kun was practicing. he had been all day leading into the afternoon.
what for? to control his ability see visions and the future so he wouldn't suddenly go into something similar to shock at random because of those. but he doesn't understand in the slightest how his nan got so good.
but the harder he tried, the more he just saw random flashes, especially things he's seen in the past.
there was that one of yangyang approaching him with that same smile and angel's wing flower tucked behind his ear, the one of jaemin sitting on a throne with a crown perched upon his head between prince huang renjun and prince lee jeno...
then there was one of hendery hugging dejun and looking extremely happy as he tightened wrapped his arms around the other male, dejun eagerly hugging him back. afterwards, more flashes of faces he hardly had time to see who it was, but over time, each one just seemed to become clearer — and those visions were all of yangyang.
"ouch!" he yelled, placing his hands on either side of his head. his headache was the worst he's ever had after failed attempts at controlling it.
"who did you see in your visions, my grandson?" the old seer asked from her chair, eyeing the teenager with her small, beady eyes.
"i kept seeing yangyang," he mumbled, still feeling the worst pain he's ever felt in his entire life. yangyang... he hasn't written nor received a letter from him for awhile now, and he definitely hasn't got a chance to see him in person.
unless.....
"your visions are telling you something," his grandmother replied in her old voice. "yet, you fail again to control them. we can try again tomorrow, kun."
"wait! how am i supposed to know what to do if you won't tell me?" her grandson desperately retorted, lowering his hands.
she just looked at him. "figure it out yourself."
with that, she slowly moved from her chair and walked out of the small living room. kun watcher the old seer's retreating back for a few moments until she had gone completely. then, he stood up and moved to get his travelling cloak; the mountain was quite cold these days.
he supposed he could keep practicing to get his visions of the future under control some other time. he had someone to see.
~*~
renjun was surprised to hear about qian kun's second visit. jeno sure was too, fretting about forgetting to give his letter to jaemin (or jaem, as he had said), their human boyfriend, so he could give it to yangyang.
kun was covered with his travelling cloak, his cheeks red from the cold of the mountain as he waited patiently in the great for the two princes to arrive, which they did quickly.
jeno had guiltily stuffed the letter into his pocket and renjun had made sure his boyfriend would own up to forgetting.
"greetings," kun politely bowed to the two royals. "i have to make another request of you."
"we would be honoured," renjun said with equal politeness. "what is it?"
"take me to the human world," the young seer asked. "i need to see yangyang. well, i guess need isn't the right word to use at the moment, considering why i'm going, but still."
renjun looked at jeno, and the demon prince returned his look. they didn't know where yangyang even was, but they could definitely ask jaemin, since they were best friends. the slight problem was solved with that fact.
"we were planning to go back to visit jaemin soon," renjun informed kun. "we can take you along with us to see him."
kun's eyes shone. "i would love that."
"great!" renjun said with a smile before his voice dropped to a whisper. "i actually have something to ask."
"ask about what?"
"erm..." renjun took a deep breath. "it's been on my mind a lot lately... who was my second parent?"
~*~
yangyang looked out the window, seeing the school's huge football field. class was nearly ending; he knew for sure since he kept checking his watch every few seconds.
after a few moments quick moments, his eyes tore away from the outside and were back on his watch, seeing that only a minute had gone by. as he looked away, his eyes wandered over to lee dongwon.
he was just... perfect. he had black hair and ridiculously smooth skin, his eyes just the right shade of brown. he was also tall and looked great in the school uniform. he was focusing hard on what the teacher was teaching them and yangyang couldn't help but swoon.
there was a few times yangyang knew about him: dongwon was half-japanese and spoke the language, was a great and talented artist, really, really smart, and... probably had feelings for yukhei, who didn't even like him back.
the thought itself dampened his mood. but if he forgot the clear obvious reality right in his face, he felt a little better. yangyang made sure his gaze didn't linger for too long before looking back at his watch — class was good as over at this point.
which he ended up being right with the bell ringing. he picked his backpack off the back of his chair and exited the classroom. he was heading straight for the outside doors when he heard someone call him name.
"yangyang!" they called for a second time and the brown-haired male turned around, his face going red at the sight of dongwon waving at him before running over. "hey, how are you?"
