The class bell had just rung when Xiao Pang eagerly turned to his deskmate, his face glowing with excitement.
“Wanna come over to my place today? My parents aren’t home anyway, and we can play games together, there’s the anniversary event!”
His deskmate pushed up his glasses. “Just play games?”
Xiao Pang looped an arm around him and started leading him out. “We can sleep over too.”
This time, his deskmate didn’t refuse or resist, obediently following Xiao Pang.
“Uncle! Uncle! Stop! Pull over up ahead!” As the car moved along, Xiao Pang suddenly spotted something and shouted.
His deskmate frowned. “What are you doing?”
The car pulled over to the side. Xiao Pang grabbed his deskmate and hopped out, then called back to the driver, “Uncle, wait for us! We’ll be right back!”
The driver nodded. “Okay.”
Xiao Pang then turned to his deskmate. “Come with me.”
The two ran into a model store.
Xiao Pang pointed at a game character figure. “Boss, how much for this?”
The shop owner glanced up. “That’s not for sale.”
Xiao Pang, knowing his stuff, said confidently, “Even non-sale items have a price, right? As long as it’s reasonable, I can pay for it.”
The owner looked him over again through his glasses. Having seen all kinds of people, he could read someone at a glance. Xiao Pang’s outfit and bearing told him this young man wasn’t bluffing. He quoted a price slightly above market value.
Xiao Pang bit his lip, swiped his card, and internally winced.
It was most of the money he had painstakingly saved from his dad over the years, gone in an instant. Could he not feel heartache?
His deskmate glanced at the model, his eyes flickering slightly. “Why are you buying this?”
Xiao Pang shoved the packaged model into his arms. “For you!”
His deskmate held it without moving, saying nothing.
Xiao Pang said, “What? I remember you’re collecting this series. This should be the last one, right? I already have one at home, so I’m giving this to you as an early birthday gift.”
His deskmate gave him a look that was hard to read, somewhere between amused, touched, and speechless.
In the end, he did take the model.
But he muttered, “A model is a model, a birthday gift is a birthday gift, don’t even think about mixing them up.”
Xiao Pang, annoyed, immediately reached to grab it back. “Then give it back!”
His deskmate refused, and the two of them ran and tussled all the way out of the store, laughing and shouting, before hopping back into the car.
By the time they got back to Xiao Pang’s house, it was already quite late.
Before even stepping inside, his deskmate instinctively straightened his clothes and hair, checking for any mess.
“Why are you fussing over that? My dad’s either working in the study or already in bed. He doesn’t have time to look at you,” Xiao Pang said, half-amused, half-exasperated. He still didn’t understand why his deskmate always cared so much about his appearance whenever they saw his dad.
His deskmate ignored him; right now, he didn’t want to talk to a fool.
Xiao Pang used his fingerprint to unlock the door, chatting as he walked in. “I wonder if there’s anything to eat in the kitchen. I’m starving. Otherwise, we’ll have to order takeout… I love spicy crayfish, and there’s a place nearby that’s pretty good. We can order from them later…”
Then he noticed something off. “Huh, why isn’t the light on?”
He was about to call out to turn it on when his deskmate grabbed his wrist and panicked. “Don’t talk. Shut up.”
“What’s wrong? Why can’t I talk?” Xiao Pang was confused. As he stepped into the living room, he noticed a glow ahead. Looking up, his eyes nearly popped out of his head.
“Wha—!”
His startled shout echoed across the living room.
Yin Xu, caught in a passionate kiss with Yu Zhi, suddenly realized what had happened. He quickly pushed Yu Zhi away, cheeks burning, too embarrassed to look at him or at Xiao Pang and hid in Yu Zhi’s arms, pretending he hadn’t seen anything.
Yu Zhi glanced at Xiao Pang, whose survival instinct instantly kicked in. “Dad! Brother Xu! I didn’t see anything! Didn’t see you two kissing!” he yelled, then dragged his flustered deskmate back to his room and slammed the door.
The deskmate looked at him pityingly. “I told you not to speak.”
