Wufan stood motionless before a gap between two towering old buildings. To any passer-by, it was nothing but another alleyway, but for Wufan it was so much more – enemy territory. He could almost sense the barrier between the main street and the edge of gang territory. Desperation and malevolence swirled endlessly through the darkness before him, and despite the warmth of the night Wufan shivered.

He mustered his courage up and stepped forwards. For Tao, he told himself, and repeated it over and over until it was a steady chant inside his head. It may have been paranoia, but Wufan swore he could sense eyes on him as he navigated the back alleyways and passages of the city. The worry that plagued him over his friend mingled with his fear over what would happen if he was found – again, a small voice in his head reminded him. Gritting his teeth, Wufan pushed on, searching with all his heart for any sign of Zitao, but at the same time praying he wouldn’t find his friend at all, and that Zitao was at home, safe and sound without him.

Even though he stuck mainly to the outskirts of the territory, occasionally slipping back on to the well-light main streets, Wufan still felt as uneasy as if he was right in the heart of it all. Every noise made him jump out of his skin and every movement made his heart start pounding, and he berated himself endlessly for it.

After a lot of time and almost all of Wufan’s energy had been spent, there was still no sign of Zitao. Wufan leaned against a wall and raised his injured leg slightly in an attempt to catch his breath when he realised he had made it back to the alleyway where his chase had ended last time, where he would have died if not for Zitao.

Dread overtook him immediately. As he slunk in he was already prepared and on the defensive, fully expecting a pursuer to hurtle out of the darkness and finish what they’d started some weeks ago. Yet nothing happened and Wufan caught himself searching the pavement not for his friend but instead splatters of blood or any other signs of the struggle that had occurred earlier. After what he thought had been kilometres of slow, wary shuffling (but had really been less than a hundred metres) his eyes alighted on a dark figure, lying still on the ground.

Wufan’s sense of foreboding turned into full-blown panic and he scrambled to reach the body, already certain it was Zitao. It was too dark to properly check him for injuries but Wufan shook him gently and then rested his hand on Zitao’s chest, heaving a sigh of relief when he realised Zitao was breathing normally.

Although he’d gotten no response by shaking him, Wufan decided that the best thing to do was to get his friend home. The relief of finding Zitao alive and seemingly unharmed made Wufan weak at the knees, but he somehow managed to sling the other male over his shoulder and get to his feet unsteadily. Wufan slowly made his way back out of the alleyway and on to the main street, too lost in his own emotions to feel the glowing pair of eyes boring into his back.

The trek back to the car was a short one but for Wufan it felt almost eternal, and the only thing he wanted to do was to make it home and get his friend safely into bed. Zitao was a deadweight on his shoulder and his bad leg screamed for relief, and Wufan was worn to exhaustion by the combination of the physical and emotional trauma.

Wufan helped Zitao into the car gingerly and was beyond relieved to be able to look Zitao over in the light and realise he seemed to be free of any serious injuries, although he showed no sign of waking up soon. Wufan hopped into his own seat and drove home carefully, checking every few seconds to make sure Zitao was okay.

When they made it back to the apartment, Wufan picked up Zitao again, this time cradling him like a child. Wufan flicked the switch and warm light flooded the room, and Zitao stirred slightly, scrunching up his nose and closing his mouth with some effort. Wufan stood still and watched his friend, owl-eyed as he looked for any sign of pain or discomfort in Zitao’s expression. Instead, he was met with a half-lidded, sloppy smile that slowly spread across Zitao’s face as he recognised his friend.

“Are you feeling okay?” Wufan asked uncertainly, not quite sure what to do.

Zitao nodded slowly and didn’t speak as Wufan carried him to the bedroom and placed him on the covers gently. Wufan turned to leave but was stopped as Zitao grabbed his shirt and pulled him weakly back down.

“Ugh… Oh my god, what the … My head…”

Wufan opened his eyes to find sunlight streaming into the apartment through a chink in the curtains. Unfortunately for Zitao, the sunbeam went right across their faces, and it was doing absolutely nothing to alleviate his hangover.

“Kris, what happened?” Zitao asked groggily as Wufan sat up and yawned, feeling surprisingly well rested. He set his gaze on Zitao who was curled up feebly with his hands over his face and frowned.

“You didn’t come home last night,” Wufan felt his irritation growing as he remembered how terrified he had been, scouring the streets for any sign of Zitao – dead or alive.

Zitao lifted his hands to look around the apartment once, then shrugged, “Well, I’m here now.”

“Yeah, because I went to look for you,” Wufan growled, making Zitao flinch, “When it got too late I called Luhan and asked after you, and he told me you’d left a while ago.”

Zitao blinked a few times, and then set his gaze on Wufan, “But I did go home…?”

Wufan shook his head roughly, “No you didn’t. I walked around the city for hours trying to find you. I asked after you in all the bars and clubs I could think of. Nobody had seen you, or knew anything about where you were.”

Zitao shrank back as he realised he was in the wrong, “I’m sorry Kris-“

“I’m not finished. How do you think I felt, Tao? In my mind I was expecting to find you dead, or badly hurt, or to never find you at all. Did you even have any idea where you where?”

Zitao shook his head, stammering, “I-I don’t really remember, I was just tired and I stopped to rest for a while, I just-“

Wufan shook his head, glaring at Zitao. “I can’t believe you’d do something so stupid. Why didn’t you just spend the night at Luhan’s?  Why didn’t you go home with Yixing? Why didn’t you call me? “

“I don’t know, I just wanted to get home I guess, I don’t know.” Zitao held up his hands defensively. “I’m sorry, all right?”

Wufan was about to snap in response, but suddenly all the fight went out of him. “Don’t be so irresponsible next time,” he muttered irritably. He got up and began limping out of the room slowly, his hurt leg troubling him badly after the strain he’d put on it previously. Before Zitao could say anything more, he was gone. 

hope you guys all had a great Christmas! as per usual, sorry for not updating more often. it's good to be back! thanks everyone for sticking with me, and welcome to all the new subscribers :) 

-nekopan xox

edit: forgot to say, sorry it's a boring update, next one should be better?