Against all odds (NoRenMin)

11

After the party Renjun tries to do all the cleaning but they insist he's off the clock and are working just as hard to clean up. As they get close to the end Renjun is deep in his thoughts, both notice but figure if he wants to talk he will.

"Jaemin, I didn't say this before but the food was amazing. You are such a good cook." Jaemin smiles.
"Thank you, im happy you joined us. Did you have a good time?" He smiles softly.
"I did. Your friends are nice." It goes quiet again before Renjun clutches the edge of the counter.

"Can we talk? I have something to tell you guys. I mean, now that you know the truth about me I want to tell you everything." He says with an obvious tremble in his voice.
"Of course." Jeno says softly. They lead him to the living room to sit on the couch as they each take a side, he feels comforted by them in this way.

Before he gets any words out he starts sobbing. On instinct both Jeno and Jaemin grab his hands.
"Take your time ok?" Jaemin whispers. After a few more minutes and some deep breaths he begins.

"When I was done with high school I had no interest in going to college, honestly I barely graduated. My parents hated me for this. They always pushed me to study, and I did, I just wasn't good at relaying what I learned on paper. I lived for a few years after with their abuse, they were never physical but they told me every day what a disappointment I was. I was only working part time jobs and could never quite make enough to get away.

My friend Yangyang, I miss him." He says quietly.
"He told me what he did to earn extra income. I've never been one to be ashamed of my body, so I figured why not? I was dancing for two years. I made a good name for myself. People would come just to see me, they started paying a lot for lap dances. I never really liked doing them because I liked to keep my distance. Most of the time people respected the rules and didn't touch, but on occasion I had to have someone kicked out. It was going really good. I was almost to the point where I could live comfortably on my own, I had even started looking at apartments." He takes a deep breath as Jeno rubs his arm for comfort.

"That night I was doing my Batman routine, sounds silly I know, but it was a crowd favorite. I was wearing my mask, I always kept it on for the whole performance, it didn't matter if they saw my face, they weren't there for that really, and my regulars knew me anyway. It was one of my best performances yet. The crowd was so in to it and as usual I got multiple high paying lap dance requests. I always do them in a different costume so now my face wasn't covered. By my third one I was exhausted, I had only two more to go before I got a break. When I walked in, there he was." He chuckles bitterly.

"I'm not sure if he was more pissed about me knowing he was secretly gay or the fact that his own kid turned him on to the point that he wanted a private show. I ran out and went to the dressing rooms to change and as I left out the back he was waiting for me. He took me to an empty parking lot and beat me, then he threw me in the car and I thought he was going to just kill me then but he threw me out and told me he would have more fun hunting and killing me." He stops talking, his heart is beating rapidly in his chest, he's quite surprised he made it through all of that without losing his mind.

Jaemin carefully pulls him into his lap and wraps his strong arms around him and that's when it happens. He loses all self control as he sobs into his neck. Jeno lays his head on him as he cries along with him. They sit this way for quite a long time. Jaemin is somewhere between crying his eyes out to complete rage but he stays a calming force though for him and Jeno as he holds them both through this.

When Renjun finally calms he lets out a small chuckle.
"Is it weird that I miss it? The dancing I mean, not really the being naked part but just having people love me, even if it was just for their pleasure. I still felt wanted, something I've never felt at home." Jaemin clears his throat, trying not to cry.