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When Cao Chunhua first read the note, they could not absorb a single word despite it being concise and straight-to-the-point. They had to read it again, a sinking feeling forming in the pit of their stomach. Only after reading it a third time did they fly out the door, the small paper crumpled in their hand.
Ge Chen was kneeling in front of a low table in his room when they showed up, his left arm resting in front of him as he slowly peeled away stained bandages. Cao Chunhua’s arrival startled him, and he froze in the middle of the task, eyes wide.
The note did not fully describe the seriousness of the injury, as it turned out. The flesh was melted and warped, shades of red and pink that should never be outside of the skin meshing together in a horrifying large burn wound, visible through the bandage wrappings. It took up the entirety of his forearm, even along the inside where the skin was usually the most tender, and crawled some ways up beyond his elbow. Cao Chunhua took in a shuddering breath, suddenly light-headed.
“Xiao-Cao?” Ge Chen’s voice was small.
“Master Zhang sent me a note,” Cao Chunhua said, unable to draw their eyes away from the mess of flesh leaking from his arm. “I— I was not sure why he sent it, instead of you.” They swallowed. “I understand now.”
Ge Chen tilted his head towards the wound, but carefully did not look at it. “This, ah… this happened yesterday. I was busy with it… well,” he attempted a smile, but it came out as a pained grimace.
Cao Chunhua felt their fingertips begin to tremble, and clenched their hands into fists.
“It was an accident,” Ge Chen added, watching them. “I… am not the worst off, either.”
It was hardly reassuring. “Such an accident can happen?” Cao Chunhua asked, dazed. They forced themself to step forward and sink on their knees next to him, trying not to think of what even worse can look like.
“Anything can happen,” Ge Chen said, playing with the end of a bandage. “Things like this are extremely rare, but…”
Not impossible. Cao Chunhua took a deep breath, forcefully pulling themself together. “Let me help you,” they said.
It was obvious that he was reluctant to even look at his wound, much less touch it or change the dressing. As horrified as Cao Chunhua was, they were not the one who needed to bear the pain of it, they could make this just a bit easier for their friend. They could handle it.
Ge Chen made a vague noise in response, and Cao Chunhua took it as permission. They made sure to be extremely careful as they peeled away the old bandages, the soiled material falling apart in their hands. Ge Chen remained mostly silent, his hand curled into a tense fist, his nails leaving deep crescent marks on the palm.
“Chen Qingxu will come back to the capital in a few days,” Cao Chunhua murmured in the meanwhile, focusing on the task and graciously pretending that they did not see Ge Chen tearing up. “I am sure Ling Shu Institute’s usual doctors are highly skilled, but there is no harm in letting her take a look, too. She might be able to do more.”
“Alright,” Ge Chen whispered shakily, his eyebrows furrowed in pain. Cao Chunhua had a feeling that he barely comprehended a single word they just said.
“I am almost done,” they added quickly, though they knew that at such a severe stage, leaving the wound alone will hardly make it hurt any less. Ge Chen nodded silently in response, most likely thinking the same thing.
Once the fresh dressing was finally taken care of, Cao Chunhua allowed themself to exhale. They did not notice that they barely let themself breathe while they worked, too worried about causing their friend any additional pain. Ge Chen also took a deep breath next to them and wiped at his tear-streaked face.
“Can I do anything else?” Cao Chunhua asked, looking him over uncertainly.
Ge Chen slowly shook his head. “No, it’s fine.” His voice was hoarse. “The others are… much less serious.”
“Others?” Cao Chunhua frowned. “There are more?”
“They hardly count,” he said awkwardly.
Nevertheless, he did not protest when Cao Chunhua parted his robes and searched out the other marks, angry-red and tender to the touch, but indeed nothing to speak about compared to the arm injury. After fretting for a bit longer, Cao Chunhua pulled his lapels closed and declared that he should be resting as much as possible.
“I will,” Ge Chen assured them. “Everyone else said the same thing.”
Cao Chunhua nodded, then scooped up the discarded bandages and stained water and went off to dispose of it.
Before walking back inside they paused to dry-heave, hand pressed firmly over their mouth.
Cao Chunhua has seen many different types of injuries over the years, including on themself — such was the nature of the jobs that they performed since they were young. They could even recall with stark clarity the sorry states of the corpses as far back as the destruction of Yanhui. They thought themself to be completely desensitised to such a thing.
Apparently not. Ge Chen has never been so seriously hurt before, not even in the multiple battles he had to participate in years ago, and the concept of him being in so much pain unsettled Cao Chunhua more than it otherwise might have. That, the severity of the injury, how suddenly it happened — it all shook them up. Ge Chen would be lucky if he gets away with only scars in the aftermath.
