A drunken Lu Xun wouldn't go to sleep and was even tempted to continue helping Ye Yao and give his a unique birthday experience.
Ye Yao, of course, was not going to let Lu Xun get away with dragging the man to his feet.
"I know you probably find this disgusting, so don't worry," Lu Xun explained anxiously, "there's no need to help each other, I'm helping you unilaterally."
"That won't work either." Ye Yao coldly refused, "That kind of contact can only be made by my future date, in your position, there is no chance."
The words probably inflicted some kind of psychological damage on Lu Xun, whose eyebrows slowly drew down in a gesture of sadness.
"Is the object much more important than me?" Lu Xun says in despair.
Ye Yao didn't bother with this completely drunken remark and led the men to do a simple wash up before putting Lu Xun to bed.
Lu Xun held Ye Yao's hand and tried to fall asleep with Ye Yao as usual.
Ye Yao stood at the edge of the bed and forcibly ripped the man off his body, saying coldly to Lu Xun who was still trying to get close to him, "If you make any more noise, I'll ignore you."
Lu Xun stiffened for a moment: "Is it a joke even if I want to sleep with you?"
"Hmm." Ye Yao nodded.
The threat of no longer being attended to by Ye Yao was an instant killer for Lu Xun, whose chest rose and fell a few times as his fingers stiffened and he slowly let go.
Drunk Lu Xun is not as difficult to deal with as he is sober, and Ye Yao is about to go to sleep in the other bed when he hears Lu Xun open his mouth again.
"I have a small plea." Lu Xun said.
Ye Yao turned around and saw Lu Xun lying peacefully flat on the bed, even with his hands folded on his stomach.
Lu Xun looked serious: "I've listened to everything you've said, and it's not too much to ask for a small reward for making it this far, is it?"
Ye Yao: "You say."
Lu Xun looked at Ye Yao's face and worded the reward he wanted: "Stick it on."
Ye Yao quickly understood what Lu Xun meant when he said, "You want to stick your face in?"
Lu Xun gives a quick nod.
This is a move that Lu Xun probably thinks of as a super best friend move, so he really likes it.
Ye Yao looks down at his long-time friend and crush.
To be fair, Lu Xun was really nice to him and was making friends with him with a sincere heart.
Neither of them is wrong, it is only the gender that is wrong.
Ye Yao quirked his lips, "Want to learn foreign etiquette and give you another in-your-face kiss in the process?"
Lu Xun was surprised by this answer, and he nodded again after a moment's hesitation.
"It's good to learn from the best foreign cultures as appropriate." Lu Xun said, "You can't be stuck in your ways!"
So Ye Yao slowly leaned down.
The distance between them grows closer and closer, Ye Yao's pretty face gradually enlarges in Lu Xun's eyes.
There was nothing about the curve of those long, dark lashes, the soft-looking lips, the half-exaggerated but beautiful width of the eyelids that didn't make him happy to look at them.
Ye Yao wants to give him a face-to-face kiss and he's already happy before he even starts to get it.
Lu Xun's face is pinched and Ye Yao stops a palm's length away from him.
Ye Yao let out a laugh, "Nice try, I'm not going to kiss, you don't get a reward."
He let go of Lu Xun's face and straightened up again, putting distance between them.
That's it, those interactions he won't be doing again.
He will try to be Lu Xun's normal, ordinary best friend.
Ye Yao snapped off the lights in the room, once again subduing the restless Lu Xun with threats, and lay down on the bed and closed his eyes.
*
School will start soon after Ye Yao's birthday.
They bought tickets to go back to school and boarded the plane together.
As Ye Yao had expected, Lu Xun had no memory of the drunken night and Lu Xun's attitude towards him was back to normal.
"So do you remember me confessing to you?" Ye Yao asked during the queue for boarding.
Lu Xun: "...... no."
"Unfortunately, I feel like that dare joke went too far and should make you quite uncomfortable, it would be nice if you could forget about it." Ye Yao sighed, "Don't take it personally."
Lu Xun's grip on the handle of his suitcase tightened as he tried to say something, but in the end he said nothing.
Ye Yao was right, that dare did make him uncomfortable and that's why he sulked and drank so much.
The shock of hearing Ye Yao's confession, and the panic of knowing it was just a dare, turned into a void of nothingness.
