li(n)ked | markhyuck ; jaeyong ; jaeno

kolmekymmentäyksi ♦

the characters of an american sitcom were walking, moving like if they were doing some kind of choreography, making their actions look artificial as we could hear the laugh track from time to time. jeno could feel every inspiration that the boy behind him was taking, his eyelids were getting heavier and heavier, almost dozing off even though it was only 10pm.

he always thought that it was strange that between the two of them, he was always the little spoon as if he needed to be comforted and protected. but of what?

that night, renjun kept silent, they have only exchanged a few words since he arrived after receiving the boy's sudden text, something definitely seemed off. but jeno couldn't put his finger on what was wrong and for the first time in their relationship, he didn't even try to know, he was exhausted for an unknown reason.

the body clasped to his started to wriggle, brutally waking him up, his raspy, sleepy voice interrupted the hard on the ears voices coming from the old television set of the chinese boy's room :

"want to move?"

he heard a shy and weak "hm" before renjun swiftly got up and ran to the bathroom, jeno was now in a seated position, his hair disheveled and his eyes wet because of his excessive yawning.

as he was looking out the dirty window of the 28th floor, he felt something, like a buzzing beneath him and out of habit, he felt around and under the bedsheets until he finally grabbed what was vibrating : his boyfriend's phone.

he stared at it intensely for a moment. what he was about to do was bad, not reasonable, and nothing was giving him the right to do it but at the sight of the numerous "li(n)ked" notifications he couldn't help but tap on it, the app quickly opening.

tens, hundreds, maybe thousands of pictures appeared before his eyes, it caused his insides to twist into a painful knot. it hurt.

by nature jeno wasn't a jealous or possessive person but without knowing why, he knew something wasn't normal, as if renjun was hiding something from him. who was this young boy in the photographs? this teen full of life, joy and innocence?

he let the phone fall onto the bed and he heard renjun's footsteps coming down the hallway echoing around the quiet and empty appartment.

the door creaked slowly open and their gazes locked. it sent shivers down their spine in a synchronised manner, but they didn't shiver the same way they did when they met for the first time. this time, it was scary, it felt like something was slowly breaking between them and they couldn't do anything about it, they couldn't stop or delay it.

jeno smiled, a sad smile renjun hated, and he got up, going to the coat hanger in order to grab his winter jacket, putting it on he finally slipped the straps of his backpack over his shoudlers. the scene was playing out before the chinese boys' eyes as if in slow motion, he couldn't even react when a small "i have to go, sorry" was pronounced, followed by the banging noise of the huge and massive front door echoing through the whole building.

the boy with dyed hair plopped down on the edge of the bed, his tears silently falling down his cheeks when he realized he had stormed off without saying "i love you". instinctively he grabbed his phone and unlocking it, zhong chenle's child-life features welcomed him. weirdly he wasn't surprised :

"as always, you're... beautiful."

♦♦♦

"what are you going to do?"

for the first time of the night jeno finally faced mark, a friend he met at the conservatory. he wasn't in his best shape, his body looked more frail than ever, he had several purple marks on his neck he tried to hide under a few layers of foundation : it gave his skin a corpse-like complexion, his now black hair was contrasting sharply with it. without knowing why, a upsurge of concern hit him and he grabbed his friend's hand, he bit his fingernails so far it must hurt a lot, he felt him stiffen under his touch but still let his thumb trace over the soft skin in an attempt to soothe his nerves :