#renjun blurbs

[gyeomsweetgyeom]

[4:02 pm]

"Nobody would ever believe me," you whispered to yourself as you looked down at Renjun and carded your fingers through his silky hair.

He hummed, eyes blinking slowly in comfort and pleasure, “huh?”

“Nothing honey, just the show,” you reply nonchalantly, though your eyes are locked on your sleepy boyfriend on your lap. You raise your phone just out of his sight and snap a picture. It was a cute memory, but it could also be used for blackmail knowing your boyfriend.

This was a very, very rare occurrence. Renjun willingly being affectionate, seeking out your affection, and while the sun was out. Usually, Renjun was a bit like a huffy, mean toddler when you tried you get affection from him. He puffed out his cheeks and pushed your hands away, only wanting affection when he was ready for it. It was something you’d gotten used to in your relationship. He wasn’t overly affectionate, which was fine, not everyone was. This just made it all the more special when he did go out of his way to initiate affection with you.

Usually, this would happen when he was sick, had been gone for a while, or, like now, was tired. He had snuck up onto your lap, gently laid his head in your lap, curled up, and pulled your hand to his hair. It was cute.

However, it was now unfortunate that a sense one boredom was sinking in and the tv remote was on the opposite end of the couch. You tried reaching to no avail. You leaned over as far as you could without disturbing Renjun and still couldn’t reach. What were you going to do?

His eyes were fully closed with soft breaths escaping him. He looked so peaceful. You reached for a throw pillow and as carefully as you could you lifted his head and slid the pillow under. He whined quietly, shifting to get comfortable before calming down. You got the remote and stretched your legs. While you were up, why not move around?

You walked to your room to change into pajamas, you had just changed when a pouty Renjun walked into the room and threw his arms around your waist. “You left me,” he whined tiredly.

“I wanted to get comfortable,” you reply. You go to move forward and find that Renjun shuffles forward with you.

You take another step and he moved with you again, “are you going to let go?”

You can feel him shake his head against your back where his cheek is pressed to your sweater, “it’s your punishment for leaving me alone.”

And really it was your own fault for thinking someone as stubborn as Renjun wouldn’t follow through with this pettiness. You walked to the kitchen with Renjun stuck to your back, he moved with you at every bend of the waist, reaching on the tips of your toes, and lean against the cabinet doors.

“Can you hurry up?” He huffed as you munched on some chips while staring into the fridge.

“You can go lay down, I’ll be right there,” you offer instead.

“Or you can pick something from the fridge and take it with you while we both go to the couch, come on,” he urges.

“But I can’t decide if I want strawberries or grapes. And I really haven’t drank enough water today but the lemonade is calling my name,” you ponder aloud.

Renjun half groans, half whines, his arms tightening around your waist. “Get the strawberries and lemonade and let’s go! Please.”

You laugh, following his directions before shuffling back to the couch. Renjun watches you get comfortable before laying down on top of you, his previous sleepiness gone for the moment as he opens his mouth with an “ahh” for a bite of strawberry.

You lean down, peppering his cheeks with affectionately aggressive kisses, “you’re so cute Renjun!”

He groans out loudly, moving his head away, but does nothing else to stop your affection, Stop it!”

“My little clingy baby! Tell me you love me.”

He scowls, his cheeks red with embarrassment, “who says I do?”

You scoff, “how about you whining and clinging to me like a baby koala?”

He huffs, eyes locked on the screen for a second of silence before he finally replies, “delete the picture you took and I’ll tell you.”

Your jaw drops as you gasp, “how did you know I even took a picture? I won’t show anyone, I promise!”

He raises his eyebrows, giving you a skeptical look from the corner of his eyes, “pinky promise?”

You interlock your pinkies, “with a cherry on top.”

“Fine… I love you, I guess,” he sighs out in faux annoyance.

You smile brightly, pressing another series of kisses to his cheeks, “I knew it!”

He turns his body fully, giving you a questioning look, “you’re not even going to say it back?”

#kpop imagines #kpop reactions #kpop scenarios #kpop au #nct imagines #nct fluff #nct x reader #nct reactions #nct dream x reader #nct dream imagines #nct dream fluff #renjun imagines #renjun x reader #renjun fluff #renjun blurbs #renjun timestamps

[i4oba]

nct dream as… !%# types of dates .. 🥣⋆☄︎. *. ⋆

[non-idol ver.! just so you know eheh]

✰ MARK — drive-in theater

it honestly came to mind pretty randomly, as you two got back from your last exam of the semester, driving mindlessly for about two hours — not because you didn’t know what you want to do, but because you two simply just enjoyed doing nothing??? but so many things at the same???

just listening to the mixtape you made for mark, singing so loud everyone could hear since the windows were rolled down too… you felt a sense of freedom? some kind of… relief from the burdens??? it was a pretty hectic exam season you two had to endure and since it was finally over.. you couldn’t keep your excitement low

looking at each other with love and adoration, exhaustion vanishing in the company of the other one — it honestly should be studied? how easy it is for you two to affect the other???

you stumbled upon the drive-in theater by accident, it wasn’t planned or anything, you just wanted to simply spend your night at mark’s place and call it a day, watch a movie on his laptop while cuddling and stuff

but when you spotted the sign you couldn’t help but exclaim, getting all excited over it, even slapping mark’s upper arm… poor boy winced and just said “hey, no need to kill the driver”

you didn’t even need to convince him honestly, he immediately agreed and there you were… not knowing what was actually screening, blindly finding a good spot you two can park and enjoy the movie

it would’ve slapped if it was some kind of slasher horror from the 80s… but it was casablanca

WHICH IS SO CLICHÉ I KNOW BUT it makes So much sense and honestly, it’s such a big game changer to see it like that. it’s like an opportunity you shouldn’t miss

mark got some popcorn and something to drink, to make the whole atmosphere even more “vibey”, as he said, and you two just.. turned off your minds and watched the movie

discussing it and everything, like FELLAS, that’s the right experience! that’s how you watch a movie!!! YOU GOTTA ANALYZE THE SHIT OUT OF IT!!!!!!! ahah

in the end, when almost everyone drove away from the theater, leaving you two here with like.. only 3 other cars, mark gave a kiss on your lips, as a way of celebrating it all. it was for a fleeting moment only, yet it was so sweet and full of emotions

it was a reward, of some sort.

✰ RENJUN — museum date

there was this new exhibition at the local fine arts museum so… it wasn’t even a question that you two would literally RUN (and get a good use of the student discount ahah, it’s a lifesaver!)

casually choosing some elegant clothes which, of course, had to be matching to a certain extent – people HAVE TO see that you guys are together, plus it would look so good on the pictures

you expected lot more of people since it was the first week of the grand opening but it wasn’t that crowded. Which is a good thing honestly, you hate it when it’s sooo full you cannot even move properly

it was an exhibition of some impressionist works by some of the most renowed painters, it was a must to not only look the best, but to prepare yourself for a long day of strolling around

you usually spend tons of time in museums anyways, but this also as part of a date??? the security would have to kick you out asap.. ahah

renjun immediately reached for your hands to hold, while walking around, looking at the beautiful paintings, talking about whatever came to mind – not just about art itself, topics changed so fast you couldn’t even realize it by the time it did

being in art school meant that renjun can sometimes tell you little fun facts and tips&tricks he had learnt in uni

sometimes it amazes how well informed he is and how he knows so many know-hows.. not like you weren’t aware, you absolutely knew he’s smart AND TALENTED, but still ahah

after a good… 3 hours or so? you two decided to end the date with a quick stop at the museum shop :DDD it’s a must honestly, you gotta buy every magnet and postcard you can… especially of such beautiful paintings???!!! you would be stupid if you left without Anything

so you two bought tons of stuff… even some things you can exchange, as if they were gifts for one another :,) ahhh…

you just have to print out that picture of you two, taken in front of that big painting of mesmerizing flowers: renjun kissing you softly, hands on your waist, eyes closed

✰ JENO — stargazing

you had been planning this for literal days before… you know, getting everything together, like those cool ass lamps in a jar bottle with the led stuff, blankets you bought from a nearby art shop?? which sold basically everything??? ahah

drinks and snacks too… you were honestly So Ready to go stargazing! :D

you were supposed to go to that rather tiny park of the town which is mostly empty. that’s why you decided on going there, avoid people and stuff, just the two of you, looking at the constellations >:( honestly it’s so romantic it makes me Cringe (i crave it)

but in the end, you two decided to stay at yours instead, since your parents left for the weekend anyways, which is just a bonus: it’s the two of you in the backyard with the vast sky full of stars

idyllic??? romantic??? adorable and unforgettable??????

All of the above

at first, you two just sat down on the swing bed your father recently bought at a random flea market he religiously visited every weekend :,)

but then, to use the blanket you brought outside (what a tiresome task ahah), you two laid down on the ground instead

the first constellation you spotted was the big dipper, exclaiming when you noticed it on the sky, gently shoving jeno’s shoulder, who was rather nonchalant at first

he then, of course matched your energy, and got super super excited, especially after noticing the ursa major :D he felt like he accomplished his life goal or something ahah (hes so stupid but in a cute way)

what the cherry on top was is his hands, reaching for yours, fingers intertwining, as your heart warmed up – you looked at him, his beautiful face, and noticed that adorable eyesmile of his

life felt good. you felt at home

✰ HAECHAN — restaurant hop

he fucking hates cooking lmfao he’s all like “yo girl i don’t think we should let Me get near that oven… we might burn up the whole house IJBOL” (he would definitely use ijbol irl)

so you were like…

hyuck, you literally don’t even have to come to the kitchen bro, i will cook… which happens most of the times when you decide to stay at home for dates

but this day!!! to spare you from the tiring task of cooking!!!!!!!! he said that you guys should try out restaurant hopping

you were confused as hell honestly, like wdym you want that, aren’t you a picky mf lmfao

but he said that he’s feeling adventurous and is pretty much lazy to go hiking or anything that a sane person would go for

and he felt hungry so it was like the best choice in his eyes – you were sick of spending most of your nights at his (shared…) apartment so you agreed after like… 5 secs of persuading

you wanted to plan out where you should go and maybe book a table at some restaurant but he was all like “honey, we should be spontaneous, go with the flow…”, so you did???? Ahah

the first restaurant was not even a restaurant, it was just the first street food stall you two stumbled upon, getting something for the both of you

you didn’t want to feel full so early so you chose something light (unlike hyuck who was sure he was “alright” but after like the second stop, he was dying because his stomach was hurting “So Badly”)

you ended the restaurant hop with a donut at one of the bakeries you usually go to – you know, to finish it off with something familiar??? now lemme just say, it was chaotic, because haechan could BARELY finish it and made it your problem, whining like a little girl after every bite

like you told him not to get the biggest, sweetest and greasiest one but he was sooo sure in himself, he said he’s got an extra stomach for desserts

well… was he wrong…….

you spent 1.5 hours there!!!!!! he took so much time LMFAOXJAJX they were closing already and he still hadn’t finished

so you tried to rush him and stuff but he turned his princess mode on ahah

but at least, on the way back to his place, he bought you tulips :) it was such a sweet gesture <3

not as sweet as his donut was…… (he almost threw up the next day cause he was feeling nauseous from the food)

✰ JAEMIN — picnic date

jaemin was so excited :( he literally couldn’t stop talking about it like.. that’s right dude!!!!!! we’re going on a date!!!!!! A PICNIC DATE!!!!!

he would literally live in the kitchen before the occasion so that he can cook&bake tons of things for you to eat :) he’s so… he’s so malewife

all you’re left to deal with is bringing the basket and checkered blanket, every other things are settled! they are in his hands, under his control :D

you two went to the park which is right next to the lake – you wanted to see swans while talking about anything and everything that came to mind (he literally compared your beauty to that of a swan… which made you almost tear up like BOY YOU DID NOT… argghhh)

it was a must to start it off with the most basic and cliché thing of everything: the chocolate covered strawberries, feeding each other all lovey-dovey, tooth rottingly sweet and stuff

everyone was possibly like “okay lemme just kms” when they spotted you two, all up on each other, legs all tangled together, stealing kisses from the other, while giggling so loudly

it was SOO so idyllic, almost like you two escaped from a romance movie, or a painting. it felt… perfect, in a way?

birds singing, the sun shining gently on your skin, while you could hear the laughter of the children running around, clouds in animal shapes

then the sun slowly setting, pinkish hues taking up the sky above, everything becoming quiet as time passes by

he hugs you tightly. tighter than ever, perhaps

✰ CHENLE — karaoke

if two weeks pass by without you and chenle going to a karaoke… Most probably it’s because you broke up or something

like girl ain’t no way you WON’T go to karaoke dates… nuh huh, impossible to even think of that ??? CHENLE, out of all people

that’s the least believable thing like i promise you!

like saturday night are for the gir- KARAOKE!!!!! :P that’s how it always goes, getting ready, putting on some casual clothes, maybe eating something quick before that, and then spending the entire time singing your lungs out

you don’t even have energy by the end of it, like it… seems impossible to even crawl back home :,)

but honestly it’s all worth it, comparing your score and stuff, seeing which one of you sings better

sometimes you just open instagram and do lives too, so that your followers can pick who they liked more

(it’s always chenle’s acc though like SO MANY people follows him, he’s like a celebrity… ahah!)

haechan always comes to watch and roasts the both of you, especially when it can be seen that chenle kisses you here and there

he types “EWWWW GET A ROOM FREAKS” and thinks he’s hilarious lmfao

you always start the date with a quick and energetic song, one that boost your energy up easily and then… honestly it depends on your mood

sometimes you gotta be in your moods and sing romantic ballads to each other, as if it’s a serenade

but then again, moods swing so quickly and you can end up in a rap battle too

you would totally eat him up tbh… and he knows it so well

he finishes the date off with the most cheesiest, lovely romantic song ever… like a confession said yet again, for the hundreth time

✰ JISUNG — amusement park

it wasn’t his idea honestly

it was all you coming up with it, because there was that one roller coaster you’d always been scared to go on

and since you haven’t visited ever since you had jisung… you thought MAYBEEEE (just maybe) it would be better with him

you can at least hold onto him and stuff

he wanted to eat before the ride though… you did not let him, of course, since you didn’t want him to throw up on you AHAH

but like, why did he came there RAVENOUS? duh … you’re gonna say goodbye to your guts on the ride girl what did you expect

but you know, the ride wasn’t even the part you enjoyed the most – it was good, of course, just not that… outstanding? i guess? it was alright… especially because you could hold jisung’s hand so tightly :,) it was honestly so adorable

they should’ve taken pictures of you like you’re sure you would’ve put it on the fridge or something

but after that, you went to the gift shop, to get those silly headbands!!!!! you got one that resembled a cat, and jisung got one with a hamster >:( it was adorbs

you two looked like those IT couples that you can always see in instagram, you know, holding hands, taking silly candid pictures and then eating sooo much food

FINALLY!!! thought jisung probably ahah you got so many sweets it was like you could feel your tooth decaying lmfao

at the end of the day, you two decided to try out the freshly opened photo booth which had been going viral for weeks

it was… an experience to say the least :,) but the pictures came out prettier than ever!!!! except for the one where jisung sneezed and you got all scared because he was Loud loud ahah

but the compensation was a fleeting kiss on your cheek! which was also captured on one of the pictures :)

#nct dream #nct dream imagines #nct #nct dream headcanons #nct imagines #nct dream fluff #nct dream scenarios #nct dream stories #nct dream writings #nct dream x reader #mark lee headcanons #mark lee imagines #mark lee x reader #renjun x reader #renjun imagines #renjun blurbs #jeno fluff #jeno imagines #jeno x reader #haechan x reader #haechan fluff #haechan imagines #jaemin headcanons #jaemin x reader #jaemin imagines #jaemin scenarios #chenle x reader #chenle imagines #jisung x reader #jisung imagines

[jishyucks]

Happy Holidays! The Universe Hates Me. — hrj

‣ pairing: huang renjun x reader

‣ genre: fluff, academic-rivals-to-(implied)lovers, forced proximity, kinda slice-of-life

‣ wc: 3.7k

‣ summary: You don’t hate many things, but you could proudly say that you hate snow and Huang Renjun. And now that the universe has decided that it was a great idea to have you snowed in with the smartass himself, you’ll gladly add the universe to that list.

‣ warnings: slightly one-sided rivalry (more so Renjun’s developed feelings before reader so he’s acting on it before reader even gets what they’re feeling), the pair eat some cup ramen, set in that weird period where they dk how they feel

‣ an: I rly thought this was going to be easy to write but sike (⊙_⊙) ig its bc its basically e2l and these r difficult to write,, I was excited to write Renjun's but idk if I did my own idea justice,, anyways I hope it's still a fun read!

Series Masterlist

You’ve never been so nervous for a final in your life.

Sure, you didn’t find the content difficult, nor did you feel lost. Hell, if you were asked to explain the content with no aids, you can confidently do it. 

The only reason why you were so nervous for a damn final was because you knew that Huang Renjun was going to do better than you. Why? You’re not sure. But you had this gut feeling that his name was going to be listed right above yours on that stupid list and you were not going to let that happen. 

“You need to go home soon, okay?” Karina frowns. She’s all bundled up, a scarf tightly wrapped over her face to shield her from Jack Frost. She knows how much of a workaholic you were, especially when it came to Renjun, “It’s getting late. It’s already dark out and there’s no one else here. Text me when you get home.”

You nod, “I will, I promise. I’ll just finish this last lesson and then I’ll leave. I’m hungry, anyway.” 

Her stern expression softens underneath her scarf and she teasingly ruffles your hair, “Talk to you later, honeybun.” 

You wave and watch her leave before turning back to the scattered papers in front of you, your laptop burning holes in your eyes because you’ve been staring at it for way longer than a physician’s recommendation. The final was on physics, something that wasn’t your strongest suit. It was probably because the way your teachers decided to word the questions on exams screwed you over—but then again, you couldn’t blame your struggles on that. 

Maybe you did just suck at physics. 

Your eyes scanned the lesson you were currently studying, quietly reading it under your breath so that you could process the information—critical threshold… velocity… laminar to turbulent… fluid and momentum… the dissipation of energy…

“Ughhhh!” 

Your heart drops to your stomach, eyes almost slipping out of their sockets at the sound of another person groaning. You clearly remember Karina just saying that there wasn’t anyone else here. 

Then who in the actual fuck…

Your mind jumps to conclusions and thinks up the worst-case scenario. It could be a ghost… were you Scrooge and the ghosts here to visit you? No fucking way… you loved Christmas… Or it could be a murderer. But what kind of murderer groans before he reaches his target?

Using this as an excuse to procrastinate, you quietly push your chair away from the table and stand up. You can recall that the groaning echoed from the back of the library, so you begin making your way down to the back of the room. Your attempt to keep your footsteps quiet, barely lifting them off from the ground.

You guess you were making your way in the correct direction because now you can hear the sound of muffled music. You suppose it was coming out of the other person’s headphones. 

As you approach the end of one of the aisles of books, you bend over and peek through the cracks between the books. Your eyes betray you, not focusing on the figure sitting at one of the tables because the books are in the way. Leaning closer, you squint to get a better look at the figure studying, head bopping to the music blaring through their headphones. 

Who is that?

When your eyes finally adjust, you curse under your breath.

Personally, you would rather it be a murderer on the other side of the shelf. 

Because Huang Renjun of all people? Here? With you? Did the universe hate you or something?

You let out a faint groan, squeezing your eyes before you go to turn back to your table. 

Of course, Huang Renjun would be here and studying late. There’s a small tiny part of you that wasn’t even surprised that Renjun was the only other person at school at this hour. There was a reason why you felt like he was seriously going to do better than you on this physics final. He worked for it despite being naturally intelligent. 

“Fucking Huang Renjun,” you gently let your forehead fall forward, making a gentle thud against the table. Fucking Huang Renjun because, suddenly, you no longer feel hungry and you now desperately wanted to finish a week’s worth of content before leaving. Sure the idea was immature—doing all this for some guy who thought he was smarter than everyone else—but you couldn’t help it. This was how it’s been since junior high. 

And old habits die hard, right?

For the next 2 hours, you push yourself to study for the stupid final, eyes straining as you continuously shift them between your laptop screen and your papers. And you say push yourself because now that you had the knowledge that Renjun was sitting metres away from you, you somehow could not focus for the life of you. It was like he had cast some spell on you to do anything but focus on physics. 

You groan. You have been reading the same paragraph on boundary layers for the past ten minutes, hyper-aware of Renjun. The words blur together, and you become hyper-aware of Renjun's presence nearby. Despite your efforts, your mind wanders, and occasional stolen glances in his direction betray your attempts at concentration.

With an irritated sigh, you shake your head, attempting to bring yourself back to the task at hand. Why the fuck is Renjun occupying so much of your headspace?

Feeling defeated, you reach forward, roughly shutting your laptop closed before you begin bunching your papers up together. Not a single fibre in your body even cared if it was organized or not—that was for you to worry about later—because you just wanted out of here and away from Renjun before he completely plagues your mind. 

Finally, you throw your bag over your shoulder and begin making your way out of the library. 

Meanwhile, Renjun, who was managing well with his work catches sight of your figure leaving, winter coat zipped up to your nose. 

“Wait, Y/N!” 

You turn back to find Renjun pushing his seat back, getting up to make his way towards you. 

“Ugh,” you roll your eyes. You continue making your way out of the room, ignoring Renjun’s calls for you to stop. 

The mature response would be to, well, stop and listen, but after Renjun just indirectly wasted 2 hours of your life trying to absorb some information on physics, you didn’t want anything to do with him. You just wanted to go home and eat, before you pull another all-nighter to make up for the lost time. 

“Y/N!” 

You were jogging now, treating the situation like Renjun was some kind of monster coming after you. It was odd that Renjun was keeping up with you, tailing you like he was one of those salesmen trying to get you to try a sample of their product. 

You’re relieved when you see the front doors of the school ahead of you, streetlights illuminating through the small half-windows. You feel your feet pick up its pace, eager to finally get out of the building and get fresh air. 

“Y/N!” Renjun’s out of breath, “You can’t leave!” He reaches out and quickly grabs your wrist. The contact causes shivers to run up your arm and you’re quick to pull your limb back. 

Brows furrowed, you sent him daggers through your glare, “And why not?” 

Renjun fishes his phone out from his hoodie pocket and he holds it up despite you not being close enough to see anything on it, “The news. All the roads are closed. No cars on the roads. We’re stuck in here until they say everything’s clear.” 

“You’re lying.” Your stubborn ass refuses to believe Renjun. 

Renjun huffs, “Just check it for your fucking self if you don’t want to believe me.” His arms crossed and he pushes all his weight onto one leg. 

Reluctant to look stupid, you slowly pull your own phone out. You realize that you actually haven’t looked at any notifications lately, all your focus directed toward studying. When you finally look at your phone, you’re met with tens of notifications, both from the news app and a handful from your family members and friends, mainly Karina, who are asking if you’re going home soon or if you’ve gone home because of the news the city sent out about the roads. 

“And why didn’t you leave?” you say awkwardly, “When they sent the warnings out?” 

Renjun swallows his spit, “I didn’t see any of them either. I was too caught up with studying.” 

“Are you fucking kidding me?” you mutter. The realization of the situation starts to sink in—you're trapped at school, possibly overnight, and your only company is Huang Renjun, the boy who’s decided to make himself the bane of your existence. Then, you find yourself teetering between relief that you're not alone and frustration that you're stuck with Huang Renjun of all people.

Your eyes flicker at Renjun, who’s waiting for you to say something to him. And you do, “This is all your fault!”

Renjun’s mouth falls open slightly, the space in between his eyebrows wrinkling at your accusation, “How the hell is this my fault? I didn’t tell the damn city to close the roads!” Renjun holds himself back from raising his voice, but the emptiness of the halls causes it to bounce off the walls. 

“If I hadn’t seen you studying and being the overachiever you are, I would have gone home earlier,” you argue back. The second it slips from your lips, you realize how stupid you actually sound—but you don’t say anything. Without saying another word, you push past Renjun intending to return your spot in the library. 

Renjun, however, isn't one to let things slide. He follows you back into the library, his frustration evident in the tight set of his jaw. "So, it's my fault you chose to stay? That you didn’t see the notifications?” 

You shoot him a glare over your shoulder, not slowing your pace. "I chose to stay because of you! Trying too hard being a model student." 

Despite it being pretty clear that the argument was childish and that it was going nowhere, you and Renjun were far too stubborn to back down. 

Renjun scoffs, catching up to you. "Trying too hard!? I study because I take my education seriously. Maybe if you put in half the effort I do, you wouldn't be lagging behind."

"Oh, spare me, Renjun.” Your blood boils at his condescending tone, whirling around to face him and eyes ablaze with frustration. "You're insufferable, you know that?"

This is where you can see Renjun physically falter. The stress in his brows goes slack and there’s a shift in his expression, “Insufferable? Y/N I—”

"Whatever, Renjun. I really don’t want to speak to you right now.” You roll your eyes and turn your back on him, “Now, If you’ll excuse me, I have a fucking final to study for.”

Ignoring his attempts to keep the conversation alive, you make your way back to your table, your anger simmering in your chest. Renjun watches you go, a mixture of annoyance and something else in his eyes.

The library becomes a battleground of silent tension, each of you (mostly you) seething in your own space.

You set your table back up the way it previously was. Then, you quickly send your friends and family texts explaining what had happened and why you weren’t home by now. 

You attempt to start where you left off, the words Boundary Layers practically taunting you at this point. The phrase is pissing you off and you’ve read it enough times for you to be able to recite the sentence from the textbook perfectly. 

Wave interference, you read, eyes blinking at the screen—something about paths intersecting and creating new patterns of unity… discord… 

You let your eyes do the rest of the scanning, not exactly absorbing any of the material before you move on. At this point, you feel like not studying entirely. Besides, you weren’t exactly in the right state of mind to be absorbing material. 

The clock at the front of the library reads 8:28 and you feel like taking a nap is the best idea right now. It’ll help you cool off, pull you back in the right headspace and perhaps help you with the all-nighter you’ll probably pull tonight. 

Twisting your body, you pull your jacket off of your chair, folding it to create a makeshift pillow. Sliding your things aside, you place the pillow in front of you and shimmy your butt back against the chair before leaning forward to rest your head against it. In all honesty, it wasn’t the most comfortable place to rest your head, but it will have to do for now. 

⋆⁺₊❅⋆ ⁺₊❆⋆

The shuffling of feet and the clattering of objects woke you from your nap.

You don’t move, nor do you open your eyes, all you do is listen to try and figure out what the hell is going on. Through the fabric of your jacket, you can hear that Renjun is moving things around on your table and you can’t help but feel your anger shoot up. 

You keep your cool on the outside, pretending to stir in your sleep before you peek through half-opened eyelids. 

You’d honestly find this part funny if you were watching a drama. But the thing was, you weren’t watching a drama. And it was anything but funny. 

Slowly, you raise your head to get a better look at what Renjun was up to, fully expecting him to be messing with your belongings. You guess you were doing your job correctly because Renjun seems to not have noticed you looking at him. 

The scene (you embarrassingly admit) warms a piece of your heart just by a little bit—and you hate that it does.

Renjun’s trying to keep your papers organized, stacking them horizontally and then vertically to keep them grouped in the stacks you already had them in. He had even moved your laptop to a safer spot, off to the side. 

