IN A HEARTBEAT ⋮ nomin

𝟮𝟰: tattoo

According to Renjun, Jeno and Jaemin have reached all three levels of love. The half-demon doesn't ask what each level has but can guess it himself. It has to be holding hands, kissing, and finally, making love.

So now that they went past all these levels, they became an actual couple. They have no boundaries now, no secrets. Or at least, they think so.

Jeno has a secret, for sure, but it has nothing to do with Jaemin. He hides it just like he said to Renjun and he's succeeding in that. After all, it's not that hard to pretend to be a pure human as he's a half one. As long as he doesn't see demons or just simply ignores them, everything's alright with him. He has no problems with lust now, as Jaemin takes care of that once in a while. He's practically human now.

But he still has connections even when he tries to forget them when he's with Jaemin. There's a symbol of Asmodeus on Jeno's back. Even when the boy tries to hide it, Jaemin sees it and points it out.

"What's that?" he even gasps. "Oh, my! Baby, why didn't you tell me that you have a tattoo on your back?"

"It's not a big deal," Jeno mumbles coldly and tries to cover his back with a blanket.

But Jaemin is too interested in what his boyfriend has tattooed, so he grabs the blanket and pulls it down.

"Jaemin, stop it," Jeno grows even colder.

"No! I really want to see it. I didn't know my baby likes tattoos."

Jeno gives in and lets Jaemin touch his back even when he feels like he's doing bad. Everything that has a demon's symbol on it is somewhat dangerous. Jeno knows he's not, but his father is. Showing such a symbol to a human might lead to something tragic.

"What's even that?" Jaemin asks with a gasp. "What does your tattoo mean?"

"Enough."

Jeno drops on his back and takes Jaemin's hands into his.

"Your hands are cold," he says but his boyfriend is seeing him through.

"You just changed the subject."

Jeno stays quiet.

"Your tattoo is cool, Jeno, but the way you're talking to me is bugging me."

Heck. Jaemin just called Jeno by his name. When there's no baby, Jeno knows that his boyfriend is upset, mad, or two combined.

"I hope you're not a part of a gang."

Jeno burst into a laugh. He can see that Jaemin relaxes which means that he really thought Jeno might be a member of a gang. Let's be honest, a tattoo like his actually looks kind of scary.

"Don't you think I'm too soft to be a member of some gang?" Jeno says after a round of laughing. "And if I ever was, I think you would have found out something by now, don't you think?"

"True," Jaemin, nods. He appears embarrassed for such a wild statement. "But... I feel like you're still hiding something from me."

Jeno gets nervous but tries not to show it.

"Like what?"

Jaemin frees his hands out of Jeno's hold so that they could change and now the pink-haired boy is holding Jeno's hand.

"I don't know... Your family? I feel like you didn't tell me much about your mother, father or sister..."

Jaemin doesn't even know how close he is to guessing that something was wrong.

"There's nothing much to tell. I haven't contacted them in a while," Jeno explains.

Jaemin looks away and Jeno takes it as the end of their conversation. He even sighs in relief. He doesn't like talking about his family because he always gets questioned about his father which is always complicated. Jeno has a step-father who doesn't look like his father at all and he isn't, the boy knows. But the half-demon lies for the sake of his mother and his actual father. He can't just say the truth!

His mom knows everything about Asmodeus as she was the one who summoned him. Jeno never asked what happened after that, but one thing he does know is that his mom has books about demons. She's a fan of them if that's even possible. Anyway, only she and Jeno know about him, other family members don't which is even harder to keep a secret when you walk into your house and know that the man is just a step-father and the sister is only a half-sister.

"What shall we do now?" Jeno asks, trying to divert Jaemin's mind and change the topic again.

Jaemin flicks his eyes on Jeno.

"Can I take a photo of you?"

"Why?" Jeno chuckles.

"You look cute right now," Jaemin purrs and even leans to steal a kiss.

"No, I'm pretty sure I look ugly, with my bed hair and all. You know that I'm not photogenic at all."

"Alright..."

Jeno is thankful that Jaemin understands him. They don't have any photos together which is sad. But Jaemin respects Jeno's choices, nevertheless.