♡ after all this time ♡

pairing: jeno + renjun + jaemin

genre: angsty fluff

-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-

there was no morning renjun woke up feeling like he was going to have a good day. actually, they hadn't been any of those for the past seven years.

the reason for renjun's daily morning-depression was very simple: a loss that he couldn't get over.

twelve years ago, when renjun was on his first day of primary school in a corner of seoul, he had met these two boys that had seemed to be quite interested in him and his foreign features. their names were na jaemin and lee jeno, glued by the hip since diaper days and never away from each other.

renjun could never forget this first day of school in korea, when he barely even knew the country's language and struggled to understand what people were telling him. all of the students that had talked to him that day had seemed weirded out by renjun's inability to speak korean and communicate easily with them. all, except two boys; those same jaemin and jeno.

the two of them had been very open to renjun's difficulties compared to the other primary school students, and they had tried to communicate with him as they could. this had ended with jeno and jaemin moving their arms and hands around while speaking exaggeratingly slowly, and renjun replying the same way – perhaps with a bit more shyness – but with chinese words. by the end of the first day, the only thing that they had been to understand from each other were their names, and so, their beautiful friendship began.

for the next five years of primary school, renjun slowly grew accustomed to living in korea and hearing people speaking korean around him. and so, this led to him becoming fluent in that language pretty quickly. that, plus the fact that the two korean boys that had accepted him on his first day of school had been glued to his side ever since.

after their first – almost awkward – encounter on the first day, jeno and jaemin hadn't been grossed out by renjun's incapacity to form a correct sentence, and they had decided that, if nobody wanted to accept him, they would keep him to themselves. renjun didn't mind that, and he was actually delighted to see jeno and jaemin appearing in front of him with beaming smiles on their faces on their second day of primary school, and on the third, the fourth, and every day until their last day of primary school.

yes, because on renjun's last day of primary school – seven years ago – renjun's family had moved back to china where renjun would need to finish his middle school and high school years. and so, since that day, renjun hadn't heard of the two boys, causing his mornings to feel dull and uninteresting, as if his life didn't matter anymore.

"renjun, i'm leaving in 20minutes, do you need a ride?" his mother's voice rang across the house, making the chinese male groan.

"yeah..." he screamed back, sounding more than desperate.

after the 20 minutes announced, renjun was sat in his mother's car, his seatbelt fastened, and his face completely blank, as if emotions didn't exist to him anymore.

"oh, renjun... smile for once..." his mother sighed, glancing at her son sideways before focusing back on the road.

"what for?" renjun rolled his eyes.

"well, aren't you happy to go to school?" she continued. "i was always looking forward to seeing my friends when i was your age."

"i have a chemistry test, a literature test and i'm pretty sure the calculus teacher said he had planned a test for today too." renjun looked at his mother with a 'duh' face. "and i have no friends. so, no. i'm not happy to go to school."

renjun's mother frowned, just like she did each time the two of them had this conversation – which meant almost every day.

"honey, i don't understand why you keep saying that you don't have friends..."

"because i don't." renjun replied.

"but why? are you acting so bad that no one wants to be your friend? or are you getting bullied?" the mother asked worriedly.

"i just don't need friends."

"everybody needs a friend." she told. "and i'm sure you could find yourself a girl- "

"mom."

"boyfriend, sorry." she corrected herself quickly.

"i don't need that either."

"honey..." the woman chuckled softly. "everybody needs to feel loved and cherished by someone... and i know that some amazing boys in your high schools are dying to get to know you more to go further with you. what could you ask more?"

what could he ask more?

well, lots of things...

first, to have jeno and jaemin by his side.

also, to go back to korea.

and to meet the only two friends he had.

let's not forget to never have moved out.

and the list could keep going for very long.

in fact, when renjun had left korea that day, it seemed like he had lost his reason to live.

not only had he flown away from the two people that were his only friends, but he had also left behind the boys his heart had grown so attached to.

renjun was nine when he had understood the concept of homosexuality – or liking people from the same gender as yours. but it seemed like this was inevitable when jaemin and jeno kept being there for him all the time and taking care of him like he was their treasure. poor little renjun couldn't fight the feeling of warmth and wellness that had grown in the pit of his stomach with all the time jeno and jaemin had shared their sweets with him or invited him to their houses to play videogames in the afternoon.

and now, eight years after, his heart still craved for their presence, and their absence had created a void in him that was more than enough to dissuade him from getting new friends or lovers, or whatever.                                                                                                                                                                                                         

so, as much as he could take hours to answer this fucking question – what could you ask more? – he heaved a sigh and kept the response short yet painful.

