Chapter 469: Confessions

Fan Xui didn’t get to stay much longer.

A soldier hurried across the camp and stopped beside him, speaking quietly about trouble along one of the inner barricades. Whatever he said immediately wiped the relaxed expression from Fan Xui’s face.

He sighed and pushed himself to his feet.

“Duty calls.”

Chen looked up at him. “Go. We’re fine.”

Fan Xui’s eyes moved briefly over Skyy and the sleeping little girl before settling on his son again. He squeezed Chen’s shoulder once.

“Get some sleep.”

“You too.”

Fan Xui gave him a look that suggested that wasn’t happening anytime soon, then followed the soldier into the darkness.

Chen watched until his father disappeared between the tents.

The camp felt quieter after he left.

Chen lowered his gaze toward Skyy again and resumed slowly running his fingers through his hair. He’d been doing it for so long that the movement had become almost automatic.

Then Skyy’s eyes opened.

Chen’s hand stopped.

Two bright eyes stared directly up at him.

For a second, neither of them moved.

Chen slowly narrowed his eyes.

“How long have you been awake?”

Skyy’s lips curved.

Chen immediately knew.

“Oh, fuck.”

Skyy’s smile widened.

“You like me.”

Chen stared at him.

So he’d heard everything.

Skyy shifted slightly on his lap until he could see Chen better. There wasn’t even a trace of sleepiness in those sparkling eyes anymore.

“You like me so much.”

Chen covered Skyy’s eyes with his palm.

“Go back to sleep.”

A laugh escaped Skyy.

Chen could feel his eyelashes brushing against his palm.

“You said I was pure.”

“Sleep.”

“And that I look at you like you’re something good.”

Chen groaned.

He should have checked whether the man was actually sleeping before pouring his heart out to his father like an idiot.

Skyy was still laughing softly.

Chen couldn’t even be properly embarrassed about it.

Not when Skyy looked so happy.

He slowly moved his hand away.

Skyy’s eyes immediately found his again.

There was something soft in them now beneath the amusement.

“So you really like me?”

Chen looked at him for a moment.

The embarrassment faded.

He could joke his way around it. He could tease Skyy and change the subject. A few months ago, that probably would have been exactly what he’d done.

He didn’t want to anymore.

Chen brushed his thumb gently beneath Skyy’s eye.

“Yes.”

Skyy went still.

“I like you.”

His fingers slipped into Skyy’s hair again.

“I like you so much.”

The teasing expression on Skyy’s face slowly disappeared.

His cheeks turned pink.

Then he smiled.

Not the mischievous smile from before. This one was smaller, softer.

“I like you too.”

Chen’s chest tightened.

Skyy turned his face into Chen’s palm and nuzzled against it.

“You’re so sweet, Chen.”

Chen let out a low groan and tipped his head backward.

“Don’t.”

Skyy blinked innocently. “What?”

“Don’t do that here.”

“Do what?”

Chen looked down at him.

Skyy’s expression was far too innocent.

“You know exactly what you’re doing.”

“I didn’t do anything.” Skyy shifted comfortably against his thighs. “I’m just lying on your lap.”

“That is the problem.”

Skyy’s eyes curved with amusement.

Chen could feel warmth spreading through his body, and with Skyy lying there looking up at him like that, his thoughts were beginning to head somewhere they absolutely shouldn’t while surrounded by soldiers and sleeping civilians.

He pinched Skyy’s nose.

Skyy immediately made an offended sound and tried to pull away.

“I guess you’re not that innocent after all.”

Skyy caught his wrist and stuck his tongue out at him.

“I learned from Chen.”

Chen stared at him.

Then he laughed.

“That’s terrible. Don’t learn from me.”

“Too late.”

Chen shook his head.

Skyy settled back down, still holding Chen’s wrist. His thumb lazily rubbed across Chen’s skin, and gradually the playfulness between them faded into something calmer.

The fire crackled beside them.

Chen looked at Skyy for a long time.

There were still faint marks of exhaustion beneath his eyes. A small cut remained near his temple. His hands had been scraped during their escape through the station, and beneath his clothes were injuries from everything they’d survived getting here.

Yet Skyy was smiling.

At him.

Chen felt that overwhelming warmth return.

He had never expected this.

Not Skyy specifically. Not this strange, beautiful man who had fallen into his life carrying an entire history Chen could barely comprehend.

Somewhere along the way, protecting Skyy had stopped being something Chen did simply because Skyy needed him.

He wanted him beside him.

The realization wasn’t frightening anymore.

It felt strangely simple.

Chen shifted carefully and helped Skyy sit up.

“Come here.”

He lay down beside the fire, using his folded jacket beneath his head, then pulled Skyy down with him.

Skyy came willingly.

He immediately tucked himself against Chen’s chest.

Chen wrapped both arms around him.

That familiar scent filled his nose, mixed now with smoke and soap from the camp. Skyy’s body was warm against his, and Chen could feel the slow rhythm of his breathing.

He tightened his arms.

Skyy made a sleepy sound.

“Too tight.”

Chen loosened them slightly.

“Sorry.”

A moment later Skyy moved closer anyway.

Chen smiled into his hair.

His body finally began relaxing.

For days, he’d been sleeping with part of himself constantly alert. Even when exhausted, some part of his mind had remained awake, listening for zombies, movement, danger.

Tonight was different.

There were soldiers around them.

Walls.

His father.

Skyy.

Chen closed his eyes.

His hand rested against Skyy’s back, feeling it rise and fall with every breath.

The happiness filling him was almost uncomfortable in its intensity.

Skyy was alive.

His father was alive.

And somehow, after everything that had happened, Skyy liked him too.

Chen pressed a soft kiss into his hair.

He didn’t need anything else tonight.

Sleep eventually took both of them.

Hours later, Fan Xui finally returned.

Most of the fires had burned low by then.

He walked toward the place he’d left his son and stopped.

Chen was asleep beside the dying fire with Skyy curled tightly against him. One of Chen’s arms was wrapped protectively around Skyy’s waist while Skyy’s face was tucked beneath his chin.

Nearby, the little girl slept beneath her own blanket.

Fan Xui stood there for a moment.

His expression softened.

The boy he’d been searching for had returned different.

Older somehow, despite looking nearly the same age. Stronger. Scarred. Carrying experiences Fan Xui hadn’t been there to see.

And now he had someone of his own.

Fan Xui picked up a spare blanket and carefully spread it over the two sleeping men.

Chen stirred slightly but didn’t wake. Instead, his arm tightened around Skyy instinctively.

Fan Xui smiled.

“My kid really grew up.”

He tucked the edge of the blanket around Chen’s shoulder.

Then his gaze moved between Chen, Skyy and the little girl sleeping nearby.

A family of his own already.

Fan Xui shook his head with a quiet smile before walking away and leaving them to sleep.