⚠ WARNING: Violence, murder, curse words, blood ⚠

It was strange to Jeno.

He didn't know why Jaemin kept apologizing to him.

He didn't know why the younger had fallen asleep at the table.

And he was slightly confused by what was happening now.

After he saw the uncomfortable position Jaemin had fallen asleep in, he had tried to carry the younger up the stairs, as he remembered Jaemin always doing for him. But when he picked up Jaemin he felt how heavy he was. So instead he had managed to get them to where they were now.

They were currently on the couch, Jaemin nestled in Jeno's lap, hugging him tightly with his face buried in the olders chest. Jeno was running his fingers through the younger's hair and watching with the galaxies of admiration in his eyes as he slept peacefully in his lap. His smile widened and his heart melted when Jaemin would occasionally snuggle closer to him, nuzzling his face into Jeno and muttering his name in his sleep.

To say Jeno wasn't used to this would be an understatement. It was completely flipped from how they normally cuddled and he wouldn't hesitate to say he loved this.

"You're so cute Nana.." He said softly as he tilted his head to get a better look at Jaemin's sleeping face.

"Nono... Jeno...." Jaemin muttered again. Jeno chuckled.

"What are you dreaming about?" He asked softly, knowing he wouldn't get a response.

Or so he thought.

"You." Jaemin said as he sat up sleepily. He was so tired, he didn't even take the time to register where he was and he would probably forget all of this moment in the morning.

An adorable light blush had made its way to Jeno's face as he smiled shyly.

"You were dreaming of me?" He asked softly. Jaemin let out a low chuckle. He threw his arms around Jeno's neck and played with the olders neck hair.

"How could I not when you're so damn beautiful." Jeno felt pride swell in his chest. Jaemin was dreaming of him.

Just like how he always dreamed of Jaemin.

Unless...

He began to tremble slightly as images came flashing to his mind without him wanting them to. A dark street. Men in masks beating him to the ground. Witnessing as his parents-

"Jeno, I love you so much." Jeno was pulled from his intoxicating thoughts by Jaemin's sweet voice. He smiled softly and remembered how Jaemin used to address him when he was sad.

"I love you too Nana. I'll always be here for you baby." He recited the last bit proudly, watching as Jaemin smiled happily before his face fell back onto Jeno's chest and he drifted off once again to sleep.

"I.. Love you so much... Na Jaemin." He said quietly. He was still shaking from before and tears began to fall slowly down his face but he just closed his eyes and leaned his head back, allowing everything to come back to him vividly as he cried himself to sleep.

Darkness.

He was used to walking home in the dark but something about tonight was different.

For one thing, he wasn't with Jaemin like he normally was. But that wasn't all that was different. It just seemed like the familiar streets were somehow darker. He sighed and kicked a rock as he walked by.

The reason he hadn't walked with Jaemin today was that his crush on the younger was getting out of hand. Things that would normally be regular for them like holding hands was becoming harder for Jeno to handle calmly as they always had.

Maybe he should confess soon.

"Please stop, we just want to go home... We need to apologize to our son!" Jeno turned to look down one of the dark alleys as he heard a pleading and achingly familiar voice speak.

"Mom?" He whispered to himself. There was silence and more crying could be heard.

"Please let us go! Our son needs us.. Our Jeno..." Another voice, this time male.

"Dad?" He said, this time speaking a bit louder, his voice echoing eerily around the walls of the alley. He had unconsciously been taking steps further and further down the small road, passing by the garbage that was strewn about.

But now he stopped as the silence was interrupted by quick footsteps.

And they were too quick.

Before he knew it, he was being knocked ruthlessly to the ground, the wind getting knocked out of him. The darkness and shadows covering the person's face were too much and Jeno couldn't make out the face if he tried, but it didn't take long for him to realize there was more than one.

"Ow! Stop!! Please, it hurts please!" He yelled as they began to kick him on the ground.

"Aw, do you wanna cry to your mommy?"