"to meet the only two people that matter to me again."

♡

heaving out a loud sigh, renjun closed his eyes to try forgetting about his surroundings.

it seemed like nothing he did made him happy anymore, now that the only two people that mattered to him had disappeard from his life without a sign.

it was amazing how the three of them went from being each other's everything to becoming complete strangers, unaware of the others' existence. but how could have things been different?

the three males' paths had diverged when they were only 10, and at that age, none of them had phones or anything to communicate with. and it seemed like renjun had moved from one day to another – one of his parents' impulsive decisions – almost without a warning and barely allowing him to say goodbye to the two boys that had grown to become his reason to live.

but seven long years after, he still thought about them day and night, and ever without having jeno and jaemin close to him, renjun still couldn't help but falling for them even more, letting himself getting drowned in their perfect memories that he couldn't erase from his mind...

but at the same time, how was it possible for him to forget how protective jeno was of him?

how was it possible for him to forget how caring jaemin was?

and how was it possible for him to forget how thoughtful they always were?

"leave me alone!" 7-year-old renjun exclaimed, trying to push away an annoying boy that kept messing with renjun for being a foreigner.

"you have nothing to do here! go back to your country!" the boy continued, menacingly approaching the chinese male. it was crazy how gullible children were, and how they tended to reproduce their parent's behaviours – for the better, and for the worse. and it seemed like his family were very reluctant to korea's immigration policy.

"please, leave me alone..." renjun replied in korean, trying his best to mask his slight chinese accent as he walked backwards to escape the bully's path.

but sadly, came the moment when his back hit the playground's wall, making it impossible for him to run away anymore.

"go back where you come from!" the bully exclaimed again, lifting his fist in the air, surely to smash it against renjun's cheek. but thankfully for the poor chinese boy, the bully was yanked backwards, and another 7-year-old stood between him and the frightened renjun, shielding the chinese boy from the mean bully.

"don't touch him." renjun immediately recognised jeno's voice. "he has all the rights to be here."

"he doesn't even know how to speak korean! he should be sent back to his own country! he has nothing to do- "

the bully's words were interrupted as jeno jumped on top of him, making the two of them fall to the ground in a fist fight.

and inevitably, this ended with both jeno and the bully punished severely by the teachers, and a simple saying from jeno that had renjun's heart fluttering more than it ever had: "don't let stupid people make you believe you don't belong here. you do, and remember that if you weren't here, jaemin you and i would never have met, and we would all be so sad. keep that in mind."

"junnie? everything alright?" a worried jaemin asked to the 8-year-old renjun when he was back from the christmas break.

"mmh?" renjun hummed, his eyes lidded. "oh... yeah, a bit tired..."

his flight from china to korea had been delayed the night before, and so, the poor boy had had to go to school early in the morning after a 3-hour night. so, of course, he could barely keep his eyes open, and he had no strength to think about the test that they were supposed to have right now.

"renjun?" jaemin whisper-shouted to his seat neighbour a few minutes after the tests had been handed out to the class. jaemin had already filled half of the document, while renjun's was still completely blank. "renjun!"he tried again; a bit louder this time, but making sure the theacher hadn't heard.

"yes..." the chinese male answered barely audibly, looking at his friend.

"here. copy my answers." jaemin whispered, pushing his test-sheet forward so that it was visible to renjun.

"n-no, i can't do that..." renjun shook his head, and his eyes would have widened if he wasn't so tired.

"renjun, do it." jaemin insisted. "i don't want you to have a bad mark on that test. it is important."

and so, renjun's heartbeat accelerated as he coped jaemin's answers on his sheet. but was his heart going crazy because of the stress to be caught by the teacher? or was it because he was realising how precious his and jaemin's friendship was? he had a small idea – and he was way to tired to be stressed over anything, anyway...

