The two looked at each other for a tenth of a second.
Xie Ji blinked. In that tenth of a second, he had already gone through an extremely thorough brainstorming session.
He took a deep breath and was just about to speak when Ji Shi clapped a hand over his mouth.
As the warm, damp breath brushed his dry palm, Ji Shi felt a tingling sensation race up from the soles of his feet, turning his entire face an unnatural red.
"First..." Ji Shi caught his breath. "Don't say anything yet. Give me a moment."
Xie Ji pressed his lips together and leaned his head back. "Are you okay? You look like you need an oxygen machine."
"Mm." Ji Shi withdrew his hand and nodded haphazardly. "If this feels too sudden, you don't have to answer me yet."
"You're the one who's finding this sudden, aren't you?" Xie Ji said.
Ji Shi fell silent, scratched his head, then finally said, "Anyway, that's how it is. I think I fucking like you. Just fucking tell me, yes or no! Are we dating or not?"
Xie Ji said, "No. We're not."
Ji Shi's eyes instantly widened. He looked as though he wanted to lose his temper but was too shocked to move, reminding Xie Ji of an adorable goldfish he had once kept.
Every time Xie Ji got bored and tapped the goldfish on the head, it would stare at him just like that. It was so much fun.
The clock ticked for a long time. Ji Shi's expression went from shock to mortification, then to an incredulous smile. He walked over to the bed and slapped the wooden window frame. "That was way too fucking blunt. Don't I get to keep any dignity?"
"Because you were very sincere." Xie Ji walked over to stand beside him. "So I felt I couldn't answer you the way I usually would. I had to be just as sincere."
"So you sincerely rejected me?" Ji Shi asked incredulously.
Xie Ji thought for a moment. "Because I like you a lot too, so I can't like you."
As a friend, Ji Shi was absolutely perfect.
Ji Shi stayed silent for half an hour, then said sullenly, "What is it? Am I not good enough somehow? If you don't even like someone like me, what do you like? Lu Xunji?"
"You're great," Xie Ji said.
"Don't give me the nice-guy card, you little ingrate."
"Oh. Then you're awful."
"I don't want a bad-guy card either."
"Then what do you want?"
"You."
"So cheesy. Sounds like something you learned from Shang Yan."
"Xie Ji, are you sick in the head?"
Xie Ji narrowed his eyes, teasing him. "Do you have a medical license?"
Ji Shi paused. "No."
Xie Ji put on a stern face. "Then what gives you the right to say I'm sick?"
Ji Shi: "..."
They looked at each other for a few seconds before Ji Shi reached out and mussed Xie Ji's beautiful blond hair, laughing as he cursed, "Fuck, you little ingrate. You just want to keep scamming free food and drinks out of Young Master Ji Shi, don't you?"
There really seemed to be a kind of magic about Xie Ji.
Or perhaps it was approachability. His beauty was so striking that it created a sense of distance, yet when you were with him, you never had to consider what you should or shouldn't say.
Because it seemed that whatever he said, there would never be any consequences with Xie Ji.
For instance, he had just made a nerve-racking confession, yet after firmly rejecting him, Xie Ji had soothed him with a few words, as though their relationship would remain unchanged whether he had confessed or not.
A master of emotional manipulation.
The little fox was devilishly shrewd.
Ji Shi shook his head with a helpless laugh. It was precisely this Xie Ji who made people covet him all the more... enough to thoroughly stir every bit of his desire to conquer.
Ji Shi leaned against the window and huffed. "I don't have a medical license, but I do have a mouth. If I say you're sick, you're sick."
Xie Ji pouted. "One of these days, I'll give our Divine Doctor Ji a commemorative banner. On the front, 'Doctor Ji, whose miraculous hands restore health.' On the back, 'A fine young master who brings the dead back to life.'"
"..." Ji Shi grumbled a few times, then said, "So you still haven't told me why you rejected me."
Xie Ji was silent for a long time before suddenly saying, "Because I have someone I like, I guess."
Ji Shi had been hit with one shock after another tonight.
"You have someone you like?! Who?! Who is it? Who the fuck dared cut me off?"
Xie Ji spread his hands. "I don't know. I don't know who he is. I can't remember his face or his name, but I know he exists. He has my flesh and blood inside him."
"Fuck!" Ji Shi wiped a hand over his face, his expression indescribable. "You even got him pregnant? Though, given our current relationship, isn't this topic a little too intimate?"
