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jaemin lies listlessly in a field of flowers, as he gazed up at the clouds in the sky. donghyuck and mark weren't here to entertain him today, and he's already done everything he's thought of. he climbed a tree and watched the sunrise. he made a flower crown for himself. he danced in the field to a song in his mind. heck, he even pulled out the lyre his mother gifted him ages ago and plucked its stiff strings in hopes to cure his boredom. but, to no avail.

and now, he's just quietly tracing the clouds with a raised finger pointed up at the sky, watching as the shapes gradually morph and change with every minute that passes.

"meow." jaemin whips his head to the side to meet face to face with the same mismatched eyes from the night before. he grins at the pleasant surprise, his mother's warnings from before completely slipping his mind at the sight of the cat.

"you came back!" he exclaims joyfully, petting its head gently. "how did you find me, hm?"

the cat only meows in response, as it climbed onto jaemin's chest and proceeded to curl up on it.

jaemin chuckles lightly, "it would be nice to be able to understand you, little one, but this'll have to do." he curls his fingers against the cat's chin, causing it to purr lowly. "i hope you don't mind keeping me company for a bit. i'm feeling quite lonely today."

the cat brushes its head onto jaemin's knuckles, and jaemin guesses that was a yes. so, he goes on talking about his day. about how he watched the sunrise, and how he made the very flower crown he was wearing. he talked and talked until he got to the topic of his mother.

"i love her, i do, but i feel like there's so much more i can do other than prancing around in a field of flowers, you know? she doesn't really like me associating with other gods and only lets me talk to the nymphs and satyrs that live here. it's not like i don't like the nymphs or the satyrs either, because they're wonderful...i just wish i could find someone i could relate to." jaemin let's out a heavy sigh, closing his eyes to just recollect his thoughts once more. to be fair, it was nice to get that off his chest, even if he wasn't going to get much of a response anyways.

"you know, i kind of want to meet one of the other gods one day. or go on an adventure beyond my mother's land. it gets quite lonesome here when the others are gone." he says, his tone gone soft but honest.

jaemin didn't really know how long this was going last. him staying in this eternal 'paradise', that is. hell, elysium was probably better than this. if his mother was going to be like this for the rest of his life, would he even be able to do what he wants for a change?

the cat meowed softly before jaemin felt its tongue swipe across his cheek. he cracked one of his eyes open to meet with the cat's eyes. the mismatched purple and grey left him mesmerized. it wasn't everyday you'd see someone with heterochromia, much less a cat with it.

it meows again then hops off of his chest. to which jaemin in turn gives it a questioning look, as it nudges his hand and nods off into the distance.

"you want me to follow you?" he asks, and the cat meows before it starts to walk in the direction it pointed to, which was in the direction of the forest. a voice at the back of his head echoed his mother's warning, but it's the forest; he's been there plenty of times to know that it was safe for him.

once in the forest, jaemin still follows the cat, making sure he wouldn't lose sight of it. while walking, he couldn't help but feel another presence weaving throughout the trees and plants, then running up his spine with a chill. at the bottom of his stomach, a faint bundle of fear floats idly, waiting to be unraveled.

yet, he kept pushing on and on and on until he arrived at a familiar pond. the water was as blue as the sky, not a speckle of dirt to ruin its clarity. flowers were steadily bloomed around it, all in different shapes and sizes. the trees themselves cover it so that just enough sunlight filters into the place, and it reminds him why mark loved this place so much. it was beautiful.

lost in his stupor, he hadn't noticed how the cat had disappeared on him. so, it catches him by surprise when something starts to rise out of the pond itself. no longer was the water a glittering azure, and no longer were the vibrant flowers. the place seemed to darken and wither, and jaemin widened his eyes in shock at the figure standing in the middle of it all.

jaemin was frozen in fear when he met eyes with the figure. there was something about their eyes that made jaemin want to hightail it out of there, and as the water and dirt gradually glided off of it he realized that it was none other than jeno, the god of the underworld. it made sense. the sudden sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, the surrounding area succumbing to the dark, the life slipping away like a leech sucking its prey dry of their blood.

as to why the god of the underworld just bursted out of a pond is beyond jaemin, but that doesn't mean he wasn't curious about it. over the years, he's seen glimpses of the man, but never this up close. from where he was standing, he could make out his unruly black hair and eyes as dark as pure ink.

he unconsciously staggered backwards until his back hit against the bark of a tree. and for a second, he couldn't breathe; his lungs were burning. it was like all the air in the area just vanished, leaving jaemin gasping for air. he didn't like this one bit.

that was until a cold hand met with his cheek, shocking him back into reality, heaving. in front of him stood jeno, staring back at him with such intensity, he wasn't sure if he was going to get blasted into oblivion or have his skull crushed. (both sounded terrible in jaemin's mind.)

