“Admiral!”
Ross chased after him. “Are your injuries alright?”
“I am fine. Give priority medical resources to the heavily wounded.”
Keo had already used a pair of scissors to cut open his own combat uniform, exposing his solid chest and arms to perform a quick disinfection of his wounds.
He even dug out tools to staple the flesh of the larger lacerations back together first.
His shoulders were broad while his waist remained narrow. A fine layer of sweat coated his wheat-colored skin, and his muscles tightened sharply from the pain, yet his face displayed very little expression.
As for Eugene, he was bound by one hand to a chair via handcuffs, unconsciously watching Keo’s distinctly contoured back, feeling a twinge of vicarious pain for him.
However, he soon noticed that Ross had apparently been staring straight at him ever since stepping into the room.
Eugene lifted his head in confusion, causing Ross to instantly avert his gaze and, quite conspicuously, turn bright red all over his face.
Eugene: “What?”
“Assess the losses, strengthen the energy supply to the protective shields, and hurry to the Worm Zerg’s central station. Otherwise, the starship may still be attacked.”
Keo, having finally finished dealing with his wounds, raised his head only to find that Ross was not listening to him properly at all, instead looking as though he was about to lean right over Eugene.
“What are you doing?”
“Ah?” Ross jumped straight up.
“Admiral, I just wanted to change him into a more comfortable posture.”
“Bound like this, his circulation…”
The more Ross spoke, the more guilty his conscience became until his voice trailed off entirely. His head dropped until it rested against his chest, and his face turned exceptionally red.
Keo’s expression was indeed rather terrifying.
Lifting his head, Eugene watched Keo stride toward him with a dark look, causing him to shrink back slightly in apprehension.
However, Keo merely grabbed the arm whose handcuff Ross had just undone, hoisted him up forcefully from the chair, and shoved him inside the bedroom, slamming the door shut behind them.
“Uncuffing him does not require pressing flush against his body.” Keo gritted his teeth, his emotions tangled.
Ross was already so ashamed he wished he could crawl into a crack in the ground.
“From now on, nobody is allowed to touch him without my permission.”
After Keo and Ross departed, the lighting throughout the entire starship quickly dimmed, likely because they had entered the accelerated spatial-jump navigation mode. Even while sitting completely still, Eugene felt a subtle sensation of weightlessness.
Keo had cuffed his wrist directly to the headboard, leaving Eugene to drift into a light sleep as he lay there.
To his utter astonishment, he ended up dreaming of Keo.
In the dream, Keo’s wrists were both bound above his head, his wheat-colored skin still glistening with a fine layer of sweat while his well-defined pectoral and abdominal muscles rose and fell steadily with his chest. Yet there were no injuries anywhere on his body.
He was simply flushed all over as if he had just been scalded by boiling water, drenched as though he had just been pulled straight out of a lake.
His expression looked completely unlike his usual self. The habitually icy golden eyes seemed to melt into a gentle softness, carrying a trace of annoyance, shame, and an overwhelming tide of unnameable emotions as they stared directly at him.
Seeing Keo’s pained expression, his trembling breathing, and watching him turn his head away while biting his lip as though wanting to say something, Eugene found himself involuntarily leaning closer.
Then he caught the tremor in Keo’s eyelashes, felt his scorching breath, and heard his deep, raspy voice say to him,
“I am begging you.”
Eugene jolted awake from the dream, startled so badly that he tumbled straight off the side of the bed and crashed onto the floor.
Wait, why on earth would he dream of something like this?
And the other person was Keo?
Has he lost his mind?
Doubting his entire existence, Eugene crouched beside the bed for a long while before realizing that his handcuffs had jammed into an awkward position because of that fall.
He gave them a few hard yanks, but failed to adjust them, leaving him with no choice but to stay crouched. His legs had gone completely numb from squatting.
After a long while, the bedroom door opened once more.
Eugene immediately turned his head and spotted Keo outside.
His injured right arm was finally wrapped in fresh bandages, and holding a cup of water in his left hand, he stood in the doorway observing Eugene for a moment before walking over and lifting the cup to Eugene’s lips.
Eugene obediently drank the water fed to him, lifting his gaze to cautiously observe Keo’s expression.
His countenance seemed reasonably calm, but his brow remained furrowed. Having spent time in military camps, Eugene was familiar with that expression; it was the involuntary look of someone enduring prolonged physical pain.
Could Keo’s injuries still be hurting quite a bit?
“Keo.”
After finishing the water, Eugene spoke his name.
Keo looked at him without speaking.
Eugene shook his cuffed arm. “It is jammed.”
Observing Keo’s expression, he cautiously added,
“My leg is numb.”
Keo let out a breath, placed the water cup on the bedside table, and then bent down to unlock the handcuffs for him.
When he leaned in, he stood very close, almost feeling like an embrace.
Recalling his recent dream, Eugene instinctively shrank back with a trace of awkwardness.
Noticing this, Keo glanced at him sideways. At that moment, the handcuffs clicked open, and Keo reached out to pull him to his feet.
Because his legs were somewhat numb, Eugene lost his footing upon standing up and accidentally tumbled straight into Keo’s arms.
Keo initially made a clear evasive motion, but halfway through, he had no choice but to reach out and steady Eugene.
Eugene had assumed Keo could easily hoist him back with a single hand, but to his surprise, Keo seemed equally drained of strength, taking a step backward under his momentum until his heels struck a small cabinet beside the bed.
Losing his balance, Keo sat straight down onto it, knocking over the decorative items on top so that they clattered to the floor.
