Jeno watched, munching on his popcorn as the two boys argued. They had interrupted his drama, sure, but he was still getting great use of his popcorn. "He should definitely come! It's good to let loose!"

Oh yeah, and they were arguing about him. Making it ten times better. "It's a party at a fraternity house!"

"Lucas will be there!"

"That doesn't make me feel any better!"

"Donghyuck too!"

"Once again, not better!" Renjun said, frowning at Jaemin.

"Please, what's the worst that will happen?"

"He's kidnapped, raped, and left on the side of the road for dead! My son could die!"

"I'm not your son," Jeno interjected, and they both looked at him. "Sorry, continue please."

"That's never happened before!"

"He could be the first!"

"He won't!"

"Actually, I have a math pretest tomorrow to assess knowledge," Jeno said softly, and Jaemin looked at him in disbelief.

"See! He can't flunk! He's top of the class!"

"He'd get his stress out!"

"My son will die a virgin and that's final!" Jeno choked on his popcorn, looking at Renjun with wide eyes. Jaemin snickered, and Jeno's face turned pink.

"I'll go!" Jeno said, giving Jaemin a deadly glare. He just knew he'd be teased about it later if he didn't agree. "I'll go to the party." Jaemin cheered, and Renjun groaned.

"I'll go too I guess."

"Time to go shopping!"

"I'm broke!" Renjun whined, and Jaemin chuckled.

"I'll buy your clothes, just come on!" Renjun groaned, but dragged himself after the energetic boy. Jeno followed, brushing off his oversized sweatshirt with his sweater paws and waddling after them, grabbing Renjun's hand almost as a reflex. They'd been friends since the beginning of college, hitting it off immediately.

Jeno and Jaemin had been friends for much longer, all the way since Jaemin stuck a glue dot on the girl annoying Jeno's hair in third grade. They'd been there through everything, even when Jeno changed and Jaemin didn't.

"I think this looks good."

"Why would he wear a harness?" Renjun asked, making Jeno blink. "He's not a dog!"

"I'm not wearing a harness," Jeno said, still nibbling on his popcorn.

"Damn that worker's cute," Jaemin said, trailing off to go pester the poor worker, who  looked terrified at the simple sight of a boy with a determined glint in his eyes coming towards him.

"Anyways," Jeno said, looking the racks and finding exactly what he was looking for. Tight leather pants and a white crop top made of netting, which he would pair with a pair of combat boots he had to dig out of his closet.

"Damn." Renjun managed, blinking. "Suddenly I'm gay for you."

"You have a boyfriend," Jeno responded, taking off the clothes and slipping back into his warm sweatshirt.

"Yes, I know. But I'm still gay," Renjun chose his outfit quickly before grabbing an outfit for Jaemin, knowing he'd be busy annoying the worker, and followed Jeno to the accessory table, where they found suitable accessories and dumped it all on Jaemin. "Sorry about him," Renjun said to the worker, who blinked.

"Oh it's okay, kind of, I guess. Is he paying?"

"Yes," Jeno and Renjun said together, making Jaemin whine.

"You know," Jaemin said casually as the boy was ringing up the items. "I'd ask for the price of your number, but that's priceless."

"Actually it will cost you fifty dollars extra, enough for me to file a restraining order." The boy responded, and Jeno stifled a laugh.

"I like this one." Renjun declared. "Thanks Jisung." With that, they grabbed their bags and left, Jaemin trailing like a kicked puppy.

"How's you know his name?" Jaemin whined, and Renjun gave him the most deadpan look.

"He had on a name tag you dumbass."

"Oh. This means I can find him!" Jaemin whipped out his phone and began looking through Instagram, making Jeno sigh. His best friend could be downright creepy sometimes.

They got back to the dorm just as Jaemin found who he was looking for, letting out a squeal of joy. "Wait, Renjun, you follow him."

Renjun looked at Jaemin's phone then shrugged. "Yeah, he's Chenle's internet friend."

"You could've told me!" Jaemin shrieked, and Renjun cackled. 

"Why should I?" Jeno just shook his head and unlocked their door, knowing the bickering would continue no matter what. This is what he got for being the bridge between two forces, one fire and the other water.

Actually, they were both spawns of Satan so they were both fire. And Jeno was the poor fire hydrant tooting along in case they decided to light the world on fire. Which he may or may not stop, depending on the day.

Really, Jeno thought as he flopped onto the couch, his friends couldn't be more different from him. Renjun, though he dressed like he was about to go to Sunday School every day, would not hesitate to sock someone in the throat or blackmail them. Jaemin dressed solely in the colour black, like his coffee, but his personality was the upgraded version of Regina George on a bad day, and a slightly downgraded version of her on a good day to people who didn't know him.