"guys?" renjun questioned, pushing open the door of jaemin's house to where he had been invited. a few days ago, jaemin and jeno had set a meeting for the three of them at jaemin's house, and the latter had warned renjun that the front door would be open, so that he would only need to push it open and get inside. but now that he had arrived to the house and pushed open the front door, he was rather surprised to see that all of the lights were shut and that no one seemed around the house.

unconsciously, the chinese male started stressing, because he had turned 10 the day before, and 10 years old was way too young to get murdered. "g-guys?" he stuttered out, looking for some sign of life in the dark living room.

however, after taking two steps towards the couch, all of the lights got switched on, making the chinese male jump in fear and let out a small yelp.

but his fear was very quick to disappear as jeno and jaemin appeared from behind the couch, throwing balloons in the air as they exclaimed: "happy birthday renjun!"

the chinese male's heart fluttered so hard at this small attention from the two korean males that his eyes watered, unwillingly producing tears that immediately rolled down his cheeks.

"g-guys..." he chuckled, wiping his tears with the back of his hands as jeno and jaemin approached him and engulfed him in a bear hug.

"happiest birthday junnie." jeno said.

"you're 10 now, you're so old!" jaemin added.

"d-did you plan everything for me...?" renjun sniffed as he looked around the house that had been decorated accordingly for the occasion.

"of course, we did." jaemin nodded. "we were so sad when you said that you had to spent your whole birthday with your family..."

"so, that's why we decided to organise a little party for the three of us only." jeno finished with a bright smile.

at those words, renjun choked on a sob before pulling the two boys that he had grown so attached for in another hug, wetting their shirts as he couldn't stop himself from crying.

"t-thank you... thank you so much..." he breathed out, now realising how precious these two boys were and how he would need to keep them by his side forever... and if only he knew that months later, he would tell them goodbye forever...

♡

"and here we go again..." renjun muttered to himself in chinese as he found himself standing in front of the oh-so-familiar gates of his high school.

it was the first day of his last year of high school, and just like on every first day of school, he couldn't help but feel his heart breaking a bit more.

twelve first-day-of-school before, renjun had met the two most important boys of his life, and for the past seven first-day-of-school, he had been celebrating this day on his own, far from them and their love, facing his solitude and his depression.

here he was again, walking inside the building with the crowd of chinese students that were happy to see each other again after summer break. contrarily to them, renjun was on his own, trying to stay as invisible as he could, and hoping that no one would ever bother him again. he wans't sure he would be able to deal with anyone. his state seemed to worsen a bit more with each day going...

at first, being far away from jeno and jaemin didn't hurt much. he missed them, but he still had hope that one day, they paths would cross, and they would go back to the way they were: the best of friends, and perhaps more...

but now that seven – almost eight – full years had passed, all traces of hope had disappeared and the heart-break that had been caused by this loss had dissuaded him from creating any other friendship bond. i mean, if friendships were meant to end up that way, what was the point of creating bonds?

"huh... excuse me?"

renjun's eyes rolled ot the back of his head as he turned around to face the girl that had just poked his shoulder and obviously talked to him.

"yes?" he replied in chinese, raising a brow.

"huh... you're renjin, right?" she asked.

"yeah." the boy didn't even bother correcting her.

"i heard that you knew how to speak korean, is that true?"

the chinese male gulped. korean.

the language he used to communicate with jeno and jaemin.

but he hadn't used it for the past seven years. why would he? he had no jaemin and no jeno to talk to anymore... why bother practicing a language that would only hurt him.

"i don't speak korean anymore." he replied solemnly, hurting in silence.

"do you know someone else that does?" she asked, looking desperate.

"no." renjun replied, turning on his heels immediately and heading away.

"please!" the girl exclaimed again. "please, help me! it won't take long. i need you..."

renjun sighed again as the girl followed him around, her high-pitched voice annoying him beyond imaginable.

"okay, stop following me around." renjun abruptly stopped. "i'll help you, but it's the last time. and i'm not even sure that i will be able to help."

"please, it won't take long." the girl looked at him with puppy eyes, intending being cute but looking nothing but weird for renjun.

"yeah, it better not take long." he rolled his eyes, following the squealing girl as he hoped from the bottom of his heart that he had made the right decision.

♡

"jeno?"

"hmm...?" the older boy hummed, tightening his embrace around his boyfriend's shoulders as his eyes stayed closed.

