your words my lies | noren

t e n

Jeno's hands wrung nervously at his side. It wasn't his fault he couldn't calm his shaky breath, this was something he had never in his life done before.

One minute...

He watched as Donghyuck stood up from his seat, pulling Jaemin along with him and walking over to the front of the classroom where he gave Jeno a quick thumbs up before turning back to the teacher.

Jeno took one deep breath, waited for Donghyuck's signal, and then quickly crept out along the side wall of the classroom. Their teacher's back was turned and Donghyuck was saying something with a slight, almost unnoticeable smirk adorning his face. 

No one in the class seemed to notice him leaving other than a quiet, constantly smiling Japanese boy named Shotaro, and Yangyang, an outspoken boy and most possibly one of Hyuck's partners in crime and mischief. The latter locked eyes with Jeno and chuckled, making a motion of zipping his lips shut. Jeno mouthed a silent thank you to him.

As Jeno walked out the door, he couldn't help but laugh at Donghyuck's flailing arms and exaggerated gestures. Everything was going to be fine, he was sure...

"Jeno?"

Said boy whipped his head around, shocked to find his history teacher standing before him. In a moment of distress, he tripped backwards landing on the floor of the hallway with a thump.

"Mr. Kim... hi," he mumbled.

"What are you doing out here Jeno? You shouldn't be dismissed until another ten minutes," he said.

Jeno's eyes widened, but he did his best to hide his surprise as he got up off of the floor and dusted himself off. "I, uh, I have... permission," he stuttered, silently praying that the teacher wouldn't ask for a permission slip or something.

Sadly, luck wasn't on his side today, and what Jeno hoped for was the exact opposite of what he got. "Do you have a permission slip?"

He froze. "I..."

"Yes he does!" a voice called, somewhere from behind him. The footsteps got closer and closer until a hand was on his shoulder and shoving a slip of paper into his hands. Next to him stood Yangyang with a bright smile adorning his face.

"Hi Mr. Kim," the boy greeted.

"Yangyang," their teacher replied monotonously.

The boy then turned to Jeno. "You left this slip on your desk, I just thought you might need it," he said, motioning towards the slip of paper.

Mr. Kim stretched out a hand, looking at Yangyang skeptically and waiting for Jeno to hand him the slip of paper. He did, allowing Mr. Kim to take it reluctantly. The teacher's face was expressionless while reading it but quickly handed it back to Jeno once he finished.

"Yangyang, I hope this isn't another one of your tricks," he said.

Yangyang shook his head. "Nope. No tricks here. Why are you so surprised that I'm finally doing something nice for someone? You should be proud," he said, not once letting the smile fall from his face.

Mr. Kim groaned. "Just go," he said to Jeno, shoving the slip of paper back into his hands. 

Yangyang gave him a little wave and mouthed "you can thank me later" before turning back to face Mr. Kim. Jeno nodded and quickly hurried back on his way.

He wondered why Yangyang would do that for him. Maybe Donghyuck had told him how terrible of a liar he was. Curious, Jeno opened up the little slip of paper that had saved him from his crisis.

Inside was a note. A normal note formatted and worded like any parent would and at the end was a signature so realistic Jeno wondered how much experience Yangyang truly had with these things.

He smiled to himself, then remembered the important detail of meeting Renjun by the willow tree. That minor setback had taken five minutes at least. He would have to hurry if he wanted to get there on time.

He picked up his pace, going from a walk to a slight jog. Renjun was probably already there by now. Jeno checked the time on his phone, eyes widening after realizing just how long it had been. Hopefully Renjun wouldn't mind if he was just a minute or so late. (hopefully)

Just like he had predicted, he arrived at the willow tree exactly one minute late. Lifting up its long leafy branches from the forest floor, Jeno made just enough room for him to squeeze through.

Renjun was inside. Already packing up his things.

"I'm so sorry Renjun I got held up—" Jeno panted, trying hard to steady his breath.

"You are a minute late," the other stated plainly.

"I know I just—"

"I told you to come on time and you didn't."

"Renjun it was one minute—"

"Still late," the other shrugged.

Jeno wasn't sure what to say. In other circumstances, he would just laugh it off, but this was Renjun. The fairy was being entirely serious. 

Without thinking, his hand reached for Renjun's wrist to stop him, once again forgetting the burning sensation that followed. Jeno's hand immediately retracted and Renjun gave him a skeptical glare.

"Renjun, wait, I'll..." he thought for a second about what he could negotiate to make Renjun stay, "I won't bother you anymore after this, just please help me," he offered in a flurry of frustration.

Renjun stopped in his tracks. "Now that sounds like a reasonable offer."

Setting down his things at the foot of the tree, Renjun motioned for Jeno to move closer to where he was standing.

"You haven't told me what you're doing yet," Jeno said.

"Well Jeno," Renjun said, taking some sort of blue powder from a glass jar in his bag, "we're going to take a trip to the fairy realm."

Jeno froze. "What?"

"You said you needed help right? Since you always end up remembering everything I tell you, this will be a very informative trip," Renjun replied, seemingly genuine.

The fairy had now taken an electric blue flower from his bag, one that glistened even with the branches of the willow tree covering the sun. The flower was placed closest to the tree, and the rest of the blue powder-ish fairy dust was sprinkled around the base of the large willow.

"Are you sure this won't harm me?" Jeno asked, skeptical.

Renjun met his eyes. "Absolutely positive. You won't be harmed Lee Jeno, stop worrying."

Jeno was certainly still worried, but it wasn't long before his vision was blinded by a bright golden light and the willow tree turned to a field of beautiful tall grass, all of which seemed to shimmer under the bright sun.

Jeno let out a satisfied breath. All his worries were gone. Wherever they were, it was perfect, and Jeno wouldn't mind staying for the rest of eternity.

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currently functioning off three hours of sleep but im doing okay :)

do i maybe sense something suspicious coming in this story...?