Work Text:
Lu Guang thinks he finally found the common thread in every timeline.
He gets it on his fifteenth loop- the first time he’s actually been logical and thought through how to change everything. It was never the immediate stuff. That was so stupid to ever think. No, he needed to go back to the start- back to the first time they’d met- and change it all. Butterfly effect.
Right, right. This would be easy, this would work out fine. Cheng Xiaoshi would never die in this timeline if he never worked with his powers. He would never use his powers if he never met Lu Guang- it all made so much sense now. Lu Guang would just… never meet Cheng Xiaoshi. That would be fine.
Everything would be fine as long as Cheng Xiaoshi lived.
So, when Lu Guang claps into the photo, when the white light is blinding him, and he returns to see a basketball at his feet, he doesn’t reach for it.
He looks up to see the man he’s loved for countless years now, running towards him and waving. The man is sweating, smiling, absolutely glowing in the brightness of the sun. And Lu Guang stands there, frozen, trying not to remember what this man looks like without that shine in his eyes. Trying not to remember that he just held this man as he died just minutes ago.
“Hey! Can you grab that?”
The familiar voice calls. The familiar voice that Lu Guang winces hearing. He’s gotten much more mature throughout the dives, but he still feels like a child. It takes everything in him not to give into those childish urges and hug Cheng Xiaoshi, making sure he’s alive and real.
But Lu Guang is stronger than that. He has self control.
He keeps walking.
“Rude,” the voice pouts.
Lu Guang doesn’t stop in his tracks, he doesn’t run back, he doesn’t beg to play a game of basketball. He just keeps walking.
Avoiding Cheng Xiaoshi proves to be insanely hard, considering he’s spent every day for the last… many years with him. He sees Cheng Xiaoshi in the hallways of school, at the basketball court, outside even. Lu Guang wasn’t sure how he never noticed him before that beautifully tragic day.
Sometimes their eyes would meet and Cheng Xiaoshi, despite calling him rude days ago, would smile at him. He smiled. God, Lu Guang wanted to cry.
He thinks he lost the ability to cry a long time ago, though. It was the third time looping around when Cheng Xiaoshi caught him crying. Lu Guang had woken up suddenly in the night with tears falling down his face- and it didn’t take a genius to know what nightmare he had. Cheng Xiaoshi was up on his own accord, having his own horrors that he attended to. As he walked back to their room, he looked up to see Lu Guang frantically wiping away tears and immediately climbed up next to him.
“Lu Guang?”
Lu Guang couldn’t find the words to respond. He just turned his head away. Every time he saw Cheng Xiaoshi, he just saw the way the last dots of light drained from his eyes and the strength leaving his arms as he reached for Lu Guang one last time and-
He choked out a harsh sob, torn from his throat.
“Lu Guang, talk to me,” Cheng Xiaoshi put a hand on Lu Guang’s arm, massaging it lightly. “Please.”
“It’s nothing. Just… just go back to sleep,” he waved the hand off of him, but Cheng Xiaoshi grabbed his wrist. His voice had no strength to it, and he knew that Cheng Xiaoshi wouldn’t give up so easily.
“You always take care of me when I cry. Even when it’s over stupid shit- like when I dropped that cookie on the floor! And you still sat there with me for so long. I want to take care of you like that too. So please, no matter how stupid it is, I want to help. You can’t keep carrying so much weight on your shoulder.”
“I’m fine-”
“You aren’t though,” he furrowed his eyebrows, holding onto Lu Guang’s wrist just a little tighter. “You think I don’t notice, but I do. You always tense up when we talk about death or change the topic when I talk about going to Bridon. And you never sleep at night either. Every time I wake up because of a nightmare, you’re always awake. It’s like your insomnia is worse than mine and I know there’s a reason. Please, Lu Guang, just talk to me. I want you to rely on me the way I always do to you.”
Lu Guang tried to make mental notes of being more subtle about everything, but the idea of not comforting Cheng Xiaoshi after a nightmare made him feel worse. That was an issue for another time.
