"The Day You Left" - YakuLev (non-toxic) | Angst with happy end

The Day You Returned

For everyone who prefers hearing the story there is an audiobook version at the bottom of the chapter.

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"Mori?"

Yaku hadn't even heard the steps behind him or otherwise noticed the person approaching. The voice of his boyfriend broke the silence and he could feel his heart shatter with how broken he sounded.

When he turned around he barely recognized Lev.
He was a wreck. Almost as bad as the kitchen. There was nothing left of his usually so carefully maintained appearance. The silver-haired looked sickly pale and tired. He seemed to have lost quite an amount of weight so that his pyjamas were hanging loosely from his body.
Yaku could see that it must have been days since he last showered and slept judging by the bags under his eyes.

The worst of all, however, was how empty his eyes looked.

As if he had lost all will to live.

Even now that they were widened in shock the emotion didn't seem to get through to him.

"Lev? Wha-what happened?" The libero's voice quivered. He was at a loss for words.
Yaku had expected all and nothing but, not this.

"Mori..." Lev repeated softly as though he didn't see his panic at all.

"Yes, it's me. I'm here. Now please tell me what happened to you!?"
He could feel tears building up in his eyes.

Yaku had never felt this helpless in his entire life before.
He didn't know what to do. He thought if he would just find Lec everything would turn out fine, but this... this wasn't fine. This was so much worse.

He didn't understand what was happening or how to deal with it.
"Answer me!" he demanded in a desperate attempt to make sense of things.

The taller slowly closed the distance between them, his eyes still empty as if he wasn't even looking at him.

He carefully stretched his hand out and placed it on Yaku's cheek, gently caressing the skin.

"Lev, you scare me," Yaku tried again, his voice growing weaker. "Please talk to me!"

"It feels so real..." the other whispered under his breath.

"What...?" his voice broke.

"You feel so real."

This was wrong.

This was so wrong.

Lev sounded too calm.

What was he saying!?

"I AM real," Yaku insisted. "Please Lev, tell me what is going on." He could feel his tears spilling over, could feel the hot tracks they left on his skin and how Lev gently wiped them away.

"Please don't cry, Mori. I want to remember your smile," Lev pleaded softly, still oddly calm.

"Remember my...?" Yaku was stunned. "Lev, I'm right here. I'm real please, please talk to me!
"You are scaring me, Lev. You hear me!?"

Slowly but surely the fog seemed to fade from Lev's eyes.
"What...?"
He blinked a couple of times rapidly to fight his own tears from clouding his vision.

"You are scaring me, Lev," Yaku repeated as he saw that it was getting through to him. "What happened to you?"

"Mori?"
His voice was thin almost gone.

"Yes, I'm here. I'm right here."

The taller backed away a little, but Yaku closed his hand around his wrist before he was out of reach again.