"what are you guys doing here?" renjun asked as the two sat across from him at the table, sipping cautiously at the tea that renjun prepared for them.

   it was strange for all three of them to look at eachother after it'd been so long. especially since there was a time where they saw eachother everyday. 

   "well we haven't seen you in a while since you got er.. hospitalized, you know?" jisung said carefully. renjun wanted to laugh at how the youngest still wasn't out of his awkward phase but refrained. "yeah i took some time off school after i was free to go an completed the rest of highschool online."

   there was another moment of silence where neither party could find something to say. "i take it you guys are finally together now," renjun broke the silence. both chenle and jisung looked at him somewhat astounded. "what? it was obvious," the oldest rolled his eyes at their reaction.

   "well yeah, we started dating about a year after you left up until now," chenle explained. "how are you with that guy you were always hanging out with?" renjun fell silent, suddenly uncomfortable in his own home. "well we were only friends but i guess we fell out of touch," he said, keeping it short.

   "oh come on, you were practically obsessed with him," chenle pushed. renjun forced out a laugh, "he was just a stranger at the park, no big deal." the other two looked at eachother unbelievingly, but shrugged. 

   "actually," renjun said to catch their attention, "jeno and i started dating." "good for him," jisung said, surprising renjun, "everyone in our friend group knew he liked you but you." "we broke up though," renjun blurted out, suddenly feeling bad that he'd been oblivious to jeno's feelings. maybe he was a lot more wound up in jaemin than he initially thought. 

   "ouch," chenle cringed, taking another sip of his tea. there was now a thin layer of tension surrounding the room, threatening to suffocate them all. "are you guys still in contact with mark or donghyuck?" renjun asked, changing the topic. "nope," jisung replied, "they came to chenle and i's graduation, but that was it. i guess university made them forget about us."

   "so our old group really got broken up, huh?" chenle mentioned, looking quite relaxed. "i guess so," renjun nodded, but he felt a lot more disappointed than he was willing to show.

   he wondered if things would've been better had he not given all his attention to jaemin. if he'd never met him in the first place. he would've finished highschool with his friends, and maybe kept them all connected after graduation. he knew mark and donghyuck had always been anxious to get out of the small town they grew up in, but renjun valued keeping in touch. 

   perhaps then he could've had the whole group at his house and not just chenle and jisung.

   still, somehwere in his mind, he knew that he wouldn't trade anything for the time he spent with jaemin. while he liked to deny his feelings and pretend that he hated the younger, that his life would've been better off without him, he was his first love, and renjun wouldn't erase any of his past for that to change.

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word count: 547

can't believe i was writing this for my sister (because i don't even ship) and then she unshipped them ;-;

✎ ---- dreaminghyuck⤾