Inferna (Sigma)
>Chapter: Sigma<
Taemin scrunched up his nose as he took a seat on one of the chairs in the main hall of Jonghyun’s home.
The black haired god crossed his legs as he leaned back and stared at the ceiling for a moment. The head of the house looked at the younger with a sceptical gaze, but he kept mum for now.
It took Taemin a while before he spoke up.
The younger had also crossed his arms now, blowing air up along his face to get a strand of hair out of his eyes.
“They are going nuts”, the raven haired deity said eventually and a small smirk formed on his lips as he continued his tale
“They think you are keeping him hostage. Again”, a casual shrug of shoulders followed and Taemin finally looked at Jonghyun, his gaze more than a little amused at the other gods’ biased opinion.
Jonghyun could only sigh at this.
It wasn’t like he expected it to be any other way, if he was completely honest.
“I don’t care anymore”, he started and looked into Taemin’s bright golden eyes. They seemed a little less dull.
“It’s not like they will ever change.”
At that, Taemin raised his eyebrows with a questioning look in his orbs.
Apparently this hadn’t been something the messenger god had expected.
“Wasn’t it you for all those eons who insisted that they would come around one day?”
Jonghyun only shrugged again.
“You are right, Taem. I kept on hoping for eons. I’m getting tired of it.”
“You never got tired of waiting for Kibum to come around”
Jonghyun’s breath hitched as the black haired teased him with a knowing smirk. This argument was completely unfair and caught him off guard every time.
The brunet hated it.
“That’s something different”, he mumbled with averted eyes, trying to hide his reddening cheeks from the other.
“Because you love him?”
Jonghyun’s eyes widened for a moment as Taemin voiced these words. Sucking in his lower lip, he chewed on it for a moment out of nervousness, before he closed his eyes again and hummed in approval.
“Because I love him.”
Taemin only smiled at that and let a chuckle escape his throat.
“Oh I know”
Jonghyun grumbled lowly at the other’s obvious amusement
“It’s kind of hard to miss, you know?”
“Oh just - “, the god of the underworld whined, but then he caught himself just in time.
He cleared his throat and decided it was the best strategy to just drop the subject all together.
This was and had always been an argument he could not win.
But deep down, he was glad that Taemin was here to fight with him over it.
After regaining his composure, the brunet took another long breath before he went back to the actual topic at hand.
“What did you come here for?”, Jonghyun asked and looked at the messenger deity with interest and genuine curiosity.
The raven haired still kept his safe distance from him.
From the underworld in general, so the elder had a feeling that there must be a reason for the younger’s presence.
It was surely not to just check-up upon a friend, as much as Jonghyun would have been delighted at that.
The younger hummed for a moment and then shook his head in agreement.
“Kibum had a message to send”
The brunet’s interest got piqued at that immediately.
A message?
“To whom?”, he asked without batting an eyelash, but it only caused Taemin to snicker at the elder’s evident curiosity.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”, the deity wagged his eyebrows in a taunting manner.
And yes, Jonghyun wanted to know.
For whom did Kibum have a message and what was it about?
But he could already read in the black haired’s expression that he would not receive an answer to any of his questions.
“It’s not for you, so you won’t get to hear it”, Taemin said the exact words the elder had already expected.
But it did not hurt to try, right?
Jonghyun growled, and shook his head before releasing a sigh of defeat.
He did his job, Taemin did his job and they both stuck to the rules.
Nothing more, nothing less.
“And why are you here?”
Here, after Taemin had obviously already received the message from the blonde spring god who was currently in his own room, not ready to face the world, yet.
Why was he here with Jonghyun?
The winged deity released a loud sigh that spoke of his exhaustion.
“Just…”, he started and the brunet could hear his reluctance as the younger seemed to turn over words and phrases in his mind
“Did he… by any chance… try for rebirth?”
The lord of the dead bit his lip.
His senses stretched, but he received the same answer as always and it hurt him deep down to see his friend suffer like this.
Even though Taemin might not regard him as his best friend anymore… for Jonghyun the other would always hold the same spot in his heart.
“No.”, he answered with a quiet voice
“I’m sorry”, he added because there is nothing else he can really say.
“It’s okay”, the younger deity shrugged his shoulders with a fake grin on his lips
“One can keep on hoping, right?”
And Jonghyun sincerely wished that Taemin would not stop believing, like he had.
--
Spring came and Kibum returned to his duties.
But that did not mean that he also returned to Olympus.
