Caged Lions Always Strike

Chapter 8

Baby, it's Cold Outside

Xiuhan fluff dedicated to my darling 3Lument! :D (and the readers who comment regularly... You always make me smile!!)

If he had to describe the room in one word, it would be bleak.

White walls, white floors, white uniforms, and somehow even the smell of white (or was it disinfectant? Minseok wasn’t quite sure anymore)

The days had all blended together and he couldn’t even remember the last time he had slept on a mattress rather than on the floor through tranquilisers.

Minseok craved to feel sunlight on his skin, even for just a few seconds, instead of the white fluorescent artificial lights that were scattered in even rows throughout the ceiling and walls.

There weren’t many people in the large room with him. Just a couple of bodyguards guarding the doors to the lift (Oh, yes. We are underground. Minseok remembered) and his ‘instructors’ as he was told to call them.

He didn’t remember how he got in here exactly. He just remembered being in the library one second and then a pain in the back of his head before he out. He woke up in the corner of the white room in white uniform and with a silver shackle on his arm.

But he didn’t have much time to ponder over where he was.

“Your next task is to freeze the water that will come out of this hosepipe.”

He wasn’t allowed to argue.

He had tried, honestly, but Minseok was left to scream as the shocks from his shackle caused him to collapse.

If he was in the training hut, the task would’ve been easy. But for some reason, instead of freezing the water, Minseok had been freezing his hands.

Over and over again.

And over and over again, he would receive the shocks from the shackle that would make him collapse and writhe in pain.

Sometimes he would black out.

Other times, he would be forced to continue despite feeling so dizzy that he would soon collapse once more.

“This should be easy! What are you-“

x x x x x x

Luhan honestly felt a little bad for how he treated Minseok before.

After reflection and over a week without seeing him, he had begun to regret all those words.

And now Minseok was in his room and beginning to stir from whatever nightmare he was having.

Luhan had tried not to awaken him as he cleaned the sweat off Minseok’s face with a wet towel and moved him into a more comfortable position but it was futile.

Minseok opened his eyes wide and immediately began to breathe heavily whilst beginning to sit up. Luhan gently pressed him down by his chest and made quiet shushing sounds.

“Minseok, it’s okay, they’re not here anymore. You’re in my room now.” Luhan was never much good at comforting so he hoped whispered reassurances were enough.

Luhan brought a cup of water to Minseok and watched as he drank it and then set it down on the coffee table.

“You’re okay…?” were the first words that slipped from Minseok’s mouth as he turned to face Luhan.

Minseok, in his feverish state, was glistening with sweat and red in the face. Yet Luhan still appreciated the curve of his nose and the length of his eyelashes.

Both of them failed to notice just how close they were to each other’s faces.

Luhan smiled and blushed, “That’s your first concern? I’m fine and the others are fine, too. We were all very worried about you, though.”

Minseok looked into Luhan’s eyes and then to his hands in his lap now that he was sitting cross-legged on the sofa.

“Sorry about-“

“Hey, don’t apologise.” Luhan interrupted, “Don’t tell me unless you feel comfortable but I’m sure there was a very good reason for what you did.”

Minseok’s eyes flashed guilty for a second before he suddenly sneezed.

Luhan laughed loudly and Minseok joined in after recovering, and once the guffaws faded to small smiles, both of them noted the other’s gummy smile.

“Do you want anything to drink?”

“Coffee would be nice.”

“Say no more! The coffee fairy is here!” Luhan chuckled as he headed to the kitchen to switch on his coffee machine.

x x x x x x

The past few days had been cosy as classes were cancelled for the students to revise for the mock exams, which allowed Minseok plenty of time to heal in Luhan’s room.

“What you have yet to explain to me is why you prefer your lattes with the coffee added last rather than the milk added last. It just doesn’t make sense!” Luhan was questioning Minseok’s taste in coffee once more.

It was their daily morning routine. Luhan would make them their coffees each morning and they would watch the news whilst sitting on the sofa.

Nothing much had changed between them throughout the week, except that Luhan always sat close enough to Minseok to allow him to rest his head on Minseok’s shoulder and Minseok to wrap his arm around Luhan.

 So perhaps it wasn’t that much of a surprise when one of them took a step forward.

“It just tastes better.” He shrugged.

Luhan looked up from Minseok’s shoulder and parted his lips slightly to retort only to have it covered by Minseok’s own lips.

They tasted sweet from the frothed milk yet the bitter coffee could still be felt.

And it was deliciously warm.

Minseok pulled away after a few seconds, leaving Luhan’s lips to cool slightly and miss the heat from the other’s lips.

It took a while for Luhan to realise what had happened, but when he did the skin on his cheeks turned the colour of the greatest garnet.

Minseok hummed and continued watching the news like nothing had happened, except for the tell-tale blush on his cheeks.

Luhan rested his head on Minseok’s shoulders once more whilst his lips.

“You’re right, it does taste better.”

Minseok blushed a deeper red.

x x x x x x

Luhan really should ask Yixing to have a look at Minseok’s various wounds but he could never find Yixing after they were forced to join the peacekeeping forces.

He had tried asking Junmyeon where Yixing was but he only received a sorrowful distant look and an evasive reply followed shortly by Junmyeon excusing himself away.