"so you're the one renjun's been fawning over?" if jaemin weren't so scared out of his wits, he would've thought the man's voice to be soothing. he tilts jaemin's head up so that he would have no choice but to look the death god in the eyes.

jaemin was surprised that he was even able to get a coherent answer out of himself, with all the fear bursting in his veins. "w-who's renjun?" the name sounded familiar; like he's probably heard his mother mention the name on her many rants, but he was too zoned out to notice.

jeno's brow twitched upwards, breaking his stone faced facade. "you don't know who that is?"

"uhm...no?" jaemin answered unsurely, while trying to calm down his palpitating heart. "should i know who that is?" to that, jeno chuckles incredulously. for a boy who is a god, his knowledge on them seems to be very limited.

"jeno. stop scaring him will you?" both jeno and jaemin averted their attention to the man making his way towards them. from the moment jaemin met his mismatched colored eyes, he remembers his mother's words.

"my dearest jaemin, that was no cat. that was a god. a god that reeks of sorcery."

a god that reeks of sorcery.

jaemin puts two and two together and yes, he does kind of want to bang his head against the tree trunk he was leaning on, but he'll find a more appropriate time to mull over his stupidity. for now, he just needs to find out why the god of the underworld and the god of sorcery decided to visit the overworld? and why they approached him, out of all gods.

"he's a god. he can hold his ground." jeno's eyes briefly raked down jaemin's body, as if to assess if his physique was up to par with a god's. (side note, it was, thank you very much) "besides, you brought me here to show me how wonderful he is, yet i don't see a thing that's worth leaving the underworld for."

at that, jaemin's fear traded itself out for annoyance in a matter of seconds. sure, jeno was a god that was much more powerful than him, and could definitely obliterate him in a fight, but he had no right to insult jaemin. right to his face. in his realm.

the audacity.

jaemin scoffs, gaining the other two's attention in the process. "well, excuse me for not meeting your expectations, your godly deathly-ness. i wasn't informed of your visit to the mortal world--no, matter of fact, why are you even here in my realm?"

he was met with two reactions. renjun had to hold back a laugh, causing his cheeks to puff out slightly while jeno sent jaemin another deathly glare.( pun intended.) guess somebody isn't fond of the nickname, but jaemin by no means cares about that.

renjun ended up being the one to answer his question, and jaemin had expected as much. jeno seemed too preoccupied with trying to intimidate him to really give him an answer without insulting him in the process.

"i wanted to introduce him to you."

"alright, but what for?" that seemed to stump renjun, leaving his cheeks slightly tinted rose.

"u-uhm, well...i just wanted to be friends?" renjun really wanted to drown himself in the pond. "i saw you while i was up here to collect figs, and thought you would be nice to befriend."

"well...why didn't you just say so?" a smile curved over jaemin's features easily. "you didn't have to go as far as turning yourself into a cat to be my friend. i'm open to being friends with other gods." except for grumpy ghosty pants. he can go back to the underworld for all i care. a scoff comes from jeno's direction and jaemin was quick to retort, "seriously, if you have a problem then just leave. no one's forcing you to stay in my presence."

"maybe i will." he huffs, turning back around to the pond, where he had emerged from.

"wait, jeno!" renjun calls out, making jeno turn around in the process. "you can't just leave like this. we barely got to know him."

for a second, he could see jeno's eyes soften and jaemin automatically knew. he may be no child of aphrodite, but he knew love when he saw it. hell, he sees it all the time when donghyuck tries to be discreet about his obvious to god interest in mark, and mark straight out telling him about how donghyuck's a blessing sent from mother nature herself. those love struck fools.

"i'm sorry jun, but i have to get back anyways. the underworld can only operate so long without a king to oversee it." it was a weak excuse and jeno knew it, but he didn't want to be near this flowery sunshine guy that smelled way too strongly of the sun and flowers. the first time he laid eyes on him, he already knew he wouldn't like him one bit.

he was too bright, too smiley, too undeniably good.

renjun sighs disappointedly, "fine. i'll just stick around for a bit before heading back." and with that, jeno disappeared once more into the ground leaving only jaemin and renjun.

at first, renjun didn't really know what to say. jeno was supposed to be calming him down when he felt so nervous officially meeting jaemin like this, but nope. he just had to throw himself back into the underworld after one look at jaemin. that traitor.

