Zhong Chenle— as juvenile and childlike he might be known to act around s and when in front of the camera most of the time, hated being treated like a little kid when he clearly wasn’t one anymore. Chenle was 15, not 8; he was practically a grown-up! He had a quite vibrant understanding on how the vague concept of ‘liking’ and ‘love’ works in the real world, mind you. He wasn’t that naive like the other members thought he would be since he was one of the youngest. So when the time came that NCT Dream’s Chinese main vocalist had reached a conclusion of terms with his self and feelings that he had secretly been harboring for the past few weeks, he made a rather blunt declaration.

Chenle had flatly, straightforwardly confessed to Huang Renjun for everyone to hear that he liked him while the group was having a five minute break from their usual dance practice, one fine day. The older male in question was shocked of course— everyone was; Mark had his jaws dropped, Donghyuck was smirking all too knowingly, Jisung appeared clueless, Jeno had his usual eye-smile plastered on his face while Chenle swore he heard Jaemin squeal in the background, and it took a few moments before Renjun had managed to mutter a reply.

To be honest, Chenle was feeling perfectly confident that day— regardless of the insane amount of butterflies fluttering in his stomach at the words he had blurted out just because he was at the moment. But now that he has thought about it, confessing his undying love for the older in front of their other group members seemed like a pretty move. It wasn’t the most romantic confession the world was forced to witness but hey, it took Chenle a lot of guts and that is all that matters. Renjun would understand.

But…. things didn’t go as the young singer had planned them out to be.

No, the older didn’t reject him though—Chenle would never admit to that.

After coming up with the right words to say, “Are you sure about this Le? Think about it,” was Renjun’s response to his spontaneous confession. And what kind of answer was that? Chenle wasn’t so sure himself.

Everyone was dumbfounded at Renjun’s retort, especially the main vocalist. Chenle stared blankly at him, not breaking the firm eye contact he had on the older, quietly observing his timid movements. The older was nibbling on his lower lip, standing in a rather awkward bearing, playing with the hem of his shirt, he appeared nervous. The younger wanted to say something— anything, but no words came out of his mouth.

That’s strange, Chenle thought.

It took a loud cough coming from Mark to break the suffocating silence that had unconsciously spread in the room. He told the younger members to return to practice and continue whatever it is that was happening back at the dorm for Donghyuck would probably be forced to make another indecent joke just to brighten up the situation if the older hadn’t done anything.

Renjun was a complicated person, Chenle is fully aware of that. He might seem jolly in front of the camera but when they are alone, he keeps a lot to himself and rarely talks especially when not needed. The younger doesn’t have a clue on what’s going inside his gege’s pretty little head most of the time. But in contrast to that, Renjun was kind— he took care of Chenle the most when the younger first arrived at Korea a year ago; caring— he would always accompany him, translate his words just to be sure he wasn’t feeling left out because of communication issues he had with the other members since his Korean is still not good enough; and lovable— how the tip of his lips would curl up to form a very sweet yet small smile, how the slight gap he had between his teeth makes him more cute when he is talking cheerfully, how his eyes would immediately gleam when he finds something ought to be called fascinating— Huang Renjun was just too adorable for his own good.

Maybe that’s why Chenle fell for him.

“You could always confess to him again,” Jisung told him one night when Chenle decided to voice out his worries to the group’s maknae. Jisung might be a year younger than he was but the latter knows a lot, he was rational and gives some pretty helpful advice and honestly, Chenle needed that more than anything considering what he is going through. “More clearly this time. Hyung’s smart, he’d understand.”

“I already did,” Chenle answered, wrapping his arms around a soft pillow he had brought with him from China when he last went home for vacation. Both shared a room with each other and they were on the maknae’s bed, talking. “But he thinks I’m only kidding, not serious at all.”

“I don’t think he means that.”

“Who knows,” the older one between the two, heaves a short breathe. “He thinks I’m not capable of liking him in that way because of my age.”

“That’s impossible,” Jisung disagreed. “It’s not like they are that old compared to us.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

Chenle just didn’t get it. If age was the reason why Renjun wouldn’t take him seriously, it wasn’t a good enough reason! Chenle was only a year younger; the difference isn’t that big and is practically baseless. Age was just a number, right? Why was Renjun being like this?

“I think you should distance yourself from him for awhile hyung,” Jisung advised as he wrapped his body with a blanket, leaning back against his bed’s headboard before yawning. They had a rather tiring schedule earlier and the maknae was already sleepy but Chenle came to him, asking for his help— who was he to deny the older? He rarely does things like this.

Chenle had a brow arched at the younger’s words. “What?”

“You know, avoid him?” he answered, gesturing with his hands, trying to get the older to understand.

But Chenle frowned at what Jisung was implying. Avoid Renjun? Ridiculous. He could never do that to him! The older Chinese male was his life, his entire universe, his happiness when he was feeling down, his light when everything gets dark, his—

“I don’t know, maybe it would make him realize that he’s missing out on something if you’re not around him that much anymore. He’d miss you and I’m not sure but it could work,” Jisung said as he shrugged, interrupting his train of thought. “They say jealousy has a bitter taste.”

Chenle bursted out laughing at the younger’s words.

Oh my god (Chenle’s voice lol), where did Jisung learn about all these stuff?