"do you think he recalls us?"

jeno's eyes opened as he looked down at jaemin, whose head was resting on jeno's chest while the boy looked through the porthole, admiring the sight of the blue sky and the mattress of white fluffy clouds above which their plane was flying.

"do you think he still thinks about us?" jaemin questioned again.

jeno still didn't reply, smiling sadly at his boyfriend as one of his hands ruffled through the boy's locks.

"do you think he will accept us?"

a sigh left jeno's lips as jaemin sat up, readjusting himself on the plane's seat and facing jeno to look at him in the eyes and trying to decipher what he was thinking about.

"jeno..." jaemin's tone was desperate. "do you think he likes us back...?"

and for the first time since the beginning of the questioning, an answer left jeno's lips.

"i hope so. i really do..."

♡

"you said it wouldn't take long, and it's already too long for me." renjun whined after less than three minutes of following the girl.

"i'm sorry, i just need to find them." she replied immediately. "they were there five minutes ago, but i can't find them anymore."

renjun sighed in despair. "find who?"

"the two foreign students. they don't know how to speak chinese!" she tsked. "how stupid of them to come here when you don't even speak the language and that you have no- "

"renjun?"

the chinese male froze on his spot, turning around slowly to face the male that had just called him. and when he was finally facing him – or them, because there were two boys standing in front of him, with their eyes glued to him – renjun's heart missed one, and two, and three beats until his brain screamed at him that it wasn't possible.

"we found him..." one of the two boys stated in a foreign language as the two's eyes were still on renjun.

the chinese male's brain was still begging him to stop dreaming or imagining things that could never happen, but at the same time, renjun's ears reminded him that he knew this language, and that he had understood what had been said. but it wasn't possible, right?

"oh, thank god! you found them!" the girl exclaimed, turning around when she noticed renjun facing the two foreing students. "so, renjun, this is lee jeno, and na jaemin. they're korean and they don't speak chinese, so, hopefully you can help telling them where the student office his and everything because we can't understand each other and..."

renjun's mind had stopped listening to whatever the girl was rambling as soon as the names of the two boys that were standing in front of him were voiced out by this girl.

lee jeno and na jaemin.

this was too much of a coincidence to be true...

just looking at them, renjun could tell that the two boys standing in front of him looked a lot like the two boys he had been holding in his heart since forever. but look-alikes existed, and so, this meant that it wasn't necessary them, but maybe a pure coincidence.

but now, lee jeno and na jaemin... it was too much of a coincidence not to be true. it wasn't possible for two people to look alike, have the same first name, and the same last name. it was impossible... so, this had to mean that the two boys standing in front of him were the real jaemin and jeno – his jaemin and his jeno, the boys that had been haunting his days and nights for the past years.

"hello, renjun." jeno spoke in korean, his lips curving up in a small smile.

"h-hello..." renjun replied, his lips quivering because of the shock.

"i can't believe we found you again..." jaemin added, taking a step forward.

renjun was completely frozen, unable to move. the two boys that had been on his mind for the past seven years were back in front of him, they had found him after all this time, and they looked better than ever.

their faces were still recognisable, but it was obvious that they had grown to become teenagers, almost grown men. their bodies had gotten taller and more muscular, making renjun feel a bit ashamed that he was still short and that he barely took care of his body. damn, he probably looked awful right now; his depressed state because of his long-lost friendship had messed completely with his habits, causing him to neglect himself a bit more every day.

"you haven't changed..." jeno spoke, approaching renjun as well until him and jaemin were standing only a few centimetres away from the smaller male. "not a single bit." he continued, one of his hands reaching for a strand of hair that was falling in front of renjun's eyes to tuck it back behind the boy's ear.

jeno's feathery touch on renjun's skin sent a full electric shock through his body that made his whole-body flush and his heart become madder than it had ever been. he was almost feeling out of breath because of how erratically it was beating, and all of that because of the two boys that he had missed so much that were standing in front of him.

"do you... still remember us?" jaemin spoke, worry flashing in his eyes as renjun hadn't still let out a complete sentence.

"y-yes..." renjun replied, and all of the worries that had bloated in jeno and jaemin's bodies disappeared in a snap of fingers, making smiles appear on their faces.

"we have to admit... we never stopped thinking about you after you left." jeno stated.

