Perhaps his reaction should have been different towards the man who just brought him from his parents ... employers? Whatever. The guy who purchased him like a pet and sold him off for a warehouse. The guy who talked about him like he wasn't a person. And maybe it was just all the emotions that got to him, he wasn't sure but he didn't react by hitting Chenglei or begging for his life. He just acted on instinct.
He threw himself at Chenglei and tightly wrapped his arms around him, desperately clinging to him like he used to do when they were at school.
"Chenglei! Please, I don't know what's happening." His breath hitched and he fought tears. He was always so prone to crying. "Please help me."
Yeah, Chenglei had expected to be hit, more than anything, but maybe this shouldn't have surprised him. He had always been soft and, damn, had he ever been clingy. For a moment, he just sat there. Then he lifted his hand and started to gently stroke Yihao's back, hoping that would help him calm down. "It's fine, Yihao. It's going to be fine. I promise."
He really couldn't keep up any tough act around him, not really. Not that he was trying. "I'm helping."
"I promise that I didn't know about the drugs! I had no idea, no one told me! We definitely harvest bananas, I didn't know the bananas were used like that." Every shipping crate they went was half bananas, half drugs and how the hell was he supposed to know that? He whined miserably as he pulled back and looked at his old friend, looking pretty dejected by how all of this had turned out. Things were bad enough for him, never mind this.
"Did my parents... they let them take me?" Yihao looked hurt and confused, just trying to process all of this cause it was a lot. A bit too much. And nothing was sinking in.
"I don't know everything with your parents, Yihao. But I think so. They needed a way to repay their debts." Chenglei could imagine what it felt like to be betrayed like that by his parents, but he supposed Yihao might have had more trust in his parents to begin with. Yihao had more trust in everything than Chenglei had ever had. He ran a hand through Yihao's hair now, then handed him a tissue. "I know you didn't know. And sorry for-- I had to do that. To keep you safe."
"I didn't want to think you were like that so I didn't believed it. You're not like that." Yihao looked him in the eyes, determined and undeterred as he took the tissue and cleaned off his eyes. He turned his head and looked at Xue Yang, remembering he was right there and looking at him a little less sure than he did Chenglei. Well, he was a gangster who once flashed a knife at him - it was hard to be comfortable.
Turning back to Chenglei, he swallowed hard. "What do I do now?"
Xue Yang just grinned and waved, then leaned back in the seat and got his phone out, so he could check in on his mobile games. His part in this had been played, at least for now.
"You'll have to stay with me." Chenglei so wished he didn't have to explain this, he already felt his face heat up. "It's-- The best way to keep you safe is for people to think that I actually bought you. To-- To use you." This was the worst.
"Like as a maid or -- oh. Ohhhh. Oh. Okay. Oh." Yihao went bright red as well and lowered his head, not sure what to say or to feel. It was strange to want the world to think he was being fucked by a guy, given he had been bullied for that his whole time at school. He nodded his head regardless and settled back in his seat, nervously filling with the sleeves of his shirt so he didn't have to look at Chenglei. "Okay. We--We can do... that."
Whatever that was, they could do it. "I'm sorry if I caused you any fuss with this, I didn't mean to."
"No, it's fine. It wasn't that difficult and all of my guys are too lazy to walk to the further off warehouse anyway." What was that all about? He really should look into that, come to think of it. Chenglei cleared his throat, then just shrugged. "Relax. It's gonna be fine. I have a big place. It's nice."
"He has a lot of video games." Xue Yang did think that was a point in favour, honestly. "You should get him to buy you stuff, piggy, he has money."
"You have a lot of money?" Woah. He guessed he really was a gangster son. He never was sure how to feel about that, Chenglei always felt like a weird fantasy he had once to pretend like he had friends. If he didn't have pictures of him, he wouldn't have believed it. And then he left with gangsters to join the mafia. "It must pay a lot to be a...a -- Mafia." Was that the right word? He'd seen it around, it sounded right.
"I don't want to use your money, it's all cool. I can live with you until it's safe and then I'll -- I'll ... do something." He wasn't sure yet but he was sure it'd be great. He just didn't think he was going home any time soon.
