"are you coming under the covers with me?" chenle asked, looking at jisung who had been walking around the room the past minutes while he was comfortably lying under the comforter.
"yeah." jisung nodded, walking towards the bed, and slipping next to chenle.
as soon as jisung was in, chenle snuggled to his side, making both their hearts beat madly inside their chests.
jisung smiled as he watched chenle smiling at him.
he could get used to his best friend's – and perhaps more soon – clinginess. it was cute, and he loved it.
"what were you thinking about?" chenle asked, wrapping his arm around jisung's waist.
"my mother." jisung replied honestly.
"why?" chenle raised a brow.
"she lives in paris." jisung explained. "i wanted to go and see her."
"your mother is french?!" chenle gasped.
"no, she's korean, but she works at the louvre. she's a specialist of ancient greece and mythological sculptures." jisung explained. "she moved to paris before meeting poseidon."
"so, you were born here?" chenle continued his interrogatory.
"no, in korea. she went there before giving birth so that i would be close to the half-blood camp, where i'll be able to be with people like me." jisung told.
"oh, okay."
jisung and chenle stayed silent for a while.
at some point, jisung even believed chenle had fallen asleep because of how steady his breathing was.
but in fact, he wasn't.
"are you going to visit her?" chenle asked in a weak voice. he was starting to fall asleep.
"yeah."
"when...?" chenle yawned.
"when you'll be asleep."
"at night...?" chenle inquired.
"yeah. because the louvre is full of tourists during the day, the specialist work at night. and it's also because sculptures are a lot damaged by the sun, so it's better to study them at night, under a neon."jisung explained what his mother had taught him.
chenle hummed, getting closer and closer to falling asleep with every second passing.
jisung smiled, looking at chenle's beautiful features for long minutes.
by now, soft snores were escaping chenle's lips, meaning that he was in a deep slumber.
jisung got out of the bed, trying his best to be delicate and not wake chenle up.
it was a success, chenle was left asleep, inside their shared bed.
"good night." jisung whispered as he kissed chenle's forehead. "sleep tight."
and with that done, he left the room silently.
jisung walked to the living room to get out by the front door, and he was surprised to see the front door closing when he arrived.
poseidon's son quickly ran to the door, his trident materializing inside his hand as he opened the door, being met with a surprised mark.
"i thought someone had entered our apartment." jisung declared, making his trident disappear.
"no, it's just me." mark announced.
"what are you doing?" jisung raised a brow, curious about what mark was doing outside their apartment.
"i need to run an errand." he explained simply.
"at midnight?" jisung snorted.
"when we were searching for the apartment, i saw this store, opened all night long." mark told. "i need to go there."
"okay..." jisung nodded before closing the door behind his back.
"and what are you doing?" it was mark's turn to raise a brow. "going out too?"
"i'm going to visit my mother." jisung explained. "she works nightshifts at the louvre."
"oh, okay." mark nodded.
both boys took the lift together to go down to the ground floor.
once there, they walked to the heavy door together, opening it without nay problem.
"see you." jisung declared.
"yeah." mark nodded as they parted ways.
Ω
jisung tiptoed inside the art gallery, searching for the ancient greece zone inside this giant museum.
he had managed to enter by the water canalisations – being poseidon's son meant that you could liquefy yourself and travel fast through water, making it easy to enter anywhere.
jisung looked at his surroundings, admiring the different paintings he could see on the walls.
it was a privilege to be able to visit this very renowned museum alone, and for free.
after fifteen minutes of active search, jisung found himself in front of a big door on which was written an inscription in greek letters.
his demigod abilities allowed him to understand immediately that he had found what he was searching for.
he walked inside, smiling as he saw some light a few meters away from him.
he took slow steps towards the light, his eyes watering as he saw his mother, bent over a table with a magnifying glass in hand as she was studying a piece of art.
jisung approached her carefully, but his shoes making noise against the marbled floor, catching the attention of the woman who almost let out a scream of panic at the view of the adolescent.
"h-huh... excuse me... the museum is closed." she said, placing her magnifying glass on the table.
jisung didn't answer, he stayed on his spot, looking at her.
"how did you get in?" his mother asked again.
jisung understood that she hadn't recognised him.
but who could he blame, they hadn't seen each other for years...
jisung smiled, snapping his fingers as water appeared in the crook of his palm, then moving around until it materialized jisung's trident.
and this was enough for the woman to understand who was standing in front of her, and how he had gotten in.
"j-jisung!" she gasped before running and tackling her son in a hug.
"i missed you so much, mom..." jisung hugged her back, crying in the cook of her neck.
"i did too, baby..." jisung's mother cried as well. "look at you now... so tall and handsome..."
"what's happening in there?"
jisung and his mother broke off the hug, the woman looking at the night guard that was standing there.
"who's this?" he asked, looking at the teenager.
"it's my son." the woman smiled brightly, side-hugging jisung.
"i didn't know you had a son..." the guardian said, furrowing his brows.
"well, i do. he's jisung. see?" she smiled, ruffling her son's hair.
"yeah, okay." the guardian shrugged before walking away to another room.
jisung and his mother were quick to hug each other again as soon as he left the zone.
"what are you doing here, baby?" the mother asked.
"well..." jisung smiled. "it's a long story..."
"good thing my shift just started, then."
Ω
jisung closed the appartment's door behind his back after having spent half of the night talking with his mother and enjoying his time with her.
he had told her everything about donghyuck and them running away.
his mother knew a lot too, because she was a specialist in mythology, so she had given her opinions on the matter too.
once he entered the apartment, jisung noticed mark, sitting on the sofa.
"hey." he declared, making hades' son look at him.
"hey." mark replied. "how was the talk with your mother?"
"good." jisung nodded. "and you? what did you buy?"
mark put his hand inside his pocket, taking out a white padlock on which was engraved an omega sign as well as a key to which was attached beautiful pink, yellow and black ribbons.
"took you all that time to buy a padlock?" jisung raised a brow.
"what do you mean?" mark asked.
"you still have your jacket on despite the fact that it's warm inside the apartment. and you were slightly out of breath when i entered." jisung explained.
mark was quick to take his coat off.
"after buying the padlock, i walked around paris a bit. and when i arrived, the lift wasn't there, so i took the stairs. i arrived just before you." mark told.
"which part of paris did you visit?" jisung crossed his arms.
"how could i know? i don't understand french." mark stated.
"yeah. not false."
before mark could continue their conversation, the door of a room opened, and donghyuck passed his head to look at jisung and mark.
"i-i was w-wondering i-if mark was there..." donghyuck informed as the two demigods looked at him.
"yeah. i'm here." mark said, his heart melting inside his chest at the idea donghyuck could worry about him.
"o-okay... it's just... huh... the last place in a b-bed is with me and... and y-you didn't come in the r-room, so... yeah..." donghyuck stuttered.
"i'll sleep on the couch, don't worry." mark told, already regretting his decision.
"y-you could sleep n-next to me..." donghyuck stated, his tiredness surely messing with his mind.
"are you sure you won't mind?" mark asked.
"y-yes." donghyuck nodded. "i d-don't want you to be u-uncomfortable..."
"i'm coming then. go to sleep, okay?"
donghyuck yawned cutely before nodding and disappearing inside the room.
mark concentrated on jisung again.
"i'll go to bed." he declared, turning around to walk to donghyuck's room.
however, he was stopped by jisung who had gripped his wrist.
mark furrowed his brows, looking at jisung confused.
"take care of him." jisung said. "he's precious."
"i know."