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The view looked stunning, the night sky made the city’s lights glow so prettily, and you could see the start of spring, with little colourful flowers beginning to bloom.
Wei Ying looked down at all of it from the ledge, the beautiful florals, the bright lights, and people walking, taking their time.
He looks down at it, his mouth raising up into a smile.
“Aiya, this really is too perfect of a sight,” Wei Ying murmurs under his breath, despite no one being around to hear him.
“I just want to look at it forever.” Wei Ying’s smile dims ever so lightly, “Perhaps I will have forever to look at it…”
Wei Ying takes a deep breath, titling his head up to gaze at the dark sky above him.
“Goodbye, cruel world.”
With his final words, he steps over the ledge, ready to fall, feeling the wind rushing past already.
But that never happens.
Instead, a hand reached out, gripping Wei Ying tightly by his hand. The stranger’s hand quickly pulls him away from the ledge, and all Wei Ying’s hands are getting sweaty, and he feels like his ears are steaming. He turns around to face whoever dared to save him–
“Why?!” Wei Ying shouts at the face before him, a gorgeous face, actually, of a boy around his age, with long luscious black hair. “Why did you save me?! Can’t you see, I don’t want to be saved!”
The boy’s eyes are wide, but it also looks like he’s not really looking at Wei Ying, like the boy is questioning himself. Wei Ying waits for a response, but the boy continues to stare right through Wei Ying, ignoring Wei Ying completely.
“Hey! Are you deaf or mute?! Answer me!” Wei Ying grips the boy’s shoulders, shaking them to get the boy out of the stupid weird trance he seems to be in.
The boy looks at him, eye to eye, and Wei Ying immediately stops shaking him. The boy’s eyes are… golden. Is that even possible?!
“I apologise,” the boy whispers, his voice shaking, like he was the one about to commit suicide, “I–I do not know what came over me, I came here to–but–well,” the boy takes a deep breath before continuing, “you can, erm, continue. I will not intervene this time.”
Wei Ying can’t believe what he just heard come out of this boy’s mouth.
He just apologised for saving Wei Ying’s life.
But Wei Ying catches on to one part that the boy said.
He came here to what?
Wei Ying only really needs a second to know what the boy was coming here for. Afterall, they’re on the top of some random tall building in the middle of the night.
What else could the boy be here for, if it’s not the same thing as why Wei Ying is here?
“I’m not just gonna–jump, again.” The boy nods awkwardly at Wei Ying’s answer, and Wei Ying cringes at himself. “Um, what’s your name?” Wei Ying cringes even more at how uncomfortable his voice and question sounds, but luckily the boy seems to ignore all that.
“My name is Lan Zhan.” Wei Ying tries to smile, tries to lighten up the mood. It fails, given their current situation.
“Ah, Lan Zhan, what are you doing up here, so late in the night?”
Lan Zhan gives a tense smile, in an attempt to return Wei Ying’s, “The same reason you are.”
Wei Ying chuckles, though it sounds strained, “No, I mean the reason for the reason you’re up here.”
Lan Zhan’s body relaxes, and he does this little cute giggle. “You are strange.” Lan Zhan takes a short pause before responding to Wei Ying’s question, “I am here because my life has… not been the greatest, you could say, and so I came here to end it.”
Wei Ying hums, “Mn, my life also sucks, but I guess you just put it in a fancier tone, huh?”
Lan Zhan doesn’t say anything in response to this, but he does ask, “What is your name?”
Wei Ying freezes, looking at Lan Zhan. “Ah, did I not introduce myself yet? Sorry, that’s so rude of me.”
Lan Zhan shakes his head, “No, it is fine.”
Wei Ying laughs, “Thank you, Lan Zhan. My name’s Wei Ying.”
Lan Zhan nods, and reaches out to clasp Wei Ying’s hand into his own. “Let us sit down far from the ledge, okay?”
It’s then Wei Ying remembers just where he is, on the top of a building, in the dead of night, where he was about to kill himself. He lets Lan Zhan drag him away from the ledge, and sits down next to him.
“Do you need to talk, Wei Ying?” Lan Zhan asked quietly, clutching tightly to Wei Ying’s hand.
Wei Ying chuckles softly, trying to keep this quiet environment that they’ve made for themselves. “You’re also here for the same cause, I don’t think I’m the only one who needs to be talked to.”
Lan Zhan hums, “Mn, do you want to talk about why you are here first, or do you want me to?”
Wei Ying smiled bashfully, “If you’re okay with it, can you talk first?”
Lan Zhan hums in agreement.
“To start, I am an orphan, and in the foster system. Needless to say, my foster parents have… never been that good, and the ones I have now are undoubtedly the worst.” Lan Zhan speaks in a soft voice, never raising it, staying at the same pitch all the time.
That’s why, when Wei Ying laughs so loud so suddenly, Lan Zhan jumps and tenses so hard it looks painful.
