Work Text:
his transparent, hazy gaze slowly softening, getting colored by jiang shuo’s eyes. they looked at each other, relieved. yi heng has never felt such brimming gratitude, jiang shuo was no different.
as jiang shuo went back inside the tailor’s psych to rescue the other, the moment he noticed the one he was looking for, hidden in a nook, his heart felt light, as if an enormous boulder was taken out of his chest, his anxiousness and worries dwindling. everything that happened in the next several minutes, seemed fast like a streak of sunshine greeting him in the morning.
yi heng could have gone mad if he stayed in the incongruous place one more hour, the fear already started damaging his brain and sanity. luckily, he wasn’t gone forever – jiang shuo turned out to be the last rope he could grab in order not to lose his memories.
as the boy realized that the qin family ring triggered the other’s mind, there must have been more. yi heng, the one just found by jiang shuo had a different gaze than yi heng who saw the ring presented by jiang shuo. the boy on one of his knees, offering a ring, the situation could have resembled the ones jiang shuo dreamed about, with the moon and stars above their heads, yi heng with roses in his hands and a smile, their eyes glistening, but no. this wasn’t even the real world, and so the situation wasn’t the desired one.
yi heng’s state of being delirious stopped getting festered when the silver jewelry reflected in his irises. the orbits hindered their agitated movements, striking up, down, left, right, finally fixed on one spot. the man took his belonging with trembling hands, examining it soundlessly. jiang shuo knew, his brain was slowly regaining decency.
at one moment his qin er looked up at him, the ring in his hold. the stare full of doubts, questions, battering jiang shuo’s heart.
“who are you?” a shot, a bullet was pierced through his lungs. “who am I?”
tears welling up, he felt too numb to answer him. it was not even possible to provide an answer to such a question, where to start? I am jiang shuo, your name is yi heng, we have gone through life and death situations together, and we kinda started having feelings for each other, but now supposedly everything is gone and needs to be built all over again because you lost your memories?
they have been closer to the ground before, jiang shuo propped on one of his knees, leaning over yi heng, now the latter finally raised, sweeping over the space around them with his eyes.
“what is this place?”
jiang shuo was just staring to the front, blankly. he has never felt this helpless, receiving another question with no possible answer to it. yi heng stepped forward, very hesitantly, the other only after a while standing up and following wherever his close one went.
“why don’t I remember anything?”
every single world tugged jiang shuo’s heart with so much might that the boy had his chest torn open. if it was anyone else, he would already come up with what to do, where to do it, and then he and qin er would solve it together. but this time it was qin er who needed to be redeemed. it was the man whom jiang shuo loved. he has never been under so much pressure, he wanted to rush but couldn’t move, wanted to shout for help but his voice was gone, wanted to cry, but even this seemed too little and too much at the same time.
“I only remember…”
jiang shuo let out a sharper gush out of his nostrils. his chest was still burdened, his upper body almost bending due to remorse and regrets.
“that a long, long time ago, I was looking for someone.”
yi heng was taking slow steps, one step within a few words. jiang shuo inadvertently started moving as well, bearing a promise “wherever you go, I go with you”. needless to say, how after he was anxious about losing qin er, anything the man said, sounded precious and indispensable.
“then, someone took me to a place. a place which resembles a dream.”
hope. a minuscule ray of hope, mitigating his knackered heart. the story was familiar.
“he told me I had to follow him.” yi heng went on. “because in this place, anything could happen.”
the two finally looked at each other, and here jiang shuo could ascertain, that he didn’t lose his loved one entirely. there was something to retrieve. a stray tear fell on his cheek, a reddish light they were drowned in wasn’t so brooding anymore.
“this is why,” sudden courage to speak up came out of nowhere. “you have to come with me. only then I can use this.” a red string dangled in his hand as he lifted his palm, the thing in a tight grip. “and get you out of here.”
jiang shuo understood in no time. he mentioned yi heng’s changed clothes, using specific words “set of equipment,” the question “do you not like it?” or playful “this is my territory” locked deeply in his heart as significant memories of the day someone was with him in a journey to a psych.
“so this is your mansion.” the other murmured, tears dropping from his cheeks as well.
“this is the place where the evil of one’s heart is born, it is called
the Psych.”
“the Psych.”
the last words were said in unison. their gazes met once again, and once again were altered completely. a moment of silence was brief, yet for jiang shuo it was an eternity.
“qin er,” he uttered, afraid that he would spoil everything with merely a word.
“jiang shuo.” a smile on yi heng’s face bigger, soon reciprocated by the other with tears never ceasing to fall.
that’s how they held hands and went back to reality together. their wrists attached by a red string for longer than usual.
jiang shuo was grateful to have his qin er back, qin er was glad to be back to the world he knew, to the people he knew, and maybe, to the person he cherished in a way that was new to him.
as this evening they were back at the compound, the moon and stars protecting them from above, yi heng was just about to direct his steps to his room, but jiang shuo’s wrist being still tangled with his hampered him from moving too far.
“don’t go, qin er.” his finger wrapped around the other's wrist, the string now placed against his skin. “I can’t lose you again.”
and then, yi heng gave him the smile designated to jiang shuo, and jiang shuo only.
“I am not going anywhere, you fool.” with another hand, qin er took off the one fastened around his wrist, he placed it a bit lower, now their fingers in a perfect hold. “where could I go without you?”
jiang shuo could see a myriad of stars in these eyes, he has never felt so small before. he fell in love with the other a little more as he got to know his vulnerable side, the one to protect and treat with the utmost kindness.
// ☆ //