By the time they finally separated, they had somehow ended up on the couch in a rather peculiar position. Liang Xiao was sitting sideways, his hips sliding down onto the seat of the couch while his legs were still draped over the armrest. Lu Ze, on the other hand, was kneeling on one knee, his thigh pressed against Liang Xiao’s back.
Leaning his head back to rest it against Lu Ze, Liang Xiao chuckled softly. “How did we even end up kissing in this position?”
Lu Ze laughed for a moment before replying, “No idea… we were just too into it.”
He shifted his leg away from behind Liang Xiao and used his hand to cradle the back of Liang Xiao’s head. “You’ve got a strong back—holding that position for so long. Put your legs down.”
Using one hand to support himself on the couch, Liang Xiao pivoted around, using his hips as the center point, and finally lowered his legs.
He patted the spot next to him. “Sit here for now—I’ll go wash some fruit.”
Lu Ze obediently sat down and watched as Liang Xiao opened the fridge and took out two bright red apples. He followed him to the kitchen door, leaning against the frame as the sound of running water filled the space.
“Only apples?” Lu Ze asked.
Liang Xiao turned to look at him. “Don’t you like apples? Do you want something else? Just say it—I’ll go buy it.”
“No need to buy anything; I was just asking,” Lu Ze replied. “Aren’t you into bananas? Don’t feel like you have to eat apples with me.”
“I finished the bananas yesterday,” Liang Xiao said as he washed the apples and pulled out a knife to cut them in half, removing the cores in the process. “When I went to the supermarket, I thought you might come over this weekend, so I bought some apples and yogurt. Want me to grab some yogurt?”
“Let’s just eat it like this,” Lu Ze said, taking half an apple from him. “Don’t cut the other one yet—we probably won’t finish it. Let’s share this one first.”
He took a bite of the apple, and Liang Xiao smiled at him. Lu Ze smiled back and asked, “What are you smiling about?”
“You make such a nice sound when you eat an apple,” Liang Xiao said seriously, as if he wasn’t joking.
Lu Ze froze for a second before bursting into laughter. But before he could laugh too much, Liang Xiao reached over and pinched his cheeks.
Wide-eyed, Lu Ze looked at him with half a mouthful of apple still in his mouth and mumbled indistinctly, “What are you doing…”
Liang Xiao frowned slightly, his expression unusually stern. “You’re eating—no laughing.”
Lu Ze struggled to suppress his laughter and nodded quickly. “Alright, alright! I won’t laugh anymore—just let go…”
Liang Xiao slowly released his grip. Lu Ze hurriedly swallowed the piece of apple in his mouth and wiped his lips. “I was about to drool all over myself… Can you at least consider your boyfriend’s dignity?”
Finally cracking a smile, Liang Xiao asked, “How did I hit your funny bone this time?”
Lu Ze immediately started laughing again. “What did you say earlier? That my apple-eating sounds are nice?”
Liang Xiao nodded earnestly. “Mm-hmm.”
“Alright then,” Lu Ze said with a grin as he held out his bitten apple toward Liang Xiao’s mouth. “Take a bite—I want to hear how ‘nice’ it is when you eat an apple. Seriously? Different people make different sounds when eating an apple? That’s a first for me.”
Liang Xiao bit into the exact spot where Lu Ze had bitten earlier and then looked at their overlapping teeth marks with satisfaction. “So? Hear any difference?”
“Nope,” Lu Ze frowned playfully. “How could there be any difference?”
Liang Xiao smiled faintly. Back when he first heard Lu Ze eating an apple, they weren’t together yet. Even then, he thought the crisp sound of Lu Ze biting into the apple was oddly pleasant, making his heart itch with the urge to take a bite himself.
Suddenly, Lu Ze stepped closer, their chests nearly touching. “Xiao-ge, don’t smile so much when you’re outside.”
“Hmm?” Liang Xiao froze for a moment, instinctively suppressing his smile. When he spoke again, a hint of a smile still crept into his voice. “Why? Does my smile not look good?”
“Tsk tsk tsk,” Lu Ze poked Liang Xiao’s cheek with a finger. “How can you even say that? Do you believe it yourself?”
Liang Xiao caught his finger and said, “It used to be fine, but ever since I got with you, I can’t compare.”