Wei Ying notices this immediately, quickly muttering apologies, “I’m so sorry, Lan Zhan, I didn’t mean to laugh, at all, or that loud, it’s just…”
Lan Zhan waits patiently as Wei Ying scratches the back of his head, “it’s just I’m also in the foster system, and I’m in, like, the exact same situation you’re in.”
Lan Zhan stills at this revelation, until he also starts laughing loudly unexpectedly, covering his mouth to soften his laughs.
Wei Ying quickly joins in his laughing, and now they’re laughing together, about, what? Their pathetic lives? That’s sad, even including their bad circumstances.
Moreover, Wei Ying can’t believe where he is right now. Laughing with someone like him, laughing like crazy at their lives, at their sad, pitiful lives.
They spend the night like that, chuckling at their shared trauma, sharing secrets that they can’t share to anyone else, finding someone in each other.
Wei Ying recalls one crazy moment, where he revealed his scars to Lan Zhan. He also recalls when Lan Zhan lifted up his own sleeves to reveal scars too, and they started giggling like their suffering was the funniest thing in the world.
It was insane, it was deranged, but it was the most Wei Ying had ever felt so happy, so human. As if the world gave him a reward in the shape of Lan Zhan, because of how much misery life has brought the both of them.
The sun was starting to rise, with hints of orange and yellow forming at the bottom of the sky.
They look at the sunrise together, holding hands.
Lan Zhan speaks up, his voice still as gentle as ever, “Wei Ying, you are like the sunrise to me.”
Wei Ying hums, “Yeah? How so?”
Lan Zhan scoots closer to Wei Ying, cuddling up to him, “My life was a forever dark sky, but when I met you, it felt as if the sun was coming up for the first time, and I could finally experience its warmth.”
Wei Ying’s smile widens tenfold, “Hm, is that so, Lan Zhan?”
Lan Zhan hums.
“Well,” Wei Ying continues, “to me, you’re like the stars.”
Lan Zhan smiles, “Mn? How so?”
Wei Ying chuckles, “Like you said, my life was a never-ending scary night. And when you came, you were the stars that helped guide my way through that scary night.”
Wei Ying can feel Lan Zhan’s grin against his chest, happy and content. But because Wei Ying can feel Lan Zhan’s big smile, he can also feel exactly when that smile drops.
Suddenly, Lan Zhan shoots up, standing, and his eyes widen in what seems like fear, and suddenly, Wei Ying is also very, very scared. “Why? What’s going on, are you okay?”
Lan Zhan shakes his head, “No, it’s just I remembered I have to go back soon.”
Wei Ying can feel Lan Zhan’s dread, and it starts to climb up to Wei Ying’s gut too.
“You mean, back to those bastards?”
Wei Ying doesn’t really know why he’s bothering to ask, the answer is pretty clear.
Lan Zhan smiles, but it’s half-hearted and so very sad. “You do too, Wei Ying.”
They stand there for a moment, looking into each other’s eyes, not saying anything. As if they don’t speak, this moment will last forever.
That’s when it strikes Wei Ying. It could last forever.
“Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying steps forward, moving closer to Lan Zhan, “jump with me. Let’s be together forever.”
Lan Zhan doesn’t look surprised at all, instead he smiles, and clasps his hands with Wei Ying’s. “I would love that.”
Wei Ying grins, and they giggle together again.
They slowly walk towards the ledge, hand in hand.
Wei Ying lifts his head to look at the morning sky, “Goodbye, cruel world.”
Lan Zhan chuckles beside him, and Wei Ying gasps in fake annoyance. “What? Why are you laughing, Lan Zhan?!”
Lan Zhan laughs even harder at Wei Ying’s display. “No, it is nothing, just…that was so corny.”
Wei Ying gaps at Lan Zhan, who’s still laughing. “Fine, you do better, Lan Zhan!”
Lan Zhan stops laughing, but his smile is still as big as forever.
“Mn, how about…” Lan Zhan takes a moment to think, “no, I have nothing. You have to come up with something better before we fall.”
Wei Ying huffs, “Fine, just give me some seconds.”
Wei Ying stays quiet, thinking about what great-one-liner he can come up with for Lan Zhan.
Then, he snaps his fingers with a grin. “I got it! Lan Zhan, how’s this…” Wei Ying pauses for the suspense as Lan Zhan waits for him, “As long as the sun is bound to rise every single day, and the stars are always above us, we will be together til the end of time.”
Lan Zhan smiles, catching on to the ‘sunrise’ and ‘stars’ , “That is perfect, Wei Ying.”
Wei Ying chuckles smugly, “I know, I’m a genius!”
Then, Wei Ying clutches Lan Zhan’s hand even more tightly, “Are you ready, Lan Zhan?”
Lan Zhan nods, “Mn.”
They smile at each other, and take a step forward.
The wind rushes past them, the morning sky and sun shining brightly.
As flowers bloom beneath their feet, as Wei Ying and Lan Zhan spend a forever together.