Heavy silence kept filling the room. And Cheng Xiaoshi was stubborn, almost as stubborn as Lu Guang was tired.
“How did you get through your parents’ death?”
It was probably an insensitive question, Lu Guang thinks, looking back on it. He was too hurt though, at this moment, to consider it.
“Oh,” Cheng Xiaoshi’s eyes widened in shock. “I… don’t really know.”
Lu Guang rested his head on Cheng Xiaoshi’s shoulder, feeling the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. Still alive.
“I guess I just did. Because I had to. Qiao Ling helped a lot- having someone there who was ready to listen to me and fight for me. But it was just a lot of sitting there with my pain and emotions. Time would pass with or without them, and I had to make sure I was using my time. Life is so fleeting and limited, so once I cried myself dry of tears, I thought that I needed to make the most of everything.”
“I see.”
“Did… did you lose someone close to you?”
Lu Guang couldn’t bring himself to answer.
“You don’t talk about your parents much. I don’t know what kind of relationship you guys had, but you’re allowed to feel any way you do. Losing the people you close to you is hard, and it feels like the end of the world at times, but you’ll get through it. We both will, together. I want to be with you every step of the way.”
“I want you to too,” Lu Guang admitted through a whisper. He wanted this timeline to be the one. He needed it. (It wasn’t.)
“Do you want to talk about them?”
Lu Guang shook his head.
“I want to help you… just please tell me how to do it,” Cheng Xiaoshi pleaded, holding onto Lu Guang’s hand tightly, as if he never wanted to let go. Lu Guang prayed that he wouldn’t.
“It can’t be helped,” Lu Guang shook his head. “But… but you being here feels good.”
“Should I stay up here for tonight?”
“The bed is small and you move in your sleep- are you trying to get a concussion?” he joked, using his non-taken hand to wipe the last of his tears.
“If I did, would I still have to work? I need a break- Qiao Ling is working me to death,” Cheng Xiaoshi whined dramatically.
“Grow up, you big baby.”
“We could also head down to my bed,” he asked cautiously. “If you want.”
As hard as it is for Lu Guang to ask for things- to want things- or even express that, when Cheng Xiaoshi is staring so intently at their hands… wanting him, how could he say otherwise.
“I do want,” he admitted quietly.
Cheng Xiaoshi looked surprised at this, which breaks Lu Guang’s heart a little (doesn’t he know Lu Guang would destroy worlds for him? Doesn’t he know Lu Guang never wants to leave his side?), but they made their way down the latter and into the older’s bed. Lu Guang curled up and held Cheng Xiaoshi harder than ever before, head resting on his chest, needing to hear the rhythm of his heartbeat and every soft breath he took.
“You do know that I’m always here, right?” Cheng Xiaoshi whispered in the dark.
Lu Guang didn’t know how to respond. No, you aren’t. You won’t be. No matter how hard I try.
He just feigned sleep, praying that tears didn’t make their way down his cheeks.
About a year later, Cheng Xiaoshi died again. Lu Guang knew that being emotional wouldn’t solve anything, so he stopped crying after that. No point in Cheng Xiaoshi knowing the pain that plagued him.
There had to be a way.
—
Life is lonely without Cheng Xiaoshi.
No one else made the world light up the way that Cheng Xiaoshi did, but this monotone world was far preferable to the alternative he’s faced too many times. With every passing day, Lu Guang couldn’t fathom how anyone was ever able to move on. Difficult as avoiding Cheng Xiaoshi was, he managed most of high school with minimal interaction. Until they were paired together for a project in their final year, that is.
“Hello!” Cheng Xiaoshi sits his stuff down in the seat next to him, smiling brightly. As he normally did. “Lu Guang, right?”
Lu Guang nods hesitantly. “And you’re Cheng Xiaoshi.”
“Mhm! I keep seeing you around- it’s a wonder we’ve never spoken,” he rests his head in his hand, staring so intently at Lu Guang that he felt his heart pull. He can’t cave now.