The reason why he was doing all this was sitting just across the table from you and to Renjun’s left. 

Two cups of instant ramen.

“What are you doing?'' Your voice comes out more hoarse than you’d like, but it was probably because you’ve been napping for what felt like an hour or two. 

Renjun freezes, lips parting slightly and eyes growing two times its size when he realizes that you’re awake. Sure, he would have had to wake you up sooner or later, but you waking up on your own wasn’t part of his plan. He should’ve done all this a bit quieter. 

“I…” He starts. Renjun gulps and pulls back, wringing his hands through sweater paws. 

You wait for him to give you a coherent reply, looking at him in hopes of forcing one out of him. 

Renjun’s at a loss for words, afraid that you wouldn’t quite get him if he explained his reasoning. He leans over and wraps his hand around one of the noodle cups, gently sliding it toward you. 

You blink at the steaming cup in front of you, caught between annoyance and a peculiar sense of gratitude. "Are you trying to make this situation bearable or something?" 

“Well it wouldn’t be fair competition if only I was able to eat, would it?” Renjun shrugs. From his hoodie pocket, Renjun pulls out a plastic fork wrapped in tissue, one he had probably taken from the cafeteria, and places it next to your cup of noodles, “Eat.” 

You blink at the noodles and eye the boy suspiciously, “You didn’t do anything to it, did you?” You mistrustfully pull the fork toward you, unwrapping it before you dip it into the soup. 

“Of course not… I’m not evil.” A scoff shoots out through Renjun’s nose. 

Renjun pulls out a chair from your table, taking a seat before pulling his own cup of noodles toward him. 

Your eyes linger on Renjun for a moment longer, contemplating whether or not you should believe him. Eventually, hunger wins over skepticism, and you take a cautious bite of the noodles. They taste surprisingly good, given the circumstances. 

For a while, there's a strange quiet as both of you focus on your meal. The only sounds are the occasional slurps and the storm outside rattling the windows. It's a bizarre scene, you and Renjun sharing instant ramen in the middle of the night, trapped at school. Who would have thought? 

As you dig into your food, you start feeling a shift in your mood. The annoyance from being woken up slowly turns into a grudging acknowledgement that Renjun tried to make things a bit less crappy. It's kind of funny when you think about it. You two had a small argument earlier, and now here you are, quietly sharing a meal. It's like an unspoken agreement, maybe a truce, even if neither of you is ready to admit it out loud.

Meanwhile, Renjun seems engrossed in his noodles, occasionally glancing in your direction as if gauging your reaction to the impromptu meal. He looks like he wants to say something, but he’s not choosing to do so despite the tension that is usually present in your interactions being strangely minimal. 

Finally, you break the silence. "Where did you get the noodles?"

He looks at you, brows raising at your willingness to start a conversation. "It’s not my first time staying past dinner. I have a stash in my locker."

“Not surprised,” you mumble. You pick the cup up and bring the rim up to your lips. Tipping your head back, you take sips of the soup, feeling the warmth of the fluids fall into your stomach like a hug. 

“Oh, shut up,” Renjun groans, “Or else I’ll take the noodles back.”

“Lucky for me,” you look at him and laugh, “I’m finished.” When you plop the fork back into the cup, it makes that noise you hear when you scratch the cardboard. 

Renjun hums. "Well then, I guess you owe me one. After all, you're enjoying the hospitality of my secret noodle stash." 

You roll your eyes, trying to maintain a facade of annoyance, but there's a glint of amusement in your eyes. Of course, Renjun would take this opportunity to gain something for himself. It was such a Renjun move. It’s always been like this. "I could've survived just fine without your instant noodles."

He chuckles, taking the last slurp of his own noodles before he deems himself finished, too. "And yet, you still ate it all up like a starved puppy.” 

There’s a beat of silence before you lean forward, resting your head on your propped arm, “I guess I should say thank you, huh?” 

Renjun grins and you only notice it because it’s more evident in his eyes than it was on his lips. He was seemingly pleased with your acknowledgment, but he quickly covered it up with a nonchalant shrug, "Don't mention it.” His voice comes out soft, mirroring the setting, “If you passed out from hunger under my watch, wouldn’t want that tainting my ‘model student’ image.”

You give him a side-eye, feeling the sudden need to tease him, “Don’t lie, Huang Renjun, you secretly care about me.” The statement was mostly a joke, so you think nothing of it. You stack your empty cup onto Renjun’s and stand up to throw it out. You don’t notice the way Renjun freezes in his seat for half a second.

“And what if I did?” Renjun shrugs. He gulps and feels the sudden need to flee the situation—Why did he say that? 

You turn to face him, surprised by his response. Renjun's casual demeanour, though slightly defensive, holds a hint of genuineness. It's a side of him you're not used to seeing, and it catches you off guard. 

"What if you did what?" you ask, feigning ignorance to see if Renjun would elaborate. A part of you is afraid of what he’s going to say. 

“What if I did care about you?” Renjun’s playing with the corner of one of your papers, creating a sound that fills the silence between the two of you, “I don’t hate you as a person, you know… I get that we always compete in grades and extracurriculars but… I don’t hate you as a person.” 

The confession makes your heart skip a beat and you catch yourself beginning to chew on your bottom lip, something you do when you’re nervous. The unexpected sincerity in his words causes you to halt your own, a momentary pause in your banter. You've grown used to the constant back-and-forth, the verbal sparring that characterizes your interactions with Renjun. This, however, feels different. 

"You're messing with me, right?" you reply, half expecting him to smirk and dismiss the entire conversation as a joke.

“What do you think?” Renjun retorts. 

You take a moment to think everything through. You have a good feeling Renjun’s not joking, that he really doesn’t hate you as a person, and you can’t help but think about the other possibilities of what this meant. Then you think about how you feel towards Renjun because you guess you at least owed him that. 

“You don’t need to say anything now,” Renjun assures, “It’s… confusing. Even I'm still figuring things out… I just know that I don’t hate you.” 

"You're not as insufferable as I claim you are,” you begin cautiously, “But it pisses me off that you both distract and motivate me when it comes to school.” And this was true. Today was a good example of that, though you weren’t entirely sure where these stem from. 

Renjun raises an eyebrow, his lips curling into a half-smile. "I'll take that as a compliment.” 

You roll your eyes. "Don't get too ahead of yourself, Renjun. I’m just saying—” “—Saying that you like me more than you think you do?” Renjun interrupts, “I know, I know.”

Your eyes narrow at Renjun, “You wish.” 

A moment of understanding passes between you, and for the first time, the competitiveness in your dynamic softens. It's not yet a friendship, but it's a recognition that there's more to each other than the constant rivalry. 

Renjun laughs, which transitions into a yawn. He acknowledges your comment with a hum, “I’m going to take a nap. Wake me up in a bit so I can study?”

You playfully roll your eyes, a small smile lingering on your lips. 

“Well it wouldn’t be fair competition if I didn’t, would it?”

tags: @tytrackfebreze @lovesuhng @hoonieji @niinjo @dinonuguaegi

an: the next few parts of the series might be posted a day late (until Felix,, but we'll see!). Next up is Jisung which I feel like will be ADORABLE. ty for taking the time to read! I would love to hear your thoughts even if its something short! hope you enjoyed it!

#nct #nct dream #nct imagines #nct dream imagines #nct dream scenarios #huang renjun #renjun #huang renjun imagines #renjun imagines #huang renjun scenarios #renjun scenarios #nct dream blurbs #nct blurbs #renjun blurbs #huang renjun blurbs #nct renjun #nct fluff #nct dream fluff #renjun fluff #huang renjun fluff #my writings #my nct writings #kpop #kpop imagines #kpop scenarios #kpop blurbs #renjun x reader #renjun x reader fluff

[markiemelon]

kiss it better

pure fluff ! no warnings ♡ bf!renjun x gn!reader

random rj drabble ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ

—{7:07pm} ˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

as much as you adored your boyfriend, renjun, he was a bit of a klutz… your so called ‘dates’ were practically babysitting. thank goodness he has you by his side, otherwise, he might set something on fire.

it was sunday night. it’s typical for you to invite renjun to your apartment so you can keep him from doing anything too stupid. you sat on your bed as you watched renjun sit at the desk in front of you, typing away at an essay due tomorrow. you admired how his pretty hands moved across the keys to make clicks and clacks. the rhythm almost lulled you to sleep, but of course, renjun, who might as well be your child, had something to say.

“done!” the boy said while closing the laptop that gleamed in front of him, darkening the room ever so slightly.

“yay. good job.” you yawned and rubbed your eyes simultaneously.

“now i just need to print it.” he jumped out of his chair. “do you have paper?”

“yes.” you gestured over to your dresser. “it’s in that drawer.”

renjun waltzed over to open the drawer and reached in to grab a sheet of paper.

“ow ow ow” renjun suddenly exclaimed.

“what, what?!” you ran over to the boy.

“paper cut.” he cried over-dramatically.

you slouched a little in relief after remembering that renjun is just a drama queen, and it’s not actually the end of the world.

“yn,” he tried to pout while holding in his laughter, “it really hurts.”

“knock it off renjun.” you scoffed and turned around to walk back to the bed until renjun grabbed your shoulder and pulled you into his chest.

“kiss it better.” he said while pulling you closer.

“renjun. you’re way too old.” you tried to squirm away from his embrace.

“ynnnnnn” he whined. “ow ow owwwwwwww it really hurts.” he tugged on your arm.

you rolled your eyes before picking up his hand and placing a gentle kiss onto the teeniest tiniest cut on his pinky. “there. feel better now?”

“almost.” he replied, now pointing to his cheek, “it hurts here too.”

and so you kissed his cheek softly.

“and here.” this time pointing to his other cheek. then his nose. then his forehead. then his lips. the next thing you know, you’re kissing renjun all over the place.

“there.” you patted his cheeks. “all better now.” turning back to your bed, renjun pulls you in again.

“wait.” he whisperd. “bandaid.”

you slapped his shoulder playfully. “it’s not even bleeding! you can barely see it—”

“owwwwwww” you were cut off by renjun’s whining.

“fine. I’ll go get one.” you brought back a bandaid and wrapped it around renjun’s pinky, placing it over the invisible wound.

“now draw a smiley face on the bandaid.” renjun made yet another request.

you reached for a marker and traced over the surface of the bandage.

“ow that hurts.” he let out a very unnecessary whimper.

“you and i both know that didn’t hurt.” you said.

renjun looked to you and smiled. “it did! so can you at least do one more thing?”

“what, renjun.”

the boy looked down to his hand, and held out his bandaged finger in front of you.

“can you kiss it better?”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

thx for reading! pls send requests ! ＾＾

- 🍉

#nct blurbs #nct drabbles #nct imagines #nct scenarios #nct soft blurbs #nct fluff #markiemelon #nct soft hours #nct timestamps #nct dream #renjun fluff #renjun #huang renjun #renjun soft hours #nct cute #nct soft scenarios #nct soft thoughts #renjun drabbles #renjun blurbs #nct dream timestamps #nct dream fluff #nct dream imagines #nct dream blurbs #nct dream soft hours #nct dream drabbles #nct x reader #renjun x you #renjun x reader #nct dream x reader #nct dream x you

[saturnznct]

your daughter gets her period | hrj

➸ request from anon; heyy I know you arent talking requests, but if you ever get the time... could you do a fic where jinghua gets her period for the first time? Like her mom had already told her about what periods were, but only renjun is around when she gets them. Please take care and i love your works <3

➸ note; thank u anon for requesting! i hope you like this <3

baobei - treasure

➸ word count; 1316 words

➸ jinghua; aged 12

➸ warning(s); periods, blood

nct masterlist

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ ⋆✦⋆ ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

‘You understand, baby?’

‘I think so,’ Jinghua, aged nine, mumbles, staring intently at the leaflet that she’d brought home from school.

‘It’s okay if you’re nervous or if you have any questions,’ you see her look of discomfit and uneasiness.

‘Wha… what should I do when it happens?’ she looks up at you, eyebrows furrowed.

‘If you’re at school, let your teacher know, but if you’re at home, come find me and I’ll make sure you’re all cleaned up and sorted, okay? It’s nothing to be embarrassed about.’

‘Okay, mum/mom. Thank you.’

‘You’re welcome, sweetheart. Let’s forget about it for now, okay?’

Three years later, Jinghua’s still waiting for it to come. A few of her friends have had theirs already, all excited and smug when revealing they had finally become a woman.

You were away for the weekend with friends when it happened to Jinghua. It was your first weekend away in so long, with Renjun watching over your teenage children.

‘Dad,’ Jinghua appears at the door to Renjun’s office, where he’s drawing away on his iPad. 

He looks up, locking his iPad, ‘hi Hua, are you alright?’

It had taken Jinghua a lot of will to approach her father. Once she’d noticed the blood, and managed to process her situation, she’d spent several minutes pacing in the bathroom, trying to muster the courage to go to Renjun.

‘Um,’ she can’t bring herself to make eye contact, ‘I don’t know what to do.’

‘Okay,’ Renjun moves from the chair to the couch, patting the space beside him.

‘Oh, I probably shouldn’t sit..’

‘What’s the matter, sweetheart?’

‘I-I would talk to mum/mom, but she’s not here,’ Jinghua starts, fidgeting with her fingers obsessively, ‘so I’m sorry..’

‘Don’t worry, you can talk to me about anything sweetie,’ Renjun reaches a hand out to still her hands.

‘Um, I think… I think I got my period.’

Renjun freezes for a few moments, and he tries his best to pretend like his entire life didn’t just flash before his eyes.

‘Okay..’ Renjun doesn’t even know what to ask, ‘do you know what to do?’

‘I don’t know what to do about the blood,’ she murmurs, ‘and.. I feel a little sick.’

‘You’re okay, I’m going to help you,’ Renjun stands up, mind running at a million miles an hour while he thinks of all the things he’s done to help you over the years.

Jinghua sits awkwardly on the edge of the bathtub while Renjun rifles through the bathroom cabinets, finally locating the baby wipes. 

‘Can you clean yourself off with these?’

‘Yeah, I think so,’ Jinghua takes the packet, ‘but I need some pads.’

‘I know, Hua, I’ll go and have a look in your mum/mom’s drawers, okay?’

Renjun walks into your bedroom swiftly, wrenching open your underwear drawer and pulling out a tampon box.

‘Hua, your mum/mom only has these?’

Jinghua’s eyes widen dramatically at the sight of tampax box.

‘I don’t.. I don’t know how to use those.. and I don’t- I don’t think I want to,’ she stammers, tears springing to her eyes.

‘O-okay sweetheart,’ his mind races, ‘um, will you be ok if you hang on a few minutes while I run to the shop? I’ll buy you some pads and some chocolate and then I’ll make you up a hot water bottle.’

‘Please…’

‘Have a bath Hua, and when you get out I’ll be back, and we can sort you out, is that alright?’

Renjun’s heart aches at how shaken his little girl looks. She rubs her arm nervously, nodding her head, ‘okay, I will. Please don’t be long.’

‘I won’t, baobei,’ he holds her head while he kisses her forehead, an act that usually makes the girl cringe, but one that she welcomed today, ‘I’ll be as quick as I can.’

Renjun hurries over to the car, finding you in his contact list as quick as humanly possible and clicking the call button.

‘Hello Jun?’ You answer, ‘is everything okay?’

‘Not really,’ Renjun throws himself into the car, starting up the engine.

‘What’s the matter?’ you begin to worry, ‘do you need me to come home?’

‘I don’t think so, but, I don’t know what to do, Jinghua, she’s… she’s not my little girl anymore..’

‘Jun, what are you talking about? Are you sure everything’s okay?’

‘Oh, I should probably should have waited for her to tell you herself, but I just need advice, Jinghua just started her period.’

Your eyes widen, ‘really? Of course this happens while I’m away… is she alright?’

‘She’s a bit mortified that she’s had to tell me I think, I left her running a bath and I’m on my way to the store but I don’t have a clue what I should buy for her,’ Renjun pleads with you, ‘please help me.’

You laugh, amused at how out of his depth your husband sounds, ‘okay, just stay on the phone and I’ll tell you what pads to buy, and what else you’ll need.’

‘I’m just pulling into the store,’ Renjun parks up, speed walking inside.

‘Okay, so the pads, there should be two different kinds, one for normal and ones for nighttime.’

‘Yeah, I see those, but they all have different numbers on, how the hell do I know which ones-‘

‘Jun, it’s okay, those are just the sizes. Get her a two in the normal ones and three for the nighttime, get her a couple of each, those should last her the next two months or so.’

‘Okay, so the purple packet with the two on, and the dark blue packet with the three on,’ Renjun confirms aloud, throwing them into his basket, ‘ok, I’ve got them, what can I get her to make her feel better?’

‘Have a look around and see if you can find painkillers for period pain, they’l probably be in a pink box, with ibuprofen written somewhere on it.’

‘I think I got it,’ Renjun adds them to the basket.

‘Alright, now get her a couple of face-masks and quite a bit of chocolate,’ you add, ‘those will make her feel better.’

‘I think I have everything,’ Renjun heads to the self-checkout, ‘do I need to help her with the pads?’

’She should know how to use them, I showed her a while ago. Just make sure she has a heating pad for her stomach. Let her lay down for a while. Just please don’t make a huge fuss. Don’t tell the boys.’

‘Of course not,’ Renjun scans his card, ‘right, I’m heading back now, she asked me to be as quick as possible.’

‘Okay Junnie, look after her for me. I’ll pretend like I didn’t know.’

‘I promise I will,’ Renjun smiles softly, ‘thank you for this. I love you, I’ll see you in a couple of days.’

‘I love you too Renjun, I’ll talk to you later on.’

‘Bye, sweetheart,’ Renjun hangs up, hurrying back home to his other girl, thankful that the store is close to your home.

Jinghua is still soaking in the bath when Renjun returns. Renjun knocks softly on the bathroom door, letting her know of his arrival, before placing the contents of the shopping bag on her bed.

Jinghua comes down the stairs around a quarter of an hour later, hair damp and in a fresh set of pyjamas, clutching the bag of chocolates in her hand.

‘All sorted?’

‘Yeah,’ she nods quietly, still holding herself as though she’s embarrassed, ‘thank you, daddy.’

‘Please tell me if you need anything else,’ Renjun grabbed her hand, squeezing it lightly, ‘or if your hot water bottle goes cold.’

Jinghua smiles lightly, ‘I will.’

‘Love you, baobei,’ he kisses the side of her head, ‘I’m so glad you felt like you could come to me.’

‘Of course, dad,’ Jinghua pops a chocolate button in her mouth, before offering one to her father, ‘you’re the best.’

#dad!renjun #dad!huang renjun #renjun dad au #dad!nct #nct dad au #renjun x reader #huang renjun x reader #renjun scenarios #huang jinghua #renjun imagine #renjun reader insert #renjun au #renjun blurbs #renjun fluff #renjun fic #renjun fanfic #renjun x y/n #nct fluff #renjun timestamp #renjun soft hours #nct x reader #nct dream x reader #renjun #huang renjun #nct dream fluff #nct fanfic #nct fic #nct soft hours

[babiesdreams]

Advent calendar

Day 9: Doyoung and Renjun +18

Warnings: Nipple play, teasing, edging.

"So you could try a small gesture at first. Kind of like buying flowers or giving her a gift she might like, and when you feel more confident..." You chuckle. "No seriously? Doyoung you're a full grown man and you're taking advice from my rommie? Isn't he like ten years younger than you?" You ask in disbelief of the situation.

"Not everyone is naturally romantic" Renjun spits out, justifying the situation. "Okay yeah, I'm just saying this is weird" You clear out. "Why don't you try?" Doyoung says with a deep voice. "Try what?" You ask. "Be romantic" The boy smiles when he sees how flustered you get by the situation. "With who? You?" You ask raising your brows.

"Why not?" Doyoung asks crossing his arms. "Well I... It's just not natural to force me to be romantic" You try to explain yourself but he simply chuckles. "Yeah right"

Something about his words makes your rage go high like fire. You step closer to him and lock your eyes on his. "You're the most handsome man I've seen in my life" You say with a flirty look. Doyoung laughs loudly. "That's all you got?" He asks and you turn red of embarassment.

He turns, locking you between the wall and his body and positions his hand close to your face, hitting the wall. You look at him, surprised and flustered with the whole situation.

"Remember what I taught you" Renjun says softly and Doyoung's hand travels towards your cheek. He caresses it softly and give you a sweet smile. His fingers touch over your lips slowly. "Have your lips always been this soft?" His eyes are obviously pointing at your lips as if he couldn't look away.

"Doyoung. That's..." Renjun says trying to give advice, but the older boy shuts him up. "Now it's my time to teach you. Remember?" Renjun looks at him, shocked. "But..." He starts talking, but stops as soon as Doyoung looks at him.

"What are you...?" You try to ask but he looks at you again and you instantly stop. "Would you let me fuck you?" He asks. Your skin starts heating up so much that you worry about burning his fingers if he doesn't get them off your face. "W-What?" You manage to ask, confused.

"I want to fuck you" He stops for a second, breathes in and whisper on your ear. "I wanna teach your roomie how to properly fuck a girl like you" Your eyes widen at the shameless words. You look at Renjun who waves his hand at you cutely.

"Doesn't he have a girlfriend?" You whisper back at him. He chuckles. "That's why I'll be the one fucking you" You gasp when he repeats these words without a hint of shame or embarrasment. "And he has to watch?" You ask looking at him. He chuckles and moves his hand away from your face.

You let yourself breathe for a second, but he quickly lifts you on the air. "W-What?" You try to say flustered. "I know you're down" Doyoung says while he goes up the staircase. "Hey I didn't" You try to protest but he interrupts you. "I saw you smiling" He comments and you simply can't contradict him.

You hear Renjun's steps following you both up the stairs. Soonly after you're dropped on the bed. Doyoung's arms lay on both sides of your face, his eyes stare down at you with something you can only identify as hunger.

It happens really quickly, his hands get your clothes out of the way, except for your panties and bra. His fingertips travel from your lips, down your neck, passing over your nipples through the fabric of your bra, your stomach and they stop at the edge of your underwear. You arch your back instinctively and he replies with a smile.

You feel his hands on the sides of your waist. His breath suddenly blows against your neck. A wet feeling suddenly brushes your neck as he passes his tongue through the same path his fingers marked before. This time a soft moan escape your lips when he reaches your panties.

He places kisses along the line of your underwear. You sigh in disappointment, but his lips quickly force you into a heated kiss. His hands start naughtily travelling towards your chest. He undos your bra and start playing with your tits, pinching on your nipples and caressing them.

"Do you like that?" He moans against your lips, you hum in agreement. Your hands start playing with his hair, letting yourself get lost on the heat of the kiss. You can't help but moan when his hands rip your panties in a quick and skillful gesture.

He passes his fingers through your wetness and chuckles against your lips. "You are this wet just for me?" His tone is so cocky that you refuse to answer. Your lips shut his with a kiss. He slides two fingers in easily and start moving them in and out of you while his thumb draws circles over your clit.

Suddenly your breaths starts following an irregular pattern, your chest is about to explode from your heart's uninterrupted activity. A sigh escapes your lips, as soon as Doyoung moves his kisses down your neck.

"I'm close" You announce with a moan. Doyoung's fingers suddenly pull out of you, making you protest with a sigh. "Open" He orders touching your lips with his dripping wet fingers. You open your mouth slightly and he slides his fingers in.

The bitter taste sends goosebumps along your spine. Your eyes look at Doyoung's satisfied expression until they set on Renjun's faceright behind him, standing by the room's door. You suddenly blush realising he's been there the whole time.

"What's it?" Doyoung asks with a smile, getting his fingers out of your mouth. "You forgot he was there?" He asks with a smirk on his face, you're completely unable to answer. He chuckles at your reaction. "Come here Renjun"

The boy walks towards the bed and stops by the edge. "Get on the bed" Doyoung orders and he obeys. He climbs onto the bed until he's next to both of you. "I'm gonna need your help now" Doyoung says, making him blush, matching your, already blushed, skin tone.

"Mine?" He asks clueless. Doyoung hums. "I want to be romantic now but every time I kiss her romance goes away you know?" You both look at him completely puzzled. "Why don't you kiss her so that this moment can be more... romantic?" You look at Renjun briefly, you can instantly tell he's flustered by the situation.

"I don't think..." You try to say but Doyoung interrupts you. "This was our agreement right?" His eyes are locked at Renjun's. The boy sighs and moves his body, sitting over you. He gets closer to you until he's inches away from you. "Can I kiss you?" He whispers on your ear. You don't wanna make him suffer more than he already is and hum in agreement.

He places his hand on your cheek and softly kiss your lips. It's a soft and slow kiss that makes you flatter even more. There's calm during quite a long time. Renjun's kiss, Doyoung's caress over your stomach and thighs, and suddenly, you feel Doyoung's length entering you without a single warning.

You moan against Renjun's lips, but he doesn't pull off. The kiss is still slow and tender but there's a hint of neediness added to it. The pace followed by Doyoung is firm and slow, matching Renjun's energy. When you close your eyes you can almost imagine the person kissing you and the one fucking you are the same.

When Renjun pulls off the kiss he breathes heavily, almost as if he was trying to control himself. He moves slightly to reajust his posture and you feel his bulge against your stomach. You look at him with a puzzled exression. He seems to notice and blushes harder, you try to control yourself from looking at his pants but it attracts your eyes like a magnet does to metal.

His hand lifts your face so that you look at his face again, clearly embarrassed. Your hand moves towards his pants, carressing his length through the thick fabrick of his pants. His head move back instantly. You manage to get his length out of his clothing, You stroke it following the same pace that Doyoung's marking with his lunges.

Your eyes take turns, looking at your hand's activity and the boy's expression indistinctively. He supresses his moans which makes you smile, when you think on the contrast of your loud moans and his quiet and cute hums. Doyoung starts getting faster as he's more and more needy, your hand gets faster too.

It's no secret that you're all on edge of cumming. Your walls are tightening against Doyoung's length, forcing him to slow down in order to control his high. Your hand imitates this action, tightening against Renjun's length, you slow down as well.

You're the first to cum, after a few slow lunges of Doyoung's body against yours, he follows right after, filling your insides with a hot and sticky substance. Renjun cums shortly afterwhen you tighten your gip slightly more. Your chest gets painted with his cum, which you recollect with your finger and taste to make him more flustered than he already is.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Advent calendar masterlist

Masterlist

#nct imagine #nct reactions #nct #kpop #kpop imagine #nct smut #nct 127 #kpop smut #doyoung nct #doyoung imagines #doyoung smut #doyoung scenarios #renjun smut #renjun blurbs #nct dream renjun #huang renjun #renjun #doyoung

[vickylamore]

A Bit Longer / HRJ

words suggested by; anon (mwah)

words; meeting each other's families, renjun, date night, physical touch, smiles

———

"Honey," you called while putting your watch on your wrist. The house was warm, maybe a bit too warm— you'd have to check with Renjun in a bit. The bathroom, just like your anxiety, was hot and sticky and suffocating and this stupid watch won't clip on—

"Yes, my love?" He called from downstairs, his voice somewhere in the kitchen. For some reason, he seems a lot more relax and calm than you. "What is it?"

"Is the food finally browning?" You asked anxiously, groaning as you let your hands fall on the sink counter, aching from trying to put your watch on for the last five minutes. "I swear I'm never making dips overnight again if they refuse to brown after an hour in the over— like I know that I didn't let it thaw out and it's partially my fault but for one time, can it not be my—"

"(Y/n)."