"i'm—i'm sorry about him. he's just..." renjun scrunches up his brow in thought, trying to find the correct word to describe jeno. "not really fond of the other gods and goddesses, per se."

jaemin shakes his head in light protest. "it's fine. he's taking his leave anyways." maybe it was a bit petty of him to say it in such a mocking tone, but it was an eye for an eye here. jeno was rude to him first, and he wasn't one to back down from a fight, spring god or not.

after that whole fiasco, jaemin actually got to spend time with the true renjun that wasn't a cat. (though his cat form was cute, his mortal form was admittedly cuter.) the god himself was adorable in a way that wasn't just his size, but the way he pouts when he's concentrating on weaving delicate flower stems together. or how he doesn't fail to make jaemin feel like he wasn't the only damned god in this world beside his mother.

it was nice to be able to have another person relate to his struggles and empathize with him. for once, jaemin felt like he could breathe in the crisp air surrounding him instead of it suffocating him.

"if you don't mind me asking, what is the underworld like?"

the two were sitting in the field where jaemin was laying before that whole ordeal. jaemin was mindlessly blowing on a dandelion, awaiting renjun's answer.

"it's...it's different," renjun decides. "the skies are never this blue, but they still hold a mysterious beauty if you'd ask me. and what is the land of the dead without the dead?" he chuckles at his own statement, head resting on the bed of grass below him.

"true," jaemin agrees. "and can you really hear the tortured souls from the river styx?"

renjun raises an eyebrow at that. for someone who seems to be the epitome of all things innocent and bright, his questions are quite the opposite. but he answers the boy nonetheless, "no. you can't. if anything, the ride across the river styx is silent for the most part."

"oh. my mother always complains about how terrible the underworld is, but maybe that's just her trying to scare me." he pauses for a moment then looks at renjun with a worried expression. "wait, is it really that scary?"

it was amusing how jaemin was so curious about everything beyond this little world his mother had put him in, and at the same time renjun found the boy's curiosity endearing. from being in the underworld and practically surrounding himself with one of the most malicious souls and perpetual suffering, jaemin's childlike nature came as gentle as the sun's first rays or the cool wash of the tides onto the beach shores. a little light in the shrouded darkness that was below.

he gave jaemin a tiny smirk, "depends. are you easily frightened?"

jaemin ponders on the thought. was he easily frightened? he never really thought of the true dangers of the unknown before, just how much he wanted to dive into it head first. he was just so sick of being in this world his mother created for him, it seemed like fear was the last thing to be concerned about.

with a chest filled with confidence, jaemin answers, "no. i'm not." unless you count the time when jeno appeared before him, but then again that fear was temporary, as it was replaced by sheer annoyance right after. so no, he won't count it.

"you sound pretty confident considering all you've known is this." renjun gestures around the field they were in, and he was right.

the closest he has ever remotely got to somewhere outside of this place was when he was dragged to olympus by his mother to attend some big annual meeting between all the gods and goddesses. and to be honest, it's not as grand as it sounds. the 'meeting' was basically a contest of who fucked up more in a year, and jaemin never fails to feel major second hand embarrassment when his mother boasts about how she caused a whole famine, killing off an entire empire. a famine a year keeps the soil clear, she would remind him as he discreetly rolls his eyes.

"i think my excitement makes up for most of it, if i am to be frank with you." jaemin finally admits. "why are you asking anyway? plan to take me to mr. grumpy's lair or something?"

the look that renjun gave him was enough for his eyes to widen in shock. no way renjun was serious about this.

"only if you want to though, and it doesn't have to be long."

jaemin racks his brain for anything that could possibly go wrong with this and there's plenty, but he's willing to risk it for that small taste of sweet and decadent freedom. besides, who would give up an offer that included a cute god taking you on a field trip to the underworld? he sure isn't, that's for sure.

and so, that leaves jaemin with the beginnings of his little rebellion against his mother.

. * ･ ｡ﾟ☆🌺☆ﾟ. * ･ ｡ﾟ

aaaand that's it for now :) i hope it was okay cause i'm pretty sure i was half asleep when i wrote this but oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