Instead, the blonde made sure to come back every time the sun started to vanish behind the horizon, after Helios had finished his daily routine.
Jonghyun was overjoyed at the turn of events, but it also worried him greatly.
The brunet had never witnessed just how consuming the younger’s job really was.
It was the worst when Kibum had to slowly wake up the flowers and trees after their long slumber.
Investing that much energy all at once had caused the spring god to look pale, almost translucent, but, fortunately, the nectar Jonghyun had served him had helped almost immediately.
Nature had woken and was in full bloom by now.
But that did not stop the other from trying his hardest, going out every day to keep tabs on everything.
Give just a little more when it was needed.
And that was exactly what worried the elder, as it also meant that Kibum came back every evening completely exhausted and tired.
“You’re trying too hard”, Jonghyun commented one day after another of the spring god’s escapades. Meaning that he had spent the whole day outside, on Vanity’s back, making sure that everything was in order and at the same time trying to be stealthy about it.
When there was something Kibum wanted to avoid at all costs, then it was meeting his mother, goddess of harvest.
The younger looked ghastly white and the tiredness he radiated was almost painful to watch.
“I have to do this, Jonghyun”, Kibum answered with ease
“It’s my job. You know the rules”
Jonghyun only grunted at that.
“But you are pushing yourself too hard”, was his counter argument which the blonde only acknowledged with a simple smile
“Thank you for worrying”
The brunet had to avert his eyes for a moment as he could not take the fuzzy feeling of millions of bumblebees in his stomach.
“Of course I do”, he muttered under his breath but Kibum did not seem to have heard it
“I’m pushing myself for a reason you know?”, the younger sat down on the bed, while Jonghyun was still seated in the chair in front of his table
“I want them to see that I am fine on my own. I don’t need my parent’s guidance, I do not need to seek shelter at Olympus every day just so my mother can fuss over me”, he explained with a determined face
“My mother told me countless of times that the world is not safe for minor gods like me. That monsters could eat me, that mortals who have the special gift could catch me and tie me down with their tricks. But here I am”, Kibum shrugged his shoulders
“And I’m fine”
“That is debatable”, Jonghyun countered but the younger would have none of it
“I am exhausted yes, but not eaten by the hydra or a manticore”
The brunet chuckled at that and could only nod because yes, the blonde did have a point there.
“Besides…”, the spring god trailed off and couldn’t meet the elder’s eyes for a moment so Jonghyun pressed on
“Besides?”
Kibum exhaled, but then looked back up.
The younger was sitting at the end of the bed that was the closest to the brunet’s own seat.
If he reached out he could…
“Besides”, his thoughts get interrupted
“I thought… this is the easiest method to show them that they are wrong”
Wrong?
Jonghyun didn’t understand for a moment what the other was getting at, but the younger seemed to have been able to read his expression of bemusement and continued on
“I am doing my job, so you are not holding me captive”
Oh.
Jonghyun swallowed at that.
Kibum was trying his hardest to…
For him?
The brunet couldn’t stop himself from extending his hand so he was able to cup the blonde’s cheek gently.
This boy, really…
Jonghyun’s lips formed a grateful smile, while he caressed these high cheekbones with his thumb in a languid motion.
“It’s fine”, he whispered
“I don’t care what they think about me anymore”, he tried to soothe the younger’s worries
“But I do”, came the swift retort and in that moment the younger looked so utterly tired that the brunet reached behind himself to take the cup that was placed there. It was filled to the brim with nectar and he handed it over to the blonde in a fluid motion.
Kibum accepted it gladly and took a sip from the divine drink that would restore some of his energy and power.
He handed it back, and got up from the soft woollen mattress a moment later.
Jonghyun barely had the time to put the goblet back on the table before he felt a soft and slightly moist kiss being pressed on his forehead.
He fought the gasp that was about to jump from his throat only to be met with one of those breathtaking smiles that Kibum gifted him with far too seldom for his liking.
Words burned on his tongue, but the blonde is faster to speak up.
“And I know you care too”
Jonghyun froze at those words.
Though he could not be sure if it was because of the truth that these words held or at the proximity between him and the spring good.
Kibum was so close, still hovering over him after the kiss he had gotten.
And Jonghyun was not sure if time was suddenly passing in slow motion or on high speed.
For a split second, Kibum is leaning their foreheads together, but the moment passed by far too fast for the brunet to even realise it had happened as only a blink of an eye later, the spring god had detached himself and opened the door that let out into the corridors.
