Apocalypse ✦ Nomin

40

Jeno leaps back as the door to Jeno's room opens, revealing a kind, familiar face that instantly brings him to tears. He leaps forward and embraces the pink haired man so tightly that he can hear him grunt from the pressure and a lack of ability to breathe.

"It worked," Jeno whispers as tears stream down his face.

He pulls away to gaze at the man with glimmering eyes.

Jaemin was alive. He was alive and well and breathing. He was standing before him with life in his eyes and a faint smile playing on his lips. He was no longer a soulless body lying in a glass casket as a display of the last remnant of a man Jeno loved deeply.

Jeno was far from being a heroic prince, but he'll be damned if he lets anything happen to him, again. He was prepared to defend and protect him for eternity. Even from himself.

"I...I can't believe it..."Jaemin utters out so quietly that it's almost a whisper, "You're...you're really here..."

Jeno slowly raises his and Jaemin's hands. He interlaces their fingers together as their palms gently press against one another's.

Jeno would kiss every inch of him in that moment, if he could, but everything feels so surreal that he can only stand in place, staring. Part of him fears that, should he look away for one second, Jaemin would vanish, proving that this was nothing more than a dream.

"Fuck," Jeno whispers with a broken smile, "You're actually here. We're together, again."

"So what does this mean? Do we really have some sort of connection through our dreams?" Jaemin asks, finally forcing Jeno to realize they were talking about completely different things.

Jaemin has no idea.

"Oh, Jaemin..." he whispers as his smile slowly fades into a frown.

"What? What's wrong?" Jaemin asks with undertones of fear in his voice.

"There's so much I need to tell you..." Jeno looks over Jaemin's shoulder anxiously, "But we don't have time."

"What? What do you mean?" Jaemin questions frantically, "Please, don't go. Not now. We just got here. I wanted to...to..."

"Chenle is coming for you. We don't have long. He knows you're here," Jeno states as his mind begins to race.

"Wha-how do you know that?" Jaemin furrows his brow in confusion, "What are you talking about?"

"I'll explain later, I just..." Jeno squeezes his eyes shut and tries to think clearly and come up with a proper plan. Quite suddenly, an idea pops into his head. Without fully processing the idea and simply running with it solely based on what he recalls Jaemin wanting the last time they met here, he blurts out, "Run away with me."

"Wh-what?" Jaemin stutters as he's caught off guard.

"It's what you want, right? Just you and me, together. No Taeyong, no Xiao, no Yuta—just us. I just need you to say yes," Jeno says softly as he tries his best to convince Jaemin.

"But...how do I know can I trust you?" Jaemin inquires as his eyes search Jeno's for answers.

"You don't. I just need you to try. But you've come all this way just to see me. Doesn't that show you trust me, somehow? Even if just a little?" Jeno begins to feel his heart race faster and faster. The thought of Chenle arriving at any moment causes him to feel tense.

"Does this mean you're walking away from your father? From the apocalypse?" Jaemin asks.

"Fuck all of it. I want nothing to do with it. All I want is you. So please...give me the chance to prove it," Jeno pleads, causing Jaemin's eyes to light up in response.

"Please don't let me down this time."

Jeno holds back tears upon hearing this. He smiles brightly before dropping their hands.

"I won't. Not again. Never again," he assures him before grabbing ahold of Jaemin's wrist, "Come with me."

Jeno yanks him along, pulling him into the hall, then into his study. Jeno snaps his fingers and a couple red candles ignite.

"Help me find a black book with silver on the outer edges of the pages," Jeno instructs, "And hurry."

The two approach Jeno's bookcase and begin thrashing through tomes left and right until they suddenly hear a soft voice call out from downstairs.

"Jaemin!"

The two look to one another with wide eyes.

"Hurry!" he whispers loudly as they race against the clock to find the right book.

"Jaemin!" Chenle calls out from the staircase.

"I found it!" Jaemin squeaks in a panic as he raises Jeno's book in the air. Jeno takes a mere second to look at it and confirms it is the right one.

"Hurry, take my hand!" he says frantically.

Jaemin reaches out and puts his hand in Jeno's, and just as Chenle appears is the doorway, the two vanish in a thick cloud of black smoke.