For quite a few moments, Eugene remained frozen in a posture pressing down on top of Keo.
Keo’s brow was tightly knit, yet he did not let go.
“Keo.”
“What.” A voice tinged with a hint of irritation.
“My leg is even more numb, I cannot get up.”
Eugene expected Keo to shove him away instantly, but instead, he remained silent and motionless.
Waiting for a moment, Eugene had to speak up again. “Keo?”
Only then did Keo grit his teeth and push himself up to steady him.
Eugene looked up at him. “What is Joe doing right now?”
Keo instantly froze, his face hardening as his tone turned even more displeased than before.
“Why are you asking about him?”
Eugene hesitated, phrasing his words vaguely.
“He said earlier that you did not want me anymore and were giving me to him.”
Keo remained silent.
Eugene continued dropping hints. “Back then, he even deliberately brought me to find you, and then the starship broke down.”
Keo’s movements clearly paused. Lowering his gaze, he stared intently at Eugene’s expression before murmuring a sentence, sounding either to himself or to someone else,
“He is my brother.”
“Wait.” Seeing that Keo was about to throw him back onto the bed, Eugene grabbed his arm.
“I need to use the restroom.”
When Keo actually escorted him to the restroom, Eugene still felt a bit flattered.
His legs were indeed quite numb, though sitting for a little longer wouldn’t have been impossible.
Yet Keo genuinely walked him to the restroom, averted his gaze while waiting, let him wash his hands afterwards, and then led him back to the bedroom. He even asked if he was hungry before serving him dinner.
Keo was unusually taciturn this evening, yet his actions carried a quiet attentiveness toward caring for him, and he seemed intent on letting Eugene sleep in his own bed.
Eugene almost suspected that the Keo before him had been swapped with someone else or disguised by an imposter.
Just as Keo picked up his wrist to secure him again, Eugene pulled his hand back. “Do not tie my hands anymore.”
Patience seemingly exhausted, Keo finally showed signs of irritation. “No.”
“Why?”
Eugene exposed the faint bruise around his wrist. “It is very uncomfortable.”
“Is that more important than the lives of everyone on this starship?”
For reasons unknown, Keo suddenly flared up, pinning Eugene down onto the bed with one hand. “I could have ignored their lives and focused entirely on whether you were thirsty or uncomfortable, letting you wrap me around your finger so I believed whatever you said. Would that look normal to you?”
Eugene stared at him with slightly wide eyes, not daring to speak.
What does that mean? Did Keo actually believe him?
The two stared at each other for a moment before Keo pulled his hand back on his own accord and rubbed his face.
What on earth is he saying?
Silence settled between them.
Amidst that quietness, Eugene swallowed a mix of bewilderment and awkwardness. “If you want, you could tie my hand and your hand together.”
Hearing this, Keo turned back to look at him. A complex emotion flickered in his eyes once more, resembling resistance.
Yet to Eugene’s bewilderment, after a brief pause, Keo actually reached over, snapping the other half of the handcuffs around his own left wrist.
Then he lay down right beside him and switched off the lights.
“Sleep.”
Together?
Surprise rippled through Eugene, leaving him speechless in the dark. He could not read Keo’s attitude at all. If he trusted him, he was still keeping his guard up; yet if he doubted him, his treatment of him was far too kind.
The mattress dipped slightly under Keo’s weight.
With their hands cuffed together, Eugene could feel that Keo’s body temperature was slightly higher than his own.
For some reason, Eugene remained fixated on this sensation, unable to fall asleep no matter what.
He shifted his arm multiple times under the pretext of turning over, and Keo said nothing at all. At least a small portion of their hands always remained pressed together.
What surprised Eugene even more was that in the dead of night, Keo actually rolled over to face his direction.
Eugene instantly froze, not daring to move an inch.
Peering carefully through the darkness toward Keo’s face, he realized that the other had likely fallen asleep.
Even in slumber, Keo’s brow was lightly furrowed, giving Eugene the persistent impression that he was wrapped in pain.
Hesitating for a moment, Eugene carefully reached out to touch the injury on Keo’s shoulder, releasing a tiny trace of his own pheromones.
A male’s pheromones possessed strong soothing properties and pain-relieving effects on females.
Eugene had only meant to test it out, but to his surprise, Keo stirred immediately.
Startled, just as he was about to apologize, Keo shifted closer toward him.
Curling his body slightly, his head sliding lower down the pillow, Keo moved toward Eugene for the first time with lowered head and furrowed brow, adopting the posture of an injured young beast as the tip of his nose brushed nearly against Eugene’s neck.
Eugene’s Adam’s apple bobbed.
His hand hovered in midair for a long while before slowly resting on Keo’s head, gently smoothing down the ends of his hair like one would pet an unfamiliar wild beast, testingly releasing his pheromones once more.
The sleeping Keo exhaled a breath, shifting even closer to bury his face almost entirely into the crook of Eugene’s neck, finally relaxing his tightly locked brows somewhat.
Not accustomed to sleeping pressed against someone else, Eugene drifted off very late.
He remained fast asleep when morning arrived, but Keo was no longer beside him.
The bedroom door stood ajar, and Joe’s whining voice drifted in from outside.
“You already kept him locked in your bedroom all night, what do you still need suppressants for?”
Shifting tone, Joe’s voice turned surprised. “Wait, how much of this did you take? Are you hitting your heat cycle or something?”
The starship emitted a hum at that moment, and Keo brushed him off directly, changing the subject.
“We have reached the central station.”