The Trials of Neo City [WINWIN • YUTA]

🖤 37. Angry Too 🖤

"Everything hurts." Jeno groaned softly, holding onto his lower leg.

Renjun only looked forwards, replying with a monotonous "I know".

"I'm not healing, Renjun. I can barely move." Jeno urged, trying again. He hoped Renjun, would get the hint, but instead he received the same monotone response.

"I know."

"The infection's only getting worse, Renjun."

"I know."

Jeno sighed deeply from next to him. "I'm just waiting to die now, Renjun."

That time, the "I know" went unsaid.

Renjun bit his lip raw, messing with his hair anxiously. After the hallucination event, Jeno had taken a nasty fall that was partly Renjun's fault -or at least, he thought it was.

A wooden plank logged itself into Jeno's calf and infected the wound that was already there after Chenle had shot him with an arrow. They'd taken the plank out, but any hope they had to heal the wound was gone now, as it was a nasty sore that spread to the rest of his legs and hurt like hell. He could barely move and it had only been a day since the infection begun to spread. No matter how much of the ointment they used, it wasn't enough.

"It hurts so bad. There's no fixing it, Jun. I attacked you, it's my own fault. Not yours."

"It wasn't your fault! It was the event!" Renjun blurted, grabbing Jeno's face and cupping it. "The event made you lose it, you... you didn't do anything!" His voice cracked a little.

"Even if that were true, it's obvious they did an event to thin out the competition. They wanted me to hurt you. I'm just glad it wasn't worse. I wasn't going to last long anyways." Jeno whimpered, cupping Renjun's face again and falling into a comfortable silence.

"I don't know where my brother is, I don't have any allies, everyone I know is dead. Jeno, I can't lose you too." Renjun's voice was soft, breaking slightly at the end of his sentence. Jeno only nodded in understanding, eyes sad and glassy.

"Renjun, we tried. I told you I'd wait a day and see if I heal, but there's no fixing this. The debris and the fall made it worse. I woke up last night crying because it was excruciating." Jeno shook his head. "I don't usually cry. It's useless to hope."

"So what do you want from me, huh?" Renjun's voice was cracked, interrupted by a hiccup. He threw his hands in the air and glared at Jeno fiercely, knowing exactly what the answer was and asking anyways.

"Kill me."

"You're fucking insane." Renjun spat without missing a beat, backing away in disgust. His heart wrenched in his chest and his eyes welled up with tears that he barely managed to bite back.

"Who cares? I don't care how you do it, I just don't want to do it myself." Jeno's voice was pleading. "Call me insane, it doesn't matter. Please. I won't win anyways, at least I'd give you a chance if I were gone."

The building was silent once again.

"Jeno... please. Think about what you're asking me. I can't just..." Renjun let a tear slip from his eye, but furiously wiped it away. "Fuck. I can't kill you. We're just kids. I'm just a kid. I can't kill anyone."

"I know. I'm sorry, I just can't do it myself."

"So, what? Huh? You want me to just, stab you? Hang you? You expect me to murder you in cold blood and not to be bothered? It's too sudden!" Renjun exclaimed, tears freely falling. "You're giving up too easily! You and I... we can make it! You're not trying hard enough!"

"'Not trying hard enough'? Like hell I'm trying!" Jeno raised his voice, sitting up on his arms. "All I've ever done is put up with whatever life gave me. All I've ever done is try and make things easy for myself, tried to be approachable and kind and tried as hard as I could to keep going. I've been putting up with the worst pain of my life in this insane arena for an entire day and didn't complain once until now. You think I'm not trying? Maybe Jaemin was right; you do need to get your head outta your ass and realize where we are." He yelled, making Renjun flinch. "You wanted me to make my own decisions, right? Well, here I go! Doing what you wanted!"

Renjun puffed up his chest, shoving Jeno's arm. "Don't be a selfish bitch about it! Do it your damn self if you're so tough!" He screamed, before clapping a hand over his mouth suddenly.

He shouldn't have said that.

"I miss Jaemin." Was all Jeno said after minutes of nothing but breathing. Renjun's stomach twisted into a knot and he scoffed, rolling his eyes and getting up from where he sat on the ground.

"I don't care. I need air, anyways." Renjun picked up his bag and turned around, tugging his jacket on over his skinny arms. "I should go. Don't try to follow me."

Jeno didn't say a word when Renjun left the building and didn't look back.

A/N: Jeno and Renjun's fight has a lot of references to events and conversations I've only expanded on in One More Hour, a short spin-off on my AO3 account that explains their trio a little more.

So if you want more context and want to delve deeper into norenmin, I advise you read that!