The next morning Zitao was up and energetic fairly early, rousing a still-sleeping Wufan when he felt he’d been waiting for too long.

“What ungodly hour is this?” the elder mumbled, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

“It’s seven twenty two!” Zitao barked back enthusiastically.

“Why so early?” it was more of a plea than a question.

“I’ve been awake for two hours!” came the fervent protest.

Muttering to himself, Wufan heaved himself to his feet and limped down the hall to the shower.

“Shouldn’t you be using your crutches?” Zitao called after him, scurrying down the hall anxiously. When Wufan only shrugged in response, Zitao sighed and went to retrieve clothes for his friend.

“It’s just me, don’t worry, I’m not looking!” Zitao called as he pushed the bathroom door open slowly, eyes squeezed shut.

“I’m sorry but what exactly are you doing?” Wufan questioned, only able to see Zitao’s figure fumbling around blindly near the counter.

“I brought you clothes!” he replied promptly, finally finding a spot he deemed suitable for the garments. “It looks a little cold outside today so I just got you a sweater and a shirt and jeans.”

Wufan frowned. He had no money or extra clothes of his own, and Zitao’s clothes definitely didn’t fit him. That meant his host had been out and bought him yet another new outfit. Mulling this over silently, Wufan wondered whether he’d spent a lot on the garments, and hoped Zitao wasn’t expecting a full repayment any time soon.

“Thank you, Tao!” he remembered to call out, just in time to see the poor guy stumbling out of the bathroom with his eyes presumably still closed. He tripped on the mat as he went, and Wufan chuckled to himself.

During the car ride, Zitao chattered incessantly about his plans for Wufan’s first trip out of the apartment since he’d been carried in there.

“Now, Yixing said he’d come back to the apartment at about 3 this afternoon. That gives us about 4 hours to get in, have this appointment, have some lunch, and then go shopping for a bit.”

Wufan was more concerned about the bloodied state of the back car seats.

“Did I do that? I-I can pay to get it fixed, or something, you know.”

Zitao flicked his hand dismissively.

“It won’t cost a lot to get them cleaned. Don’t worry about it, honestly.”

Wufan was quietened by this, but he was still unhappy about the way he’d kind of forced Zitao into providing absolutely everything for him.

When the car pulled to a stop in a parking strip, Wufan realised he had absolutely no idea what they were even in here to do. When he asked, Zitao just tittered without saying anything and retrieved the crutches from the boot of the car.

He realised the moment he entered the room that he was in a hairdresser’s. Not wanting to be impolite to the people working there, he flashed a fierce glare at Zitao and hissed.

“I like my hair long.”

Zitao glanced at his guest, his long hair pulled back into a messy ponytail, and shrugged.

“They won’t cut it all off, sheesh.”

Before Wufan could argue any more they were greeted by a peppy-looking, well-groomed woman who led Wufan to a seat before a basin. Zitao waved as he hobbled away. Glancing at the clock, he mouthed, ‘I’ll be back at ten thirty,’ and left.

“Hi, Wufan! Zitao is a good friend of mine, he told me all about you,” Wufan stiffened at that remark, wondering what exactly she had meant by ‘all about you,’ but he trusted Zitao in his ability to not say anything too stupid. Lost in his own thoughts, he was only slightly aware of the woman setting up the area around her. Wufan felt himself reclining backwards slowly and he jerked suddenly when he felt warm water showering down onto his hair.

The woman laughed softly, “Don’t worry! We’ll just give it a quick wash.”

Wufan relaxed visibly and let himself be soothed by the surprisingly nice feeling of shampoo being massaged into his scalp.

He didn’t know when it was he fell asleep, but Wufan was roused gently from his sleep by a familiar high-pitched chatter.

“It looks brilliant! You did an amazing job as usual, Mei.” Zitao clapped his hands together, and then bounced excitedly on the spot, “And you managed to do it while he was asleep! Count me seriously impressed.”

"Actually, he was a dream to work with," the woman laughed shyly.

Wufan, not liking the sound of this at all, cracked one eye open suddenly, and stared back at the sight that met him.

His hair, usually shaggy black and held in a messy ponytail, had been clipped and cut too short to be tied back, and it was now bleached blonde. He stared for a while, and tentatively reached one hand up to ruffle his hair.

“Welcome back, sleepyhead! You look fantastic, don’t you think?” Zitao clapped his hands enthusiastically on Wufan’s shoulders as he spoke, and the elder male realised he didn’t really have any choice but to love it, or risk offending Zitao.

“It’s… different,” Wufan managed, and then crinkled his eyes into a smile, “but I like it.”

Zitao beamed at Mei and put the money straight into her hands. “Thank you so much! You’ve done a great job as always.”

“Thanks,” Wufan added hastily, feeling uncomfortable watching Zitao pay for him unquestioningly, “I really appreciate it.”

Mei couldn’t hold back a proud little grin, and it stayed plastered on her face as the two left the store.

~

“Onwards, to lunch!” Zitao declared enthusiastically, his stride ruthlessly enthusiastic as Wufan hobbled along beside him.

“Uh, Tao… Why did you take me to the hairdresser?” Wufan asked curiously.

Flippantly, Zitao replied, “I want you looking your best when you see Yixing this afternoon so it’ll be easier to convince him you’re better.”

“I’m pretty sure getting the all-clear depends on a bit more than my hairstyle.” Wufan said doubtfully.