"yes, we would always feel sad, and hope to meet you again somewhere." jaemin nodded, confirming jeno's words. "but after seven years, we couldn't bear it anymore. so, we decided that if you weren't going to come back to us, we would come back to you."

renjun gulped, and as much as he tried to keep his tears for falling, he failed miserably, causing his cheeks to get wet in a matter of seconds.

"i-i... i-i never stopped thinking about you two..." renjun admitted, sniffling from time to time as he looked into the two boys' eyes. "never. i couldn't. and even if i wanted, i wasn't able to..." korean felt weird on his tongue, after seven years of not speaking the language anymore. he was sure that his grammar wasn't correct and that he had made intonation mistakes, but it somehow felt good to use this language again. he wasn't sure he would have been able to use korean to speak to anyone else, because korean was their language, jeno, renjun and jaemin's language.

"we're glad to hear that." jeno smiled sincerely.

"so..." jaemin bit his lip, looking at renjun. "does that mean that you are willing to accept us again?"

"a-accept you?" renjun wiped his tears as he frowned.

"allow us back into your life." jeno explained to which renjun nodded immediately.

"yes, of course." he replied energetically. "y-you were never out of m-my life actually." he confessed with a chuckle.

jeno and jaemin exchanged a look, smiling at each other before their hands reach for each other's and intertwined.

"we... we have something else to ask you." jaemin continued, now looking back at renjun and noticing that his eyes were on their linked hands. "as you can see... jeno and i have decided to become boyfriends a few years ago..."

"at first, it was to fill in the void that you had created when leaving us." jeno explained. "but we soon realised that our relationship wasn't enough, because we still missed something."

renjun seemed lost with jeno and jaemin's speech. he couldn't understand where the conversation was going. he seriously hoped that his theory was the good one, but he was too scared to voice it out and risk those seven missed years of friendship for a silly crush he had on two boys he hadn't seen in forever.

"what we are trying to say, renjun, is that you are what we miss." jeno told, looking into renjun's eyes. "we were too young when we were 10 to understand what it was, but after years of being away from each other, we know that what we felt for each other was love."

"jeno protecting you from bullies... me risking my grades to help you... us planning you surprise brithdays..." jaemin listed. "everything we did was out of love. it was because we loved you, and we still do."

"those seven years apart did nothing to our feelings for you, if not make them stronger." jeno approved, a smile appearing on his face at renjun's cute face.

"so, this is why we are here now." jaemin declared. "first, to be back by your side.

"second, to have you teaching us chinese the same way we taught you korean." jeno continued. "and third..."

"to ask you to become our boyfriend." both jeno and jaemin said at the same time, making renjun's mouth fall open in utter shock – thank god he could feel his heart beat out of his rib-cage, signalling him that he was still alive.

"yes!" renjun declared, tears escaping his eyes. "yes, i want you by my side! yes, i will teach you chinese! and yes, yes, yes! i want to be your boyfriend!"

with a beaming smile, renjun threw himself in the arms of the two boys standing in front of him, allowing them to engulf him in the warmest and safest hug he had been pulled in for the past seven years.

"i-it was so worth waiting seven y-years for this..." renjun mumbled, sniffling as tears continued escaping his eyes.

jaemin chuckled, using one of his hands to cup renjun's cheek and tilt his head up so that he could set his lips on top of renjun's, causing a zoo of butterflies to erupt in both of their stomachs at the electrifying feeling.

it felt so good for both of them to be able to kiss after seven long years of yearning for each other. and it was the same for jeno who didn't waste a single second to kiss renjun when jaemin and him parted. and so, here were butterflies tickling their insides again and making this feel like a perfect love story.

and a few meters away from them, just outside of the rainbow-and-butterflies bubble that surrounded jeno, jaemin and renjun, a crowd of chinese students had formed, looking at the scene unfold in front of them with eyes wide and mouths agape.

"i had never seen him interacting with anyone before..." one of the students declared in chinese making all of the others around nod.

and so, the whole school stood there, watching their reunion after seven years as if watching the most perfect princess story. jeno, renjun and jaemin had become the centre of attention, but none of this did matter, because here they were, back together again, after all this time...

-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-

thanks @13PRAGNYASAHOO10F for making this request!

hope you'll like it! <3