Chapter Text
1.1
The faint yellow glow of the phone reflected off of the pale facial features of the boy hiding under the protection of his blanket. His eyes were wide and laced with sleep deprivation as the screen reflected in the dark brown orbs of his eyes. The sound of his nails tapping against the screen could be heard along with the slow breathing of his members sharing the room with him. Jeno was on a mission tonight. A mission to capture a cat- with fur tan and orange, capricious personality and fond of the Twisty Rail and Cat Metropolis and extremely difficult to capture. He wanted that damn photo in his cat album. Sure he had many other blank spaces to fill, but Peaches had visited him so many times- he even had the goddamn memento. But no Peaches. In his frustration, Jeno runs his tongue over his teeth and readjusts his grip on his phone. A slip of his grip on the phone caused him to accidentally press down on the volume bar, causing the volume of his phone to go up, the background music of Neko Atsume could be heard for a nano second as he hastily pushed the volume down again, holding his breath as he heard a deep sigh sound from around the room.
“Jeno-yah…” Mark hyung. Jeno immediately recognised the exasperated sigh and peaked out from behind his blankets to the elder. He was caught, and he would be in deep shit from his leader for being up this late when they had schedules all day. Mark’s dyed hair was disarray, light gray slightly over-sized shirt crinkled and exposing part of his collar bone; that was Mark’s style- he liked that “old-school American hip-hop swag” as he had put it, consisting of overly baggy clothing and basic designs and colours.
Jeno cleared his throat, locking and tucking his phone away under his pillow as he straightened up slightly, noticing that the others in the room had their eyes trained on him. On a usual day, he would have loved the attention on him, but today- at 1:49am, the attention through their tired glares was not ideal.
“...Yes hyung?”
“Go to sleep.”
“Yes hyung.”
Renjun scoffs from the bunk bed besides him to which Jeno turns around and the two share a look with one another before Jeno breaks out into a smile and pulls a face at him. Jeno was fond of the elder; the two had become closer over the past few months, to the point where he feared that Jaemin would be upset with him. But if anything, Jaemin found the whole thing hilarious, stating something about not being replaced. (“Jeno, please! Whatever the heck it is you’ve got with Renjun, I’m glad it’s not with me. Those looks - it’d just be weird!”)
“Oh, shut up.” Jeno grabs the edge of his blanket and brings it back up to his shoulder, sliding his phone back from under his pillow. With a smirk, he puts the volume on full blast before reopening the app, the music blaring throughout the room and a collective groan coming from all seven people in the one room.
“Jeno!”
“Sleeping! Sleeping! I’m sleeping!”
1.2
“Jeno.” The eldest of the ‘00 line called out. Their manager had left them alone at the dorm on their day off due to a meeting back at the company building and Renjun had been put in charge of cooking breakfast in their dorm, and to this day, he still curses Taeyong for being the organised one of the entire group and suggesting that he take up most of the morning responsibilities. Renjun was just barely a morning person- and he could barely make decisions on his own. The boy was a walking, talking, breathing, living embodiment of the word ‘indecisive’. And Renjun needed help from Jeno on deciding what to make for the first meal of the day. But said boy was too busy tapping away at his phone, endless swiping left and right.
“Sunny! You came back!” The younger had mumbled to himself.
“Jeno.” He tried again.
Silence. Swipe left.
“Lee Jeno.”
Swipe right.
“Jen-”
“TUBBS!”
“Jeno!” Renjun exclaimed at the top of his lungs. The other turned to look at him with questioning eyes.
“Jesus Christ, Renjun. Calm down will you?” Jeno had given a small shake of his head as he lowered the phone from his face a fraction of a centimeter. The elder eyed the phone and mentally calculated the chances of him being able to take the phone and delete whatever it was he was playing, and still be able to live until the next day. Would it ever leave his sight? The male narrowed his eyes in thought. He had a better chance at surviving a shark attack, than dealing with Jeno. Maybe if he threw it out the window-- he shook his head with a sigh.
“I’d calm down if you'd listen!” He huffed out, dumping the lot of bacon onto the counter. In the distance he could hear the others snickering amongst themselves in their room. “Jun hyung’s just jealous that the virtual cats get more attention than him--” “Jeno hyung does spend too much time on it though--” “Mm, more than necessary.”
“That's it!” The boy yelled. “All of you are starving!”
“Okay, nope. That's not an option.” The eldest, Mark, had voiced and appeared from behind the door. It was past 8am and Mark was starving
“Jeno, get up and help.” He nodded toward the younger in the kitchen.