“Truly,” he keeps his response short. “I think that we can do this project on our own. I can divide the parts between us and as long as we preview it before submission, it’ll be fine.”
“Ah, that’s no fun,” Cheng Xiaoshi pouted. “Plus, you’re like- an A+ student and I suck at this stuff. So we should work on it together. I learn and you get the grade you deserve!”
Lu Guang knows that it’s an excuse to talk to him. Cheng Xiaoshi does care about school and studies, but that’s only on the rare occasion he remembers that there’s classes to study for, an uncommon occurrence. Cheng Xiaoshi in nearly every timeline has talked about how much he wanted to be Lu Guang’s friend before they’d ever spoken, and while Lu Guang can’t begin to imagine why, he knows what that pull feels like. And he knows that this is a poorly made excuse to strike up opportunities for friendship.
And he knows he needs to deny it.
“It’s best if we keep it separate. I can make sure it is up to par with my standings and you have plenty of people who can teach you the material if you still don’t understand it.”
Lu Guang focuses on his computer, thankful that there’s an easy way to avoid making eye contact. Plenty of people might just mean Qiao Ling, but maybe in this world, Cheng Xiaoshi has actually found companionship in more people. Lu Guang can’t tell how many classmates Cheng Xiaoshi hangs around are actual friends and how many are just people he talks to without any further connection. He supposes that most of them are the latter.
“Can I be frank?” Cheng Xiaoshi huffed out. Without waiting for a response, he continued. “I don’t know what I did to you, but I see you always glaring at me and I feel- bad? I don’t know! But I want to remedy that and at the very least, I want to be able to civilly get through this project, so please, make it easier on both of us and just tell me what I did.”
“You think you did something wrong?” Lu Guang can’t fathom that.
Well, he totally can- Cheng Xiaoshi blames himself for everything in existence to the extent that sometimes Lu Guang doesn’t even know where to start reassuring him, because how could Cheng Xiaoshi ever believe anything is his fault? But to simply see some random guy who’s never spoken to him and think that he’s in the fault? For what?
“Well, yeah,” he backs up defensively. “You stare at me like I murdered your best friend or something. What was I meant to think?”
Not far off, Lu Guang sighs.
“I have no issues with you. That’s just the way my face is.”
“You promise that’s it?”
And Lu Guang is not as mature now as he will be in the future. He’s had several lifetimes to learn, but he still says things that are better left unsaid. He still does things that are better left undone. So, hands freezing on his laptop, he whispers out a breath.
“You just look a lot like an old friend of mine,” and before Cheng Xiaoshi has a chance to ask questions, Lu Guang resumes his typing. “I don’t wish to talk about it. Let’s just finish our work.”
Cheng Xiaoshi doesn’t push further.
Lu Guang learned not to say too much during his sixth loop, deciding that maybe the issue was that Cheng Xiaoshi didn’t know. Maybe if he could warn Cheng Xiaoshi about his death, it wouldn’t happen. But it’d already happened so many different ways, Lu Guang didn’t know what to say. He was still so naive at the time- so impulsive.
“Hey! Can you grab that?”
And as soon as Lu Guang met Cheng Xiaoshi’s eyes, he ran forward, and took the older’s hands in his own.
“Cheng Xiaoshi, my name is Lu Guang,” he said with a newfound intensity. “I’m from the future.”
“Oh!” Cheng Xiaoshi flinched back. “Uhm… are you okay? Did you hit your head on-”
Lu Guang dragged him away before Cheng Xiaoshi could continue.
“Where are we- oh,” Lu Guang pulled him into a nearby alleyway, to which Cheng Xiaoshi yanked his arm out of Lu Guang’s grasp. “You gonna murder me in here or something?”
Ironic.
“I know I sound absolutely insane right now, but this is my sixth time living this, and I don’t know what else to do,” Lu Guang pleaded, eyebrows furrowed. “In six years, we will go to Bridon, and in six years, you will die. Probably. I don’t know, sometimes you last longer than others. Last loop, you died on May 10th at 23:11, so if we rely on that, we have more time, but-”
“What? Dude, I’m sorry, but you have to know that there’s no reason for me to believe you. How do you even know me in the future?”
