Heroes (just for one day)
Disclaimer: I don't own this one. What the heck did I just write?
Shout Out: That what I get when I am on the pills and listening to David Bowie. Yes, yes, I've said I wanted to write Han Wenquin and Ye Xiu, but whyyyy did Sun Xiang have to wiggle in, really?! /tears of despair/
Warnings: Shameless, Always-a-Girl! Ye Xiu and really, why?
I, I wish you could swim
Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim
He was lying on the bed, his eyes closed, golden hair ruffled with frustration.
Sun Xiang.
Contrarily to popular opinion, not everything in his life revolved around Glory, fans and him.
Well, of course it encompassed those three, but one thing - no, person, outright eclipsed all three of them.
The previous owner of One Autumn Leaf.
Ye Xiu.
When he first saw Ye Xiu, Sun Xang was surprised the other was, for all the talk about him being almost mythical figure, what with him manning One Autumn Leaf, the Battle God of Glory, disappointingly small and humane.
Short hair, styled more for a practicality than anything else, half-lidded eyes of the color of light caramel, clad in bomber jacket, as if he were about to go out for a smoke or two - inwardly, Sun Xiang wrinkled his nose at the sour scent wafting off the smaller male - he was even smaller than Mucheng with her high heels.
So usual. So... ordinary, that if manager hadn't addressed him as Ye Xiu, Sun Xiang would be hard-pressed to believe that this lazy, half-slob of a person was captain of Excellent Era.
Carelessly grinning, he couldn't help but enjoy how Ye Xiu was forced to relinquish One Autumn Leaf into his hand.
Ye Xiu hand trembled when he held onto the card, and for a moment, Sun Xiang felt a rush of pity for him - but pity was just as soon washed away by anger and disgust.
"Do you love Glory?"
What kind of a nonsense question was that?
Sun Xiang - he wouldn't have been there if he wouldn't have loved the shitty game, would he?!
(He buried the awe at first seeing One Autumn Leaf duking it out with Desert Dust somewhere in the darkest recesses of his mind - it was this sight that prompted him to switch from some other game to Glory, as he chased after the ethereal back of the One Autumn Leaf, hoping that one day - no one day, he would be just as good, and even surpass the person behind that godlike avatar and then - )
The reality was disappointing. Ye Xiu had deteriorated, had become the cause of his team's downfall, and it was on Sun Xiang's shoulders now to raise this broken phoenix out of its ashes to the previous glory once again, just as it ought to be –
His gaze felt onto the hand that clutched to that seemingly meaningless piece of plastics, pale, long-fingered, delicate and Sun Xiang could barely believe that this was a hand belonging to a man, seemingly carved from the most beautiful jade.
After spouting some nonsense words Sun Xiang hadn't bothered to remember at Ye Xiu, Ye Xiu finally released One Autumn Leaf into Sun Xiang's hand, leaving behind only that disgusting warmth of his disgusting hands.
(Before slotting the card into machine, Sun Xiang had wiped it down meticulously, until he was sure nothing of Ye Xiu remained, still, he couldn't help but smell a faint scent of cigarette smoke.)
And yet….
'Do you love Glory?'
Goddamit! Would he ever be free of Ye Xiu's shade!?
Those elegant hands, like swimming dolphins weaving their magic on a mouse and keyboard, creating galaxies in Glory –
A day after, Sun Xiang had gone to a café bar to get away from his new teammates and bumped into a girl with jade-like hands.
Though nothing, nothing will keep us together
We can beat them, for ever and ever
Oh we can be Heroes, just for one day
The girls' name was Ye Xiu. Sun Xiang felt a sour taste in his mouth upon hearing her name - the name was way too similar to that old fox's, Ye Qiu's, but the girl assured him that it wasn't the case, but for some reason, Sun Xiang couldn't help but feel a fool as he looked at the girl's lips, twined into a gentle smile, full of amusement as she sipped her own cup of mocha latte.
"Do you play Glory?" Yeeesh. He just straight out blurted out the question, regardless of the impropriety of it. Sure, Glory was a wide-spread game, and there were not many people that didn't play Glory nowadays.
However, girls in this game - especially serious gamers - were scarce.
