Yao Shen lets himself be pulled up by Xin Hulei.
Deng Yun's face falls as he watches them disappear into the crowd of dancing people.
Yao Shen doesn't know what he should be more shocked about: that Xin Hulei defended him in front of Deng Yun, or that he asked him to dance.
"What happened to waiting for fun?" he asks, raising his voice to be heard over the loud bass of the annoying song reverberating through the speakers.
Xin Hulei shrugs. "Wrong kind of fun, he was upsetting you."
Yao Shen goes silent, he feels his cheeks heat up. He hates Xin Hulei's uncanny ability to see right through him.
"I wasn't upset," he says, defensive.
The fingers of one of Xin Hulei's hands curl around his hipbone, pulling him forward until their knees knock together. "Of course," he says, his gaze inscrutable.
He starts swaying to the rhythm of the music, some electronic, loud tune with a heavy dissonant bass line that makes the ground shake, and pulls Yao Shen right along with him.
Xin Hulei looks so cold, almost emotionless, Yao Shen never expected him to move so fluidly.
His breathing grows a little ragged, they're pressed very close together, and the dancing people all around them push them even closer still. Yao Shen has to brace himself on Xin Hulei's chest no to lose his balance when someone bumps into him from behind.
The chest below his palms is firm and lightly muscled, and Yao Shen probably saw a lot of it during the night they spent together.
He tries to put some distance between them but Xin Hulei's hand on his hip keeps him in place, trapping him against his body.
Yao Shen doesn't know what Xin Hulei's gameplan is, but it's making him sweat under his clothes, the spring night isn't cold, the close proximity is making his shirt stick to his back.
He looks up at Xin Hulei's eyes and finds them intently fixed on him, his expression stony.
"What are you looking at?" Yao Shen asks, letting his hands fall from Xin Hulei's chest.
"You look good when you blush," Xin Hulei says, matter-of-fact, his fingers tightening on his hip. "Sweet."
Yao Shen has a sudden visceral flashback of Xin Hulei catching his tears on his thumb and licking it clean. He said Yao Shen was sweet too, then.
His cheeks grow hotter, almost stinging. He pulls away at Xin Hulei's arm and finally disentangles himself from him.
He turns around without a look back, vanishing into the throng of dancing bodies and leaving Xin Hulei behind.
He feels his eyes on him long after he has left the thick of the party behind.
Yao Shen should probably return to his hotel. This was a bad idea, he doesn't know what he was thinking when he said yes to Gao Wu's invitation.
He doesn't belong here, in the middle of all these accomplished industry people, he should keep his head down and continue working hard.
He has almost made it out of the courtyard where the party is happening when someone bumps into his shoulder.
Yao Shen whispers a hurried, "Sorry," but a slender hand stops him.
"Little didi? So nice to see you here," a familiar voice says.
Tan Liansi is standing on front of him with her hand on his shoulder, holding a plastic cup and smiling sweetly from below her curled lashes.
"I was just leaving."
She pouts. "So soon? The party has only just started," her hand slides down his arm to wrap around his wrist. She tries to pull him along back towards where he came from. "The drama I was shooting is wrapping up, it's one of the reasons why I could only take a secondary role in 'Shizun, this disciple will have to kill you'."
Yao Shen really doesn't care. He tries to break free of her grip, but she's deceptively strong.
"Has didi seen Xin-gege? I need to talk with him."
He points backwards over his shoulder and takes advantage of Tan Liansi's distraction to walk away from her.
Fucking Xin Hulei, it's all his fault that Yao Shen is too disconcerted now to pay attention to his teenage crush. In any other circumstance he would be thrilled to be the object of Tan Liansi's attention, but of course Xin Hulei had to ruin that too.
He feels his mobile vibrate in his pocket.
[Summer Sunlight: We're here, gege. Where are you?]
Yao Shen comes to a stop, standing in place and looking down at his mobile.
The whole point of him coming here was to spend some time with Gao Wu and Ye Fang.
He chances one look backwards at the dancing crowd. Tan Liansi will probably keep Xin Hulei busy right?
It will be some time until he can extricate himself and come looking for Yao Shen, if that is even something he wants to do.
[Monster under the bed: turn on your location, I'm going to meet you]
---
Yao Shen absolutely made the right choice.
He, Gao Wu and Ye Feng find a secluded corner of the party to themselves and have their fun where the veteran actors can't see them acting like idiots.
None of them is drinking alcohol, but the good mood is infectious, Yao Shen feels bubbly and giddy just the same.
Ye Fang has a party game app in which they can spin a wheel to get a category.
From the category, a random list of questions created by the app's users will pop up. A person needs to answer a minimum of three questions from each category before being able to move on to the next one.
Since this type of app is meant to function as a party game, the questions anticipate groups of people.
Gao Wu and Ye Feng have had their turns already, and they all got softball categories.
Ye Feng got 'childhood memories', in which she had to answer a question about her most embarrassing childhood memory, another which asked her to guess when each of the people present lost their first milk tooth, and a last one about a favorite place to visit with her family when she was a kid.
All her answers are charming and funny, but not really juicy, which is the point of the game.
They're disappointed again when Gao Wu gets 'hobbies and activities'. The kind of category that doesn't really allow for any embarrassing or personal revelations.
The two categories which have the most potential to cause the most chaos are 'love connection', and another one which only has a car emoji.
If 'love connection' is bound to have a lot of humiliating questions like: "which of the people present do you want to kiss the most?", then the car category is going to take it up a notch.
When it's his turn to spin Yao Shen fervently hopes he doesn't get either of them.
He gets to watch as the needle stops over the bright red car.
Ye Feng lets out a shriek of delight, her eyes wide with anticipation as colors flash over the list of possible questions for Yao Shen to answer.
Gao Wu reads aloud, when the lights settle on the first question. "How long ago did you lose your virginity?"
Xi Zirui goes deadly still.
Why did the question have to be worded like that?
Yao Shen is definitely not going to answer it. He can't imagine saying the word 'yesterday' without wanting to expire on the spot
Ye Feng elbows him on the side with a sly grin. "Come on, gege, don't be shy."
"I'm curious to hear the answer too," a new voice says, smooth and melodious.
Yao Shen looks up and sees Xin Hulei looking down at him, his hands shoved inside his pant pockets, a tiny smirk hooking the corner of his lips upwards.