Bloodline ✦ Nomin

11

Jeno sits quietly in the back of a taxi, looking down at his phone as he scrolls through his camera roll. It was filled with candid shots of Jaemin when he wasn't paying attention. He stops on one of him when the two had gone on their date the other night. Jaemin was staring out of the window as they were waiting for their food. He had been lost in thought, and Jeno couldn't help but snap a quick photo. He looked effortlessly ethereal, and it never failed to astound Jeno with just how perfect Jaemin was. He couldn't wait to get back to their apartment and see the beautiful man in person.

As the taxi slowly rolls up to a stop light, Jeno begins feeling that familiar sharp pain in his head. He grunts out as the intensity abruptly gets worse much faster than usual. It all happens so fast and so intensely that Jeno is overwhelmed. He starts to feel as if he was having something of an out of body experience, but he continues to feel the agony brought on by his headaches.

He vividly imagines leaning forward and telling the driver to pull into a nearby parking garage. When they park, he would materialize his sacrificial knife, and before the man is able to notice what's going on, Jeno would brutally stab the driver to death, watching as the blood spurts from his wounds.

"Hey, are you okay?" the much older man glances back at him through the mirror.

"Stop the car," Jeno growls before another surge of pain causes him to cry out.

"But your destination is just at the end of the street. I can get you there in just-"

"I said stop the car!" Jeno's voice deepens abnormally.

The driver abruptly swerves up to a curb and comes to a stop. Jeno takes his wallet out of his pocket and pulls money out with his shaking hands. He hands it to the driver, whom accepts it very hesitantly.

"Keep the change," he grunts as he yanks the handle and shoved the door open. He stumbles out of the taxi and accidentally slams the car door shut.

Jeno growls deeply as he puts his head in his hands and squeezes his eyes closed. The pain would subside soon enough, he just needed to control his urge to snap for a bit longer.

After another minute of standing in place and suffering through his headache, it finally starts to ease up. Unfortunately, this time around he feels extremely weak. He wants to collapse to the ground right then and there, but he forces himself to use the last bit of energy he has left in him to walk home.

••••

Jeno opens the door to his and Jaemin's apartment and barely makes it through the door before his body finally gives out. He drops to the ground with a harsh thud as exhaustion overtakes him.

"Jeno?" Jaemin calls out worriedly from another room, "Jeno!"

He races across the apartment and throws himself down onto his knees beside Jeno.

"Jeno? Jeno what happened?" he asks frantically, brushing Jeno's hair out of his face.

"Got a headache," he practically whispers, "I need...to rest."

"Nononono! Please don't close your eyes. Stay with me. We need to get you to the hospital," Jaemin nearly stumbles over his words as they fly out of his mouth.

"No...no hospital...I just...just need sleep," Jeno's blinks begin to elongate.

"Fuck! Why do you have to make everything more difficult?" Jaemin hisses irritably.

He tries to pull Jeno up, but his body has gone completely limp. He wasn't going to be able to walk to their room, even with his boyfriend's help, and Jaemin seems to realize this. He wastes no time scooping him up into his arms and carrying him into their bedroom.

Upon reaching their bed, Jaemin lies him down gently and covers him up with the blanket. He then crawls in on the other side, sitting beside him as Jeno looks up at him, barely clinging to consciousness.

"I'm so sorry...but if you refuse to go to a hospital, I have no other choice," Jaemin murmurs as he places his hand on Jeno's forehead.

"Do...what?" Jeno barely gets out before his exhaustion overwhelms him, and he can no longer keep his eyes open.

As Jeno sinks deeper and deeper into unconsciousness, the last words he hears Jaemin utter are:

"It's okay, baby. You're gonna be okay."