ꜱᴀɴᴛᴀ'ꜱ ꜱᴏɴ ♔ ɴᴏᴍɪɴ

♔24

Jaemin has a nice, long chat with Doyoung in his quarters late into the night; talking about things from childhood stories of Jeno as the older watched him grow up to the stars that littered the night sky, seen even from the magical north pole. 

They do not talk about the door located on Doyoung's ceiling. 

"It's quite late, if you have activities planned tomorrow I strongly suggest an early bed," the raven-haired man advised. He check the large clock that hung on his wall - carved with oak, mahogany and spruce, with gears and circles and clock hands made with brass, gold and invar.

Jaemin followed his line of sight, but found he could not read this complexly formed clock. It made funny noises like whistles and crackles and clinks, and everything seemed to be a different size, telling a different time, ticking and spinning at a different pace. 

Plated in small, cursive letters on a piece of metal at the very bottom of the clock, it said: Time Keeper

Doyoung frowned, "It's 12:23. I must've gotten too carried away talking with you. I think it's about time to go back, yeah?" 

"How do you read that?"

The man gave a small smile, his black orbs twinkling with amusement, "Well wouldn't you like to know?"

Jaemin nodded eagerly, eyes staring at him in a silent plea to continue. The whole room was mesmerising to him.

He laughed, and spoke, "No, no. I'm afraid not today."

Jaemin huffed and gave him an irritated look. Doyoung only grinned back, "Bye!"

And he prodded the others forehead, and soon Jaemin was warped up, through the walls of his chamber and plopped down on his own bed. Well, there's the next mystery he had to solve. 

How did he even do that?

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"What're you doing?" Jaemin asked, as he slinked into the shadows casted by Jeno's desk. The lamp he had was very glaring, and at 12:25 he much preferred the dark. 

"Ah, you're back." The other leaned back and his back released little cracking noises. Jaemin was concerned on how many he heard. That was a very stiff back. 

Jeno's glasses slipped down further his nose bridge and he yawned. Jaemin glanced down at his table, and his fingers leafed through the documents stained with crimson ink. The paper felt rough and crinkled to the touch, and at some point a little ink got on his fingers, much to his displeasure.

"What's all this? Didn't you say before that you were done with paperwork?" 

Jeno shrugged and shifted himself upright once more, gathering notes and binding them together. "Well, best to get things done early, right? This'll be 2057's business plan and arrangements."

He squinted at the paper over his shoulder, he couldn't read Jeno's handwriting. It was much too cursive. Although with the slightly tinged paper and dark coloured words, it was very aesthetically pleasing. 

"Whatever would you need to plan so early for?" Jaemin rolled his eyes, "It wouldn't kill you to take a break. Workaholic."

Jeno smiled a little, then leaned backwards to press his head against Jaemin who was standing behind him. Faking a pout, he pleaded, "Won't you pet my head to make me feel better?"

"..."

"Too early, Jen," he deadpanned, and tipped Jeno's head not-so-gently forward before disappearing off to the bathroom.