Once the nausea subsided, Cao Chunhua stepped back into the room. Ge Chen looked even paler than he did earlier, awkwardly cradling his injured arm over his stomach. He grinned painfully, the corners of his mouth shaking.
“I didn’t even get to greet you properly,” he called out. It clearly took him a lot of effort to force the words out. “Do you want tea?”
Cao Chunhua shook their head and knelt in front of him again. They could not take their eyes off his neck, the spot where white dressing was peeking out from under his collar — the only currently visible evidence of the smaller burns.
“Hey,” Ge Chen said, and tapped under their chin with his right hand. “Don’t think so hard.”
Cao Chunhua’s gaze crawled from his neck to his face. The longer they looked, the more singed hair strands they could single out.
“This is not life-threatening in any way,” Ge Chen continued, not taking his eyes off of them. “The small burns should heal quickly, and look, the affected arm didn’t even need to be amputated. That’s good, isn’t it?”
Well if that was taken into account, then Ge Chen was not badly off at all. “No fancy Ling Shu prosthetic for you, then,” they said with a shaky laugh.
Ge Chen’s face brightened. “Not this time. There, see? Everything is alright.”
Cao Chunhua blinked. “Why are you trying to comfort me?”
Ge Chen gave them a lopsided smile. “You seem a little uneasy, that’s all.”
“I am worried about you,” Cao Chunhua sniffed, hiding their face behind their sleeve. “You are so ridiculous. Now would be the time for you to act spoilt, you know.”
Ge Chen hummed, slumping over to lean on them. “I should use this time wisely, then.”
“Don’t get carried away,” Cao Chunhua grumbled good-naturedly. Ge Chen huffed out a quiet laugh.
“Well, it would be nice to use this time to tinker with some things,” Ge Chen said after a while. “But they are all left at the Institute, and Master Zhang forbid me from showing up anytime soon.” Speaking was clearly an effort for him, but his voice no longer sounded like it was breaking. The pain must be subsiding bit by bit.
“Sounds like you need to think of something else to do,” Cao Chunhua said.
Ge Chen rubbed his cheek against their shoulder. “You are not forbidden, though.”
Cao Chunhua glanced at him from the corner of their eye. “I am not fetching anything for you.” Then, after mulling it over — “I might make a visit after your arm heals a bit.”
Ge Chen chuckled. “Alright.”
“Make sure you try your best.”
“Yes, yes, I will.” He moved to sit up, but jostled his arm in the process and slumped back down with a sharp, pained inhale.
“Do not move around so much,” Cao Chunhua scolded.
“I barely moved…” Ge Chen muttered. He looked so exhausted and wronged that Cao Chunhua could not resist pressing their lips to his temple to comfort him.
“The injury is still very fresh, so it will sting even if you barely move it,” they said, then brushed their lips against his cheek. “You should be resting in bed, anyways. You are already up and about way too much for someone in your state.”
“I am already resting here,” Ge Chen murmured, his head slipping to lay closer to their neck. “I… don’t be scared, alright?”
“What?” Cao Chunhua gave the top of his head an incredulous look. “I am not scared.” They paused. “Are you?”
Ge Chen shrugged with his unharmed shoulder. “I am too tired to worry about it, right now. I’ve had enough of it yesterday.”
Fair enough. “Do you… need anything?” Cao Chunhua asked awkwardly. They never thought that they would so sorely regret not paying attention to random medical knowledge that Chen Qingxu would sometimes share with them during their undercover years together, but there was not much they could do about it now.
They felt Ge Chen shake his head against their collarbone. “I just want to sit for a bit,” he said.
“Alright.” Cao Chunhua thought for a moment. “Are you comfortable?”
“It’s fine.”
They rolled their eyes. “Do you want to be more comfortable?”
“Do I have to move for that?” Ge Chen sounded miserable. Cao Chunhua stroked his hair, smoothing down the heat-damaged strands.
“Not too much,” they promised.
It took a bit of rearranging, but the result was as good as it could get. Ge Chen was more than happy to cling to Cao Chunhua, his face buried in their chest, undamaged arm wrapped around their waist, the other one carefully folded between the two of them. They pillowed their cheek on top of his head, arms carefully wrapped around his shoulders, and relaxed. This was familiar, warm, and the soothing effect spread to Cao Chunhua too. They calmed down entirely.
“This is nice,” Ge Chen muttered, nuzzling against their ribs. His mood seemed to have greatly improved in only a short amount of time.
“See how I spoil you?” Cao Chunhua teased. “I would not do this for just anyone.”
“Xiao-Cao is very generous,” Ge Chen said agreeably, and closed his eyes. Cao Chunhua laughed quietly and brushed a few strands of hair from his forehead.
Their closest person will be alright, and they will be by his side to help. This was more than enough.