You jumped, making eye contact with your boyfriend through the mirror. He leaned against the doorframe, arms loosely crossed and a small, cute, unbothered smile tugged the corners of his mouth.

"That's not funny," you grumbled and his lips turned into a full blown smile, almost mocking you. You pouted, "I'm being serious."

"Never said it wasn't serious," he walked over and held your wrist up, clipping the watch. "But your little jump was so cute, you should've seen it."

"Haha," you rolled your eyes, "it must've been so nice, huh?"

"It was.' His smile never left his face and his hand never stopped touching yours. He held it, his thumb running over the skin of your hand, his eyes connecting with yours. "Dont be nervous."

"Easy for you to say," you mumbled, "it's not everyday you meet your boyfriend's parents and they meet your parents or whatever— I don't even know if everything's ready and that includes the food—"

He pulled you out of the bathroom, dragging you out your shared bedroom, down rhe stairs and all the way to the dining room.

The lights were dimmed, the table was set, soft jazz played jn the background the food smelled amazing— everything was clean and put together except you of course, but everything was just as you envisioned, if not more.

"See?" He whispered, his hands onyour shoulders as he stood behind you. Your shoulders relaxed and you held his fingers. "You did all of this and I just helped a bit. My love, I promise everything will be okay."

"How do you know that?"

The doorbell rang.

"Because my parents are never early unless it's something important." He whispered in your ear, fully hugging you from behind. "They'll love you, not as much as the way I love you but if they can tolerate me rambling about how amazing and beautiful you are, I think they'll love the real deal."

He kissed your cheek and swayed to the soft tunes that melted your anxiety away. You stayed in his arms and although his parents are outside, maybe you could stay like this for a little longer. Just a bit.

#vickylamore #vickywritings #nct #nct x reader #nct dream #huang renjun #renjun #nct dream renjun #nct dream imagines #nct dream reactions #nct dream scenarios #huang renjun x reader #renjun x reader #renjun x you #renjun x y/n #nct drean x you #nct dream x reader #soft renjun #soft renjun hours #renjun blurbs #renjun imagines #renjun scenarios #renjun fic #renjun fanfic #nct dream fic

[aesthyuckic]

🩰📻 slow dancing! ┊͙✧˖*°࿐

“I never went to prom.”

The statement seemed to shock your best friend for some reason. It was oddly silent between you two as he just stared. It was embarrassing to confess for some reason, the fact that you never went to a school dance and you felt like you missed out on a lot of teen experiences that others had so much of.

“Why?” Renjun asked before he turned his attention back to cooking the hot chocolate on the stove.

“Because,” You sighed. “I never saw a point in it I guess. I had no one to go with, not even friends. The point of a dance… is to dance. I had no one to dance with and dancing by yourself at that age is embarrassing.”

“I find that hard to believe.” He tsked. “The fact that you had no friends and no one asked you out in the span of four years with what? Seventeen different dance opportunities at least.”

“Believe it. No one saw me in a romantic light in high school and no one saw me as more than acquaintance... I’ve never been very pretty so I guess I understand it.”

“I think you're pretty. I’ve seen pictures of you from high school, you were pretty then too. The only real differences is the dyed hair that's shorter and the fact that you actually look happy now, I guess its makes you glow in a certain way... Even prettier.”

“You think I’m pretty?”

The blush on your cheeks was evident at what slipped out of your friend’s mouth. Only when you pointed out did he realize and become flustered as well. The atmosphere became quiet once again as you both stared at each other from across the counter. He cleared his throat before he went back to mixing the drink in the pan. 

“We never had school dances back in China and Korea, so you're not alone.” Renjun spoke, softly while not being able to look at you.

“You had friends though.” You pointed out with a smile. “And don’t tell me you never went out with anyone.”

“Alright, I won’t then.” The boy laughed.

“There's absolutely no way.”

“I looked like a child in high school.”

“Maybe because you were one?”

“The point is, I’m in a similar boat as you. Oh, the hot chocolate is done.”

He opened the cabinet above the stove and grabbed two mugs before he poured the drink into each of the white mugs. He handed yours first before he started on his own. The stove turned off with a click of the nob. The pot put to the side to cool with what remained.

“Can I ask for why it upsets you?” He pondered You never going to a school dance that is.”

“I just…” You sighed. “I always dreamed about slow dancing with someone. It seemed so romantic and special watching other people do it on TV and stuff.”

“Is that all?” He chuckled before he took a sip of the drink he had just finished making. “You can still slow dance with someone now. Hell, you could do it with me, right here. If you wanted to that is.”

He was quick to add the last part before you could respond to anything. A part of you wanted to. It’s something you always dreamed about, dancing with someone in a kitchen at three in the morning in their t-shirt. It was only eleven at night though and you imagined it being with someone you were with but Renjun was good too even if it was only a friendly thing. You sat in his t-shirt that he lended you since you forgot his pajamas. Not exactly the baggy you aimed for with the way it hugged your body either but you didn’t mind.

“I want to.” You mumbled.

Something in his eyes was a tell about how shocked and excited he way about saying you wanted to. He grabbed his phone rather quickly off the counter before a song started to play over the speaker that sat in the corner.

You recognized the song almost immediately. You hadn’t listen to it in some time but you remember the late summer nights in high school you spent dreaming and crying to the song you loved so dearly. You don’t think you ever shared it with anyone in your life. It took you back.

“You forget I have your playlists?” He chuckled. “Slow dancing at 3am… Very fitting.”

There was a moment of awkward silence as he blushed a bit. He extended his hand out to you which you took as the music played softly behind you both. Your heart started to race as you tensed up and found yourself in front of Renjun. It was surprising when one hand of his found a place on your waist while the other held your hand gently. Naturally, your hand a place on his shoulder.

You let him take the lead as you realized you really had no idea what you were doing. It felt weightless as he moved the both of you around the tiled floor, so close to one another.

“Hey, you’re so stiff.” He huffed. “Loosen up, this is suppose to be fun.”

“I’m sorry!” You exclaimed. “I don’t know what I’m doing! I’m afraid I’ll set on your toes or something.”

You were ready to cry as you broke away from him abruptly. You sat down in the chair you were in before, only this time with your hands covering your face in attempt to calm down before you started to actually cry. The music continued in the background but the silence was deafening over it. You could see movement in the light through the gaps your hands left.

“Y/n.” The boy called softly.

He reached out to gently remove your hands from your face. He was bent down in front of you, just staring up as the kitchen light made his eyes sparkle in such a way.

“It’s okay to mess up.” He reassured. “It’s my first time dancing with someone too… I’m surprised it went as well as it did. Can we try again, please?”

You couldn’t resist after seeing the look on his face, “Fine.”

He pulled you back into him. The previous song ended and another took its place. As you moved, he remind you in occasional, sweet whispers to relax. You listened every time. The both of you shared some giggles and playful exchanges. The love filled looks and smiles go unnoticed.

He saw the way you were smiling as he moved you around with you. So lost in the scene, he didn’t realize he came to a halt. You looked at him, wondering why. Clueless, you found yourself lost in a stare he now shared with you.

It happened rather quickly when he cupped your cheek to bring you in to share a kiss with him. Suddenly, your hands left his shoulders just to wrap themselves around his neck in attempt to bring him closer.

It was overwhelming in the best way possible as he deepened the kiss, hugging you to his body. It was perfect in the way it seemed to last forever, that moment. Once he pulled away, his expression seemed blank as pink dusted his cheeks.

“You’re cute.” You giggled to him.

“I could say the same thing.” He responded, rather smoothly.

#renjun imagine #renjun imagines #nct dream imagines #renjun au #renjun scenarios #renjun blurbs #renjun drabbles #renjun x reader #renjun fluff #renjun fanfic #nct dream au #nct dream fanfic #nct dream blurbs #nct dream drabbles #nct dream fics #nct dream scenarios #renjun #huang renjun #nct #nct au #nct imagines #nct imagine #nct drabbles #nct scenarios #nct fluff #nct dream fluff #nct blurbs #nct dream fic #nct fics #nct fanfic

[hanibalistic]

#348CF7 | HUANG RENJUN.

genre | fluff 

word count | 1170

warning | mention of suicidal ideation ​

note | i needed to get this out of my draft!

that surprised stroke would have caused his entire painting. 

the tip of his paint brush, doused with dry white paint, hovered shakily over the top of the canvas painted with blue. after much internal debate and calming, renjun continued with his art class assignment, but your question has climbed above his priorities and stood stabbed into his brain.

"what of my things would you take out of my room first after i die?"

"i am not sure we will still be roommates when that time comes," he replied, making only gentle add-ons to the painting because he wasn't sure he equipped enough attention to add anything new.

you raised your brows momentarily, considering the connotation of his words.

college graduation would be when you two would no longer be roommates, and that would be only a few months from now. generously, and ideally for you, you two could figure out a plan to go down the same path in terms of housing and choose to share an apartment again after stepping into the workforce. marriage with another would probably be when you two would no longer be roommates, which would be years from now.

a humorous smile colored your face. it was a smile that meant nothing of hilarity despite it being shown due to the laughable element of renjun's believed situation—that you would live for years, with or without his presence. you sighed and sunk further into the couch, your heavy mind dragging the weight of your body with it.

"you have high hopes for me, renjun," you muttered, "for my life span."

"this is your depressions talking, is it?" he asked with furrowed brows. "if it is, i do not wish to indulge in it. respectfully, of course."

"no, it's not," you hummed nonchalantly. "just making some philosophical talk."

"which is a direct reflection of your thoughts, feelings, and opinion," he retorted with a scoff, reaching over to the dirty water cup and stirring his paintbrush in it. "philosophy is all about what people think and believe. by that logic, your philosophic talk is your depression speaking."

you scrunched your nose in disagreement, but nothing about these kinds of conversations surprises or bores you. in fact, the dynamic between you as a humanities major and him as an art major never ceased to amaze you.

the essence of both of your passion lies in creativity and human connection.

philosophical ideas force one to think about all that is no real answer and is intangible—what is love? what is life? does life matter without love? does love exist without life? art forces one to confront and see—this is what love is and life is. life needs love, and love needs life, and this is what it would look like.

in a sense, the variety of your study subjects sums down to how nothing is wrong at the same time as everything is wrong; everything matters because nothing matters. you two simply approach the ideologies in very different ways, and sometimes neither of you could understand each other, which to you was never an issue because it gave a reason for renjun to explain his paintings.

and you could listen to him explain thousands of things for hours on end. why the sky of his world is blue, why the bed of his room was small, why the heart of his body is beating.

"hey! philosophy is not just about your judgments and opinions, okay?" you retorted, waving an accusing finger at him. "you can be wrong in a philosophical discussion too, just not in the way you think you can be wrong."

renjun rolled his eyes with a soft sigh, but he indulged himself in the conversation regardless of how little time he had to spare his concentration elsewhere. "how so? sorry, but you're wrong when you said that it is immoral if you like torturing babies for fun!"

"that, actually, is a completely correct statement," you said. "morality and who has the power to implement the rules of morality aside."

"this is why you never talked me into taking a philosophy class," he mused sarcastically, the sudden cameo of optimism that happened just for the sake of completing his sarcasm an unusual taste in his mouth. "i have no idea what you are talking about."

renjun usually doesn't understand as well. he was never very literarily inclined. words freak him out without the coat of design, and too many words together always end up fogging his mind like an after-scorch. the radio rusts the gears in his brain, and world-dumping in books stresses him out.

yet, somehow, he loved listening to you speak, even though he could hardly understand you. disregarding the connotations of your words, he searched for a rhythm in your sentences, and in those melodies where your rage and love strung through, he could feel you.

it may not be the 'how and what,' but he certainly understood your 'why.'

and he knew it now from the way your voice scrambled in feign nonchalance that you were having thoughts about life and death that he could only assume and could never reach an understanding of.

"i don't think i will be the one putting away your things," he replied after a moment of thought. "your parents will probably deal with that."

you rolled your eyes in annoyance, obviously impatient with his refusal to answer a simple question, which was not at all simple to him.

"you're no fun," you muttered as you shifted on the couch.

renjun ignored you with his eyes focused on the canvas. his paintbrush remained hovering shakily in the air where he once was painting the sky, which was in the shade of blue and bright.

why the sky of his world is blue, why the bed of his room was small, why the heart of his body is beating.

it was all because of you, wasn't it? because you liked blue skies, and your bed was twin-sized, and you existed that he fell in love with you.

every detail behind his artistic decisions has been curated around you, to involve you.

what would he take out of your room if you die?

probably nothing. he would prefer if you didn't die at all. but if he has to choose something, he would take away his image of you in your room, sleeping or dancing, humming or crying. he would take away the image of your living in your room, your existence once a vessel of his affection that broke and left his love scattered dangerously on the ground.

renjun sucked in a deep breath and pressed his brush against the canvas. he didn't turn around to look at you, because if he did, he might be next. maybe the next one to go out would be him if you died. and he would never tell you that.

for now, his sky is blue because it is realistic. for now, his sky is blue because it just is.

#nctcreations #nct dream #nct imagines #nct x reader #NCT Dream Scenarios #nct dream x you #nct dream imagines #nct dream blurbs #renjun imagines #renjun x you #renjun x reader #renjun x y/n #renjun blurbs #renjun scenarios #nct scenarios #nct blurbs #nct x you #nct x y/n #nct x gender neutral reader

[nctyping]

photographer! renjun and the title is "if you want to"

if you want to | h.rj

— college au, photographer!renjun

"can i take a photo of you?"

his shadow melts over your skin, bleeding onto the pages of your book and cooling the tops of your shoulders from the suns heat. you peer up at him from your place on the grass. with your thumb tucked between your pages, you lower the novel to rest on your folded legs.

"im sorry?" you ask, genuinely unable to understand what he said from the bustling group of children nearby. something about a photo, and that was enough to make you queasy.

"a photo of you," his words stumble out of his mouth almost unnaturally, like he is learning to speak all over again, "can i- would you let me take one? would you allow me to take a photo of you?"

the boy stands, still, looming over you, this time with his hands placed on his hips, exhaustion dripping in his sigh. you cant help but smile a little. the tug of your lips seems to ease his discomfort, just a tad.

as you open your mouth to ask why, he starts again, "im doing a, uh, project for my photography class where im capturing people who seem to reflect their environments... if that makes any sense at all."

you can't pull your eyes from his camera, tucked neatly within his left hand and moving every which way as he speaks. his hands better articulate what he says than his words do, and so do his eyes.

"yeah," you nod, now a little more conscious of the grass sticking to your legs and the sweat rolling down your neck, "makes sense."

"i asked you because you look so right sitting under this tree, in the least creepy way possible. like the way you had yourself sat naturally, with your book and total disregard for those obnoxious children- it would be perfect for my project," the boy continues, and it becomes quickly evident that anything you say will send him into incessant explanation, the same way your lack of instant response sends him into his final line to his offer, "if you want to."

what do you have to lose?

"alright," you sigh, and he visibly resists jumping with excitement, "what do you want me to do?"

"actually," he drags the word out, "my method is a bit unorthodox. see, im going to walk away, over there," he points vaguely to the other side of the park, "and i want you to pretend i am not crouching behind that bush taking your picture. i swear im in a photography class."

you should probably be frightened by how easily you agree to this- a moment of contemplation, an okie doke, and a shrug. there is something about him that makes you wish he'd pose you himself, take your hand and place it along your jaw, cross your ankles.

instead, he shoots you a thumbs up and scrambles to the other side of the park, shouting one last piece of information about the project to which you're now a contributor,

"im renjun, by the way!"

#renjun #huang renjun #nct #nct dream #nct u #renjun fluff #nct fluff #renjun blurbs #renjun drabbles #nct blurbs #nct drabbles #kpop blurbs #kpop drabbles #blurbs #drabbles #photographer au #fic title game

[gyeomsweetgyeom]

[10:04 am] 

Renjun hated waking you up. You looked so peaceful asleep, even when you had drool dried on your cheek. He hated to be the one to shake your shoulder and have you startle awake. And it was like that anytime anything interrupted your sleep, your alarm going off, a shake of the shoulder, Renjun calling your name quietly. Every single time, without a doubt, you’d wake up like you just heard someone screaming your name at the top of your lungs or heard a storm alarm blaring. But more than he hated waking you up, was spending so much time alone when it could very well be spent with you.

Today was a day that Renjun finally had free and he had already been up for two and a half hours. He spent one hour in bed hoping that the following minute would result in you waking up like a character straight out of a Disney movie. The following hour resulted in Renjun eating breakfast and drinking a coffee keeping an ear out for rustling sheets or the sound of footsteps.

After the next half hour, Renjun stopped being patient. He turned on the air conditioner to a temperature that you would really only use on the hottest days of summer. A temperature that was very much not needed now that it was cooling down to the fresher fall weather, especially in the mornings. Then he snuck back into the room and slowly tugged the blankets away from you. Any move you made would mean the blankets would no longer do their job of keeping you warm and covered up.

He tiptoed back to the living room and wrapped himself up in a warm blanket and his steaming hot cup of coffee. Any minute now you would be waking up and seeking his warmth, he felt himself getting excited at the thought of your sleepy cuddles.

Sure enough within 10 minutes of the air being cranked down and the blankets being stolen from you, you were quickly making your way to Renjun. You pulled the blanket from him and jumped on top of him before you pulled the blanket over the both of you. He had to school his face so as to not appear too excited to have roused you from your sleep.

“So cold this morning Jun,” he heard you mutter into his chest as you nuzzled as close as you could. God, you were so cute it was nearly impossible to keep his smile at bay.

He didn't even try to fight it when your freezing hands slithered beneath the back of his shirt to warm them, not even when they eventually came up to steal the still steaming mug of coffee from his hands.

He pressed a kiss to the crown of your head and let his lips linger there while he mumbled quietly about how cute and needy you were when you were so sleepy in the mornings.

Then the damned air conditioner had to kick on right as he said that. Renjun closed his eyes in frustration as your head perked up at the sound and feeling of the now cooler room.

"Did you turn on the air?" you questioned. Renjun merely hummed in response, acting like he hadn't heard you, so you repeated yourself and got the same response.

"I know you can hear me Renjun. Did you turn on the air?" You questioned again, no longer laying on his chest but rather leaning up to make eye contact.

His voice raised in pitch to a whine, "Baby, I didn't want to wake you up! I was getting so lonely without you."

You huffed out a laugh before you went on about how turning on the air was a waste of money, "and don't think to even call me needy again when you're sneaking around and messing with me to get me to wake up. I mean, seriously, when have I ever slept so crazy that every piece of fabric on the bed ends up on the floor?"

He paled, he thought he had gotten away with that one. "I love you?" he offered in response.

"That's not always going to get you out of your messes, but I love you too. Now, go turn off the air and bring me my coffee how I like it," you replied with a sickly sweet smile.

#kpop imagines #kpop au #kpop scenarios #kpop reactions #nct #nct imagines #nct fluff #nct timestamps #nct x reader #nct dream #nct dream imagines #nct dream fluff #renjun imagines #renjun fluff #renjun x reader #renjun blurbs #renjun timestamps #Renjun Scenarios

[puresealeina]

elf hunter

words: 543

summary: you were assigned to kill the last Huang elf, and things go out differently than you expected.

““ enemies to lovers, ok i tried on the trope but idk i like fluff better so it’s super cringy i apologize

Huang Renjun is an elf, you are human.

You're an elf hunter. You hunted thousands of elves your clan tasks you to do. When you see another paper they've sent you, his name is printed on it, saying he's the last Huang Elves, a powerful elf family, you were out to get him.

This isn't the first time you've attempted to murder him. When you dragged your sword down to his throat the last time, he chuckled, forced you to let go of the sword, and aimed it at you instead. Which reminded you not to underestimate the last Huang elf. He then told you that if you tried to go and take his blood again, he would not hesitate to take yours instead, before allowing you to flee far from his location.

You're not going to give up; you're almost there to be a master elf hunter, the position you've fantasized about since you were a child. You needed him lifeless and to bring his body back. So you're gonna do what you're not supposed to, go back.

This time, you've prepared yourself. To glance left and right, to listen to every sound nature makes. The edge of your weapon has been honed.

Trying to not make any noise, you walked slowly to his home, holding out your sword to come prepared. You opened the door with a lock picker, which made you go inside, the lights are turned off, and you were met with silence. You tip-toed your way to the rooms, searching every bit if he was there.  

The door behind you creaks.

You instantly pointed your blade at the noise. Nervousness floods through you, and you breathe heavily. Which was a horrible choice, because you can sense his presence behind you.

"Didn't I already tell you to not ever go back again?" a familiar voice whispers into your ear.

You can feel his body pressing up against you, daring you not to glance back. You two are so near that you wet your lips, unsure of what to say or do.

You reply, "Why didn't you kill me when you had the chance, Huang?" 

Before walking in front of you, you hear him snicker. In the dim light, his dark hair nearly completely obscured his vision. Before he spoke, he fixed his focus on you.

"It's simple, really. I knew you were gonna hunt me next, but you seemed pretty vulnerable than the rest of your little family-"

"I'm not vulnerable, you assume too much." You cut him off, with a raised brow.

But he smiles, "I wasn't done speaking."

He continues since you did not respond.

"-So I let you off the hook for a second opportunity, even if I could kill you right now." He dares you, but you want to fight back. He turned away from you.

"Then why don't you do it, Huang Renjun?"

Do you think he wasn’t gonna respond?

But he throws you against the wall and confines you with his arms. His darkened eyes met yours, both of yours on the same level. You may feel your heart beating as you see his act, such as his inhumane breath on your warm skin

"I don't want to watch a beautiful hunter perish at my hands."

#renjun x reader #renjun nct #nct x reader #renjun blurbs #huang renjun blurbs #renjun drabbles #renjun timestamps

[jishyucks]

Walls, Brawls, & Sudden Rainfalls ‣ hrj

‣ pairing: renjun x reader

‣ genre: enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, fluff!, slow burn (!), college au

‣ wc: 23.6k (gawdamn)

‣ summary: Your first impression of Huang Renjun wasn’t the greatest. In fact, the first two encounters you did have with him were enough for you to conclude that he was just some cold-blooded boy who genuinely didn’t care about anyone else but himself. That was, of course, before the (damn) universe brings you both together to work on the local daycare’s mural.

↳ Alternatively where first impressions blind the fact that you two actually fit quite well together.

‣ warnings?: Brief mention of underage drinking, Renjun and reader argue really childishly lots, when I meant slow burn, I really did mean slow burn, very very brief mention of doing the dirty bc reader chooses to be dirty-minded (but they don't actually do it nonono)

‣ an:  this is the longest fic I've posted ever (so far), so it feels like I’ve incubated it in the womb, went into labour, gave birth, raised it, and now I'm setting it shi free and into the world lmaooo,,, anyways thank you so much to @hoonieji (my bestie) for reading over this and reassuring me that it was going great,, I hope you all enjoy this!!! <333

‣ taglist!: @hoonieji @nanaflwers @dandelionxgal @flowerpotrenjun @renjun-fairy @she-is-dreaming @mosviqu @hibernatinghamster @glamourizz — can't tag @markleeiloveyou @lovehowdream

ONE.

With the hundreds, hell even thousands, of people in university, there will always be a handful of rude, miserable people that you were deemed to run into sooner or later. 

Sure, not all of them mean to be rude. Often, there would be the occasional bump on the shoulder in the crowded corridors… Or there would be those newly woken up individuals who would give dirty looks, obviously not giving a single fuck. You’re a nice person. You understand those people since everyone did had bad days. But there was one man—cough—boy that genuinely had an attitude that needed to be fixed. 

You didn’t know his name, nor did you want to know his name, but you could easily pick him out of a crowd because of the smug look he always repped. Funnily enough, it was the very look you wanted to very badly slap off of his face. 

The only reason you knew of him was that he seemed to have a desire to be a menace to those who got in his way and unfortunately, you constantly ended up being on the receiving end of these situations. 

There was one morning you had been running late to class—no—you were sprinting to the auditorium in hopes of only missing the run-through of the previous class. Your field of vision chose to settle only on the doors of your class, which at the time was a huge mistake. The focal point blocked out everything else, causing you to run into the before mentioned boy in a rough manner. 

“What the fuck!?” You both were on the ground, briefly stunned at the collision, “This shirt is expensive!” You looked up and realized that dark coffee had stained the boy’s light-coloured shirt. The look on his face caused your heart to drop and eyes to widen. 

“I’m so sorry! I really am! I’m just late–”

“I didn’t ask for an explanation,” he scoffed. He stood up, peeling the shirt off of his skin. It tented easily. 

“I can repay you…” You say quickly, speaking before you could even process what you wanted to say.

“Can you pay for a hundred-dollar shirt?”

You shake your head, but you think of alternative ways to repay him. Only him interrupting you even before you could begin listing them indicated that he wanted none of it, “You know what? It doesn’t matter.” And at that he leaves you stunned, belongings still scattered around your puzzled self.

“Well fuck you, then,” you mumbled. Rolling your eyes, you were pulled back into the situation you had been in prior to the encounter. Class was a lot more important than some douche anyway.

Another encounter between you both happened after about a month of the first. The Starbucks found on campus was not at its busiest, yet it was not quite empty either. The baristas and cashiers worked their hardest to satisfy their customers, walking to and from different stations behind the counter. 

“Hi, can I order a grande iced caramel macchiato?” You questioned, one of your earphones sitting in your hand. The cashier nodded, asking for your name and other necessary information before you paid. 

You thanked her before slowly moving towards the serving counter, taking notice of the boy when you did. He had his head down, attention directed at his phone’s screen. He, too, had earphones in, practically blocking out his surroundings. In a way, you were glad he didn’t notice your presence, the memory of last month’s conflict running through your head. 

You placed yourself at the corner of the cafe, away from the boy but close to the counter. When you ordered at a cafe, you would often pay attention to the baristas, watching as they mixed up the drinks. You could see yours being made, which had been quick as there were still people waiting for their drinks. 

When the barista finally clicked a lid onto the cup, you begin making your way to the counter, ready to take it and leave. She slid the designated smaller straw next to the drink, so you grabbed it before the drink, then made your leave. Little did you know, the drink you took wasn’t actually your drink. 

“Excuse me!” 

You genuinely didn’t hear the boy calling you because of music blaring through your earphones. And even though he was waving his arms to catch your attention through your peripheral vision, your attention was poured entirely on the drink you held snugly in your hand, poking the straw in. 

“Excuse me!” 

He finally caught up to you, grabbing your shoulder to stop you. The sudden contact caused you to jump, attention shooting from the drink and up to the boy. You don’t say anything, pausing the current bop that was playing. 

“That’s my drink,” he gestured towards the drink, “Well not my drink but my friend told me to pick it up for him.”

You look down at the name, seeing a Donghyuck printed on the sticker. You blushed and replied sheepishly, “Oh I’m sorry, I genuinely thought it was mine…” You hold it out to him, “Do you want it? I haven't taken a sip from it yet.”

“Of course I want it, I’ve been waiting for ages,” he mutters, promptly grabbing the drink from your hand. Without another word, he walks away, muttering a string of words you couldn’t quite make out. 

“What? No ‘thank you’?!” You yell back. 

He doesn’t turn back, and not because he had his music playing, but because he didn’t want to. You curse under your breath and walk back to the cafe, seeing that your drink with your name on it had been waiting for you. 

