"Zhouzhou, please stop it, hear me out." Jingyu took the ring, trying to keep himself from tearing up.

"What's there to hear?" Zhou cried, his breath hitching.

"She's not my girlfriend, okay? She is some hired prostitute that my manager hooked me up with because he's pissed I'm with you all the time." Jingyu huffed. "Is that what you want to hear?"

Tears dripped down WeiZhou's face as he sniffed. "I want to hear the truth."

Jingyu attempted to move closer, pulling WeiZhou into his arms and kissing the top of his head. "That is the truth, my Zhou."

WeiZhou's arms wrapped around him, pulling him closer, so close it almost hurt. He sobbed into Jingyu's shoulder, who let him willingly, rubbing his back gently.

WeiZhou pulled away, letting Jingyu cradle his face, thumbing away the tears from the corner of his eyes. "I love you." Jingyu whispered, trying his hardest to talk the words into him. "Please don't ever doubt that."

WeiZhou nodded, looking down with a hitching breath. "It's so hard."

"I know, I know it is." Jingyu pressed their foreheads together. "It's hard for me to. But I trust you. I just need you to trust me too."

WeiZhou pulled away, trying not to look at the hurt in Jingyu's face when he did. "When she came in it brought me back to that night when you told me we were over. That night I lost you." WeiZhou shook his head. "It scared me." He wanted to move or fidget or... something, but he couldn't decide what to do. "I wouldn't know what to do if I lost you again."

Jingyu's eyes were something different in the dark room. They represented hurt, sorrow, and they looked perfect on someone who had just been hit with a train of realization.

"I don't know either." Jingyu said, his voice breaking. "I can't live without you."

"You say that so much." WeiZhou's brows crossed. "When do you really mean it? I mean, you lived without me for a year."

Jingyu's skin suddenly tightened. "Do you remember why I even got to see you again?" He shook his head. "I was gonna kill myself. I drunk all day and did all kinds of drugs. The only reason I didn't swallow a handful of pills on the day I thought you died was because Jackson kept me away from it."

"Then maybe you can't live without Jackson." WeiZhou sniffed.

"That's not true!" Jingyu suddenly shouted. "That's not fucking true and you know it! I wouldn't have needed him to make me happy if you hadn't left to some remote Korean village in the middle of the night!"

"I wouldn't have needed to leave if you didn't leave me for a woman!" WeiZhou yelled back, the match suddenly taking on new heat. "Now I feel like I'm going through the exact same thing over again!"

"WeiZhou." Jingyu's voice was deep. "Are you even trying to hear me?"

"It just pisses me off that I didn't know you had a fake girlfriend."

Jingyu went silent. He took a few deep breaths, his hands uncurling from the fists they were. "I'm... sorry. I promise from now on I'll be more honest with you."

WeiZhou's body relaxed, those words immediately releasing the air from his chest. "I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have overreacted like I did..."

"I shouldn't have kept it from you." Jingyu sighed, moving closer and pulling WeiZhou into his arms. The younger hugged back, sighing into the warm comfort of Jingyu's shoulder.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

•••

The next morning, Jingyu decided he really had enough. He started by throwing his phone off the top floor onto the street below. He then began to pack up his apartment and put it in his car. WeiZhou assisted him, hardly able to believe it was happening.

They left Beijing at 10 o'clock, hoping that Jingyu's manager wouldn't hunt them down or try to find them. They could only hope, of course, and there was no guarantee. But with Jingyu's phone destroyed, the chance was smaller. The time they spent together in that car was eagerly enjoyed as they sung songs and often pulled over on the side of the road to make out.

They made it back to Mangsang around dinner, both hungry, but at the same time, satisfied. Satisfied with each other. Satisfied with running away together.

Jingyu wrapped his arms around WeiZhou's waist and plastered himself to the younger's neck. "I think you've ruined me."

WeiZhou turned around in his arms, reaching up to caress a neck. "What do you mean?"

"If something ever happened to you, Zhou. If you ever died or left me or something... I wouldn't be the same. Nobody else could have me, because you've ruined me." He sighed, squeezing WeiZhou's waist.

"Jingyu..." WeiZhou sighed, leaning up and kissing his throat. "I can't live without you."

"You don't have to." Jingyu smiled softly, lacing their fingers together. "'Till death do us part. If anybody wants to come between my Zhou and I, they'll have to kill me first."

Jingyu leaned down slowly, linking his lips with WeiZhou's and kissing him. Deep and passionate and hard.

They fell into themselves.