featherbrain ☆ l.jn ☆ ayakashi series | ✔

jeno [fifteen]

After sending Ten quite a few more paper cranes, you had mastered sending notes without the incantation. And also got told off by him because he was writing up a report for his research and you were distracting him. You left soon after that, having to swing by your apartment to drop your bookbag off and pickup Taeyong before your patrol tonight.

At the café, you were buzzing with excitement, something your friends—save for Yuta, who hadn't shown up—took note of.

"You're awfully excited about something, little lady," Johnny commented with a raised eyebrow as you bounced on your heels. You hadn't taken your normal seat at a booth, too happy with yourself to be able to sit still.

"Yeah, I was studying at a friend's place earlier, and finally grasped this really hard concept!" You fibbed, not wanting to tell them about your Onmyoji tutoring quite yet. "It was a big lightbulb moment for me!"

"What was it, Y/N?" Jeno questioned from the end of the booth closest to you. "Teaching it to someone else helps with understanding and memory retention."

Shit. You almost wished Jeno was taking a nap now.

"Electron domains and molecular geometry," you quickly busted out a subject from your Chem class that you'd learned a few weeks ago. "It's... a lot, we don't really have time for me to get into all of it."

"You and I can patrol together and I'll listen."

Fuck. Why was sober Jeno so damn nice?

"Speaking of, let's go over the groups tonight," Sicheng spoke up, drawing the group's attention over to him. "Renjun and Taeyong, you guys were supposed to be Y/N's partners for tonight, but you two can just be together instead. Since Jeno's with Y/N, I'll pair Jungwoo with Johnny, leaving me, Sungchan, and... Yuta."

Yuta hadn't shown up to a single patrol since the night you got your powers in that parking lot. Sicheng would still make a place for him in the groups, just in case, but he never came. And his absence was noticeable to the whole group, entirely unaddressed by anybody.

Until tonight, as Renjun let out a short and loud sigh, "Alright, anybody know why hasn't Yuta been around? What the fuck happened that night?"

"Weren't you there, Renjun?" Taeyong asked. "I thought it was you, foxface, and featherbrain partnered up."

"Yeah, and it all seemed... fine, until those Wraiths showed up. Yuta and Jeno got caught up in them, so I went to get Y/N, Sicheng, and Jungwoo. Yuta managed to get out, and Y/N had a—I've got to say it—rather stupid plan to get Jeno, then Yuta grabbed her. Y/N, what did he say to you? He said something to you, and you looked like your cat got ran over or something."

"Hey!" Taeyong scowled.

"Not my point, kitty," Renjun shrugged off the Nekomata's offense, intense gaze still trained on you. "What did he say to you?"

You were frozen. Sure that you looked like a gaping fish, you couldn't think of what to say. You knew that you couldn't say the truth; you couldn't do that to Jeno, especially when you didn't even know what Yuta had really meant. Jeno hadn't told you the full story yet, there was no point dragging the others into what you really hoped was a serious misunderstanding.

"Just that he thought... he thought my plan was dumb, that I would get hurt," you rushed to answer, coming up with your best lie on the spot. "He didn't want me to do it. That's it. You know he thinks of me like a little sister, he was just being protective, that's all."

"Then you socked your protective older brother figure in the jaw."

You hated this conversation.

Before you could open your mouth and say anything else defensive, Jeno stood up for you, snapping at the Satori, "Stop interrogating her, Renjun. It's not her fault Yuta's throwing a hissy fit."