Work Text:
His frantic footsteps ring in his ears as he runs along the wet street, reflecting the last daylight, past dozens of people in costume.
He feels the pull towards him like a torrent. His heartbeat crashes inside his chest, his lungs burning, his stare on the horizon where the last light disappears, giving way to the blood moon.
Meet me on Hallow’s Eve when day bleeds into nightfall.
A promise that every fibre of his being is drawn towards.
Months of feeling someone close, watching, waiting, never afraid, knowing there was something he recognised from another life, transcendent and inexplicable.
He saw someone - a black figure in a long cloak - always near but out of reach. A voice whispering to him when he was dreaming. His heart knowing when he was near before his brain did, yearning and begging him to show himself, to finally understand this otherworldly connection.
Eventually, the hooded figure turned and revealed his face, deep brown eyes shining golden, his lips curling into a soft smile. Shu Yi didn’t recognise him, but he knew him, determined to reveal this mystery.
Face to face, Shu Yi was petrified with the sheer power of his longing to touch him.
“Have we met before?” Their gazes were unbreakable.
“Yes, a very long time ago.” His eyes mirrored and overpowered Shu Yi’s longing.
“Why can’t I remember?” Shu Yi’s heart split with woe and need.
Sorrow flashed across his ethereal face and Shu Yi’s soul moaned with anguish, not having forgotten like Shu Yi’s mind.
“You might. I’m sorry I disrupted your life, I couldn’t bear to wait, but I must leave soon, and I wish you’d come.”
Hope and fear brimmed in his brown-golden depths and Shu Yi leapt at the chance, his body driving him forward, grasping his hand to make sure he was real.
“I will.”
His gold-brown eyes widened, a smile so beautiful and bright illuminating his face that Shu Yi fell in all-consuming, irrevocable love, his heart knowing he had loved him for a very long time.
Shu Yi was ecstatic, existing only in his orbit.
Leaning forward, sharing hot breath, an onslaught of chills, drowning in each other’s gazes, Shu Yi’s face held by the gentlest of touches.
But he had to go, and Shu Yi was left desperately bereft.
Hope pushes him forward, anxiously seeking, the horizon tinged in the moon's otherworldly crimson. His heart stops suddenly, the whole of him surrounded by a veil of darkness, only the sound of his thundering heart and breathing audible.
He’s frozen in place, a tiny flame of light appearing before him, growing, his silhouette stepping out, his shimmering eyes, his gentle smile, his hand reaching for Shu Yi, who grasps it and falls, caught in his arms. Whatever happens, wherever they’ll be, there’s nothing keeping him in this world. With him he belongs, eternally.
His eyes close, the touch of their lips like stars bursting in the night sky.
They leave no trace behind.