Chapter Text
Jeno walked into the giant lecture hall. He had been there before but he couldn’t see any familiar faces. It was his second year back at university but he wasn’t fully settled in yet.
He knew this class would be a drag, hours of the lecturer just talking while everyone furiously wrote down notes. Jeno found a seat and made himself comfortable, pulling out his laptop and setting up for the 2 hours that would go by so slowly. His professor walked in and began to speak, and Jeno knew that he wouldn’t be paying much attention to the content because taught. Although the reason was not that he was bored, but rather to do with the professor being distractingly attractive.
“Hey!” A voice called out to him. “Can I sit here?”
“Uhh, yeah sure.” Jeno responded, slightly startled as he was pulled out of his daydream. He frantically made room at the shared desk next to him.
“Nice to meet you! My name is Yangyang.” The stranger said, slipping into the seat beside him.
“I’m Jeno, nice to meet you as well.” He replied stretching his hand out for a handshake.
The two boys sat quietly as the professor kicked off the lecture. Jeno listened as closely as he could and typed up his notes. He focused, determined to not slack off, at least not from the first class. To pursue architecture in the future he would definitely need an understanding of the basics from this class.
The lecture was going surprising fast and the information seemed to be sinking into Jeno’s head. He was paying attention and his mind wasn’t wandering. That was until the boy sitting next to him turned and whispered.
“Dude, this professor is so hot.” Yangyang had spoken.
Jeno looked back at Yangyang a little bit confused. I did not realise he was into guys, he thought to himself. “He is.” He responded. “He looks kind of young to be a professor doesn’t he?”
Yangyang nodded intently. “I heard he just graduated.”
The boys continued their small talk at random points throughout the lecture, nothing too obscure, but interesting enough that they definitely didn’t take as many notes as they could have. Jeno wasn’t worried though, he felt confident enough in what he did process. He was also happy to have made a friend, or at least someone to talk to for that class.
“We should exchange instas,” Yangyang said while shoving his phone into Jeno’s hand. “Here, put your account in.”
Jeno grabbed the phone and typed in his account and passed it back to Yangyang.
“Oh! You know Renjun?” Yangyang asked while looking at the black-haired boy.
“Yeah, he’s one of my good friends! I met him in school.” Responded Jeno, smiling back at his new friend.
“That’s awesome!” Exclaimed Yangyang. “Well, I’ve actually gotta run, I have another class starting pretty soon sadly. But it was great to meet you, and feel free to message me!”
“Enjoy your class, it was great to meet you as well!”
And just like that, the boys waved goodbye and parted ways.
Jeno only had one class that day and didn’t have any plans for the rest of the day. The lecture prescribed no further reading, and the other classes were yet to set assignments. He figured he would text Renjun.
hey injun, what are u up to?
not much jeno
what about you?
my class is finished and im bored.
ah, come back then?
read
What Jeno had failed to mention about their shared mutual on instagram is that he was actually his roommate.
~~~
Jeno reached back to his place and went inside, placing his things down in his room.
“Renjun!” he called out to his roommate.
“Hi Jeno.” Renjun responded back. “I’m in the kitchen. Do you want something to eat?”
Jeno walked into the kitchen saying, “No thanks, I have my leftovers.”. He grabbed out a dish from the fridge and prepared it for himself.
They both walked into the living room of the small 2 bedroom apart that they shared with their respective meals. The boys settled onto the couches and ate away at their food.
“Oh Renjun, I met someone in my lecture today, and it turns out that you were our mutual on instagram.” Jeno said looking over to Renjun, who had made a curious face.
“Who was it? I don’t really know any people from your classes.” He said back.
“Yangyang. He didn’t tell me how he knew you though.” Jeno said. He looked up to see Renjun’s eyes widening and his cheeks going red. He was definitely surprised at hearing that name.
“Why do you look so surprised?” Jeno asked teasingly with a smirk on his face, chuckling. “And why are you blushing?”
