The room was pitch black, with only the glow of the computer screen illuminating the man’s eyes through his rimless glasses.
Confidence evaluation in progress.
Complete. Confidence: 18%. Master, please keep working hard.
The man furrowed his brow slightly.
“Yu-ge, can I come stay at your place today?”
Xia Shuo pulled open his wardrobe, wearing headphones, and dragged out a suitcase as he prepared to run away from home.
The person on the other end seemed to be doing something, his voice sounded heavy, and the tone was a bit intoxicating. “What happened?”
Mentioning this made Xia Shuo’s blood boil. “I got into a fight with my mom… Hey, you don’t know my mom. She wants to go to some comic-con. Going is one thing, but she insists that I dress up in cross-play with her! She said she bought some two-tone matching set and that I have to wear it with her…”
Xia Shuo ranted on and on, but the person on the other end didn’t reply, instead, he kept panting heavily. “Yu-ge, why sounds your voice so weird?”
Just as he finished saying it, Xia Shuo figured it out and praised him, “So disciplined, Yu-ge. No wonder you’ve maintained an eight pack, you’re working out early in the morning.”
“Not really.”
“Ah, what are you doing then, bro?”
“Mn… What do you think a man does in the morning?” After saying this, Shen Yu made no effort to suppress his breathing from transmitting straight into the other person’s ears.
Xia Shuo felt a slight flush of heat on his ears, but he still managed to say, “Stop teasing me, bro.”
The person on the other end let out a low chuckle. “I can video call you to show you.”
This is getting a bit too intimate.
Looking at the suitcase in his hand, Xia Shuo resolved to run away from home. “Then how long will it take?”
Shen Yu: “2 hours.”
Xia Shuo: “Even manually it takes that long? Then I’ll come to your place in two hours.”
Shen Yu chuckled again, that same tingling, sweet tone. “You can come now, what are you afraid of…”
Click. Xia Shuo hung up the phone.
Shen Yu looked at the disconnected call, the corners of his lips curving upward. His phone screen switched back to its original page, which prominently displayed a sleeping photo of Xia Shuo.
Checking the time on his phone, Xia Shuo bought a chocolate-filled ice cream bar at the 24-hour convenience store downstairs and slowly licked it. Perhaps because of the May Day holiday, many children were playing and running around in the courtyard.
Xia Shuo stared wide-eyed as a little boy in front of him crawled on the ground while being led around by a little girl holding a jump rope.
No way! Do you even have to wait in line to be someone’s dog these days?
Caught up in the gateway to this brand-new world, Xia Shuo was pulled back to reality by his phone ringing.
“Did you get lost?” As soon as the other person spoke, he returned to his usual buddy-buddy tone.
“Lost right downstairs in your residential complex.”
“Tsk, what’s that supposed to mean? Do you want me to personally carry you upstairs, Young Master?”
“Eh? Mocking me, are you? I’m coming up right now.”
Xia Shuo tossed his finished ice cream wrapper into the trash can and glanced back at the little boy. Aiyo, it looked like the kid’s mom was coming over.
He heard the child shout loudly, “Xiao Mei only leads me and no one else! She’s not bullying me at all, she just likes playing with me, Mom, don’t worry about it!”
Xia Shuo quickly tightened his expression to keep from laughing out loud.
Walking downstairs, he pressed 808. The elevator intercom rang twice, the lobby door unlocked automatically, and the elevator stopped right on the 1st floor.
Xia Shuo pulled his suitcase into the elevator. With a ding, the elevator doors opened, he had arrived.
The last time he came to Shen Yu’s new apartment was right after it was handed over, when a bunch of guys came over for a housewarming party and got drunk. Then he…
Past events were too painful to recall. Xia Shuo pulled his suitcase and knocked on the door. Hearing the sound of slippers, Xia Shuo thought the soundproofing must be terrible since he could hear slippers from outside the door, and reached out to pull the door handle.
Huh? The door wasn’t locked.
“Yu-ge, your security awareness is way too poor. If you don’t lock the door, what if, ”
Behind the door, Shen Yu was wrapped in a bath towel, a large expanse of abdominal muscles coming into view. His skin was fair and his bone structure well-defined, matching his aesthetic even better than the fitness bloggers Xia Shuo saw online.
