On The Line | Chensung

They're Not Nightmares Anymore

"Both of you?!" Jeno exclaimed in disbelief as Renjun finished explaining to him what the boy had witnessed. Renjun and Chenle nodded in response as Jeno exhaled. He looked at Jisung, "and I thought the 'bite me' hoodie was a joke."
Jisung giggled as Chenle piped up in his flat voice, "it's the aesthetic, bitchboy."
Jeno rolled his eyes, cautiously tapping on Renjun's leg as he chuckled to himself. Jisung sighed in relief, leaning back on his hands as Renjun and Jeno spoke once again, joking and bickering as Jeno asked questions. He was glad all of them were okay, being able to breathe easy and not be in sourest of moods was definitely nice. As long as Jeno felt better, that's all he could hope for. He knew the nightmares would calm down after a while, he no longer had them himself, so Jeno would surely come around. Besides, the guy was much stronger than he was, both mentally and physically.

"Since when did you know though?" Jeno turned to him, causing Jisung to snap out his thoughts. As soon as he registered what the older boy said he chuckled to himself, "ah I found out about Chenle hyung on the day I ran to your house, remember?"
Jeno's eyes widened, "that's what your meltdown was about?!"
Jisung nodded, turning to look at the boy beside him staring at the flames of the fireplace through his sunglasses, "he was scary."
Chenle turned his head to him, grunting slightly, "was?"
Jisung chuckled, patting the boy's shoulder, "you're not that scary anymore, hyung." Of course it was only 'was'. Chenle was just a soft, fractured boy hiding behind a dark exterior and a darker family lineage. He had only known him for about two or three weeks, working on their project together slowly, but he could confidently say that Chenle wasn't anything to fear.

Renjun cocked his head at him, "I don't think you should call him 'hyung', Jisungie, he's only like two and a bit months older than you."
The young boy turned his head to him with a thin lipped smile, "is that okay?"
With a sigh, Chenle shrugged, turning back to the fireplace, "I don't care enough, go for it."
Jisung nodded with a small triumphant smile "Chenle it is then."

Jisung couldn't really care less about how he addressed the older boy, but he guessed that this could bring them closer, if they saw each other as the same age. Not that they weren't internationally though, if he thought about it, technically they were the same age. It was nice, even Chaeryeong was older than him, he had to address her with this authority he disliked.  Not that he didn't like Chaeryeong or Jeno or any of his other beloved hyungs, but for the first time, he had someone he could say was his 'same aged' friend. He turned and grinned at Chenle, though he wasn't paying attention whatsoever, still feeling happy about his Chenle.

Not his. His friend.

Of course.

Jisung looked down, flushing slightly at his mental slip of the tongue. Whoops.

Clearing his throat so that his brain would change the topic, he looked up and asked Renjun something that was bothering him. "Hyung, why did you keep like...smelling my hand?"
"Oh," Renjun clasped his hand over his mouth, mumbling apologies to the younger, "I just, I was checking if Chenle had turned you or something."
Jisung cocked his head, furrowing his brows as Donghyuck cut in, "smelling him? You did that?"
"Yeah twice, and none of you picked up on it, even when I did it right in front of your noses," Renjun snapped at him, rolling his eyes in disappointment, "so stupid all of you."
"Honestly though," Jisung shook his head, sending a glare to Jaemin and Jeno, "you two are of no help," he huffed, unconsciously resting his head on Chenle's shoulder, too busy frowning about the lack of action from his friends to register what he was doing.

"Anyways," Renjun said waving his hand dismissively and Jeno and Jaemin who were now pouting in shame. He smiled at Jisung, "I was trying to smell your blood, it's something we can do. If you were newly turned there would be essentially a poison in your system slowly slowing your system down. You were fine though, if anything you just smelt like a sprite."
"A sprite? Not a coke?" Donghyuck snorted, Mark wacking the side of his head as Jaemin cocked his head at him. "What do you mean a sprite?"
"Sprites are the culmination of happiness and love, so their entire scent is essentially 'overwhelming happiness and love'," Renjun explained, Jaemin nodding slowly as he took in the information. "It's hard to tell these days though cause sprites are better at hiding their scents. Jaeminnie also has the sprite scent and sometimes so does Donghyuck. But it's not cause they are sprites obviously, it's just cause they're really chirpy and happy all the damn time."

The boys nodded, Renjun explaining different folklore creature scents that he's encountered, all of them listening to him as if he were telling bedtime stories. Donghyuck wrapped his blanket further around him as he listened, Jaemin's eyes sparkling with wonder as he latched on to Jeno, hearing about the beauties and wonders of the unseen world. Jisung sank more into Chenle's hold, Chenle looping his arm around Jisung's shoulders as Renjun giddily told his stories, both of what he had heard from his friends and family before him and what he had witnessed as a young vampire, telling of the mermaid family he had met when he was but a small child. Jisung could see the mental storybook Renjun was flicking through in his mind, all his memories sounding like an adventure story written for the folk of the faraway tree.

He wondered what else he'd encounter. Hopefully they were as pleasant as Chenle and Renjun have been.  

The boys chuckled quietly as Jaemin scrunched his face, cutting Renjun off as he mentioned the fairyland, remarking how he didn't want to hear about some place of sappy rainbows.
Renjun giggled, "are you just upset I said you smelled like sprite?"
Jaemin sighed, "actually I'm fine with that, you said I smelt like love."
"You do," Renjun chuckled, poking Jaemin's side, "you seem to be filled with love, Jaeminnie."
Jaemin smiled, turning his head downwards and shutting his eyes as he turned pink. He fell into Jeno's lap, curling into him as he chuckled, turning even redder.

As he covered his face, the rest of the boys laughed fondly at him, even Jeno chuckled, poking the boy's flushed cheek.
"Ah this is unfair," He mumbled, still covering his face, "it's not even that big of a deal."
"Aww, Jaemin got flustered," Mark giggled, Donghyuck reaching over and poking the blushing boy's leg. Jaemin whined, shaking his leg to stop him.
Amongst the laughter, Jisung heard a faint ringing, like a small bell jingling, though from where he couldn't tell. He frowned, dismissing the strange thought from his head and simply enjoyed his friends' presence.