Shoutout to Kari for the commission!
It wasn’t as if Zhou Shirui had never been around boys before; he often had physical contact with them while playing basketball.
But right now, his heart was pounding so fast it made his chest ache. Le Cheng was pressed up against him like a little fish, his hair brushing against Zhou Shirui’s chin and sending a tingling sensation through him like an electric shock. Zhou Shirui lowered his gaze to look at him and suddenly recalled the moment they’d held hands last time.
“It’s too hot.” Zhou Shirui took a deep breath, looked away, and pursed his lips. “Let go first.”
“Oh…” Le Cheng obediently let go and stood where he was.
The earlier movement had ruffled Zhou Shirui’s clothes slightly. He looked down to smooth them out. Le Cheng noticed what looked like a strand of his own hair caught on Zhou Shirui’s white shirt. Without giving it a second thought, he reached out and plucked it off.
His fingertip brushed against the thin fabric of his shirt, as if touching his skin. That strange sensation spread rapidly, and Zhou Shirui let out an extremely short gasp before his large hand suddenly clamped down on Le Cheng’s wrist.
The lobby was too noisy; Le Cheng hadn’t heard a thing. He looked up, puzzled: “Hm?” Then, realizing what had happened, he pursed his lips. “There was a strand of hair, I pulled it out for you.”
Zhou Shirui’s chest rose and fell erratically. He stared at Le Cheng’s innocent, delicate face, then looked away after a moment without losing his temper: “…Your bow tie is crooked. Fix it.”
“Oh, okay.” Le Cheng didn’t notice anything amiss; he looked down and tugged at the slightly askew bow tie, then undid his cape and tied it back on properly.
Zhou Shirui had remained silent the whole time. The music gradually faded, and the crowd in the hall began chatting and laughing. As Le Cheng tied the sash, he finally couldn’t resist and sneakily glanced up at Zhou Shirui.
Hmm… why does it feel like he’s not reacting at all?
Le Cheng furrowed his brow. He’d even hugged him, the plan had been a huge success! And it was a super—duper—bear— hug—! He could guarantee that anyone who’d been hugged like that would be swept up in such passionate emotion.
But why did Zhou Shirui look so indifferent!!
He didn’t seem moved at all!
Le Cheng scowled. In his mind, a natural straight guy like Zhou Shirui would be pretty resistant to even holding hands, so being hugged by him should have made him bounce away like a balloon—“poof”!
He’d even scouted out the most strategic spot, there was nothing behind him to trip over, and just a few steps back was a wall; with no windowsill, he wouldn’t bump into anything either. If Zhou Shirui pushed him out, it would definitely not result in any injuries or fatalities!
The plan was practically perfect.
Imagination is wonderful, but reality is cruel, a truth Le Cheng had already experienced twice tonight.
“The party’s almost over,” Zhou Shirui’s voice rang out above her, concise and to the point. “I can’t leave right now. You go home first.”
Le Cheng nodded. “Okay. Are you heading to the assembly now?”
Zhou Shirui: “Mm-hmm.” The dark hair falling across Le Cheng’s forehead was slightly damp, as if to confirm the excessive excitement from earlier. He paused for a moment, held out the unused piece of paper, and said in a calm voice, “You’re sweating. Wipe it off.”
Le Cheng took it and wiped his forehead, saying as he did so, “I didn’t even notice. I was just so happy earlier.”
Zhou Shirui said nothing; his heartbeat had already settled. He simply replied briefly, “Mm, I’m leaving.”
Le Cheng nodded, unable to resist glancing at Zhou Shirui one last time.
His jawline was taut, his thin lips straight. The silver-rimmed glasses made him look even more intelligent; through the lenses, his gaze was extremely cold, giving him an air of a cultured rogue.
So handsome, yet so calm.
Le Cheng pulled a pouty face and waved at him rather dejectedly: “Fine, go ahead then.”
Zhou Shirui deliberately ignored his tone and quickened his pace.
Le Cheng walked to a place and sat down, eating some food for a while. The dance soon ended, and he followed the crowd out of the venue, seeing Zhou Shirui maintaining order near the exit just before he left.
The other party still had a cold expression on his face, but his red tie had been loosened, and two of his buttons had been undone.
Le Cheng curiously poked his head out, thinking to himself that the venue must really be that hot. The heating wasn’t even that strong.
His thoughts took a turn, and Le Cheng felt that Zhou Shirui might naturally be someone who was afraid of the heat.
Seeing that he was busy, Le Cheng didn’t wave to Zhou Shirui and simply left on his own.
After leaving the hall, the cool evening breeze blew over him. Le Cheng returned to the dormitory. It wasn’t late, and Tan Xiaobai and Qin Yu were both there, noisily playing games.
Seeing him come in, the two of them both turned their heads. Qin Yu frowned, then turned away and ignored him. Le Cheng remembered that Qin Yu hadn’t been there when he was putting on makeup. From the looks of it, Qin Yu was the kind of person who couldn’t stand seeing men put on makeup.
