𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 :: markren

èr.

Renjun let his gaze wander slowly, staring at the scenery that passed before his eyes as their driver took them to school. His first ever day at school in Seoul.

"If you want I can take you to see the art room we made with auntie, Mr. Lee was very understanding and I know you'd love to see it." Chenle said as he was tapping actively on his phone without looking at him.

"It would make me very happy," he admitted as he cracked another smile for his best friend.

Chenle nodded, smiling in turn, as the buildings making up the school took shape more and more—causing apprehension to rise in Renjun, who began to fiddle with his sweater sleeve in silence as the driver approached a little closer to the school gate. The wait wasn't as long as he would've liked, and quickly the car stopped in front of the school gate, in front of all the high school students arriving and Chenle got off as if nothing had happened.

Renjun stayed in the car for a few seconds to breathe while Chenle came around the car to open the door for him and helped him out of the car. He looked up at Chenle who extended a hand in his direction and he watched him smile, before grabbing his hand to get out of the car.

Once outside he noticed all the students outside stopping to stare at him, and he swallowed slowly as Chenle guided him towards the front gate once he closed their car door.

They walked together hand in hand under the students heavy gaze to whom Chenle gave no thought, as they reached a fairly tall boy—around 01m85—with dark brown hair who was standing right in front of the main entrance of the school. Renjun glanced at Chenle who was smiling brightly at the boy who smiled back, as he and Chenle walked up to him.

"Hi Le," the boy started with a little smile on the tip of his lips.

"Hi Channie," Chenle began as he locked their arms together. "I hope you won't be late for your practice!"

the so called Channie shook his head, laughing softly as he brought his hand to Chenle's face to stroke his cheek. "No, don't worry, you arrived just in time, I still have 10 minutes before I have to go to the locker room Jae hyung texted that he'll be a little late." he explained.

Chenle nodded in turn before smiling widely. "Okay that'll be enough, for me to introduce you two to each other." He said as he tilted his head slightly. "So, Channie here this is Huang Renjun, my cousin and my childhood best friend. Jun this is Jung Sungchan my desk mate who incidentally became my best friend. He helped me adapt last year, when I arrived, and since then we've always stuck together," Chenle explained, pointing at each of them in turn.

Renjun turned to Sungchan who was offering him a kind smile, as he remembered that Chenle once mentioned Sungchan's name once in one of their conversations, when he was still living in London so he smiled back at Sungchan.

"I'm glad to finally meet you Renjun. Le told me a lot about you last year, and during school breaks." Sungchan said as he held out his hand towards him.

Renjun extended his hand in turn towards Sungchan's, which he grabbed and shook while continuing to smile. "I'm also delighted to finally be able to meet you. Lele also told me a lot about you last year, thank you for keeping an eye on him by the way!" Renjun said back, genuinely happy that Chenle found someone as nice as Sungchan to be one of his best friends.

"Why would I need him to keep an eye on me?" Chenle asked slightly offended, making Renjun and Sungchan laugh. "I'm pretty good at fending myself," he muttered.

"Yeah you wish! I believe you!" Sungchan said to him with a laugh, before glancing at his watch after a few minutes of talking. "Okay, I gotta go, I need to change and head out to lead warm up with the co-cap, if I'm late again the Cap will probably kill me," he muttered while grimacing, as he rubbed Chenle's hair gently.