Though you didn’t have the right to judge an individual, especially since you didn’t even know his name, the two encounters had given you a bad image of him. Two encounters in two different situations… you were being polite in both situations regardless of how embarrassed you had been only to be returned with cold responses. Who did he think he was? 

“Li Shang.”

“I agree, one hundred percent,” you replied. Yeji held up a hand for you to give her a high-five, which you completed. The conversation topic on Disney Princes had been more entertaining than the chemistry homework due next week, “That’s why you’re my best friend.”

“Him and Prince Naveen,” she kisses her fingers in a ‘chef kiss’ type of movement, “That’s all I have to say.”

“Also!” You hold up a finger, pause for dramatic effect and state, “Tadashi Hamada.”

“He’s not a prince… but I will let it pass because it’s Tadashi Hamada,” she giggles. You watch her sit back in the library chair she pulled out from another table because it had padding for your butt, smiling. She drops her pen onto her textbook, “Taste.”

Before you could reply and add to her comment, a third presence appears to the right of you and the left of Yeji, which puts the conversation on pause. You turn to see Jaemin bent down to catch his breath. He had a wrinkled sheet of paper in one hand and his phone in the other, his bag open at the top. 

“Woah, are you good?” You asked, standing up and assisting him towards one of the seats as if he were one of the elderly you helped once in a while at the old folks home. He nods but keeps silent, taking in deep breaths. 

Once Jaemin finally caught his breath, he began to spew out whatever news he had for you or Yeji, “That’s the… most exercise I’ve… done in years.” He gulps and sighs out, “Anyways, Y/N you’re looking for a place to work or volunteer at right? Like art-wise or something? Kids? Puppies? I don’t know… I forgot what you were going for…”

You nodded, “Just any type of volunteer or temporary job… Yeah, I still have no luck.”

“Well, this is perfect for you then!” Jaemin flattens out the crumpled-up sheet of paper in front of you, “They need some people to help paint a mural for this daycare. No previous experience needed. As long as you can hold a paintbrush!”

Yeji leans in to get a look at the sheet, “Woah, you get paid too! That sounds like fun. I would do it with you if I wasn’t busy with these damn classes.” She sinks back into her chair and begins playing with the sheets of her textbook.

“I ran here because a bunch of people might want the job.” Jaemin says, “The daycare is literally just behind the campus.” 

You stand up, the adrenaline Jaemin previously possessed taking over your veins, “Can you watch my stuff!?” Your phone was already in hand and you were ready to sprint out of the library and to the daycare Jaemin had been talking about. 

“Of cou–“

And at that, you were gone and running towards the building. To your luck, the library was by the back of the campus, so the run wasn’t as far as you anticipated. You could sense other students eyeing you as you sped past, though you didn’t really care since you were merely a flash in their eyes. 

Once you had arrived at the daycare, you entered and made your way to the front counter, “Hello, I’m here for the painting job?” 

The lady at the desk looked exhausted, eyes halfway closed and face struggling to present a welcome expression, “Can you draw and paint? All that kind of stuff?” 

“Yes! That’s mostly why the job appealed to me,” you replied, “Do you need a resum–“

“You’re hired…” she mumbled stiffly, “Please fill this sheet out and show up here on Saturday at one in the afternoon for further instruction.” 

Smiling, partly stunned, you nodded before turning to leave. That was easier than you thought… all that running was worth it.

TWO.

You sat across the street from the daycare, contemplating whether it would be better to come early or right on time. Through the windows, you could see that they weren’t as busy as yesterday due to it being a Saturday. It wouldn’t hurt to show up early right? Standing up, you dust your butt off before making your way to the crosswalk. 

“Hello, I’m here for the job information. I was hired yesterday,” you explained, “My name is Y/N L/N.” The person (wo)manning the desk was a different lady from a few days ago. The woman held a smile on her face, one that reached her eyes so, to you, it seemed like a genuine smile. You squinted at her name tag, which read Joy. 

Huh… fitting…

“Oh good!” She exclaimed, “Now you can sit just over there as we’re waiting for another person.”

“Another person?”

“Of course! We’re not expecting one person to work on the entire mural alone. It’s larger than it looks, so we decided to hire anyone who asked. Those two were you two,” she explained the situation, “I’ll further explain the objective of the assignment when the other boy arrives.”

Your ears perked up as you nodded, Boy? A small little piece of you started hoping that, whoever this other person was, was cute. 

You hear the door open behind you, a small greeting leaving the lips of the smiley woman, “Oh! This must be him! Are you here for the job?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the voice replied. It sounded rather familiar, but you were unable to pinpoint who it could have belonged to. Curious, you turn to look at the owner of the voice. Once you had processed who had been standing a few feet away from you, your jaw dropped. 

You both speak at once, evidently shocked at the coincidence.

“You!?” 

You couldn’t help but feel the sudden impulse to quit the job before it even started. You’d rather accidentally fall into dog shit than work with this unnamed douche of a boy. 

“Do you two know each other?” Joy questioned, “That’s even bett–“

“N-no, not quite,” you interrupted, “We’ve just… had a few encounters on campus.” You choose to turn your body completely towards Joy so that you couldn’t accidentally look at the other presence. 

Joy nods, “Makes sense… Anyways, name?” She directed the question towards the boy, pulling out another sheet from a clipboard. 

“Huang Renjun.” It was funny finally being able to put a name to his face, especially after all this time. But you very much preferred ‘that boy’ over his name. 

You feel him approach the desk, standing beside you as Joy begins going over the job instructions. You two were expected to paint a mural over the next month, about two to four days per week depending on how long you both worked. The theme of the painting is what was expected from a daycare mural, something pleasing to the eye, especially the eyes of kids. The two of you had freedom over what you wanted to paint but were expected to get the idea checked over by Joy before the actual painting started. Once that was approved, they’ll provide all the supplies for the painting process to begin. Easy. 

If only you were working on the project with anyone else but Huang Renjun. 

“Any further questions?” Joy concluded, shifting her glance between you and Renjun. You both shook your heads, “Okay good. I think a rough deadline for the idea should be around the end of next week? The boss really needs this done in a month.” You both nodded silently before turning to leave the daycare. 

“How do you want to brainstorm the idea?” Renjun had muttered before you were able to walk off.

“I don’t know,” you shrugged, “How do you?” 

He scowls, “I guess we can just meet up here during designated hours?” 

“That makes the most sense, doesn’t it?” you don’t feel like replying to him kindly if he spoke with an underlying attitude. Someone really needed to teach him basic manners. 

“Whatever.” Renjun leaves you alone in front of the daycare, giving you a chance to roll your eyes behind his back. 

You choose not to walk away from the daycare until you’re sure he’s left, opting to use your phone and scroll through whatever notifications you’ve missed during the meeting. Your face is left in a painful grimace, one that you didn’t even feel you’ve rendered on your face. 

You can’t believe you’re working on a team project with this particular boy out of all people. Yes, it was a bit overdramatic, but you’re not quite sure how to work with someone you’ve only had bad encounters with. It also doesn’t help that he seems to have mutual feelings for you—which you find particularly ridiculous since you really haven’t done anything wrong to him on purpose.

It’s somehow the next day when you’re able to tell Yeji about the happenings of yesterday. Though the topic only came up when Jaemin questions you about the gig and Yeji notices how your face contorts into a stiff frown. The both of you are sitting in the dining hall, food half-finished but untouched for the past ten minutes.

“What’s up with your face?” Yeji questions, almost laughing out loud at your shift in mood. This is something you really liked about Yeji. She was talented at reading facial expressions. There could be the tiniest quirk in your brow and she’d be questioning you to world’s end. 

You purse your lips and stare back at her, “What face?” 

“This face,” Yeji contorts her face into an exaggerated glower, “What’s up with that? I thought you were excited about the painting gig?” Jaemin nods along to what Yeji said. 

You don’t reply for one long second, trying to figure out how to explain to your best friend what happened yesterday afternoon. “Do you remember that guy I was really pissed off about a few weeks ago?” 

Yeji pauses to think, “The guy with the coffee?” 

You think about it and realize that both encounters you’ve had with Huang Renjun involved coffee. “Yeah, him! Today, at the meeting, guess who came as my temporary partner for the project.”

“No way!” Yeji’s eyes open, “That’s a whole coincidence! No wonder why you looked all pissed.” You can tell by the new wave of expression on her face that she feels sorry, “Is he still… douchey?”

Your eyes widen as you nod, leaning forward, “Yeah, but what’s new?” You’re about to roll your eyes, mouth opening with an intention to add more, but Yeji’s eyes shift from you to something behind you. She holds her gaze there for a few moments before her brows furrow in confusion. Her eyes flicker back to you.

“You know it’s not good to be talking bad about someone behind their backs right?” You turn and see Renjun with a friend of his. “Someone’s ending up on Santa’s naughty list.”

Your brows knit together, “You’re one to say something…”

Renjun throws you a look before taking a long sip from his drink. You can’t help but look at the beverage, an iced matcha latte, and feel yourself craving it. It looks good.

Renjun clears his throat, “Anyways, we’re meeting tomorrow.” His friend stands awkwardly behind him, looking like he just wants to be there to eat. 

“That doesn’t even sound like a question,” you point out. 

He shrugs, “Because it’s not… I have places to be.”

You look over at Yeji who’s witnessing the attitude of the one and only Huang Renjun. Even you can see that Yeji’s shocked at how Renjun’s interacting with you.

“Fine, whatever,” you wave him off, “Whatever makes you leave.”

“Good, because I wasn’t even going to give you a choice. I’m showing up even if you’re not there.” At that, Renjun and his (poor) friend walk away, leaving both you and Yeji rather stunned. 

In the corner of your eye, you see Yeji turn to look at you, so you look back, noticing her sorry expression, “Good luck tomorrow, Y/N.”

You thank her. Not because it was what people usually replied to the comment, but because you knew you genuinely needed it.

THREE.

Upon entering the daycare and being directed into a secluded room by Irene, another employee who ran the desk, you find Renjun sitting hunched over a sheet of paper. You could see his hand was working fast and that his attention was focused mostly on whatever he was doing. One side of the room gave you and Renjun a look at the main area of the daycare. 

“You’re late,” he muttered, not looking up. 

“You’re early,” you retorted. The clock at the corner of the room tells the truth. You had only been five minutes late. How much brainstorming could the boy have even done in that span of time?

He doesn’t reply to your response, slumping back in his chair to continue his brainstorming. You can’t help but make a face behind his back, slipping into a chair at the same table but across from him, refusing to sit next to him. You didn’t want him looking over your shoulder during your creative process, or else you’d lose your mind. 

But then you remembered that you were here to work with him. “You know, we met up here so that we can work on the idea together,” you point out, “But you do seem like the person who wouldn’t know what the word cooperation means.” Not even two minutes into this so-called meeting and you want to leave. 

Maybe you should just quit.

“You don’t even know me?” Renjun lifts his head towards you and scoffed, “So you can’t say that.” “You’re right,” you nodded, “I don’t know you, but I’ve bumped into you enough times to know you don’t give a single fuck about those you don’t know.” You pull out a pencil from your bag and take one of the spare sheets of paper sitting in the middle of the table. You start to write out random phrases that come to mind, whether it be inspirational or a pop culture reference. 

Renjun scoffs, “I’ll have you know, most of our encounters happened because of you.” You can see he’s adding colour to his draft, giving you no direct attention, “This all would be avoided if you weren’t an accident waiting to happen.”

“You know there’s always better ways to go about those same situations,” you spit back, “Because, I don’t know, accidents happen? Other people wouldn’t make big deals out of them.” 

Renjun mutters a quiet ‘whatever,’ under his breath, huffing out in frustration as he continues with his draft. At this point, you’re halfway done with your draft, which consisted of a cute scene of kids and a generic playground background. It was a bit mediocre, but you thought simple was cute. You both continue on in silence, letting the sounds of the kids playing drown it out. 

The silence wasn’t awkward. In fact, you could listen to the serene, no-sound room as if it were a hit song you’ve been obsessing over the past week. Anything but Renjun’s voice was a blessing, especially in situations like this. 

After about half an hour, Renjun looks over at your draft, “You do know kids can’t read, right? At least kids attending this daycare.”

You scowl. “Yeah and?” You continued with your business, “Haven’t you seen that movie ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’?” 

Renjun thinks for a hot second, “No.”

Your eyes shot up at him, surprised that he hasn’t seen the classic. When you weren’t in the mood to watch other movies, you’d naturally gravitate towards rewatching that one. It was a good movie, one that made you cry, yes, but you liked the underlying meaning behind the movie. “That explains everything.”

“What do you mean?”

You ignore his question completely, “There were words on that daycare’s mural, I don’t think it’s wrong to add some words to the mural, Huang Renjun. Besides, lettering is what I’m best at.” 

Renjun glares at you. “What if I don’t want words on the mural?” He quickly glances down at his own picture. It was more of a realistic picture, one of the skies with balloons floating through the scene. Attached to some of the balloons were toys or items associated with being a kid. It was simple, but he found it rather cute. To him, it beat your average picture of kids by a playground.

“What if I don’t want… whatever that is?” you childishly argue back, “Look, I know my idea is simple, but simple is easier and simple is usually best. Your picture has so much shading… imagine the two of us having to paint that.”

Renjun tries to hold back a laugh, “Are you serious? My picture’s obviously better than yours.” 

You both immaturely argue for another twenty minutes, pointing out the most ridiculous reasons for why your own pictures were one-hundred-and-ten percent better than the other’s. And it was consequently the stubbornness that both you and Renjun possessed that leaves you both with no decision by the time the shift was near over.

Your eyes drift to the clock sitting above the window, “Time’s almost up and we still haven’t figured out what we want to do. Let’s just settle with mine.” You push the picture towards the centre of the table, eyes holding your hopes of your idea being chosen. Maybe Renjun will finally break. 

“I don’t think we should,” Renjun shrugs, voice monotone, “Let’s just… decide on it the next shift. I really don’t want to deal with this—or you—right now.” Renjun picks his phone up and takes a picture of his and your pictures sitting in the middle of the table for reference.

You follow in pursuit before snatching your draft from its spot. You feel a sense of relief knowing that you can finally return to your Huang-Renjun-less life. “Fine, whatever you want. I don’t wanna deal with you either.” 

The shift abruptly ends with Renjun taking his leave first, leaving the room without another word. He bids a quick goodbye to Irene, who has no knowledge of what just happened before exiting the building entirely. 

Renjun feels nothing but irritation walking back to his dorm room. Days ago, he remembers being excited about the gig. He gets paid to do something he truly loves, all while giving such a flat looking building some colour to make it pop, which clearly was a win-win for both him and the daycare. But the fact that you’re there with the apparent purpose to contradict everything he’s planned, the excitement was simply sucked out of it all.

Renjun finally settles back at his shared dorm room, hanging his bag on the back of the nearest dining room chair before sitting himself at the couch, where both Donghyuck and Jeno were playing Super Smash Bros. Although they were rather loud, he’s just glad to be back in an atmosphere he knows he can relax in. 

“Hey, how was your painting thingy?” Jeno asks, eyes glued to the screen. In between Jeno’s question and Renjun’s response, there’s rapid clicking coming from the two boys’ controllers. 

“It was… fine, I guess,” Renjun mutters. He pulls up his phone and mindlessly swipes through social media. 

Both Donghyuck and Jeno don’t fail to notice the bummed tone in his voice. Donghyuck speaks up, “‘I guess’?” There’s more clicking, “You suck at this, Jeno.”

“Remember who I’m working with?” Renjun hints, “She literally contradicts everything I say and do for no fucking reason. It’s draining.”

More clicks. Then Jeno finally replies, “That doesn’t sound fun at all. Maybe she’s not aware about what she’s doing?”

Renjun sighs, “I think she knows what she’s doing. I just think she’s doing it to spite me. You should hear her arguments. They’re so senseless and they make me want to laugh.”

On his phone, Renjun pulls up the photo he’s taken of both of your drafts and enlarges yours. This is the first time today that he’s able to properly look at your picture and he can’t help but actually like it. No, he still doesn’t like your idea about the kids and the playground, but the words you had chosen to letter over top the main picture. 

Adventure Is Out There. Although it was pulled directly from the movie Up, the quote works perfectly well with the daycare’s name, The Adventurers. He liked it. But he wouldn’t admit that to your face. 

Renjun zooms out of your picture to show both of your drafts once again, eyes glancing between both images. The gears in his head begin turning, Renjun’s creative process in the works, as begins mustering up an idea that could possibly work for the both of you.

“How about we take your quote and add it to my picture?” 

It’s two days later and Renjun’s monotonously suggesting the idea that had developed in his mind some nights ago. No other ideas have been brought up since then and Renjun wants nothing else but to start on the project. 

You look up at him with a raised brow, “Oh, so Huang Renjun’s finally admitting that his picture is plain as shit?” You’re not against what Renjun’s suggesting, only because what he was thinking made sense. The balloons that his drawing had reminded you of Up. It did go well with your quote, plus you were able to incorporate your want of lettering. 

Renjun narrows his eyes at you, “It’s not ‘plain as shit.’ I just want to get this over with.” He reaches for a brand new piece of paper and begins drawing a second copy of his drawing. 

You sigh. “Fine whatever. But I get to suggest something about it too.” You eye how quick he was to copy down his drawing, head pivoting back and forth to replicate it. 

Renjun chooses not to look up, “What is it?” Although he was willing to hear you out, there’s still a splash of irritation in his voice. 

“Don’t make it so realistic.”

His head is brought up to look at you, “And why not?”

“It’s a daycare,” you say flatly, “Do you not remember that? Where’s the ‘cute’ factor in making it look realistic? This isn’t a commission from the city, Huang Renjun.” 

You have a valid point, Renjun thinks. He admits he’s been treating this as more important than it really was, but that’s just how he was. “Fine. It will be easier to paint anyway.” Renjun turns back to the new drawing, making it a little more kid-like. He refrains from colouring the picture before sliding it in your direction, “The quote.”

Pulling the new draft towards you, you pick up your own pencil and start your part of the drawing. Looking at Renjun’s sketch, you realize that you can’t place the words exactly how you had it on your original draft. There were areas that you didn’t want to cover. 

“After you’re done, I’ll colour it,” Renjun mutters, “Write down the supplies we need, then we can leave.” 

Only you using your eyes to look at him, you reply, “Sure.” And when he looks back down at his phone, you roll your eyes. Someone needs to tell him to simmer down with his attitude. Then maybe you can tolerate him easier. 

You pass the sheet of paper back to Renjun and sigh. There’s a sense of relief in your chest when you realize that this part of the process was over. Thinking back to two days ago, the way you and Renjun argued over what to do for the mural, you thought that there was no way you were getting it done in time, at least not with both of you being satisfied. 

But that’s all done and over with. Luckily this was the hardest part of the project. 

Right?

FOUR.

“You’re gonna be there for how long?” Yeji peers over her laptop’s screen, eyes wide at what you just told her. 

“Four hours,” you answer, “That’s not even that long, Yej.” You’re laughing quietly as you put your sneakers on, half-assedly tying the laces. The walk there is around ten minutes and it’s already 1:48. You can already hear Renjun’s ‘you’re late,’ along with his deadpan expression.

“I know, but I’m going to be here alone on a weekend afternoon,” she whines. You watch as her face quickly changes expressions, “Wait do you want me to bring you a snack later? Rub it into Renjun’s face that you have a great best friend who brings you food?” She bats her eyes and angles her face to convince you into saying yes.

You shake your head, “It’s only four hours today cause we’re finally starting the mural and we want to get the base done today. And I’ll be fine, I promise. Maybe invite Jaemin here for the time being.” 

“He’s off somewhere with his friend,” Yeji sighs, “But whatever you say. I’ll miss you!”

You playfully roll your eyes, “Bye Yej. I’ll miss you, too.” And at that, you’re off to the daycare. 

The peaceful walk to the daycare can be the calm before the storm, the storm being Huang Renjun. The idea made you laugh a little bit, childishly picturing Renjun like how animators would draw angry anime characters with a crimson face, steam blowing out of their ears and nose, and pupil-less eyes. You feel like that’s the only emotional state you’ve seen the boy in and you can’t help but curiously imagine how Renjun’s smile would look. 

You shake that thought out of your head before you let it run further into nonsense, finally arriving at the building. Through the glass doors, you can see Renjun sitting by the front desk. Upon entering, Joy, who was sitting at her computer, looks up with a bright smile, “Good afternoon, Y/N.” Renjun does nothing but let his attention waver over you for a quick second before going back to his own business. 

“Hi, Joy,” you greet back, “Sorry to keep you waiting.” Renjun finally stands up and stands at your side.

“Oh, no, no! You’re right on time and I will speak to you guys very quickly before I let you guys get to work,” she rounds the counter and leads you both to the meeting room like always, “So since the draft was approved, the supplies you needed, plus ones I’ve added are just in here. Grab what you need and you guys are free to start.” She shows you a closet near the back of the room, opening the door to reveal the many supplies that were ordered.

“Thank you, Joy,” Renjun nodded.

“It’s no problem! If you guys have any concerns, you know who to go to!” Spinning on her heel, Joy flashes one last smile.

“Chalk, white paint, string, ruler,” Renjun mumbles, taking the supplies up into his arms. 

You grab the paint brushes, “Why do we need half of what you just said?”

Renjun’s walking out of the room, paying almost no mind to you and your question. 

“Huang Renjun,” you say firmly, “Can you answer my question?” You both are outside at this point, “Or… or else I’ll chuck this brush at you!” Although it was a joke, you subconsciously knew you would if he seriously didn’t open his mouth within the next minute.

“So I can draw a grid?” He speaks to you as if you were stupid.

Oh, he’s going to get it, you think, but your thoughts and your body think and do different things. Your body decides to stay grounded where you were, “And why would we need a grid?”

Renjun huffs and turns to his bag. He fishes out the draft you both had made last week, only there’s a graph lightly drawn over it, “So we can replicate the picture onto the wall.” Renjun thought this over the past few days. If he and you wanted to mural to turn out exactly how you both had drawn it, eyeing it wouldn’t be the best to go about it. Hell, even drawing out a rough sketch of it could be difficult through eyeing it. 

“Can’t we just free-hand it?” You’re not understanding why Renjun wants to make the job more difficult than it was. There were only two of you. If there were maybe four of you working on the mural, then sure, go ahead and draw a graph, but there were only two of you.

Renjun shakes his head, “I think it’s worth it to draw the graph, that way there’s no chance of messing up.” He fiddles mindlessly with the string he’s been holding. You can tell by the expression on his face that he’s serious about this. You want to tell him that, ‘bro, this is a mural for a daycare, it doesn’t need to be one-hundred-percent perfect,’ but Renjun looks like he’s ready to fight for what he wants. 

“Fine, let’s draw the graph,” you say. 

Renjun looks at you confused. Why’d you back down so quick? “Huh?” 

“But you do it all on your own.” 

Ah… There it is.

“I’ll just sit here and wait for you to finish.”

Renjun wants to laugh out loud, not because the situation was funny, but because he can’t believe you’re actually saying what you just said. “Are you serious?”

You sit down at a nearby bench and nod, “Why would I be joking? You sure do act like you know what you want to do… so, go ahead. Do it.” A spiteful smile rises upon your lips and you wave for him to go on with his task. Being the stubborn boy he was, Renjun gives you one firm look before turning towards the small ladder. He drags it towards the right end of the wall and begins preparing the materials.

You watch him out of curiosity, wanting to know how he’ll manage to do it all on his own. You want to see if he’ll ask for your help, or end up wanting to free-hand the rough sketch in end. But as you do observe Renjun, it’s clear that he’s not going to ask for help or give up.

Renjun measures out string that’s about the height of the wall, 3 metres tall, and then the length, which was near 4 and a half metres long. Grabbing measuring tape, Renjun uses the ladder to measure and divide the wall into foot-by-foot squares, marking the corners of the squares with dark chalk lines. The job’s going to take long, that’s for sure, and watching him move up and down the ladder, while he tries his best to keep his marks aligned, you can’t help but feel bad for making him do it on his own. 

But then again, he wasn’t asking for help. 

Renjun on the other hand is struggling and he hopes you don’t see it. Yes, two hands were enough for the daily tasks he has grown accustomed to, but two hands weren’t enough to do this very task efficiently. There’s a voice at the very back of his brain that was itching him to ask you for help, but as always, Renjun and his stubborn ass refuse to do so, even if he’s on the edge of falling off of the ladder. 

“Can you hand me the black paint?” Renjun asks about forty-five minutes later. His hairline is drenched from sweat and the lack of expression on his face reveals how tired he was, “Please.” He hopes that you’d at least help with this. 

Without another word between the two of you, you stand up and pick up the bucket of black paint. You quickly plop it down next to the foot of the ladder before looking up at him, “Are you done with the graph?” You try your best to sound disinterested, eyes moving across the wall.

Renjun blinks down at you, “Does it look finished?”

There’s a caring instinct in you that notices the exhausted look in Renjun’s eyes. His eyelids are drooping, and he’s sniffling from the constant moving he’s been doing. Renjun’s sweating profusely from the sun beating down on the both of you, and you’re brought to wonder if he was prepared to be worked up to this degree. 

When your eyes meet his, you’re instantly pulled from your thoughts and you remember that you’re not supposed to give a single fuck about Huang Renjun, even if he’s working his ass off like this. He looks like he’s waiting for you to answer or leave to go sit back down. But a rogue idea somehow assembles itself in your head and you decide to just go with it. You roll your eyes, “Well, I’m going to the washroom if you aren’t.”

“Whatever.” He gives you one last glare before turning to the black paint and the string. 

You start making your way to the front door of the building, sending Renjun sneaky glances. The second he’s paying you no attention, both direct and peripheral, you make a break for it and start sprinting towards the centre of campus. There was no doubt that you look like a madman right now, zooming past students who were still on campus despite the day of the week, but you didn’t care. If you want to pull this off, then you need to do this quick—and quick means running like you were in a life or death situation.

Finally reaching your destination, you decide to take a breather, hands on your knees and everything. Your mind wanders back to the day you applied for the gig, getting deja vu from the exhaustion you’re feeling right now. 

Once you finally are able to catch your breath, you make your way into the building and sigh at the air conditioning. 

“Y/N! Hi! The usual?” The Starbucks worker, one you’ve obviously seen plenty of times, looks at you in an odd way but goes with the flow nonetheless. She’s smiling at you, finger hovering over the screen in front of her as she waits for a response.

You nod and add, “Add an iced matcha latte to that too. Make it venti, please.” She nods and continues on with the usual routine. 

You left as quickly as you came, although this time, you’re sprinting with a bit more caution, not wanting to spill the drinks you’ve used your own money for. You can’t help but wonder what Renjun was thinking right now—what were you doing in the washroom for so long? 

The two drinks you were holding in both of your hands said it all, though there was still no explanation why you decided to sacrifice some of your time and money for Renjun. It was just the nice person instinct inside of you that decided to do so. 

You’ll complain about it to yourself later.

When you finally return from your little mission, you’re lucky enough to arrive when Renjun’s distracted with the graph. You notice he’s done the vertical lines within the time you were gone.

“That was a long washroom break,” Renjun muttered rather loudly. He’s pressing the paint-soaked string against the wall, face angled slightly to the side in focus, “I was beginning to think you ditched me.”