(Nah. Sun Xiang just didn't have any better subject to talk about, and Glory seemed like a safe subject in any case.)
A blink. A hum. Eyes lowering to the cup as that jade-like hand - this was not Ye Qiu's hand, Sun Xiang had to remind himself – moving the said cup in lazy circle, prompting the contents to gently swirl in hypnotic waves.
Sun Xiang waited for the answer anxiously, with bated breath.
And he didn't know why.
This girl - she wasn't anything special. In fact, in this cafe, Sun Xiang could point out many more beauties.
"Ah, I do. Why?" those limpid caramel-shaded eyes raised to his own once more, unfazed by Sun Xiang's handsome face.
(Maybe it was that what attracted him to her, she didn't look at him like a piece of meat like the rest of she-wolves here. Truly, beauty was sometimes more of a curse than a blessing.)
Ye Xiu lifted the cup to her lips, as to make a sip –
"Want to play together?" Sun Xiang's mouth was definitely disobedient today. He only came in to get a coffee, get some peace away from those bootlickers at Excellent Era and instead what? He found a girl, bland enough to be compared to a tofu, and then asked her to play Glory with him?
'Desperate much?'
Sun Xiang ignored his inner sarcastic twit and pleasantly smiled - the smile coming out from his lips more of a grimace when he saw her spit-take with surprise.
She coughed as to alleviate the stranglehold in her throat, her cheeks flushing with exertion. In that moment, she may have looked cute… at least a little bit, what with her surprise-wide eyes lined with tears of pain.
"You are not that cute." She finally answered him, gifting him with a small smile as she stood up and walked away, vanishing into the crowd, leaving him at the table, gaping at her slender back, feeling at a loss and for some strange reason, bereft of her presence.
That - that tofu-like girl! How dare she!
How dare she reject him! Him, Sun Xiang!
I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Their meetings continued. Sporadic, once upon a blue moon, at strange hours. Very early, or very late, and Sun Xiang had already been berated for not keeping a regular sleeping schedule.
Just because of one tofu-like girl.
Ye Xiu.
Their talks were short - Sun Xiang talked more, with Ye Xiu patiently listening to his woes, occasionally giving her input. It was more like she was his therapist than anything.
(And with Excellent Era along with Lord Grim's shenanigans, Sun Xiang needed all the therapy he could get to stay marginally sane.)
Even two months into their meetings, Sun Xiang didn't know anything more about her that she was a girl, working as an office lady in nearby internet café, her drink of choice was mocha latte, her choice of food was ramen and she was an occasional smoker.
And yet…
Despite her initial refusal, Sun Xiang was nothing but persistent. He would get he to play with him, come hell or high water –
And then, the entire mess with Lord Grim began.
Sun Xiang's little walks also garnered attention of his teammates, and of course, they just had to know just what kind of beauty was brazen enough to snatch the heart of newest wielder of One Autumn Leaf.
"LEAVE ME ALONE YOU ASSHOLES! I AM NOT DATING HER!" He finally lost his wits and screamed at them, causing a roar of laughter and snickers among the witnesses at his plight.
"Not for the lack of trying, you aren't. Why, Little Xiang, do you need some expert advice on the matter?" Someone crowed, prompting another wave of guffaws at Sun Xiang's case.
That training session, One Autumn Leaf caused a massacre. It was intended to be a teamwork exercise, but Sun Xiang didn't give a shit about it.
When they tried to scold him, his answer was short and succinct "If they are idiots to personally offend me, they should at least have the skills to back it up on the battlefield later." A shark smile, wide with almost all the teeth visible aimed at the manager and to the lesser extent, 'injured' parties, was threatening and bloodthirsty enough for the batter to be dropped.
But the idea, idiotic as it was…
… Well, maybe. Probably. Possibly.
Fuck it, it was impossible. They were more like distant friends - if even - than any dating material.
She was a tofu girl, for Glory's sake!
(Sun Xiang's existential crisis reached alarming proportions. Thankfully - and much to Sun Xiang's disappointment, Ye Xiu hadn't come to their usual haunts for the next week.)
(Sun Xiang's mood was worse than a bear's with his butt in a beehive. And Su Mucheng, for some reason, looked really smug.)
