Work Text:
Zach wasn't sure what pulled him awake, the unfamiliar noise or the familiar touch. Everything was blurry when he opened his eyes though and he winced against the bright lights, eyes snapping closed. He felt the touch again, feather light against his forehead.
"Hey."
His eyes fluttered open again. "Shaun?"
"How are you feeling?"
He realized he was in a hospital room. The sound of breaks squealing echoed in his head. "Oh God! Cody!" He tried to sit up, only to collapse back against the pillow as pain flooded his body.
"Cody's okay. I promise. You were on your way to pick him up when the accident happened."
The knot of panic inside him loosened. "He's okay?"
"Yeah. You on the other hand, not so much." Shaun smiled but his eyes were red rimmed and Zach could see the worry there.
He focused enough to catalog his injuries. His arm was in a cast, the left thank God! Chest and head ached, ankle ached. "What happened?"
"A car ran the light. Slammed into you. The other driver is fine, of course." He reached up again, almost as though he couldn't help it, fingers trailing over Zach's forehead and down, until his hand rested on Zach's shoulder. "You've got a broken arm, sprained ankle, a few cracked ribs, and a hell of a shiner."
They kept him over night for observation and it wasn't until he was getting dressed the next morning, plastic bag filled with his belongings next to him, that he remembered the ring.
Shaun grimaced when he asked about it. "I'm sorry babe, they had to cut it off."
It was stupid to be so upset when he should be glad to be alive and relatively unhurt, and he was, really. The ring wasn't even expensive, but his mom had bought it for him on one of their last trips to the mall. Still, after the cast came off, several times he found himself absently reaching to fiddle with the ring, it's absence an odd wrongness.
They'd agreed the first year not to make a big deal about Valentine's day. This year wasn't different. Gabe was between girls so he came and got Cody for the weekend. They were enjoying dessert when Shaun tossed the ring box over to him.
"Hey! What happened to our no gifts policy?"
Shaun shrugged. "I figured, just this once."
He opened it and when he saw the band, a warm gold with pieces of silver -- his old ring -- melded together in an intricate design, he froze, swallowing hard. "Shaun, is this?"
"Yeah."
"Master has left student speechless."
Shaun smiled, but it was laced with disappointment. "You don't have to decided now."
"No, just. Are you sure?" And it wasn't that he didn't know Shaun cared about him and Cody, but Tori once told him people didn't belong to each other forever, and maybe some part of him believed that. Some part of him expected this to end.
Shaun got up and came over to Zach's side of the table, squatting next to him. "You know the accident scared the shit out of me. It made me realize how easy it is to lose someone -- to lose you. I've known you almost half my life. I just, I can't imagine not spending the rest of it with you."
He looked down at Shaun and suddenly it was easy to say yes. Easy to lean forward and kiss him, trusting him to be there.
He still found himself reaching for his ring. Different finger, familiar motion. His life was like that now. Old and new entwined, something stronger and more beautiful than he could have imagined.