Renjun woke up to screaming. It wasn’t the type of screaming that was happy either. It was screaming because of terror and horror and everything that Renjun deemed bad. To make it worse, the screams were coming from right next to him. 

“Chenle?” He whispered, trying to reach out to his boyfriend only to get slapped in the face by an arm. “Chenle!” Panic filled his body as he hurriedly sat up and tried to make out the younger’s face in the dim sunlight. Taking a glance at his bedside clock, he realise that it was only around six in the morning and he didn’t know how long Chenle had been like this. Guilt overtook the pit in his stomach at the thought. He began to shake Chenle gently, trying to get him to wake up but only got hit more in the process. Huffing, Renjun did the only thing that his brain that was a good idea in his barely awake state: he climbed on top of Chenle to pin down the other’s flailing arms to preserve his bruise-free skin.

“Chenle, you have to wake up. You’re having a bad dream,” He said a bit louder to the other while tapping his foot against Chenle’s leg as he sat on the other’s thighs to keep the other from kicking. The other had thankfully quieted down but still whimpered every few seconds, making Renjun feel helpless. He tried not to think about what the position they were in would suggest if someone walked in on them at that moment but quickly realised that Huang Renjun lived alone. He leaned closer to the other who was whimpering and seemed to be crying silently. 

“Chenle…please, wake up,” Renjun whispered, hoping the other would hear him. He didn’t want the other to keep having this nightmare if it did this to Chenle. If it made Renjun feel this fear towards the other’s wellbeing. After a few moments of Renjun whispering and trying to get the other to wake up, a groan was heard and he could see Chenle’s eyes slowly open in the dim light. 

“Ge…?” The younger asked as he looked at the older who was on top of him. Renjun saw Chenle look at his arms that were pinned above his head and looked at Renjun questionably. The disorientation was evident in his eyes. Observations of rich people #30: They are very disoriented after nightmares. 

“Ge? Are you trying to do something here?” Chenle asked, face dead serious - no disorientation, interestingly enough - with an eyebrow raised which caused Renjun to panic and quickly get off his boyfriend. 

“I was not! You were having a bad dream and hitting me when I tried waking you up!” Renjun practically shouted as he watched the younger sit up and look at him, expression not being able to read by Renjun.

“Are you sure, ge?” Chenle asked once more, slyly grabbing the blanket to bring it up to his face and probably cover his body from the older. Renjun could feel his face burning from embarrassment. 

“I WAS NOT TRYING TO DO ANYTHING OTHER THAN STOP YOU FROM HITTING ME, OKAY?! I’M NOT THAT KIND OF PERSON!” Renjun shouted and covered his face in his hands as he flopped back on the bed, hiding his embarrassed form from the younger under the blanket. He heard Chenle laugh as he moved closer. 

“Hey…you know I was only joking,” Chenle whispered, joining Renjun under the blanket and pulling the older closer, trying to coax Renjun into showing his face. Renjun let out a whine.

“I know but still…it’s embarrassing,” Renjun whispered in reply, finally showing his face and pouting slightly. Chenle simply smiled softly in return.

“Even if it’s embarrassing, it should be fine. We trust each other after all,” Chenle replied, pulling Renjun to hug him. Renjun nodded in response and hugged the younger back. 

“Just don’t leave me like you did in the nightmare,” Chenle sleepily said as his eyes fluttered shut and Renjun kissed the younger’s nose, smiling after.

“I won’t. I’ll always be with you.” As long as you want me to.

~ ~ ~

“So um…do you mind explaining why you’re here with your boyfriend, the siblings from the Japanese journalist firm, my landlord and my boyfriend’s brother?” Renjun asked a certain light blue haired model a few hours later when he exited their bedroom. Jeno and Jaemin were sitting on the floor, Yuta and Hina were both lying down on the couch while talking softly in Japanese and Sicheng and Kun were sitting on the armrest of the couch, glaring at the two. He could feel Chenle’s curious eyes on the six people who were in front of him as well.

“So…Chenle…where did you go last night?” Kun asked his brother in Chinese, tone icy and glare evident. Chenle took a step back.

“I…went out…” Renjun heard the other answer feebly and Kun sighed in response.

“We talked about this, Le! You can’t just run out! What if mother found out? No - what if father found out?” Kun asked while walking forward slowly and waving his arms around to emphasis his point. Renjun felt Chenle snaking his hands into his own. Really? He wants to hold hands now?

