“It isn’t gay to kiss your homies,” Jaemin argued as he fastened his pace, pushing one of the double doors open. Once outside, he took a deep breath of fresh air for the first time in hours, his lungs sick of the musty air inside their ancient school building. 

“Right,” Donghyuck offered as the two of them started heading out to the fields they usually held their outdoor gym classes on, not believing a word his friend had just said.

Giving smooches and soft forehead kisses to your friends? Screamed gay to him.

“It wasn't even on the lips. And besides, Jeno and Renjun are like family to me. Why would I care about what other people think of it as long as they’re both fine with it?”

“Sure, sure. Go off, king. Preach. Just promise to repeat those same exact words back to me when you come out as a flaming homoual.”

Jaemin looked unimpressed, already used to the ‘gay until proven wrong’ mentality his friend got going on.

Donghyuck sighed, “Look, you can be one dense er all you want, but you have literal heart eyes whenever you talk about them. Don’t even try to deny you all aren’t a tad too close to be called 'just friends'.”

“I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," Jaemin argued. "Oh, and speaking of them…” His eyes scanned through the sea of students slowly trudging outside. “The moment I spot them, I’m leaving your dusty behind.”

“Like I wanted your company anyway,” Donghyuck grumbled back. He'd much rather be home playing video games, but no, Jaemin just had to drag him out there with him.

Jaemin mocked him by mimicking his words back to him in a strange voice while making a face before straightening his back, eyes focusing back on the crowd. Donghyuck swore he could see the outline of a tail wagging back and forth behind his back the moment he spotted who he was looking for. He barely held in his snicker. 

Whipped.

“Oop, I see them now. Finally." Then, turning to him, grinning, "Adios, er.”

Donghyuck pushed him forward, making him stumble on his feet. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. And don’t come back before you’ve kissed them goodnight!”

“Blah, blah, blah, can’t hear a thing you say!” Jaemin shouted with his back turned and his hands thrown over his ears, already walking away from him.

“That er.” Donghyuck shook his head and decided to just head back home. He wasn’t going to spend even a second longer inside the school grounds if he wasn’t forced to – not even when the temptation of proving Jaemin wrong was making his fingers itch. 

“Jaemin!” Renjun called out happily, a wide smile on his face once he saw him approaching.

“Hi, Junnie.”

“How’s Donghyuck?” Jeno asked, a knowing smile on his face.

Jaemin groaned, “He’s gone mad for sure. I think at least. Oh well, either this or that, he’s definitely lost his mind. I don’t think you can even reason with him anymore."

“Yeah, that sounds like him,” Jeno agreed, and they both shared a chuckle.

Renjun just smiled along, not having much to add. He didn’t really know Donghyuck that well, but he didn’t mind listening to the silly anecdotes Jaemin shared with them, opting to just stay silent like always when it came to the topic of other friends. Of which he had none. 

"Jeno!"

Confused, all three of them turned around at the same time, watching as one of their female classmates ran over, her freshly dyed pink hair bouncing with every step. Well, okay, that would be an exaggeration; Kim Yerim would never demean herself for a sprint. Some kind of a ‘self-respect’ thing or whatever made-up crap she always tried to pull when arguing against the laps in P.E.

Jeno smiled at her, “Hi. What’s up?”

“Nothing much. Just wanted to come and wish you good luck with your practice today.”

“Right," he drawled. "Sure. Thanks. But I know you're coming just to ogle at the cheerleaders again.”

Yerim shoved his shoulder, huffing. “I wouldn’t dare! I swear, if I get caught one more time because I keep coming and not paying any attention to the game…" She shivered. "Last time the coach asked me what I thought about his new winning strategy because I kept showing up to your practice sessions, and all I could think of was how much smoother the girls have gotten with their routine.”

Jeno laughed at that, eyes crinkling in delight. It was about time someone called her out for stalking the cheer practices! Too busy teasing her about it, he didn't notice the two pairs of eyes by his side, quietly sharing knowing looks as they watched them interact.

But, as seemed to be a habit by now, Yerim never stuck around for too long. Her restlessness to socialize with as many people as possible during the day made her keep things short, and soon she was giving them all a cheery bye before threading through the people and disappearing into the masses.