“You’re my-” Everything. “My best friend. And roommate- we live with Qiao Ling and work at Time Photo Studio together. You moved in with her when you were nine and then we met playing basketball and I became your closest friend. And then we discovered your ability to go back in time through photos, as well as mine to look in photos and I can hardly remember how that even happened anymore, but… but you have to believe me. You have to let me protect you.”
“So if I can go back through photos… that should prove that you’re telling the truth.”
“Right.”
“Let’s go back to my place, then. Talk to me more on the way,” Cheng Xiaoshi started walking out, Lu Guang keeping pace with him. He always believed people so easily, though it did work out in Lu Guang’s favor this time. This would be the working loop, he felt it.
“What do you want to know?”
“Tell me about us. How did we meet?”
“Playing basketball. You asked me to grab that ball for you and I handed it over. Then you asked me to play with you. After a while, we started playing every day after school, until you introduced me to Qiao Ling and then we became inseparable. I moved in with you after high school.”
“You mentioned multiple loops… how many times have you gone back?”
“This is my sixth time returning here.”
“What for? Just to save me? That can’t be all.”
Lu Guang’s silence was more than enough of an answer.
“Really? But why?”
“I told you,” Lu Guang looked down, forcing himself not to meet Cheng Xiaoshi’s eyes. “You’re my best friend.”
—
Years passed.
Lu Guang was scared for a long time that he would grow to forget the details of Cheng Xiaoshi’s face, or the sound of his voice, or any of the little things that used to be Lu Guang’s reason for living another day. He really can’t live without Cheng Xiaoshi.
In the meantime, he dedicates himself to finding Vein, Liu Xiao, Xia Fei, and every other person who has contributed to Cheng Xiaoshi’s death. He knows that there’s more to it all that he doesn’t understand yet, but it doesn’t matter if he ever finds it out. As long as Cheng Xiaoshi is safe.
Lu Guang takes a ferry to Bridon at age 20, not too long after Cheng Xiaoshi’s birthday. The same time they would’ve taken the trip together, had they been friends in this life. Every passing day feels torturous, but he needed to guarantee Cheng Xiaoshi made it out of this year alive. But what if they make it out of this year for the first time? Lu Guang needs to make sure that Cheng Xiaoshi lives a full life. He deserves it.
You must imagine Lu Guang’s shock when the day before he’s set to go to Bridon, he sees Cheng Xiaoshi sit on the bench next to him. By force of habit, he lights up, dropping the camera he was holding, before remembering that this wasn’t his friend. This was a stranger. He probably just needed a place to sit. Nothing out of the ordinary-
“Hey,” Cheng Xiaoshi smiles brightly. The way he always does. “You live around here, don’t you?”
The panic must be evident in Lu Guang’s eyes, but Cheng Xiaoshi takes it in the completely wrong way.
“That sounds creepy, doesn’t it?” he cringes at himself. “I just meant that I see you around here a lot. I think we went to high school together too.”
Lu Guang feels his throat dry up. He can’t begin to know what to do or say. He can’t breathe- he can’t have wasted all these years without Cheng Xiaoshi just to meet him again. And he still feels so much pain. His heart has never felt more heavy, and he fights back the urge to cry. Cheng Xiaoshi has no idea who Lu Guang is, and Lu Guang knows nothing other than Cheng Xiaoshi.
And Lu Guang always called him the clingy one.
“I live in the Hero Photo Studio nearby. If anything’s wrong with your camera, come and find me,” he carries the conversation smoothly, leaning back against the bench. “I can fix it for you.”
Lu Guang wonders who Cheng Xiaoshi has become in this timeline. A lot less awkward, he finds, but still with that anxious charm of sorts. He fiddles with his camera, trying to figure out how to respond.
“I’ll be sure to stop by then,” he decides. Cheng Xiaoshi will forget about him again soon. It’s for the best to just play along now.
