HIKE

17 | the kiss of life

"fire!" jeno yelped as the dry wood burst into flames at long last.

they'd been sitting around in soaking clothes for a good half an hour now waiting for jeno to make the fire, and it was already approaching evening.

"good," donghyuck muttered, his attention still focused on jaemin, "get everything dry - including renjun..."

"renny, come here," said jeno, ushering renjun over with one hand. renjun shuffled closer to the fire, tugging the hypothermia blanket snugly around his shoulders.

with worried eyes, jeno pressed a hand against renjun's forehead, brushing the damp brown hair out of the way. "you're freezing, ren!" he exclaimed, "we've gotta warm you up..."

wordlessly, renjun took jeno's hand in his and pulled it away from his face. he crossed his legs and huddled closer to the fire still, but pushed jeno's concern away.

he couldn't stop thinking about what he'd said earlier.

why wasn't jeno saying anything? didn't he care? wouldn't he treat him differently now that he knew? question upon question flooded renjun's mind. even after such an abrupt confession, jeno was still the same, still gentle, still caring - at least with him.

it didn't make any sense in renjun's mind.

"ren, when you're warm can you get out one of the stoves and put some ramen on to boil?" donghyuck asked. he had somehow turned into a motherly figure, calmly instructing the others on what to do.

renjun nodded and immediately began to get up, going back over to the bags. but a hand caught his, stopping him from running away.

"you're still cold, renny," said jeno, "i'll get the stuff. sit down."

"but i-!"

"sit down," jeno said again, and suddenly the 'lee jeno dominant voice' had returned.

"fine," renjun mumbled, and obligingly plopped himself down by the fire again.

jeno rustled through the bags and eventually came back with a cooking stove, a bottle of water, and a packet of ramen. he sat down next to renjun, awkwardly folded his legs, and stared at the stove, confused.

renjun sighed and waved his hand to urge jeno closer. "let me to it," he said, and expertly got to work setting the stove up.

jeno watched renjun's hands open the stove up and pour cooking meth inside, lighting it with a match. his eyes drifted up to the chinese boy's face then instead of watching him pour the water into the pan to boil. renjun's eyes were pretty and distracting, and the way he bit down on that plush lower lip of his made a heart feel all kinds of things it shouldn't--

"jeno?" donghyuck interrupted jeno's thoughts, bringing him back to reality.

"huh?"

"can you pass me some water? i think jaemin might be coming round," donghyuck said, still acting all maternal and nurse-like.

jeno tore his eyes away and reached into another bag for a second bottle of water. he got up and went over to jaemin and donghyuck, and handed the water over to self-appointed nurse lee.

"why'd you think he fainted?" jeno asked quietly, kneeling at jaemin's side.

"probably just putting too much strain on himself," donghyuck observed. "did he eat any breakfast this morning?"

"uh..." jeno thought back to that morning at the campsite, with the smell of hot porridge and renjun sitting on his lap. jeno cleared his throat. "i don't know," he told donghyuck, "we packed up pretty quickly so maybe he didn't."