He has already stepped out with one foot as Jonghyun shot up and reached out to get a grip on the younger’s wrist which was still adorned with the golden bracers the elder had gotten him.
There are a million things that floated by in his mind, but every single one of them disappeared into thin air as he had pulled on the blonde’s arm and had welcomed him with a kiss.
His lips press against Kibum’s and the touch feels so warm, so genuine that he wondered for a moment if it was really happening.
His hands had long wrapped themselves around the blonde’s waist and he swore that his heart stopped beating when he felt Kibum kiss back with hesitant motions.
It did not even last that long, just gentle presses of their mouths to savour what they had in this very moment.
When they broke apart, Jonghyun was out of breath because honestly, who remembers to breathe through their nose when they are kissing the one person they love and yearn for?
“I don’t care anymore”, the brunet uttered between his breaths
“I don’t care anymore what they think about me as long as… as long as you know the real me”
Kibum looked shocked for a moment, taking in the words Jonghyun had said, but then his lips bloomed into a full smile that sent the lord of the underworld to Elysium and back.
“I think I do”, he whispered back and leaned his head against the brunet’s shoulder
“The real Hades can be quite charming”
Said god only felt dumbfounded and completely spellbound by the younger’s confession and the fact that the blonde had not pushed him away yet.
“Thank you”, Jonghyun uttered and was amazed that his voice did not break
“I’m so sorry for coming onto you like this after…”, in fact, the god of the underworld felt horrible at the realisation that he might have forced himself on the younger.
Kibum, however, placed a finger against the brunet’s plush lips
“It’s okay”, he said in a calm voice
“Because I know it’s you”
Their eyes met for a moment and Jonghyun could make out a question that was lingering in the back of the other’s mind, but the younger did not mention it.
Instead, he leaned back against the elder’s shoulder and seemed to enjoy their closeness for a while.
It was almost like Kibum was making sure that it was really him, that it was really Jonghyun here with him and not another trick, another imposter.
“It’s me…”, the elder added for emphasis, his voice barely above a whisper, but it broke the spell regardless.
The spring god hummed and freed himself from the brunet’s grasp gently.
Not that Jonghyun would have stopped him - no, he let the other slip out of his arms easily.
“I will go and rest”, Kibum said and waited for a moment in the doorway.
It was like he was expecting the elder to say something, but the brunet kept his mouth shut as he had no idea what the blonde might have been waiting for.
The younger deity just smiled at him again and excused himself then with a small nod.
Jongyhun stayed rooted to his spot, even long after Kibum had probably reached his own chamber.
What… had been on the blonde’s mind?
“Master, maybe you should have asked him to stay”
Jonghyun turned sideways, and was shocked to see three pairs of eyes blinking back at him with obvious amusement glistening in the Erinyes’ orbs.
“Shush!”, he told them
“He was sexually harassed not too long ago, how could I even ask such a thing?”, he argued, but the three girls only roll their eyes at him.
“Maybe that is exactly why he might want you to be there, my lord”, Sooyoung, the youngest of his shadow creatures spoke up
Jonghyun bit his lower lip at that.
Was Sooyoung hinting that Kibum might be scared?
Felt alone and… vulnerable?
The brunet swallowed loudly at the possibility that Kibum had been shouldering his inner pain alone for almost six moons.
He looked back up and met their gazes.
“It’s too late now to follow him, right?”
“I fear so, Master”, Seunghwan answered on her sisters’ behalf
Jonghyun only groaned at that.
There was still so much left for him to learn.
Kibum adapted rather quickly, once he had been over his phase of general rejection and resentment. He had learned about him. About the underworld, and about so many more things he grew curious about.
And here he was, Hades, so lost at the spring god’s mere gaze.
So lost at the topic of love.
He had never learned how to handle a lover, let alone an almost lover.
And the fact that his Erinyes, spirits of punishment, were the ones who told him what to do, giving him endless advices, peeved him a little.
Jonghyun felt overwhelmed, but he wanted to learn and to rise on his own.
Though he was grateful.
They would just never hear it from him. His pride was stopping him from doing so for the time being.
So he closed the door with a loud huff, slamming it slightly louder than necessary to escape the girls’ wiggling eyebrows and knowing stares.
Next time, he promised to himself, he would know what to answer to the question that stayed unsaid.
--
The next morning arrived with Helios chariot, radiant and blinding as ever.
A new day and Jonghyun was fully set on making it up to the other.