You shoot him a glare behind his back and contemplate whether you should throw the drink that you bought for him at him. Instead, you say nothing and put the drink down next to his things, making sure it was in a spot that was safe from the surroundings. 

Renjun looks back at you, instantly noticing that you were now holding an entire Starbucks drink in your hand, completely missing the one sitting by his things. “Didn’t know they had a Starbucks in the washroom.” His tone is dripping with sarcasm and hints of irritation. He still can’t believe he’s actually been working on the graph for almost two hours on his own. 

“Oh yeah, they just opened one a week ago,” you shoot back. You plop into your previous place and sit there, taking out your phone to distract you from Renjun. 

You don’t realize how much time has passed when you see a pair of feet stop in front of you. You’re brought to look up at the owner, “What do you want?”

“I want a break.” Renjun answers flatly, “I’m done with the graph. Now work on transferring it.” He holds out the same draft he had shown you earlier, waiting for you to take it. The sleeves of his shirt are rolled up to show his shoulders and he’s using a small towel, that was originally supposed to be for the paintbrushes, to wipe his forehead. 

“Sure” was all you said before snatching the draft from his fingertips. 

All the hard work was done for you. Transferring it was easy. 

Gathering the supplies you needed, chalk, paintbrushes, and white paint, you get going on transmitting the draft onto the wall. The moment you start the rough sketch of the mural, you feel a wave of nostalgia hit you, remembering the countless activity books you completed as a kid. You can distinctly recall the pages where one side displayed a cute drawing of an animal or character of some sort, overlaid by a graph, while the page next to it shows an empty graph in which you were instructed to redraw the completed picture. This was exactly like that, only bigger and not for leisure. 

Your delight in starting distracts you easily from Renjun, who you unknowingly finally notices the drink you had gotten him not even thirty minutes earlier. Although he’s a bit puzzled by the drink, remembering damn well that he never got the drink himself, he lets his line of sight drift to your half-finished drink sitting by your things. When realization begins settling in, he does one more thing to confirm his thoughts.

Twisting the drink in his grasp, Renjun faces the sticker label towards him, eyes instantly finding what he was looking for. 

*Y/N*

His eyes flicker up to you, standing firmly at the top of the step ladder, unaware of the fact that his eyes have widened and the corners of his mouth have climbed higher on his face. Despite the fact he’s thankful and a bit sorry that he was giving you attitude the second you got back from your ‘washroom break,’ the larger part of Renjun that’s still certainly irritated with you doesn’t say thank you.

Not out loud at least.

FIVE.

Painting a mural required many steps because painting on a giant wall was different to painting on a smaller, feasible canvas. You and Renjun were lucky enough that the wall had already been painted white, which you guess covered whatever was painted underneath.

Two shifts ago, you both had managed to finish the outline of the image you both had prepared for the mural, and the shift after that, you both opted to outline the main subjects of the mural with the base colours. 

Although no problems had really arisen between the both of you (if you didn’t count small arguments about what shade of said colour a balloon should be), one weird thing you both noticed was the fact that none of you will willingly start on the same side as the other. You were no professional artist, nor have you been painting your entire life, but you knew damn well that the process of painting an image often involved starting at one part of the painting (usually the top) before working towards the other end. But regardless, the mural was, to your surprise, looking well done. 

Today was the third day, and counting, of painting said first layer, and if you were being honest, you were having the fun you expected when you first applied for the gig. But you knew it was probably because you and Renjun simply chose not to speak with each other, aside from the simple ‘where’s the thicker paintbrush’ or ‘can you hand me that (mural painting tool here),’ there was an unspoken almost-truce between the two of you. 

Leaning towards the wall, you apply lavender-coloured paint in short strokes, following the shape of the balloon you’ve been working for the past eleven minutes. You have music playing through your headphones, the volume just above half, and you can’t help but bop your head to the music. 

“It’s almost five,” Renjun says quietly to you. He’s been working in silence the past few hours, but he almost loses track of time because of how caught up he’s gotten with painting. If it hadn’t been for the watch on his wrist, he would have gone overtime. 

You don’t reply to him, continuing with your painting while Renjun begins to clean up. He finishes up with what he was working on before climbing down the ladder. He rinses the brush down and dries it, placing it into the paintbrush container that was provided for you both. Noticing that you haven’t moved from your spot, Renjun calls out to you again, “Hey! It’s almost five. We need to start cleaning up.” 

Renjun sighs when he realizes you still can’t hear him, forcing him to walk up to you to catch your attention. He tugs gently at your jeans, which almost immediately catch your attention. You pull one side of your headphones off and glare down at him, “What do you want?” 

“I said it’s five,” Renjun reciprocates your attitude, “Start cleaning up.” He turns away and starts gathering his things. 

You blow a stray piece of hair from in front of your face and roll your eyes, though you are surprised that Renjun had the decency to let you know it’s time to go. You climb down your own ladder and do just as Renjun did earlier before carefully placing everything into a large storage bin. Then, once you were sure all the supplies were gathered inside the bin, you go to retrieve the step ladder, folding it so that you could use your shoulder to carry it. Renjun stands at one side of the bin to help you carry it, already having his belongings hanging from one shoulder.

It takes you both no longer than a minute to return the supplies to the closet, leaving with a goodbye to Irene, but no exchanges between the two of you (unsurprisingly). You let Renjun leave first, staying back to text Yeji where she and Jaemin were.

At the library studying!

Jaemin brought brownies 

Say less. 

You arrive at the library within the length of two songs, immediately finding the two sitting in the area that you all usually sat at. You were expecting them to be deep in focus, table drowning in pages and textbooks of their respective classes, but instead, you catch Yeji telling Jaemin to ‘shut up before we’re kicked out.’ 

“I thought you guys were supposed to be studying,” you snort, taking the spot next to Yeji. After standing for hours straight, being able to finally sit down felt good in the knees. 

“Yeah, we were, but then Jaemin decided to bring up the topic of ugliest animals and we’ve been arguing ever since.” Yeji glares at Jaemin, “He claims that axolotls are the ugliest, but I say they’re cute.” 

Jaemin starts laughing but you send him a look that was similar to Yeji’s, “Axolotls are cute, what are you even saying!?” Yeji’s eyes widen as she brings a hand up to cover your mouth. She shushes you.

She removes her hand from your mouth and you repeat yourself, but lower your volume, “What are you even saying? They look like they’re smiling.” 

Jaemin gasps, “Excuse me? Name an animal uglier than an axolotl.” 

“Easy.” You shrug and answer flatly, “You.” Obviously joking, you wave your hand as if to shoo away the statement, “Just kidding. A blobfish. Those are ugly as shit.” 

Jaemin’s brows furrow as he leans forward towards his laptop to search it up. The way his face contorts itself makes you laugh, looking at you as if he’s seen the most disgusting image known to man (which probably did), “Shit, you’re right.” 

You nod, “Exactly.” 

Yeji laughs because she knows she won the argument thanks to your help. She quickly moves on with the topic, twisting the chair to face you, “So, how was your shift today?” Yeji’s expecting to hear something entertaining, especially since you’re working with Renjun. 

“It was fine,” you say, “But it’s been like the past few days where me or Renjun don’t even talk to each other except for maybe the start and end. We work on the opposite sides of the mural anyways, so there’s no conflict. I’ve just been listening to my own music, too, so even if he does want to talk, he has to make an effort, which I know he won’t do.” 

“Oh,” Yeji says, “Well, at least it isn’t as bad as those first few days. You guys just both sound done with each other.” You nodded and play with your phone in hand, not noticing the way Yeji’s attention diverts to Jaemin, “Oh right!”

“Hm?”

“Jaemin, tell Y/N what you were telling me about Renjun!” Your ears perk up at the mention of Renjun and possible gossip. Jaemin, though introverted, loved to branch out which meant he knew people through people. You wonder what type of stuff he’s heard of Renjun through acquaintances. This should be good. 

For the hundredth time within the hour, Jaemin is distracted from his pending paper, but he doesn’t mind. He’d do anything to get away from actually working on it. Besides, he still has a week to work on it. “Oh, right!” He sits up and slides his computer to the side, “It’s interesting actually.” 

The way Jaemin starts has you leaning in out of curiosity. This is probably what Yeji feels when you’re preparing to tell her about your day at the gig. “What is it?”

Jaemin lets out a ‘haha,’ then begins, “So, my friend Jeno knows Donghyuck because they went to high school together, and Donghyuck was the guy that was with Renjun that day at the dining hall, so we all basically know each other. I just don’t know Renjun as well because the dude is M.I.A. almost all the time.”

“Mm-hmm, go on.”

“I was telling Jeno how you were doing the painting gig with Renjun—don’t worry I didn’t say anything ’bout how you sorta loathe the guy—and Jeno was saying how Renjun’s always using his free time doing stuff like that.” Jaemin stops talking as if he’s explained every single detail he can about his small story. 

“What stuff?” You gesture for him to keep going because you’re missing a handful of information, “You can’t just end it there, the fuck?”

Jaemin laughs again, “Okay, okay, sorry. But in fairness, I was curious too so I said the same thing and asked Jeno to explain it a bit more.” The brown of Jaemin’s eyes visibly move upwards as he tries to recall what Jeno told him, “He told me that Renjun is always M.I.A. because he’s been volunteering at different places. He used to work at an animal shelter downtown, then quit to volunteer at the homeless shelter for women and children. But he quit that too, now he’s been volunteering at the retirement home near here. I guess he took up the painting gig for money though.”

You burst out laughing, “Ah, Na Jaemin…” 

“What!?” 

“Thank you for the laugh, Jaems,” you say, “But that’s such a bad joke. There’s no way Renjun’s done those things. If it is true, we’re not talking about the same Renjun.” The Renjun you know doing all that stuff? Please… it sounds like something straight out of a book. 

“His name is Huang Renjun, right?” Jaemin’s head tilts to the side. You nod. “Then, it’s him.” You gawk at your friend, “I’m sorry, it’s just… hard to believe that Renjun—the same guy who acts like some douche to total strangers—has done all of that.” It’s hard to picture it all, but it explains why Renjun decided to take up the daycare gig. It was all adding up now, but you’re not letting the realization settle that easily. “It was hard for me to believe it, too, especially with what you’ve told us about him.” Jaemin uses his arm to prop his head up, “But, I trust Jeno. There’s no reason for him to make all of that up.” Jaemin has a point. You don’t know who this ‘Jeno’ is, but there really would be no use in making this up. 

“You’re not making this up, are you?” You ask Jaemin. It’s still seriously hard to believe that all of this information was plausible. It’s as if Renjun, who you always viewed in a bad light, was now picked up and dropped under a new light. One in which you couldn’t even pinpoint if it were good or bad. Curiosity was getting ahead of you and you didn’t like it.

He shakes his head, “Why would I? Ask Renjun if you really don’t believe me.” 

“No thanks…” You shake your head, “There’s no way I’m going to ask him about anything. Especially not that.”

“Suit yourself,” Jaemin pulls his laptop back to its previous position, “Anyways, I need to get back to writing this paper.” 

With Yeji turning back to her own work, you’re left alone with your thoughts and the newfound idea of Renjun actually being… nice. It coincided with your earlier idea of Renjun repping a smile instead of the seemingly permanent scowl on his face.  No, you weren’t suddenly switching up with how you felt with Renjun because, despite the fact that there is this huge possibility that he spends his free time doing generous deeds, it didn’t automatically dismiss the way he’s been treating you. You guess it was just nice knowing that this sort of mini-hell you’ve been going through because of Renjun can finally be put to a stop.

°•. ✿ .•° 

“For Renjun?”

Renjun looks up from his phone before making his way to the counter. He quickly stuffs his phone into his pocket and grabs the drink he’s been craving for the past few days, “Thank you.”

“Have good one!”

“You as well.”

Renjun makes his way out of the cafe, cold drink in hand. At the back of his head, he wonders where Donghyuck is, because according to the time, his class should have been finished ten minutes ago and he still hasn’t texted. That wasn’t like Donghyuck at all. Usually, he would be bombarding the boy with spam texts asking where he was even though he already knew where Renjun would be waiting.

Even with that thought, Renjun shrugs it off, knowing that Donghyuck would find his way to him somehow. He decides to sit down at a nearby table, placing his bag on the chair next to him before fishing his phone back out of his pocket.

As Renjun finally decides to take a sip out of his drink, his mind frustratingly wanders back to that one shift when you’d bought him the drink without his knowledge. He still doesn’t know how you managed to get him his usual, especially since he’s aware he’s never told you it. 

He rakes through the depths of his brain to recall when you could have seen him with the drink. The one time you bumped into each other at this Starbucks, it was Donghyuck’s drink he was getting, so there was no way you saw it there. The one or two interactions after that, he doesn’t remember having a drink in hand.

Then he remembers. The day before the first shift. 

How the hell could you have remembered that? Were you that attentive? 

Why am I thinking so hard about a damn drink?

Maybe it was because the stupid drink was the reason why Renjun’s been feeling a pang of guilt everytime he’s with you. It took that one small random act of kindness to draw Renjun’s attention to the fact he was the one who often started the arguments and bickering between the two of you and you simply just returned his attitude. 

“Hey!” Suddenly, a body leaps out from behind him, almost weighing both Renjun and the other person down. It takes a moment for Renjun to realize who it was. He doesn’t even need to turn around to look. In fact, he’s not even startled by what Donghyuck had hoped was a jumpscare.

“What’s up?” Renjun questions, “What took you so long?”

Donghyuck shrugs and plops into the chair in front of Renjun, “What are you thinking about?” 

“Nothing,” Renjun retorts. He takes another sip out of his drink and tries to act it off. 

Donghyuck shakes his head, “You’re thinking about something. I know because your eye is twitching.” He brings his finger way too close to Renjun’s eye, “I can see it. Now you have to tell me.”

Renjun gives Donghyuck a look before glancing back down at the iced matcha latte sitting right in front of him. Sure, Donghyuck knows of you, but he doesn’t know of the interactions between the two of you. Renjun just doesn’t see the importance of telling Donghyuck these things. But maybe telling someone will get Renjun’s gears turning. 

So Renjun tells Donghyuck. From the coffee encounters, to the gig, the rough drafts, the drink, and painting. He makes sure not to miss a detail, trying to avoid sounding biased. He wants to know what Donghyuck’s going to say about this situation and he knows that sounding biased wouldn’t grant answers that fit with the situation. 

“It’s the fact that she still found the will to do something nice for me even though I’ve been a literal ass to her,” Renjun taps his index finger against the lid of his drink, “It’s not even that big of a deal but it’s been bugging me.”

Donghyuck sits in silence for a few moments, trying to muster up the perfect thing to tell his friend. “I really don’t know what else to tell you except that you’re stubborn as hell.”

Renjun’s taken aback, “What?”

“Sure, she probably felt bad for making you do the grid thingy on your own, but you’re right. You have been an ass,” Donghyuck bluntly continues. 

“So everything that’s lead up until now… it’s my fault?”

“Well, not completely,” Donghyuck points out, “Both of you guys seem to want to spite each other. Plus, you both seem really stubborn, which, adding both of those together, equals a shit show. But, if I were being honest, you started the whole hating each other thing. I feel like if you were nice to her, then she’d be even nicer to you. A bigger person move would be to apologize and be nice.”

It’s once in a blue moon that Donghyuck’s words made sense. Renjun thinks it through—if he were to apologize, or start being nice to you, how would you even react? Wouldn’t it be odd for him to just switch up like that? 

Renjun sighs. He feels like ripping his hair out. Maybe he won’t apologize just yet, not when his feelings are foggy. And maybe he won’t actively do nice things, only until he finally senses you wouldn’t react weirdly. He’ll just stop trying to spite you. 

“You’re right,” Renjun nods. Donghyuck grins proudly at his friend.

Maybe that’ll do it. 

At least he hopes it will.

SIX.

Painting day… five? Six? You’ve lost count if you were being entirely honest. 

But it’s not that it mattered. 

What mattered was the extremely ironic fact that you had somehow forgotten your earphones at your bedside table when you made it your number one priority on days like these in order to avoid any sort of conversation (or argument) with Renjun. But then again, there was probably a reason why the world had the audacity to pull such a thing. 

Since that day at the library, you had not been able to kick the thought of Renjun doing angelic things during his free time when he’s literally been the human embodiment of bird poop on a windshield to you. The curious part of you was itching to ask him about it, see if the way he spoke about it would bring out that hidden angel in him. But when you continue to think about it, you weren’t sure if you would be overstepping some type of imaginary boundary that the both of you had mutually set up. Was there even a right time to ask him about it all? You can’t imagine a time where you and Renjun would even be close enough to have a conversation with the topic. Even now, just physically, Renjun still chooses to paint near the other end of the mural. 

Well, as far as progress took him.

“You know if you painted as much as you’ve been staring at me, we’d be done this mural.” Renjun’s voice knocks you back into reality and it’s only then that you realize that you’re blatantly looking at him. 

Feeling a rush of heat run through your cheeks, you look away, “Sorry.” You quickly look away and try to make yourself busy with the area you were painting at, brushing the paintbrush despite already having painted that part.

“There’s no paint on your brush,” Renjun points out. He wants to laugh but he tells himself not to because it isn’t ‘on brand.’ Pshh… as if that mattered… but it did to him.

“Oh… oh right,” you laugh awkwardly and dip the paint into the closest colour, bringing it up with no thought.

“And that’s the wrong colour,” Renjun points out again. 

You look over at the mural and see that you’ve painted an entirely different colour on top of another colour. You gasp and put the brush down, “I’ll just… repaint it.” 

There’s silence as you hurry to clean your brush, using a dirty rag to wipe off the wrong paint so that the remaining remnants of it can dry out quicker. You don’t notice Renjun side-eyeing you, contemplating whether he should say something about the constant mistakes you just made. But then he remembers what Donghyuck told him.

“Are you okay?”

You’re thrown off from the words that just left Renjun’s mouth. You almost snap your neck when you turn to look at him, eyes wide, “Huh?”

He isn’t looking at you, instead keeping his attention steady on what he’s painting, “Are you okay? You seem distracted.”

He’s an empath too? Wait, is that even how an empath is?

“Anyone can see you’re thinking about something.”

And a mind reader?

You are very much close to panicking, blinking at Renjun with no words to say. You’re contemplating whether this was the right time to tell Renjun what you know about him and ask him about it. “It’s nothing, it’s just…” 

Renjun turns to look at you for half a second, then turns back to the wall. It’s like he was prompting you to say whatever you were wanting to say. 

“I was just curious,” You start, “I heard that you volunteered at the retirement home near campus?” There was no other way to put it. You hope that you don’t sound creepy, as if you’ve been stalking him recently. 

“Hmm?” This gets Renjun hooked, “Where did you hear that?” 

“Jaemin told me.” 

“Ah~ Jeno’s friend,” Renjun replies. Although the conversation has, so far, been awkward, you subconsciously knew it was an improvement from the bickering you both did. It was more civil, and you were actually glad it's taken a turn towards that direction. “What about it?” Renjun holds back the attitude that otherwise would have been evident if he weren’t trying to be nice to you. 

You shrug and tighten your lips toward one side of your face, “Like I said. I was just curious.”

Renjun tries not to take anything of what you said, turning back to his painting.

Then you quickly add, “Do you have–uh–any stories?”

Renjun looks at you again and he can feel his interest in this conversation rising. He’s had many stories that he wants to share with his friends, but when he does share them, he’s left with the realization that no one’s listening. “I have a few actually.”

“Can I hear one?” You asked, “Sorry…. I have a soft spot for the elderly… you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

Renjun shakes his head, “I’d love to, actually.” You begin to paint once again, this time properly, while you wait for Renjun to begin his story.

“My favourite story since I’ve started volunteering at the retirement home is probably when someone had the genius idea to play hide ‘n seek with the active elders.” Renjun snorts at the memory. A small smile rises up onto his face, but you don’t notice. He continues, “I was the seeker, which wasn’t a good idea since I was new and I wasn’t really familiar with any of the residents there, but I thought it would fun, so I still agreed.

I counted to fifty, and there were rules where they were allowed to go and everything. Just on the main floor, and I remember the activities director made it clear that they were only allowed on the first floor. So when I went to look for them, I found all of them pretty quickly, except one.”

“Don’t tell me he… you know…”

“No he didn’t die!” Renjun gives you a look, “Why in the world would that be my favourite story?”

You shrug, “I mean, you seem like the kind of person to.”

Renjun lets this comment slide and continues, “I looked for him for almost an entire hour. One entire hour. It got to the point where a lot of the other volunteers dropped what they were doing and helped out. I was actually panicking because where else could an old man be in a building that wasn’t too big. Then the phone rang and the desk lady answered it, all she heard was snickering and I knew right then and there that it was that man. He was playing us.”

You couldn’t help but laugh quietly, “Wait, so where was he?”

“We gave up looking. We knew he’d come out sooner or later. It was just enough for us that he was alive,” Renjun retorts, “RIght before my shift ended, the same man walks in through the door with a whole box of beer in one hand and ice cream in the other.” Renjun’s laughing now and the sound takes you by surprise. It was probably the first time you’re hearing him laugh. 

You begin laughing along, “That sounds straight out of a movie! How the hell did he get out unnoticed?” 

Renjun shrugs, “Beats me. But I like to think that as my favourite story because he fooled us all. And no one knows what he did in those hours he was gone.”

“I get why it’s your favourite.” You can tell just by the way Renjun told his story that he enjoyed these things. You’d think that, because the old man caused so much chaos, he would not deem that as his favourite moment, but you were wrong. 

“Yeah,” he nods, “Then a close second would be the times they ask me to sing them their favourite songs. You can really see how playing something as simple as here comes the sun affects their day.”

It didn’t occur to you, at first, that Renjun just indirectly told you that he can sing—though you weren’t sure if he was good or not—but you were still dumbfounded, “You sing?”

“Sometimes,” he hums, “But it’s really nothing. Old people are impressed by anything.” Renjun puts the paintbrush down and flicks his wrist up to check the time, “Anyways, time’s almost up. We should start cleaning up.” 

And you both do. You both go through your usual cleaning routine before dragging all everything back into the daycare’s small closet. Once you were both were ready to leave, you go your separate ways, saying goodbye each other with small, subtle waves.

And you know what was funny about all of this? 

For the first time ever since you both met, there was zero negative intent behind any of your guys’ thoughts and actions.

SEVEN.

One new thing that you’ve learned from Renjun was that he was a pretty good storyteller, and alongside that, he had lots of stories to tell. 

Wait that’s two things. 

Nevermind that… The last two shifts of painting were pleasingly occupied with Renjun going on and on about his experiences at his volunteering opportunities. He jumped from talking about dogs giving birth to dressing up as an elf for an event at the children’s hospital—it’s like he’s lived so many lives in one. 

A small part of you was jealous of the fact that he was able to experience all of this in such a small amount of time, but hearing these stories through him made up for that pint of jealousy. After one of his stories, Renjun had stopped what he was doing and turned to you, “Do you have any stories?” 

You were slightly taken aback by the question, “Me?” It was a genuine question. 

He nodded before putting down some strokes of paint, “Yeah. Do you have any stories?” There’s a tone in his voice that told you that he was being serious. He wasn’t being the Renjun that you’ve grown to know the past few weeks—but then again, maybe that Renjun wasn’t who Renjun really was. 

“Not really,” you replied, “But don’t worry about me.” 

“It doesn’t need to be like my stories,” he pointed out, “Just a story.” Renjun gave you time to think of a story, providing some prompts for you so that you were able to come up with one on the spot. 

“How about a time when you thought you were actually done for?” 

At that, you feel a memory surface from your first year of university when you, Yeji, and Jaemin were caught underage drinking in Jaemin’s dorm by the RA, so you told him the story. How you all were completely drained from your first set of midterms and how drugs weren’t the best resort. So why not drink? You remember Jaemin had gotten a bottle or two of soju from his friend from a frat and he’s been keeping it for ‘times like these.’ In the middle of the small binge, someone knocked on the door, and you remember Jaemin saying he was expecting somebody and was stupid enough to not actually look out the peephole before opening the door. 

“And guess who it was?” you questioned. 

“Ummm,” Renjun lined one of the pictures, “His friend?”

“Nope,” you shook your head, “It was an RA. Out of all the people. It really had to be an RA. We were caught and he threatened to tell a higher-up, I’m not sure who.” Though it wasn’t that much of a problem, you remember your seventeen-year-old self feeling fear that was probably harnessed from tens of people. You were scared—no—you were horrified. It hadn’t even been two full months into the semester and you’re already in trouble.. “You should’ve seen how me and Yeji were begging for forgiveness. It was probably the deepest bow I’ve ever bowed.” 

“What happened, then?” 

“Right in the middle of our apologies, the RA and Jaemin started laughing like maniacs,” you recalled, “Yeji and I looked up and they were laughing at us.” You click your tongue against your teeth, “That motherfucker Jaemin pranked us. The RA wasn’t an actual RA.” 

Renjun bursted out into laughter, “Are you serious?” 

You brought yourself to laugh, “Yes. I was so close to ending my friendship with Jaemin. But he treated us to food the next week so… It’s kind of a stupid story but I can still remember how I felt when it happened.”

“No, I get it,” Renjun replies. He stands back from the mural to look at you, “Especially knowing how seriously they act on underage drinking, that must’ve been scary.” 

“Yeah, I think that’s mainly why Yeji and I were freaking out,” you nod. Realizing that you’ve finally finished the section you’ve been working on for the afternoon, you put the paintbrush down and pick up a rag. 

“Are you done for today?” Renjun questions. You look over at him and he’s still putting down strokes of paints, “What time is it?” 

You’re still trying to get used to you and Renjun getting along despite it being a good two weeks since you both had chosen to become civil with each other. But at the same time, it felt like weight was being taken off of your shoulders. It wasn’t like Renjun was a burden, but every time you had a shift at the daycare, you never really had the motivation to go because of him. 

But it was different now.

“There’s still like fifteen minutes before shift ends,” you say, glancing at your phone, “Wanna start cleaning?”

Renjun nods, “Let me just finish this and I’ll be right behind you.”

°•. ✿ .•° 

“Afternoon, Joy,” Renjun enters the daycare with a gentle smile, “How’s your day been?”

Joy grins from behind her computer, “Great, I guess. Yours?”

“Not bad.” Joy nods in response, “I’m sorry, I should have said this sooner, but today’s shift has been moved last minute.” She moves her rolling chair to the side so that she’s able to give Renjun all her attention.

Renjun frowns, “Why’s that?” He’s not sure if he could even think of a reason why a shift could be cancelled and moved, “Have you told Y/N?”

“Forecast says there’s going to be heavy rain today, so I think it would be better not to put new paint on the mural in case it gets washed off easily,” Joy states. At the end of her explanation, you enter the building with a quick greeting, situating yourself next to Renjun.

“But isn’t the rain for tonight? That seems to be enough for the paint to dry.” 

“What’s going on?” You asked obliviously.

Renjun nods, “Our shift’s cancelled for today because of the rain.”

“Yes, but it’s better safe than sorry,” Joy sighs, “But you guys can go and have a rest day for today. I’ll see you both in a few days!”

Without another word, Joy swings herself back to her computer and you and Renjun leave the building slightly confused. The sky looked perfectly normal on the way here. The air was still. There was no sign of a storm happening tonight. But Joy’s statements were confirmed when you pulled out your handy-dandy cellphone and tapped at the weather app. 