All the emotions came and went too quickly, leaving him with nothing but a very unhappy mood.
But of course, he could not blame Ye Yao. Ye Yao had done nothing wrong, so why should he lose his temper with Ye Yao?
Even if Ye Yao did something wrong, you should not lose your temper towards Ye Yao.
No, how could Ye Yao do it wrong?
Lu Xun straightened out his logic and said graciously, "It's not on your mind, and you shouldn't keep thinking about it."
The two of them boarded the plane without incident, and naturally they were seated next to each other, Ye Yao at the window on the inside and Lu Xun near the corridor.
He tried to talk to Ye Yao again, but Ye Yao pulled a black eye patch out of the bag he was carrying.
"I didn't sleep well last night, I'll catch up on my sleep." Ye Yao said, "You can either, I have other eye masks here."
Lu Xun keeps the desire to communicate under control as he shakes his head and takes the opportunity to sell himself, "You can lean on my shoulder if you want to sleep, otherwise it's easy to sleep uncomfortably here."
Ye Yao looks at him and pulls another U-shaped pillow out of his bag and puts it around his neck.
"No, it's too hard for you, this is fine." Ye Yao pulled the blindfold down too, covering his eyes, "Then please call me when you want to get off the plane."
Before Lu Xun could even say anything about how bad the U-shaped pillow was, Ye Yao's head lolled back and he fell asleep.
Lu Xun kept the unspoken words to himself, shutting up and letting Ye Yao rest in peace, but still confused.
Ye Yao When did you bring the U-shaped pillow?
Ye Yao never used to use a U-shaped pillow when we were together, just lean on him when we were tired.
Is he too hard-boned and not as comfortable as the soft U-shaped pillow that Ye Yao dislikes?
Ye Yao, why are you talking to him so politely.
Lu Xun speculated on the possibilities. He wanted to hold Ye Yao's hand, but Ye Yao had both his hands in his pockets and pulling them out would wake his up. In the end Lu Xun had to put his arm on Ye Yao's arm to relieve the feeling of not being able to talk to Ye Yao.
Ye Yao slept until it was time to land, without making a sound in the middle of the flight.
When Lu Xun woke him up, he still looked like he hadn't woken up and said much less than usual. The two of them took a taxi out of the airport and in the taxi Ye Yao closed his eyes again and fell asleep.
How could Ye Yao sleep so badly last night?
When he got off the plane Ye Yao put the U-shaped pillow away and now his head was banging against the car window bit by bit. Lu Xun tries to pull Ye Yao back, but when he does, Ye Yao doesn't rest his head on his shoulder either. Instead, he rests his shoulder against his shoulder, leans his head back on the taxi seat and just falls asleep.
There was nothing out of place about the action, an image that would be seen between all good friends.
The chatty middle-aged taxi master saw the scene in the rear-view mirror and said with a smile, "You two are really close, I've pulled several brats in the past, one of them fell asleep with his head banging against the car window, and the other two were laughing while taking video pictures of him. I'd say those young people are too rowdy, it's good to have you guys like this who care about each other and help each other out, and when you get married in the future, whoever has a temporary family problem, the other one can still help out with the kids."
The taxi driver chattered away, but Lu Xun couldn't stop laughing.
How can their relationship be compared to that of other ordinary friends? How can they get into a random car and the taxi driver curses them to get married and have kids?
Lu Xun said with a blank face, "Well, we've always had a good relationship."
Lu Xun didn't want to talk too much and this time Ye Yao didn't put his hand in his pocket, so he pulled Ye Yao's hand over and put it in his own pocket, trying to warm Ye Yao's hand.
But not long after it was put in, Ye Yao started to pull his hand out.
Still looking sleepy, he says vaguely to Lu Xun, "This position is hard to sleep in with your elbows turned out, so leave me alone. I'm not cold, so close your eyes and rest too."
Ye Yao pulls his hand out and puts it back into his pocket, closing his eyes again.
"...... Oh, good." Lu Xun replied in a low voice.
Lu Xun is not sleepy, he always has good energy.
The lights are now coming on, and the light from outside hits Lu Xun's face through the car window, and Lu Xun shakes his hand vaguely.
