Taemin roughly applied the blush to Ren’s tear worn cheeks, hiding the stains as best he could to alleviate the smearing the blonde had already caused.

“He loves you Ren ...,” the brunette mumbled, doing his best to alleviate the emotional pain the other felt while keeping his makeup in one piece, “I swear he does … but he’s a man and our situation is unique … please … please don’t cry beautiful … he loves you, he does, he’s just scared to tell you.”

“He’s with her,” Ren cried out, his mascara already ruining the work Tae had tried so hard to keep together, “he ing brought her here … he brought her here to see me … to tease me … how can you swear he loves me when he’d bring her?”

“Look at her and look at you,” He responded calmly, taking Ren’s chin in his soft hand to make sure they were making eye-contact, “she’s a mess; her skirts to short, her pumps are out of season, and that shade of brown looks like an ugly purple. You think she’s competition? Please, piecing your face back together is more competition then that disaster.”

Ren giggled, but the happy moment was disturbed by a hiccup while the tears returned to destroy anything Taemin could do. .

At this point he was done trying to do this if tears were just going to rip apart his hard work and make his job that much harder. If he put one more layer of make-up over the younger’s face, he was going to turn him into a full blown drag queen and that wasn’t the title he wanted his friend to bear this evening.

Instead he tried a different tactic, and let the blonde spill his tears as freely as possibly while he wet a small, burgundy clothe at the nearby sink. He glanced into the mirror, adjusted the bright blue corset, and let his fingers sift through his own long brown hair. His make-up was flawless … but it was always flawless … he’d mastered this art as he mastered everything else he did.

“I’m just a ,” Ren mumbled finally, his sniffling subsiding while he let his die.

“Yahh!” Taemin roared in response, tired of this self-pity, “Don’t say that. Don’t ever say that because you know that it isn’t true for one second.”

The blonde was slightly taken aback by his friend’s reaction, but merely went back into his pitiful state after the initial shock. The older let out a puff of breath before finally walking over to the spot Ren was seated and forcefully turned his seat to the brightly lit mirror he had just admired himself in.

He took the small rag and began to wipe away the blonde’s make-up completely, exposing his bare face to the mirror ahead.

He took it off bit by bit, first erasing the multiple layers of blush before moving onto the light lavender eye-shadow that sat just on-top of the black liner. He wiped away the obnoxiously bright pink lipstick and let the blonde’s naturally red lips appear once again. Finally, bunching up the tip of the towel, he carefully cleaned off as much of the charcoal black eyeliner as he possibly could, leaving Ren’s bare face to stare at them in the mirror.

“See this,” Taemin begun, highlighting Ren’s face with his gloved hand, “this is you. This is you natural, This is the beauty that can never be taken away from you.”

Ren examined himself in the mirror, taking in his high cheek bones and his naturally ridged lips, admiring his own big eyes and long lashes.

“Baekho has seen this side of you; he’s woken up next to you when you appear like this in the morning, when you don’t realize he’s looking. He’s seen you outside of the costume … he’s seen you when you smile and he’s held you when you’ve cried. He’s been here every night to make sure that no one else can have you and not once has he failed to keep you safe, has he?” Taemin was now playing with the blonde’s beautiful hair, allowing his nimble fingers to braid and unbraid the length to keep him focused.

“You’re right …,” he said softly, still taking in his own appearance.

“We all have secrets Ren … you know that. In the same way that you don’t tell your family that this is how you provide them with income, he doesn’t tell his that he’s in love with you, the beautiful boy he’s been with for almost a year now. So yes, he brought her here. He had too. Maybe tonight she demanded to be taken out and this was the only way for him to see you. Maybe she demanded to see his Mistress and he wanted her to admire your beauty first before judging you for what you do. There are infinite possibilities Ren, you know this.”

“But Taemin,” he whined, his voice still not rising above a whisper, “I’m just a Lady Boy. I’m a Kathoey. Nothing more … nothing less. How could he love me? How could he feel anything for me?”

“Ren … boy or girl …. You’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen,” the brunette begun, starting to reapply the blonde’s blush for what felt like the hundredth time, “He doesn’t want you because he thinks you’re a woman. You two are beyond that point, even you must admit this. And he doesn’t want you because he thinks that he can change you .. if that was the case, he would have given up months ago.”

Taemin avoided eye-shadow tonight, deciding that he would allow the beauty a more natural look for tonight’s performance. When he was naturalist was when he was most stunning and tonight, he planned for the blonde to be the center of attention.

“He wants you for you … no matter who or what you are … don’t take it for granted,” Taemin lightly put on Ren’s eye-liner, applying a cat-eyed edge to enhance his appearance of feline slinkiness, “Don’t cry about it Ren … I swear it’s all gonna happen … he’s gonna tell you how he feels.”

The blonde nodded, still silently admiring the person staring back at him in the mirror.

“He’s going to tell you those three magnificent words and it’s all gonna be okay,” Tae was finished with his makeup finally, just finishing with the more natural pink lipstick before pushing Ren’s hair back onto his shoulders, allowing it to cascade down like it was before, “You look as gorgeous as you did the first time I met you … I’m sure he feels the same.”

“Thank you Taemin,” Ren responded coolly, his voice finally finding some strength again, “you’re like the sister I never had.”

“So are you,” the brunette responded,  his smile painting his lips again while he placed the pink headdress on Ren’s blonde tresses, “Now go out there and steal his heart again like you do every night.”

~~

A/N: ~Slinky Minki~ I was inspired by the Lana Del Rey song and I couldn’t help but write this little drabble; I won’t lie, I really enjoy the concept and I've thought of it maybe becoming a one-shot, but I’m not sure how much I can expand on this other than what’s been written. Anywho, thank you for reading!