"good," yangyang managed without a flustered stutter. "you?"
"same here," he grinned and it made his stomach butterflies go utterly nuts. "can i walk with you outside? i mean, we are going to the same place."
"sure, i'm cool with that," yangyang said with attempted casualty, though on the inside he was freaking out. his good mood persisted as they walked side by side, yangyang managing to strike up a conversation about the upcoming science test.
he thought nothing could ruin it —
"hey double yang!" said donghyuck cheerfully as the pair arrived to their usual table, casually sitting on mark's lap with his backpack placed aside. mark had resorted to appear like he had fallen asleep as he rested his head against the other's back, his arms tightly wrapped around donghyuck's waist.
"hey hyuck," yangyang grinned back. thankfully, he hadn't noticed that dongwon's eyes began to wander, landing right on yukhei who was working with jisung on their homework, chenle right on the other side of his boyfriend as he scrolled on his phone.
"library again for studying?" donghyuck asked.
"actual studying?" jisung looked up from his homework packet with raised eyebrows.
"of course, why wouldn't it be?" donghyuck said, glancing at him.
"just saying..." jisung shrugged.
"i need to," yukhei was the next to speak up. "mark, please pass on your science knowledge onto me."
"maybe later..." mark sleepily muttered against donghyuck, his eyes still closed. yukhei didn't say anything in response, just giving him a look.
"actually sungie," chenle had stopped leaning against his boyfriend and grabbed the taller's arm to help get his attention. "i was hoping we could do a study date. my ma dropped the dinner party so i'm free."
"oh, then, that's good," jisung smiled at him. "never mind, backing out of the library studying group."
"of course you'd do that," donghyuck snorted.
"you can't be talking," yangyang said, his eyes glinting with amusement. "you and mark always study alone."
"yeah, they "study," which is complete bullshit to me," jisung said, side-eyeing the couple. "i guess we can go ahead and leave, lele."
"okay!" chenle's smile remained bright as they gathered jisung's stuff, shoved it into his backpack, and walked off hand and hand. dongwon went over to take the now empty seat where jisung had been sitting, yukhei purposefully avoiding his eyes, looking embarrassed as he always was around him.
yangyang noticed, frowned briefly before sitting down next to mark and donghyuck and pulling out his phone to distract himself, though he was very much within earshot to hear their conversation.
"so... you like coffee?" dongwon asked casually.
yukhei actually met his eyes, though reluctantly. "i guess so."
"oh, that's great, i do too," dongwon said eagerly, his cheeks a noticeable pink colour. "ever just wanna — er — meet up at that one café near school sometime?"
"i dunno," yukhei said instead of being blunt with an answer saying that he was uninterested.
"oh, well, if you ever want to — " dongwon started.
"uh-huh," yukhei quickly cut him off, turning to the next page of his homework packet.
maybe yangyang could offer to meet up with dongwon, and maybe share a pain du chocolat. but he guessed that was wistful thinking and he could no longer ignore the obvious right before him.
he would have to be desperate to mistake the longing in dongwon's eyes as he looked at yukhei for something else.
~*~
"your second parent?" kun repeated with a tilt of his head, making his halo go with him. he knew all truths and he definitely had the answer to that question.
"yes," renjun said. "my father won't tell me and i need to know."
the angel prince had remembered when jeno had suggested he ask kun about it, since the seers know all and everything. if his father wouldn't tell him, he'll get the right answer this way.
kun closed his eyes, firmly, and thought of what to see. he at least had that mastered. the silence of the great hall had been replaced with the loud downpour of rain. his eyes opened, seeing the dark grey gloomy sky above him, the streets littered with puddles.
it was in a neighbourhood, several houses lining either side of the wet street. a young man was standing in between two of them, holding something in his hands closely to his chest.
there was a firm frown on his face, his wet fringes sticking to his forehead as he seemed to be waiting for someone. kun knew who he was — renjun's other parent.
even if he hadn't known that, he could've assumed by their faces. song and renjun didn't look the most alike, but this man and renjun sure did. his face carried the same softness, the same eyes, same nose — they looked almost completely alike to a tee.
then a name came to him: li hu.
someone else was coming up towards him and hu finally stepped out from the protection of the two houses' roofs. song's eyes lit up seeing hu, but the other clearly didn't look happy to see him.
