Chapter Text
"Have your beloved friends ever told you that you have such a beautiful pair of eyes?"
Red Eyes's words were engraved in his mind once he regained consciousness, they were clipped with sinister aura.
"What if they'll like you more without them?"
What was he on about? And why was the room pitch black?
"Would you still follow them around..."
Were Cheng Xiaoshi and Qiao Ling playing a prank on him?
"... so..."
But where were they then? They didn't abandon him, right?
"... pathetically?"
Lu Guang shivered at the memory. Or was it perhaps a nightmare? Just to make sure that what had happened was truly just a nightmare and not something much, much worse, he reached for his eyes and felt relief flood through him as he felt the organs beneath his fingertips. But there was no blindfold or any fabric that might suggest why his vision was flooded with darkness. And last time he checked, the blinds on his window were up and opened, so even if the room was pitch black he'd be able to navigate around it at least a little bit.
But what if he wasn't in his room? But rather somewhere else. Somewhere far, far away. Taken away by someone he couldn't recall. Red Eyes and his comrades? Or maybe that suspicious guy Qiao Ling and Cheng Xiaoshi had warned him about. Yet there was nothing restraining him. Not his hands. Not his legs. Nothing.
He tried feeling around the room for anything that would give him a clue as to where he was. His fingertips brushed against the sheets beneath him and the pillows behind him. Other than that, he really couldn't pick up on anything.
He frowned, reaching for the edge of the bed and slinging his legs over it. The ground was cold, but solid and sleek beneath him. It felt just like the hospital floor so it calmed down his building anxiety. He couldn't be 100% sure, but that lowered the possibility of him being locked away in some basement. Some room perhaps?
His hands were outstretched to feel around for any object he could bump into. He took a few steps forward and felt cold breeze graze his cheeks. A window? Right in front of him? After few more steps, his hands touched something that seemed like a window's rail. Curiously, he leaned forwards over it and tried to touch the bottom over the rail. When he was unable to touch it, he proceeded to lean more, and more...
Suddenly, a pair of arms wrapped around his middle and pulled him backwards until both him and the person behind him hit the ground. Wasn't there a kind of door to suggest that he was shut in some place? Maybe his captor had accidentally left them open. If so, what a missed opportunity for escape.
"Lu Guang! What are you doing dangling over the balcony like that!? What were you thinking!?" the voice behind him exclaimed and something in his mind clicked. Cheng Xiaoshi? Was he also trapped? Lu Guang tried to turn around, but found his wound preventing him from doing so. However, he managed to turn around his neck and caught a whiff of Cheng Xiaoshi's intoxicating aftershave, proving that the strong arms around his waist and the solid chin on his head truly belonged to his partner.
"Xiaoshi? Where are we? It's so dark in here I can't see a thing" his words came out hurried and incoherent, making the older teen furrow his eyebrows.
"What are you on about? We're in the hospital. Are you okay? Want me to go get the nurse?" the older asked and Lu Guang felt like he didn't know anything anymore. Like he was disconnected from his mind and not in control. Any option seemed like a good enough option to him.
Suddenly, the vision in his eyes seemed to return because it went from nothing to few spots of color to the image of the window he was just about to climb over. At the realization of what he almost did, a ghostly shiver passed through his body. He tried to contain it from showing, but his body betrayed him, making him shake mildly in front of Cheng Xiaoshi's chest.
"What's up with you, Lu Guang?" the tone wasn't scolding, but rather worried. Yet Lu Guang couldn't help but feel like Cheng Xiaoshi found him incompetent at that very moment.
"I-I don't know" he said below a whisper so that Cheng Xiaoshi couldn't hear his response. Even though tears welled in his eyes, his response was dry. And he managed to stutter of all things, just how much pathetic could he be to lose himself like that. Quickly steeling his composure and returning to his aloofness, he sighed and formed some kind of an answer that would seem logical as to why he was behaving so oddly.
"I'm sorry, my head hurts a bit" Lu Guang muttered, hand coming to rest on his forehead. It wasn't a lie. He felt so confused and disoriented that the only thing he could focus his mind on was if he would've died without Cheng Xiaoshi pulling him back inside.
"Do you need some medicine? Or would you like to go get some air? At least lean over the window if you can't walk? Don't leap over it though!" Xiaoshi joked, even if his undertone bared concern and some seriousness. That made a pang of guilt settle in the other's consciousness. He made his partner worry for no reason.
Lu Guang nodded and let Cheng Xiaoshi drag him upwards by his armpits. He let himself get maneuvered towards the window and breathed deeply when he finally rested his elbows on it. The early dawn air made him shiver a bit, and the older realized that because he embraced the white haired boy from behind, chin resting on his head. Lu Guang felt something akin to serenity wash over him and he relaxed against the solid chest.
"That was so close Lu Guang" he heard Cheng Xiaoshi murmur "Don't do that ever again, I can't have you leaving just when I got you back"
"I won't Cheng Xiaoshi, I'll never leave your side for as long as you'll want me around"
"I want you for eternity" with that, Cheng Xiaoshi lowered his forehead onto his shoulder and sighed into the hospital gown in front of him "Until the end of the time and beyond"
They let themselves bask in the moment as much as he could, knowing that having another like this was a rarity nowadays.