“So jealous, Yu-ge. When will I ever have abs like that?” Xia Shuo clicked his tongue a few times and changed into a pair of slippers, the same model as his, but in a different color, which Shen Yu had bought for him on his last visit.
Shen Yu helped him pull his suitcase from behind and offhandedly dropped a sentence, “You don’t necessarily need to work out to have them.”
“Huh?” Xia Shuo turned back and blinked at him. “Yu-ge, plastic surgery for abs is risky and unhealthy.”
Shen Yu pressed his lips together and said nothing.
The apartment hadn’t changed much since his last visit. It was still done in an Scandinavian log style, except the wall of a single room had been painted light gray, which looked a bit out of sync with the overall aesthetic.
Xia Shuo followed Shen Yu into the room, staring at the 2.0-meter large bed. The unpleasant memories from last time resurfaced in his mind. There was still a problem after arriving.
That was: a 150-square-meter apartment with four bedrooms and a living room, but only the master bedroom had a bed. Like, seriously…
“Bro, can you fit a bed in your storage room?”
Shen Yu’s four rooms consisted of the master bedroom with a bed, a study/gaming room, a storage room, and a gym equipped with some fitness gear.
“What? Is a 2-meter bed not enough for you to sleep in?”
“Uh, no.”
Shen Yu was a bit of a clean freak. The first thing he did when he came home was take a shower and change into pajamas before moving around the house freely.
Back in the dorms, if anyone sat on his stool, he would wipe it down with alcohol twice. Later on, to avoid standing out too much, he would either lay a blanket over his chair when he wasn’t sitting in it, or wait until he came back, cleaned up, and showered before peeling the blanket away to sit down.
That way, if someone accidentally sat on it, it was fine.
Xia Shuo put his clothes away in the empty slot of the wardrobe that Shen Yu had specifically reserved for him, intending to go take a shower.
After rummaging around for a while without a sound, Shen Yu eventually stood at the doorway, watching him busy with god-knows-what. “What’s wrong?”
Xia Shuo raised his head. “Yu-ge, I forgot to bring my pajamas.”
When he was grabbing his clothes in a rush, he somehow managed to leave behind the most important pajamas.
Shen Yu looked at Xia Shuo’s slightly upturned peach-blossom eyes, which reminded him of the blue-eyed Persian cat he saw at the pet store last time, so much alike.
He really wanted to keep him at home, where only he could look at him.
He swallowed hard. “Wear mine.”
Seeing Xia Shuo stay silent, Shen Yu lowered his voice. “What? You mind?”
“Eh, Yu-ge, how could that be? I’m just afraid that if I wear them, you’ll throw the pajamas straight into the trash.”
Everyone knew Shen Yu was a clean freak, and they had kept a proper distance for all these years to avoid making him uncomfortable.
Even when Xia Shuo came over to Shen Yu’s place, taking a shower was always the top priority. Aside from the housewarming party last time, everyone consciously avoided hanging out at Shen Yu’s place ordinarily.
Shen Yu took two steps forward, pulled a set of cow-print loungewear out from the stack, and handed it to Xia Shuo.
“Yu-ge, the pattern on these pajamas is quite cute.”
Xia Shuo spent at least twice as much time in the bathroom as he usually did, mainly because he needed to get extra clean. Because Shen Yu always liked to lean in and sniff his neck, even though there was never any smell, Xia Shuo kept it in mind, just in case his good buddy found him unappealing…
His hair was half-dry, hanging down to slightly block his vision as he walked over to the water dispenser to pour a glass of water. “Yu-ge, when did you buy these pajamas? Did you buy them too small? They fit me just right.”
After saying that, he even spun around in front of Shen Yu. “How about it? Aren’t they a dead-on fit?”
Shen Yu stared at him and let out an “Mn.”
After finishing his spin, Xia Shuo collapsed onto the sofa, then immediately sprang back up upon remembering his hair wasn’t dry yet. “Bro, where’s your hairdryer?”
“I looked in the bathroom for ages and couldn’t find it.”
“Hairdryers in the bathroom are prone to electrical hazards. I usually blow-dry in the living room.”
“Oh.”