"hu, you came!" song exclaimed. at the time, he didn't at all look like the stern and cold huang song today. he was actually smiling, his eyes shining, even in the lack of sunlight.
"i had to, didn't i?" hu said flatly, still holding the wrapped blanket to his chest as he reached up a hand to wipe rain from his eyes. "come inside my mother's home. she won't mind. we can talk in there."
kun ended up flashing forward to when they were inside and now song was holding the blanket as he slowly undid it a little to see a small, asleep infant inside. renjun.
song's heart swelled. "oh my... he's beautiful," he then looked overcome with emotion. "our son, hu, just look at him...."
"i already have," hu said passively before bluntly saying, "i don't want to be a parent, song, nor a second king."
"what?" song looked confused.
"i said i don't want to be a parent nor a second king," hu answered. "the only reason i even had him was because you needed an heir. now you have one and don't need me. i'm definitely not cut out for royalty. i'm not dal, song."
"dal wasn't either and regularly complains about not being ready for marriage either, but it's law," song retorted. "my mother stepped down and now i'm crowned king of the angels. i need you, hu, by my side. i need you to be there for our son. please."
"i was never ready for parenthood, if that wasn't obvious," hu shot back. "i gave you the heir you need and that's that. get back home, i bet everyone's worried for you."
song opened his mouth to say something back but thought better of it. he came to see his son and the love of his life, only to have that happen. he got up out of the dinner table seat and covered their son with the blanket again to shield him from rain.
as he slid open the front door, he heard hu said, "oh, his name is renjun by the way."
kun opened his eyes again as he finally stopped relaying everything he was seeing to the angel and demon prince. jeno placed a sympathetic hand on renjun's shoulders, the angel looking down at his feet with an expression that expresses that he wasn't quite ready for that information.
he thought maybe his second parent had died instead of not even wanting to be apart of his life.
"sometimes the truth is a painful one," kun said sagely before realising he said something that sounded like something his nan would say.
renjun knew that. because it does hurt. "i — at least i know the answer," he said heavily, raising his head. "remember what i said about going later this week? forget that."
~*~
jaemin wondered if he should tell his friends at least. he was only wary about yuta and sicheng because of their strictness and their dislike of jeno and renjun to begin with. especially yuta, after jaemin had disappeared for a few days before randomly appearing again with them.
"what are you thinking about?" yangyang asked.
"oh, nothing," jaemin shook his head as they finally reached the field. "let's just play football."
"alright!" yangyang said cheerfully, not bothering to press on.
the white-and-black ball went between them back and forth, each pass exactly how one should be, except jaemin wasn't the best and not nearly as good as yangyang, who actually plays. well, still plays.
yuta wanted him to play football since he did as a kid and could show good he was with all the trophies his team earned by winning the entire league. so, he made his younger half-brother play for one spring season back when be was twelve-years-old.
jaemin, in turn, managed to suck at every position he played but goalie. yuta came to the first three games but eventually stopped coming after deciding they were too painful to watch, even if jaemin did alright as goalie, and made it sicheng's job to take him to practice and games along with shotaro, who wanted to come because sicheng was going.
so, jaemin quit that same year after the season ended and yuta wasn't complaining. he hasn't done the same thing with shotaro, surprisingly, even if he was his own son.
as yangyang passed the ball to him perfectly with the inside of his foot, he heard a loud cracking noise. jaemin immediately knew it was his boyfriends, but he wasn't expecting to see him today after they just came yesterday.
he ignored the ball that hit his shoe and walked over to the nearby playground. yangyang, confused, followed suit.
jaemin came to find, instead of being just two people, there were three. his boyfriends... and qian kun? at the sight of the young seer, yangyang seemed to light up. he had been a bit gloomy when they walked from their school together to the field, but now he had a genuine smile on his face.
kun smiled too, only his cheeks were red. "i-i could see that this would happen."
"you can see the future, so duh," yangyang said as he walked over. as they engaged in a happy-sounding conversation, jaemin went over to his boyfriends.
"i thought you guys weren't coming today," jaemin said happily, pecking jeno on the lips before turning to renjun, who was already driven to tears.
"renjun?" he said worriedly. "are you okay?"