three is the perfect number || jaenoren (norenmin)

six

"What was that sound just now?" Mr Huang blinked at the two blurry figures at the door. 

Renjun pointed at Jeno, "He walked into the door." 

Mr Huang nodded, disappointed but not surprised, and stood up. "I suppose dinner's nearly ready?" he said in Korean, for Jeno's sake. Renjun nodded. "Right then, tell your mother I'll be down in five."

Jeno and Renjun went back down and helped set up for dinner, and as they were about to sit down, Mr Huang came into the dining room yawning. Mrs Huang hit the back of his head jokingly, "How much sleep do you need?" 

"Sorry, dear. It's just so hard being this productive." That earned him another hit on the head. 

=

After a delicious and filling dinner, Jeno and Renjun sat talking in Renjun's room. 

Renjun was lying face down on his bed, while Jeno half watched him, half scrolled through Instagram. 

"Jeno," came a muffled call, which Jeno pretended to ignore. 

"Jeno, I feel like you're annoyed with me sometimes, y'know." Jeno could barely understand Renjun at this point, but he put down his phone and listened to Renjun's philosophising. "Because sometimes you look at me like that one emoji with really big sad eyes that's about to cry. Or, like, Moomin when Snufkin isn't in the valley."

Jeno reddened but grinned, finding Renjun's metaphor amusing. "Aren't Moomin and Snufkin a thing now? It's canon." 

Renjun laughed, then sat up to poke Jeno. "Then that makes me Snufkin."

Jeno heart was reacting ridiculously. They were talking about Moomin. "Moomin and Snufkin have been best friends since forever, though." 

Renjun stood up, stretching. "Who says you can't date your best friend?"

Jeno was speechless. Renjun wobbled across the room to grab some water, then spun on his heels, almost dropping the glass. "You wanna go watch something? And eat my dad's secret nachos?"

Jeno gladly accepted the subject change, his heart cartwheeling around his whole body. "Your dad has secret nachos?"

They received permission to use the living room to watch anything they wanted until 1 AM. Jeno suspected they'd be there until a long time afterwards, though. 

≠

Around an hour and a half later, Jeno was sniffling ceaselessly, his head resting on Renjun's lap, while Renjun patted his shoulder sympathetically and popped two pieces of popcorn into his mouth. Jeno had basically deflated like a helium balloon since the start of the movie. "Why's it so sad?" he slurred, "I's not even meant to be sad. It's — it's Disney." 

Renjun shrugged and paused the movie, so he wouldn't miss anything, "I don't know, you tell me. It's literally just Monster's University. Plus, we've watched this movie multiple times and you have complained about it's heart-breakingness every time." 

Jeno punched his arm, "You're just mean! This movie should be rated 27+. It puts you through the motions. It's a rollercoaster." 

Renjun looked down at him bemusedly. "It's not my fault the only fictional characters I can get attached to all live in Moominvalley." 

Jeno was about to argue, Renjun could feel it, so he just threw some popcorn in Jeno's face and waited for him to get distracted by the screen again. Renjun continued to periodically throw popcorn in the general direction of Jeno's face, grinning to himself every time he heard the tell-tale munch of a lucky throw. 

As the movie ended, Renjun heard Jeno's phone buzz with a notification. Before he turned to see if it was a text from the other's mother or anything, he dropped a piece of popcorn into Jeno's mouth, watching amusedly as he chewed it forlornly and swallowed it, looking absolutely exhausted, even though it was only midnight. This was why Renjun got so annoyed when Jeno said he was a loser, or that he hadnt changed looks-wise since he was eleven. When would he realise that he was... 

Renjun pinked slightly, the places where Jeno was touching his skin searing for a moment. No, no, no, bad friend.

He twisted, focusing on finding Jeno's phone and checking the notification for him, trying not to disturb Jeno, who was nodding off by the second. 

—

Gmail:

 Basketball Coach, Bae Daeshim: If you have received this email, congratulations! You have been accepted... read more

—

Renjun's eyebrows flew up to his hairline and he looked across at Jeno, then at the credits rolling out on the television. Jeno was breathing softly in tandem with the music. Renjun looked back at the dimming screen of the phone, sure of what the email was about. He grinned hard, and as much as he wanted to let Jeno know of the good news, it could very well wait until the morning. He leaned back, plucked Jeno's glasses off his face and threw a blanket over both of them, his heart aching with pride, and something else. 

Something more. 

***

i love this chapter man its so domestic and cute