“Trust me,” Zitao insisted, “You’ll be just fine.” Although he was no doctor, even he could see how rapidly his guest’s health had improved. And privately he admitted Wufan was right about the hairstyle thing, but it had been Zitao’s own curiosity in the first place that spawned that series of events.

After lunch in a buffet restaurant (“it’s cheap and tacky looking but the food is amazing”, Zitao had promised) the pair had spent the remainder of their time hurrying from store to store along the busy streets. Wufan had little interest in the shopping itself but it was easy for him to amuse himself listening to Zitao’s endless chatter and watching the way two items that looked nearly identical to him could earn two such drastically different reactions from his friend. By the time they made it back to Zitao’s apartment at 3:15 on the dot Yixing was ready and waiting, tapping his foot by the entrance.

“Oh, you weren’t late,” Zitao greeted courteously, muscling past his cousin to reach the door.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Yixing asked, clearly ready to argue. He calmed down when he saw Wufan some distance behind.

“Hi,” Yixing trailed off as he realised he’d never learned his patient’s name.

“Kris, call me Kris,” Wufan introduced himself with a smile, ignoring the quick glance from Zitao.

“Well Kris, it’s good to see you’re up and about, once we get settled we can take your stitches out and I’ll take a look at your leg.”

For Yixing and Wufan, removing the stitches was a breeze. For squeamish Zitao, it was downright repulsive. After the third one had been carefully snipped and plucked out, Yixing snapped and sent Zitao away to do something productive.

“I don’t know how he could help you out like he did if the sight of stitches getting pulled out is enough to make him dizzy,” Yixing tittered crossly to his patient as he worked, “Well, that’s healed up nicely. You’re a very lucky man. Now let’s see that leg of yours.”

Yixing inspected it carefully, and took his sweet time before he came up with a response.

“Bullet wounds can be very tricky,” he began, “depending on where you’ve been hit, what damage was done, and a multitude of other factors. Again, you were ridiculously lucky with your wounds in that no major blood vessels were damaged too badly and it doesn’t look like you’ve got bone damage either. You’re young and healthy enough and the wound has healed fairly quickly so you can start to come off your crutches if you want but use your common sense. Start by walking small distances, keep your crutches with you, don’t overexert it by doing anything strenuous, and call me if there are any problems. I’ll get Zitao to keep an eye on you but this is largely your responsibility. All good?”

Wufan listened carefully, and nodded, “I think I can deal with this just fine myself.”

As Yixing got up to leave, Wufan called out after him. “Thanks so much, for everything. You saved my life, you know.”

Yixing turned back with a bright smile and shrugged, “All in a day’s work for me, I guess. I’m glad I was able to help you out though. Try to avoid being stabbed and shot at in the future though, all right?” His tone was light-hearted and Yixing was smiling but the comment still made Wufan uneasy. He brushed it off anyway and watched as Zitao and Yixing exchanged their goodbyes.

Zitao closed the door after his cousin and turned to face Wufan with a soft smile. “You’ve healed up well, huh?”

Wufan nodded absentmindedly, lost in thought. “Yeah, I guess I have.”

Zitao ruffled Wufan’s soft blonde hair as he passed. It was almost casual save for the fault in his voice as he said, “I’m glad.”

Heartbeats later Zitao returned wearing pyjamas with a pair for Wufan in his arms. “You go get changed, I’ll order dinner.”

Wufan did as he was told, and they settled on the couch together to watch a movie Zitao had bought that day during their shopping trip. After dinner had been delivered and eaten the pair slouched comfortably on the couch watching the movie. Zitao was completely engrossed in it, Wufan noticed as he dragged his eyes away from the screen. It was a good movie, Wufan reflected, and he wanted to watch the rest of it. But it was a long day, and he was tired, and he was comfortable and warm on the couch with a belly full of food.

“Good night, Tao.” Wufan mumbled listlessly. He leaned into the source of warmth that was Zitao, past caring what his friend would think of the action, and promptly fell asleep.

Zitao glanced down at Wufan, then back up at the screen, then outside to his greyscale city. Turning his attention back to Wufan he shifted slightly and brought the blanket up to cover him properly. He was a cuddly person at heart so he didn’t think much of the contact. As the shadows of the screen danced across his friend’s face, Zitao thought back to the night he’d first dragged Wufan’s unconscious, heavily bleeding body back to his apartment. Drowsily he realised just how glad he was that he’d found Wufan and that he’d been able to nurse the poor guy back to health, and (if Zitao’s plans turned out as he wanted them to) that he’d given his friend another shot at life. Yes, it was a fortunate meeting indeed for the two of them.

“Good night, Kris.” Zitao said softly, and gave himself up to sleep.

A/N: Hi everyone! Well, I told myself I'd never deliberately post anything I knew could be written much better, and here I am with this poorly written unedited crap. I'm sorry if it wasn't enough to tide you over, I'm well aware the quality isn't exactly on point, but tbh I'm just very tired and this particular progression of events will likely be uninteresting however well it's written. Next chapter there should be some action or something hopefully (hint hint) so rest assured next update will be a-ok (but hopefully at least 5 times better than that lmao)

Mad love for everyone who subscribed and continues to put up with me!! You guys are all amazing. I can't believe there are over 100 of you who care enough to keep reading! I never expected to hit 50 so really this is just mind blowing for me~~ I really really appreciate it and I hope you continue to enjoy the fic :) 

-nekopan xx