Chapter Text
Ren sighed as he shut his locker door after putting his extra supplies in his locker. “Great. Now I have to see that dragon.” Ren muttered to himself while staring at the floor. He took a deep breath before going to his next class.
Ren entered his next class and overheard some students: “...That’s why I avoid hi—” A young man spoke, then went quiet when he noticed Ren enter. Ren glanced at the young man before going to his seat and sitting down. The young man jumped off his desk before taking his seat and stared at his desk, still completely silent. The friend the young man was talking to turned around to face the front of the room. “Hey! Dan Heng!” a cheerful girl called out as she ran over and hugged the arm of the young man. “March, I asked you to please stop doing that.” Dan Heng calmly told the girl, as if it was a normal occurrence. “Sorry, sorry! I forgot!” She profusely apologised, quickly letting go before walking over to her seat and sitting down, which was on the other side of the room. She fidgeted with her pencil as she waited for class to start. Ren quietly observed Dan Heng and the interactions that happened between his peers. “He’s staring at him again.” Dan Heng clearly heard his classmates whispering about Ren. Though he often doesn’t react or show it, he has exceptional hearing. His ears turned slightly pink as he kept hearing the whispers about Ren while he laid his head on the desk and covered his ears, hoping no one noticed. Ren obviously noticed with his keen eyes for the slightest of changes.
Even though Ren and Dan Heng never confessed their feelings for each other, everyone else could tell how much they’d want to be with one another. But for some months, Dan Heng has been avoiding Ren outside of class time. To Ren, nothing ever happened between them, but whenever he tried to approach Dan Heng to ask why, he’d just be ignored as if he wasn’t there and when Dan Heng noticed him, he would just stop talking altogether.
Dan Heng came back to reality when he heard his name be called by the teacher before asking him, “...Can you give the answer for problem three?” he looked down at the worksheet. His mind was still elsewhere and was not able to focus. A sticky note was tossed on his lap. He picked up the note and read it. The handwriting was shaky. Most people would have to have a few attempts to read what was written, but he could read it with one glance. “It’s no”, Dan Heng sighed before finally answering, “The answer to problem three is no. The Vidyadhara species can not reproduce.” The teacher nodded while saying, “Correct. Next question.” He let out a held breathe as he glanced over to where Ren was sitting. He seemed to be just drawing on his worksheet, not bothering to answer any of the problems. He shook his head as he went back to working on the problems.
After the last class finished, Dan Heng got up and walked to Ren’s desk. Ren was still drawing on his worksheet, which was already covered with different drawings of weapons and people who seemed somewhat familiar. “Thanks, Ren... I should’ve known the answer. Since it’s about my species, but my mind was elsewhere for some reason and couldn’t focus...” he said to Ren quietly. “Don’t sweat it. I could tell, and I also know how harsh your family is if you don’t get a hundred on everything.” Ren casually responded. Dan Heng looked at the floor and stayed quiet since he didn’t really know how to reply; it’s been months since he started avoiding Ren. As much as his heart aches to be with him, the family forbid him from being associated with kids like him. Kids who will never live up to anything. “Dan Heng! Let’s get boba!” March said as she grabbed his arm, snapping him out of his thoughts. “Sure, we can get some on the way home”, he replied. “Yay! I also invited the twins. They’ll be meeting us there.” March said, smiling. “You guys enjoy your boba”, Ren said as he put his doodled-on worksheet in his bag before getting up to leave. He watched as Ren left; his eyes lingered a bit even after he was out of sight. March leaned in a bit, blocked his view and commented, “You really should tell him.” he blinked as he shook his head and responded, “I know. I just don’t know how to confront him after ignoring him for this long out of the blue...” he looked at the ground.
Ren stood outside the school, looking at the sky and sighing. “Looks like another rainstorm’s coming”, he said aloud to himself. “Are you able to make the train?” a familiar voice asked from behind Ren, getting closer to him. “Yeah, I should be fine. It seems it will still be a while before it starts”, he responded as he looked to see who asked. A silver-haired girl and boy walked up next to him. The girl smiled at him while the boy was just on his phone. “Heard you and Caelus are meeting March and Dan Heng for boba”, he commented. “Yep! Want to join us?” the girl asked.
“I’d love to, but I have work to do. Plus I don’t think Dan Heng would want me there”, he answered. Caelus looked up from his phone and commented, “I don’t think that’s true. He always talks about how much he mis— Ow.” The girl jabbed her brother’s side to interrupt him. “Come on, brother! We should start going to meet that person we planned on exchanging notes with”, the girl said as she grabbed her brother’s arm and dragged him with her. “Right, see you, Stelle and Caelus. Stay safe.” Stelle waved and responded, “Bye, Ren!” Caelus shouted back, “Cya, Ren!” Ren started walking to the station, becoming lost in his thoughts.