"It's fine. I never spend enough money anyway. Meng Yao keeps saying that I need to spend more, to show off or something. I guess I can show off with you. Do you want diamonds?" What did people get? He honestly still had little reference for that. Maybe he should be spending more time with Huaisang and Tian, they were better at this kind of stuff. Wangji was different and Tao-- Well, Tao just got romantic things. He was different too. He was planning a ridiculously expensive wedding though, so there was that. "You can just say 'gangster', I don't have anything to do with the mafia."
"Get him cute clothes, boss, he'll look adorable." There, Xue Yang was repping for his tiny friend.
"I don't think I need anything... if you want to spend money on me, I guess you could go and get my stuff from my old home. My panda is there." He knew Chenglei knew which one and he didn't have the guys to say it aloud himself but he missed him and the panda was all that got him through it. He just wished Chenglei had never left. Everything got worse when he left.
"I missed you at school." He got his ass kicked pretty hard after Chenglei left, eventually it levelled out but it never got much better.
"Your panda... Yeah, of course, I'll make sure they get all your stuff." Chenglei looked at Xue Yang, who just nodded and moved his hand in a way that signalled that he was taking care of it.
Good. Chenglei smiled a little, for a moment or two, then he looked at Yihao. "I missed you too. I wanted to-- It's just that they told me you'd be safer if I didn't contact you. But my new school sucked. I'm at uni now. Still weird. Lots of fancy people."
"Lots of dates," Xue Yang mentioned helpfully. He wanted to nudge them together.
"Dates? Oh. Woah. You sound like you're having a really good time." Why did his heart sink so hard? He just hated the idea of Chenglei dating. Even if it was the most logical conclusion to have, he was getting to be older and he was very handsome, of course he'd date. "I haven't done that. Dating, I mean. Or the uni stuff, I sort of -- botched my exams."
Yihao blushed hard and looked away, clearly embarrassed. He'd never been the smartest but the day of his exam, he totally blanked. He had no idea what happened - one moment he was doing a test, the next he was done and he hadn't written anything. "I'm going to retake the tests and go next year."
Maybe that was why his parents gave up on him. He laughed, feeling a bit dumb. "I'm kind of useless."
"I don't really date, I just date so they can't make me marry someone." This made more sense when Meng Yao explained it, damn it. Chenglei cleared his throat and then listened to Yihao, not even surprised. "Don't worry, I can pay to have your tests retaken. I can even pay for you to pass them, but I can help you study and you won't need it."
Whatever. Yihao deserved good things. He was the purest person he'd ever met. Admittedly, lately he had mostly met gangsters. "You aren't useless. Look how much money you are worth."
Too soon to joke about it? Probably. "...I've got a hottub."
"I'll pass this time, I've very determined. I brought highlighters!" So that would make all the difference. He beamed eagerly at his friend and then shuffled a little closer to him as he right himself in the car, doing up his seatbelt and just enjoying being close to him. He smelled so good - how did he always smell so good. He smelled of the right amount of aftershave. "I don't know how much money I'm worth to anyone but you. I'm surprised you paid it. Or had that money!"
It was amazing, he was so rich. And he had a hottub.
"You are worth a lot," Chenglei said, rubbing at his face absently. It was too hot in this car, probably because he had to wear the stupid suit jacket to look properly impressive for this stunt. "I get it from business."
"He kills a lot of people all the time," Xue Yang chimed in helpfully, because this all kind of entertained him.
"Shut up, Xue Yang. I don't. It's just selling goods, really. Boring stuff." He shrugged, figuring that Yihau didn't need to know the details. "I have a room just for manga. I have all of Fruits Basket now."
"So you do gangster stuff. Like... like my parents apparently did." And the Jin family did, whoever they were. He didn't know, they were just mean and talked about him like he was some animal - it was kind of creepy and he still felt all gross inside. He wondered if Xue Yang was telling the truth when he said that a lot of people died, they were very willing to kill him... was the Zhao family any different? "I'm glad you found me. I think it's safer with you."
Most likely, at least.
"... Oh." Wait. He read Fruits basket? His eyes widened a little before he grinned. "Who's your favourite?"
