I want to kiss you

This wasn't Li Shu's first time kissing Pei Song'an. When pxx had first set him up and sent him into this world, he had already been making out with the man in bed.

But the original owner of his body had been drinking that time, leaving Li Shu inexplicably tipsy too. Kissing someone in that dizzy state had been more like driving under the influence. He had been so busy figuring out how to stay alive that he hadn't had a chance to take in what kissing a man felt like.

Thinking back on it now.

A little thrilling. Not too bad.

"..."

Those six words made Li Shu close his eyes in despair and bury his soft face in the crook of Pei Song'an's shoulder. As he pressed his lips together, his tongue inevitably brushed the inside of his mouth, where the lingering sensation of that forceful, abrupt stirring still plagued him.

Because Li Shu hadn't read the no-romance power-fantasy novel the system had mentioned, and because the people around him were simply too real, he had never seriously considered the absurd reality that he was actually living inside a book.

He had always held a naive optimism about the future. As long as he followed the steps, just like studying for the CET-4, sooner or later he could return to his original world, eat his mother's cooking, overfeed the fish his father kept, and spend an ordinary, carefree day laughing and joking with his friends.

And the life Li Shu longed for had no Pei Song'an in it.

Objectively speaking, he couldn't exist there.

Ugh, my head hurts. Didn't we agree we were coming to climb a mountain? Liar!

Forget it. Let's leave it at that for now. I don't even know whether Pei Song'an meant what he said anyway. Taking things one step at a time was his motto in life.

[So you're going to play dumb?]

"Now you decide to get busy!" Li Shu was already annoyed. "Get this straight. I don't cause trouble, but I'm also very afraid of trouble. Can you all leave me alone?"

[...]

For once, the system said nothing, because it felt that one more syllable from it would make Li Shu explode and completely lose it on the spot.

"Is your mouth dry? Have some water."

The vibrations against his chest had stopped for quite a while. After Pei Song'an released him, he didn't bring up that out-of-control kiss or the confession that definitely qualified as hasty again. He took the water bottle from the side of his backpack, unscrewed the lid, and held it out in front of Li Shu.

Li Shu hadn't wanted to drink from Pei Song'an's bottle, but then he remembered how much of the man's saliva he had just swallowed. The little figure inside his mind shattered spectacularly all over again. Giving up entirely, he obediently took it and gulped down several large mouthfuls.

The kiss had left him weak, both his perfectly good legs trembling. He could only lean against the wooden cabin's wall and silently seethe.

Fine, fine. You win, Pei Song'an!

Meanwhile, Pei Song'an, whom he had mentally scorned eight hundred times already, was looking down at the faint red finger marks on Li Shu's cheek. His hands were larger than Li Shu's, his fingers long and sharply defined. The marks he had left hadn't faded right away, carrying a beauty that made the heart race in the aftermath of rough treatment.

Though a light rain was still falling, what lay before his eyes was no longer the inescapable pool water and the indistinct sounds of scolding.

"Li Shu."

Li Shu held the insulated bottle in front of his lips and looked over with an utterly righteous gaze.

"I didn't say I liked you just so I could kiss you."

Li Shu: "..."

Seriously, why are you still talking about it?!

"I have to make it clear that I wasn't looking for an excuse to kiss you. I really do want a chance to take responsibility." Pei Song'an helped Li Shu stand straight, his tone exceptionally serious. "If you think I overstepped, I apologize."

Li Shu kept his mouth pressed against the insulated bottle to cool himself down. "If you really want to apologize, don't kiss me again!"

"You don't like it?"

"Does liking it mean you can kiss me whenever you want?"

With that, Li Shu shoved the insulated bottle back into Pei Song'an's arms and stalked off in a huff. Along the way, he viciously kicked a foxtail grass to express his anger. Halfway out, he felt something was wrong and turned back to bare his teeth at Pei Song'an:

"Don't think that means I really liked it!"

"You've really got some tricks up your sleeve. You've got me all messed up."

Zhu Sichun had never, ever imagined that after all that, he would end up being the first man in their group to reach the summit.

Utterly baffled, he looked at Li Shu, who had climbed up after him and seemed to have steam rising from his head. His tone was sincere and full of curiosity:

"Li Xiaoshu, were you so bored waiting at the summit that you ran back down and climbed up again?"

???

What's that supposed to mean?

"Don't make me sound like a dog with endless energy," Li Shu kindly reminded him, before eagerly adding, "Even Zhaocai would get tired after two rounds like that."

Zhu Sichun burst out laughing. "Then how come you came up behind me? I couldn't get through to Pei Song'an either, and both of you disappeared. Anyone who didn't know better would think he'd kidnapped you."

Li Shu first spent a moment trembling with apprehension at that. Then his refusal to admit defeat surged up, and he asked:

"Why couldn't I have kidnapped Pei Song'an?"

Pei Song'an had just reached the summit, carrying Li Shu's half-eaten grilled sausage. "What are you talking about?"

Zhu Sichun said, "Oh, Li Xiaoshu says he wants to do bondage play with you."

?

Meeting Pei Song'an's slightly inquisitive expression, Li Shu felt even the back of his head break into a sweat.

Fine, fine, fine, Zhu Sichun. What a mouth you've got!

Reaching the finish wasn't easy. Once they stopped to rest, it was easy to get lazy and not want to move, and the wrong posture could make their knees uncomfortable too. Fortunately, before long, the others arrived at the summit one after another.

Li Shu recorded videos on his phone, planning to share them with Cheng Zhen and Zhaocai when he got back.

He also pulled Pei Song'an over for a photo with a large tree at the summit that symbolized longevity.

Pei Song'an watched Li Shu's hair lift in the wind. In his eyes, that upturned, smiling face was so dazzling it seemed to glow.

The sparse drizzle had stopped at some point. Perhaps because the original danger no longer existed, even the stormy weather was making way for this child of fortune.

Li Shu sat on the bench Pei Song'an had wiped clean for him, his legs dangling over the edge and his back straight as he gazed at the churning sea of clouds and the rolling mountains in the distance, waiting for the first ray of sunlight to pierce the clouds. His voice was full of excitement:

"We're so lucky. If it rained and got foggy, we wouldn't be able to see the sunrise."

Li Shu chewed the remaining half of his grilled sausage. His hand had shaken earlier and dropped it on the ground, but it was still edible after rinsing the sand off the surface with water. He wasn't fussy and thought nothing of it.

"You must have watched the sunrise with lots of people before, right?"

Pei Song'an's tone could be called gentle, but his intentions in asking that question certainly couldn't be called innocent.

Li Shu clearly hadn't thought that much about it. "What do you mean, lots of people? Before I turned eighteen, my family would've skinned me alive if I'd sneaked off to climb a mountain!"

Li Shu's frank tone swept away the feelings clogging Pei Song'an's heart. When he realized it, even he found it a little unbelievable.

"So I'm the first?"

"Of course. You're the first."

Realizing the conversation was drifting back into sensitive territory, Li Shu worried that Pei Song'an would launch straight into something or other without warning. He hurriedly raised a hand and pointed at the faint light in the distance that was about to break through the clouds.

"Quick, quick, the sun's coming up!"

Pei Song'an didn't call out Li Shu's clumsy attempt to change the subject. He watched the white clouds abruptly transform into a blazing orange sea.

He took it upon himself to decide to give Li Shu some time.

But that didn't stop him from being the first to claim a place in Li Shu's heart.

As everyone's attention was drawn to the sun rising in the distance, Pei Song'an leaned close to Li Shu's ear, his tone direct and candid.

"I want to kiss you."