lullabies

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lullabies
au!ontae; g
angst
549 words
prompt

“He hasn’t been sleeping properly for days now.” Jinki pressed his lips together as he watched the young man writhe on the bed as if in pain. He longed to smooth that furrowed brow, to wipe away the hints of tears on each eye, to hold the hands grasping desperately onto the sheets. But he couldn’t. “Taemin-ah,” he whispered against the boy’s hair without knowing if Taemin could even feel his presence in the room. “Can he hear me?” he asked the other entity in the room. “Can he even feel me?” Jonghyun stepped away from the shadow of the corner of the room, sighing as he watched Jinki run his fingers through the boy’s hair and failing. “That depends. Some people can feel our presence. Some do not. I’m not sure if he is sensitive enough to feel you.” Jinki nodded in understanding before leaning over to whisper into Taemin’s ear once more. He didn’t know if he will hear, but no matter what he wanted to speak with the boy. “Taemin-ah. Don’t do this. Release me, please.” As if hearing Jinki’s words, Taemin sniffed loudly against his pillow and rolled onto his back, eyes open as he stared at the ceiling. “Jinki-hyung, I can’t sleep,” he muttered, voice heavy from crying. “Hyung, help me. I keep thinking of you and I can’t sleep. Even in my dream you….you’d appear and I’d wake up and you’re not there.” Letting out a breath, Taemin raised an arm over his eyes, hiding the new tears forming in his eyes. Jinki let out a suffering breath, yet no air was released from his mouth. Just a sound of a sigh escaped him as he sat on Taemin’s bed, trying to touch the boy but not feeling anything. Slowly, he started a hum of a song he had learned a long time ago. It was a slow song about nightingales, and he had taught it to Taemin when they were kids. Soon, he was whispering the words, his voice almost muffled by the wind passing through the window. Still, he carried the tune, his once-ringing voice softened yet overflowing with emotion. As he sang, he watched Taemin’s shoulders relax, his arm slipping from over his eyes as he settled comfortably on the bed. His eyes fluttered closed, edges slightly swollen from crying, and his mouth parted slightly as his breathing steadied. “Hyung,” he muttered before slipping into sleep, as if he wasn’t suffering from lack of sleep a while ago. “Jinki-hyung,” he whispered before falling into his dreams. Jinki ended his song, swallowing a lump in his throat as he passed a hand over Taemin’s fringe. If not for his swollen eyes and red cheeks, he might’ve looked peaceful. He would’ve stared more, but he felt a phantom hand on his shoulder. “We have to go.” Jonghyun said, helping Jinki to his feet. “You’ve been doing this for Taemin for two weeks now, don’t you think it’s time to leave him so he’ll heal on his own?” Jinki took one look at the sleeping boy before bitterly smiling. “Maybe. I wish I knew how to stop, though.”