Art class; Noren NCT

❀•Three•❀

The next day Jeno decided to come in earlier than usual so that he could have some extra time to set up his workspace.
He was feeling confident that he was going to make some good improvements to his painting and it reflected in his mood.

But that changed when he walked into the art room.
There, at the back of the class in his usual spot was Renjun. He was sat cross legged on his stool and looked very focused in mixing the perfect shade of pink for his cherry blossoms.

"Good morning" Jeno mumbles as he dumps his bag down next to his easel.

The brunette looks up from his pallet and over to the black haired boy who began to rummage around for the perfect brushes.

"Good morning" Renjun replies, eyeing the younger boy as he sets up his easel at a better angle.

"I guess we both had the same idea" Jeno says, forcing himself to be kind and friendly as he makes his way over to the sinks to get some water.

"Yeah...I guess we did" Renjun doesn't take his eyes off Jeno as he makes his way back over to the easel.

Jeno could feel the older boys gaze burning into the back of his skull, but he chose to ignore it. He wasn't going to let the fact that Renjun was here ruin his chance to make some major changes to his painting.

"Your piece is looking really good Jeno" Renjun speaks up after a while.
The raven haired boy turns to look at him. He was still sat cross legged and was still lazily mixing paints. Renjun looks up and gives Jeno a half smile before leaning forward and placing his brush to the canvas.

"Thank you, yours is looking good too" Jeno replies giving the older boy a crescent moon smile before turning around and getting back to work.

It was times like this when Jeno questioned what exactly he had against Renjun. He was always kind and nice, but his art was amazing and for some reason that mattered to Jeno more.

A few minutes tick away and both boys work on their paintings in silence. The only sound to be heard were the soft sound of light brush strokes and the ripple of water when they rinsed their brushes.

"Jeno! Why are you here so damn early?" The silence was ruined by a loud voice that belonged to the light haired boy that trudged into the classroom and dropped himself onto the stool beside his best friend.

"Because I didn't want to waste lesson time mixing pigments and setting up" Jeno explained only to earn a groan from Jaemin.

The younger boys gaze moved around the room until they landed on the beautiful brunette.
"Hey Renjun!" Jaemin says with a big smile on his face.

Renjun looks up from his work to give Jaemin a smile and a wave.
"Don't distract him Nana" Jeno says, not taking his eyes of of his painting.

He wasn't saying this for Renjun's benefit, he was doing it for his. If Jaemin was going to sit and flirt across the classroom it would definitely distract Jeno. Jeno sees it as his responsibility to stop Jaemin from going too far and embarrassing himself.

"M-kay" he replies, spinning on his stool so that he faced his own easel.

Jeno let out a sigh of relief before getting up to go find a darker blue pigment. Towards the front of the class was a store room which housed almost every art material under the sun.
Taking a step in, Jeno shivers slightly at the dip in temperature compared to the classroom.

He moves towards the shelves at the back which held all kinds of powder pigments, oil paints and acrylics.

"They have everything but the damn thing you need" he huffs, checking over the shelves one last time before stomping out.

"Renjun, are you by any chance using Midnight blue pigment?" Jeno asks once he's back in the warm classroom.

The older boy glances over the small pile of pigments beside him, checking the colour names carefully before shaking his head.
"No, sorry".

"Damit" Jeno mumbles as he drops himself back onto his stool.

The three boys sat in silence for a while before a voice spoke up.
"I can show you how to make it if you like".

Jeno's brow furrowed and he turns slightly to look at the brunette. "What?"

Renjun stood and moved over to Jeno's easel. He picks up his paint pallet and a purple, blue and black pigment tub.
"You can mix other pigments to make the same colour. The art department lost the colour midnight blue two months ago so I had to find a way to improvise". He starts, as he pours out a small amount of the deep blue powder.

"If you mix this blue, with this purple you get a brighter shade, but if your wanting to get the colour as close to the original as possible, you should add black as it grays it slightly making it match better" he finishes mixing the powders before passing them back to Jeno.

"You need to make sure you mix them well though, if not then they'll dry as separate colours on the canvas" with that he gave a small smile and walked back to his work space.

Jeno and Jaemin glance at each other for a moment before looking back over at the older boy.

"Wow! Sunbae, your so smart" Jaemin says, literally shooting the boy heart eyes.

"Not really, it's basic colour theory" he gives another smile before going back to his own painting.

Basic colour theory? Was he trying to say Jeno was dumb for not think of mixing the colour first. Or maybe he was just trying to be kind and helpful.

Jeno shook off the thought and turned back to his canvas mumbling a small "thanks".

Minutes ticked away and before they knew it the rest of the class had begun to fill the room. The chemical smell of acrylic paints began to rise in the air and the lesson soon started.