Jaemin breathed a sigh of relief as he shut the door of his room behind him. Dinner was...exciting. He had wanted to learn more about the elves that worked in the factory, but since Jeno, Taeyong, Jaehyun, Donghyuck, Renjun and pretty much everyone else was busy, he had decided to retreat to his room.
He paced around the room, having a feeling that something was right. Then he remembered that Dongbaek was still in the dining room and his over-protective brotherly instincts instantly kicked in, and he only relaxed when he recalled that Taeyong was keeping an eye over her.
He rubbed his face tiredly and walked towards the bathroom - he didn't know why he felt so nauseous, a migraine already starting to develop at the back of his skull. Exhaustion swept over him in constant waves, and he stumbled a bit before steadying himself by holding on the edge of the counter.
God, what weird thing did I eat today?
Jaemin splashed water onto his face, rubbing his temples to try and ease the pain to no avail. When he looked up in the mirror to see himself, he nearly turned around to try and see if there was anyone behind him - because he didn't believe that the person in the reflection was him.
It couldn't be.
His eyes mimicked the colour of the sky on the brightest and sunniest of days - clear and pure, or like the colour of shallow and clear waters at a clean beach. As it stretched down, it swirled and twisted to become a colour that was both grey and blue at the same time. Like clouds drifting in a radiant blue sky.
How had his eyes changed like that? Surely there was some reasonable explanation behind all of this. Then he remembered that he lived in a mansion with Santa Claus and magical people. Correction - elves.
He should probably go see Taeyong about this - given that he used to be human too.
But he might be busy with Jaehyun and finishing up the dinner and gathering everyone, Jaemin thought.
Maybe a walk around the mansion might help. So he turned the knob of his door and stepped outside, but instead his head came into painful impact with a hard surface, and he was forced back.
"Shit, sorry," Jeno cursed and apologised, knowing full well he looked rather suspicious standing outside of Jaemin's door, but he really was just passing by.
"Are you alright? Should I get some ice? I swear I didn't mean to-"
Jaemin sighed exasperatedly and glared up at Jeno, "It's alright, but watch where you're going next time. I already have a headache, and I'm kind of busy."
Jaemin had not expected to see the most intense shade of midnight blue he's ever seen in Jeno's eyes, and with lights from the ceiling, little white dots speckled over the dark blanket of colour like salt on a black cloth.
It was dark and deep, and for some reason, strangely addictive - Jaemin felt like he could stare at them all day when it was probably just an ordinary blue to anyone else.
"Fuck," Jeno breathed as he locked eyes with the other, his fingers rested at the bottom of Jaemin's chin and pushed up slightly, making him tilt his head up ever-so-slightly so he could get a better look.
"Now, now, there," Taeyong pushed Jeno back with one hand while he fanned himself with the other. Jaemin couldn't tell what expression he had on his face, it was unreadable, but it had an uneasy feeling hidden behind it.
"I believe you two have seen how both your eyes have become," he paused, "colourful."
He shut the door of Dongbaek's room, and Jaemin suspected that he put his sister to sleep, which his heart eased a little with relief.
"Is there anything wrong with anyone else?" Jaemin asked.
"If you're talking about your eyes, then no, no one else," Taeyong answered patiently. "I'm sure you both have a lot of questions, so let's move to my room."
Jaemin and Jeno shared uncertain looks, Taeyong didn't allow anyone into his room except Jaehyun - given that they shared it. Was it really that serious? If it was just a headache, Jaemin could totally just take medicine by himself for it.
Taeyong grabbed both of their hands as he let them land smoothly on the carpeted floor of his room. If Jaemin and Jeno could find words to describe it, it would definitely be grand. That would be the first word to come to mind.
"A little much isn't it?" Taeyong laughed, shaking his head and looked towards Jeno, "Your father has a thing for being extra."
Jeno raised an eyebrow as if to say: yeah, tell me about it.
"Make yourselves comfortable," Taeyong said as he sat down on a large brass chair. Jaemin looked to see a small two-seater couch in front of a table and he sat down readily, his headache really made his head pound now.
Jeno cleared his throat, "Uh, do I like, sit on the floor or something?"