“She’s right,” you hold the phone for Renjun to look and he simply nods, “I guess I’ll see you next shift?” Adjusting your bag on your shoulder, you wait for Renjun’s response. He nods. 

“Yeah, I will.” Then you and Renjun begin walking down the same direction. You both hesitate before taking another step, giving each other a look. “Where are you going?”

“My dorm room.” “Oh, me too,” Renjun laughs awkwardly, “Uh… wanna walk together then?” 

“I don’t have a choice, do I?” you joke as you begin walking. Renjun follows shortly, keeping a good distance between you both. He chooses to walk your pace, keeping his eyes trained on the pavement in front of him. Although he feels like it should be awkward, there’s a comfortable silence between the both of you. 

It’s when the air starts feeling more humid than earlier that Renjun notices that it has started raining. At first, he didn’t mind it. The way the rain fell onto his head softly tickled him, but he liked it. It felt like soft kisses, if that even made sense. He looks over at you and he notices that you’re not bothered by the rain either. 

“It’s like Joy has superpowers,” you say, “One second, the sky’s blue, now it’s raining.” You only hope that the rain doesn’t get worse than now. Your dorm room is still a bit of a walk away and you’re not in the mood to get drenched. 

Renjun nods, “Next thing we know, it’s pouring.” 

And as if someone had snapped their fingers, the rain gets heavier, pelting you and Renjun from above. The raindrops completely contrast how they just were, thick and feeling like punches instead of the shower of kisses. You gasp and slip your bag off, bringing it into your arms to protect your expensive belongings inside. 

“What the hell!?” You say over the loud pitter patters of the droplets. You don’t know why you’re frozen in place. Perhaps it was the rush of cold water washing over you.  

Renjun thinks differently, opting to make a break for it. He glances over at you in near panic, noticing immediately that you’re not moving at all. Then, without thinking, Renjun takes no longer than a second to pull you along with him, sprinting down the narrowing pathway as it leads to the nearest building. He swings the door open, careful not to hit you in the process. When he takes out a key identical to yours, you realize then that this was his dorm building, “I think you should stay in my dorm while you wait it out. You might get sick.” You hesitate and think this situation through. Going to Renjun’s dorm? Were you even that close? What if–

“If you’re thinking about what I think you’re thinking, no I’m not,” Renjun grumbles, “Let’s go.” He waves you in and you’re led to impulsively deciding that, yes, you will accept his offer. And it’s mostly because you don’t want to be drenched in the rain, nor do you want to stand in this hot vestibule for however long the rain will last. 

“I hope the dorm isn’t messy, but it’s mostly my roommate who’s messy.” It sounds like Renjun’s speaking to himself but you know he’s trying to warn you. He’s walking a few strides in front of you, looking back subtly to make sure you’re actually following him down the hall. 

Soon, you find yourself walking through Renjun’s front door, greeted with a waft of some kind of candle scent. You can’t really pinpoint the smell to its exact fragrance, but you can describe it as homey–something warm and welcoming. 

“Lonjoon!” A voice exclaims from the small couch, “You’re ho– oh, hello?”

You recognize the boy who stands up from the couch as Donghyuck, both from the times you’ve encountered Renjun and from Jaemin. You wave awkwardly, “Sorry for intruding.”

Renjun speaks up, “Y/N’s dorm building is by the edge of campus and it’s pouring outside. I offered for her to stay here while we wait for it to stop.”

“I don’t mind,” Donghyuck grins, “Hmm, so you’re Y/N? I’ve heard a bunch of things about you from Renjun! I’m Donghyuck.”

Your brow cocks and you give Renjun, who’s sliding his shoes off and fixing them to the side, a look before turning back to Donghyuck, “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” he says, “You’re just as pretty as Renjun sa–”

Renjun throws his damp hoodie at Donghyuck’s face with the goal of shutting him up, “How about you go to your room and we take the living room?” Renjun approaches his best friend, holding him by his shoulders before pushing him in the direction of one of the rooms. It’s funny simply because he doesn’t even wait for him to reply. 

Once he has gotten rid of Donghyuck, Renjun turns on his toes to face you, “Sorry, that’s just how he is… don’t listen to him, he makes stuff up all the time.” And although Renjun’s actually telling the truth—because no, he’s never called you pretty in front Donghyuck—he knows Donghyuck’s comments are believable to those who aren’t used to his shenanigans. 

There were two ways you could go about it. Ignore him and make the situation less awkward, or tease him and see what he says. Either choice would be funny, especially because you could see that this boy is on edge with what his friend just said. But since you’re feeling nice, you choose the former option, “So, what do you plan on doing while we wait for the rain?” 

Renjun quietly sighs in relief, “We can put something on to watch? I’m just not sure what we should watch though.” He makes his way to the couch and he gestures you to sit in the spot next to him.

It’s crazy how your mind works in times like these. At the back of your head, you almost make sure to keep an array of movies to watch, ones that you’re sure everyone would be content with. But with Renjun, one movie hovers above the others because you could still recall your astonishment when this whole adult man hadn’t seen the one movie you adore with your heart.

“How about the Pursuit of Happyness?” you say, “You haven’t seen it… so why not now?” 

Renjun nods, “Yeah, sure. That sounds good to me.” Within a few clicks of the remote, the movie begins and Renjun’s offering you some snacks he managed to pull from the kitchen (or that have already been there, courtesy of Donghyuck). The rain outside is still going at it, but the movie masks the sound of the raindrops striking repeatedly against the windows. 

Renjun’s incredibly entangled in the film. You can easily catch this in the way his eyes were steady on the screen as he leans towards it. He mutters comments every now and then, ones that complement your own thoughts of the film. 

“It’s… it’s just going downhill,” Renjun frowns. His eyes finally leave the screen about half way through the movie, “I can’t believe you’re making me watch this. If it has a bad ending, I’m holding you against the emotional damage I’ll be experiencing.” 

“I mean you did agree to watch it,” you point out. Biting your lip, you hold a laugh back despite the movie not even being comedic. It’s Renjun and his current state that’s making you laugh. It’s new territory for you, if that was even the right way to describe it. 

So far, you’ve only met the stubborn and spiteful Renjun, and most recently, the generous and compassionate Renjun. His actual character, you’ve learned, sits in the middle of both of those. But the one you’re watching this movie with was different. He was vulnerable, ready to cry whenever the movie finally pushes past his breaking point. But you’re glad to see that he isn’t afraid to show it to you, especially since you both were still just starting this odd friendship.

“What the fuck. I can’t do this shit. What the hell?” You snap out of your mini trance and you realize why a string of profanities are leaving Renjun’s mouth. It was the very scene that had you bawling like a baby the first time you watched it, and tearing up now. The scene at the subway station. 

You let Renjun watch it, keeping silent as you pay attention to the screen, too. You could feel your heart ache, the scene grasping it, as your mouth grew into a frown. 

In a hushed tone, Renjun questions out loud, “Please tell me that this is the worst it gets?” Looking over at Renjun, you notice that he’s actually crying. There were tears streaming down his face and he’s sniffling like he’s caught the annual flu. 

“I don’t want to spoil it,” you retort, sniffling yourself. Looking around, you spot a tissue box sitting at the centre of the coffee table in front of both of you. You reach for it, holding it out to Renjun. 

“Thanks,” he sniffles. Once Renjun’s finished blowing his nose, he falls silent again, attention all on the movie. He’s so attentive that you know thoughts are running through his head at an unreadable pace.

Next thing you know, the movie’s end credits are rolling and Renjun flops into the couch’s cushion, “I get why you were surprised when I said I haven’t seen that movie.” He turns his head to face you, “Because that was a good movie.” 

The way Renjun’s looking at you causes you to shrink under his gaze, though it wasn’t in a way where you were cowering. You felt… shy? There wasn’t a word that was coming up that described it precisely, but shy was alarmingly close. “I’m glad you liked it.” He stretches his lips into some form of lazy grin. There’s a very brief silence between you both but it was enough for you to recognize that the rain had stopped, or at least, it had gotten weaker over the past few hours. 

“Oh the rain’s stopped,” you say quickly, “I guess I’ll get going then.” Within seconds, you’re up and grabbing your belongings. Then, you’re at the door, slipping your sneakers on thoughtlessly. At that point, you’re aware that it’s almost dinner time and the sun’s probably setting if you could see past the clouds. 

Renjun follows you to the door, “It looks dark out, do you want me to walk with you?”

If your life were a reality TV show, this would be when the camera unsteadily zooms into your face as it simultaneously changes expressions into one that’s a mix of confusion and shock. “No, it’s fine, there’s probably some people walking from class.” The door’s open behind you and you’re ready to sprint out. But Renjun stops you. 

“Goodnight, Y/N,” he grins, “I’ll see you around.”

“Goodnight, Renjun.”

Renjun waves and shuts the door. He lets out a huff before turning around to find Donghyuck standing there with the most irritating smirk sitting on his face. 

“What?”

Donghyuck gasps, “Nothing!” 

Renjun pushes past him to turn the TV off before going to fold the blanket he was previously using, “Then don’t make that face if you don’t have a reason.”

Donghyuck snickers and shakes his head in a way that only irked Renjun even more. He chooses not to say anything else because he knows that Renjun’s mind works fast enough to work two and two together. 

That’s how it usually works, at least.

EIGHT.

Routines are meant to be routines. 

Every shift you and Renjun were supposed to arrive, bring the supplies you needed to the wall, paint, realize that it’s time to clean up, and then leave. While you both painted, Renjun’s role was to tell one of his many experiences and your usual role was to listen. If not, comfortable silence or music will often fill that silence. 

But today was different. 

You and Renjun were finally painting the second layer of the mural, and although it initially wasn’t necessary, the second layer of paint gave the painting a bolder look. So you both went for it.

The day was going as it usually would. Renjun had finished a more recent story from the old folks’ home, going on about how he’s excited for Thursday. “Throwback Thursday. We play music and shows and films from their times. Even if they already do that anyway, it’s a bit more special because practically all the residents attend.”

“That actually sounds like a lot of fun,” you say genuinely, “I can’t imagine the nostalgia they go through.” You squat down and dip the paintbrush into the paint. 

“How about you come with me, then?” Renjun offers, “Are you busy on Thursday?” He stands and waits for your reply, watching as you freeze suddenly at his question. You only freeze because this isn’t how it usually was. He’s supposed to say something like ‘it is fun’ or go on to tell you a story about a previous throwback Thursday. But asking you to come with him? 

“Me?” You verbalize, “Come with you?” 

“Yeah!” Renjun nods, “They love getting all the help they can get.” He carelessly strokes the brush against the wall and watches as the concrete completely disappears underneath the paint. “And it would be cool for you to be there. That way we can share one of these stories.” 

“Um…” You don’t like using agendas, but right now would have been the right time to have one. “I’m not sure, actually. I’ll let you know before then, though. Is that okay?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. Day of is fine, too.” 

The minute you get home, you feel a strong urge to tell Yeji about the invitation. But knowing Yeji, you know damn well she’s going to convince you to go.

You guess correctly when she peeks over her laptop and over at you after you’re brief ramble about it. “Didn’t you say that you and Renjun were on better terms now?” You nodded. “Well, I think there wouldn’t be any harm in going. Imagine how horrible you’d look if you rejected that opportunity.” 

“Renjun would understand,” you say quietly.

“Well, do you want to go?” Yeji questioned. 

You blink at your best friend, “It’s not that I don’t want to go. It’s just…” You pause and try to think about why you’re stressing about something that wasn’t even that big of a deal. Renjun literally just invited you to volunteer. It’s not like he asked you on a date (and why would he?). It was just the idea of him actually asking you to spend time with him outside of that gig that made you stop and think.

“There’s your answer.” 

“Huh?” your head tilts to the side, “Answer? Where?”

Yeji snorts and turns her attention back to her laptop, “You just said ‘it’s not that I don’t want to go.’ That implies that you do wanna go. Then go.” 

With a little bit more pushing from Yeji, you find yourself standing in front of Renjun’s dorm building that very Thursday with a tote bag and your head filled with thoughts that you couldn’t even comprehend. If you focused hard enough, you could pick out ones about what today’s dinner will be, how the residents were like outside of Renjun’s stories, and what the retirement home looked like. There were traces of what remaining tasks you needed done for the mural and if you’ve somehow left assignments unfinished. Then there were ones of Renjun and–

“Sorry for making you wait.” You jump and find Renjun appear in your field of vision. He’s fixing his crossbody bag over his shoulder, then you watch has he fixes the cap on his head, “I’m excited! Let’s go then?”

You and Renjun make small talk on the way to the retirement, which you admit, thought would be further away. But when Renjun told you that it was just a walking distance from campus, he wasn’t lying. The walk only lasted about ten minutes and the next thing you know, you’re telling the lady at the front desk your name.

“Alright, here’s your volunteer badge,” she slides you a laminated tag, “And here’s yours, Renjun!” You follow Renjun, who pins his own name tag to the left side of his chest. He pats it before saying goodbye to the lady, turning to you to see if you were set to go in. 

Renjun leads the way into the main lounge area. It was a rather large room, one wall being entirely windows. By the front, or what you believed was the front, was a big fireplace, and by that fireplace, a small grand piano. On top of the fireplace was a big TV that was currently playing the news, not that anyone was paying attention. 

Scattered throughout the room sat tables and padded chairs, some of which were occupied by residents. It was almost exactly how you imagined it, almost book-like, or ones you’d see in movies. It was cozy, yet not too cozy for it to be suffocating.

“Oh, Renjun, you’re here!” A slightly older guy seems to appear from the side, waving, “And you must be Y/N? Renjun told us you might be joining. Nice to see you actually did!” He sticks a hand out and grins, “I’m Taeyong. I coordinate a majority of the activities for the facility.” 

You shake his hand, “Nice to meet you, Taeyong. I’m a little nervous.” 

Taeyong shakes his head, “Don’t be! Everyone’s pretty nice here, especially in the afternoon.” He lets out a quiet laugh, “Well anyways, we just called down the other residents so we’re just waiting for them to come. Then we start exactly at five.”

Taeyong turns to Renjun, “You’re taking over for music right?” Renjun nods and cracks his fingers as if he’s about to go step into a boxing ring. 

“I usually take the role as emcee, but I was told I had other duties to go about for the next hour,” Taeyong says carefully, “Y/N, would you mind being the emcee? I promise you it’s not that bad. I even have cue cards if you need it.” Taeyong holds out a small pile of flashcards, holding them out to you.

Renjun lights up at the idea, “It would be fun if you did it! All you have to do is prompt the songs and the residents will raise their hands. Then you go up to them and hold up the mic to their mouths for their answer. Sorta like a game show host.”

“I guess I can try,” you say carefully. What was the worse that could happen? 

“Great!” Taeyong claps his hands together, “Thank you so much, Y/N. I appreciate it!” He hands you the cue cards and goes to leave, “Have fun guys!” 

Once Taeyong was gone, Renjun turns to you, “I know it’s a heavy job but don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. I promise you, the old folks have gone through a lot, so slip-ups won’t matter to them at all.” 

You nodded, “I hope so. You better help me up there if something goes wrong.” You give him a look of warning, though it was playful and meant well. Renjun knew how Throwback Thursdays worked—this was your first one—so you don’t really have a feel of how it should be brought out.

“I will, don’t worry,” Renjun ensures, “How bout this. I’ll do the introduction and then you go from there. That way, you’re not super lost.”

“That would help,” you grin. 

Soon, little by little, the residents begin filling the room, taking seats at what you understood as their usual seats. They chattered amongst themselves, having conversations that mostly consisted of today’s weather or the news that was playing on the TV. From a nearby table, you overhear two ladies lightheartedly trash-talking each other, arguing over who would get the most correct songs for this week’s Throwback Thursday.

You can’t help but laugh at the bickering. Renjun notices this and smiles to himself. He’s glad you’re enjoying it so far. “There’s a leaderboard, if you’re wondering why they’re so serious about this,” Renjun points out, “Well not really an official one, but they keep track of it themselves. I don’t even know how but they do.” 

“That explains it,” you laugh, “I think it’s cute.” 

Renjun nods, “It is. They remind me of kids sometimes. They get happy over the smallest things. I admire it.”

This comment makes your heart do a ball change—two quick beats before settling back into its normal rhythm. It was just endearing seeing Renjun be all soft around what he loves doing. It only hits much harder when this wasn’t the Renjun you initially knew. 

First impressions were not always the best impressions.

“I think we can start with the intro,” Renjun nudges your elbow. He starts making his way to the front of the room. You trail right behind him, respectfully greeting the residents as you make eye contact with them. They obviously weren’t familiar with you, but they still smiled nonetheless. 

Renjun grabs the mic, turning it on before giving it a light tap to test it, “Good afternoon everyone! Can you all hear me?” You see some of the residents nod, others verbally responding with the loudest whoop they can let out. “Perfect! How’s everyone doing this afternoon?” There’s a chorus of different answers, but you can tell that they all were content with their day. 

“I’m happy to hear that! Welcome to this week’s Throwback Thursday! I think you’re all familiar with me, my name is Renjun!” Renjun turns to you, and gestures, “Today, I have my partner Y/N with me to help out! Can we give her a warm welcome?” Similar to earlier, they enter a chorus of replies, greeting you with waves and smiles. This made you feel much more comfortable. 

“Okay! So you know how all this works, I play a song on the piano, and if you know it, raise your hand. I’ll trust Y/N’s judgment on who raised their hands first. She’ll come up to you all and then you can give her the answer! Everything clear?” Again, a chorus of replies. “Then let’s begin!”

Renjun hands the mic over to you, whispering a ‘have fun’ and a ‘you got this’ before sitting down behind the piano. 

You look down at the cue cards given to you by Taeyong and find that it was the list of songs that Renjun was going to play for the night. There were about twenty songs listed down along with the artist. You felt a sense of relief wash over you. 

“Hello everyone! Are you all ready for the first song?” you question. You still feel a bit nervous, but from how Renjun went through with the intro, you knew exactly how you want to host. The residents cheered and you can feel the anticipation. It was nice that they were all willing to participate. “Okay, this one is really easy, so get your hands ready! Renjun, cue the music!”

Renjun smiles and nods, placing his hands on the keys for the first song. He begins playing it effortlessly and you’re a bit taken aback by the way he was playing the song well—it was My Girl by The Temptations. Renjun had only played the intro when hands were already shooting up. Your eyes naturally fall on a man seated near the windows, glasses slipping to the tip of his nose.

You grin and quickly make your way over, “I believe you had your hand up first!” Your eyes find a last name on his walker, “Mr. Moon. What’s your answer?” 

You bring the mic up near his lips and nod for him to answer. Before he speaks, he leans forward, “It is My Girl by The Temptations.” 

Although you already knew the answer, you still look down at the flash cards, “My, my, my…” You pretend that the answer is wrong, frowning and letting your voice trail before switching up, “My Girl by The Temptations is correct! One point for Mr. Moon!” 

You hear some of the other residents chuckle at your improvisation, clapping out of joy. You don’t notice as you walk back to the front, but Renjun’s smile grows wider. 

“Next song!” You read it, and hum, “This one’s a few decades newer, but I know you all will know this one!” You turn to Renjun, quietly signalling for him to begin the song. You watch the residents as they wait for Renjun to start the song’s snippet. Again he plays the intro, an easy-to-recognize sequence bouncing across the room. 

A different man raises his hand first, so you move across the room swiftly. This man doesn’t have a nametag, “Do you know the answer, sir?” 

“Of course I do, I remember going to their concert back in the day!” He speaks through the mic. The people around you react, eyes widening. 

“Oh, so you should very well know it, right?” You question, “Were you a fan of them?” 

“A big, big fan,” the man uses his hands to speak, throwing his arms to gesture something large, “Good ‘ol days. But anyways, the answer is Open Arms by Journey. One of my favourites.” 

“I guess you already know that the answer is correct!” you laugh, “Can’t argue with a fan. One point for you, sir!” He nods his head in pride before you turn to walk back to the front. At this point, you’re gaining more confidence despite it barely even starting. In a way, the interactions came naturally.

“The next song is one that might not come to you all easily since it’s a bit newer, but I guarantee that at least one of you will know it,” you say through the mic. 

Renjun begins with the intro, and you’re familiar with the song because you’ve heard your parents play it plenty of times in the car growing up. So far, none of the residents had brought their hands up to answer. You’re actually quite surprised to see that no one was familiar with the song’s intro. 

Renjun continues to play the song. 

Then he begins to sing. 

You remember when he had first told you about his time here at the retirement home and how he sang for the residents. You remember him completely dismissing the fact that he did sing for these people and after that, the subject wasn’t really brought up. 

Now that you’re here and volunteering with him, you finally get a chance to hear him sing. 

“Oceans apart… day after day… and I slowly go insane…” 

What the fuck. 

You almost say this out loud and through the mic in front of many many elderly people and you suddenly feel compelled to slap yourself. 

Renjun’s voice was unexpected, but it was beautiful. You really didn’t have any idea of how his singing voice would sound but now that you’re hearing it, it perfectly matched his speaking voice. It was satin-like and captivating—a voice you could and you’d honestly like to listen to all day. 

“How can we say forever?”

Your eyes drift to Renjun, who’s focused. His eyes are on the music sheets sitting in front of him. The expression on his face is calm and gentle, words of which could also describe his singing. You hope Renjun doesn’t notice that you’re looking at him, because if he did, it would be humiliating. 

“Wherever you go, whatever you do, I will be right here waiting for you…”

Then your heart does this thing. 

It was very similar to the little skip that it did earlier, but now, instead of falling back to the rhythm it usually followed, it only sped up in tempo. 

What the fuck. You repeat to yourself. Your eyes widen before dropping to your feet in panic. Because it really shouldn’t be doing that. Not at this point in time. 

“I raised my hand first!” One of the ladies knock you back into reality and you realize that a few people have had their hands raised. She was speaking to another woman sitting at the same table and you recognize them as the two women from earlier. You smile sheepishly, almost forgetting what your job is and opting to listen to Renjun and only Renjun for the rest of the game. You apologize, “I’m sorry, I didn’t quite notice. Can we play a small game of rock, paper, scissors to settle this fairly?” 

They play the game as you make your way up to them. Once it was settled, you bring the mic up to the winner, the lady who claimed she raised her hand first. “What do you think the song title is?”

“Oh, I know what the song title is,” she chuckled, “Right Here Waiting by Richard Marx.” 

“I love the confidence!” You say, laughing, “You are correct! One point for you, ma’am!” The woman cheered, ecstatic she got the point. Then, like before, you return to the front and you start at the beginning of the cycle for the next songs. 

You try your best to keep yourself together, especially when the song’s difficulty requires Renjun to sing part of it. He had a voice to be proud of. You have no idea why he didn’t choose to brag about it. But maybe that’s just Renjun. 

What’s ironic was the fact that Renjun was almost as charmed by you as you were with him. However, it wasn’t because of the way you sang, because if you were ever asked to sing, you’d warn them about temporarily losing the sense of hearing, but it was simply through the way you interacted with the residents. The best word Renjun could find to describe the way you spoke to them was genuine. 

You genuinely seemed to enjoy speaking to them, making small talk throughout the game so that you kept them entertained. Renjun also concluded that you were actually a pretty witty person. Jokes and fitting comments were flying out of your mouth whenever you pleased, giving the residents a reason to laugh hearty laughs.

Though it really didn’t appear to be that big of a deal to anyone else, Renjun found it endearing. It was simply just a trait that he found worthy of adoring. 

Renjun slumps behind the piano relieved that the instrument was helping him hide the smile that was uncontrollably growing upon his lips. And if you see him with that big, fat, doting smile, he wouldn’t know what to do.

At the end of the game and its conclusion, you actually find yourself feeling bummed that it was over. You stand at the side of the room, watching as the residents either take their leave or decide to stay in the lounge room a bit longer. You bow to the ones who cross your path, thanking them for being great participants. 

“Will you be back next week?” a lady stops to talk to you, “You were refreshing to have. That young boy, Taeyong, follows the same script and it does get very tedious after a while.” 

“I would love to, actually,” you say, frowning, “But I’m not sure if I will. Renjun invited me to join but I don’t know if this is just a one-time thing.” 

“Oh, well,” she smiles sadly, “If you ever decide to return, you’re always welcome.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” you mirror her expression before she walks away. 

In her place, another lady stops and reaches for your hand, “Thank you for a wonderful time!” 

You shake your head, “It’s nothing, really. Renjun played a large part as well, I shouldn’t take all the credit.” Over her shoulder you see Renjun speaking to a few of the male residents. 

“Oh! Speaking of that lovely boy, are you two together?” Her head tilts to the side in curiosity, “You two make quite a cute couple!” 

Her comment makes you freeze in shock for a short moment. You and Renjun? A couple?

“Oh!” you shake your head, almost to the point where you could feel your head coming loose from the rest of your body, “We’re not dating! It’s nothing like that. It’s really the opposite! We only started being friends not too long ago!”

“That doesn’t mean anything,” she only picks up your last comment, “You ever go to connect a plug to a socket without looking?” You nod your head but she could tell that you’re confused. “You miss it a couple of times, making small adjustments so you can get that damn plug into the socket. Then, finally, right when you get it in, the electricity runs through it to serve its purpose.” 

“I-I don’t understand what you’re saying, ma’am.”

“I’m saying that it doesn’t matter when you guys started ‘being friends,’” she laughs lightly, “If two pieces fit together, then that’s that. I know a match when I see one.” 

And without another peep, the lady walks away, singing a tune under her breath.

NINE.

“Is this enough?” Renjun’s pouring paint into one of the paint trays at the bottom of the ladder. 

You look down from the top of the ladder, “That looks like it, thank you.” You paint a few more strokes down before climbing back down to grab the newly filled tray. The goal for the day was to finish the second layer so that over the last few shifts, you and Renjun could focus on details and finishing touches. Judging by how much work was left, the two of you were probably going to end up working overtime. But none of you minded. 

“You know, some of the residents were asking for you when I returned a few days ago?” Renjun watches as you pick up the tray. When your feet find their way onto the first step of the ladder, Renjun unconsciously steps forward to keep the ladder steady, “I think they really loved your company.” The corner of his mouth quirks upward at the recent memory of you and your interactions. Not one inch of his bone regretted inviting you. 

“Really?” you light up, “I enjoyed their company, too.”

Renjun replies, “Yeah, really. I guess you made a really good impression on them.” Then Renjun makes a witty, lighthearted comment, “Unlike you did on me.”

You laugh and look down, “The feeling’s mutual.” 

Out of interest, Renjun lets this burning question leave his lips, “Why did you hate me so much anyway?” Then he shakes his head, “I mean I understand why, but I wanna hear your side of the story.” 

You take a seat on one of the middle stairs of the ladder and rest your head on your arm, “I guess… everytime we ran into each other, you weren’t exactly the nicest. I remember I apologized when I accidentally bumped into you that one morning before class and you made a comment about me not being able to afford your shirt or something even when I apologized.” “In fairness, it was before an eight AM and that shit was hot,” Renjun defends, “But you’re right. I could’ve handled it better.” He doesn’t even remember why he blew up that morning. But he does remember a feeling of remorse the moment he arrived in class and was able to reflect on what he just did.

“And that one time when I took Donghyucks’s drink,” you face palm because you don’t know how you even managed to do that, “You didn’t even say thank you when I gave you the drink when I could’ve taken it. Especially since it was you who had gone up to me.”

