Red Light

Nightmares and...

The room was quiet as Wei Ying woke. A'Yuan was sound asleep with his hair everywhere. Dr. Yu was asleep neatly tucked into the reclining chair. Yu Bin and Nie Huaisang were curled up together on Yu Bin's bed. His Ge-Ge was on a gurney, asleep and bruised.

Everything was quiet. Why had he woken?

Then he felt the fingers entwined with his start twitching violently. Looking closely, he realized Lan Zhan was dreaming. His eyes were moving rapidly beneath his eye lids and he was breathing fast. His eyebrows were furrowed tightly.

'This isn't a dream. This is a nightmare.' Wei Ying thought. Stiffly, painfully, he pulled himself to the side of the bed so he could actually reach Lan Zhan.

"Lan Zhan? Wake up. Lan Zhan?" he said softly trying not to wake anyone else.

Lan Zhan was reliving Mo Xuanyu's crime scene. He did this often when a crime scene had disturbed him more than most. He had long ago decided it was one of his ways of processing the event. Dispassionately, he ducked under the tape to observe the body but he could already see differences. The body was different. Leaner. Taller perhaps. His hair wasn't short. It was long and flowed across his face.

Fear suddenly coursed through his veins like ice water.

He rushed to the body and gently flipped him over. Wei Ying's hair fell back to reveal half open eyes glazed with death. Dilated pupils stared at nothing. Blood from the cut on his cheek was smeared into his hair sticking strands of it to the side of his face.

Gathering Wei Ying into his arms, he could feel the weight. The body limp against him. The head lolled back.

"No." He shook his head. It wasn't possible.

"Wei Ying." he called. A quick shake. Nothing. His body was already getting cold.

He clasped Wei Ying to his chest and held his head to his shoulder.

"This isn't happening. It can't be happening." he whispered. His eyes filled with tears.

The crowd around him had blurred into a shapeless mass. Their voices into white noise. 

Then Wei Ying spoke. "Lan Zhan? Wake up. Lan Zhan?" His voice was faint. Distant.

He jerked back and looked at Wei Ying. Eyes still lost in death. Body limp.

Lan Zhan was frantic. "You can't go. Not yet. Please. I have to know. I-I..." his voice trailed into a choked sob.

All he could do was hold Wei Ying's body and grieve. Sobs jerked his shoulders as Lan Zhan tucked his face into the cooling flesh of A'Ying's neck.
A scream of crippling loss echoed in the space.

Wei Ying watched as the nightmare took over Lan Zhan. His fingers tightened into a crushing grip. Tears escaped to course one by one down his face. Reaching over, he shook Lan Zhan's shoulder. Nothing.

Not knowing what else to do, he yanked Lan Zhan toward him. A soft cry of pain escaped Wei Ying but his ploy had worked. Lan Zhan was awake.

Lan Zhan felt the jerk that took him away from Wei Ying's body. A roar of anger reverberated out of his chest.

His eyes slammed open and he found himself face to face with the warm brown eyes of Wei Ying. Focused. Looking at him with concern.

In his desperation to wake Lan Zhan, Wei Ying had pulled him almost completely out of the chair.

"Lan Zhan?" he whispered. His eyes searched the detective's to see if he was really awake.

Lan Zhan grabbed Wei Ying and tucked his head into neck. He was still breathing hard from the nightmare but Wei Ying's neck was warm and soft. His arms weren't just hanging but holding him. Stroking his hair. Pulling back just enough to see Wei Ying's eyes. Bright. Clear. Focused. Not cloudy with death.

Relief flooded him. It was a dream. It had to have been a dream no matter how real it had felt. Or was this the dream?

He looked deep into Wei Ying's eyes. "May I...?"

"Of course. What do you need?" Wei Ying's response was immediate. Concerned.

Lan Zhan leaned forward and kissed Wei Ying.

It was warmth and softness. For a second, Wei Ying froze. It was the one thing he never allowed when he had been with the men who had hired him. No kissing.

It was too intimate. Too personal.

With Lan Zhan, the frozen moment faded almost as soon as it began. He kissed back with a feeling bubbling up in his chest he never expected to experience.

Tenderly, Lan Zhan kissed Wei Ying as if he was the most precious thing on earth.

This was real. Wei Ying was alive.

Slowly, they parted. Lan Zhan gently removed his hands that had somehow ended up buried in Wei Ying's hair. Gently, Wei Ying wiped the tears off Lan Zhan's face.

"Are you okay?" he whispered.

A nod. "I dreamed Wei Ying had died instead of Mo Xuanyu. It felt so real..." he leaned in for another kiss. More reassurance this wasn't the dream. This was reality.

Wei Ying cupped his face and  returned the kiss with firmness. Intensity. This was real and he would prove it.

A stab of pain caught him with surprise and he gasped, breaking the kiss. Lan Zhan put an arm around his shoulder.

"Wei Ying?" he asked worry laced into those two words.

"I-I pulled you forward to wake you. Maybe I over did it..." Wei Ying panted as the pain subsided.

Gently, Lan Zhan scooped him from the side of the bed and placed him back into the center. Carefully, he leaned Wei Ying back against the angled head of the hospital bed.

Brushing Wei Ying's hair from his face, Lan Zhan smiled.

"This is real." he whispered and softly kissed Wei Ying again before covering him. He delicately shifted Wei Ying's oxygen tube back into place. A warm kiss on his forehead then he sat beside him on the bed.

Both were lost in the other's gaze. Not even realizing, once again, their hands were entwined.

A'Yuan smiled to himself as he closed his eyes.

Having two Babas wouldn't be bad at all.
~♡~♡~♡~

For ManuAndhale As requested, a little kiss... ❤️

Happy Tuesday! 😁❤️😁

Hugs and Happy Fluff!

❤️🍫🫖❤️