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Renjun huffed out a frustrated sigh when his head got caught in the pastel yellow jumper he tried to drag over his head, but breathed in gently once he managed to find the escape route and faced the mirror yet again. There he was; a little pink-cheeked and somewhat not prepared for the day...but such was life. He needed to get on with it.
A firm two knocks on his front door had him stumbling out of his bedroom and towards the exit, pulling it open without so much as hesitation before finding the other six waiting in the halls. Mark, as usual, was in front of them all with his arms folded and expression soft.
"I'm getting flashbacks," Renjun chuckled a little awkwardly, "Remember when you used to do this...back when I wanted to move out?"
"Junnie, you're all cute today," Jaemin grinned from behind his boyfriend and placed a steady hand on the ravenette's broad shoulder. "Going somewhere?"
"Maybe..." Well, he couldn't very well just blurt out that he had a date-he-didn't-consider-a-date with YangYang soon and he had to be ready in ten minutes.
"Well, can it be postponed?" Mark enquired with a slight tilt of his head. "I have something important I need to speak to all of you about. It's pretty urgent."
"But like," the younger swallowed thickly before shifting his weight from one leg to the other and resting an arm against the door frame, "how urgent? I made these plans yesterday and it'd be so awkward to go back on my promise..."
"Who's this promise f—" Chenle furrowed his brows before rolling his eyes altogether and drew a section of faded purple hair away from his forehead. "Right. Well, we can't interrupt your date can we? We'll tell you how this chat goes."
"It's not a date!" Renjun pleaded. "It's a hangout, okay? Stop jumping to conclusions..."
"Yes, that's exactly what we're doing," Jeno smiled sarcastically, even though his eyes still crinkled cutely at the corners like it was genuine. "Sorry to stress you out. Will we see you tonight? To relay this discussion?"
"I...I don't know. Hopefully. I mean, it's just dinner."
And with that, they bid somewhat tetchy goodbyes like the jealous fools they were. To look at the seven of them, it wouldn't have even been immediately obvious who wasn't part of the relationship. They all acted as entitled as each other.
Renjun had returned to his bedroom's floor-length mirror and finished getting ready. The jumper and flared jeans looked fine, but not too fine to suggest he had put an abundance of effort into this. He cared about the boy's feelings and he didn't want to rush into anything too fast. For all his neighbours were tugging at his sleeves and begging for something more, he couldn't do it. He couldn't handle having six men in his life indefinitely and he didn't want to stress his mother out any more than she probably already was.
I should have a drama written about me, he thought, stalking out of his abode with a jacket covering his figure and a tote bag hanging off his shoulder, that way, people can laugh and cry just like I want to.
The evening wasn't bitter or overly forecast, although the grey clouds weren't exactly promising. The threat of rain was in the air, but at the same time it could've disappeared just as ominously. The blonde-ravenette kept a brisk pace as he strolled down the walkway, crossing at lights and wondering where the others had all disappeared to. Were they sitting in a restaurant as well? Eating and retelling stories they'd all lived through together? Having a discussion they had wished to add him to? Renjun was starting to grow agitated at the thought.
Before he'd computed with his own actions, a waiter standing by a table stacked with menus was snapping him from his thoughts. "Sir?" The shorter boy blinked in confusion, wondering how he'd even made his way here without having his thoughts aligned.
"Uh, yes. Sorry, I'm with Liu YangYang?"
"Of course," he nodded curtly and politely ignored the hectic expression the other was wearing as he dragged a capped pen down a list of names. "Ah, he's already waiting for you. Right this way."
"Thanks."
•
"So what's this about?" Donghyuck yawned unceremoniously with his arms spread across the booth's backrest. "I would guess one of us was pregnant if it was at all possible."
"It does feel like that kind of talk, actually," Chenle admitted as well. "But more to the point, I feel like Jeno knows what's up as well. He's not said a word the entire way here."
The six were sitting three facing three in a nice booth stationed in the back corner of a relaxed restaurant downtown. Mark was stirring his cup of coke with the straw and watching the ice drift, face quite unreadable. "I wish the news was as good as getting pregnant. Unfortunately, it's kind of bleak."
"Oh?"
"I already told Jeno because I figured a while ago he could help me come up with a plan, and he has. To be perfectly honest, guys, we have to move away again."
The table went silent once more as they watched him flick that damned straw around the glass. Jisung sank into the red faux leather uncomfortably and started to stare anxiously past them and towards one of the waiting staff checking on other tables. "We're...moving?"
"Ah, this would be your second move, would it?" Jeno hummed with way too much happiness in his voice to be genuine. He, as much as the others, was hoping time would magically stop just for them to gather their bearings and figure something out for that one issue they hadn't resolved in all the time they'd been dealing with it.
Renjun had not yet accepted them.
"I can't even remember..." Jisung whispered bitterly.
"Hang on, hang on," Jaemin raised his hand and immediately dropped it down to point at Mark, "Have your fans worked out where you live?"
"No."
"You?" He turned to Jeno with an almost comically quirked brow.
"Nope..."
"Then why are we rushing here? Give us a hot minute, we need to get Renjun."
"Taeyong is opening the first and second floors regardless of whether we're ready or not in the coming month or two. The fourth and fifth will soon come after, and we won't have the third to ourselves any longer," the eldest tried to reason. "As much as we want him to come with us, that room is his fair and square. I may have selfishly told Taeyong to let him stay because of that cute face of his, but he's entitled to live here for as long as he wants. We will ask him the question," he dipped his head a little, leaving a small quiet for them to think about that very question before continuing, "but if he doesn't agree, there's nothing we can do. Don't forget he's got his own opinions and feelings."
"I..." Jisung murmured extremely quietly while massaging his face in despair, "I can't believe it's that time already. He made the past few months feel like weeks."
"I don't know what I'll do if he says 'no'..." Hyuck breathed airily. "He's it for us, isn't he? Just right."
"Whatever happens, we're still together," Jeno reminded them calmly and collectedly. "We've seen heartbreaks together, we've argued and made up hundreds of times and we will ask him together. We've got a future no matter what his response is."
"A future without him would suck though," Chenle pursed his lips, maybe on the verge of tears but it wasn't obvious and it disappeared as quickly as it came. "I'll smack him if he rejects."
"No you won't," Mark smiled faintly and sat back to fix his posture. "We care too much. So now you all know, we can plan it all together. Jen and I have a cottage a small while away in mind, but you're all more than welcome to house hunt and look around yourselves."
"Damn..." Jisung groaned.
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how is this story reaching an end? 🥲
it's always felt like it never would somehow...