This is Not My Obituary

They're Reconnecting In The Bathtub

"Shuyang are the guys with you?" Dela shouted into the phone, holding the receiver tight in her hand.

"They are, why?"  He asked worriedly, the time of her voice shaking him a bit.

"Good, I couldn't get a hold of Hanyu at our house so I just called you. Tell my husband to come home. Tell everyone to come back to our house." She sniffed, her body shaking and hands unable to hold still.

"For sure Dela." He nodded though she couldn't see him and then hung up the phone, turning to the gaggle of men on his living room floor. ZeYu sat cuddled in the crochet blanket, hair falling into his tired eyes. Unlike the rest of the men, he had stayed the night with Shuyang so he wouldn't do anything rash which consisted of him watching the TV for hours while Shuyang spaced out and mumbled to himself about something almost inaudible.

"What does Dela need?" Hanyu hopped up from the floor and prepared himself to run the whole 4 miles to her, even though he drove this morning.

"She needs us all back at the house." Shuyang said breathily, already slipping on his sneakers and waking out the door. "What about Xinlong?" ZeYu asked. "He'll be there eventually." Shuyang answered.

::::

"What happened GouGou?" Dela sat crouched on the bathroom floor adjacent to the man in her bathtub. She would admit it was a bit weird to see her old friend this way, but that kind of thinking could wait for later. MingRui gulped nervously, shifting a bit in the steaming water surrounding his broken skin. In a way it was all too wonderful to be in a bathtub right then; so wonderful Gou thought maybe it were all some sick allusion his mind was playing on him before death. But the gentle caress of his cheek to Dela's soft, supple palm reminded him he was indeed in reality.

   It had been a week of pure torture. Random pangs and futile attempts on his life could all be filed in vein now. He had no intentions of ever going out alone again. Never.
He ran shaky hands over his limbs and made a mental note that they were all still there. He had been sure someone had torn one off at some point, but once his shoulder had been pushed back into its socket, he could consider it accounted for. It felt like he had been gone for months, maybe even years. He had screamed and fought back as much as he could but he had been out numbered from the very beginning.

He shook his head in response. He couldn't tell sweet Dela anything.

  "Shuyang." MingRui voiced hoarsely as he peered over at Dela. He wanted more than anything to see Shuyang run through that bathroom door. Shuyang would mean complete and utter safety for him. His stomach burned in bouts as he thought of his partner. He needed to see him, and there wasn't much time to spare before he completely broke down without him.

  Everything had been so terrifying and horrid. He needed to confess to someone and it couldn't be Dela. It couldn't be Hanyu either.

   He wanted his Shuyang.

"I called his house and he's coming with Hanyu." Dela hummed softly, still running a maternal palm over his bruised cheek. MingRui didn't mind at all; in fact he welcomed her comfort.

    A minute later the door swung open with a loudly projected "Dela!" Coming from Hanyu.
"In here baby! Is Shuyang here?" Dela questioned back, rising from her crouched position next to the tub.

"I'm here what's wrong?" Shuyang's called from the living room. "Come here!" She hollered back. Shuyang and Hanyu exchanged a confused glance. "What do you need him for?" Hanyu huffed on the edge of jealousy. "I need you both." She sighed. They nodded consentingly then quickly made their way to the woman. Hanyu breached the doorway first, eyes widening as he saw his wife touching another man in their bathtub. "Dela?"

"Oh good Hanyu you're finally here." She sniffed as she waddled for him, embracing him as he finally realized who was breathing shallowly in his bathroom. "MingRui?"

"What?" Shuyang gasped, pushing past the married couple and lurching towards the tub, the older of the men flinching as Shuyang landing heavily on his knees beside him.

Rui relaxed his muscles and stared wide-eyed up at the younger.

Shuyang couldn't help the river of inevitable emotion welling up inside of him. The hell he had been through while Rui was gone had softened his exterior for the older. Rui reached out for the younger and was greeted warmly with a tight hug, Shuyang not the least bit worried about wetting his clothes. To hell with anything other than his deep and untamable love for Gou MingRui at this very moment. He couldn't think straight and he could barely mutter the soft "I can't believe it's" that left his quivering lips. Who would've thought this playboy had a sweet spot for another boy? He felt a fever dancing across his skin as his cheeks blushed with the aftermath of tears. Tears that had built up over the time that Gou had been away from him. He squeezed the man harder and with as much affection as he could while in his hysterical state. He sobbed but he was in good company as Gou sniffed and vented into his cotton t-shirt.

Hanyu gripped his wife's hips and pulled her out of the bathroom against her protest. She wanted to stay and support their reunion, but Hanyu hadn't told her about their intimate relationship, so he didn't want to impose on such a sweet moment between lovers.

   Shuyang pulled away from the older and lightly kissed his lips for the first time in over a week. He gazed, awestruck, into MingRui's eyes, though one was swollen as it healed itself from a particularly harsh beating.

"Where were you?" Shuyang sobbed. "I was nowhere. I don't know where I was." MingRui confessed. The younger softly shook his head, but kissing his lover once again.

Shuyang gently swung a leg into the filled basin, disregarding how the water soaked his clothes, he let himself be halfway submerged as he hovered over the older.

GouGou eyed him in relief as he held him close to his body and basked in the pure joy of being so close to Ren Shuyang once again. He was in an exponential amount of pain, but he could easily forget it when his boyfriend kissed him slowly.

This wasn't for pleasure, or for any sexual pursuit. They were reconnecting and reassuring the other that this was real.

It didn't matter to Shuyang that he was fully clothed in a bathtub, making out with GouGou, it was still a stabilizing force. He was here and he wasn't leaving again. Shuyang would make sure of it.