Lu Ze leaned in and kissed the corner of his mouth, tasting the faint flavor of apples. “Stop joking around. I know you’re handsome—you definitely know it too. You already had plenty of admirers when you were cold and aloof. If you smiled all the time, wouldn’t that be dangerous?”
“I don’t smile all the time,” Liang Xiao replied, kissing him back. “It’s just with you—I can’t help it.”
After kissing him, Liang Xiao wrapped an arm around Lu Ze’s waist. “Today in the library, a lot of people were looking at you.”
Lu Ze raised an eyebrow. “Looking at me?”
Liang Xiao nodded. “Mm-hmm, looking at you.”
“Not at us?” Lu Ze asked. “I’m already a well-known gay guy now—shouldn’t that mean no one likes me anymore?”
“I don’t know,” Liang Xiao teased deliberately. “But they were definitely looking at you.”
Lu Ze found this adorable and laughed. “Next time, look back at them with your ‘official boyfriend’ aura and glare them down.”
After finishing their apple while playfully bantering in the kitchen, Lu Ze said he was feeling sleepy and wanted to take a nap. Liang Xiao led him to the bedroom and said, “I’ll find you some pajamas.”
Once Lu Ze changed into them and sat on the bed, he asked, “Aren’t you going to sleep?”
Liang Xiao looked down at him and said softly, “I’ll… watch you sleep.”
“Tsk,” Lu Ze clicked his tongue and patted the bed beside him. “Just get up here and sleep too.”
Liang Xiao hesitated for a moment but didn’t move. Lu Ze teased him, “What’s wrong? Are you shy? It’s just a nap—we’re not doing anything else.”
“It’s not that,” Liang Xiao took a small step forward. “I just… don’t know how dating between guys works. Sharing a bed already feels like moving too fast.”
Lu Ze thought about it for a moment before replying, “If this were with a girl, yeah, maybe it’d be a bit fast. But with guys… isn’t it normal? Two guys sharing a bed isn’t weird—plus, you’re my boyfriend.”
After two seconds of silence, Liang Xiao muttered, “…It’s because I’m your boyfriend…”
The two of them—one standing and one sitting—stared at each other for a while before both started feeling confused by their own logic.
Suddenly, Lu Ze slapped the bed hard and said decisively, “Just answer me—are you sleeping or not?”
Liang Xiao immediately sat down on the bed with a thud. “Sleeping!”
Lu Ze laughed and pushed him down onto the mattress. “Then why waste so many words?”
“Wait…” Liang Xiao struggled to sit back up again. “Let me change into pajamas too.”
After changing clothes and returning to bed, Liang Xiao unfolded the neatly folded blanket and draped it over Lu Ze. “Cover yourself up.”
“You get in too,” Lu Ze said. “If we’re covering up, we’re covering up together.”
Liang Xiao climbed under the blanket as well and lay there for a moment before turning to look at Lu Ze silently. After watching him for a while, he whispered softly, “Sleep now.”
“Do we need to set an alarm?” Lu Ze asked. “I might not wake up on my own.”
“No need. I’ll wake up,” Liang Xiao replied.
Liang Xiao hadn’t planned on sleeping, but before long, Lu Ze stretched out an arm, wrapped it around him, and patted his back gently, coaxing him softly, “You should sleep too.”
Liang Xiao buried his face into Lu Ze’s chest, and before he realized it, a wave of drowsiness washed over him. Without even being aware of it, he drifted off to sleep.
Lu Ze lowered his gaze to look at him. He didn’t know if Liang Xiao was nervous, but he certainly was.
They hadn’t done anything, yet he felt so nervous that he was even breaking a slight sweat.
Still, he didn’t dare move a muscle and tried his best to control his heartbeat, willing it to slow down so it wouldn’t disturb Liang Xiao’s sleep.
It wasn’t until ten or so minutes later, when he was sure Liang Xiao was deeply asleep, that Lu Ze carefully shifted a little to find a more comfortable sleeping position for himself.
In his sleep, Liang Xiao instinctively snuggled closer into Lu Ze’s embrace. Lu Ze whispered softly to test him, “Xiao-ge?”
Liang Xiao’s breathing remained steady; there was no response.
Lu Ze smiled silently and looked at Liang Xiao’s peaceful sleeping face. In an even softer voice, barely audible, he murmured, “Xiao Xiao.”