Jaemin looked to see him standing there, looking very out of place in his checkered pajamas - both Jaemin and Taeyong hadn't even changed into something else since dinner.
Taeyong blinked as he glanced at the couch Jaemin was sitting on briefly, "Well, that is a couch for two people to sit on."
He whistled and looked away from the two, tapping his fingers on the table that separated them.
Jaemin's face burned, and Jeno plopped down onto the floor, "I can just sit here."
His mother finally made eye-contact with him, and although Jaemin was a little to dizzy to really notice, he was decently sure that he saw Taeyong's eyes harden into somewhat of a glare - and Jeno shot up to sit beside Jaemin.
Jaemin was going to be honest: the couch was small.
Very, very, small.
So small that the shoulder of the two brushed against each other whenever they moved, so they had both resorted to staying as still as stones.
"Can I be blunt?" Taeyong asked the both of them, but they knew that he was really speaking to Jaemin. His eyes were gentle and kind, and Jaemin trusted him.
They both nodded, and the little action caused their bodies to shift, and they brushed against each other again.
"Soooo," Taeyong drawled out the word, leaning back again and looking out the window into the darkness.
"You're going through changes."
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For heaven's sake why couldn't Taeyong just have told Jaemin that him and Jeno were soulmates?
Instead, he had chickened out and told them that they were going through bodily changes that caused their eye colour to change along with them - since all magical beings develop differently from humans.
The older didn't miss the way both of them tried to hide their real emotions when Taeyong directed the conversation to something that sounded like puberty when they were already past that age.
"Goddammit, Taeyong, why couldn't you just say: oh yeah, you two were made for each other," he chided himself that night whilst Jaehyun snored beside him - the noise resembling that of a running chainsaw.
He sighed and sat up, putting on his slippers to check on Jeno - he was probably asleep by then, but Taeyong didn't really have anything better to do, given that he was wide awake and unable to fall asleep or find a comfortable position in the bed.
It was already 3 in the morning, and Taeyong was usually right.
So he did a double take when he opened the door of his son's room to find Jeno sitting at the edge of his bed, staring off into blank space, still in his checkered pajamas.
"Jen? What are you doing awake this early?" Taeyong demanded, though his tone of voice was softer as he wanted to be considerate.
Jeno shrugged, then eyed the man who was standing at his doorway, "What are you doing here, might I ask?"
Taeyong didn't reply him, and the both of them stared at each other long enough to fill the room with disturbing silence. Then Taeyong shut the door and Jeno spoke up, "It's about Jaemin, isn't it?"
Taeyong exhaled sharply and settled down beside Jeno, who although watched his every move with a new intensity with his eyes, did not object when he rubbed his thigh comfortingly.
"Why didn't you tell him? He was very embarrassed - his thoughts told me so."
"Mm," Taeyong replied, "I'm not sure if he's ready."
He looked to meet Jeno's eyes, and whispered - as if saying it softer might help lessen the damage, "I'm not sure if he feels the same, you know, way. And even if he does, I don't know how he might react."
"But-"
"He hasn't even been here for a month, Jen, I just want to give him ample time to get comfortable; with this place, and you."
Jeno thought about this.
Was he really forcing his affections on Jaemin when he might not feel the same way? Jeno couldn't hear Jaemin's thoughts all the time, after all, as he had discovered, and he had not heard of Jaemin thinking about how much he liked Jeno or anything of that sort.
Maybe he should've given him more space.
Taeyong must have noticed the remorseful look on his face because he whistled to get Jeno's attention, and then said, "I'm not saying you're a bad person, and you've been pushing him to like you back - because you're not a bad person. It's that Jaemin goes at his own pace, and for him to catch up with you, you have to slow down and match the rate that he's going."
"Get to know him as a person, not just a pretty boy you met at his house," Taeyong advised at Jeno's conflicted expression, "and show him you're not just a pretty boy that flirts with him."
"I'm not just a pretty boy that flirts with him," Jeno said indignantly.
Taeyong laughed.
"I'm not saying that you are, but that you have to be patient - Jaehyun didn't win me over with just that fetching smile of his, you know," Taeyong spoke airily, and Jeno believed him.