featherbrain ☆ l.jn ☆ ayakashi series | ?

There was a commotion on the first floor of the café, you could hear some shouts as you sat with Jeno on the couch upstairs. The voices were followed by someone scrambling up the stairs. Despite your mind and body feeling drained and weak from the multitudes of Wraiths you had banished, you still stood to face the newcomer, determined eyes locking onto Yuta as you kept holding Jeno's hand. And for a moment you were swept away by your own emotions, having not seen the man in so long. Jeno's back was to the doorway, and the pain in his wing kept him from behind able to turn, so he instead looked up at you for confirmation as to who it was. You broke eye contact with Yuta to nod to Jeno, then turned your hard gaze back onto the Kitsune.

"Y/N, you're..." Yuta breathed out, worry immediately snapping into anger. "You lied to me! You made Renjun call me and lie to me!"

"Yuta!" You called out to him, letting go of Jeno's hand to rush over and stop the Kitsune as he turned to leave.

You grasped onto his forearm, "Yuta, please."

He thankfully stopped, staring at you with a frank look as he waited for you to continue.

"I'm not going to apologize for lying to you, because that would be a lie. I'm not sorry about lying to you, not if—" you broke eye contact look back to the couch, eyes landing on the injured wing sadly sagging lower than the other, trembling and shuddering again. "Please help him."

Yuta followed your gaze to Jeno, then drew it back to you, sighing and asking quietly, "You love him?"

Your chest tightened, the word unfamiliar, but maybe not exactly inaccurate. Maybe you were in love with Lee Jeno, but this wasn't the time for that.

Focusing on Yuta's golden eyes, you replied simply, "Don't you?"

Yuta shook your hands off him, and for a heartbreaking second, you thought he was still going to leave. But instead, his gaze fixed on the Tengu, and he took slow steps across the loft. He came around the stand in front of Jeno, and you watched on with bated breath.

"You got yourself roughed up pretty bad, featherbrain," Yuta chastised him half-heartedly, kneeling in front of the couch.

"Yeah," Jeno agreed.

"But it was for Y/N, right? You were protecting her?"

"Yeah," he repeated. "I was. I am. I will."

You sucked your bottom lip between your teeth, biting down on it as Jeno's simple words tugged and twisted your heart into new shapes.

Yuta nodded solemnly, reaching out towards Jeno's injured wing. He hummed for a moment as he looked it over. After a moment, he spoke again, "You know the drill."

Jeno nodded.

The Kitsune lifted his hand up to the wound, gently pressing his fingers to it. You couldn't see very clearly what he was doing, but you watched Jeno's wing intensely. It shuddered once more, then righted itself, standing as proud as its twin.

"There," Yuta announced quietly, then waved you over. "Come on, let me heal up those nasty cuts of yours too, Y/N."

Walking over to the couch, you saw that all of Jeno's wounds were gone, but the pained look on his face was still there. You knelt down beside Yuta, then he brought his hand over your cheek and arm next, the injuries quickly disappearing.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there," he murmured.

Bringing his hand down but not moving from his spot, he sighed. The three of you were quiet for a moment.

"I miss him, Yuta," Jeno blurted out hurriedly. "I miss LeLe."

"I know, Jen, me too."

Yuta heaved himself up on the couch and pulled the Tengu into his arms, hands cradling his head against his chest. Jeno clung onto the Kitsune's arms as if they were his only grounding to reality. The older man didn't seem to care at all about the younger man sniffling and sobbing all over his bare arms, stroking his hair soothingly.

"I'm so s—"

Yuta firmly cut his apology short, curling his fingers in Jeno's hair as he clutched him to his chest, "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have put the blame on you, you were just a kid. That was so unfair of me. I was the one who couldn't save him. I was the older brother who was supposed to be protecting him. Me, not you."

"Yut—"

But the Kitsune wasn't done, continuing to weep as he confessed, "I was the big brother. You were just the little brother, Jen. And you still are to me. Still my knuckleheaded little brother that I should've been protecting. I'm sorry, I failed LeLe and I failed you."

"I forgive you, Yuta."

"And please, Jen, please forgive yourself as well."

"I already have."

You were suddenly strikingly aware that this was not a conversation to be looked in on by you. Right as you went to slowly stand to give them some privacy, someone called out your name.

It was Jeno, and you looked at him attentively. His eyes red and watery as they focused on you.

"Y/N, you're crying too... come here," he chuckled, reaching his arms out for you.

Bringing a hand up to touch under your eyes, you hadn't even realized that you'd been crying watching them. You looked down at your wet fingers in shock, letting Jeno wipe at your tears with his thumbs. Yuta stood up from the couch, allowing Jeno to guide you up there as he quietly cooed over your still falling tears. The kitsune returned with a box of tissues he'd grabbed from somewhere in the loft. The Tengu thanked him quietly, pulling a couple tissues out to now properly dry up your tears.

"Thank you, Y/N," Yuta said genuinely, gently ruffling up your hair. "For bringing my little brother back to me and helping him when I didn't."

You were speechless, too many emotions bubbling up inside you to compute properly.

He seemed to understand, though, smiling brightly as he said, "I'm going to go downstairs, the others could probably use some help."

"Renjun said Jungwoo could barely remember his own name," Jeno informed him.

"Ah, brain damage, my specialty. Got plenty of practice healing that between you and—" he stopped, seeming to get choked up for a moment before forcing a bittersweet smile and continuing on. "I got plenty of practice healing brain damage between you and LeLe."

And with that, Yuta disappeared down the staircase.

"Like Yuta said, thank you, Y/N," Jeno murmured, setting the soiled tissues aside before he brought you into a tight embrace.

"You're welcome," you whispered back, afraid to speak any louder in the quiet space. "It makes me happy, to see you happy."

"Y/N, I—"

"No, Jeno," you cut him off, having a hunch about what he was going to say. "I feel the same but... not tonight. We've both gone through enough for tonight. We'll do that another time."

He chuckled against you, once again cocooning his wings around you, "Okay, yeah, some other time."

Exhaustion spread throughout your body, and you felt sleep crawling through your veins like a thick syrup. Warmth and contentment swirled in along with it as you were happy to stay right where you were forever.