Xiao Pang, feeling hopeless, looked up at him with pleading eyes. “Do you think I’ll even see the sun tomorrow?”
Then he added, “Maybe we should run away tonight.”
After all, staying in this house was impossible!
His deskmate, expressionless, shoved him toward the bathroom. Forget games or the anniversary event, he didn’t even have the appetite to eat.
“Go to sleep. You might only have tonight left,” he said.
After their showers, the two climbed into bed. Xiao Pang tossed and turned, unable to sleep. The panic had mostly faded, replaced by intense curiosity.
Thinking back on his dad and Brother Xu kissing, he felt a strange heat, a growing curiosity about certain things.
Seeing his deskmate sleeping soundly, he poked his face. “Hey, are you asleep?”
“No,” came the unamused reply, eyes still shut. “Go to sleep.”
“I can’t sleep,” Xiao Pang persisted.
Seeing that didn’t work, he tried again. “Tell me, what’s kissing like? I just saw Dad and Brother Xu… wow. I’ve never seen that before.” His curiosity was killing him.
His deskmate looked annoyed. “Can you stop being so crude? Just say you don’t want to talk about kissing!”
Xiao Pang rolled his eyes. “Why do you have so many rules? Aren’t they basically the same thing?”
The deskmate thought: ‘Same my foot.’
Hearing him talk like that, all the curiosity he had just felt completely disappeared.
Why was he even bothering to answer this idiot?
But Xiao Pang kept babbling, unable to stop himself. “Dad was so fierce! I saw it all! He was holding Yin Xu, and his waist… so tiny!”
The deskmate snapped, kicking him lightly. “Are you even going to sleep? If you don’t, I’ll tell your dad about everything you’re thinking about right now!”
That threat shut Xiao Pang up immediately. He obediently turned off the lights. “Fine… sleeping.”
And just like that, he really did go to sleep, completely abandoning his earlier protest.
But now the deskmate found himself unable to fall asleep.
He turned to face Xiao Pang. In the dark, he could barely make out the outline of him. He thought: Even sleeping, this idiot looks almost normal. Hard to believe he’s such a dummy.
Feeling a little mischievous, he quietly leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to Xiao Pang’s chin.
Just one kiss.
Then, heart racing and cheeks burning, he casually settled back as if nothing had happened, curling into Xiao Pang’s side.
………………
Living Room
Yin Xu’s breathing was uneven, his face still tinged with embarrassment. “What do we do… your son saw us.”
Yu Zhi smoothed back the sweat-damp hair at his temple. “Can’t blame me. You insisted on doing it in the living room.”
Yin Xu pouted in annoyance. “Where else would we have done it?”
Yu Zhi chuckled softly. “Your room… or mine.”
Yin Xu froze, staring at him, unsure if he’d heard correctly. “Really?”
Before Yu Zhi could answer, he shook his head. “No… it’s unnecessary, sir…”
He knew that until now, this man had been heterosexual. Being together meant that words like “I like you” didn’t always match the heart or the body’s acceptance.
He didn’t want Yu Zhi to force himself.
Yu Zhi looked at him, knowing he could not deny he was different from the original person, and smiled wryly. “How could being with your lover ever feel forced? Xiao Xu, you should be more confident. Even if I had some mental block against being with the same sex, you should confidently believe you could seduce me.”
As if remembering something, he laughed again. “Whatever happened to that sneaky little person who tried to seduce me back then?”
Yin Xu’s face flushed red as he gave him a weak glare.
Why did this man have to dig up his embarrassing past?
The bedroom lights were dimmed, and the curtains blocked out the moon and stars.
Yin Xu’s heart raced violently, blood boiling through his body, especially where his skin pressed against someone else’s, which is blazing hot.
Yu Zhi lowered his head and gently kissed his brow and eyes. Those star-like eyes, at this moment, shone only for him, and only for him.
Yu Zhi thought he would probably never see a star more beautiful than this one.
Not in the past, and probably not in the future.
“Xiao Xu, thank you for giving me your star.”
I will carry it with me, through a thousand rivers of stars.
====================