He hates the way Cheng Xiaoshi’s eyes light up at the idea.
“Cool!” he surprises himself with his own excitement. “I mean- cool. My name is Cheng Xiaoshi. When you get there, ask for me.”
Lu Guang nods.
“You’re Lu Guang, right?”
It mimics the way he asked years ago, and it feels like a punishment. He can’t tell if it’s worse that Cheng Xiaoshi remembers his name or that Cheng Xiaoshi only remembers his name.
Lu Guang just nods again.
“Man, you haven’t changed a bit,” Cheng Xiaoshi laughs. “I gotta buy my sister boba, but I hope to see you soon, Lu Guang.”
“See you soon, Cheng Xiaoshi,” the name still slides so fluidly off Lu Guang’s tongue after years without saying it. It’s fine. They’ll never see each other again.
Fate will always tear them apart.
In Lu Guang’s last loop, number fourteen, he felt this more than anything. It started in their sunroom, Lu Guang reading through Shakespeare sonnets when Cheng Xiaoshi, sitting next to him, finally started a conversation.
“Apparently Sonnet 18 was written about another man,” he mentioned, as if that was some throwaway comment. Lu Guang raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that… interesting?”
“I don’t think it particularly changes anything,” Lu Guang tried to ignore the fear that coarsed through his body. This was a terrifying conversation he never wanted to have. Did Cheng Xiaoshi know…?
“Right,” Cheng Xiaoshi scratched at the back of his neck, as if he was about to continue with a more awkward direction.
Lu Guang braced for the question he knew was coming.
“What if it was someone you knew?”
“Hm?” Lu Guang furrowed his eyebrows. This was not the question he expected. “What do you mean?”
“What if someone you knew was… I don’t know- into men?”
“That doesn’t change anything for me. Why should I care what other people do with their time?” Especially when he’d spent the last few lifetimes on one goal.
“What if it was me?”
Taking a harsh inwards breath, Lu Guang knew he needed to calm down. “Are you?”
“Yeah,” Cheng Xiaoshi uncurled from Lu Guang’s side, as if he wanted to get as far away from him as possible. “I don’t really know what I am. But… I know I like someone. And that someone happens to be a man.”
Right. No need to get my hopes up.
“I wish the best for you two, then,” he closed his book.
“Well, I don’t know how he feels about me, you know? I don’t even know if he likes men.”
“You should ask him. Maybe find a way to bring it up more subtly than that,” Lu Guang teased with a light smirk. When he looked at Cheng Xiaoshi, he felt that maybe teasing wasn’t the right option. He’d never seen Cheng Xiaoshi look so scared in his life. Anxious, yes. Sad, constantly. But never terrified like this. He instantly worked to backtrack. “Who is it? Maybe I can talk to him.”
“Ah! No- no, no, no,” Cheng Xiaoshi waved off. “You… you really don’t have to do that.”
“What would help, then?” Lu Guang asked. He was never good at comforting, and there didn’t seem to be a clear solution here otherwise.
“God, Lu Guang, you’re so-” he cut himself off, frustratedly putting his head in his hands. “You’re so good.”
Lu Guang would’ve laughed at that, had Cheng Xiaoshi not looked so distressed and serious. He didn’t understand why Cheng Xiaoshi would think so highly of him, though he also knew that Cheng Xiaoshi wouldn’t have the same opinion if he knew everything. Knew that Lu Guang had been hiding so much from him. Knew that Lu Guang was the worst hypocrite imaginable.
Lu Guang just didn’t respond.
Cheng Xiaoshi muttered under his breath, something Lu Guang couldn’t hear over the fuzz in his own head.
“Hm?”
“I’m sorry, Lu Guang.”
“Why?”
“You know why- quit playing dumb,” He didn’t know. But Lu Guang could see the tears Cheng Xiaoshi was fighting back, and no matter what Cheng Xiaoshi could’ve possibly done, Lu Guang was going to forgive him.