"Tohru. She's cute. Very sweet and very-- I don't know. Reminded me of you." Maybe just because he associated the whole series with Yihao and she was the main character, but whatever. He looked out the window, but moved his arm to sling it across Yihao's shoulder, holding him a little. He had had a tough day. "You are always safe with me. And you'll stay with me now."
"Aww." Xue Yang's commentary was so not wanted, yet here he went anyway.
"I hope I won't cause you too much fuss. I was hoping we'd meet again some day but I was hoping it'd be when I was a bit more successful, not when my parents tried to sell me over drug debt." He wondered if his uncle knew about what the banana farm was doing ... then again, now he realised it, they probably all knew. Oh God, was this the big surprise they were going to tell him about when he graduated? Well, he was glad he hadn't graduated.
"I missed you at school, people still wrote our names together for ages afterwards. It was nice, I could always think of you." He smiled at Chenglei, more optimistic than he had to be about these things.
"I missed you too. School was way too stressful without you." And with Meng Yao there, using all the weapons in his considerable manipulation arsenal to actually make him attend school and even do his school work. Really hadn't been much fun at all. Well. Admittedly, some of his friends could make it fun at times.
"I ready Fruits Basket because it made me think of you. But, yeah, don't worry. You can help me spend money, Yao-ge's always on my case about not spending enough."
"I guess we could buy more manga. Will be able to leave the house? I don't want to be killed over drugs..." He looked sideways at Xue Yang as if he'd stab him any moment and then back to his friend, happy that he had an arm around him to keep him safe. He always liked that - he had tried to deny it for a long time and it took forever for it to sink in but he was so, so gay.
And so, so into this beautiful man.
And he would never, ever tell him or he'd probably lose him forever but hey, a boy could dream. "If we can go out, maybe we can go to the mall again."
"You won't be killed over anything like that any more. I paid off any debt you had. I'm sure you can leave, I just-- I'll talk about it with Yao-ge." Maybe he'd have to have guards with him or something? Chenglei frowned as he looked at him, trying to work it out. "We can go to the mall. There's a mall that's really fancy. It's good for dates."
Xue Yang raised his eyebrows at them, honestly baffled. Was Chenglei aware what he was saying? Who even knew. "You should get him a collar, boss."
Chenglei gave him a look, then rolled his eyes. "Ignore him."
"It's hard to ignore him..." He was right there, quite loud and was suggesting the weirdest stuff. That yes, he had seen in a few mangas. Okay, a lot of mangas. Too many. Way too many lonely nights binge reading yaoi and jacking off in his bedroom but it was tough! How was he going to find a date? It was way too hard to find gay guys. And Chenglei was just -- confusing. He wasn't gay, he knew that but he was different in how he spoke sometimes.
Like the way he talked about the mall being good for dates. It wasn't a date but he was happy to talk so openly with him, not afraid he'd be a weird pervert piggy.
"Maybe we can go to the arcade too. You could win me something!"
"Yeah, I could. I'm pretty good at arcade games still." Which, weirdly, had turned out to kind of translate to him being a good shot more than he'd have thought. All these teachers telling him that he was wasting his time at arcades had clearly been wrong. "I have to study and work, but it's not that busy. And I'll make sure you're not bored."
Hopefully the manga and the giant television and game consoles could take care of that. The car turned, finally arriving at his place and now heading into the garage. "Here we are. I know, it's weird. Fancy."
"It's okay, I'm going to study all the time!" He was determined to pass his exams this time and no, he wouldn't let Chenglei cheat him through. He was a determined little piggy who could do anything! He would get through it, he was confident.
As they pulled up, Yihao had no idea what to expect and he couldn't really look out of the window. They were weirdly tilted and Xue Yang was one side, Chenglei the other and it was hard to see it. As they came to a halt, he let Chenglei move his arm and then instantly, he took his hand to make sure they would hold hands. "How fancy is fancy?"
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He threw himself at Chenglei and tightly wrapped his arms around him, desperately clinging to him like he used to do when they were at school.
"Chenglei! Please, I don't know what's happening." His breath hitched and he fought tears. He was always so prone to crying. "Please help me."