So he was stuck in the awkward dilemma that was hesitating on whether to comment on Minseok constantly wincing whenever he moved too quickly as well as his fever.

Would it be too much for him to ask to just take a look?

Would it be okay to even ask? Is it weird that Luhan looked hard enough to notice Minseok’s limp?

What could Luhan even do about Minseok’s wounds? It’s not like he had any medical knowledge.

Luhan was seasoning the soup he made for the two of them whilst debating on whether to ask over dinner since it had been a couple of days since they were conscripted and Luhan was insanely curious.

However, his internal debate was cut short when he heard a loud yelp of pain from his bedroom.

He immediately turned the gas off the stove and ran to the bedroom to find Minseok doubled over in pain between the bed and the door to the ensuite bathroom on the floor.

He felt his heart beat two irregular beats as he noticed the sheen of sweat on Minseok’s face.

He ran to Minseok and kneeled by his side on the floor, “What’s wrong?” he demanded and tried to calm his racing heart as well as holding back his rapidly quickening breaths.

Minseok was clutching his wrist – no, bracelet – and was wincing and groaning in pain. Luhan was reminded of Chanyeol’s groaning when he had helped bring Minseok to his room. But this was worse.

Minseok was whimpering and Luhan could see the slight tremors through his arms.

“Minseok, please tell me what I can do to help!” Luhan knew he couldn’t do much to help but he at least wanted to try.

Minseok shook his head violently before throwing himself into Luhan’s chest.

Luhan instinctively wrapped his arms around Minseok’s body and felt the immense heat radiating from Minseok’s body.

It was obvious Minseok needed some sort of comforting and so Luhan held him tightly by the waist.

But it only seemed to make Minseok worse as he twitched and swatted Luhan’s arms away.

By now, both of their heartbeats had calmed down and Minseok’s breathing was becoming more regular – the bracelet had obviously stopped whatever it had been doing before.

Yet Minseok was still in pain and clutching his midriff, whereas Chanyeol had recovered very quickly from the pain.

Luhan instantly knew something wasn’t quite right with Minseok.

“Minseok, what’s wrong? Please just be honest with me so I can help you.” Luhan pleaded.

Minseok pushed his face into Luhan’s chest and shook his head.

“Tell me why you wince whenever I touch you. Please, Minseok. Please, just tell me.” Luhan never really liked to admit to himself that was easily upset and emotional, but it was hard to deny it in moments like these when his vision became blurry from his accumulating tears.

Minseok continued to shake his head but at least he wasn’t hugging himself as tightly as he had before.

Luhan, determined to find out what was wrong, suddenly pushed Minseok away from him, albeit gently, and pulled up his shirt just enough to see the fading yellow bruises littering Minseok’s midriff.

They were like dark patches on white granite as they divided Minseok’s skin into small patches of white and separated by dark yellow bruising.

Luhan brought a hand to his mouth in shock and the tears finally overflowed with a choked sob following them.

Minseok looked up at the sob and Luhan saw the guilty and panicked eyes through his blurry vision as Minseok mumbled apologies as pulled down his shirt again.

“I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have done that!” Luhan apologised, perhaps also on behalf of whoever inflicted those wounds on Minseok.

They were both silent for a few seconds as Luhan attempted to control his tears.

Minseok sighed and took a tissue out of his pocket and brought it to Luhan’s eyes, “Now, we can’t have a soldier crying, can we?” he attempted to brighten the mood with a small joke.

Luhan chuckled a little and blushed slightly as Minseok wiped the tears off his face.

Minseok was beginning to pull away but Luhan took the opportunity to grab his wrist to stop him from escaping, “Who put those bruises on you?” he demanded with crossed eyebrows and a vengeful glint in his eyes.

Minseok sighed, “Nobody that you could even think of hurting. Just forget about them, Luhan.”

Luhan shook Minseok’s shoulders violently with both hands, “How can I forget when you wince every time you stretch in the morning? It hurts me to see that!” Luhan’s eyes were wide in anger.

Minseok pulled Luhan’s hands away from his shoulders and held them together, “It’s okay, I’ll be okay. Just focus on keeping yourself healthy and alive.” Minseok smiled slightly in an attempt to comfort Luhan.

Luhan sighed, appeased, and smiled slightly back at Minseok.

He took in both of their dishevelled appearance and red eyes (although from different reasons) and messed up clothes.

Luhan looked into Minseok’s eyes, “Promise you’ll ask for my help if you need it and I can help you in any way?”

Minseok smiled sweetly and shook his head, “Promise.”

It was only short but Minseok suddenly lunged forward and lightly pecked Luhan on the lips before standing up and leaving the room.

Luhan could still feel the slightly bitter taste of coffee that Minseok’s lips left behind on his own even after only a small second.

He grinned to himself and blushed.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter of pretty much pure fluff ahahaha :’) I felt you all deserved it after 7 chapters of tension and like 4 chapters of no Xiuhan :’) The next chapter will be a lot more serious so make sure to appreciate this ;)

Hooray for a quick update though!! :D The chapters will be mostly short from now on to compensate for the regular updates but I will try to update at least once every two weeks ;) Spam my inbox if I don’t ahahaha

Today’s question is….. What do you think the first scene is about?

See you all next time! :D

Hetacat xoxo