Shen Yu brought over a dark gray hairdryer. Shen Yu seemed to really like dark colors, his furniture was all in this tone.
Xia Shuo took it and walked over to the other side to dry his hair.
His hair was short and dried almost instantly.
Keeping track of where Shen Yu had retrieved the dryer from, he put it right back in the exact same spot.
Now that his body was clean, he dared to get close to Shen Yu again. He straddled the sofa in a few steps, pressing his knees against Shen Yu’s thighs as he grabbed his hands and shook them back and forth. “Yu-ge, tell me honestly, was this really my fault?”
“I even agreed to go to the comic-con with her.”
“But what’s the deal with wearing women’s clothing?”
“I’m a guy, how can I wear women’s clothes?”
“Besides, I’m a red-blooded, upright, straight man.”
“Bro, say something. What does your silence mean?”
“Even you aren’t taking my side? Bro.”
“Brother-brother-brother-brother-brother, ”
Perhaps annoyed by the noise, Shen Yu reached out and pressed his palm flat against Xia Shuo’s lips, dropping a line: “Guys can wear women’s clothes too.”
Xia Shuo reached up and pulled Shen Yu’s hand away. “Bro, you really are my mom’s biological son. I’m going to go apply for a paternity test right now.”
With that, he angrily ran off to the study room to play video games.
After a moment, his voice drifted out: “Bro, what’s your computer password?”
“Your birthday.”
“Oh.”
Xia Shuo didn’t read too much into the password being his birthday, because he and Shen Yu were kindergarten classmates, buddies who weren’t biological brothers, but might as well be.
Forget the computer password, even if Shen Yu asked for his bank card PIN, Xia Shuo would hand it over.
Besides, Shen Yu had a dedicated room at Xia Shuo’s house.
He practically was half a son to Xia Shuo’s parents.
For no other reason than that Shen Yu had been remarkably smart since childhood, with his hobbies maxed out in talent points. Whether it was street dance, piano, flute, or traditional Chinese painting, whatever Shen Yu learned, Xia Shuo would get dragged along to learn too.
Yet the final result was always that Xia Shuo dabbled in everything and mastered nothing, while Shen Yu mastered everything he touched.
Moreover, after Shen Yu was admitted to a top university, an extra room had been added to Xia Shuo’s house specifically used to supervise Xia Shuo’s studies. Shen Yu spent an entire year raising Xia Shuo’s grades by 129 points.
When it came to family status, Shen Yu ranked ahead of Xia Shuo himself.
Xia Shuo opened the computer and loaded into the match.
Holy crap, as expected of top-tier specs! This graphic fidelity, this tactile feel, this sound quality, absolute perfection!!
Shen Yu stared at the closed door of the study for a moment, then looked at the mechanical clock hanging on the wall, a cool-looking mechanical clock Xia Shuo had given him as a housewarming gift.
It was almost time to make dinner.
After playing for a bit, Xia Shuo stopped gaming because the aroma of the food was simply too tantalizing.
He moved his base of operations to the kitchen, calling him “bro” every other sentence as he launched into an extravagant stream of praises.
“Smells amazing, bro.”
“I love it so much, there’s even ribs!”
“Yu-ge, you’ve got so much charm. A role model for men.”
“Loved by everyone, adored by flowers, causing cars to crash wherever you drive.”
“Envious of no one, celestial or mortal, envying only future sister-in-law’s everyday life.”
Upon hearing this last line, Shen Yu paused his flipping spatula and shot him a direct, unblinking look.
But after a few seconds, he turned his head away again.
Xia Shuo ate this meal with complete satisfaction. Later, being extra diligent, he cleared the table and prepared to wash the dishes, only to discover there was actually a dishwasher.
“Whoa, bro, you’re too good. Living with you is truly a form of extreme happiness.”
After dinner, Xia Shuo accompanied Shen Yu to watch a documentary for a bit. Shen Yu went to bed at 11:00 PM like clockwork.
Xia Shuo checked the time. “Bro, go get some sleep.”
Shen Yu stood up and reminded him, “You come to the bedroom early too.”
Xia Shuo froze for two seconds before speaking up, “Bro, are there extra blankets in the house?”
“Spot me one, will you? I’ll sleep on the sofa.”