin scoffs, "what's wrong with us walking home together?"

"You two would just pull us to go to the arcade or nearest internet cafe." Renjun deadpans.

"That's not true." Jaemin pouts, "especially today, Donghyuck's broke."

"Hey! That's also not true." Donghyuck lightly punches him on the arm. Jaemin fakes a wince before turning back to Renjun.

"Please?"

"No, and besides, I'm still embarrassed by you specifically."

Jaemin knits his eyebrows and tilts his head to the side, "about what?"

And before they knew it, Renjun blurted out, "you left a scent on Jeno's jacket!"

Upon hearing this, Jeno who was previously standing there awkwardly, turns his head to look at Jaemin who widens his eyes.

Donghyuck fights back a cackle, covering his mouth as Jaemin gulps and smiles sheepishly at Jeno.

Renjun realizes what he had blurted out and lets out a frustrated sigh, "right... Jen, forgot to tell you, he's the one who borrowed your jacket."

"So I've heard."