Autumn Takes Golden Leaf

Chapter 8: Aftermath

A/N: I know I know. Its been a while since I updated this. I'll try to get more chapters out. Sorry this is a short one. Well uh.. enjoy?
________________________________

"It's my fault! I-I if I was more careful Muqiu would still be alive! Mucheng wouldn't have lost her only family."

He felt his tears being wiped away. Zhou Zekai wrapped his arms around the other and pulled him close.

"Shh... Senior, It wasn't your fault." He said softly, running his fingers through Ye Xiu's hair, massaging his scalp.

A muffled "It is my fault." was heard.

"No one could have saw. It was the driver's fault."

They sat in silence enjoying each other's embrace. The ride had finally come to a stop. Ye Xiu has fallen asleep, emotionally drained. Zhou Zekai carried him out bridal style.

He set the sleeping man in his lap as he drove them to his apartment close by since it started to rain.

The loud revving of the engine came to a smooth holt. Ye Xiu was one again in the model's arms as his keys jingled. The door was open, allowing the two to slip in quietly. Zhou Zekai laid him on the bed after removing the wet vest and jeans before removing his own garments to change into something less soaked in rain water.

Zhou Zekai took a short shower and finally was comfy in the dry clothes.

"A-Xiu? Wake up..."

"Mmh...? ... where are we?" Ye Xiu sat up a bit too quickly and was now feeling a slight headache. He looked around.

"My apartment."

"Ahh..."

The entire room, no, the entire apartment looked so clean. Everything was organized and really had that modern style feeling. There were very few personal memorabilia. Though there were a few posters of the old One Autumn Leaf along with Lord Grim. Ye Xiu smiled.

"Take a bath. I'll wash and dry your clothes in the meanwhile."

"But I didn't bring a change of clothes."

"You can borrow mine."

And so the god of glory stood in the middle of the bathroom, removing his wet clothes and throwing them in the hamper. The warm water rose up to three quarters of the tub.

He stepped and let out a satisfying sigh. How long has it been since he had a proper bath instead of a quick shower? Ok, well. Not as long as it was when he used to play glory professionally but still.

Hot steam bubbled into the air, becoming vapor and adding to the humidity. It felt so relaxing in here.

Zhou Zekai quietly slipped in the bathroom and laid the neatly folded clothes on the dry countertop without him noticing his presence and slipped back out.

Half an hour passes and Ye Xiu decides to get up as it seems that the water has gotten cold. He unplugged the drain and dabbed himself dry with one of the cotton soft towels.

He glanced over at the sink countertop and saw a set of clean clothes. The shirt was a bit too big, drooping on his body but he didn't really mind it.

He exited the bathroom still with a head of wet hair. It was too much of a bother to dry it.

"Ah, your hair is still wet."

"Hmm. Yeah. Too much trouble. It'll dry on its own."

Zhou Zekai ushered over with a towel and proceeded to dry his hair.

"You will get a cold."

"I'm fine. Having wet hair for a day isn't a big deal."

Ye Xiu sneezed.

"Ok well. That was just a coincidence!"

"Hmm."

This felt nice. Ye Xiu started to doze off. He was nice and warm and his hair was being dried. Ahhh.

"It's dry now."

He continued to lean on the younger one. He raised his head slightly to glance at the yellow clock hanging on the wall. It was 9:30. Plenty of time to play a few minutes in Glory.

"Xiao Zhou, do you have account cards?"

The younger one nodded.

"Which class?"

"Empty cards. I also brought Cloud Piercer."

"Haha... What if I try out your main account, would you trust me with that?" He jokingly said expecting to get a no.

"Mhm. Ok."

... Ok then. Ye Xiu was a bit taken back by this but quickly recovered.

"Here." He handed over the card.

Ye Xiu took it carefully, studying the grooves and scratches on it. It felt similar to his own... before the whole Excellent Era issue.

The thin plastic slid into the card reader as the lights flashed red. A window popped up with Cloud Piercer front and center.

The avatar did a little spin, showing off the cool animation. It was subtle but to Zhou Zekai, it was obvious that Cloud Piercer didn't usually act this way. Ah but maybe it was just a trick of the eye.

Ye Xiu proceeded to reorganize the custom keyboard shortcuts, mapping them to his own liking.

He chose to enter the Heavenly Domain Server. And was promptly greeted with a message.

"Senior! What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be asleep by now?"

It was clear that one of the Samsara juniors was curious about Cloud Piercer being suddenly online. The funny thing was that Zhou Zekai was just sitting and dozing off next to Ye Xiu. He looked cute. Ah, it was so unfair. Why does he still looks handsome in his sleep? Sigh.

Ah well.

Ye Xiu decided that he probably shouldn't enable the voice chat since little Zhou was here slumbering and didn't want to wake him up.

The night was occupied with soft clicks of the mouse the clacks of the keyboard, and that pattering of rain against the glass window. It was peaceful.

A bit later, Zhou Zekai woke for a bit. He saw his senior had fallen asleep during the night. He closed the Glory game tab and set his account card on the desk. He then shifted Ye Xiu over to his bed where he joined him.

The two were curled together. And the lights were out. Ye Xiu felt warm.

________________________________
To be Continued...