Cheng Xiaoshi continued. “I promise it won’t change anything about our work or our relationship. I shouldn’t have brought it up at all and if you want space away from me I get it. I’m sorry, Lu Guang. Please forgive me.”
It took seconds for the words to click in Lu Guang’s head, and he prayed that he hadn’t misinterpreted. He couldn’t repress his smile when he hit Cheng Xiaoshi’s arm lightly.
“You idiot.”
Cheng Xiaoshi finally looked up at him and pouted, “Shut up. How am I an idiot?”
“You already decided how I feel before asking me. That’s awfully insensitive of you.”
“Well, I’m not wrong-”
“Shut up. Quit acting like you’re the only one who cares,” Lu Guang wished Cheng Xiaoshi could know just how much, but he would never tell him a word of it. He’d grown much less affectionate after the years. “You’re such an idiot.”
“You care?” Cheng Xiaoshi asked, sounding so shocked Lu Guang felt his heart break.
“You thought I didn’t?”
“Not… like that.”
“This is why you need to stop making assumptions,” Lu Guang shook his head. Slowly, Cheng Xiaoshi’s arm wrapped itself around Lu Guang’s and he rested his head on the younger’s shoulder.
Everything felt perfect.
Lu Guang stupidly thought that that was the loop that would work. Maybe in some bout of fate, they needed to be together to survive. He wanted to laugh at how naive that thought was.
Cheng Xiaoshi died in December that year. It was the furthest Lu Guang had ever made it. He was going to make it further next loop, he swore it.
—
What the fuck is Cheng Xiaoshi doing in Bridon?
Lu Guang sees Cheng Xiaoshi two days into his England trip, and immediately runs to hide. No way. Absolutely no way.
He supposes Cheng Xiaoshi had always wanted to go there, but how could he have planned it the exact same in such a different timeline? This was terrifying. All of the work he was meant to do in the shadows could be brought to light within the blink of an eye.
Vein would be coming after him any minute now, Lu Guang knew, and he knew that he needed to get away. More importantly, he needed to get Cheng Xiaoshi away.
Liu Xiao knows about the timelines, he always does. Cheng Xiaoshi will not be spared punishment- despite having done nothing wrong. There was no time to go through the pros and cons of each scenario, so in a moment’s notice, Lu Guang surveys the area- no Liu Xiao, no Vein, no Xia Fei- and runs to get Cheng Xiaoshi.
“I don’t have time to explain, but you need to come with me,” he pleads. Cheng Xiaoshi looks concerned, yet he still follows Lu Guang. Lu Guang doesn’t know why, but there’s no time to inquire.
The second they reach a safe spot- a museum, surrounded by people, yet no one there paying attention- Lu Guang starts talking.
“Did you come here alone?”
“So, I know I tried to flirt with you in a way that came off creepy a few days ago, but this is a little creepier.”
“Cheng Xiaoshi, you need to trust me,” Lu Guang’s eyes don’t stay in one place long, constantly vigilant. “You can’t go anywhere alone. Not until you get back to China.”
“What are you on about?” Cheng Xiaoshi looks somewhere between confused and exasperated, and Lu Guang can’t blame him.
“I can’t say much, but you need to trust me here. Your life is on the-” Lu Guang cuts himself off as he makes eye contact with Liu Xiao, who smiles at him from the second floor. “... line. Stay here.”
Lu Guang starts trudging through the crowd, making his way to Liu Xiao. Something needs to happen, Lu Guang knows- and it’s going to happen now. He’s so focused, it takes a second before he realizes that someone’s hand is firmly holding his wrist.
“You can’t just leave me somewhere after telling me that my life is on the line,” Cheng Xiaoshi’s eyes are sharp, eyebrows furrowed. He’s serious. Fuck.
“It’s for your own good!” Lu Guang says a little louder than he intends to. A little more emotionally. Liu Xiao has already seen Cheng Xiaoshi- he can tell. What could his next move be? Lu Guang has never been in a timeline so different from the original, and he has no idea if that’s a good thing or not.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but if people are in danger, I want to help,” he doesn’t waver. “Let me help.”
