On The Line | Chensung

The Smell Of The Dying

"...yeah I-I-I don't know," Jisung shrugged as he walked beside Jeno, scratching his head with his bandaged arm.
Jeno laughed, swinging the flowers in his hand as they made their way down the streets of the city, "you're an idiot, a big lovesick idiot."
"I'm not lovesick!" Jisung yelped, slapping the boy's shoulder in defence. Jeno chuckled in response, sending a fake jab at his stomach as they entered the building.

On their way to see Jeno's mother, Jisung had decided to fill in Jeno on what had happened the previous day, or at least what he remembered. And the only thing Jeno deduced from his entire spiel was that Jisung had a crush on Chenle. Of course Jisung disagreed, why would he like the 2010 myspace whore? Not that Chenle was a bad person or anything, he just didn't think he liked Chenle that way. It did feel different from the way he felt around his other friends, but he wouldn't call it a crush.

"Sure you aren't," Jeno lowered his voice, chuckling at him as they made their way to the elevator.
Jisung pouted, shuffling closer to Jeno as a few nurses passed by. He scrunched his nose, the overwhelming smell of detergent and sanitizer filling the area around him. Something about hospitals made him want to curl into his skin. It made him regret going every so often and regret being so tall and clumsy. The place was so put together and pristine he didn't want to touch anything or anyone.

Jisung sighed, wishing he had a mask on as he hid behind his friend. Jeno chuckled, rubbing the boy's shoulder as he pressed the button on the elevator. Every now and then he'd come with Jeno to visit his mother when she was in hospital. It wasn't often, luckily, but sometimes she just had to stay a bit longer than intended. Jisung had known the woman for a very long time so he'd come tag along to say hi and give her updates about his ever buzzing life. Though it really did seem that way these days.

Jeno knocked on the door, bowing to the other patient on the other side of the room before pushing the curtain open. He grinned, his frail mother waving animatedly at both of them as she sat up.
"Hi eomma," Jeno smiled, walking up to her and handing the flowers to her.
The elder woman sighed, placing her hands on her hips, "Jeno, what is this? I'm not going to be here forever."
"I know, I know," Jeno chuckled as the woman took the flowers from him, placing them on her bedside table. "Still, though-"
"Still what, huh?" she looked at him, shaking her head with a laugh, "Honey, as long as I don't throw up again, I'll be back home in another week or so."
"And then you'll go back cause you overworked yourself," Jeno  retaliated in a calm voice, the woman huffing as he muttered "again" under his breath.
"There's hardly anything wrong, Jeno," she ruffled his hair, pinching his cheek, "I'm more than fine."
Jeno looked at her in sad silence, gulping a bit before nodding and mumbling "okay." Guess there was a difference being in the hospital bed versus seeing it from the outside. Mrs Lee was always on the go though, hard to stop her in any sort of way, even if her own body was trying to stop her.

Mrs Lee waved her son off, "Since my son is a dramatic lil shit," she rolled her eyes, before turning her attention to Jisung, sending him a bright smile, "how are you, my favourite son?"
Jeno's head shot up as Jisung chuckled, "he's not even your real son!"
"Well at least he has the audacity not to bring me flowers, Jeno!" she spoke sassily back. Jeno groaned, sighing into his hands as Jisung scratched his neck awkwardly.

Before he could respond, Mrs Lee cut him off. "Oh my gosh, what happened to your arm, sweetheart?"
Jisung froze for a stunned second, bringing his arm back down and seeing his bandaged arm once again. "Uhh." He trailed off, scanning his brain for an answer. He obviously wouldn't tell Jeno's mother about the vampires but he also couldn't tell her 'oh the knife slipped' now could he.
"Oh, he slipped when cutting something in the kitchen and he cut himself," Jeno laughed. Okay maybe not. "You know how clumsy he is."
The woman clicked her tongue, shaking her head at him, "seriously, Jisung, have we not told you before not to go into the kitchen." Mrs Lee sighed in disapproval as Jisung sighed in relief.