The older of the two gave it a thought; a rather weird yet cunning grin slowly crept into his face before he launched himself into the younger and trapped him inside a bone crashing hug. “Thank you Park Jisung! If I didn’t love Renjun-ge already, I would have married you!”

“You’re welcome?” not sure if it was a compliment or not, the younger answered, swarming to get out of the other’s hold. Jisung was awkward with skinship, no matter how close the members are. But Chenle needed to show that he was thankful for his help so he hugged him tight before the younger begged him to let go.

Getting Huang Renjun to believe in Chenle’s feelings for him wasn’t per say, anything along the lines of ‘easy’ and ‘quick’. But he had to let the older have confidence in him, by any means.

So Chenle went back to his bed and began devising another brilliant idea, thanks to Jisung.

And that’s where Donghyuck came in.

A few days later was their day off and thankfully, they didn’t have classes as well so they decided to watch a movie altogether at the living room. They’ve been busy with promotions for Chewing Gum that they haven’t been able to rest properly. Today was their chance; they had the whole day to themselves and to laze around anyway.

Everyone was there except for Mark; the latter was still inside his room since this morning, composing a song of some sort— he’d always find something else to do just to keep himself busy even when it was suppose to be their rest day. They sat in front of the television; Jaemin and Jeno were sitting side by side on the couch while the other four were comfortably sitting on the floor. And Chenle chose this very particular day to put his plan into action and scooted over from his usual spot besides Jisung or Renjun to sit closely where Donghyuck was.

‘Operation: Get Renjun jealous of Donghyuck’ is underway!

They’ve been doing this for a few days now, ever since Chenle had that talk with Jisung; being rather close with each other than usual, talking nonstop in the car, exchanging casual touches now and then while on stage, joking around on and off cam, and alike. Donghyuck didn’t seem to find his sudden clingy act annoying and much to his surprise, Chenle was enjoying what he was doing. Especially when he would catch a small glimpse of Renjun pouting to himself as the younger’s attention was focused elsewhere other than him. But he needed an even better reaction from the older, Renjun needed to be more jealous.

Why he chose Donghyuck out of all the other members in the group was pretty easy actually— Jaemin was Jeno’s then vice versa and no matter how pretty his hyung might be, it would kill his heart to make those two unhappy; Jisung was his bro and bros don’t flirt with bros; Mark was … nope, definitely not Mark. Thus, he had no other choice than Donghyuck. And Donghyuck was oblivious; he was the perfect person to help him act his clever plan out with.

If Chenle hadn’t already set his sights on Renjun, he would most likely have tried anything to win Donghyuck’s affections instead. The older male was cool and fun to be with; you would really enjoy his company. They were the mischief maker duo of NCT Dream and he really admired the older. However, the sudden thought of coming in between Mark and Donghyuck if he really did pursue his maroon haired hyung wasn’t entirely appealing to the younger. Donghyuck was Mark’s, everyone knows that.

But he was entirely off limits yet.

Flirting with Donghyuck was a piece of cake; a casual touch here, a couple of compliments there, and everything fell into place.

The movie the boys were watching was a two-hour long romantic comedy flick Jaemin had forced everyone to choose even though Donghyuck wanted to watch an action movie, claiming that it would be good.

He was so wrong.

Donghyuck was already getting sleepy a little under 30 minutes that the movie had started. The older yawned and casually rested his head on Chenle’s shoulders that was at his side. Maybe out of reflex of some sort, Chenle s his arm and placed it around the elder’s firm shoulder so he would be comfortable with the sudden change of position. The members were close to this extent.

Touching Donghyuck wasn’t actually weird, it really wasn’t. But it didn’t feel right as well.

Chenle couldn’t help but compare this skinship that they were now having to all the brief yet meaningful contact he has shared and exchanged with Renjun in the past.

It wasn’t the same, the younger thought with a frown. The fuzzy feeling in the pit of his stomach he’d usually feel if the older was near, causally touching, talking or smiling brightly at him— just wasn’t there.

Everything with Renjun is different compared to the rest.

Another 30 minutes had passed and Chenle’s neck has now feeling sore at the weight of the older on his shoulder. He poked the other at the side to catch his attention. “Hyung, you could lay on my lap you know?” he offered.

The sudden question didn’t go unnoticed by the other members, they were caught by surprise. They had stopped watching the movie, the actor’s dialogue still playing in the background, and all had turned their attention on him. Chenle raised a questioning brow at the older members who was eyeing him like he was a madman, not understanding the looks being thrown at him. Chenle didn’t get it though. As much as he was doing this to make Renjun jealous and all, the offer was simply innocent and without any other intentions attached.

And it happened.

Just before Donghyuck had managed a reply, Renjun abruptly stood up and fled the room to who knows where.

Chenle was about to stand up and follow the older, to ask him what was wrong, but Donghyuck beat him to it, held unto his wrist, preventing him from leaving.

“I don’t think you should have done that,” Donghyuck commented, his head turned, they were watching the elder’s retreating back disappear from their sight. “Renjunnie seems mad.”

“Maybe..” the younger hummed thoughtfully, gaze focused on where Renjun had went to. “But not as mad as Mark-hyung would be though.”

“And why would Mark-hyung be-”

They heard someone clear his throat from across the living room. They turned their heads and saw Mark, leaning against their bedroom door’s frame, arms wrapped around his chest, sporting a scowl. He seemed pretty pissed.

Uh oh.

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