Once he was certain she was out of hearing range, Jeno turned to his friends, sighing. “You could at least say hi to her and avoid being so rude, you know? I know you aren't exactly friends with her, but you could at least play nice.”

Renjun and Jaemin held back grimaces, wondering how they could get themselves out of this so that they wouldn’t have to admit to ‘We just wanted to give you two some space.’ Jaemin cleared his throat first, offering a small sorry, and Renjun echoed it quietly, looking down at his feet.

Jeno took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down a little despite his obvious disappointment. “Just… Just don’t ignore her every time she comes over, okay? Just say hi and bye, and that’s already good enough. I know she probably isn’t that bothered by it, but it’s important to me. So please." 

He'd reasoned asking his best friends to be polite enough to greet his other friends when they came over wouldn’t be too much to ask. Because that was it, that was literally all he was asking from them. He didn't even understand why it was such an issue in the first place.

"Okay," they both promised in a heartbeat because there wasn't much else to say. It was hard to believe how oblivious Jeno could really be; They honestly didn't mind his friends as much as he thought they did.

Honestly, they often felt like they were interrupting something. Jeno didn't seem to even realize how enthusiastic he always got to talk to Yerim, and she always responded with the same exact energy, smiling back just as wide. They just didn't want to bother them in those moments.

“It’s fine.” Jeno was always quick at getting rid of the annoyance he felt anyway. “I just don’t get why you're not friends with her yet. She's really nice and I'm sure you'd like her if you just tried to talk with her more."

Jaemin made a face, "Donghyuck's already too much to handle. I think befriending one more hyperactive social butterfly will finally make me lose it."

Renjun chuckled but once Jeno's eyes stopped on him, he shied away a bit. "We just don't have that much in common? And I'm happy with how things are now. With you two," he added to clarify. He really didn't feel the need to make any more friends.

"That's okay, I can respect that," Jeno assured, making sure not to pressure him into anything he wasn't comfortable with. "Just remember to be nice to my friends, okay?"

"Yeah..." Restless with the attention on him, feeling caught off-guard, Renjun shifted on his feet. “Anyway, I... I need to go to the school office. I've put off this... one thing I needed to do for so long now, and I might get in trouble if I don't go today. See you later at Jeno's?"

“Oh, yeah, sure,” Jaemin replied a little surprised. Usually Renjun talked these things through with them first for practice to get rid of some of the anxiety he tended to struggle with, but he must've forgotten. "Want me to come with you?"

"Oh, no, it's fine. It's... Thanks. But it's fine. I'll come around later." With that, Renjun gave them a small smile and turned around on his heels, leaving them behind.

Jeno turned to Jaemin with a questioning look. Jaemin shrugged.

“You coming with me then?”

“Yeah.”

“I want to go swimming,” Renjun announced with a dejected sigh as he on the cola-flavored lollipop he’d stolen from Jeno's stash - his favorite.

Once they'd all finished their homework, they'd gotten bored, camping inside Jeno's room to battle against the unexpected heatwave outside.

Jeno hummed and threw the ball against the wall, catching it with his hands, and then repeated the action.

Jaemin, who was flipping through the teenage gossip magazines he’d checked out from the library, didn’t pay much attention, too busy finding and filling in all the quizzes.

According to few, Renjun was apparently a mango, Jeno a watermelon, and Jaemin a strawberry (which almost made him burn the whole magazine, till his friends stopped him).

“I don’t think many places are open right now.”

“Yeah, but I’m bored.”

“Why swimming?” Jeno asked as he caught the ball and threw it again. “You don’t even like swimming.”

“I do,” Renjun argued. “Well, a bit? You know, it’s nice, but I don’t want to do it too often.”

“Did you ever even learn how to swim? I don’t remember seeing you without that huge yellow inflatable swimming ring with you.”

“I- I know how to swim,” Renjun insisted with pink dusted cheeks. He did know how to swim, he just… “Fine, I just want to go float in the water. Is that so bad?”

Jaemin woke up from his focused stupor as if summoned, always ready to make his friends suffer, “And how bad do you want it?”