Jisung sat down in the chair beside the bed, chatting with Jeno and his mother about random topics as time ticked on. Jisung narrowly dodging questions about his love life as Jeno stifled laughs, mentioning the addition of Chenle and Jaemin to their little bubble, Mrs Lee teasing her son about how red he turned at the mention of both Renjun and Jaemin's names, not noticing Jisung blushing at Chenle's. Bickering, laughing and bringing a warmer environment than the hospital provided itself. It was nice that the patients didn't seem as miserable as the place lead on to. Even the patient across from them had someone over, the two chuckling amongst themselves.

As the sun set behind the closed curtains, Jeno and Jisung stood up to leave, Jisung bowing respectfully to the elder woman who chuckled to herself.
"I'll be back home soon, honey," she reassured Jeno. He shoved his hands in his pockets, nodding toward her with a smile. Jisung led them out of the area, pushing the curtains as Jeno slowly made his way out. He smiled to his friend, patting his head when he froze slightly, Renjun looking back at them with pursed lips.

Jeno looked back at him with a hard stare as Renjun smiled sheepishly. He looked as if he were going to exit the room when Jeno grabbed his arm, the boy blinking back at him. Jeno glared at him as Renjun pulled himself out of his grip. He looked back at the other patient in the room, nodding toward her before pushing the door open. Jeno ran out after him leaving Jisung stranded in his friend's mother's hospital room. He looked back at Mrs Lee for he hadn't put the curtain down, the woman looking back at him with furrowed brows. He mouthed the name "Renjun" to her and she nodded at him, telling him to go out and get the answers he probably deserved.

Or maybe it was to stop Jeno from killing Renjun. Though whether that was possible against Renjun's superhuman strength he wouldn't know.

Jisung dropped the curtain, darting out the door to find Jeno holding Renjun to the wall, glaring at him. Renjun squirmed, trying to make Jeno let go of him without him having to hurt him.
"Why are you here?" he spat at the smaller boy.
Renjun rolled his eyes, "probably cause, oh I don't know, I also have family here?" he looked at him, pushing the boy away from him.
Jeno looked at him skeptically, not really believing a word coming out of the boy's mouth. Renjun huffed, "I am actually serious, my mother is a doctor here, dumbass. It's a strange day today so she told me to stay at work with her, I was just talking to patients."
Jisung watched Jeno puff his cheeks as Renjun pleaded with him, promising he wasn't there for any other reason. Jisung would find the story weird if it weren't for the fact he hadn't heard from Chenle the entire day. Guess it must be yet another vampire thing he didn't get.

Jeno let his shoulders relax as Renjun stared through the glass panel of his mother's door.

"Leukemia."

"What?"

Jisung and Jeno's heads shot up to the older boy gazing through the glass. Jisung held Jeno back before he could punch the boy in the face, struggling to hold back the kid grinding his teeth in hot headed madness. Renjun calmly looked back at him with a sympathetic look. Jeno clicked his jaw, calming down in Jisung's arms but the young boy did not trust him. He held on to him as Jeno snapped at Renjun.

"How the fuck do you know that?" he growled.
Renjun sighed, pushing one of his hands into his pockets. He tapped his nose, "we can smell blood, differences in blood. Remember?" Jeno nodded. Renjun inhaled deeply, "It's not just other creatures, it's differences in blood, irregularities in even human blood. People with high white blood cell counts, people with anemia, people with...blood cancer...I can tell automatically."
Jeno nodded slowly, Jisung feeling confident enough to not restrain him. He pushed his hands into his pockets as Renjun finished his explanation, "It's why I'm studying to be a doctor someday, like my mum.  I have this ability, I might as well put it to good use."
Jeno clicked his tongue, "knowing how to identify and how to cure are two different things."
"I know," Renjun responded, "I'll learn, I want to."

As Jeno let his shoulders slump, Renjun stepped closer to him, cupping the boy's face. He brushed strands of hair away from his face as he spoke, "you're worried."
Jeno chuckled quietly, sinking into Renjun's cold comforting hands, "what, you read minds now?"
"I'm not a fairy, Jeno, no," Renjun giggled, pecking Jeno's forehead, "you're just not subtle." He chuckled, engulfing the boy in a hug, "she'll be okay, I can promise you that."

Jisung bit his lip, looking back in the room. Of course she was going to be okay, she had a lot of life running through her veins to stop kicking now.