“Well…I don’t really care about what father thinks anymore, Kun-ge,” Chenle bravely said as he held up their joined hands to Kun who was left gaping like a fish. 

“Are…are you saying that…?” Kun stuttered and even Sicheng was staring at the two in shock. 

“Yes, ge. I…I’m dating Renjun-ge,” Chenle replied, sounding like he himself didn’t believe that he was dating the older and to be honest, Renjun couldn’t believe it either. “Is there a problem, Kun-ge?” Chenle asked, eyes moving to stare directly into his older brother’s eyes. 

“No…I mean, I’m dating a boy too…”

“Not that. With the social hierarchy. Any problems?” Chenle asked, tone replicating his brother’s that was directed at him a few minutes ago.

“With me? No. With mother? No. With father? A lot,” Kun replied and sighed, turning to Sicheng and resting his head on the other’s shoulder, already knowing what his younger brother’s reply would be. Sicheng’s arms immediately went to wrap around Kun’s frame and Renjun knew that the two were not just friends with platonic feelings but he guessed that he could ask Sicheng another time.

“Then there’s no problem,” Chenle easily said and smiled, finally greeting the other four in the room in Korean. 

“Chenle, you really scared us last night…don’t do it again,” Hina said worriedly, eyebags evident and proving the amount of sleep that she had received the night before.

“Yeah and you, Huang Renjun, were barely of any help!” Jaemin shouted, getting up from his position on the floor and stomping towards Renjun who only gripped Chenle’s hand tighter. 

“Jaemin-ah, calm down!” Yuta warned before Jaemin gripped the front of Renjun’s jumper and started to violently shake him.

“We did not call you for you to go out of the house at midnight! Do you even know how worried all of us were?! We get you like the guy but that doesn’t mean that you should go and pull a stunt like that!” Jaemin shouted, tears beginning to build up in his eyes. 

“Jaemin-“ He tried to stop the other but Jaemin only shook his head.

“No! NO! Let me finish! First, you go and withdraw yourself from us because your freaking ball of sunshine was literally taken away! Then, you don’t leave the house for a month unless it’s school, you barely eat and you didn’t even fill up the fridge! Renjun, you haven’t turned up to any of your shifts for this past month and it’s driving Doyoung-hyung and Taeil-hyung crazy with worry! I bet your fridge doesn’t even have food right now!” Jaemin shouted as he shrugged off Jeno’s hand that had come into contact with his shoulder in an attempt to calm the younger down.

“I’m not done yet, Jeno! After you lose an incredible amount of weight and you finally go out with Donghyuck, you don’t even eat the ramyun he bought you and decide that you’re going to be an and coop yourself up in your house without letting anyone in! I had to ask Sicheng-hyung for a copy of your place just to ensure that you didn’t die over that course of time!” Was I really making all of them feel like that?

“But Chenle was-“ Not safe.

“This isn’t about Chenle anymore! This is about you, Renjun! You! What would we do if you died because of starvation, huh? What would we do if you began to live in your own filth, huh? I heard that Hina kept doing your laundry once you were asleep but you never noticed! Why?! Oh yeah, too busy moping over freaking Zhong Chenle!” Jaemin took a deep breath while closing his eyes before glaring at Renjun once more. Renjun noticed that Jaemin had started shaking. “Then…then, we finally get some news on Zhong Chenle only to find that he ran away from home. When we tell you - one of the people we thought would help us - you go off on your own little journey, find the brat but you don’t bother to let us know that both of you are safe and alive! You could have called us or texted us to let us know that you’re alive! Why can’t you take a step back and see how worried we all were?! You can be heartbroken but you don’t have to be an !” Jaemin finally let go of Renjun’s jumper and almost fell if Jeno wasn’t there to catch him. That was the moment that Renjun realised he was gripping Chenle’s hand so hard that the other’s fingers were turning blue. After releasing some of his hold on Chenle’s hand, Renjun let out a breath that he didn’t even know he was holding.

“What Jaemin was trying to say was that you need to let us know about your wellbeing, Renjun. If you had texted me or Sicheng, we would have gladly paid for your own food and-“ Renjun couldn’t handle Yuta’s kind words anymore. They didn’t understand how hard it was for him.

“And let me to continue freeloading?” Yeah that’s right…I don’t do anything around here…I couldn’t even keep myself alive if Jaemin hadn’t come here frequently to feed me…

“Well…no. We would tell you to go back to work so that you can actually afford the food yourself.”

“I’m sorry but I couldn’t bring myself to go anywhere other than school. I’m s