“If he had just asked nicely…” Jeno mumbled, to which he received both a nicely pitched tea towel and pillow from respective directions to the head.
Jeno entered the kitchen, sulking, as Renjun narrowed his eyes at him.
“I'm making omelette, so dice these.” Renjun had pushed a load of ingredients toward the other, turning back around to prepare the stove.
“Yes, che-”
“Now.”
“Yes, sir.” Jeno had mumbled quietly and got to dicing the onions and bacon, the soft sound of the knife hitting the chopping board filling the kitchen. Thud. Thud. Thud. Renjun turned around to eye the younger boy, arms crossed and lips pursed into a thin line.This boy would definitely be the end of him.
“I want my omelette cooked nicely!” Donghyuck yelled from the doorway of their makeshift entertainment room, probably playing video games. “Don't let your bitterness seep into my egg!”
“Aish, this kid--” Jeno mumbled, eyes forming their trademark smile despite him feigning annoyance, picking up an egg and pretending to throw it in his direction. Renjun snickered to himself. Renjun knew the younger wasn't really mad, just humouring their Haechan and his playful antics. At the sound of Renjun’s soft laughter, Jeno looks up, eye smile and all. Renjun immediately furrows his brows at him, lips forming a frown.
“Don't think you're forgiven!” The elder says with a pout etched onto his lips.
“Forgiven from what, Renjun?” The younger countered.
“For ignoring me so much--” He started before shaking his head and trying again, “you're spending too much time on your phone, it's disturbing all of us!”
Jeno rolled his eyes, a smile curling on his lips as he chuckles. “That's ridiculous. I’d never!” He replied, sliding over the now chopped up ingredients.
“Oh, but you have been!” Renjun said defiantly, taking the chopped ingredients and mixing them together with the eggs. “I don’t even know what game has you so hooked-” He glances up from his bowl, halting his actions in disbelief as he watches the other furiously tap away at his phone. Renjun felt the annoyance bubbling to the surface again as he watched him.
“Jen-”
“Renjun, look! I got Peaches!” Jeno said with a smile so genuine, so pure, Renjun was positive that an angel cried at the sight of such a pure and innocent image. How does one stay pissed at Lee Jeno when he’s the embodiment of the word ‘joy’. With a smile, Renjun stepped forward to look at the screen- “Oh.” was the first thing that left his mouth as he eyed over the cute illustrations. “She has a heart on her butt.” was the second.
Jeno nods his head excitedly. “Isn’t she cute?!”
Renjun moves his eyes from the screen, unaware of the grin curling its way onto his lips as he nods his head in agreement. “Super! What’s this game?”
“Only the greatest game of all time!” Jeno starts. Renjun rolls his eyes- how many times have those words left Jeno’s mouth these past few months? “It’s Neko Atsume…”
Renjun nods his head as he listens to the other babble on and on about mementos, picture albums and gold fish--? Nothing makes sense to him, but he doesn’t say anything as he finishes off cooking the breakfast for the rest of the group; each time he looks up Jeno’s eyes are curved up in their signature smile, and his pearly whites are visible as he smiles and chatters away excitedly about the darn cat game. He’s positive that each time he looks up, something uncomfortable tugs at his chest, but he pays no attention to it, dismissing it as stress from his-- member.
This game doesn’t sound too bad after all. Renjun thinks to himself as they’re all sitting around the table, the others joining in on the chatter about the game, apparently also being addicted to it themselves.
1.3
The faint yellow glow of the phone reflected off of the pale facial features of the boy hiding under the protection of his blanket. His eyes were wide and laced with sleep deprivation as the screen reflected in the dark brown orbs of his eyes. The sound of his nails tapping against the screen could be heard along with the slow breathing of his members sharing the room with him.
“Peaches!” Renjun whispers excitedly. He drops his phone slightly to turn it around, screen facing the other boy sharing the bed with him. Jeno looks up from his own screen and grins at the familiar sight.
“Good job, Renjun!” He whispers back. Renjun feels the familiar tug at the sight of the smile- must be the excitement. “Have you gotten Fros--”
“I swear on all the gods, angels and saints, if you two don’t shut the hell up--” Mark grumbles from his bunk.
“Sleeping, sleeping!” Jeno calls out.
“We’re sleeping.” Renjun finishes, smiling cheekily as the two of them lift their phones up to start playing again. Renjun's eyes light up with mischief and Jeno glances at him over the tip of his phone with a smirk as the other puts the volume on full blast, the obnoxious back ground music of the game blaring around the dark room as Renjun calls out.
“Sunny!”
“That's it--!”