Good things come to those who...

After He Left...

After watching Tang Yi walk into the abyss of the prison block, Shao Fei remained standing in the same spot, ridiculously wishing that his lover would walk back out in the next second.

He knew that was impossible, Tang Yi would be behind bars for close to 3 years, and Shao Fei had to come to terms with that. He knew it was the best possible option for them both at this point, but his heart still ached at not being able to see or hold his love for so long...

After staying still for a further 10 minutes, he eventually started to drag his feet away, finally tearing his eyes away from the darkness of the prison.

It wasn't as if he wouldn't see him again, Shao Fei reasoned with himself. In actual fact, he planned to be in the visiting room as much as humanly was possible. He remembered joking about this to Tang Yi the previous night as they lay in bed together.

'You'll be seeing my face so much you'll eventually become sick of me visiting!'

Tang Yi snorted, 'I think I'll be pretty used to it after 4 years of putting up with your face aggravating me at every corner!'

'Hey!' Shao Fei had playfully slapped him. 'You're supposed to say that you 'could never get sick of my face', or something romantic like that!'

Then Tang Yi had rolled them over and pulled Shao Fei's pouting face closer to his own, cupping the other man's cheeks with both of his hands.

'I could stare at your face for years on end and never get tired, Meng Shao Fei' He had said softly, with the sincerest expression on his face, his eyes firmly fixed on the other man's. 'If I could have it my way, you'd never leave the visiting room even for a second in all the time I'm in there... A day without seeing your face feels like a thousand years, if I could only see one thing I-'

'Okay, okay I get it, you can shut up now!' Shao Fei spluttered, unable to stop the raging blush that crept up his cheeks. The corners of Tang Yi's mouth had curled up into a large grin, before he leaned up to brush his lips gently against his lover's.

Shao Fei shook the memory away from his mind's eye, sighing to himself as he pulled up to Tang Yi (and his) house.

Zhao Zi had suggested that maybe it'd better if Shao Fei lived back in his old flat for the time being, so he wasn't constantly reminded of Tang Yi (and the lack of him). But Shao Fei knew that being surrounded by the last traces of Tang Yi was going to be one of the few things that kept him going through the very long 3 years he had to wait.

Shao Fei walked past a pair of his slippers still stood ready by the door, into the kitchen where traces of their last meal together still remained on the dishes and pans soaking in the sink. He avoided the office, and went straight into their joint bedroom, where he paused for a second.

He found himself moving towards the bed, running his fingers along the pillow on Tang Yi's side of the bed, before sinking himself down onto the covers and curling himself up.

He hadn't let himself cry yet, not waiting to show how much it was affecting him to Tang Yi (because he knew the other man would just feel more guilty). But as his head was rested against the pillow, inadvertently breathing in the last remaining traces of Tang Yi's scent, he found himself silently weeping.

His mind wondered back to their last night together, the moments just before they both drifted to sleep.

His eyes had been closed, a small contented smile on his face as he snuggled closer to Tang Yi's warmth. He felt the other man shift slightly and then a soft press of lips to his forehead, before he felt himself fall into a deep sleep.

He may have imagined it, but in the split second before he fell, he could've sworn he heard Tang Yi utter 'I love you' in a voice hushed enough to be mistaken as just a breath.

The current Shao Fei wiped his tears on the back of his hand and sat up, finding himself smiling despite himself.

No matter how hard the next 3 years were going to be, he knew that Tang Yi would be worth the wait.