i'll die for you | NOREN

Stage II - 2

Renjun has his eyes closed. His breath is slow, and his body is relaxed. His mind is filled by music. The volume of his earphones will cause a scolding from Mr. Moon for being too loud.

He is in his room. He is laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Old glow-in-the-dark stars are on it. He has been pretending for the last hour that there is nothing hanging from his wardrobe.

A suit.

The suit he will have to use for the party. Today, he is seventeen. Tomorrow, he will be eighteen.

The song changes and for those couple of seconds of silence he manages to hear someone coming into his room.

Jeno.

He knows it is him because he is the only one who can barge into his room like that. Maybe his father, too, but it has never happened. He knows it is Jeno because people will keep knocking until he opens the door even if it takes him an hour. It has happened before. Mr. Moon scolded him later for that too.

Renjun opens his eyes. Jeno does not spare him a glance as he is concentrated on looking for something on Renjun's desk. He takes out his earphones.

"I thought you were sleeping." Jeno finds the book he was searching for and turns, seeing Renjun rubbing his eyes.

Renjun smiles tiredly as he properly sits on his bed. He pats the spot next to him for Jeno to sit. He does it.

The mattress deepens where Jeno is. That makes Renjun tilt until their arms brush with each other. Renjun puts his head on his shoulder.

Renjun notices that the book in Jeno's hands is History. They have a test in three days. They are on their last year of high school.

"I wanted you to come," Renjun says as his cheek rubs on Jeno's shoulder.

Jeno lets out a soft laugh.

"You know I can't."

Jeno has been forbidden to appear in any of the 'meetings' his family hosted since he was fourteen. Johnny had told him that it was something with him being safe. But Renjun, deep in his heart, knows it had to be with his father getting mad for the fuzz Renjun made when some member of another clan stepped on Jeno, and Renjun demanded an apology.

It happened years ago, and Renjun apologized to Mr. Moon, who ended up being hit by said member when he intervened, seeing that the man did not recognize Renjun and was going to... show him how to respect his elders.

Renjun snuggles closer, feeling pleased by the warmth of Jeno's body. Without noticing, his head ends up resting on Jeno's lap.

Automatically, he closes his eyes.

Jeno's fingers start smoothing his hair. He tries to brush some tugs of his hair that are disheveled.

"But I still want you to come," he whines, and the vibration caused by another laugh from Jeno reaches him. He does not know, but he is whining. "I don't want to deal with Donghyuck and Yangyang alone. You know how they are."

The presence of Na Jaemin is a constant pain five days a week with a schedule of 7 to 4. At least when they are at home, he doesn't have to deal with him. However, other nightmares had arrived during the course of the last years. Lee Donghyuck is the only son and heir of the Clan Lee, which controlled the center of the country and the port city. They also had under their control the Western Channel. Yeah, a powerful family. The third most important clan. Liu Yangyang is the fourth son of Donghyuck's father's sister. Renjun does not keep track of why he is a person of interest, but Tae Il has told him something about him having too many sisters and please, don't even try .