Work Text:
Ling Jiushi wordlessly held out his hand and Ruan Lanzhu didn't hesitate for even a moment before he offered his right wrist for inspection. Ling Jiushi was still furious with him, that was obvious, but his anger had died down somewhat and had been tinged with fear ever since the moment he realized that no, Ruan Lanzhu was not some genius mastermind who planned for everything but had seriously expected that he would actually die.
His expression was still far away from being friendly but his touch was gentle as he traced the ring of red around Ruan Lanzhu's wrist. Ruan Lanzhu flinched and barely managed to suppress a hiss of pain at the touch. He was more bruised than he had previously thought and while Lingling's touch was always welcome he hadn't expected it to hurt so much.
Ling Jiushi looked up at the sound and studied him silently for a long moment before he deliberately pressed harder against the bruise and slowly rotated his wrist. Ruan Lanzhu closed his eyes, swallowed hard, and endured it. It hurt but he took the pain as his due punishment.
"I don't think it's broken," was the eventual verdict. "But you should try to move it as little as possible."
Ruan Lanzhu looked up at that, completely surprised and unsure on how to respond. What he had thought to be punishment for disappearing on Ling Jiushi and making him think that he was dead was in truth a simple check if he was… okay.
Or as okay as he could be, after being almost crushed to death. His wrist had held out - barely - under the force of Tan Zaozao's bracelet breaking, and so had the rest of his body but only after being crushed under the ceiling for a moment. Thankfully it had only been a fraction of a moment, not enough to seriously injure him, but enough to make him feel it all over his body. He was not looking forward to waking up the next day after his muscles had some hours of rest to seize up. Still, he expected it wouldn't hurt as bad as Ling Jiushi's expression of betrayal after that first, sweet moment of relief after realizing that Ruan Lanzhu wasn't gone for good.
His expression must have betrayed his thoughts because Ling Jiushi looked at him like he was an idiot and, truthfully, at the moment he felt like one.
"I would bandage it to stabilize it but I don't think it's a good idea for you to show weakness like that," he continued. "We'll take care of it when we're back home." Now there was a hint of smile on Ling Jiushi's face but it was a sad one. "No gaming for you for a while, I fear."
The words startled a laugh out of Ruan Lanzhu. He wasn't much of a gamer but had come to enjoy watching Ling Jiushi or the twins try to beat their own highscores. It seemed as if he had been forgiven. Maybe too soon but being held at arm's length and ignored for even a few moments had hurt almost more than being crushed to death so he was not going to complain. He beat down the impulse to say something snarky or cling to Ling Jiushi's arm - he was self-aware enough to know that he was still on thin ice. He was also so damn tired it hurt and he was almost dizzy from it.
"I'll keep that in mind," he murmured and was surprised at how husky his voice sounded. He stared down at his wrist, still held securely in Ling Jiushi's grip, and once again swallowed hard. "I'm sorry," he added. "I truly am. I swear I wasn't thinking straight and just wanted to keep you away from that room as soon as I figured out that…"
"I know," Ling Jiushi interrupted. "You're not nearly cold and callous enough for that, no matter what your own PR might make you think." He sighed. "That actually makes it so much worse that I almost lost you."
The words made Ruan Lanzhu's head snap up in surprise. He was aware that Ling Jiushi had started to really see him a while ago and knew that his response should be to pull back in an effort to keep his secret for a while longer but the plain truth wasn't that he simply couldn't. Ling Jiushi was like a gravitational well, pulling him ever closer and refusing to let go of him in every way possible and Ruan Lanzhu, from the very beginning, never had the slightest desire to fight the draw.
"You said you wanted to spend your life with me," he said. Stupid, dangerous! the very last remnants of his inner voice of reason shouted but he didn't care.
"Yes," Ling Jiushi said simply. It was a confirmation, as well as a vow. "Where you go, I go." His tone left no room for discussion and Ruan Lanzhu was nodding his consent before he was even aware of it.
It was impossible, he knew, but he pushed that unwelcome thought away. They weren't at this point yet, the crossroads looming in the distance where their paths would eventually diverge, never to intersect again, and so he would not waste a single, precious moment of their remaining time together fretting about it. Besides, they had to survive this door first; something that had shown itself to be even more difficult than previously anticipated.
He reached up with his injured hand to cup Ling Jiushi's cheek. He wanted to lean in and kiss him but didn't dare. Not here, not now, not with the tension between them barely dissolved and replaced with the expectant hum of something… else. Ling Jiushi reached up as well and gently resumed his hold around his wrist. Stabilizing it, protecting it from being further hurt by a careless gesture. He put his other hand on the back of Ruan Lanzhu's neck and drew him closer until their foreheads were touching. His grip was gentle but inescapable. Not that Ruan Lanzhu had even the slightest inclination to do that. No, he only wanted to melt into it and never be let go of again.
"Don't do anything like that ever again, Zhu Meng," Ling Jiushi begged. His fingers dug hard into the nape of his neck and his voice held the same broken quality Ruan Lanzhu's own had not too long ago. "I can't do this without you." He didn't mean the doors but life itself, Ruan Lanzhu realized with a shiver but the thought wasn't as unfamiliar as it should have been. The signs had been there for a while, he had simply ignored them. Yet another, unforeseen complication he had no plan for. "Not anymore. Without you, I don't care if I get out or not."
Ruan Lanzhu closed his eyes in despair. He had no idea whatsoever what to do now. If there even was anything he could do to get Ling Jiushi off the path of self-destruction he had set himself on. And if there was - was he strong enough to do what was necessary? He didn't think so.
Fuck it, he decided. This stolen moment right here and now might be all they had and all they would ever get. The twins were waiting outside of their room for them to rejoin them, they had to find Xiao Ji and get him to open the boxes to find the way out. He had absolutely no idea what was going to happen next, all of his carefully calculated plans had been thrown overboard, alongside all of their contingencies. The only thing tethering him now was Ling Jiushi and just the few moments where the thread had frayed and been dangerously close to snapping had been enough to show him that he, too, couldn't do this alone and that it had nothing to do with the way he had been programmed and everything with the way he felt.
His breath caught for a moment as he opened his eyes, his decision made. Ready to walk the rest of his path into the unknown with his eyes wide open and Ling Jiushi by his side.
"Lingling," he whispered and tilted his head just as Ling Jiushi did so as well. They both leaned in for their very first kiss at exactly the same instant and for a few, precious, moments they allowed themselves to forget about everything else but each other.