powerless - nct, norenmin

⊗ 10 ⊗

and jaemin couldn't help but feel his heartbeat accelerating at these promising words.

"thank you, jeno..." he whispered, pulling jeno's body against his. "thank you for everything."

"it's normal..." jeno hugged him back tightly. "i want you to be happy and to feel loved... my little nana..."

and the same way a band-aid prevented a cut to get infected, jeno's words coated jaemin's broken heart with a layer of protection and love that jaemin knew he would cherish and protect as much as he could.

it felt so good to feel loved, and it seemed like jeno was the best at making people feel that way...

⊗

"renjun, what are you doing?"

"mmh..."

the young chinese male raised a brow, staring at his older friend who obviously hadn't listened to his question because he was too busy doing whatever on his phone.

"renjun?" chenle called for the boy again, hoping to get a real answer this time.

the boy didn't even lift his head up, and chenle started wondering if he had heard him.

seeing that renjun's full attention was still on his phone, chenle heaved out a sigh before snatching the device from renjun's hands and taking a few steps back so that renjun didn't catch him immediately.

"hey! chenle!" renjun exclaimed. "give me my phone back!"

"i will, but you'll have to listen to me first." chenle replied, placing the phone behind his back, and making renjun roll his eyes.

"yeah, okay, tell me." he told, crossing his arms over his chest.

"your break ended 20 minutes ago, and you still aren't back. thank god the manager was in a good mood, otherwise i can't imagine how bad it would have been for you." chenle explained.

"my break is finished already?!" renjun let out surprised before checking his watch and realising that, yes, his break had ended long ago, and that he had been too engrossed in his research to realise that time had passed.

"yeah, now you're expected at the cash register." chenle stated as he switched renjun's phone on again and curiously checked what had renjun so busy.

"what are you- "

"seriously, renjun?" chenle let out a loud snort as he looked between the text on renjun's phone and the phone's owner. "don't you think you're going a bit too far?"

"what again...?" renjun rolled his eyes at chenle's reaction.

"you're reading mister na's biography. i suppose you're reading this to find out more about jeno's rabbit, once again..." chenle sighed out of exasperation.

"chenle, something is not normal with that rabbit, i know it." renjun muttered, his tone more serious than before.

"renjun, come on..." chenle tsked, handing the boy back the phone. "you've had this rabbit for a month, and you still haven't found anything..."

"but i know i'll find something soon!" renjun assured.

"yeah, or maybe this means that there's nothing to find." chenle tackled back.

"n-no... there has to be something..." renjun said, his voice more hesitant this time. "i-i know it..."

chenle stared at his chinese friend as the older started sulking, not knowing what to think after what he had – or rather had not – discovered with his research during the past month.