powerless - nct, norenmin

⊗ 18 ⊗

he still couldn't believe what had happened.

it had been a few hours already, but it seemed like jeno had completely lost his voice since then.

the boy hadn't spoken a word since he had realised that for the first time ever, he hadn't been his usual coward self, too scared to defend someone in need.

for the first time ever, he hadn't been the one to make himself small facing someone's actions.

for the first time ever, he hadn't waited for someone smaller and less impressive than him that would know how to assert dominance and push the bad guy away.

for the first time ever, he had been this guy that asserted dominance. for the first time ever, he had acted to someone the same way renjun acted to him.

and he couldn't believe that he had done it well.

his thoughts were running wild as his eyes mindlessly followed the four hybrids playing on the grass in their animal form. he didn't even remember anything that had happened during this afternoon apart from his heroic act to save jaemin. but since then, he had simply been dragged around, as a soulless corpse searching for the meaning of his life.

he couldn't care less about his surroundings, whether it was the bright sun that shone and made spending an afternoon in a parc pleasant, the screams of children running around or even the stares that jaemin's three human friends were giving him while they discussed. jeno's expression was completely blank, completely in contradiction with his mind which was having more activity than it ever had.

"mind if we have a small talk?"

jeno jumped slightly at the sound of donghyuck's voice so close to him. he had been so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed the three humans approaching him.

"h-huh... sorry?" he stuttered, slowly coming back to reality.

"we wanted to have a talk with you while the boys were playing." taeyong repeated, adding a head motion towards the four animals which were playing together a few meters away.

jeno's eyes fell on the smallest bunny of the two, making his lips curve up in a smile before he worriedly looked around to make sure that nothing threatening would approach. and it seemed like the others noticed jeno's distress.

"don't worry, this is a safe place." sicheng continued. "nothing will happen to jaemin."

"hmm." jeno nodded, his cheeks turning pink as he realised that he had been caught in his worried and protective state. "so... w-what did you want to talk about?" he then asked, slightly impressed by the three humans who were almost glaring at him.

the boys exchanged glances before nodding, taeyong taking the lead and starting his speech in a way jeno surely didn't expect him to start.

"i'm not going to lie, we are not fond of you being around jaemin." he said, the words resonating in jeno's ears as his mouth fell open and his eyes widened. he definitely didn't expect such words.

"w-w-what...?" he let out, his voice in a higher pitch than usual as his throat started feeling dry and itchy.

"we don't like the way you are misleading him." taeyong continued, his eyes never leaving jeno's as the two other boys nodded in approval.

"i-i..." jeno stuttered, the sound of his heart shattering somehow deafening him and making him feel nauseous. he was panicking, badly. he didn't understand what was happening to him.