“What are you doing here?” Donghyuck asked the boy who was at his door – it was around an hour and a half before the play for the showcase started and Huang Renjun had decided to drop by, even though he knew that Donghyuck wanted to revise his lines.

“So, I can’t visit my best friend anymore?” Renjun asked, looking genuinely hurt and Donghyuck simply rolled his eyes and stepped aside to let the other enter. “Thanks, Hyuck, how’s everything been so far?”

“Same as always. Any news from Soeun?” he asked, settling into a chair as Renjun hauled himself up onto Donghyuck’s vanity table, moving aside the makeup and accessories first.

“Nothing. Completely cut me off,” Renjun answered quietly and Donghyuck felt a wave of emotions – anger, sadness, betrayal – as he got up to wrap his arms around the Chinese male. “I…I miss her. A lot. But…she would never ignore someone unless she really wanted them out of her life.”

“And that’s basically all of us,” Donghyuck voiced for the both of them as Renjun nodded, eyes shining with tears that weren’t going to be shed that day. “Junnie, we’ll get through it.”

“I know we will, we always do,” Renjun whispered, sighing after and pulling back with a slight pink tint on his cheekbones. “Plus…I…I think there might be others…”

“Others?” he inquired curiously, trying to think back to whoever could be a plausible option for Renjun’s behavior. “Is it me?” He expected the scoff and push that the other gave him.

“Don’t be so full of yourself, just because the Mark Lee likes you,” the Chinese male scolded playfully, sharing a giggle with his best friend before taking a deep breath. “Jaemin.”

“Jaemin?” Donghyuck echoed with a raised eyebrow, watching as Renjun nodded once.

“Jeno.” Donghyuck could feel his eyebrow raising even more.

“Jeno?” he echoed once more, enjoying how Renjun’s cheeks darkened.

“Stop repeating me!” Renjun complained, voice high and whiny as he covered his face and leaned back against the mirror that came with his vanity table. “They’re just confusing! Especially Jaemin, Hyuck! He just never stops being clingy and asks about my day and Jeno always comes to me and asks if I’ve eaten-”

Donghyuck cut his best friend off with a bright laugh as Renjun scowled and picked up the nearest object – a feather scarf – and threw it in his face.

“Jun, it sounds like you like them,” he wheezed out as Renjun squeaked and covered Donghyuck’s mouth.

“That’s blasphemy,” Renjun said lowly, glaring at him as Donghyuck watched Renjun purposefully avoid his eyes.

“Renjun, what’s wrong?” he asked, pulling Renjun’s hands away from his mouth and sensing the other stiffen. “Let me in.”

“Is it even possible?” Renjun asked quietly and timidly, looking up at Donghyuck with so much hurt in his eyes. “I still like Soeun – she was so perfect for me, Hyuck…but Jeno and Jaemin…they’re perfect in different ways but…“

“They’re not perfect for you, not on their own…right?” Donghyuck guessed and took in a deep breath when Renjun nodded. “It seems like you’ve got your work cut out for you.”

“You don’t hate me? Isn’t this like…really selfish?” Renjun asked and suddenly, his hesitation to tell Donghyuck – despite how close they were – made sense. “You’re not going to defriend me?”

“Renjun, what makes you think you’ve pissed me off to the point where I’ll stop being your best friend?” he asked, giving Renjun a dead stare as the other shrugged. “I’m not going to hate you. You can do whatever you want, like whoever you want and be with whoever you want as long as you’re happy.”

“Do you think they’ll hate me? See me as a freak for liking both of them?” Renjun asked, voice loud since he was on the verge of tears and Donghyuck smiled softly, shaking his head and hugging Renjun tightly. “Like I know Jaemin’s decent and Jeno is really really open to these types of things but-”

“Why would they do that?” he asked more to himself than the other male just as there was another knock on the door, and it swung open to reveal a very wide-eyed Na Jaemin. “Jaemin?” he let out, surprised, and watched as Jaemin simply stared at Renjun who shyly diverted his eyes and hopped off the vanity table.

“I should get going anyway,” Renjun mumbled to him, smiling in farewell as he quickly shuffled out of the room and ran into the halls that would lead him to the exit of the building. Donghyuck watched on amused as Jaemin stared after the shorter male.

“How much did you hear?” he asked, gesturing for Jaemin to enter – a request that the younger obediently granted. Jaemin leaned against the same vanity table, in front of the place that Renjun had just been sitting on as Donghyuck collapsed back into his chair. He took a sip from the thermos that Renjun had given him in the morning – hot water mixed with lemon and honey soothing his throat.

“Not much,” Jaemin started, crossing his arms and looking at Donghyuck. “Did he mean it? About liking Jeno and I?” Donghyuck coughed and leaned back in his chair.

“That’s information I can’t disclose,” he informed the other who diverted his eyes to the ground in what Donghyuck assumed to be disappointment. “But I can make an exception if you answer a question of mine.” Donghyuck watched as Jaemin looked up at him in curiosity. “What’s your feelings towards him? Aren’t you still dating Yerim-noona?”

“That’s technically two questions,” Jaemin mumbled, running a hand through his hair and sighing as he furrowed his eyebrows and thought about his answers. “Yeri and I actually broke up just then. She kept trying to defend Koeun-noona, saying she was forced to transfer by all of us even though that’s not true. We were just trying to make sure Mark-hyung was okay but Yeri think we all had it planned out to get Koeun-noona to transfer.”

“She did that all on her own…” he let out, receiving a nod fr