To My Youth [BL]

[5] Group Presentation (2/2)

Gu Xiao flung his head up and looked around, only to see the absence of people. The night wind travelled through the small gap between the window, though he could barely feel the cold brush since it was shut tightly.

The columns of clouds obscured the pale moon and stars, filling the bedroom with a soft white glow from the moonlight. Aside from the unbearable heat of the mornings and afternoons, the nights were always chilly, which prompted him to always sleep in.

Light footsteps made their way from the corner, and Gu Xiao's eyes glued on the boy that emerged from the other room, dressed in a new set of clothes.

"You're awake?"

Lan Yuning's smooth, ink-coloured hair was still relatively wet, with tiny droplets still hanging by the edges of the hair strands.

It must've been the moonlight, but the soft glow exaggerated the silhouette of his lips, and his body seemed so vulnerable and delicate that if he was just to press him down, he might accidentally fracture his arm.

Strangely, the thump of Gu Xiao's heart sounded. It was a short, foreign skip, and he instantly avoided his gaze.

A wash of bewilderment drowned his head, and Gu Xiao pressed his chest, yelling in his thoughts. He definitely hasn't woken up properly. Either that or he overate, and now his heart was beating restlessly from overheating and increased blood flow.

"Did they all leave?" Gu Xiao asked.

"Yes."

He checked his phone and gasped, "I've been sleeping for three hours?"

Just as he was about to stand up to stretch, a notification sprung from Lan Yuning's phone, which remained at the table he was sleeping on, but that wasn't what caught Gu Xiao's eyes. Instead, it was the background photo. He pointed to his phone, and his eyes lit up.

"Do you like Blueberry6 as well?"

Lan Yuning raised his brows and stared at that bright smile, asking, "...You know Blueberry?"

"Yes. I have been following them since the first year of junior high school. Wait, let me show you my favourite artwork. Come, come." Gu Xiao waved his hand to beckon him to sit and scrolled through his phone.

Lan Yuning flung the drying towel around his shoulders and sat down beside him. But seeing the distance he so clearly set between them, Gu Xiao pouted and hopped closer to his side.

With the sudden closing of space, Lan Yuning's back stiffened while Gu Xiao continued scrolling through his gallery filled with somewhat questionable photos of people and screenshots.

At some point, there was an image of an edit of Mr. Shen's face stuck onto a bear that he had forgotten to delete.

"I remember I saved a folder. Here. This was the first artwork that I saw from him that I liked a lot."

It was a watercolour painting of the shore at night, and there stood a boy's face, who was blurred due to the distance.

There were no stars, no moon, only the dull clouds that floated amidst the empty sky. Gu Xiao could discern that Lan Yuning was remarkably stunned by that painting, as though this artwork had triggered something within him.

"A beach in Shanghai."

Gu Xiao straightened his posture, and a wave of surprise drenched him. He stared at the painting of the shore for a moment and let out a laugh from his heart.

"Is it?"

Gu Xiao's voice wavered, and his smile grew solemn. He leaned back and continued to scroll through the album filled with the artists' works. Surprisingly, the two talked more than usual.