under the clouds - nct, norenmin

☁ 28 ☁

renjun woke up feeling sore.

first of all, his back was hurting like hell, and he had a headache.

the chinese boy opened his eyes slowly to find himself in his own living room.

"stay here a bit more, please..." a sleepy voice spoke, startling renjun.

renjun widened his eyes when he found out he was sitting on jeno's lap, on his couch, while the muscled boy had his arms around renjun's petite waist.

so, that's why his back hurt like that. because he had slept on jeno's lap...

"why am i here?" renjun asked to the boy who was trying to finish his night.

"you fell asleep from exhaustion yesterday night, and you wouldn't get off me." jeno mumbled, his head leaning back on the backrest, allowing renjun to have a perfect view of his neck.

"s-sorry." renjun apologised.

"you don't have to apologise. i was in the same state as you." jeno opened an eye to look at renjun.

"d-do you think he actually left?"

jeno opened his two eyes this time, looking at the window behind renjun.

"i don't know. but there's only one way to find out..."

☁

"he has to be late." renjun said worriedly, looking at his watch for the sixth time in the spawn of two minutes.

"i wish you were right..." jeno sighed.

the two boys had agreed to forget their fighting for the sake of jaemin.

they may both like the angel, better search together than alone.

and at least, it meant they had someone's shoulder to cry on if needed, just like the night before.

"hum... excuse me?" a doll-like boy came into jeno and renjun's vision field.

"yeah?" renjun answered.

"are you jeno and renjun?" he asked.

"huh... yes." jeno replied this time.

"good! i'm shotaro." the boy smiled cutely, holding his hand out for a handshake, but none of the humans actually shook his hand.

"do you need something?" renjun questioned, looking at his watch again.

"i'm always up to making new friends!" he beamed. "plus, you seemed like two cool guys to hang with."

jeno raised a brow. "us two?" he snorted. "two zombies with eyebags and irritated by the tiniest things?"

"well, yeah..." shotaro scratched his chin. "maybe i could brighten your mood!"

"look. we're sorry for you, but we're not the ones you should be friends with." renjun told sincerely considering their situation at the moment.

"okay, okay. let's use drastic measures then..." he nodded. "i am an angel. just like jaemin."

renjun and jeno immediately turned their heads towards shotaro when they heard what he had said.

"y-you know jaemin?" renjun asked, tears already welling up in his eyes.

"of course, i do. he's a well-known angel, now." shotaro told. "the angel that gave up on his wings by showing them to two humans... and these humans were the two of you."

it took renjun all of his self-control not to burst into tears at what shotaro said. but more than self-control, what helped was jeno's hand rubbing his thigh in a comforting manner.

"can you explain us more, please." jeno coughed.

"of course. but not here."

and the next thing they knew, they found themselves into a small house with objects floating around in a snap of fingers.

"w-what?" jeno looked around.

"teleportation." shotaro explained. "what do you want to know?"

renjun stood behind jeno, holding on his shirt not really knowing what could happen.

"where is jaemin?"

"above the clouds. he's recovering."

"r-recovering?" renjun asked. "from what?"

"the loss of his wings. it hurts like hell for an angel. it's like losing some part of your body."

"but why did he take them off? they looked pretty on him." jeno furrowed his brows.

shotaro chuckled. "you don't get it, do you?"

renjun and jeno shook their heads no as shotaro sighed again.

"let me explain everything... so, angels are here for a reason, and that is helping humans in things they aren't able to do on their own. every angel is assigned missions from the age of ten. however, jaemin refused to do them until a few months ago. he was forced to do it because the law changed. now, if you refuse to go on a mission and if you make it fail on purpose, you get your wings cut off."shotaro explained.

"w-what was jaemin's mission?"

"i'll keep that to myself." shotaro smiled with his whole face. "so! where were we... oh, yeah. basically, jaemin broke the major law which is 'never letting the humans discover about the existence of angels'. he put our whole world in danger. and that's why he got his wings cut off."

renjun let out a muffled sob at shotaro's words, hiding his face against jeno's arm as the younger boy rubbed his nape, a bit shaken by the new information.

"will he come back?"

"of course." shotaro said. "once his wounds have healed enough, the head will put him in your world, and he'll be forced to live as a human. that's the punishment."

"i thought angels were perfect creatures..." jeno mumbled. "why are you making our jaemin suffer like this."

"i'm only following the orders. trust me, it is painful for me too."

"how long will he stay up there?" jeno asked.

"i don't know. but that's not your problem anymore."

"of course, it is!" renjun yelled. "we both like him! and what are you telling us?! that he's being tortured up there!"

"i'm sorry, but jaemin has to be forgotten. i am the angel who took his place. time for a new chapter to begin."