VARSITY 9 | BL

TWENTY-FOUR | CONCUSSIONS & QUESTIONS

"Wen! Wen, hey, Wen! Are you okay? Wen!"

Wen's eyes widened as he shook his head and his vision focused, allowing him to see the boy hovering over him. "Kean??" Wen released in a groan as he clutched the side of his head while lifting himself up on one elbow.

"What the hell was that, Kaihan?" Kean questioned as he took either side of Wen's head in his hands and looked the brown-haired over for any cuts or scrapes.

"What do you mean 'what the hell was that'?" Wen returned with a grimace as his head began to pulse with pain. "What the hell were you doing up there?"

Kean fell silent in response to Wen's question before eventually mumbling, "Admiring the view, what else would I be doing?"

Sensing Kean was not too inclined to talk about what had enticed him to stand on the roof's parapet, Wen dropped the matter. Carefully standing to his feet, Wen shook his head to dispel the remaining fog in his mind before turning around and staggering back toward where he had thrown his shirt.

Seeing Wen's staggering steps, Kean hurried after the brown-haired and asked, "You good? You hit your head pretty hard."

"I'm fine." Wen shrugged off Kean's question before bending down to pick up his shirt. But as he leaned down, his vision began to swim, and his head pulsed with pain. Wincing, Wen sucked through his teeth as he stopped reaching for the shirt and stood back up while clutching his head.

"You're clearly not fine," Kean stated as he steadied Wen. Keeping one hand underneath Wen's arm, Kean scooped the shirt up from the roof before leading Wen toward the lift.

"What the hell are you doing, Li?" Wen questioned through gritted teeth as Kean brought him inside the glass tube.

"Taking you to the medic," Kean returned.

Wen tried to shake away Kean's hand that was steadying him as he declined the offer. "I'm fine. I don't need your help."

"Please just listen to me for once!" The emotion in Kean's voice startled Wen, causing him to stop trying to push Kean away. He had noticed that Kean was growing more and more attentive toward him — like he had been before the incident — but Wen ignored it thinking it was impossible for Kean to care for him after what he had done to Kean.

However, that did not seem to be the case. Despite Wen's multiple attempts to push Kean away and make him hate him, Kean seemed to be able to see through them and realize that Wen was hurting just as much as he was. Although Kean did hate Wen after Wen's endless avoidance and glares, his hate eventually began to wear off, and he slowly began to care for the brown-haired once again.

Why did it have to be you of all people? Wen gazed at Kean's profile as he leaned against the back of the lift. He was about to close his eyes and rest until the lift landed, but something caught his eyes and caused him to look closer. On Kean's cheeks were faint tear stains. He had been crying.

Thinking back to when Kean fell on top of him, Wen did not recall seeing any fresh tears. So, Kean had been crying long before Wen showed up. What happened between you and your father? Are you okay?

Wen shook his head when he realized he was beginning to worry for Kean. Stop thinking about him. You shouldn't be concerned for him. Let him take you to the medic and that will be that.

Wen was silent for the remainder of the time it took the lift to reach the ground floor of the training center. Hand still steadying Wen, Kean led the brown-haired out of the lift and through the compound to Training Building D where the medic was located. The medic taking the night shift welcomed the two boys with a warm smile as they entered the medic's station.