"Here." She threw at him a small box, which Sun Xiang hastily caught from the air, frowning with confusion.
"Eh?" he didn't squeak. He really didn't.
Raised eyebrows looked at him, who was awkwardly holding the small packed wrapped in the black and golden gift paper with a tiny red bow on top.
"Really? How did you forget that it was Christmas?" She waggled a finger at him mockingly, and as if on cue, Sun Xiang felt his cheeks warm up in a horrible blush.
(Secret: Sun Xiang was terrible with dates. Or time in general.)
"O-oh! Sorry!" He would deny to his dying day, but this sound was definitely an embarrassed squeak.
Her smile was refreshing, like spring's rain, those unusually colored eyes glittering with amusement as she chuckled at his expense.
"Merry Christmas."
Later on, when he opened the tiny box, there was only a plain, Glory card lying in the midst of the crumpled white silk paper.
Sun Xiang's heart jumped.
He scrambled to the computer, almost tripping in his haste to insert the gift into the machine –
Five minutes later - that seemed more of an eternity - he was logged in.
He stared at the screen, speechless.
Star Lord. A Battle Mage. His old account card.
How… How did she know?
(He had thought he had lost this one. Instead, someone had apparently found it, and carefully nurtured it.)
Draped in elegant midnight blue robes with silver stars lining the hems, and the spear [Silver Galaxy] in his hand, pale blue eyes with long silver hair bound into a high ponytail.
/Winged Dream is requesting to be your friend/
He almost fell out of his chair at the sudden announcement, before cautiously accepting it.
And there she was, smiling at him, clad in her Priestess' robes.
Though nothing will drive them away
We can be Heroes, just for one day
We can be us, just for one day
"How did you know!?"
A shrugging emoticon.
"I've picked it up once upon a time. As there was no one associate with that one, I couldn't send it to its owner… wait. You are the owner?"
Sun Xiang paused.
"…Yes. Thank you."
For once, Sun Xiang's thanks to a stranger was truly sincere.
The next morning, even if he looked more like a zombie than himself, Sun Xiang's smile for some reason, was truly radiant, almost boyish in its intensity.
The collective thought of his teammates on the issue:
"Did he finally get laid?"
(Sun Xiang humored them, but in the back of his mind, he made a list to make an example of later on.)
(The manager and company were helpless to stop him from trouncing the bastards in question, what with Sun Xiang smiling so pleasantly, and wonder of wonders - or horror of all horrors - Su Mucheng of all people - backing him up.)
I, I can remember (I remember)
Standing by the wall (by the wall)
And the guns shot above our heads (over our heads)
This game was crazy and Sun Xiang ought to have felt pressured, but instead of that, he was grinning like a madman.
Playing along with Winged Dream… ahh, this was bliss.
There was a gunner's fire barking above their heads.
Unbidden, Sun Xiang let out a wild laugh, causing his white-robe teammate smack the back of his head.
"Get serious, will you!" She snapped at him, but he could almost hear the suppressed smile in her voice.
"Yes, yes, got it, got it!"
This was… Glory.
And we kissed, as though nothing could fall (nothing could fall)
And the shame was on the other side
He kissed her. Just because he could.
This strange, tofu-like girl with magical hands and heart, big as a planet.
"Hey, Ye Xiu… Won't you become my girlfriend?"
He smiled down at her, looking ad her wide eyes, filled with daze and flushed cheeks, her now shoulder-length hair messed up and liberally sprinkled with snow, making her look like some kind of a snow fairy descended on earth.
He didn't care that anyone could see them.
That this could very likely be posted in all of the tomorrow's gaming newspapers.
Right now, he was holding his girl, and nothing else mattered.
Oh we can beat them, for ever and ever
Then we could be Heroes, just for one day
"You are a bastard, you know that?" Su Mucheng smiled at him pleasantly over the morning issue of newspaper, apparently already familiar with what Sun Xiang was up to last night.
Sun Xiang shrugged. "Never said I was anything else." He replied back serenely.
Su Mucheng's smile tilted up a smidgen, frosting with annoyance and was that a… concern?
