Yitian woke up, having a major back and neck pain. He stretched his body a bit, but when he moved, a sleepy mumbling could be heard. Yitian blinked a lot and rubbed his eyes a little so they would focus more on the sleeping person next to him. He reached out and touched Chao's forehead. His fever was subdued but he was still warm to touch.
Yitian slowly and carefully got up, took shower, and as silently as he could he started to prepare breakfast. He tried to be silent because he knew how much rest a sick person needs. But it wasn't soon after he started that black messy-haired head appeared above the sofa's back. His complexion was slightly better and his skin tone wasn't death pale anymore. Chao rested his head on his arms on the back of the sofa, sniffed, and smiled at Yitian.
"A delicious smell. What's for breakfast? I'm hungry." Chao said and Yitian was glad. It was a sign that he got better.
"What do you want to eat? I made myself just some scrambled egg sandwich. I thought I would do sweet oatmeal for you." Yitian smiled at Chao, slicing the sandwich already.
"I wanna try your sandwich…" Chao said childishly and pouted, Yitian chuckled. He picked up the plate with toast and squad before the sofa's back, just enough to be on a face level with Chao.
"Okay, here you go, try if your throat can take it, but if it hurts… I told ya…" Yitian was handing the plate to Chao but he just shook his head.
"I'm too weak to lift my hand. I need you to feed me." Chao said and opened his mouth. 'What is he? A five years old child?' Yitian thought for himself and shook his head in amusement. But he went with the flow, picked up the half of the sandwich, and put it in Chao's mouth. He took a bite and closed his eyes, chewing slowly, before he swallowed the bite.
But as Yitian thought, the sandwich got stuck in his swollen throat and Chao started clearing it, coughing. But he was merciful enough. He stood up and brought him some tea to help him swallow it. When Chao stopped crying, he gave back the glass with tea back to Yitian, saying thank you. They looked at each other for a while, staring.
"I won't say that I told you…" Yitian simpered and went to make the oatmeal. He won this round. Chao was sulking on the sofa, playing with his phone, when he brought a better meal for a sick person. "C'mon, eat, you need to get better, so we can watch more of the movies together." Yitian was shoving the bowl right under Chao's nose, but he was ignoring him.
'Such a child…' he thought and internally, he was smiling, having too much fun. He hadn't seen this side of Chao yet, but it was so hilarious, that he loved it. He picked up the spoon and scooped up a bit of the porridge.
"Here an airplane is landing, open the hangar." He made a buzzing sound imitating the engine of a plane while flying around with the spoon, stopping before Chao's mouth. Which actually opened but because he burst out laughing.
"Where the hell did you learn this?" Chao asked in between his laughing/coughing attacks. He even started to cry how much he was laughing. Yitian was so damn embarrassed, he was blushing and pouting.
"I saw it as a child in some foreign movie. I always wanted my mom to feed me like this, that's how I remember it until now," Yitian said and regretted it a bit because Chao stopped laughing and the atmosphere suddenly became dark. But then Chao lunched out and hugged Yitian.
"I'm so sorry. I won't make fun of it anymore. Next time, when you are sick I will feed you like this… I promise." Chao whispered and squeezed Yitian, who was starlet for a second, not expecting the impact he almost fell. But then as if something broke, collapsed, he put the bowl aside and hugged Chao back.
Yitian, who stopped crying because of a pity since that night, suddenly sobbed as a little child feeling so hurt. He knew his panic attacks, when he was crying, were his welled up emotions surfacing above his walls of self-control. Because once in a while, everyone needs release. And Yitian was now hugging his nemesis.
Someone who broke all of his walls and made him feel again. Feel all the scars, all the beating, and feel the emotions that he never knew he would have towards someone. He was grateful, relieved, full of expectancy, over the moon, and as happy as he could be now.
Chao was patting Yitian's back, knowing that he finally broke that wall of protection he had. The wall that helped him suffer through his abuse without committing suicide earlier. That helped him protect all the feelings he wanted to leash out. And it was as if he wrecked the walls of a dam. His tears and sobbing were not stopping.
"Thank you. I was lucky to meet you. You saved my life." Yitian was finally able to say something, so he decided to whisper these words to Chao.
"No problem. Next time I'm sure you will save my life." Chao said and smiled, ruffling Yitian's hair. Yitian stopped hugging Chao and stood up, he sniffled and pointed at the bowl next to them.
"Eat…Then you can talk to me about your problems." Yitian strode away, looking for a handkerchief, thinking only one sentence… 'I will do everything to make him happy.'
Meanwhile, Chao picked up the bowl and raised the spoon, looking at it, remembering the funny scene from before, and the care Yitian showed. He now knew that Yitian would understand and wouldn't run away. He knew it was the time to tell Yitian that he was a killer. He swallowed the porridge and it was the sweetest thing he ever had.