The warmth of Ye Yao's hand seemed to remain in his palm, but in an instant it was covered by his own body heat.
Lu Xun looks expressionlessly out of the car window at the lights and the traffic.
...... He hasn't been able to talk to Ye Yao much today.
This amount of talking is normal for ordinary friends, but for them, it is really on the low side.
Ye Yao must be very tired. It is too easy to get tired from all the running around today, so wait until tomorrow when Ye Yao will be well rested.
Lu Xun rationalises, but his body can't resist leaning over more, shoulder to shoulder and leg to leg with Ye Yao.
Just wait until Ye Yao's spirit returns ......
*
When Ye Yao and Lu Xun returned to the dormitory, they found that their other two roommates had also returned and were checking the new class schedule for the semester.
"Ah, heavens to the earth, no, how can there be so many classes!" Xiao Pang wailed and collapsed on his desk. He saw Ye Yao and the others walking to the door of the dormitory and a smile appeared on his face, " Brother Lu Ye Yao, you're back!"
Ye Yao dragged his suitcase through the door and walked over to his bunk: "What's wrong, lots of classes?"
At the mention of this topic, Xiao Pang's smile disappeared and he started to wail again, "It's not just a lot, it's full! Look!"
Xiao Pang turns the laptop screen towards Ye Yao so that Ye Yao can see the class schedule on it.
They really have a lot of classes this semester and hardly any free time.
The corner of Ye Yao's mouth ticked up, realising that something was wrong and then hastily lowering the corner of his mouth, followed by a sigh, "Lots of classes indeed, it's going to be a busy, busy semester, isn't it?"
"Yeah." Xiao Pang sighs sadly.
It was getting late, Ye Yao put his suitcase away, went to the bathroom, showered and came out, tapping Lu Xun, who was sitting at his desk, on the shoulder: "Have you checked your class schedule, what is it like there?"
Lu Xun just happened to check it out and pushed his phone in Ye Yao's direction, asking Ye Yao to look at it together.
"We have a lot of classes this semester, too." Lu Xun said glumly.
Ye Yao took a look at Lu Xun's class schedule and couldn't help but smile.
As soon as Ye Yao's spirits were restored, Lu Xun went to play with Ye Yao.
"Well, gloating, are you? Don't you have just as many classes, does Big Brother not laugh at Second Brother?" Lu Xun pretended to tickle Ye Yao, but he was dodged by him again. He remembered something and frowned, "Tch, then I won't have time to accompany you to class."
For Ye Yao, it was a great joy and he could have set off a few fireworks to express his feelings if he had been able to, but for now it was better to keep a low profile.
"No skipping class." Ye Yao warned.
Lu Xun has been with Ye Yao for so many years that he has known for a long time that Ye Yao doesn't like people who skip class. He used to skip class every day and immediately promised, "Don't worry, don't you know what kind of person I am? I like studying the most, even if you point a missile at my head and tell me to leave the classroom, I will still sit in the classroom and listen to the last minute of the teacher's lecture."
Ye Yao knew that Lu Xun was talking nonsense, so he said, "Yes, I'm sure you'll do what you say. I hate people who skip classes, especially those who pretend they have something to do, but they don't really have anything to do, they just want to go to other classes."
Lu Xun pulled out a hard laugh as soon as his plans were poked, "...... Well, you're right about everything, I would never do that anyway."
Ye Yao smiles and pats Lu Xun on the shoulder.
*
As he could not sit with Ye Yao in class, Lu Xun had to find opportunities to get closer to Ye Yao in the evenings.
For example, he sleeps with Ye Yao every day.
After changing all the sheets and covers, it was time to go to bed.
Lu Xun washes up and climbs into Ye Yao's bed, as he usually does.
Ye Yao had left the curtain of the bed open so that Lu Xun could not see inside. He stepped onto the first bed ladder and was about to lift the curtain with one hand and poke his upper body inside when an arm came out ahead of him.
The hand he knew all too well was on his shoulder, not resting gently, but holding him down with a strength that prevented him from going further.
"Is something wrong?" Ye Yao's voice came from inside.
This question shocked Lu Xun a little and he asked back, "Can't I sleep with you if there's nothing wrong?"
"Well, no." Ye Yao replied quickly and decisively, "Go back to your own bed."