Basically, Renjun was a church boy possessed by Satan and Jaemin was Regina George in black clothing.

And Jeno, well, Jeno was that one friend no one could ever get mad at. Jeno had giant glasses that took up most of his face, and he was always drowning in a hoodie. The closest to a swear word anyone had heard out of his mouth was "darn it" and he cried for hours when he realised he'd accidentally windshield wipered a moth to death on his drive home from studying for finals.

Yeah, that friend.

Jeno kicked his feet as Jaemin dragged out his makeup piles, Renjun making food in the kitchen as Jaemin searched for foundation that matched Jeno's skin. "I'm just the get you home safe right?"

"The hella hot get us home safe," Jaemin replied, smiling as he finally found it. "I knew I had your shade in here."

"I can bring my study books right?"

"No!" Renjun shouted, and Jeno pouted.

"Look what you did, you made our son sad." Jaemin tsked.

"He's my son, not yours." Renjun argued, coming out of the kitchen with three plates of pancakes. "You need to eat before the party."

"I'm not drinking though," Jeno said, taking the blueberry pancakes anyways. "But thanks Jun."

"Of course," Renjun beamed, beginning to eat his pancakes as well. "Jaemin, you need to eat."

"Alright." The three friends sat together, eating their pancakes and talking, mostly complaining about the beginning of their second year in college.

They'd all decided on their paths, and Jeno was personally happy with his, and he knew Jaemin and Renjun were excited, but nervous.

Jeno just wasn't looking forward to having Professor Min for Honours Mathematics.

"Alright, let's get going." Jaemin cracked his knuckles and began Jeno's makeup again, the quiet boy letting him do whatever he wanted with his face. Renjun cleaned up the plates, then let Jaemin work his magic on his face as well, Jeno ending up with colour contacts in instead of his glasses.

"We look hot," Jaemin declared as he meticulously applied eyeliner in the mirror.

"Do you have a jacket I can borrow?" Jeno asked, wondering what had possessed him to buy the shirt h was now wearing.

"No. Well, I do, but you're not getting it." Jaemin replied, and Jeno frowned. "Besides, you're just going to sweat when you dance."

"You'll be fine, it's not like you put glitter stars over your nipples." Renjun shrugged on his shirt, admiring the pastel blue cropped sweatshirt.

"That was once," Jaemin replied, glaring at the other boy.

"Once is more than enough to torment you about it for the rest of your life."

"How come I didn't know about that?"

"You were studying," Jaemin chimed, and Jeno nodded.

"Makes sense." If Jeno was ever missing, everyone knew the best place to find him was the university library, where he'd be sitting at his table with food, piles of books, and a smile if you needed help. It was enough to make most of the girls study, and a good chunk of the guys.

"Ready?" Jaemin asked, and all of them nodded, Jeno still wishing for a jacket. "It's only a three minute walk."

"Can I please have a jacket?"

"And miss out on those abs?" Jaemin exclaimed, pointing at Jeno's stomach, which he promptly covered.

"It's going to be dark, no one will see you." Renjun reassured, and Jeno nodded, following them to the ωυ fraternity home.

۵

"What's up bitches," Jaemin said, laying his head back on Donghyuck's shoulder. Mark looked over at him halfheartedly before going back to his on again off again girlfriend, Choi Yeonjung. It looked like it was an off day, and she was trying to get him back, again.

No one really knew why Mark put up with Yeonjung, she was known as the school's biggest bitch, and anyone who really knew Mark knew he wasn't the fuckboy she claimed him to be, just rather enjoyed to talk to people, and possibly make out with them until they had exchanged more spit than salt in the Dead Sea.

It wasn't like Mark had slept with anyone else more than once.

Or twice.

Or a dozen times.

But still, it was during their breaks. It wasn't like he cheated on her, and on top of that Mark was mostly drunk when it happened. If he could erase it, he would.

"What?" Donghyuck's voice cut through Mark's thoughts, and he realised Yeonjung had gone off, probably to suck a face, or a dick. Not that she was really talented at either. "Are you serious?"

"Dead serious," Jaemin took a sip of the lukewarm beer in his hand, nodding towards the dance floor. "He's our designated walk us home. Speaking of, has anyone seen Renjun?"

"Last time I saw him, he was taking shots, saying Ten had breathed in his direction and he needed more alcohol to deal with that level of stupidity," Yukhei supplied, showing up with a glass of a virgin mimosa with ice for his boyfriend. Yukhei didn't quite understand why it was virgin, but it was fine. "Here you go Hyuckie."

