Birds of a Feather | '00 Liners

Chapter Two

Renjun knew he had lost Donghyuck's wavering respect and trust the first day back at school. Of course, he had his suspicions during summer break, wherein Renjun was pointedly left out of any and all activities involving Donghyuck. He was still in contact with Jeno and Jaemin, thankfully, so he wasn't entirely out on the loop of Donghyuck's recovery.

Anyway, Donghyuck was ignoring him, and it was kind of pissing Renjun off.

Renjun wanted to approach Donghyuck first and apologize for causing him such a great deal of pain. But Donghyuck, the absolute shit head, was determined to ghost Renjun to the end. Which was an awe-inspiring feat since they shared all but two classes together.

"Hyuck-ah," Renjun said during their first hour. "I didn't get to see you over the summer. How've you been?" 

Despite being in touch with Jeno and Jaemin, Renjun never dared to ask them how Donghyuck was holding up after being kicked out of the shower.

Renjun's eased approach was brushed off easily; Donghyuck turned to one of his desk-mates and initiated a conversation with him. Which left Renjun standing, hovering there for a few stilted moments, before eventually scoffing and trudging over to his own seat.

That went on for the entire first half of the day. Renjun would attempt to confront Donghyuck about his recovery, and Donghyuck would be steadfast in his ignorance.

And then, lunch happened. Jeno happened to share the same lunch as Renjun, and Renjun was eager to seize his chance.

"Jeno," Renjun hissed as he slid into the seat next to Jeno's. 

Jeno jolted and whirled toward Renjun with half a drumstick in his mouth. 

"I need to talk to you about Donghyuck," Renjun continued when Jeno no longer seemed on the verge of choking on his food.

Jeno downed his carton of milk and leveled Renjun with a grim stare. 

"He's not too happy with you, you know," he said. "But he never told me what happened, either, so I don't know if you actually did anything wrong."

Renjun sighed and picked at the food on his tray with his chopsticks. 

"I mean, he has every right to be a little mad at me. But to ignore me for the entire summer and today?" 

Renjun scoffed and unceremoniously dropped his chopsticks onto his tray. 

"I don't think that's reasonable."

"And do you plan on telling me what you did, or...?"

Renjun waved Jeno off with a flippant hand. 

"If Donghyuck doesn't want to say, then that's not my story to share."

Jeno sighed, defeated, "Right, of course."

Silence overcame them. The bustling cafeteria around them drowned out the quiet contemplations of prodding in Renjun's stilted mind. The food he ate as a distraction, as a filler, stuck to the roof of his mouth, sludged its way down his regret-tight throat. Mind like sandpaper, mouth like static, Renjun was at a loss.

"He misses you, I think."

Renjun's startle was minute, the tips of his saliva-warm chopsticks trapped under his trembling tongue. 

"Yeah?" 

It came out garbled, strangled. Hopeful and anxious.

Jeno's smile was encouraging, warm. Familiar and dearly missed.

"Yeah."

That was all Renjun needed to plan out his next move.