Renjun’s face heats up. He really was a whole douchebag to you. “I was in a hurry. But I could’ve handled that better, too.” Renjun pauses and drops his head to look at his feet, “I think my apologies are long overdue. But I really am sorry for both of those times. I don’t know… they were sorta both in the heat of the moment… but if I could go back, I’d treat you better. Maybe we could’ve gotten along faster.” 

“You’re forgiven,” you reply seriously, swinging your legs, “Besides, it’s not like we haven’t made any progress.” You look up at the mural and remember how your relationship with Renjun had been when you both started it. It was almost the complete opposite. “I think I owe you an apology, too. It’s not like I’m completely innocent either.”

Renjun turns to go back to his spot, “You don’t even need to apologize. You were just treating me the way I was treating you.” 

“Doesn’t make it okay,” you stand up and dip the paintbrush in paint. 

“True, but still.” Renjun raises his head to look at you, “But I forgive you too. Even though I still don’t think you need to say sorry.”

You don’t say anything else. Instead, you playfully roll your eyes. Despite your reaction, you’re actually glad that you and Renjun were finally at that point where you could joke about about the past. Being able to openly share how you both felt, and just conversing about it proves that your relationship with him has shifted. It’s relieving.

“Hey Y/N?”

You look through the ladder and find Renjun staring up at you. His hair is falling back, fringe brushing past the corners of his eyes. He looks pretty. “Yeah?”

“It’s getting late,” he says, “Want to wrap up and get something to eat?” 

You’re compelled to make a ‘like a date?’ comment, but you hold back. You and Renjun just made complete amends. You can’t be that bold just yet, “Sure. Where to?”

°•. ✿ .•° 

A handful of bites and sips of pop later, you and Renjun are walking back from the closest fast-food restaurant from campus. The topic of conversation had been jumping from one to another, keeping the atmosphere comfortable and busy. Currently, it was about the pet peeves that came along with your roommates despite still loving them with all your heart. 

“Sometimes,” Renjun sighs, “Donghyuck, he literally doesn’t wash the bottom of the cups cause he thinks that only water rinsing it is enough. He only scrubs the rim of the cup. Once, I was filling my cup with water and I see remnants of dried out coke floating from the bottom.” 

You gasp and make a face, shaking your head, “That’s disgusting! Imagine if you didn’t see that. You’d just be ingesting dried coke.”

“He learned from that,” Renjun shrugs, “Cause even he experienced it. He always scrubs the bottom of the cups first now.”

“Good,” you retort, “Because I was going to tell you to remind me never to drink from a cup when I go over to your guys’ dorm.” Renjun laughs but he can’t help but interpret your comment in a way that could be considered overthinking. “For me, Yeji used to wash her clothes without putting them with like colours.”

“How is her wardrobe not fucked up?” Renjun sends you a look, “Especially her white clothing.”

You shrug, “Beats me. But that one time I caught her, I felt like her mom teaching her right from wrong. I have no idea how she’s never been told off in all her years of life.”

“I don’t know what’s worse, that, or Donghyuck’s old habit.” You shake your and head and look down. You wonder if Yeji had any pet peeves about you. What would they even be? You didn’t feel like you were doing anything pet-peeve-worthy. But then again, Yeji didn’t see anything wrong with mixing her clothing up. 

When you see your dorm building growing in your field of vision, your eyes widen and you turn to Renjun, “We missed your building!” You stop in your tracks and try to do a one-eighty to go back to Renjun’s building. The two of you were so caught up in conversation that you missed it. 

“No I did it on purpose,” Renjun shakes his head, “I wanted to walk you back.” A tickling sensation subtly appears and disappears in your stomach. 

“You really didn’t have to!” you say shaking your hands as a way to deny his kind action, “The campus is safe anyways! I could have walked on my—”

“I know it is, but I wanted to,” he shrugs, “There’s a difference.” He’s right. There is a difference. Because it’s one thing to walk you home with some worry that you’d get into some form of accident, you know, to ensure your safety (which you understood as basic human decency), but it’s another to want to walk you home. Even with the knowledge that you’d be safe because there were other students probably walking the same way, he wanted to walk you home and it was probably because he wanted to spend more time with you. 

You don’t know how to react to that implication.

He starts walking towards your building, hands stuffed into his sweater’s pockets. When he senses that you weren’t following, he turns back, “What are you doing?”

“Sorry,” you sigh, “I zoned out.” 

You speed up to reach his side, trying to process whether or not you were overthinking or not. Before you know it, you’re at the doors of your building and you’re fishing your keys out of your pocket, “Thanks for walking me here, I guess.”

“You guess?” Renjun laughs softly.

“I mean like, it was unexp–”

“I’m joking,” Renjun rolls his eyes playfully, “I wanted to.” There it is again.

“Anyways, I’ll head in now,” you say, avoiding any awkward silences, “Goodnight.”

He grins, and you swear you see his eyes twinkle, “Goodnight.”

When you reach your dorms, Yeji’s standing at the entry way, arms crossed with a smirk, “I saw Mr. Renjun drop you off… care to explain?” 

“What are you even doing staring out the window?” you glare at her and kick your shoes off. Walking past her, you tug your bag off your arm and plop it beside the couch, “And explain what? He just wanted to drop me off.” 

“Key word is ‘wanted’,” Yeji walks up to you and digs her index finger into your shoulder, “I’m getting this psychic-netic sense that he’s starting to harbour feelings for you.” You want to laugh because Renjun? Feelings? For you? It’s laugh worthy. “No way. We just made up.”

“Yeah, but you both were all chill before today,” she rolls her eyes, “He’s probably starting to like you like you like him.”

“What are you even talking about?” You’re ready to escape this conversation. Mentally, you’re in a position that runners take when they’re about to begin a race, but in front of Yeji, you’re stiff as a rock, grounded and eyes wide as you react to what she just said. “Nothing,” she shrugs, “You didn’t deny it though.” Yeji cackles and makes her own great escape, sprinting into her room before shutting the door. 

When Renjun finally gets home, he’s greeted with a bear hug from his own roommate. 

“I thought you died or something!” Donghyuck yells, “Why are you home so late?”

“I had dinner with Y/N and walked her home?” Renjun’s confused. He leans forward and notices tears in Donghyuck’s eyes. He doesn’t know whether he should laugh or feel bad because he’s never seen his best friend in such a state, “Are you actually crying? Look I’m sorry, I actually forgot to update you.”

“Yes! I’m crying,” Donghyuck glares at Renjun, “It’s not like I splashed my face with water or anything.” Donghyuck wipes his ‘tears’ away and ‘sniffles’, “If I knew you had a date, I wouldn’t have sobbed my eyes out waiting for you to get home.”

“It wasn’t a date,” Renjun hurriedly denies, “It was just a friendly dinner.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Donghyuck waves off, “Friendly dinner my ass.”

“It was!” Renjun’s ready to jump Donghyuck, “We worked for a long time today and we also formally apologized to each other. It was fitting.”

“You know what?”

“No, I don’t know what.”

Donghuck clicks his tongue against his teeth, “You like her.”

“What even makes you say that?” There’s a bazillion things running through Renjun’s head, but none of those things were coming to a single conclusion that made sense with this conversation with Donghyuck. 

Donghyuck rolls his eyes, “The past few days, when you walk through that door from the gig or just being with Y/N, you have this sickening—but cute?—I don’t know… love-struck? Charmed?—Whatever you’d call it—look on your face and it’s painfully obvious that you’re starting to have feelings for her.”

Renjun gulps. He’s at a loss of words only because he’s never heard or seen Hyuck say something so serious in his life, “You’re lying.”

“No. I’m not. I can’t believe you haven’t realized it yourself when you’re usually more emotionally intelligent than me.”

Stunned, Renjun thinks it through. 

Sure the word ‘love-struck’ doesn’t really describe what he’s feeling for you, only because he knows it hasn’t gone that far. He thinks back to the day it suddenly rained, when you both watched The Pursuit of Happyness and he let himself be vulnerable in front of you. Then to the day at the retirement home and seeing your interactions with the older adults. Those few times you were too immersed in painting to comprehend what was happening around you… Hell, he even thinks back to the time you had gotten him that damn Starbucks drink despite how horrible he treated you that day. 

What did all these days have in common? Sure, all these days involved you and him, and progression in the relationship between the two of you. But the thing that persisted was how his chest warmed up in a way that was almost entirely unfamiliar to him. Shit, it has happened so many times that it has become familiar. 

Renjun sighs and he looks at Donghyuck with a defeated look, “I think you’re right.” 

“About?”

Renjun gets deja vu. He remembers the conversation he had long ago with Donghyuck about his attitude towards you. Never would he have thought that it would get this far. 

“My feelings for Y/N.”

TEN.

It was the final stretch. The mural needed no more than final details and cleaning up before it was finished. And after this, you and Renjun would be finished the project. 

You’re excited to see the mural in all its glory—no unfinished patches and pending layers. You can already taste the satisfaction, especially because both you and Renjun had worked your asses off finishing it. 

But there was an elephant in the room. 

It wasn’t a massive elephant, but it was there, sitting right in between you and Renjun and you didn’t know how to address it without him misinterpreting everything. 

The elephant: What would become of the two of you after all of this has ended? 

You look over at him with that lingering thought. 

It was rather baffling because your relationship with him appeared to be nothing more than two co-workers—maybe a little bit more than that. No. That’s wrong. You guys were friends—at least that’s what you considered him. You could easily tell he considers you one of his, too, but you weren’t sure that you were at that point where you would speak to each other after all this is over. 

You’d hate to see your relationship with him falter after everything. 

You’re hoping Renjun’s feeling the same way, simply because he hasn’t said anything all shift. Just a mere ‘hi’ was all that slipped out his mouth towards you, and a soft ‘thank you’ when Joy had come out to congratulate you both for almost completing the project. Otherwise, he hasn’t done more than breathe and paint. 

“You’re quiet,” you say playfully. You’re not sure if you were overstepping boundaries but you wouldn’t have said anything if you weren’t comfortable with Renjun. 

The noise in Renjun’s head nearly blocks your voice out completely, but you’re lucky to have caught his attention. “Hm?”

You finish the details of your current part of the painting and move onto the next. It was one step closer to Renjun, “I said you’re quiet. Is something up?” It’s a good sign that Renjun wasn’t shooting any sort of remark your way, but you can tell he’s avoiding eye contact. You haven’t seen Renjun so out of it. 

“No,” he replies, “No, I… I’m just thinking.” It was Renjun’s turn to finish an area. He takes a hesitant step closer to you to complete the details of a new area. 

 Dot. Dot. You use black paint to add details to a bear’s face. Its eyes. It looks a lot better than it did just moments ago. “Can I ask what about?”

Renjun pauses and thinks about his answer. You. He’s thinking about you. But he’s not sure if it would be odd for him to be honest and up-front. Renjun’s adding details to a toy car. Dot. Line. Dot. Dot. “Things. I’ll tell you when I get it sorted out.”

“You don’t need to tell me if you don’t want to,” you say. You move on to a toy train. Line. Dot. Two lines. Although you’re still truthful about what you just said, you’re still curious about what Renjun was thinking about. Things was such a broad term. It could be about anything—dogs, the colour periwinkle, even his best friend Donghyuck. But you guess you’ll let him marinate those thoughts. 

“I want to tell you,” he says gently, “They’re just all jumbled and shit.” The best way to describe his thoughts was like a box filled with stray wires. All of them have been thrown in carelessly and now they’re knotted into one messy ball. He can’t even follow one wire if he tried. 

Now you want it out of him ASAP because what the hell is going on in his head that’s causing him to act like this that would be making him want to tell you? Dogs? Periwinkle? Donghyuck? Although you’re panicking on the inside, you remain calm and give a hum in response. You’ll just have to wait until he’s ready.

Time flies and the shift is finished, leaving just a smidge of work left needing to be done for the final shift. Even with the mural not complete, it was already at the point where it did look finished. But with the sun setting, you’re not able to catch a good look at the work with its deserved lighting. 

“I’ll walk you home,” Renjun says from behind you. You’re surprised he even offers to do so, especially since he seemed to be preoccupied with his thoughts. Despite this, you don’t refuse because you’re not sure if this would be the last time Renjun would be walking you home. Besides, you want to spend as much time as you can with him. 

“How are those thoughts in your head?” you question. You both are halfway to your dorm and Renjun’s been mute the entire way. This was your way of pushing some sort of statement out of him because you’d be lying if you said you weren’t curious. 

Renjun huffs and hums to indicate that he’s thinking of a response, “Do you ever think a certain way about something but…  I don’t know, you have some sort of conflict with yourself about those same thoughts and feelings?”

You pause and think about what Renjun’s trying to get at, but he’s being unclear, “In what context?”

Renjun turns to look at you, “It’s hard to put it into words but it’s like… new thoughts you feel like shouldn’t even be there but are there. It’s not like they’re forbidden or bad, but it’s just weird.” He sees your building growing close. 

“Hmm…” A part of you knows exactly what he’s talking about, “I get what you mean.” 

“How would you handle them?”

“I think that those feelings wouldn’t be there in the first place if you weren’t actually feeling them… or considering them at least.” If you could laugh out loud right now, you would. But you weren’t really risking looking like a maniac in front of Renjun. Your response to Renjun was something you’ve been telling yourself ever since Yeji had you questioning your own feelings for your friend a few nights ago. You only came to actually accept them now. 

“But I don’t think you should overthink whatever’s going on up there,” you bring a finger up to his temple and tap it gently, “Chances are that it isn’t as big of a problem as you think.” Then you laugh, “You know, this is one of the things that gave me a bad impression of you at first. You think too much.” Renjun playfully rolls his eyes in response.

You walk ahead of Renjun to open the door. You don’t notice that he’s looking at you with brighter eyes because you’re right. Renjun let pessimism win and its got his mind preoccupied with what can’t happen when there was still chances of you reciprocating his feelings (or at least, what he believed were feelings).

“Wait,” Renjun stops you at the door. He’s standing at the bottom of the steps with you at the top and he realizes now that there’s no turning back from what he’s about to do, “I have my thoughts sorted out now.”

“Okay…” You let the door go and turn to him expectantly, “I’m listening.”

Renjun swallows the saliva in his mouth and he feels his heart pick up in pace. Yeah…  here goes nothing. “You know when I first met you, I really didn’t think for a second that I would even like you as a friend. Almost everything between the two of us clashed, but now looking back at it all, we were being stupid and childish.

“That one day when you bought me a drink during our shift… I think that’s when I knew that there was a chance for us to not hate each other. I know it’s a small gesture, but it was the fact you did something nice despite the fact we weren’t getting along. It was sort of a wake up call for me. 

“Then everything since then and up ‘til now… the conversations we’ve had, the walks back to the dorms, the visit at the retirement home… I feel like my feelings did a whole one-eighty.”

Renjun takes a step up towards you and exhales a quiet breath, “I…I think I like you. A lot.” He doesn’t know where to look. “And it angers me thinking about how the mural is going to be finished because then I won’t have an excuse to see you anymore.” His head drops for a quick second before he tries to gather his last few drops of confidence before finally looking up at you, waiting for a response of your own.

You’re taken aback by Renjun’s confession, simply because you genuinely didn’t see it coming. It’s hard for you to create the perfect sequence of words to say to him. Your mouth hangs open and all you can say is, “Renjun…” 

Renjun’s heart drops immediately with the implication that whatever you’re going to say is bad and he stumbles backwards, almost falling back from the stair he was standing on. “I’ll… see you next shift.” And at that Renjun’s walking away.

°•. ✿ .•° 

You’re sitting across the street from the daycare, staring at the almost-finished mural. You’re waiting for Renjun to come and judging by the time on your phone’s screen, he’s twelve minutes late, which was funny because he never was late. Not even once. 

You can see Joy sitting at her desk through the window while there are kids running around in the play area behind her. You wonder if she’s wondering where the two of you are. It’s the last shift of this gig and you guys are late. Shouldn’t you both be early to get it over with?

Huffing you decide to make your way in. It wouldn’t hurt to get the supplies ready without Renjun. That way, when he arrives, you both can start. 

“Afternoon, Y/N,” Joy looks up and around her computer screen, “Last shift!”

“I know!” you say excitedly, “I can’t believe it. Sorry for being a bit late.”

She shakes her head, “It’s no problem at all. You guys are almost finished, anyways.”

The door behind you squeaks open and you turn to find Renjun slipping through the doorway. His face shows no expression when he makes eye contact with you, but greeting Joy, he offers a small smile. They have a quick exchange, similar to what you just had with her, before you both are sent to grab the supplies. 

It felt negatively nostalgic, the way he was avoiding eye contact with you as you bring everything out. It was awfully similar to when you both still didn’t get along and you didn’t like it. 

You peek at him through the corner of your eye, heart skipping a beat. You can tell he’s forcing himself to focus on the task at hand. He’s leaning in extra close to the wall, shoulder blade turned towards you in hopes to not to feel tempted to talk to you. 

But it was odd. Only because he’s grown so used to your conversations. 

The silence goes on for a while (it was just eighteen minutes, but it felt much longer), and everytime you think Renjun’s finally going to say something, he doesn’t. There’s some kind of heavy atmosphere engulfing the both of you and you could feel yourself practically suffocating because of it. 

You decide to take matters into your own hands. Besides, you were the reason why he wasn’t talking in the first place. You were the reason why there’s this sort of tension between the two of you. “You know you left before I could even give you a proper response.”

Renjun’s breathing hitches at the sound of your voice, his movements halting simultaneously. “Judging by how you first answered, I didn’t think there was anything to hear.” He keeps doing whatever he was doing, but in his peripheral vision, he can see you turn to look at him. “I listened to you,” you say, “So now it’s only fair you listen to me.”

Renjun hesitates for a moment, but he slowly drops his hand before turning to look at you. 

“That night, I was going to say that I felt the same about you,” you say nervously. You’re straight to the point, only because you knew Renjun deserved to hear what you knew he wanted to hear three nights ago. “I just… couldn’t find the words to tell you that. Cause hearing me say that, it’s actually lame as hell compared to your confession.”

Your heart decides to use the inside of your chest as a drum and next thing you know you’re facing the wall. You try to busy yourself by finishing the last part of the mural’s details. Your cheeks heat up and you continue tentatively, “I can’t even exactly remember when my feelings for you started to become more than friendly-type feelings? I don’t even know if that makes sense… I just… started to notice that I couldn’t even handle these weird tickling feelings in my chest when I’m around you and I could not, for the life of me, stop them, but it’s not like I wanted to. Fuck, this is embarrassing.”

You’re starting to ramble. Cute, Renjun thinks, holding back a smile.

Putting the paintbrush down, he swiftly places himself next to you. As distracted as you were with your long, long train of thought, you don’t notice him standing next to you. 

“But I remember, at the retirement home… one of the old ladies put the idea of you and me being a couple in my head and I didn’t hate the idea of it… I think that’s when I actually realized that I liked–” You muster up enough courage to look at Renjun and you’re met with him looking down at you with adoration—the same ones the night that he confessed, “—you.”

There’s an entire marching band of butterflies in your chest and you’re sure as hell that Renjun can hear them with how close he was. The look in his eyes makes you want to melt into a puddle right in front of him, but you’ve embarrassed yourself enough. 

“You have some paint on your face,” he says softly. You gasp and foolishly try to spot the smudge of paint on yourself. 

If only you knew that Renjun was shamelessly lying. 

Without another word, Renjun reaches for your face, lifting it up with the inner edge of his thumb. Then he whispers, “I-I’ll get it for you. If that’s okay?” 

You’re too stunned to even say anything. All you’re able to do is nod. 

Renjun brings his lips down to yours and as if your heart conducted the band of butterflies in your body, they halt for a beat and a half before taking over once again. His lips press against yours softly at first, and once Renjun recognizes that everything happening within this very moment was perfect, he allows himself to fall into the kiss, bringing you two closer. 

The paintbrush in your hand falls to the ground and your hands instinctively find their way up to Renjun’s shoulders, using them to pull you up closer to him, deepening the kiss. 

It truly was perfect—if you ignored the fact that the two of you were probably being watched by anyone and everyone in the daycare—but the moment felt perfect. 

When you both finally pull away, Renjun’s eyes scan your face before he breaks out into a smile, bringing you to mirror it. “Did you get it?”

He nods. “Yeah… I did.”

BONUS SCENE!

When Renjun asked you to come back to volunteer for another Throwback Thursday, you were no fool to refuse. You’ve actually been waiting for him to ask you to join him again right after the first one ended—Renjun was just a few weeks late. 

“That concludes this week’s Throwback Thursday!” You say, looking over at the residents, “I really want to thank you all for participating and I hope you all enjoyed it.” You can see the residents smiling, clapping their hands. 

As the residents start to file out of the room, you turn the mic off, and you spin around to look at Renjun who’s seated behind the piano, “You almost made me cry.” Even after hearing his voice for the first time, you’re still taken aback by how captivating Renjun’s singing was. You don’t think you’ll ever get tired of it. 

Renjun’s brows furrow, “What do you mean I almost made you cry!?” He stands up and approaches you in subtle panic, “Did I hurt you in some way or form or–“

“Jun,” you laugh, “Your singing almost made me cry.”

Renjun pauses and steps back, “Oh… then I guess that’s a good thing?” You nod and bring a finger up to poke his cheek which was pulled into a semi-pout. Seeing your finger from a mile away, he attempts to bite it gently but quickly retracts. 

“Y/N! Sweetie!” You’re attention is pulled from Renjun to the same lady as last time. The one who made the ‘couple’ comment. She’s gotten a hair cut since you last visited, so you almost don’t recognize her, but she has the same smile. She’s waving  for you to come to her and you do without hesitation. 

“You don’t know how happy we all were when Renjun said you were coming in today!” She exclaims, “That’s why there were more people that came in today because they heard good stuff from last time.”

“Do you think I lived up to those ‘good things’,” you question, “I would have done better if I knew people had expectations.”

She nods. “I believe you did. Everyone had fun today.” 

“Well, that’s good to hear then.”

You watch as her eyes flicker between you and Renjun, who was gathering the papers from the piano, “I’m sensing something’s going on between you two.” A smirk appears on her still-youthful face and you suddenly feel your cheeks heat up. 

“You were right about last time, “ you say shyly, “We’re dating now.”

She lets out a sound of delight, hands coming together to make one loud clap sound. “Oh I told you so, sweetheart! This is what I love to see! Does this mean you’ll be coming more often?”

Renjun joins you two quietly and you nod, “I sure hope so.”

‣ an: hey you! you there who finished my fic! I love you sosososososo much for taking your time to actually read this entire thing (༎ຶ⌑༎ຶ) <— [that’s me ugly crying] but I really do hope you enjoyed it,, maybe let me know what your fav part was? If you didn’t enjoy it (even a lil smidge) I’m sorry about that (༎ຶ⌑༎ຶ) I’ll do better next time I swear (despite that though, I’m still thankful you read it <3)

#bless the fact I actually got this finished over break and now onto another fic #this one was a monster sized fic like what the hell it was only supposed to be like 15k words #did it even feel like 23.6k words tho #lowkey not tbh #Nct #Nct dream #Nct imagines #Nct dream imagines #Nct dream scenarios #Huang renjun #Renjun #Huang renjun imagines #Renjun imagines #Huang renjun scenarios #Renjun scenarios #Nct dream blurbs #Nct blurbs #Renjun blurbs #Huang renjun blurbs #Nct renjun #Nct fluff #Nct dream fluff #Renjun fluff #Huang renjun fluff #My writings #My nct writings #Kpop #Kpop imagines #Kpop scenarios #Kpop blurbs

[markiemelon]

Heyy!! I really REALLY love your writings!! Could you please write something fluffy for Renjun as well? I'd appreciate that alot! but if you cant its fine too 🫶🫶🫶

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that boy

sorry this took forever (｀_´)ゞ

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♡ rj x fem!reader ♡ school au ♡ classmates to lovers ♡

fluff. no warnings!

renjun was that boy who made your heart do somersaults. renjun was that boy who made you feel like you swallowed a million butterflies.

renjun was that boy you loved.

─ ੈ♡˳

huang renjun was that boy with soft eyes, pretty lips, and a perfect smile. he was that boy you had a couple classes with. that boy who always happened to sit two rows ahead of you, one seat over to the left.

so there you were in your first class, sitting contently throughout the lecture. your mind starts to drift as you observe the boy with his back facing toward you. you couldn't help but notice how neat his notes were and how nice his handwriting was. the lecture ended, urging chaos to erupt in the room. you stay in your seat, as usual, to wait out the stampede of students.

the room cleared to reveal a beige cardigan draped onto the back of a chair. you counted one, two, rows up, and one seat over. it was renjun's. renjun was always one of the first out of the class, so he was probably long gone. you figured you could just take it with you since you would see him in math later, anyway. you picked the soft beige fabric up from the chair and wrapped it over your arm. you headed over to the door but stopped for a second to answer a text on your phone. you didn't pay any notice to a presence entering the room until an abrupt greeting startled you.

"hi.”

you instinctively jerked your head up.

"oh my gosh renjun you scared me." you said, hand to your heart. renjun flashed a smile and pointed his finger to call attention to you holding his cardigan.

"oh." you quickly handed it to renjun. " i was gonna give this-" you could feel your face heating up. "i just thought you had already left so i figured i- but maybe i should have just left it-"

renjun threw his head back in laughter at how flustered you were. "yn it's okay." he interrupted you. "i actually didn't even come here to get this." he smiled. "i came here to leave this paper on the professor's desk. he held up a paper in his hand. "so thanks. i never wouldn’t have noticed i left it here if i hadn't seen you holding it." he giggled through each sentence.

you felt some strange sense of relief wash over you. you started to laugh with him. this situation really shouldn't have been funny enough to make the two of you laugh as hard as you did. but it felt good.

renjun's eyes shifted to look at the clock on the wall behind you. "shoot. class starts in like 4 minutes!" he said as he naturally began to walk backwards, eyes still fixed on the clock. "bye yn. i'll see you in like an hour!" you watched the boy leave your sight, listening to his footsteps growing quieter and quieter.

you've been classmates for a while now, in fact, he was the first person you ever talked to on your first day. both of you had arrived to class too early and made small talk in the hall while you waited to go in. so it's not like the two of you were strangers, but you wished to get to know him more.

a little while later, you went to math. you took your usual seat, looking over to where renjun sits, only to see that someone else had taken his spot. this worried you because that spot was perfect for keeping an eye on him, which was pretty much the only thing you looked forward to when going to math. all the other ‘good’ spots were being taken. you were preparing to have an extremely boring class without having a view of that pretty boy, but finally, that boy you were waiting for walks in the room, scanning around for an open seat. your eyes widened a little once you realized nobody was sitting next to you.

renjun approached you confidently. "guess this is where i’ll have to sit." he smiled.

you don’t know why the thought of sitting next to him excited you so much, but you couldn’t stop smiling. it wouldn’t be so easy to look at him without making it obvious, though.

you stared blankly at the mess of numbers in front of you. you had no idea what any of it meant.

"need some help with that?” renjun leaned over, having noticed your struggles. he was close to you. probably the closest he’s ever been. you got that funny feeling like as if you were on a roller coaster drop. “oh.” you said shyer than before. “yeah.”

renjun rested his elbow on your side of the desk to reach your paper easier. “okay so…” he began to explain to you.

you ignored the little gestures he made to the paper, and how he scribbled some nonsence.

