femboy ꒱ nohyuck

꒰ thirty seven ꒱

The first place Donghyuck ended up going was Jeno's house.

It was almost as if his feet had a mind of their own, he had been walking while not fully paying attention and then all of the sudden he had looked up and was face to face with Jeno's front door. He knew that Chenle and Renjun were probably waiting for him back at the Zhong's house, wanting to hear every detail of the meeting and make sure he was okay, but something in him felt like he needed to see Jeno first. So, he sent a quick text to his friends to let them know he'd be late, and took a deep breath before ringing the doorbell.

"Hyuck?" Jeno said as he opened the door, furrowing his eyebrows a little as he looked him up and down, most likely trying to assess if he was okay. "I thought you were going to see your friends today and come by tomorrow. What are you doing here?"

"I just... uh... I just wanted to see you," Donghyuck mumbled, staring down at his feet as he shifted awkwardly. Jeno hummed, seeemingly considering for a moment, before he opened the door wider and let the small boy inside.

"Is everything okay? How did the meeting go?" Jeno asked gently, and Donghyuck shrugged as he looked around the familiar living room. All of his memories with Jeno flashed through his head, every time he had come here to feel better after having to play pretend for his parents all week, and the more he thought about it, the more he found himself feeling slightly emotional.

"The meeting was fine," he said softly, leaning against the wall in the hallway that led back into Jeno's bedroom. He suddenly realized that he had never even been inside the taller boy's bedroom, and he felt a wave of uncertainty and insecurity wash over him. Do I not mean as much to Jeno as he means to me? Are all of my feelings really not reciprocated?

"Just fine?" Jeno pressed, slowly moving closer to Donghyuck. The taller boy leaned down to look at his face, and when he saw Donghyuck's expression, his eyebrows furrowed even more. "Hey. What's the matter? Talk to me."

The blonde boy shrugged weakly, playing with his sleeves nervously. "Seohyun was expelled. My parents apologized to me. I forgave them, told them they needed to put in time and effort to fix our relationship, and now the ball is in their court and I don't have to worry about it anymore."

"That's great," Jeno said gently, taking Donghyuck's wrist and rubbing soft, soothing circles into his skin, "what's got you so upset, then? It sounds like the meeting went well. Is there something you're not telling me?"

There's a lot of things I'm not telling you. A lot of things I'm afraid to tell you.

"I just feel overwhelmed, I guess, now that it's all over," he said instead, which was technically not a lie. He did feel overwhelmed, but the meeting with the school board was not the only reason.

"Oh baby," Jeno cooed, gently pulling the small boy into a hug, and that's what finally broke him. Donghyuck whimpered, burying his face into Jeno's neck and clinging onto him like his life depended on it. The taller boy made a soft noise of surprise, trying to shift in Donghyuck's embrace, but that only made the blonde boy wrap his arms around him even tighter.

"Hey. Hey. It's okay, I'm not going anywhere, you're okay," Jeno whispered, pulling back a little so he could look at Donghyuck's face. The blonde boy tried to avoid eye contact as best as he could, because he just knew it would all be over for him as soon as he looked into his eyes, but Jeno eventually grabbed his chin gently and forced him to look up at him anyways.

"I'm here for you, everything is going to be okay. You will always have me, I will never leave you," Jeno said, his tone full of fondness and sincerity, and then Jeno's hands were cupping his cheeks, wiping his tears away with his thumbs and looking down at him with nothing but adoration and suddenly it was all too much to handle and—oh shit.