Ren stopped after hearing commotion outside of the station, which snapped him out of his thoughts. “Dan Heng, hurry up!” March yelled to someone far behind her. “Right. He takes the same train as me. Maybe I should wait for the next one... No, I have to be on time for work”, he conversed with himself in his thoughts as he walked into the station.
Dan Heng sat in one of the seats in the station as he fidgeted with his pen while waiting for the train. March poked him as she spoke, “He’s over there. You should tell him”, pointing at Ren, who was leaning against a wall a bit further down. “I’m not sure if I should...” he replied as he put his pen in his bag. “Just talk to him. I know you want to!” she pleaded. He sighed as he shook his head. “If you won’t go talk to him, then I’ll bring him to you”, March said as she stood up. He panicked internally as his ears flushed pink and quickly responded, “Fine, fine. I’ll talk to him.” he stood up and forced her to sit back down before going over to Ren. March smiled as she watched from where she sat.
Ren looked over at Dan Heng and commented, “Finally going to notice my existence?” he sounded slightly hurt; most wouldn’t have noticed. Dan Heng stopped in his tracks before saying sheepishly, “I-I’m sorry... I-I didn’t want to. The family told me not to associate with you because you were a bad influence...” he became teary-eyed, shaking slightly. Ren pushed himself off the wall and went over to Dan Heng before hugging him and wiping his tears as he replied, “It’s okay, I’m not mad.” Dan Heng retorted, “You should be! I-I ignored you for over three months with no explanation... You should want nothing to do with me. I’m a terrible friend...” he looked down to avoid looking at Ren. “Dan Heng, look at me”, Ren said as he moved his hand under Dan Heng’s chin and gently lifted his head to make Dan Heng look at him. “No, Ren. I don’t deserve your forgiveness.” Dan Heng said as he weakly tried to push himself away while his face flushed bright red, still refusing to look him in the eyes.
“Dan Heng, don’t push me away... Please.” Ren pleaded, sounding slightly hurt. Dan Heng stopped trying to pull away and sighed before responding, “Fine. Again, I’m sorry for ignoring you for months without saying anything...” he tightly gripped Ren’s jacket with his head against Ren’s chest as his body still shook slightly, still refusing to look him in the eyes. “As I said, I’m not mad. I love you too much to be mad at you for something like this.” Ren replied as his face turned slightly red while he gently ran his fingers through Dan Heng’s hair. Dan Heng’s heart skipped a beat when he heard Ren confess his love. “Ah—” he buried his face in Ren’s chest as if to try to hide.
“Dan Heng! The train’s here!” March yelled to Dan Heng while waving her arm from where she sat. Ren chuckled slightly. “You better meet back up with March”, Ren told Dan Heng as he let go of him. Dan Heng shook his head as he tried burying his face further in Ren’s chest. He sighed before asking, “Would you like me to go back with you?” Dan Heng nodded. He kissed his head before saying, “Alright, let’s go.” He froze for a second before trying to bury himself in Ren’s chest again while making small noises, and his face was completely red. Ren smiled as he took Dan Heng’s hand before walking over to March with him. “Did you guys finally clear everything up?” March asked eagerly when she saw them walking over together. “Yes, everything’s fine between us.”
Ren replied as he looked at Dan Heng, who was a blushing mess. “Dan Heng, are you okay? You haven’t said anything.” March asked as she got up close to his face until she noticed the two were holding hands and commented, “Oh, hey! You guys are holding hands!” She smiled. “March! You didn’t need to point it out.” Dan Heng said as he tried to let go of Ren’s hand, though Ren had a firm grip on his hand. “Ah— Hey! Let go.” Ren chuckled slightly before replying, “You didn’t want to let go of me a few minutes ago.” he went silent, his face extremely hot. March laughed as she watched them. “Come on, Let’s get on the train before we miss it”, she said while she started walking over to the train, with Ren following, taking Dan Heng with him. Dan Heng stayed silent while his mind was a mess.
Ren made Dan Heng sit next to him while March was sitting across from them in the cart cabin. Dan Heng’s mind was still a muddled mess. Ren leaned closer to Dan Heng before quickly kissing his cheek, which snapped him out of his thoughts. “Ah?!— W-What was that for...?” Dan Heng asked while his face became extremely hot and red. Ren chuckled as he responded, “No reason. I just wanted to show my love for you.” he weakly pushed Ren away and commented, “Idiot.” he turned his head to look out the window before adding, “W-We aren’t even together.” March laughed as she watched the two. “Wait, you two aren’t?” she asked. “But it’s obvious to anyone that you both want to be. Especially with the way you act around each other”, she quickly added before either could answer. “Sadly not yet”, Ren answered. Dan Heng summoned his Vidyadhara tail before whacking Ren in the face with it. “Shut up.” Ren chuckled as he pushed Dan Heng’s tail out of his face before replying, “You’re too cute.” he tried to hide his extremely red face with his tail as he said, “Ren! Shush.”