“I’m not blushing!” Renjun attempted to defend himself, however was unsuccessful.
“Fine, don’t tell me then. I’ll just have to ask Yangyang then.” Retorted Jeno.
“Okaaaaayy! I’ll tell you. I didn’t want to say anything yet, but we matched on a dating app. We exchanged insta accounts and were planning to go out at some point.” Renjun revealed. He felt a weight off his shoulders when telling Jeno.
“Renjun! That’s awesome, I’m happy for you.” He said, grinning at his roommate.
“Thank you Jeno. Oh and by the way, Xiaojun invited us to a party at their dorm. It’s tonight, and I already said that we would go.”
“Oh okay. But not for too long.” Jeno responded.
Renjun nodded in agreement and continued to eat his food while thinking of the boy he was meant to be going out with. He was already smitten.
Jeno on the other hand was thinking about the last few parties over at Xiaojun’s dorm. They were always loud, hectic and crowded. And most of the time, he only knew a couple of the people. He only went because Renjun would drag him along since Chenle, Hendery and some of his other friends were also from Xiaojun’s dorm.
~~~
Hours passed while Jeno attempted to get ahead with his uni work. Renjun did the same. The boys in their rooms by themselves studying. That was until both their phones buzzed at the same time, with a text from the same number.
party at the XH dorm tonight, see you soon! byo drinks, but we’ve got the food sorted. dress cute!
They always sent out a text to the attendees of the party, usually an hour or so. In Jeno’s opinion, that wasn’t nearly enough time to sort out what to bring and wear as well as mentally prepare.
Renjun walked into Jeno's room, assuming he had gotten the same message.
“Are you going to get ready soon?” Renjun asked the younger boy.
“Yeah. What do they mean by dress cute though?” Jeno asked. “I'm just going to wear what I always wear.”
“I don't know either, but I'll likely be doing the same. We've got some drinks that we can take already so we can leave in like half an hour.”
“Alright then, let me know when you're ready.” Jeno said while Renjun walked out and closed the door behind him.
Both boys got ready, putting on nice outfits, but nothing too fancy. It was just one of the normal parties after all.
~~~
The boys arrived at Xiaojun and Hendery’s dorm where people were slowly showing up. It would definitely be getting busier in the next hour, but for now they had enough time to eat some of the food and say hi to the people that they knew.
Jeno and Renjun stood talking to Hendery and Xiaojun while people began to flood in. Jeno kept an eye out to see if he recognised anyone but there were no familiar faces. Some interesting conversations came up including the topic of two of his friends, Haechan and Mark. Mark was from Canada but became friends with Jeno years ago, whereas Haechan had been a friend of Renjun’s.
Recently Mark and Haechan started dating and that was thanks to them meeting just over 2 years ago when the four of them hung out. They had gone to an arcade because they needed more people to help them with some of the games they were playing. Apparently that was so much fun for them that Mark and Haechan became close friends, and Jeno and Renjun still hadn’t won the arcade games.
Jeno’s thoughts of his friends were rudely interrupted by someone walking in through the door. A pink-haired boy with an adorably cute smile. Jeno didn’t recognise him at all, but he couldn’t stop looking at him either. His cheeks were blushed pink, matching his hair, and his eyes were sparkling.
“What do you think Jeno?” Xiaojun asked snapping Jeno out of his thoughts.
“Huh?” Jeno said, still startled.
“Were you staring at Jaemin?” Hendery asked, smirking.
“Uh no. Who’s that?”
“The boy with pink hair, who you were definitely staring at. He’s single by the way, and he’s really lovely.”
“Oh, uh. Right.” said Jeno awkwardly scratching the back of his neck while trying to hide his embarrassment.
The rest of the party was a blur to Jeno. He kept catching glimpses of the pink-haired boy, but he wasn’t ever looking back. Eventually Jeno and Renjun called it a night and headed back home before people started falling asleep on the floor and passing out in every free space.
And Jeno couldn’t stop thinking of Jaemin.