“You never change.”
Lu Guang knows that Cheng Xiaoshi doesn’t understand it, but something relaxes in Lu Guang’s heart. Cheng Xiaoshi will always be the same.
Before Cheng Xiaoshi can comment that they don’t even know each other, Lu Guang pulls him in close, whispering to him, “We need to split up. Meet me on the fourth floor.”
And without letting Cheng Xiaoshi get a word in, he starts pushing through the crowd again, making his way up to Liu Xiao. Cheng Xiaoshi understands enough, because he finds a longer, more roundabout way to reach the stairs. Good. This can work.
His head is spinning by the time he reaches the second floor, Liu Xiao nowhere to be seen. He must’ve disappeared into the crowd- where would he go? Lu Guang lingers on the second floor, looking through every bit of the museum available to them.
Until he catches Liu Xiao out of the corner of his eye, walking into an elevator going up. Fuck. He can’t reach Cheng Xiaoshi first. That can’t happen. He told Cheng Xiaoshi to meet him on the fourth floor and that they needed to split, but he has no idea if Cheng Xiaoshi is taking his time or not. He needs to get there before Liu Xiao does- or before Cheng Xiaoshi does.
Lu Guang is running out of time and he knows it.
He runs up two flights of stairs and doesn’t see Cheng Xiaoshi on the way, but silently prays that he’s making it quick enough. Lu Guang never worked out and his body is both fragile and exhausted. But he runs. He runs like he never has before.
It feels like a trap when he gets to the top floor. It’s silent up here and neither Liu Xiao nor Cheng Xiaoshi are to be seen. Everything feels still. But he walks around anyways.
Almost like a horror movie, the air feels heavy and Lu Guang is prepared for anything. As long as Cheng Xiaoshi isn’t dead.
“What a fun little game,” Liu Xiao’s voice rings from behind as a gun presses to his forehead. “This time truly was different from normal.”
Lu Guang tries to keep his breathing steady. He can’t die quite yet. Cheng Xiaoshi is somewhere on this floor and he needs to guarantee his safety. What can he do?
“Nothing to say this time?”
“Why are you doing this?” Lu Guang whispers- the loudest his voice can get.
“Your actions have repercussions,” Liu Xiao hums. “You, of all people, should know this well.”
“That’s it? It’s because I changed the timeline?”
“I have my own personal score to settle with you as well. But I don’t think you’re quite in a place to be asking questions.”
Lu Guang watches a shadow pass by in front of him. He hopes Liu Xiao misses that too.
“You’re really going to kill me above a crowded museum? Where anyone can hear?”
“I can get away.”
“Of course, you can,” Lu Guang sighs. “Where’s Vein? I thought he’d want to be in on the fun.”
“You’re stalling for your little loverboy, aren’t you?” Liu Xiao smiles. Lu Guang doesn’t know why he’s smiling if it’s evidently working. This should’ve been more than enough time for Cheng Xiaoshi to begin making his way back into the crowd. As long as he didn’t do anything stupid.
“Shoot me, then.”
“No-!”
A figure runs out. The gun goes off. Lu Guang is still alive. He doesn’t have the courage to open his eyes. He knows what the outcome is.
“If I leave you two alone here, will I be seeing you in the next timeline?”
And he leaves them alone anyways. This is Lu Guang’s punishment.
“You never listen, do you?” he whispers, but Cheng Xiaoshi can still hear him. His words are to fond to sound harsh, and they’re too pained to sound angry. He makes no effort to go to the older’s dying body. He doesn’t have the energy anymore.
“You really know me, huh?”
After a while, Lu Guang breathes out, “Yeah.”
“You always felt… familiar. I always wanted to be your friend,” he admits. Every word sounds more strained than the last. Lu Guang can tell that he’s losing consciousness with every word. “We were friends, weren’t we?”
Lu Guang doesn’t answer. He just takes one last breath before pulling out his phone, staring at the lockscreen.
“I’ll fix it, Cheng Xiaoshi. Just rest, now.”