A Date, A Bet and Some More (Hetalia-NorHong)

Chapter 6

(21) Breathing

He heard voices. Faint. Husky. Tremulous. Then he saw lights. White. Bright. Painful.

Yong Soo was calling his name. He was shaking him frantically. Leon lifted his left hand to cover the light. His wrist was wrapped in bandages. Who had patched him up?

Next to Yong Soo he saw a familiar face he didn't expect to see. Emil.

He looked pale, terrified and dreary. Leon wasn't sure if his vision was getting blurred or if those were really tears in Emil's eyes. He was yelling his name. Strange.

'Damn it, Leon, wake up!'

Yong Soo's last call. He pulled Leon up before Emil got to stop him.

'You're hurting him!' cried Emil.

'He's hurting himself!' argued Yong Soo.

Leon steadied himself on the bed. He shut his eyes and opened them again, just to make sure he was not dreaming. Then, he found himself in Yong Soo's room. He recognised those excessive posters of Korean pop stars on the wall, the disarrayed clothes and undergarments that roamed the place, accompanied by snack packages and wrappers. When he sat up, he saw himself in the mirror attached on Yong Soo's wardrobe. Hell, he looked awful. His eyes were sunken and his face was pallid as if he had been malnourished for years. His hair was soaked and his lips were dry.

'Thank God,' cried Emil. He tackled him into a bear hug. Leon didn't even have time to react before Yong Soo hollered, 'What's wrong with you? You crashed in here just to cut yourself? Seriously?'

Leon didn't hug Emil back. He was the last person he wanted to see at that moment. He covered his face in embarrassment and sighed.

Why didn't they let him die? He didn't have to wake up to confront the mess he had made.

'We almost called the ambulance,' said Emil. He grabbed Leon's shoulders apprehensively. 'What's going on? Why did you hurt yourself?'

'Can you just leave me alone?' requested Leon.

'No,' Emil rejected instantly. 'If Yong Soo hadn't called me, I wouldn't have known you're here. Lukas has been looking for you!'

'Tell us what's going on!' urged Yong Soo impatiently. He almost had a heart attack when he entered the bathroom and saw a tub full of blood. He had to dash to the tub and dug Leon out before he drowned. When he carried Leon out of the tub, his wrist was bleeding incessantly. Blood kept gushing out. If Leon hadn't been breathing then, Yong Soo would've deemed him dead. He almost cried.

He called Emil right away.

'Sorry,' mumbled Leon expressionlessly. 'But can you, like, let me rest? I'm...really tired.'

'We can't help you if you don't tell us the problem,' insisted Emil. He leaned closer to Leon. 'Please. We don't want to see you like this.'

'I'm fine.'

'You're not!' shouted Yong Soo. 'Why do you keep lying to us? You're not fine at all. You're messed up. You're hurting yourself and we need to know why! We're friends. Don't you trust us?'

'It has nothing to do with you,' said Leon plainly. 'It's my issue.'

'It has something to do with Lukas, right?' asked Emil. Leon looked away and shook his head. No, he had to endure it. He couldn't cry in front of Emil.

'He's looking for you,' said Emil. 'I should tell him you're here-'

'No,' interrupted Leon. 'Don't ever do that.'