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The first thing that Gao Tu notices when he wakes up is that it’s still dark, which is… extremely unusual.
The next is the churning feeling in his stomach.
Oh please don’t let this be food poisoning.
He slowly pushes himself up to a sitting position, feeling the nausea grow for a moment at the movement.
Did he eat something wrong at dinner? But he had eaten the same takeout noodles that he always did, and he’s pretty sure that it’s not the bowl of wonton noodles he had for lunch.
Well whatever it is, Gao Tu knows that he is most definitely not going to be able to sleep, at least not until his stomach decides to give him a break.
Might as well just read something in the meantime, he thinks, switching on the light and grabbing his phone from the bedside table.
Several notifications pop up, all of them unsurprisingly from his boss.
~~~
Mr. Shen
Yesterday 22:50
-> Are you asleep already?
-> Can you pass me the files for this Thursday’s meeting tomorrow?
~~~
Gao Tu glances at the upper left corner of his screen.
00:07
He’s probably asleep by now anyway.
He quickly types out a short reply, and is about to put away his phone when a new notification pops up.
~~~
Mr. Shen
Today 00:07
Ok Mr. Shen <-
-> Why are you up so late?
~~~
Gao Tu leans back against the headboard as he sends a reply, his stomach flipping uncomfortably.
~~~
Mr. Shen
Woke up and couldn’t sleep <-
-> Why?
Nothing, just nauseous. <-
-> Are you sick?
-> Did you eat something spoiled?
No <-
I’m fine <-
~~~
The typing symbol appears, then disappears.
Gao Tu tosses the phone onto the bed with a sigh. He swallows down the nausea rising in his throat, then slowly gets up and treads into the kitchen to grab a glass of water for himself.
A soft chime comes from his room just as he sets down the glass. It takes him a while to return to his room and pick up the discarded phone to read the message.
~~~
Mr. Shen
Today 00:12
-> Oh ok.
~~~
Well that’s anticlimactic.
Gao Tu exits the app and scrolls through the app library for a while before finally deciding to continue reading the book he’d put on hold a few weeks ago.
It’s definitely not a nice time, what with the nausea growing and fading ever so often, making him walk to the bathroom thinking that he’s about to throw up, then sitting in front of the toilet bowl for a few minutes before giving up and walking back to his room.
Gao Tu is halfway through the book when there’s a sudden knock on the door. He jumps at the sound, glancing quickly to the clock on his bedside table to check the time.
It’s 1 in the morning, who the heck is visiting at this time?
Another knock, and a voice calls out from outside the front door.
“Gao Tu?”
Well that’s creepy.
Still, he sighs and drags himself out of his beautifully warm bed, tucking his phone into his pocket as he makes his way to the door.
He peeks through the peephole, and his heart rate practically doubles
Or triples.
What on earth is Shen Wenlang doing at his house?
While he’s still standing in front of the door like an idiot, the man outside raps his knuckles on the wood again.
“Gao Tu? Are you awake?”
He blinks, snapping out of his daze.
“Sorry,” he mutters, fumbling with the lock as he opens the door, coming nearly face to face with Shen Wenlang.
Gao Tu’s eyes travel up from the pair of simple while sweatpants that Wenlang has on to the black t-shirt that hugs his figure, definitely not pausing for a second longer on the gorgeously defined—
Are those abs?
Damn, he looks—
No. Bad brain.
“Gao Tu?”
Right. Yeah. His boss.
“Uh- what… what are you doing here?”
Shen Wenlang completely ignores the question. He grabs Gao Tu’s arm from where it's still resting on the doorknob and walks right into the flat, almost dragging him in at the same time.
“Mr. Shen? What are you-“
“Did you throw up?”
Gao Tu’s mind goes blank at the sudden question.
“Huh?”
Wenlang scowls at him, his eyebrows drawing together into a frown.
“You said you felt nauseous. Why? What did you eat? Did you throw up? Are you ok?” His gaze flicks up and down. “Wait… you’re sick, you shouldn’t be moving around.”
The next moment, Gao Tu is being lifted up into the air, one arm under his knees and another behind his back.
He would have thrown up on the spot if it wasn’t for his inherent fear of vomiting, so he clamps his mouth shut and allows Shen Wenlang to carry him the short distance back to his bed.
“Did you take medicine?”
Gao Tu shakes his head, shifting slightly to the right when Wenlang also takes a seat at the edge of his bed.
“Why not?”
“Don’t have any,” he mumbles back, then rests his head back against the bed frame.
“Oh.”
His eyes shut, and his nose scrunches at the sudden bout of nausea.
Suddenly, the back of a hand comes to rest against his forehead. It’s warm in a comfortable way, and smells faintly of irises.
“Why are you so cold? The air conditioning isn’t even on.”
He doesn’t reply, either lost in Wenlang’s half-woody-half-flowery scent or still trying to process the fact that Wenlang is touching him.
The weight on the bed shifts as Shen Wenlang comes to sit right next to Gao Tu, and pulls him closer until Gao Tu is essentially leaning onto Wenlang.
“You’re so pale… why didn’t you go see a doctor?”
“I was fine earlier.” Gao Tu sighs, relaxing slightly once his stomach stops roiling.
A hand grabs his arm, and the man at his back tsks in disapproval.
“You’re still so cold. You should get some rest.”
“Not going to happen.”
‘Why?”
“… scared I’ll throw up.”
Gao Tu is completely ready for Wenlang to laugh or call him a little kid or something, but all he does is pause, mutter a soft “oh”, and then go silent.
They sit in the dark room for a long time after Wenlang flicks off the light. It’s mostly quiet, except for the chirping of grasshoppers from outside and the soft sound of their breathing.
“Mr. Shen,” Gao Tu speaks up finally, staring out of the window.
“Hm?” Comes the reply, only a few centimetres above his head.
“You should go, it’s late.”
Shen Wenlang goes quiet for so long that Gao Tu nearly thought he had fallen asleep.
“Mr. Shen?”
“…”
“Mr. Shen, did you hear what I said?”
“… yeah.”
“So?”
“It’s fine, I’m on leave tomorrow anyway.”
“You are?”
That’s strange, I didn't hear anything about him taking leave.
“Yes.”
And that’s the end of it, because Wenlang apparently decides that it’s a good time to shut up again.
Really, if only he does the same everyday in the office.
Gao Tu would greatly appreciate it.
~~~~~~~~
“Are you going to sleep?”
It’s the third time already that Wenlang has asked him this. Somehow, he can’t help but think that it’s because he just wants to go to sleep too.
“No, but you can go to sleep if you want to,” he replies, watching a squirrel crawl up the tree outside the window.
There’s no reply, but he can feel Wenlang staring at him.
“How’s your sister?” Wenlang asks again after what feels like an eternity.
Gao Tu shrugs. “Better, but that’s thanks to you.”
Wenlang hums, but doesn’t continue.
Someone should give this guy a lesson on how to hold a conversation, honestly.
To be fair, Gao Tu really isn’t much better.
Maybe that’s why they should be together.
Wait… what?
~~~~~~~~
Gao Tu knows that it’s about 7 when the warm glow of sunlight slowly creeps into his room, illuminating the two grown men sitting on the bed.
“Are you still awake?”
Wenlang sounds tired, but there’s a rare gentleness in his voice that even Gao Tu can pick out.
“Yeah.”
“How’re you feeling?”
Gao Tu shrugs, not knowing the answer himself. He’s definitely hoping that he’s fine now but honestly with his body, nobody really knows.
Wenlang sighs and slowly climbs out of the bed. He pulls out his car keys from his pocket and nods to Gao Tu.
“Come on, I’ll drive you to the doctor.”