Birds of a Feather | '00 Liners

Chapter Three

When the bell for the day's release sounded, chaos ensued. Students clambered to escape the classroom, rushed on by equally impatient companions and the swarming bodies already swimming in a crowd down the hall. Renjun watched from his spot near the window as students spilled out in tousled waves, shrill laughs and barking shrieks wafting up and through the slight crack of the panel.

Renjun turned his attention from the turmoil down below and toward the classroom's only other occupant.

Donghyuck sat in his seat at the center of the classroom in complete serenity. Posture straight and prim, face lax and void of palpable tension—a soft downward turn of his natural pout, a long cast of shadows from his tamed lashes.

Donghyuck was beautiful. Not in a conventional way. Not like Jeno or Jaemin.

Donghyuck was...gorgeous. In the afternoon sun, after a long first day back in school. In the false sense of security of being left to a world that solely consisted of him. With soft curves and gentle angles, Lee Donghyuck was beautiful.

Donghyuck, beautiful, gorgeous Donghyuck, was currently looking at Renjun with a scrutinizing glare.

Renjun ignored the itch in his back.

"I'm sorry," Renjun said.

His voice was soft, but he held complete sincerity in his tone. He knew it to be true, for Donghyuck's gaze softened into reluctant acceptance.

"Not just for hurting you," Renjun continued before Donghyuck could get a word in, "but for not bothering to reach out before today. I just figured that if I gave you your space, you would come to me when you were ready. But by the time I realized that that wasn't gonna work out, three months had already passed, and I—"

"Renjun."

Renjun clasped his lips. Silently relished in his friend's familiar, sweet voice. Ignored the burn in his back.

Donghyuck's reluctant gaze turned soft and sweet, all mischievous and casual. 

"You may have fucked up," he said sagely, "but that doesn't mean I'm gonna hate you." 

He paused, seemed to struggle for a moment to gather his words, his composure; a rising flush invaded the shells of his ears. 

"I ignored you because...I was embarrassed," he admitted with a mutter. "That you saw me like that, I mean. All sniveling and sobbing and whining like a toddler."

Renjun blinked at the confession. He felt a gentle squeeze of his lungs push the last of his breath past his lips in quiet relief. Felt the beginnings of something truly tragic breach the skin of his back.

He dug his nails into his palms to deter the pain.

"But isn't that how you always act?" he jested with an easy grin.

Donghyuck barked out a startled laugh, welts of red spreading to his cheeks. 

"Wow. For how sorry you said you were a few minutes ago, it sure sounds like those three months of silence were nonexistent for you."

Renjun shrugged nonchalantly, played his cards carefully. 

"I had Jeno and Jaemin to keep me company." 

He stuck his tongue out ruefully. 

"You aren't my only friend, Donghyuck." 

But you are my favorite.

Donghyuck released a mock gasp of offense, placed his hand along his chest dramatically. 

"Those traitors! I told them to leave you in the dust!"

"I guess we both know who they're actually loyal to, huh?" 

Renjun's grin fell into a grim line as he leveled Donghyuck with a contemplative stare. 

"So," Renjun continued, "you didn't tell them what happened?"

Donghyuck's form went rigid, his gaze wandering and elusive.

"No," he said. "I didn't say anything to them."

Renjun furrowed his brow in confusion. 

"Why? Wouldn't it be better to tell them that you're recovering now? So that they don't have to needlessly worry about you."

Donghyuck shrugged, and his eyes trained themselves to the hardwood floor tucked between his feet. 

"It's...kind of hard to admit how quickly you can fall out of love, you know?"

Renjun hummed sympathetically. 

"But there's no need to feel any shame. I'm sure Mark's recovered by now as well."

Donghyuck's eyes flickered up to meet Renjun's. 

"You think?"

"Yeah." 

Renjun smiled, prayed it looked reassuring. 

"He's a big boy, Donghyuck," he assured. "You don't need to worry about him anymore."

Donghyuck nodded to himself wordlessly. A few moments passed, the tick-tocking of the classroom's clock and chattering of meandering students filling in the gaps.

The first tear to drop was just seconds after Donghyuck's not-so-subtle sniffle.

Renjun beckoned him over with a spread of his arms, a quiet "come here". Donghyuck's face melded into his shoulder, his weight balancing atop Renjun's thighs. His arms were loose around Renjun's torso, his hands fidgety and wandering.

The minutes passed in wordless rubbing, patting, and tear-wiping. The sun their dazzling backdrop, nature singing its wild tune with rustling winds interrupting its natural flow periodically. In the late afternoon, the school was a quiet placeholder, student-life far away and stepping in tune to the background.

"Injoonie," Donghyuck said once their shadows along the floor had shifted, once the wind had a bite to its presence.

"Hyuck?" Renjun replied, ceasing his mindless rubbing of Donghyuck's back.

"There's another reason I didn't tell Jeno and Jaemin."

"What is it?"

Donghyuck leaned back so that his puffy, swollen face was exposed and directly in front of Renjun's. The tips of their noses were in bumping-brushing contact, their heaving breaths a by-product of the insignificant connection. Tension held Renjun together, his traitorous gaze daring the path downward on more than one shameful occasion.

Donghyuck's lips parted, and Renjun watched them with unabashed concentration: "Because new sprouts took their place."

Suddenly, inexplicably, Renjun's back felt like it was on fire.