merry go round || nomin ✔

- four -

"are you hungry? i'll whip up something before i go back to the palace." the three were now walking around mark's house-clinic while chattering about some things so that jaemin wouldn't be too confused about how things were working there.

renjun had talked about how the manners inside the palace were and how he would always make a mess in the kitchen at first. luckily, he caught up quickly and he became one of the most favored chef by the king, at least that's what the cook said. mark told him about how adorable the kids were when being treated because they would laugh when mark tickled them which made his heart flutter.

"i'll have some of the fish you caught earlier. it looks fresh." renjun nodded and smiled, bringing the fish near the fire after pushing a sharp wood between its body and frying it over the bonfire they made from wood.

"so jaemin, how's school? i heard your art got an award for most memorable last semester." the oldest among them spoke up while they were waiting for the fish to cook.

"well, school's being so evil to me i can't keep up with mrs. sohn's math quizzes although i just take that as a minor class to help boost up my grades." jaemin said and chuckled, mark smiling while nodding.

"how about you, hyung? i heard you major in literature and writing?"

"oh yeah, don't take those classes, super stressful, though i enjoy it. but like you said, school's evil but you gotta go through it, you know?"

"okay fish is ready, who wants largest meat?"

-

"the stars are beautiful here." jaemin whispered to renjun as he saw mark half asleep. the latter nodded, smiling when looking up to the sky. they were behind the house and in the backyard, laying down on the green grass with a soft linen as their blanket.

"i'm surprised you wanted to go to this era. you seem really interested in history."

"oh i've loved history since primary school. it's just so cool and interesting. i loved all the classics and buildings." the boy ranted out as renjun just listened to him happily with a nod at some point. but when jaemin suddenly went silent, renjun faced him with a questioning look on his face.

"you okay?"

"yeah,, i just wonder what will happen in the present when we go here."

"they won't notice, time stops there when you arrive here so the key is to not stay here for too long. you'll literally age more than your parents if you ever stay here for at least 3 decades." they both giggled, no longer whispering in the cold night. but when the door to the clinic opened, they saw a sleepy and messy mark peeping out of the wooden door.

"you guys aren't asleep yet? patrol comes soon, get ready to sleep." mark warned softly and went back inside.

"what's the patrol?" jaemin asked, standing up and helping renjun clean up.

"it's when the soldiers walk around to check the kingdom. for safety reasons, of course. me and mark hyung broke the rule once though because we didn't know."

the two giggled softly and decided to go to bed like mark had told them earlier.

sleeping on the bed and getting comfy is what jaemin needed now. the bed was slightly disheveled and a little warm but he assumed that mark had fallen asleep there earlier due to his sleepiness that overtook him.

he took off his outer robe and folded it neatly to put in a drawer nearby. he neaten up the pillows and blankets, slipped into it and moved around a bit to get into the position he liked. both renjun and mark are sleeping on the floor with a thin floor bed and some comfy thick linen as their blankets.

he blew out the candle and whispered good night to the both of them before dozing off to dreamland himself.

-