Nothing will ever come between us

💚Chapter 8❤️

Xiao Zhan wearily rose from his knees in the living room, where he finally finished scrubbing out the last stubborn remnants of dried crimson staining the hardwood. His muscles ached from being hunched over for so long, scouring away the evidence of what had transpired the previous night.

Sighing, he leaned against the wall for a moment to catch his breath. His reflection in the darkened window caused him to pause - he hardly recognized the man with exhausted eyes and disheveled hair staring back. But there was still more work to be done.

Steeling himself, Xiao Zhan grabbed the bucket and cleaning supplies and moved down the hall towards the bathroom. Though that room had not borne witness to the worst of it, flecks of red still dotted the sink and tub, reminders that couldn't be ignored. He set about tackling those last gruesome traces, determined to scrub the place clean until every trace was erased. Only then could he finally collapse, if only for a few restless hours, before reality demanded he rise once more.

Xiao Zhan's head was already pounding dully as he entered the bathroom, no doubt exacerbated by the fumes still lingering from his labor in the living room. With trembling hands, he pulled a dust mask from the box of supplies, looping the elastic bands over his ears with care.

The fabric was rough against his fatigued skin, but it offered a necessary barrier. All too well he remembered the last time he had cleaned without protection, as the potent mix of ammonia and bleach had burned his nose and triggered a vicious migraine. For hours he had knelt helplessly by the toilet, lost in a haze of agony as invisible demons assaulted his mind.

No, he couldn't risk suffering through that again, not when so much work still demanded his attention. With the mask secured in place, Xiao Zhan felt some small relief, even as his breaths fogged theFILTER. It was a small concession that might just save his sanity, allow him to finish the grim task set before him without further torment. With luck, once the job was complete, he could collapse into oblivion's embrace without the torments of headache to plague his rest. For now, the mask would shield him, and so he set about scouring away the last lurid pieces of the night that was.

Xiao Zhan scoured the grime from the tub, movements growing sluggish as his mask filtered each exhalation back into his mouth and nose. The carbon dioxide buildup was taking its usual toll, and with additional stress on his body from his condition, the dizzy spells came more swiftly.

He leaned heavily against the wall as nausea rose, pushing the mask aside to gulp fresher air. His stomach rolled as the stench of chemicals assaulted his nostrils once more, but he fought back the urge to heave. The little one growing within seemed to sense his distress, kicking with more vigor than before as if in protest.

With a trembling hand, Xiao Zhan cradled his bump and soothed, "It's alright, little spark. Papa just needs a moment." As his head began to clear, he wondered yet again at how much more taxing these long cleanings had become. Each cycle behind the mask left him weaker, and he feared for both their health if he overextended himself.

Reluctantly accepting his lessened endurance, Xiao Zhan stripped off his soiled gloves and ran warm water over reddened hands. A short break would have to suffice before tackling the remainder of the grisly chore. For the baby's sake as well as his own, he could endure no more fumes for now. The mask would remain discarded until his strength renewed.

He also made sure not to use any chemicals that could hurt his babies and, along with a mask, he wore gloves so his hands wouldn't smell weird. He'd wear a full hazmat suit if he could because cleaning was the worst and fucking disgusting.

Normally Wang Yibo did it, because he's seen guts spilling out of people and brains being splattered and all that nasty gore and it didn't bother him, but sometimes he was on a job or out late and the clutter just got to be too much, so Xiao zhan would suck it up and put on his special mask and clean.

Once he was done, and the whole apartment was spotless, he took off his mask and gloves and put them away. He looked around the now clean apartment with a smile, he was very proud of himself.

"Daddy hates cleaning," Xiao zhan said to his small bump, rubbing his hand over it carefully. "I can't wait until you two are old enough to clean, then I can ponder it off to you and be a lazy old man."