"Thanks Yuyu," Donghyuck smiled.

"Your turn to drink tonight?" Mark asked his friend, and Donghyuck nodded. Yukhei and Donghyuck had a system where only one of them drank at a time to prevent anything from happening to each other. Which was cute for everyone involved.

"Anyways, why were you two freaking out?"

"You know my best friend?"

"Lee Jeno, the one that never leaves the library?"

"Yes."

"Everyone does, he's graduating in my year even though he's a year behind us technically." Mark replied, not knowing how that connected to anything.

He'd never actually seen the boy, only heard about him. Mark wasn't one to go to the library; his grades were effortlessly good. He was also effortlessly gifted in other areas, if you know what I mean.

"He's here."

"He's what?"

"He's here." Jaemin took another swing of his drink, waving to the dance floor and at an angelic boy, dancing with a serious expression to Want by Taemin.

Seeing them looking at them, the boy bounced over, a giant smile on his face. "Hello!"

"Hi No," Jaemin responded, blinking and clinging onto him. "You're good."

"Thank you!" Jeno replied, his eyes crescents and contradicting his outfit of more than suggestive clothes.

"I'm Mark," Mark said dumbly, and Jeno tilted his head.

"I know. You're a fuckboy, whatever that means. All I know is you date a lot and your girlfriend's locked in the bathroom playing Mario Kart."

"Mario Kart?"

"She was saying faster a lot," Jeno shrugged, and everyone blinked.

"Yes, Mario Kart." Yukhei said, and Jeno gave him a strange look.

"That's what I said. Anyways, Renjun's crying and getting alcohol poisoning so I should probably stop him." Jeno went to retrieve his friend who was indeed crying as he nursed a whole bottle of whiskey, and Mark's eyes followed him like the moon follows the earth.

"Doesn't it bother you that Yeonjung's being fu-"

"What's his study hall?" Mark asked, and Jaemin looked at him.

"Hell no. You are not getting near Jeno."

"Why not?" Mark asked, and Jaemin raised an eyebrow.

"Mark, I love you to death. But you get a new fling every few days, and Jeno's been my best friend since forever. I can't let him get hurt, especially not by one of my other friends."

"But I feel a connection."

"And you always end up going back to Yeonjung." Jaemin retorted, and Jeno noticed the tension between the two boys, blissfully unaware he was the cause as he asked Yukhei to watch Renjun who was stuck trying to take off his shirt, and made his way over.

"Na," Jeno said softly, taking Jaemin's hand. "C'mon, let's dance and get some stress away. Sorry Mark." Jeno flashed an apologetic smile before beginning to dance with Jaemin, the younger boy taking sips of his beer to make himself calm down - which didn't work, but dancing did. Jeno successfully avoided the advances of multiple people, politely refusing, and when they didn't get the memo, he just began talking about political issues until they got uncomfortable and walked away. Jaemin was having the time of his life though, grinding on strangers and walking out of the dance floor with numerous marks already.

It was well past midnight when Jeno made the decision to bring a passed out Renjun and a messed up Jaemin home. He thanked Yukhei for hosting, pried Renjun off of a terrified German boy, and detached Jaemin from a blonde boy who Jaemin, for some reason, was calling Daddy.

As Jeno was getting ready to leave, a soft hand on his arm stopped him. "Need help?"

"Nope!" Jeno replied, ripping his arm away from Mark's hand and waving cheerfully. "Bye Mark!"

They only got out three steps before Renjun puked all over the grass, making Jeno sigh. When Renjun was done, Jeno picked him up again and they somehow made it home without further incident.

Jeno was unaware that Mark's eyes hadn't left him the entire night, and that a particular girl, who had stumbled out of the bathroom, had noticed.

"Mark," Yeonjung croaned, her fingers finding their way around Mark's arm.

"No."

"What?"

"Go suck a dick," Mark said, looking at her dead in the eyes. "I'm done with you."

"Babe -" She begun, and Mark glared at her. That wasn't a side she'd seen before, and it kind of terrified her.

"I'm not yours. Didn't you say last time you wanted nothing to do with me? Then you're going to get that. We're through Yeonjung."

"Babe -"

"Minhyung." Mark responded. "Don't even call me Mark, that's for my friends."

"I -"

"We're done."

"Yes bitch!" Yukhei shouted, and Mark smiled at his friend. Yeonjung frowned before grabbing a drink.

This wasn't anything new.

Mark would be hers again by tomorrow.

۵

I love MarkNo.