Work Text:
The events from that day in the game still swirled in Yang Cheng's mind, like a splinter he couldn't pry loose.
Even though Lin Ling seemed to have long since moved on from the fright of that day, Yang Cheng found it difficult to ignore. Just think about it—your lover, eyes wide, expression dazed and helpless—how could you possibly believe he was completely fine?
“I'm sorry…”
Yang Cheng said abruptly after an ordinary lunch.
“What is it? Why are you apologizing?” Lin Ling was somewhat baffled. Yang Cheng hadn't done anything wrong, so why suddenly apologize?
Yang Cheng continued, “It’s about… that thing in the game…”
He recalled Lin Ling's expression from the game that day again. Horror and bewilderment were frozen on Lin Ling's face, speckled with blood droplets of varying sizes. Some of the blood seemed to have seeped into his eyes.
“You looked completely terrified back then…”
“Frozen there, not moving at all…” Yang Cheng added.
Lin Ling was taken aback. Although he knew Yang Cheng had this tendency to internalize things, he was still a little surprised that Yang Cheng remained haunted by it even after having apologized that same day.
“Alright,” Lin Ling sighed. “I was a little startled, it’s true… after all, it felt so real…”
He hadn’t entirely forgotten the simulated blood's sticky texture and warmth, truth be told. He knew the game was famous for its realism, but sometimes he almost wished it weren't quite so real. Lin Ling had strong empathy, and sometimes, in the tension of the moment, he’d forget he was in a game.
Especially when it happened so suddenly, his brain just couldn’t switch gears fast enough.
He had simply stalled, and it was a good moment before he numbly looked toward E-Soul in the distance.
That scene must have scared Yang Cheng badly too, logging off immediately to rush over and apologize.
“I’m so sorry…” Yang Cheng said once more.
“You really don’t need to keep apologizing, it was just a game…” Lin Ling scratched his hair, slightly embarrassed that he hadn’t realized sooner Yang Cheng was still hung up on the in-game event. “We just happened to be randomly assigned that mission by the game.”
In the game's lore, the Treemen and MG could be considered long-time rivals. As a black ops agent for MG, E-Soul would naturally be matched to a mission assaulting the Treemen's only top-ten hero, the Commoner. This aspect—where different players get different perspectives and missions based on their factions—had been a major selling point since the game's release. Lin Ling had originally been recommended to play it by Yang Cheng.
“Even though it was pretty scary in the game, once I logged off, I wasn’t that afraid anymore. After all, it was all just a game.” Lin Ling looked into Yang Cheng’s eyes, choosing a gentle gaze to tell him the answer.
But looking into those eyes, Yang Cheng’s mind untimely conjured up the memory of Lin Ling’s shocked and helpless expression in the game again. He suddenly felt like kissing Lin Ling.
“We won’t end up like in the game.” Lin Ling could always see what Yang Cheng needed. He leaned closer to Yang Cheng.
A perfectly measured embrace, and a kiss light as a dragonfly skimming water.
“And see, I’m perfectly fine now, right?” Lin Ling said with a smile.
Lin Ling was always so considerate.
Yang Cheng often couldn’t help but wonder if they would ever have breached the barrier between them if Lin Ling hadn’t been the brave one.
Both of them tacitly avoided mentioning the matter again.
The day passed in the blink of an eye, and soon it was night. Most of the city was already deep in sleep. Long exhausted by the day's work, Lin Ling was already sound asleep in bed.
Yang Cheng lay beside him, watching his sleeping face.
There was one thing that still only Yang Cheng himself knew.
His apology that day wasn’t just because he had frightened Lin Ling. There was another reason, one he hadn’t dared voice.
In the game, when he saw Lin Ling’s helpless expression, his first feeling was actually excitement, his breath catching slightly.
The glow of the setting sun inherently carried an indescribable beauty, and the shattering of beauty into pain was always a fascinating topic.
The blood was stained just right, not enough to drip from Lin Ling’s face, but instead becoming his perfect adornment. Those deer-like eyes were glistening with a hint of physiological tears from the blood irritation. The shock of the sudden event left him rigidly in place.
It was a few seconds later that those eyes belatedly turned to look toward E-Soul in the distance.
Yang Cheng wanted to kiss this version of Lin Ling he had never seen before.
So fragile, so beautiful, so utterly compelling.
He even wanted to pause time briefly in that moment, to make the owner of those eyes linger for him a little longer.
But something in Yang Cheng’s heart compelled him to suppress this impulse. The story continued to unfold, and in the end, X arrived to save the day, successfully concluding that storyline.
Perhaps one day, Yang Cheng would confess this. Or perhaps, Lin Ling would discover it eventually. As long as they lived under the same roof, this matter would inevitably have to be discussed openly.
Would Lin Ling continue his usual pattern of forgiveness, or would he choose to leave?
Yang Cheng didn’t know.
He continued to look at the already sleeping Lin Ling.
At least, before this peculiar preference of his was discovered, he begged to let himself be happy a little while longer.