Worthless

'Why do you look like that?' 

'Do I look that pitiful to you?' 

'I don't need such sincerity coming from you!' 

Zeke gurgled, shakily touching his bloodied lips and felt a lingering petal stuck to it. He could feel his life flashed in his eyes, black dots started swarming in his vision and it was becoming harder and harder to breathe. 

His vision became blurry and all he could see was Jian Yu's frantic face. A smile tugged at his lips as his vision grew darker and darker. 

Until it was only left with a lot of shouting and darkness. 

But maybe nothingness was better than the sickening emptiness that brought nothing but pain to him. 

***

Zeke gasped, sucking a very, very clean breath for the first time he woke up. 

"Hey, hey, you okay?" 

A hand shook his shoulder gently and Zeke sucked in a breath as he recognized the owner of the voice. It was hard not to when it came from the one you had been simping for. 

"You are lucky I found you before Mika decided to make ridiculous missing posters with your face everywhere." Jian Yu mumbled something akin with derpy faces. 

"What…?" Zeke rubbed his bleary eyes away and sat up, looking confused. 

Jian Yu blinked at him, he was still sitting in front of the bench Zeke was currently sleeping on. The Beta brought a hand to Zeke's forehead, almost frowning at the high temperature. "You could have told us you are sick, y'know. We can always postpone the trip for you." 

Finally, after a whole two minutes, while Jian Yu patiently waited for him, realization dawned on Zeke. 

The scenery finally cleared up and Zeke noticed he had fallen asleep on some random bench in the carnival. He recalled how the biting chill from the cold wintery weather had only worsened his cold; how he wanted to find a place to sit and ended up sleeping on it. 

Not to mention, WITH A HORRIBLE NIGHTMARE!

Well, he should be grateful he didn't sleep and freeze to death right here and then but still! Why such a nightmare! The fact that he could remember every bit of it sent chills down the Alpha's spine. 

"Are you okay? Wanna head back first?" 

Zeke was busy groaning and grateful that those horrible moments were only nightmares when he registered the question. His eyes turned to look at Jian Yu. 

The silverette was humming, hands tucked inside his coat pockets and breath misting in white puffs. All in all, he looked happy to be here and Zeke couldn't bear to risk it for his own health. 

When Zeke rejected the Beta's offer, Jian Yu frowned, asking if he was really okay or not, because the Alpha's complexion wasn't looking really good. 

But Zeke had cut him to it before he could say anything, leading him to various stalls while grumbling about ditching Mika and the others because why not? 

The carnival was so crowded that both of them were swept up by the sea of humans until Jian Yu finally made up his mind. 

The silverette reached out, making sure that his hand he's closing his fingers on were Zeke's. The moment he did, the Alpha had frozen and become stiff at some point before glancing over his shoulder to look at Jian Yu, then back to the connecting hands. 

He looked so confused and nervous that Jian Yu almost chuckled at the sight, but the silver-haired man hanged on, gripping the hand in his tighter. 

"Let's go, treat this as our red string of fate," Jian Yu cleared his throat, his voice in a higher pitch as he was quite embarrassed but he tried not to. He kept his gaze forward before continuing. "We'll get seperated, otherwise." 

Talking like this wasn't his forte, it was Zeke's. But he tried his best and the reaction he got was absolutely worth it. It seemed the Alpha had never been in the receiving end before as he was silent and gaping at Jian Yu, shocked to stillness. 

It took a while for the black-haired man to finally spark back to life and quietly rearrange their hands, lacing their fingers together. "You sure?" He asked, voice soft as he stepped closer. 

To be honest, Jian Yu wanted to ask why he would ask something like that. Was he worried about Jian Yu's preference in public displays of affection? Just how much more kinder Zeke wanted to be, he was already too thoughtful for an Alpha with a status like him. 

"Of course." The younger man gave the hand a squeeze. 

The effect was immediate. A small smile made its way to the older's mouth before melting into an oozy grin that Jian Yu could feel radiating all over him. 

It only took a few more minutes for Zeke to reconfirm again before a full fledged grin burst open, an overwhelming happy squeals of laughter followed and Jian Yu couldn't help but wanted to follow as well. 

The Alpha tugged their joined hands, pulling Jian Yu closer to him and the Beta immediately leant in, huddling himself closer to Zeke, soaking himself in the warmth. 

The couple continued their journey through the carnival with their newly joined hands. 

And none of them wanted to pull away. 

XXX THE END XXX

NB: Just an alternate universe, there's no connection between this and the plot of the story. 

Hi all! This is just a special chapter I made to celebrate christmas, hope you enjoy it! Never planned for it to be angtsy in the middle, but I couldn't help it XD.

Now I'm even thinking about making it vice versa. What if Jian Yu was the one having the hanahaki disease, how would it turn out? 

What do you guys think? 

Anyway, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I Hope you all have a happy holiday! Stay safe, stay healthy! Eat lots, drink lots! Stay hydrated! 

Thank you for reading my stupid shits!