three is the perfect number || jaenoren (norenmin)

huit

Renjun considered this. They hadn't gone last year, and the year before that they'd both been foruteen, so there hadn't really been any issue of looking like a couple. Renjun bit his lip uncharacteristically, glancing sideways. Well, he was gay anyway? And anyone who'd recognise them would also know that he and Jeno were always together. "Huh. Well, I don't mind looking like a couple," grinned Renjun, turning only to see Jeno looking a bit red. "Jeno? You good there?"

He ignored the strange flush that spread over his chest from, though thankfully it didn't reach his face. It was a strange thing to say out loud. 

Jeno smiled, looking anywhere but at Renjun, his glasses glinting under the white-orange lighting of the hallway. "Yeah, no, I'm fine. I gotta go to basketball practice so see you later," he rushed, grinning loosely and hurrying off down the hall. Renjun looked after him in confusion, more than a bit confused, and perhaps disappointed.

"That's weird and suspicious," slurred Jisung around his straw.

"No, no," disagreed Chenle, already turning away. "It's perfectly normal, I think."

=

"How long until midnight?" 

"Fifteen minutes, so why are we walking? There's a bus going there! Everyone will already be inside!" Renjun spurred. Jeno put his phone back in his pocket and glared at Renjun impassively. Renjun just glared right back.

"Because we're healthy and we're going to have consumed at least three pounds of cotton candy each come dawn. I'm doing this for us, Renjun." He looked back down the road and focused on which way they were going past the circular intersection. People were starting to come into view around them, all hurrying in the same direction. Already, they could hear faint hollering and whooping from a distance. They turned the corner and Jeno tripped on a twig and nearly went sprawling into oncoming traffic. Renjun pulled him back and they both hurried on, focused on their goal. 

The dim, ecstatic roar gradually increased in volume as they approached the common, and the two slowly grew more and more excited until they were practically jogging towards the din. They gave in the entry fee and flashed their student IDs. 

Renjun devoured the sight, his chest filling with warmth and his mind with memories. They always put the stands in the same place — right there was when Jeno had cried because Renjun hadn't been able to win him a goldfish — and there, right in front of them, glowing bright purple, was the American hot dog stand that Jeno would kill for, and next to it the slushies that melted so fast that they always sloshed over the side and made your hands sticky as you rushed to finish them. Flashing lights and the aroma of drinks and snacks. the rise and fall of rollercoasters and rides in tandem with hysterical screams. 

"They're messing," breathed jeno. "I always can't believe it takes them only one week.."

"This is the best one yet," stated Renjun decidedly. 

Jeno cast him a sideways glance. "You say that every year, Jun."

"Let's just go, you living raincloud." Renjun grabbed Jeno's hand and followed pulled him over to the nearest ice cream stand. Behind him, he could hear Jeno muttering about how him being a raincloud wasn't even a funny joke and biologically impossible, and he felt the sudden urge to hug him and smack him at the same time.

The line was almost deliriously long yet since the fair had begun just a couple of minutes prior, but the vendors were famous for their speed. They grabbed the chocolatey waffled, scoops of vanilla ice cream dumped on top with far too many sprinkled, and bolted to the nearest bench. There they devoured the waffles and discussed what the hell they were going to do when they probably threw them up later.