The brush ran over her nails with ease. They were sitting at a café table, their warm drinks still steaming. Ren found that he could tolerate Lime when they went out once a week for a publicity date. He often found himself just painting her nails as they chatted about schedules. He had noticed she had been paler lately, he took it as she wasn’t eating enough.

            “Do you need some vitamins? We can stop at the store after we finish our coffee if you want.”

            Ren frowned as she stiffened at his words, like he had said something wrong. She cleared , “Do I look like I need them? I can take care of myself, thank you.”

            Ren shrugged and dipped the brush in the bottle again to swipe it over her pinky nail, “You can tell me if you aren’t feeling well, I won’t judge. Minhyun had a cold last week; maybe I gave it to you?”

            She snapped at him then, pulling her hand away as he finished. Her body was tense, was it wrong to worry about her health? “Why do you keep insisting that I’m sick?”

            Without getting upset, Ren closed his nail polish and slid it into his bag. “You just look pale; I want to make sure you’re okay. Are you eating enough?”

            He watched as Lime grabbed her cup and stood. He stood too and slung his bag over his shoulder, knowing he had to walk her home as to keep up their image. He grabbed his cup and made sure to keep her pace, “I’m sorry if I upset you, but you have been snippy with me all day. Can’t you tell me what I did?”

            Her glare was enough, and so he watched her go inside her dorm room before heading back down to the street. He didn’t get it. What had he done wrong? She had just given him the stank eye ever since she laid eyes on him at the coffee shop. It would be all over the tabloids, ‘Lime and Ren fighting’, he just knew it. He tried to be quiet as he slid inside the dorm, he really did. He knew things had been rocky with everyone off camera since he and JR had started to fake date girls from Hello Venus, and as of late JR had been getting snippy with him. It was frustrating how he wasn’t able to do anything right. Much to his dismay, Jonghyun was there to greet him when he shut the door.

            “Where were you at?” There it was, that annoyed tone. Ren was about sick of it.

            “Where do you think I was? What day is it? Is it our day off of the week? I was with Lime. Weren’t you with Alice earlier today?”

            Jonghyun seemed to struggle with words, like the comeback wouldn’t come to him. Ren took it as the conversation was dismissed and he pulled his shoes off. He just needed a break without walking on eggshells around other members. He looked up as Minhyun walked into the kitchen, a huge smile on his face. “Look who finally called us!” He extended his phone for Ren and JR to see, and Ren just squealed in delight. “Jason!”

            Jason laughed at that, his face bright and cheery. His hair was a dark brown now, far different from the candy red he had been sporting when they had met. His Korean was still pretty bad, but Ren had never minded speaking mandarin with him. He had worked hard to maintain his language skills. “How is everyone? I hear Rennie and Jonghyun have girlfriends!”

            Ren had opened his mouth to retort, but Jonghyun beat him to it. “Yes, we’re quite the lady charmers. Especially Ren, he has everyone falling for him.”

            The comment unsettled him, because it wasn’t said playfully. It was said spitefully, directed at someone for the reasons of hurting him. Ren made a face at that, “Wow, JR is feeling like an today. Sorry about that Jason.”

            The air was tense then and even through a video call, Jason could see it. “I ah, I can call back? Yeah, I’ll do that.”

            Ren waved bye quietly at that, and he turned to the fridge and grabbed a few beers. He watched as JR stared him down, challenging him to say something else. When JR said nothing, Ren stalked out of the kitchen and up the stairs. He would have loved to talk to Jason for longer, but after that comment he just felt drained. He wanted to curl up and just sleep. Making his way into the little den that he and Baekho shared, he sat down next to his roommate and offered him a beer. Baekho just chuckled as he took it, “Something on your mind?”

            Ren shook his head and popped the top of his can, “More like someone on my nerves. Enough for me to get into Aron’s beer without asking. I’ll have to get him more after.” He closed his eyes and took a drink, knowing fully well that it was not a good solution for his problems. Baekho wasn’t one for judging though, especially after how close he and Ren had become after the kiss. It was more like their friendship had grown stronger. Ren was still hopelessly in love with JR, and the other had just been keeping his distance. It was painful all around really. Eventually though, Ren broke the silence that had formed. “Why do you love me?”

            Baekho made a small sound at that, having not expected the question. “You’re my best friend, best friends love one another.”

            Ren tipped his can back and shook his head, “No, not like that. You kissed me three months ago, that was more than friendship you were wanting. I want to know what you see in me, or saw in me if you don’t like me in that way anymore. I want to know what Jonghyun doesn’t see in me I guess.” He watched as Baekho hesitated though, watching as he tried to think of the right words. Ren felt his lip quiver a bit, like he wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to do himself. He looked up at the ceiling instead, calming his breaths.

            Baekho cleared his throat then, “What I love about you is that you are always being yourself. You break gender norms, you put other people first even if it compromises your own happiness. You love people, ridiculously so. When we met, you were scared of me because I was taller than you and you didn’t realize all I wanted to do was snuggle you. That didn't last long though. When you figured that out, we became close. You have the biggest heart and when you ask me why I love you, why I would want to ever be more if we could... I struggle to even put it into words.”

            Ren felt his eyes tearing up and he stood up. He looked down the stairs to make sure no one was in close proximity before he pulled his shirt off over his head. He laughed softly when he saw Baekho’s eyes widen, but that didn’t stop him from setting himself down in his lap. “You can touch, I don’t mind. Just for tonight, let’s pretend we’re something more.”

            It was cruel and the deep part of him knew that, but when Baekho ran his hands along his bare skin all Minki could think of was how long it had been since it had been more than himself and his hand. If Jonghyun wanted to treat him like dirt, he would find someone that, if only for a day, would treat him with kindness. Leaning in, he cupped Baekho’s face and kissed him slowly. The kiss went from soft and sweet into something deeper and warmer. Ren felt his body relax, and he didn't fight it when Baekho pressed him down into their mat of blankets.

--

Author's note: Likely, people won't like the ending of this chapter. That is quite alright, this needs to happen for future events to fall into place. I'm going to try and update on Tuesdays from now on, if not every Tuesday then every other Tuesday. While I am a baekren shipper, this is not baekren becoming a thing. the next chapter is going to have JR stepping up his game and finally getting over himself, hopefully. I am slightly sad that this chapter didn't go as I had originally planned but as many writers know, stories write themselves and this was how it fit.

Has anyone noticed that song lyrics and titles are my chapter names?