buddies :: 19 days [hiatus]

duo

Well, I ended up being hit and having to deal with a drowsy drunk. Talk about getting two for the price of one.

Zheng Xi placed a bag of frozen peas on his face, as cliché as it sounds, but he found it to be quite soothing. He dreaded seeing his face in a few hours because he knew he'd be sporting a big purple and black spot on his cheek.

He turned around to look at his abuser to see him looking out the window. He didn't seem half as drunk as he was a while ago, and he seemed almost sober if it weren't for the half buzzed look in his eyes. It almost seemed like he belonged there because the way he stood, the way he looked, the air around him made it seem so picturesque.

But what Zheng Xi really noticed was how lonely he looked. The sides of his mouth dipped down slightly, and his eyes held a sort of sadness that he couldn't quite figure out. It was a feeling entirely unknown to him. The boy stared at the people below just as Zheng Xi had done a little while before.

Suddenly, the dirty blond felt the urge to get to know this guy. He wanted to know all of the secrets harbored in this boy's mind; he wanted to know about his life. He wanted to take the boy's sadness away, and it just felt right to think that way. It's kind of like Zheng Xi wanted to protect this boy, as crazy and weird as that may have sounded.

"So, uh," Zheng Xi trailed off. He didn't know how to initiate the conversation, and his face had traces of pink becoming more evident as his embarrassment grew. He cursed himself for his social ineptness with the boy; he was so confused because this is the first time he's ever not been able to conjure up something to say. This is the first time that he's ever been at a loss of words: tongue tied, if you will.

"Oh, yeah, sorry about your little..." he gestures to the part of his face where his bruise was forming. "I'm just drunk and lonely. That note was written when I was at the peak of my drunkenness, and right now I feel kind of embarrassed for encroaching on you. I'll go to another bar or something so I don't end up doing more damage."

Zheng Xi stood in a dumbfounded silence. He didn't react to anything that the other boy said until he heard the click of his apartment door handle turning. He dropped his bag of peas and rushed over and pressed both palms flat against the door to keep it from opening.

"It's...no, you're not being intrusive or anything. Just, please, um, stay here." His face was now beet red, so he turned his face towards the floor. By this point, Zheng Xi had thrown caution to the wind and went through with the action that first came to his mind. He didn't know how the other boy would react.

"Really? Are you sure?" He asks with a surprised tone. The boy walks back a few paces with a half bewildered expression and a half hesitant one on his face.

"Yeah, um, I don't mind you being here at all. Just, y'know, don't, um, punch me again." Zheng Xi awkwardly chuckles at his poorly executed joke. The blood was still rushing to his face in the ever-present blush; his ears were red hot in embarrassment; it felt like needles were pricking at the back of his neck, quickly penetrating the skin and pulling back out in an abrupt movement.

"No promises, man." The boy held his hands up in a comical manner, which they both laughed at. The tension in the room eased substantially, and Zheng Xi found that his cheeks and ears were becoming less red and the back of his neck no longer pricked with harrowing pain, but was now like a dull tap with the pad of someone's finger. He just hoped he wouldn't trip over his words for the rest of the night.

The mystery boy, who Zheng Xi has yet to learn the name of, walks over and sits on the ledge in front of the window. He sits there with a smile, but it was a sad smile. It angered the dirty blond quite considerably, and he really had no answer as to why it did so.

Zheng Xi walked over and sat on the other side of the ledge, also staring at the heads of people below. The moon illuminated the night with a pale glow, that of which cast beams of moonlight even in the darkest places.

"Hey, buddy," Zheng Xi tried to say nonchalantly. "The name's Zhan Zheng Xi. How about you?"

"Jian Yi," he responded and now fixated his gaze upon the phosphorescent moon. "You don't have to comply with what I wrote, you know. I mean, I do want to be friends, but I don't want to force something. Everything in that little letter is 100% genuine, but I want whatever is to happen to happen because it was meant to be that way."

"You seem different than how you write, Jian Yi," Zheng Xi absentmindedly comments, but nonetheless thinks it true. He sees his new friend look discreetly out of the corner of his eye at him, but Zheng Xi just keeps his focus primarily on the happy, jovial souls below.

"It's not a bad thing. In the letter, you just seemed so drunk it was almost amusing to read," he sighs. "But I'm glad that I feel as if I could talk to you about the makings of life and how people's brains function.

"When I'm with you, I feel this sense of home and comfort. To tell the absolute truth, I've never truly felt that before." Jian Yi stared at Zheng Xi, astonished that such words were able to befall this boy, that minutes before couldn't speak a coherent word without furiously blushing.

Zheng Xi was oblivious to just how much he shared. He hadn't intended for those thoughts to be voiced, but, unfortunately for him, he wasn't filtering the words passing past his lips.

"Do you mean that?" Jian Yi whispers. Zheng Xi finally turns his head to face the platinum blond boy, cocking his head slightly, the words he spoke seconds before still unbeknownst to him. Jian Yi's face and eyes said it all, though.

"Geez, I didn't mean to say that." Zheng Xi mentally curses himself as he pinches the bridge of his nose and tightly closes his eyes. When he opens them again, Jian Yi is looking down at his hands, playing with his fingers, with the ghost of a smile on his lips.

"But you meant it," Jian Yi quietly murmurs, to which Zheng Xi sheepishly nods his head. Both boys then returned their gazes to the outside world.

In the window's reflection, Jian Yi saw the faint smile on his lips and he felt less lonely, the least lonely he's felt in a very long time, in fact. To some extent, he even felt needed. It might've been the alcohol, but he felt a warmness in his heart, spreading through his entire being.