"You guys like me?"
The other boys looked at Renjun with shocked faces. Was Renjun that clueless?
Jaemin and Jeno looked at each other, dumbfounded.
Donghyuck was the first to snort at the elder.
"They've been giving you the heart eyes ever since the old police station."
Renjun was aflame. Embarrassment was not the look right now.
"Injoon, are you really that blind?"
Renjun was shocked at Jaemin's words, still not knowing quite what to say or even feel.
He was a mix up of emotions. Part elation, because he liked them too, but also part frustration because weren't they supposed to like each other?
"B-but aren't you guys together?" He hated that he stuttered, showing his slight cowardice.
The older two were kind of stunned. How would Renjun know?
"Where'd you get that?"
"W-well, you see-"
"O.K., O.K., don't harass the boy, just confess what you are, whatever it is that you are," Donghyuck spoke up again, cutting the older off. He himself was getting secondhand embarrassment just from watching this whole thing. In his opinion, Mark should've let them all go into a room, figure out what they were, and potentially make-out if the result was correct.
That way everyone was happy.
"Injoon, I like you."
Renjun looked at Jeno, eyes wide.
"But," Renjun knew it. This was too good to be true.
"I like Jaemin, too."
Donghyuck sighed, as Mark and Chenle cringed. Jisung just kept munching on the food that Donghyuck had set before him.
"Man, do you know how confusing that sentence was right there," Mark pointed out, feeling for the oldest of the three.
"This is why they should've just went into a room, and talked it out," Donghyuck said, groaning at the end, looking like he was going to fall out of the chair.
"Yeah, but if they did, we wouldn't be able to fix the potential problem that's about to happen right now," Mark said.
Jeno, Renjun and Jaemin looked at the pair, almost offended that they were talking about them as if they weren't there.
"Uh, guys?" Jaemin caught the two's attention, "you do know we are legit sitting right here, correct?"
The other two nodded their heads in sync.
"We do, which is why we are trying to get Jeno to re-word his previous statement to where it isn't so vague," Donghyuck said, almost glaring at Jeno.
Jeno widened his eyes, not quite sure where he went wrong.
"What do you mean?"
"'Injoon, I like you. But, I like Jaemin, too.' That's so misleading, dude," Mark was exasperated at the younger.
"Just say you like both of them, not hinting that you like Jaemin more. Then," he pointed at Renjun, "he wouldn't get the notion that you're friendzoning him to Jaemin," Donghyuck was done with the older, kind of wanting to bang his head against the wall.
Renjun was slightly flushed, wondering how it seemed that the younger knew exactly how he was feeling and what Renjun thought of Jeno's statement.
Renjun was still looking at Donghyuck when he felt a touch on his cheek.
Startled, he turned his head, where he saw Jeno with almost sad eyes, with his hands cupping Renjun's cheeks.
"I meant no miscommunication, Injoon. I like both of you two, very much."
Renjun smiled, still a little frightened at the confession. He liked them, too, but he didn't think that a relationship with three people was allowed.
Then he felt another hand brush away a wetness off of Renjun's cheek that he hadn't felt before.
Wet eyes now looking at Jaemin, who stood beside Jeno.
"The same for me, Injoon. I like both of you, too."
That's when all the emotion seemed to hit Renjun, all of it weighing on him at once. He burst into tears.
Tears of happiness.
Tears of guiltiness.
Tears of fear.
The younger two instantly held him in their arms, trying to calm him down. The rest hadn't seen that coming, and instantly became silent, not trying to rouse the boy any more.
"I-I'm scared," Renjun whispered, voice cracking through the tears.
Jeno and Jaemin looked at each other for what seemed like the hundredth time this morning. They made a single connection and nodded at each other, knowing exactly what to do.
They looked at the other boys, who were still kind of shocked at the smaller boy's outburst, not that it was dramatic anyways.
"We'll take that offer about the whole 'talk in a room by themselves' situation," Jaemin said, taking the older from the chair and helping him to the hallway.
"Yeah, sure," Donghyuck said, voice kind of worried, "do what you need."
The boys made it to Renjun's room, thinking that it'd make the oldest feel more comfortable in talking with them.
"Renjun," not hearing his nickname was a prick to his heart.
"What's wrong?" Jeno finished, cupping his cheeks again, trying to get the older to raise his head to him.
Sniffling, Renjun tried to answer.
"I-I like y-you guy-s t-too," he stuttered, hating that he was so vulnerable
Jaemin and Jeno beamed, hugging the older.
Renjun pushed them back, slightly with weak hands.
He was shaking.
That's what Jaemin was finally able to tell.
Renjun is scared.
Then it hit him.
They were talking to a boy that hadn't been in much contact with others. Heart weak to things like affection and love, but toughened against onlookers who saw him as a lab rat, and abuse that the Capital induced on him.
He was probably scared of multiple things.
Jaemin thought as if he were Renjun, trying to step into his shoes to figure out what he was feeling.
Being used by the Capital, never even thinking about finding a Partner, let alone two.
"Injoon," he started, holding the boy by the shoulders, "listen to me."
He saw Renjun take a deep breath, and his warm eyes looking back at him.
"Don't worry about anything. Don't let misinterpretations of how the Capital expects Partnership to be. You were meant to receive affection. Because we are human. There is absolutely nothing to be scared of."
Renjun visibly relaxed, letting Jaemin's words sink into his being, but he was still a bit tense in anticipation.
"How can you know for sure?"
Jaemin smiled at the older, glad he had asked.
"Because we love you, Injoon."
Renjun gasped, looking at Jeno with wide eyes.
Jeno smiled, and glanced at Jaemin, almost as if he were allowing him to do something.
Renjun looked in between them, trying to figure out what was happening. Then he felt Jaemin's hands on his face, but Renjun was still looking at Jeno in confusion.
But then he felt Jaemin's breath, and turned his head sharply, only to have Jaemin centimeters away.
"Wha-?"
His question was left unheard when Jaemin connected their lips.