"What have you done to m-my parents? P-please! Let them g-go!" Jeno said, his voice breaking as he cried on the ground.

"How about you get a front-row view of what we're gonna do to your parents, hm?"

"No! Just let them go!" Jeno yelled as he was dragged further into the alley.

"Here's your rat of a son!" The man yelled as Jeno was thrown again onto the ground somewhere further in the alley.

"Jeno? Is it r-really him?" Jeno lifted his head weakly.

"Mama?"

The women looked at the frail weak body of her son, beaten and broken on the ground before them.

"Oh my god.." Jeno's father breathed as he saw their son. This was the first time they had paid attention to him for months.

And it would be the last.

"Jeno baby we're so sorry please forgive us-"

"Dad, I-it's fine I just..." He was shaking so hard as he spoke. Part of it was relief that he was with his parents again, the other part fear that this might be the last second of his life.

"Hate to cut your reunion short but I'm afraid your precious parents don't have much longer to live. An unpaid debt that they are going to pay the price for with their lives." The man stopped and snickered. "We'll start with you." He said as he pointed the gun at Jeno.

"No! No, please, shoot me! Anything just, don't kill my son...." Jeno's father pleaded, his voice breaking as he spoke. The man scoffed.

"Alright. If that's what you want." He said with a shrug before pointing the gun at his father's head and pulling the trigger.

"DAD!!" Jeno cried, struggling to his feet and trying to run to where his father's bloody body sat, still held in his restraints. "Dad no no no... Please, dad.." The man chuckled and walked over, grabbing Jeno firmly by the forearm.

"Look at him. That's because of you! If it weren't for you putting your life at risk by coming down here then he might still be alive when the cops arrive!" The man spat before cackling, waving his gun in the air a bit as he moved.

Jeno's eyes we're locked on the limp bloody body before him.

His father.

That bloody body was his father.

"Now, actually, since you're still alive, let's get some fun out of this." He said. He pulled Jeno to be in front of his mother and placed the pistol into the boy's hand. He then stood behind Jeno, holding his arms and guiding the boy to have it pointed at his mother's head.

"No! Stop it! L-let me go! P-please sir.." He said shakily as the man pressed Jeno's finger against the trigger.

"Please stop this!" His mother screamed. The pleading look in her eyes was too much for Jeno to handle. The tears falling from his own made everything around him blur.

But he blinked them away just in time to watch with wide eyes as the bullet shot through her head.

"Mom!!" He screamed. He angrily threw the man off himself and ran towards her. "M-m-mama.. I'm so sorry" he cried. "Mama.. Mom, please... Wake up, wake me up, do something! J-just, please... Please don't.."

Sirens sounded throughout the alley and the men began to scatter. Jeno looked at his bloody hands. He couldn't even tell his own blood from his parents at this point. He was shaking uncontrollably, his mind hazy and jumbled as he ran frantically down the alley in the opposite direction of the sirens.

When he came back to the street where he was before, he didn't know what to do. He felt so lost and alone. He needed Jaemin.

He sunk to the ground and cried, his sobs loud and his voice cracking as he tried to speak.

"M-mama! Mama... No...."

His voice faded to nothing and he sat, loud sobs racking his body as he shivered and muttered to himself.

"Jeno?" Jeno flinched when he heard the voice, remembering how his mother had breathed his name. She couldn't even tell he was her own son.

He looked up and saw Jaemin.

"M-mama.." He whispered.

"Oh my god, Jeno, what the hell happened?" Jaemin asked.

"I-I-I.." Jaemin took another step forward and reached out to help Jeno.

"No! N-no please J-Jaemin, I-I'll just hurt you.. I-I....."

"Shh, it's okay Jeno I'm here now. Jaemin's here baby, you're alright."

Jeno jumped into his grasp at those words, hugging him and gripping tightly at his shirt as he shook and cried.

"Mama..." He whispered again. "D-dad.."

"I-I'm.. I'm so sorry.."

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