Le Cheng didn’t take it to heart and also didn’t want to take the initiative to talk to him. He smiled at Tan Xiaobai. “Xiaobai, I also packed two pieces of cake for you.”
Tan Xiaobai took off his headphones. “Really? Let me try them—”
Le Cheng turned to Qin Yu politely. “Do you want some?”
Qin Yu gave a hum through his nose. “I won’t eat it.”
Good, don’t eat it. Le Cheng happily took out the three pieces of cake, gave two to Tan Xiaobai, and ate the other one himself.
After eating his fill, Le Cheng took out the trial-size makeup remover oil that his senior had given him and rubbed it vigorously over his face for a while, washing it completely clean.
After removing his makeup and taking a shower, he sat at the computer desk with steam still clinging to his body, turned on the computer, and logged into his Weibo.
After he started taking commissions, he would display the finished works with watermarks, which had gradually gained him several hundred followers. Of course, he hadn’t neglected his figure-drawing practice either.
Someone had sent him a private message. Le Cheng clicked on it and took a look.
[Youmeng123: Lao Si, your recent figure-drawing practice doesn’t seem to be male models anymore. Will the male model make a comeback? [doge]]
Le Cheng was surprised. Someone actually still remembered. He thought about it, then tapped the screen and replied.
[Stealing Hearts, Runaway Guoli Orange: He’ll make a comeback. He’s making a comeback today! [rose]]
After replying, this also reminded Le Cheng of another matter.
He propped up his face and began reviewing the memory. What was going on? Clearly, Zhou Shirui resisted even holding hands, so why hadn’t he seemed to have much of a reaction to being hugged?
Based on reasonable deduction, shouldn’t he have suddenly jolted, pushed him away, and told himself, “Classmate, please have some self-respect.”
Le Cheng frowned. Could it be… that Zhou Shirui had unknowingly built up a tolerance to him and was actually quite accepting of this level of physical contact?
That was it. That was the only possibility.
Le Cheng slapped his thigh and revealed an extremely serious expression. Then don’t blame him for turning up the intensity!
He was going to bring out Battle Plan B and turn up the intensity. Since hugging him once didn’t work, then he would hug him twice. How about, “Can I take a look at your abs?” “Can I touch your chest muscles?” He would arrange all of it!
Le Cheng thought about it. If that still didn’t work, he would have to bring out half of his trump card, he would have to ask for a kiss.
He refused to believe that after Zhou Shirui was kissed by him, he still wouldn’t immediately break up with him.
Le Cheng imagined the scene in his head, then glanced at the time. He estimated that Zhou Shirui should have already returned to the dormitory.
He opened his phone, deciding to send Zhou Shirui a few messages.
But the moment he opened the chat interface, he saw Zhou Shirui’s message box with a “The other party is typing…” displayed at the top.
Le Cheng stopped. Zhou Shirui had taken the initiative to contact him, so he wanted to see what the other party was going to say.
[Big Brother: What are you doing.]
Le Cheng was still upset because his plan hadn’t gone as expected. After thinking about it, he replied in an especially coquettish manner: [Didn’t do anything. Without you, I don’t want to do anything.]
Looking at this message, Zhou Shirui seemed to automatically picture the little pout on Le Cheng’s face before his eyes.
He’s acting spoiled again.
Le Cheng really liked acting spoiled with him. Combined with that hug tonight, even though Zhou Shirui couldn’t be certain about Le Cheng’s feelings toward him, he believed that Le Cheng had long-term expectations for this relationship and held certain fantasies about it. This wasn’t good.
He shouldn’t give Le Cheng such fantasies.
Because he didn’t like men.
Zhou Shirui believed that it was because he hadn’t deliberately kept his distance after recognizing Le Cheng’s true personality that he had caused Le Cheng to misunderstand.
Zhou Shirui pursed his lips, his fingertips tapping against the screen.
[Big Brother: I’ve been very busy lately.]
Looking at those few words, Le Cheng didn’t think in any other direction at all. After all, he felt that Zhou Shirui really was quite busy. He was also making time out of his busy schedule to date him, so he immediately empathized.
After organizing his tone, Le Cheng maintained his spoiled-and-demanding persona.
[Orange: Alright, I know you’re very busy. I’ll reluctantly forgive you this time!]
[Orange: Tomorrow I’ll have Xiaobai accompany me.]
Zhou Shirui frowned slightly when he saw this Xiaobai.
Xiaobai. Zhou Shirui remembered that this was the person Le Cheng called very intimately.
It didn’t sound like a proper name. Zhou Shirui suspected that he had been too direct, causing Le Cheng to feel too disappointed and go find someone else to accompany him. For some inexplicable reason, he became a little restless and asked:
[Big Brother: Who is Xiaobai?]
Xiaobai is just Xiaobai. Le Cheng was puzzled for a moment. He called Xiaobai that simply because calling Tan Xiaobai by his full name wasn’t very smooth.
[Orange: Xiaobai is just Xiaobai.]
The moment the message was sent, the phone immediately gave a “ding-dong.”
[Big Brother: Which Xiaobai?]