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He really couldn't keep up any tough act around him, not really. Not that he was trying. "I'm helping."
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"Did my parents... they let them take me?" Yihao looked hurt and confused, just trying to process all of this cause it was a lot. A bit too much. And nothing was sinking in.
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Turning back to Chenglei, he swallowed hard. "What do I do now?"
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"You'll have to stay with me." Chenglei so wished he didn't have to explain this, he already felt his face heat up. "It's-- The best way to keep you safe is for people to think that I actually bought you. To-- To use you." This was the worst.
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Whatever that was, they could do it. "I'm sorry if I caused you any fuss with this, I didn't mean to."
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"He has a lot of video games." Xue Yang did think that was a point in favour, honestly. "You should get him to buy you stuff, piggy, he has money."
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"I don't want to use your money, it's all cool. I can live with you until it's safe and then I'll -- I'll ... do something." He wasn't sure yet but he was sure it'd be great. He just didn't think he was going home any time soon.
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"Get him cute clothes, boss, he'll look adorable." There, Xue Yang was repping for his tiny friend.
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"I missed you at school." He got his ass kicked pretty hard after Chenglei left, eventually it levelled out but it never got much better.
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Good. Chenglei smiled a little, for a moment or two, then he looked at Yihao. "I missed you too. I wanted to-- It's just that they told me you'd be safer if I didn't contact you. But my new school sucked. I'm at uni now. Still weird. Lots of fancy people."
"Lots of dates," Xue Yang mentioned helpfully. He wanted to nudge them together.
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Yihao blushed hard and looked away, clearly embarrassed. He'd never been the smartest but the day of his exam, he totally blanked. He had no idea what happened - one moment he was doing a test, the next he was done and he hadn't written anything. "I'm going to retake the tests and go next year."
Maybe that was why his parents gave up on him. He laughed, feeling a bit dumb. "I'm kind of useless."
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Whatever. Yihao deserved good things. He was the purest person he'd ever met. Admittedly, lately he had mostly met gangsters. "You aren't useless. Look how much money you are worth."
Too soon to joke about it? Probably. "...I've got a hottub."
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It was amazing, he was so rich. And he had a hottub.
"... Where do you get the money?"
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"He kills a lot of people all the time," Xue Yang chimed in helpfully, because this all kind of entertained him.
"Shut up, Xue Yang. I don't. It's just selling goods, really. Boring stuff." He shrugged, figuring that Yihau didn't need to know the details. "I have a room just for manga. I have all of Fruits Basket now."
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Most likely, at least.
"... Oh." Wait. He read Fruits basket? His eyes widened a little before he grinned. "Who's your favourite?"
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"Aww." Xue Yang's commentary was so not wanted, yet here he went anyway.
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"I missed you at school, people still wrote our names together for ages afterwards. It was nice, I could always think of you." He smiled at Chenglei, more optimistic than he had to be about these things.
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"I ready Fruits Basket because it made me think of you. But, yeah, don't worry. You can help me spend money, Yao-ge's always on my case about not spending enough."
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And so, so into this beautiful man.
And he would never, ever tell him or he'd probably lose him forever but hey, a boy could dream. "If we can go out, maybe we can go to the mall again."
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Xue Yang raised his eyebrows at them, honestly baffled. Was Chenglei aware what he was saying? Who even knew. "You should get him a collar, boss."
Chenglei gave him a look, then rolled his eyes. "Ignore him."
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Like the way he talked about the mall being good for dates. It wasn't a date but he was happy to talk so openly with him, not afraid he'd be a weird pervert piggy.
"Maybe we can go to the arcade too. You could win me something!"
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Hopefully the manga and the giant television and game consoles could take care of that. The car turned, finally arriving at his place and now heading into the garage. "Here we are. I know, it's weird. Fancy."
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As they pulled up, Yihao had no idea what to expect and he couldn't really look out of the window. They were weirdly tilted and Xue Yang was one side, Chenglei the other and it was hard to see it. As they came to a halt, he let Chenglei move his arm and then instantly, he took his hand to make sure they would hold hands. "How fancy is fancy?"
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