To apologise and ask him what was wrong.
Just… to be there.
Granting someone some space was good, he told himself, but sometimes it was not what they really needed.
If he could believe the words of his Erinyes.
And this time, the brunet was majorly sure that their words had been nothing but the truth.
However, as Tyche would have it, Kibum had already left with Vanity by the time Jonghyun regained consciousness.
It was rather unsettling and upsetting for the lord of the underworld when Joohyun told him of the blonde’s absence, but it was to be expected of the spring god.
Pushing himself too hard as always, Jonghyun had muttered under his breath as the eldest Erinye had squeezed his arm in reassurance.
“He will be back by nightfall”
And to say that the brunet had been utterly nervous and just downright insufferable for the whole day would probably be the understatement of the century.
He had been pacing around the great hall, completely ignoring the world around him in his strange antics.
The sisters had even contemplated to go and fetch Kibum, if only to make Jonghyun calm down and find back to his normal self.
They had decided against it, in the end, if only to cackle at their master’s misery.
When the sky slowly turned orange and light red, Jonghyun finally stopped and came to an abrupt halt.
“He is back”, he uttered and a moment later he vanished through the shadow of the dining table.
The brunet popped back up on the meadow to welcome the spring god home, but he was driven here mainly out of worry.
He had felt Vanity walk through the shadows, carrying a far too exhausted Kibum on her back.
This time he had really overdone it.
Jonghyun shifted his weight from left to right and a moment later the black mare stepped out of the olive tree’s shadow.
Kibum looked ghastly white atop of his black horse.
“Jonghyun?”, came his surprised voice and the brunet nodded
Just to make sure that he was not scaring the other did he use his power to walk the shadow from his current spot to the same tree where they had emerged from only moments ago.
The dark matter released him and Kibum’s form relaxed visibly.
“It’s me”
Those were exactly the same words that broke the spell for a second time and sent Kibum tumbling into his arms.
Jonghyun gasped as he felt how hot the deity felt in his arms.
He was burning up from the lack of energy in his body and the brunet’s heart sunk at the sight in front of him.
Kibum was holding on to him, his fingers clenching the fabric of his black top as he tried to regulate his breathing.
Sweat was dripping from his forehead and the lord of the underworld wrapped his arms around the younger to prevent him from collapsing completely.
“You idiot”, he found himself scolding the blonde, who only released a breathless chuckle
“You completely overdid it”
Kibum hummed and shrugged his shoulders weakly, before burying his face at Jonghyun’s warm neck.
“I’m sorry. I made you worry…again. It’s just…”, the younger hesitated for the blink of an eye before continuing
“I don’t sleep well these days.”
“Don’t be sorry”, Jonghyun interrupted him at once and tightened his hold around the blonde spring god
“It’s me who should be sorry”
“Jonghyun… It’s not your fault”, Kibum tried to appease him
The brunet only sighed.
“I will make sure that you sleep soundly tonight”, he promised and let them fall backwards into the dark matter to bring them to the elder’s room.
The blonde did not look well at all and he was in desperate need of some nectar to lower the fever he was developing out of sheer exhaustion (It was not that gods could become sick like humans. But it was a natural reaction to being tired and void of energy).
Kibum let the elder tend to him, and for that was Jonghyun more than grateful. He even let him feed the nectar, wipe away his sweat and place him under the woollen covers to keep him warm. The spring god leaned into the touch of the cool linen cloth that the brunet used to cleanse him a last time before they called it a night, and, again, the elder found himself staring at the other for the umpteenth time.
Jonghyun kept his promise and made sure that the blonde found sleep that night, holding Kibum close to his body the whole time.
>Chapter: Sigma END<
Notes:
Tyche - goddess of luck and chances
A/N:
I need to breathe because JongKey will be the end of me TOT~~
I had so many feelings while I was writing this, so I hope you guys feel the same?
They are so close now! ><
After 30 chapters of waiting OTL
And guyssssssss~~!!
Did you already leave your prompts for the SHINee fic fest I already linked in the last chapter?
Please have a look and leave many, many prompts for them!! LINK
Ahaha you would make me very happy, because I want to write a JongKey and a TaeKai for them~ <3
Thank you for listening!!
And even more, I feel grateful for all the amazing comments I received on the last chapter!!
Thank you!!
Also I made a mistake and told you the next chapter (this) would be Tau when it wasn’t ahah no one of you corrected me ; P
See you guys soon!