Jock Next Bed (BL)
Chapter 214: The outpour (2)

Chapter 214: The outpour (2)

Chris felt them—his own tears landing on his cheeks, a silent mirror to the pain he was witnessing. He hadn’t even realized he was crying, the depth of Sky’s agony pulling him in with a force he couldn’t escape. It was all so much. Sky’s pain, his struggle, the years of hiding it from everyone—including Chris. How could Chris have known? He had only seen the surface, the parts Sky allowed the world to see.

But now, in this moment, it was all coming to light, and Chris could feel the weight of it pressing down on his chest, suffocating him. He understood now why Sky was always so guarded, why he hid behind his aloofness and hesitation. Sky hated himself. Hated his body. And Chris couldn’t have known, not really, until now.

The cracks Sky had fought so hard to keep hidden were wide open, and Chris was helpless, his heart breaking for him.

"It is real," Chris said, his voice hoarse, the words catching in his throat as he tried to hold onto his composure. His heart was breaking with each second that passed.

"You... you are real, Sky Sato," he said softly, his hand reaching for Sky’s arm, trying to offer something, anything, to make him see what Chris saw—the real Sky. The one he cared about. "And this... this is you. You cannot imagine how perfect I think you are..."

Sky shook his head vehemently, his hands moving to pull his arm away, as if even the slightest touch might burn him. "No," he whispered, his voice thick with shame and self-loathing. "I know I’m not perfect. I’m just..." his sigh was heavy and shaky. "It wouldn’t have gotten to that level. But... I was stupid. Embarrassed. I couldn’t tell anyone when I started noticing the signs. Didn’t want to. I thought..." His voice broke, his words trembling with a deep sadness. "I thought it would go away. I let it be. And then when it didn’t, I saw blogs. I knew I could handle it if I saved enough and... and went for the surgery myself—"

Chris wanted to ask how old Sky had been when he first decided to carry all these burdens on his own. How old was he when he started thinking he could fix everything himself, alone?

But before he could voice the question, Sky continued, his voice growing smaller, almost lost in the air. "But then the accident happened. Because... of me." He paused, his breath ragged, and then he covered his face with his hands, his body shaking.

The accident?

What was he talking about.

Chris was about to search his brain but Sky’s voice broke through his thoughts.

"Ash saw me. IT. He... he teased me for it. Badly. Held it over my head. I couldn’t take it one day. I could only talk to my grandmother. She came to get me, but... but the accident... it was bad."

Ohhhhhh.

His grandmother. The one whose remembrance he had crashed.

He remembered how Sky had been then. Also, he remembered Sky had previously told him he had been involved in an accident. A bad one where he even damaged a kidney.

"I would have died. But... I didn’t." He swiped at the tears in his eyes. "I lost a kidney. The other wouldn’t sustain me. But she... she..." His voice cracked, and he stopped, the weight of the loss, the trauma of it, swallowing him whole.

Chris could feel it too—the heaviness, the suffocating pain that Sky had been carrying alone for so long. And in that moment, he couldn’t take it anymore. He didn’t have the right words. He didn’t know how to make everything better, but what he did know, what he could do, was hold Sky. Hold him through this. He reached forward without hesitation, his arms pulling Sky close, as if that alone might take away even a fraction of the pain.

Sky tensed for a moment, his body stiff, as if he wasn’t sure if he could let go. But then, he sagged into Chris’s embrace, his shoulders trembling violently, his breath ragged with sobs. And Chris held him tighter, not knowing what else to say, but knowing that this—this was the only thing he could offer.

"I’m so... sorry, Sky," Chris whispered through the thick, painful silence that enveloped them. "I’m here."

"I... I also have her kidney in me..."

Sky’s body shook with each sob as he spoke, "She didn’t... deserve that. She didn’t deserve... me."

"None of it was your fault." Chris said in a tight voice, trying hard to keep his emotion in check but it was not working.

"I’m sorry you... you had to go through that. I’m here. I... will be here. Promise."

****

The next morning, a shrill ring pierced through the quiet. Chris groaned, stirring from sleep, his arm fumbling blindly toward the sound. But then it hit him—he wasn’t in his bed. This wasn’t the cool emptiness of his sheets. There was warmth. Soft. Breathing.

Sky.

Chris’s eyes flew open, his movements suddenly cautious. Sky was still asleep, nestled against him, limbs tangled around him like he belonged there. His body curved into Chris’s with a kind of instinctive need, and Chris froze, not wanting to wake him. The phone was still ringing, vibrating insistently from somewhere nearby. He spotted it just in time and snatched it up with a careful twist of his arm.

It was Wilson. He was calling the phone Chris had handed to Sky last night. Chris ended the call immediately before it could jolt Sky awake, opting to text instead.

His eyes dropped to the boy in his arms.

Sky looked peaceful now. Fragile. His lashes fanned across his cheeks, his lips slightly parted in sleep, the exhaustion still etched into his features. Adorable. Heartbreaking. Chris swallowed hard, the memory of the night before tightening in his throat like a vise. He blinked quickly, trying to will away the sting in his eyes.

He noticed there was a text message from his... MOTHER?!

His eyes popped wide open as he opened it.

’I thought I was clear about no fooling around. You weren’t in your room.’