Haunting; Noren NCT

♱•Thirty•♱

Renjun raises his fist and hesitates only for a moment before knocking on the door. He waits a couple seconds waiting for an answer. The night air was frosty and Renjun pulls his hoodie sleeves over his hands in an attempt to cling onto some sort of warmth.
Finally the door opens and a confused looking Jamemin gives him an awkward smile. "Oh um hey" he says, opening the door a little wider "you okay?"

Renjun only shakes his head a little "you free to go out for a while?" Right now he just needed a distraction. He needed to be out that house and away from Jeno.

"Yeh of course, hold on I'll just grab a jacket" Jaemin runs off, leaving the front door slightly ajar and Renjun leans into the warmth coming out off the house. Within seconds the boy is back and he slowly closes the door, careful not to alert his mother he was leaving.

The two boys walk in silence for a while, neither one knowing what to say. It was the first time Renjun had really hung out with Jaemin alone and he was starting to question if this had been a good idea.
"So" Jaemin finally breaks the silence "you gonna tell me what's up? Did something happen at school, have you had an argument?"

Renjuns eyes well up with tears as he remembers the way Jeno moved away so quickly when they'd gotten too close. He remembers when Jeno would have lept at the chance to get to kiss his lips. "I-I um-" he stutters, glancing down at his bandaged up finger, rubbing his thumb over the plaster.

Jaemin rests a hand on his shoulder "did something happen with you're boyfriend? What was his name again?"

"Jeno" the name came out like a whisper from Renjuns lips.

"Did you break up?" He asks, a look of concern on his features.

Renjun only shrugs in response "I guess so yeh" he drags his eyes up to meet Jaemins "something like that".

Jaemin releases a little sigh "wait here" he says before running off round the corner of the street. Renjun wanders over to the Woden bench that was close by, taking a seat and stuffing his hands into his hoodie pockets.

Maybe he shouldn't have stormed off like he had, should he have stayed and talked things through with Jeno a little more? Or had he already done enough damage. How had this damn ghost ended up meaning so much to him. How the heck did he become the one person Renjun wanted to talk to about something like this yet couldn't.

Maybe they truly were just good friends and Renjun was letting his feelings get the better of him?
But he'd been so sure Jeno had felt the same.

Before he could think on it any longer, Jaemin came back and held out a bottle for Renjun to take. "What's this?" He asks, eyeing the other boy suspiciously.

"Cheap wine" he states, reaching out and pulling Renjun from the bench "Come on it'll help, at least for tonight anyway".

.....

"So why did you say you break up again?" Jaemin slurs slightly. Both boys had occupied a swing each on a swing set in an empty playground, each of their bottles almost empty.

"We just can't be together, it won't work" Renjun replies, downing a bit more of the wine "its personal".

Jaemin only nods in understanding and shrugs a little "oh well, you'll find someone else, life goes on".

That was the problem wasn't it. Renjuns life would go on, Jenos wouldn't. It was for the best, maybe if he kept reminding himself then it would stick.
"Do you believe in ghosts?" The question falls from his mouth before he could think better of it. If Jaemin ever brought it up again Renjun could just shrug it off as drunken nonsense, but now the question had been put out there, he was rather interested to hear what Jaemin had to say on the matter.

"Ummm I don't know, I've never really given it much thought" he says, looking over at Renjun "do you believe in them?".

Yes

"No" he mutters "sometimes I think my house is pretty haunted, but then other times I just think I'm going insane".

This causes the other boy to laugh a little and he quickly straightens himself before he fell off the swing "you're not insane, your house does look pretty haunted" he says, and brings his bottle up to his lips to take another long sip "besides, everyone in the neighbourhood knows your house is haunted".

Renjuns eyes widen slightly at this 'w-what?"

"That window at the top on the house, the round one, there's always someone stood there, or least it looks like there is" he shrugs "could just be a trick of the light but it makes for a good story, also makes sense why people are always moving out".

So other people could see Jeno too. He wonders if his parents have ever noticed something strange about their house, had they ever seen a shadow lurking in the corner of a room or noticed the odd temperature dips? He made a mental note to ask them at some point.

"There's a story about a boy that use to live in that house years ago" Jaemin starts, emptying the rest of his bottle and placing it on the ground next to his feet. "People say he killed himself, not sure how but they buried his body under the tree in the backyard, its probably just a bunch of crap but my mum said it use to scare the shit out of her when she was little" he laughs slightly and Renjun smiles faintly at the idea of centuries worth of children being scared of Jeno.

"Maybe you should lay some flowers" Jaemin suggests "might keep the evil spirits away" he laughs at this and begins to swing back and forth, higher and higher.

"Yeah" Renjun mutters "maybe".