Jeno cut his teasing short though, catching the ball one last time before putting it down on his lap. “I wouldn’t mind going for a swim. Should we hit the pool, or should we try our luck with the forest lake?”

Renjun didn't understand why that was even a question - they all knew the jerks from school always hogged the majority of the lake's surroundings, and none of them wanted to deal with that. Especially Renjun.

“The pool has hot showers and a nice, relaxing hot tub for your muscles,” he suggested, aiming to sound nonchalant about it, hiding his slightly trembling hand under the sheets. He really, really didn't want to go to the lake.

Jaemin burst out into laughter as Jeno’s face heated up at the comment.

It made Renjun grin, feeling so much more confident now. “So, how about it, muscle boy? Pool sounds good?”

“Y-Yeah. Pool’s... pool's great.”

“Jaemin?”

“It’s no hot springs, but hey,” Jaemin started, still struggling to stiffle down his laughter. “Who am I to deny Mr. Muscle his hot, relaxing showers?”

Jeno threw a pillow at his face.

It was a few hours later that they finally arrived at the public swimming pool on the opposite side of the town. It was where the more decent, less crowded pool compared to the one near their houses was.

The other nightmare-ish place was always infested with kids running around wild and unsupervised, turning to a danger to everyone including themselves.

So they rather took the sacrifice, suffering through two hours in an awful death trap of a bus with no working air conditioner just to finally reach their destination, more than ready to just head straight inside and jump right into the cold water pool that would effectively cool them down. 

Well, at least Jaemin and Renjun were. Jeno had always been less bothered by the heat, rarely sweating if it wasn't about doing sports seriously. Jaemin had always been annoyed by that because while he was suffering, swimming in his own sweat, Jeno managed to look so ridiculously perfect and collected no matter how hot it was.

He groaned, side-eyeing his friend. “Are you sure you should even be swimming? Didn’t the coach tell you to take it easy for now?”

Jeno shrugged, “It’ll be a good way to loosen up my muscles. My shoulders feel a bit tense.” Jaemin's eyes followed his toned arms that struggled to rub on the sore spots on his back. Then he looked away, clearing his throat.

“Mhm, if you say so. Be careful though. I sure wouldn't want to feel his wrath.”

“He's kind of scary,” Renjun agreed as he nibbled on a cracker to fight off the nausea, feeling like he was melting into a puddle of goo.

They all cringed thinking about the coach's face twisted in anger as he spat out obscenities, spit flying all over their faces as he raged on and on about their star player getting hurt.

“He is,” Jeno admitted easily. Even if he was close to the man, he wouldn't survive being put in his bad books. “Which is exactly why I’m going to be careful, but still enjoy myself. He’s not qualified enough to suddenly become my personal life coach.”

Jaemin snorted. Jeno had always been the type of guy to quote like ‘don’t live a life, enjoy it’, and it was just as ridiculous each time. He supposed his friend just liked to take things in a more relaxed manner — another thing to feel jealous about alongside his inhumane sweat resistance abilities.

But his brewing stormy thoughts were halted when the three of them stopped, noticing the yellow A4 paper stuck on the door of the place they'd come all the way there for. Frowning, Renjun took a step forward to read it, huffing as his eyes moved along the lines.

“It’s closed.”

“What? No way.”

“Yes way. There, read for yourself.”

“Oh. Well. I guess that was a total bust.”

Jeno frowned, “What are we supposed to do now? We came all the way here, and now they’re just... closed?”

“All this way for nothing.” Renjun sighed, “Couldn’t even update their website to say they're not open. s.”

“Seriously, what a load of bull,” Jaemin complained, crossing his arms.

"Right?"

"Okay, so, what now? What do we want to do now?"

"I don't know..."

"Me neither..."

They all fell silent, deep into their thoughts as they just stared at the empty, deserted building. They'd come such a long way there, so it would be a waste to just turn back home like that. Especially when they didn't even know when the next bus back would leave and how long it would take till they finally got home.

Suddenly Renjun perked up, coming up with an idea. He looked up at his friends, beaming, “Anyone want to go grab some ice cream?"