hot and cold - nct, jaedo

♨ 26 ❄

doyoung's eyes fluttered open with difficulty.

his limbs were hurting like hell, and he couldn't even remember when he had closed his eyes for the last time.

was it five minutes ago?

was if an hour ago?

was it a day ago?

the sun shining through his window burned his eyes, but the warmth emitting from the yellow star wasn't enough to warm up his freezing body.

the cold was going to be the death of him.

"doyoung..."

the soft tone his mother used to call his name was enough to make him open his eyes.

his tired orbs fell into the teary eyes of his mother.

why teary? he had no idea.

"m-mom... w-what's wrong...?" he asked with difficulty.

"doyoung baby..." the mother took doyoung's hand between her palms, kissing it gently. "you haven't been waking up for almost three days..."

"t-three days...?"

"your body is getting weaker... you don't manage to warm your body anymore..." she explained, wiping her tears away.

doyoung didn't answer.

he simply pulled the comforter closer to his body.

he was cold as hell, and it seemed to be worse than ever.

"your father wanted to talk with you." she said. "i'll get him, okay?"

the weak human nodded slowly.

he didn't have the strength to do anything else.

the queen dropped a long loving kiss on her son's cold forehead before leaving the room, leaving doyoung freezing on his own.

his eyes were threatening to close again, but thankfully, his father came through the door, preventing him to let himself slip into dreamland again.

"doyoung, my son..." the king whispered, walking to the bed and taking a sit on the edge of it.

"d-dad..." the heir stuttered, as if his condition had made him forgive anything that could have happened. but his mind hadn't forgotten.

"doyoung, i owe you an apology." the king spoke sincerely. "i was too blinded by my rage and my anger to realise that maybe you were right."

"right about what...?" doyoung asked in a low voice.

"right about demons, son."

doyoung's heart missed a beat at the words of his father.

had he heard things? or had his father really said this?

he couldn't believe this was happening.

he was surely dreaming...

"don't try pinching yourself, you're not dreaming, doyoung..." the king told, using his hand to caress the weak boy's forehead. "i was wrong. i should never have screamed at you like that."

"b-but..."

"i have no idea what demons did to our realm decades ago, and i have no idea how demons are today either." the king continued talking. "but you do, doyoung. you lived with demons during the day, and with humans at night."

the king held his son's hand securely.

he wanted nothing more than his son forgiving him for everything he did.

he could realise now how unfair he had been.

he should have listened to doyoung since the beginning.

"i had a talk with the king of the demon realm earlier today." the king announced, making doyoung's head shoot up. "a friendly one, for once. i told him about your condition. and we both exchanged about what happened decades ago. he claims that it's a misunderstanding, and that the separation was caused by a small fight, and it was worsened with the years going on. but what our ancestor did isn't what we do. we're different people, and our realms and customs changed since then."

doyoung looked at his father, hope glistening in his irises. "what does that mean?"

"it means that, as much as i hate this idea, i'm willing to trust you, and give demons a chance."

doyoung sat up on the bed with difficulty, looking at his father in the eye.

"dad... i don't understand..." he sighed.

"please, enter!" the king declared in a higher voice, never breaking his eye contact with doyoung, confusing his son even more.

but before doyoung could ask further, the door of his bedroom was opened, revealing a smiling jaehyun, looking as hot as ever.

doyoung let out a yelp of surprise at the view of the demon, his heart missing a few beats as jaehyun took slow steps towards him.

"d-dad..." the human heir stammered, looking successfully at his boyfriend, and his father.

"i won't try to get in the way of your relationship, doyoung. i realised how awful i was." the king explained, stepping aside so that jaehyun could get even closer.

tears started to cascade down doyoung's cheeks as he looked at his boyfriend expectantly.

jaehyun smiled, sitting on the bed where doyoung's father used to be.

he used his two hands to cup doyoung's freezing ones, warming them up instantly.

"i told you i was willing to wait, babe..." the demon whispered, his heart beating a thousand times faster than usual. "but we don't need to wait anymore..."

"w-what...?" the human asked, completely dumbfounded by this whole situation.

behind jaehyun, doyoung noticed the king of the demon realm entering the room and standing next to his father. the two queens entered the room too, walking next to their respective husbands.

"we had a long talk." the king of the demon realm declared, catching the attention of the human.

"and we decided that, as the heirs to the thrones of our realms, you would be the ones to choose the destiny of the realms..." doyoung's father finished, making smiles appear on the four monarchs' faces.

doyoung faced his boyfriend again, his mind having some difficulty to deal with everything that had just been said.

"b-but... it... this m-means that..." he stuttered.

"it means that we're free to travel between both realms... it means that we're free to date without hiding... and it means that we're free to unite both realms whenever we'll get married..." jaehyun said, his smile widening with each of his words. "and this will go on for ever."

with those beautiful words pronounced, jaehyun leaned forwards, capturing the lips he had missed so much to seal this promise.

they were finally free to be themselves without fearing of getting caught.

nothing will be able to separate them.

forever.