"Just don't break her heart." She finally spoke to him, nodding as she stood up from the table, leaving a confused Sun Xiang stare at her back.
Did Su Mucheng knew Ye Xiu? And if she did, how come she hadn't talked about it?
His mobile phone buzzed, and Sun Xiang snatched it from the pocket, hurriedly opening it.
"Dungeons at 21.00? WD."
He couldn't help but smile as he typed back the reply.
"Yeah. See you there!"
We can be Heroes
We can be Heroes
We can be Heroes
He couldn't wait to meet her.
The time ticked by almost too slowly for his tastes, minutes dropping down, one by one, lazy drops of molasses, just to torture Sun Xiang further.
The time came.
With pounding heart, Sun Xiang logged himself into Glory, already anticipating tonight's adventure in virtual world.
(It was like magic - but he didn't tell that to her. Because she made it magical, and Sun Xiang may have been in love, but he swore that he would never, ever be a sappy shit.)
Just for one day
We can be Heroes
But she didn't come. Half an hour passed. Then an hour. Two hours.
Sun Xiang's heart dropped.
He tried to call her back, his heart twisting even further when he heard a mocking tone of signal being lost.
This... hadn't happened before. Ever.
Something was very, very wrong.
And then, Su Mucheng was missing, the manager telling him that she had been called to the hospital.
Sun Xiang followed her.
We're nothing, and nothing will help us
Maybe we're lying, then you better not stay
She lied. Sun Xiang looked on the floor, his previously concern-darkened eyed now dull and lifeless.
She lied.
She. Lied.
She lied to him.
In the ICU room, there was a fragile form paid upon a snow white bed, her face pallid and her short messy hair surroundings it like halo of a dark angel, a deep purple eye bruises under her eyes , the heart monitor mechanically beeping it's dull song into the room.
Ye Xiu.
No. Ye Qiu.
Ye Qiu, who was a girl, who was Ye Xiu - who lied to him.
Su Mucheng's eyes were puffed up with the amount of crying she had done, the other girl looked frankly miserable, wide eyes staring at the unmoving form on the bed, silently begging her to come back, to not let go -
And all Sun Xiang could feel, was numbness, his heart dark and hollow and lifeless.
Was it a lie?
Was everything a lie?
Why?
But we could be safer, just for one day
"Once, you've asked me if I love Glory."
"In truth, I didn't love it. I played it, just like any other game."
"But then, I played it because of you."
"When I saw you going against Desert Dust that one time, I wondered, how would be to stand on the same stage as you, to compete with you."
"I've got my dreams, but not like I wanted it."
A sad laugh.
"You must have thought me a complete jerk that day, didn't you? An asshole."
"And…Mucheng told me. About Muqiu and you. And I feel like even bigger asshole. I've taken away your One Autumn Leaf… and I would've given it back in a heartbeat right now, if only you would wake up and smile at me and say that everything would be alright."
"I still don't know what you saw in me to agree to be my girlfriend. I wouldn't have agreed if I were in your place."
"Star Lord misses his Winged Dream, you know?"
"Your brother came, too. And holy shit, why didn't you tell me you had a twin?! I just about got a heart attack! I also got a big shiner because I dared to date his big sister. I demand you to wake up and avenge my honor!"
"Wake up. Just… wake up. If it just for one day, we can both pretend to be heroes and – " A choked out sob.
"Please."
Oh-oh-oh-ohh, oh-oh-oh-ohh
Just for one day
Pale eyelids fluttered open, heavy with tiredness of their owner, revealing exhausted caramel orbs staring at the ceiling sightless before the girl's head slowly turned to the side where she felt a weight pressing down over her upper tights, a mess of golden hair, and dark blue jacket of a man that currently slept like a log, unaware to the world.
Slowly - and painfully so - the girl moved her right hand, inch by inch, before it was placed at those tempting golden tresses, the warm locks sliding through her fingers like silk.
She didn't expect him to be there.
After all, she had deceived him terribly.
But… Her lips twitched into a small, weak smile.
Here he was.
Her own, personal hero.
And maybe, just maybe, they could be heroes together… for one more day.
Smiling in contentment, Ye Xiu allowed her eyes to close again and drift off into healing sleep.