You could only focus on him. the way his voice sounded in spite of his gibberish. the way his hair brushed his skin when he moved. the way his eyes glowed as he thought.

"so, does that make sense?”

everything he just said completely flew over your head, but you responded, nonetheless. “yeah! yes, thanks. that makes so much more sense.” you smiled.

renjun scoffed. “yn, you didn't listen to anything i just said.”

“what?! why would you think that?” you said, avoiding eye contact.

“because i started talking about my grandma’s kiwi allergy and you didn’t notice.”

the bell rung.

“how about we continue this in the library after school?” he said, getting up from his seat. “since it’s the weekend tomorrow, we’ll have more time to work.”

you felt your smile form on your face again, giving renjun the idea that you agreed.

“oh yeah,” he continued. “can i have your number?” he rubbed his forearm. “so i can text you when i get to the library..” he swallowed.

“yes, right. right.” you pulled out your phone quickly, looking a little clumsy while doing it.

he took your phone and you observed his concentrated expression as his thumbs glided across the screen.

after exchanging numbers, you went your separate ways.

you walked away, feeling a little embarrassed. “why do i act so weird around him?” you scolded yourself.

after school hours, you decided to go find renjun. you approached the library, walking alongside a glass portion of the wall, and caught a glimpse of your reflection. you cringed at the sight of your tangled hair.

you glanced at the time on your phone before starting your way back in the same direction you just came from, finding the nearest restroom. you put your bag on the counter, and combed through your hair with your hands, taking another moment to reapply some lip tint.

fixing your posture, you stood tall in your reflection. you smacked your lips together and ruffled your hair before grabbing your bag and speed walking out to the hall.

you approached the library once again, this time, a little more confident.

you walked through the quiet room, the smell of old books and wooden shelves hit you softly. the stillness around you made you self conscious, you could hear your every move. there you saw him, sitting at a desk, his back to you. he was tapping his fingers against his cheek, and seemed to be deep in thought.

you approached him from behind but you almost didn’t want to disrupt his thinking. you wondered what he could possibly be thinking about.

renjun suddenly scooted his chair back as if about to stand up. “when is she gonna be here-” he gasped after seeing you standing right behind him as he turned his head. “holy-” he caught his breath.

“sorry. i didn’t mean to startle you.” you laughed. “and sorry im late…something came up.”

“don’t worry…i hadn’t even noticed you were late…” renjun’s eyes wandered around the room. “uh so…should I help you with that thing from earlier?” he pulled out the chair next to his, gesturing his hand for you to sit.

“yes, thanks.” you sat down. “it’s nice to know that you’re good at math…” you said to break any second of the silence.

“yeah…um, yeah i’m pretty good at math…”

you wondered why he sounded like he was lying, but you brushed it off. renjun seemed to be way more nervous than earlier, unlike the confident renjun you were used to.

“okay this is easy!” he said. “this should be a 2 instead of a 1.” he pointed at the faint pencil on your wrinkled paper.

you thought you had that one right… but without asking many questions, you went along with whatever it was that renjun said.

you worked until the evening, then you decided to finish up.

as you picked up the rest of your things, renjun took off his sweater and draped it over his chair. “won’t you be leaving?”you asked. “why take it off now?”

he looked to you. “oh. i just got really hot…like…right now.”

“oh. okay.” you replied. “well thank you for helping me, renjun.”

“mm.” he nodded, a faint smile in his eyes.

you were hoping to walk out with him, maybe even get him to walk you home, but before you could even swing your backpack over one shoulder, he was off.

“okay bye yn gotta go see you tomorrow!” he blurted as one long word as he rushed out of the library.

“renjun, your sweater!” you did a double take at the chair where it was left. he heard you but he acted like he didn’t. “weird.” you picked up the sweater, just like you had done earlier. right then, you heard a buzz from your phone.

from: huang renjun

hi yn. i left my sweater at the library. do you mind taking it with you???

omg renjun i literally told you that before you ran out!!!

are you free tomorrow? so you can give me my sweater…

yeah im free

can we meet at that cafe by the school? at like noon?

sure

that next morning, you found yourself walking to that cafe. opening the door, you found comfort in the scent of coffee and sweetness.

“renjun!” you called over to him. “here.” you handed him the soft bunch of fabric.

“thanks. sorry to make you come here.” he apologized, though you knew he wasn’t actually sorry.

“oh, i don’t mind…” you shrugged.

“well since we’re already here… do you want to get a coffee or something?” renjun proposed. “sit. ill go get something.”

you sat at one of the smaller tables, while renjun ordered something. you couldn’t stop yourself from staring helplessly at the boy. his beige cardigan complimented his light brown hair. it seemed that every time you saw him, the more you grew to like him. he was cute, well-mannered, funny. you usually tried to shake away these feelings once they started, but today you let them stick around a little longer.

the sight of renjun walking over to you, holding two drinks in either hand, was enough to make you blush.

“here.” he handed a cup to you.

he sat down in the seat across from you, but only for a moment.

“i better get going. something came up.” he got up, just like that, walking past you and out the door.

it happened suddenly, so you didn’t even see him walk out, but you did see, by the time you turned around, his beige sweater in a bunch on the floor.

“that boy…” you mumbled to yourself as you went straight to pick it up and run after him.

that boy was now halfway down the block. “renjun!” you got no response. you ran as quickly as you could. once you got close enough to reach, you tugged on his arm.

he turned around.

you dropped your hands to your knees, gasping for air. “you,” you swallowed, “you dropped this.” holding the cardigan out with one arm, the other still resting on your bent knee. “you know, you’re very clumsy, huang renjun.”

“oh that?” he laughed. “i dropped it on purpose.”

…

“why…. would you do that..” your jaw stayed open.

“so you would come looking for me!” he flashed a bright smile.

his perfect expression distracted you for a second. “you must have a big ego to think i would go out of my way just to give you this.” you shoved the cardigan into renjun’s arms.

“right, because you just full-speed sprinted down this block for fun…” he teased back.

you didn’t really have anything to say so you moved your eyes away from his.

“yn.” he spoke.

“renjun?” you replied.

“why are you so cute?” he asked, well aware of how flustered it would make you.

a sudden warmth overtook your chest. you kept your stare away from renjun, but he kept his on you, not expecting a response. he took in a breath before he spoke. “will you hang out with me today?”

now you fixed your eyes to his. “don’t you have something urgent?”

“i made that up. let’s go.” he grabbed your wrist and pulled you along to wherever he was going.

your feet scooted across the sidewalk as you tried to keep up with his rushing pace. you looked down to see where his hand held your wrist gently. “how could he be so bold?” you thought.

“renjun!” you shouted, seeming a little annoyed. “where are we going?!”

renjun turned his head to you for a moment before facing forward again. “im taking you somewhere special.”

moments later, you arrived in front of a small corner store.

“cmon let’s go inside.” he opened the door and let you walk in before he did.

“so your idea of hanging out is making me run errands with you?” you playfully nudged renjun’s shoulder with yours.

“well if somebody didn’t use every single one of my pages as scrap paper…”

you felt like you were getting closer and closer to renjun, and you felt it happening quickly. you kept surprising yourself with how comfortably you would act around him, and how you could tell he felt more comfortable too. the happiness you felt around him was starting to outweigh the tension you had been feeling.

you and renjun spent the rest of the day walking around the city, browsing boutiques that were way too expensive for both of you combined to afford. you just did normal things, but it felt surreal.

you went to sleep that night, thinking about that boy, continuing your fantasies from where you had left off the night before.

the next morning, you snoozed your alarm a couple times less than usual, motivated by just the thought of that boy.

today after school, the class rankings of the math test scores would be posted. after the bell rang, you found renjun waiting in front of the classroom. “im kind of nervous..” you murmured as you took your place next to him, leaning against the wall. he didn’t seem too confident himself. “me too.” he confessed. you nudged his shoulder after hearing his response. “psh, don’t be. you’ll probably be in first place.”

you had a lot of confidence in him.

a few minutes later, you, renjun, and the rest of the class, stood in front of a long list of names, trying to get a glimpse at their own.

after a moment of squinting, you came across your name. “hey, for out of 53 students, i didn’t do too badly.” your shoulders dropped in relief.

renjun gave you a thumbs up and a big smile that almost looked sarcastic. “good job!”

“well thanks to your help…” you tried to stay modest. “What did you get?” you asked him. “i can’t find your name in the top 10.” you looked further and further down the list.

#53. Huang Renjun

“oh yeah about that…” he tried to get you to look away from the paper. “hey let’s go to the library now!” he changed the subject, and dragged you to the library.

the two of you sat in your usual spots. “so do you need help with anything?” he looked tense.

you weren’t good at math, but you were at least smart enough to realize that renjun wasn’t good at math either.

“renjun.” you turned around to face him.

“hm?” he perked his head up.

“you cant do math either, right?”

he fluttered his eyes. “hm?”

“i saw your score, renjun.”

“oh.”

you couldn’t keep a straight face. “why are you pretending to be good at math?”

he just stayed silent, tracing around the desk with his finger. you were hesitant to ask, but you did anyway, “renjun,” you paused, “do you like me or something?”

his movements froze. “how about i walk you home?” he frantically got his stuff together. “it’s gonna get dark soon so let’s hurry.”

you couldn’t pass up that offer, so you just let him get away with avoiding your question.

he walked you home, and your heart fluttered all the way there. “it’s here.” you slowed your pace as you approached the small stairs in front of the door. you walked up one of the steps before turning around to face the boy who seemed a little shorter all the sudden. “im taller than you!” you giggled.

renjun stood on his tippy toes, bringing his face nearly level to yours. he looked at you. his glossy eyes glimmered with the porch light that automatically turned on.

you leaned back a little, surprised at how close you were to him.

you suddenly felt that shyness that you had almost forgotten the feeling of. “im still taller.” you said.

his concentrated expression turned into a grin. “well good thing im just tall enough.”

“just tall enough for what?” you laughed. “a smurf?”

he couldn’t help but smile as he shook his head gently, careful not to break his eye contact. “no.” he said. “for this.”

and unexpectedly, that boy that stood in front of you. that boy with the sweetest smile and the cutest laugh. that boy you couldn’t stop thinking about. he leaned in. and the closer he got, the more you anticipated his touch. his hand on your cheek. his eyes fixed on your lips; that’s where he placed his own. it was the most perfect match.

you felt only his lips move out of your reach as he stepped up to you. “it’s better if i’m taller, don’t you think?” he laughed before reattaching his lips to yours. your hands made their way to find a place to rest against his chest. you felt his heart push against your palms.

“yn. i dont know if ive made it obvious enough, but i really like you.”

“so you do like me..” your grin stretched from ear to ear.

he didn’t answer. he looked at you and sighed through his forming smile. he reached for your hand to tug you closer. and without a word, your lips reconnected.

you took in everything you could about that moment. you wanted to cherish every feeling of every second you spent with that boy.

that boy who pulled you closer. that boy who held your hand.

renjun, that boy you loved, was now renjun, that boy who loved you.

tysm for requesting i rlly appreciate it ! hope u like it ＾＾

i usually don’t write things this long but idk what happened hhahahhaha

-🍉

#renjun #markiemelon #huang renjun #renjun fluff #renjun x reader #nct soft scenarios #nct soft hours #renjun scenarios #nct soft thoughts #nct dream soft hours #nct dream fluff #nct dream blurbs #nct soft blurbs #nct dream timestamps #nct dream imagines #nct dream drabbles #nct imagines #nct drabbles #nct blurbs #nct dream #nct scenarios #nct fluff #nct cute #nct x reader #renjun timestamps #markiemelonasks #renjun soft blurbs #renjun imagines #renjun blurbs #nct timestamps

[saturnznct]

d-4; meeting santa | hrj

➸ word count; 720 words

➸ tengfei; aged 12, bojing; aged 8, jinghua; aged 4

nct masterlist | dadmas masterlist

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ ⋆✦⋆ ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

‘Gege, come on,’ Jinghua pulls Tengfei along the trail, the oldest of her brothers stumbling behind her.

‘Careful HuaHua,’ Renjun calls after them, ‘Santa’s not going anywhere!’

‘Poor Tengfei,’ you shake your head, knowing the the twelve year old likely isn’t enjoying this little trip too much. 

You and Renjun had decided to do something special for Christmas this year. Renjun had found that in the countryside, there was a yearly Christmas event where the children could meet Santa in a cabin in the forest. You were on the forest trail, which was lit up with fairy lights and lanterns.

‘Are you excited, Bojing?’ Renjun asks your younger son, who’s lagging behind a little bit. Naturally being eight, he was heading towards the age where he doubted the existence of Santa.

‘Uh-huh!’ he nods, ‘just watching the lights.’ 

Renjun affectionately pats his shoulder, before shouting out, ‘Hua, stay where we can see you please.’

‘Sorry,’ Jinghua slows down, waiting for you guys to catch up.

You walk a few steps, before Jinghua suddenly perks up, and starts to run in the direction of the brightly light cabin. 

‘God, I sometimes wish it was acceptable to put a four year old on a tether,’ Renjun murmurs as he jogs after them, shouting after Jinghua.

‘Come on, let’s go catch up,’ you nudge Bojing, and you both begin a brisk walk towards the cabin.

Jinghua is quite literally jumping up and down in excitement when all five of you arrive in the doorway. A thick green wreath hangs on the doorframe, adorned with twinkly gold lights.

‘Right, let’s all knock at the same time,’ Renjun gathers the children around the door, ‘three, two, one-‘

The three kids knock in unison (well, Jinghua more accurately taps), and the door swings open to reveal a lady.

‘Well hello!’ she beams, ‘are you here to meet Santa Claus?’

‘Yeah!’ Jinghua exclaims, the two boys nodding with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

‘Right this way,’ she opens the door further, making Santa visible to the children. Jinghua audibly gasps, and Renjun chuckles, pressing a hand to her back to encourage her inside.

‘Hello!’ Santa booms, ‘you must be Jinghua, Bojing and Tengfei!’

Jinghua and Bojing’s eyes widen at the man himself knowing their names, and they both make their way over.

‘Sit down, sit down!’

All of you place yourselves on log stools around the room.

‘Now, have you three been good this year?’ Santa asks, prompting Jinghua to nod rapidly.

‘Yeah! Really good!’

‘Well, as it just so happens, I have my naughty and nice lists with me here-‘ the Santa pulls out a piece of laminated paper, ‘would you like to know if you’re on the naughty or nice list?’

‘What do you think, guys?’ Renjun asks, encouraging the children to answer.

‘Look at that!’ Santa turns around the paper to show all three of the children’s names under the title ‘Nice List’.

‘As part of being on the nice list, that means you get to let me know what it is you’d like me to bring you for Christmas!’

Jinghua and Bojing are beaming with excitement, both imagining that Santa would definitely bring them what they wished for.

‘Oldest first? Tengfei, what would you like me to bring for you?’

‘Oh, I would quite like a camera.’

‘A camera? What would you be using the camera for?’

‘I like to take pictures,’ Tengfei murmurs, a tad embarrassed, ‘like of the city, the planes, whatever I like.’

‘Bojing, what about you? What are you hoping Santa will bring you?’

‘I’d like a bike. I want to learn and go for bike rides with mum/mom and dad.’

‘I’m sure I can do something like that for you! And finally, Jinghua, what would you like for Christmas?’

‘I would like… a cat!’

‘A cat? Woah!’

‘A grey and white one.’

‘Well, those are all really great things you’ve all asked for! I’ll try my best to be able to bring those for you on Christmas Eve.’

‘What do you say, kids?’ you say, and the three of them all chorus ‘thank you’ in unison.

‘You’re welcome, and Merry Christmas!’

‘Mama, that was so cool!’ Bojing and Jinghua are buzzing as they practically skip back down the trail, Renjun close behind as he begs them to slow down.

#dad!renjun #dadmas 2022 #renjun dad au #dad!nct #nct dad au #renjun x reader #huang renjun x reader #renjun scenarios #renjun imagine #renjun reader insert #renjun au #renjun blurbs #renjun fluff #renjun fic #renjun fanfic #renjun x y/n #nct fluff #nct dream fluff #nct x reader #nct dream x reader #renjun soft hours #renjun #huang renjun #huang tengfei #huang bojing #huang jinghua #dad!nct dream #nct fic #nct fanfic

[hwaflms]

𐙚˙⋆.˚ nct dream reaction to you touching yourself!

‧₊˚ 💭 ✩彡 , , 2.5k, smut under the cut [cw: masturbation, degradation, voyeurism, fingering, very mild dubcon in jaemin’s, nudes, allusions to phone sex, established relationship in most, i think that’s it]

♡ mark . . . the poor baby had just gotten back from practice and was nearing the bedroom door when he heard some sounds of what he thought was you in pain or distress. being the sweet boyfriend he was, he hurriedly went to open the door, but the sight that greeted him was certainly not one he was expecting. you were laid out on the bed, your pants pulled only halfway off your legs as if you were too desperate to even bother taking them off fully, a hand stuffed in your underwear as you threw your head back and let out the prettiest sounds, looking so blissful and fucked out. your eyes shot open at the disturbance that was mark's arrival, the light blush coating your cheeks nothing in comparison to the bright, tomato-red one that decorated his. "fuck, um– i'm sorry, lemme just– i'm just gonna go", he mumbles his way into the bathroom, bumping into the door while trying to enter, but you both knew he looked for too long. now what was he supposed to do? it's not like that godly an image of you is going to leave his head anytime soon, no, of course not, he wouldn't be able to stop thinking about it for days, weeks, months even. sprawled out on the bed like that, lips parted and letting out such dirty, magical sounds– fuck, he couldn't help letting his hand travel into his pants in a similar fashion to you. before he knew it, he was jerking himself off to the thought of you (something he had definitely done before, but he had some wonderful new material now), pumping his cock up and down while his breathing became laboured, but in all his haste and pleasure, he had "forgotten" to lock the door. "um, need a little help there?"

♡ renjun . . . you thought renjun texting you “pleaseee baby, come over tn” meant that the two of you would spend time together until you eventually fell asleep, which did happen for a while until your boyfriend excused him to go play “one game with the boys”. though you rolled your eyes at him, you were fine with him playing a game or two, figuring you could just be on your phone for a bit. you weren’t, however, expecting to be sat on your phone for over an hour, with renjun now having his headphones on (you don’t know what the point was, though, you could still hear all the slurs being shouted mutedly from them). “renjun”, you grouched, but he doesn’t even turn to face you. “if you wanna leave me for a man, just say that.” he does laugh at this, but he pleads “one last one”, making you sigh and slump back down on the bed. you had chosen the pretty, new lace underwear you had bought the other day to wear tonight, but now you’re too salty to let him take it off you. deciding to take matters into your own hands, you shimmy out of your shorts, rubbing circles over your underwear with your eyes trained on his back. if he was too busy to touch you, what’s stopping you from doing it yourself? you try and fail to stifle your moans with your arm as you slip your hand into your underwear, rubbing your clit for a moment before dipping your fingers into your entrance. “renjun…”, you call out again, but both of you know it sounds different this time, and he glances over his shoulder at you. it’s almost comical the way he does a double take, pushing his headphones off of one ear, to get a clear look at you. slowly but surely, the tips of his ears and cheeks are dusted with red, but his eyes still shyly observe the hand concealed by your underwear. “oh…”, he sounds out while you throw your head back and whine, his headphones now fully off and you could hear whoever he was on call with distantly calling out “renjun? renjun, what the fuck we’re losing?” he shuts off his computer screen without even looking at it, getting up and slowly walking over to you, sinking down on the edge of the bed. “you just gonna sit there or you gonna help me?”, you grumble, but his eyes don’t miss the way your hips buck up. “wanna watch.”

♡ jeno . . . you swear you had meant to wait for him to return, you had tried your best to busy yourself while jeno was at schedules. he had told you the exact time that he would return, no earlier, no later, than 7:30 p.m. and there he was, promptly unlocking your front door at 7:29 p.m., expecting you to be reading a book in your room, or baking brownies-for-one in your underwear in the kitchen. he definitely wasn’t expecting the sight that greeted him. he had given you one rule for when he was away at work, to “not touch what’s mine”, one simple rule. you seemed eager enough to please him before he left, so he certainly wasn’t expecting to hear moans coming from the kitchen. he watches you for all of five seconds, back facing him with one hand disappearing into the waistband of your shorts, head thrown back a little as you leaned against the counter. “what are you doing?”, the sharp, gruff way in which he says it make you stop immediately, yanking your hand out of your shorts and holding it behind you. it was one thing if you were pleasuring yourself in the bedroom, but right out here? in the kitchen? jeno promptly walks over to you, reaching over and clasping the hand behind your back tightly, jerking it over to him. your fingers all but glisten when held under the ceiling light, and your cheeks redden at the short “pathetic” he spits while looking at you. not breaking the heavy eye contact, he closes his lips over your two fingers, swirling his tongue around them before releasing them with a ‘pop!’. the next thing you know, your face is being pressed against the cold granite surface of the counter hard, while jeno’s other hand holds both your wrists together behind your back. “you know how to count, right?”, he asks demeaningly, and while he lets go of your head, your cheek is still pressed against the counter so hard you can see the condensation form as you breath, nodding your head before he yanks your shorts down with such force that you can still feel the burn on your hips five seconds later. he places the palm of his hand flat against your ass, pulling your underwear up to reveal more flesh. “i’m gonna show you what happens to whores when they don’t follow a simple rule.”

♡ haechan . . . “well, well, well," you could practically hear the smirk in his voice, tone dripping, pouring with desire, just sounding so sultry. your eyes shot open at the sound of him, squealing shortly and rushing to cover yourself up with the blanket. "what do we have here?", he cooed from the door, one foot in front of the other and a hand placed against the doorframe, leaning against it. "f-fuck off, hyuck", you replied breathlessly, cheeks dusted with pink due to your embarrassment and also the rush you were feeling from touching yourself. he wasn't supposed to be back so early, you thought you were going to be alone for a little while longer; clearly you were wrong. "fuck off? did you mean 'fuck me'?", he drawled, letting out a half scoff and half chuckle, slowly sauntering towards you. “why don’t you show me what you were doing there?”, his suggestion sounds more like an order, and its like you lose the ability to think when he reaches over you to lead the hand straying away from your pussy right back, inclining his head to the side expectantly. under his urging, watchful eyes, you continue your previous actions, eyes widening when hyuck lets out an almost pornographic moan at the sight. sinking your fingers deeper into yourself, you whimper out of pure frustration from the fact that these were your fingers instead of his, and you swear you are almost in tears when he says, “stop”. he’s quick to replace your fingers with his own, coating his digits in your wetness before pumping two into you without any warning. “think you can give me three? maybe four orgasms?”, he cooes, tutting when you shake your head ‘no’. “i think we’re gonna find out.”

♡ jaemin . . . “aren’t you sweet?”, to say hearing your roommate jeno’s friend’s sultry voice startled you would be an understatement, fully believing you were home alone when you started pleasuring yourself. “jaemin– what the fuck–”, a blushing, bumbling mess, you’re quick to yank your blanket over your partially naked body, not knowing how long he’d been standing there watching you or how he had gotten into your house in the first place, choosing to ask about the latter first. “how the fuck did you get in? and did no one ever teach you how to knock?”. tilting his head to the side, jaemin raises his eyebrows but makes no efforts to hide the way his eyes scanned over your blanket-covered body, tracing your hips, collarbones, legs with his gaze. “jeno gave me the keys. and that’s not fair, the door wasn’t shut. besides, you called me”, he replies coolly, taking a step into the room but leaving the door wide open, as if you invited him in. “i heard you call my name in that pretty little voice of yours, but i thought you were hurt. didn’t think you were fucking yourself with your fingers to the thought of me.” you move to further cover yourself up as he walks closer to you, embarrassed out of your mind that he both heard you moan his name and watched you touch yourself. but what he does next really has you shocked– eyes never leaving yours, his hand snakes over to his pant-covered cock, gripping it with a satisfied hiss, a smirk curving on his lips when he sees your look of surprise and…desire??? “you see how hard i am for you, pretty?”, he all but moans out and you do see, the outline of his cock straining against the material of his sweatpants and making your mouth almost water at the thought of it. without another word, he’s in front of you, pulling his raging boner free from his pants. “what do you say we give jeno a little show when he comes back?”

♡ chenle . . . “damn, you started without me?” after enjoying the dinner you had cooked for the two of you, you suggested taking a shower together before slipping into bed to watch a show. following the routine that you had wherein one of you would cook and the other would clean, chenle grabbed your plate and his, placing them in the sink and telling you that he’ll be there in about ten minutes after he finished washing the dishes. figuring you could just get undressed and enjoy the extra space in the shower before your boyfriend joined you, you opted to start without him, but leaving the door unlocked for him. the second the hot water hits your body, you are relaxed, letting it soak your hair and cover your body. you trail your hands along your body to further spread the water, but soon you can’t ignore the dull thud coming from your core when you reach your inner thighs. grazing your fingers against yourself and testing the waters, you slowly begin your ministrations, spreading your folds with more intent now. another two minutes in and you’re blatantly touching yourself, head resting against the glass of the shower, steam engulfing its expanse while you sigh out of bliss. chenle, having left the dishes to dry, decided to join you, ridding himself of his clothes and finding the bathroom door to be partially open. when he’s greeted by the sight of you, your back is facing him, but it doesn’t take a genius to understand what you were doing. when you finally hear his voice, you look over your shoulder in surprise and slight embarrassment, but that is soon replaced with pure lust when your eyes mirror the look in his. “thought i’d get a head start”, you offer, slowly picking up the pace with your hand. “is that so?”, he muses, placing his hand over yours but not stopping your actions. “we both know that i can make you cum much faster than you can.”

♡ jisung . . . when you first started dating your boyfriend jisung, you didn’t realise just how much time you’d be spending on your own. if he wasn’t away at practices, he was busy filming various videos and content, so a large portion of your day was spent waiting for him. this was not to say you were unsatisfied with your relationship, you still got to spend time with him and when you did, it was time well spent. all you were saying is that you got a little lonely and bored at times, and that would explain why you were currently standing by the sink, debating whether you should hit send. you had just finished taking a couple photos of yourself during a moment of confidence and horniness and now they sat in the message bar of yours and jisung’s dms, waiting to be sent. you and jisung had gone there multiple times, but nudes were unexplored territory, yet you thought, fuck it, and hit send. even though you know he’s busy, it doesn’t take long before the ‘delivered’ changes to a ‘seen’, and you watch as the typing bubbles appear and disappear a number of times. after five minutes or so, you’re starting to worry and overthink, biting your lip when you see that jisung is now trying to call you. you pick up and play it off with as much confidence as you can, but jisung sounds the opposite– breathing heavy and voice quiet, like he’s trying to make sure no one hears him, and you hear the sound of a lock clicking. “why would you– are you–”, he blubbers, clearly at a loss for words and you can just picture him, cheeks coated with a sheen of red, eyes wide and mouth opening and closing. “what are you doing right now?”, he asks in a goofy manner and you can’t help your chuckle at the sound of his shy voice, cooing into the speaker. “i was missing you, sungie…”, you mewl, positively beaming when you hear him audibly gulp. “was thinking about you.” his breathing quickens and he mumbles “thinking of me?”, before he clears his throat. “what about me?” you smile at his inability to balance his shyness and desire, and you tell him what you were thinking about, soon hearing the telltale sound of a zipper being pulled down.

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