Xie Ji kicked him. "Flesh and blood in the physical sense! Not the biological one! The only memory I have-I'm not even all that sure it's my memory... anyway, in short, it's very vague. So vague that I'm actually not even sure whether that memory is mine."
"Impressive." Ji Shi didn't believe him. "You'd even make up bullshit like that to reject me. Fine, let's drop it. It's not like this young master absolutely has to have you. I think Lu Xunji is prettier than you anyway."
Xie Ji was deeply gratified. "It's good that you think that."
Ji Shi: "..."
He was only putting on a brave front. This little ingrate couldn't seriously believe him, could he?
They stood by the window for half an hour.
"Do you feel like something's wrong?" Ji Shi asked.
"You noticed too, right?" Xie Ji took a deep breath. "I'm dying."
"Fuck, are we both idiots? Why are we standing at the window feeding mosquitoes? Move, move! Close the window, dumbass."
Xie Ji: "..."
One second it was "love you, baby," and the next it was "close the window, dumbass."
A scum gong indeed.
Ji Shi closed the door and windows, turned on the air conditioner, and looked at Xie Ji before suddenly saying, "Since you're already here, why don't we have a thrilling, exciting round of..."
He leaned close to Xie Ji's ear and spoke softly.
Xie Ji said, "...You redeemed that too? Are points really that easy for you to earn?"
"I told you." Ji Shi looked serious. "I really did work very hard this afternoon."
Xie Ji: "..."
After his shower, Lu Xunji checked the time before he even had a chance to dry his hands.
Ji Shi had dragged his little money pouch away over an hour ago.
He still hadn't come back.
Was he really not planning to return?
Lu Xunji unconsciously rubbed his fingers together.
He had been the one to talk tough, yet in the end, he was also the one growing restless.
Lu Xunji took a bottle of ice water from the fridge and drank three bottles in a row. The icy water went down, but his heart only burned hotter.
An hour and a half.
His little money pouch was really something.
He set down the ice water, turned, changed his clothes, and went out.
While every day felt like a year for Lu Xunji, Xie Ji and Ji Shi had already begun their thrilling, exciting... two-player game.
Game consoles weren't cheap in the points shop, ranging from two thousand to six thousand points. Ji Shi had racked his brains before finally thinking of something Lu Xunji didn't have in his room.
Sure enough, Xie Ji was extremely interested in the console. The two sat cross-legged in the room, having a thoroughly exhilarating time gaming.
So when Lu Xunji reached the door, what he heard was Xie Ji's excited cries.
"Gentler, gentler! Ow, ow, ow!"
Watching his character's health plummet on-screen, Xie Ji shouted in desperation, "Too fast! Wait for me! Let me recover! Big Brother Ji Shi!"
Ji Shi's impatient voice came through. "So delicate. Are you done recovering? I'm going to move."
He'd told him not to pick that squishy character!
He had already cleared a whole wave of monsters, and Xie Ji was still skulking around looting.
He had picked up a backpack full of junk that slowed him down, leaving him ambling along behind Ji Shi. Ji Shi frequently had to rescue this sluggish squishy, standing in front of him as a meat shield to soak up damage without being able to move at all.
Might as well sell him out.
Ji Shi slid his finger across a movement button. Xie Ji, hiding behind him with only a sliver of health left, was instantly finished off by the swarming monsters.
Xie Ji huffed. "I'm dead. I told you not to move, and you sold me out anyway. What happened to liking me?"
Ji Shi made a flippant gesture. "I apologize for my former ignorance."
"Enough. Our friendship ends here. You're no longer the brother I'd take a knife for. You've changed."
"I never was, thanks."
Lu Xunji stood outside the door. His hearing had always been good, and even through the room's soundproof door, he could still make out some of their conversation clearly.
His eyes abruptly darkened. Leaning against the wall, he dug his fingernails neurotically into his flesh, hard enough to draw blood.
Reason told him nothing could happen between Xie Ji and Ji Shi. He could tell Xie Ji had no such feelings for Ji Shi.
He couldn't really say he liked Xie Ji all that much. At first, he had merely been lured in by his beauty.
Even now, Lu Xunji still didn't feel he absolutely had to have Xie Ji.
This was only because of his illness. This sticky, shameful, filthy desire, buried deep in the darkest corner of his heart, had begun flowing unchecked from the very first moment he saw Xie Ji.
Even if it were someone else... as long as they were beautiful enough, he would be like this too.
That had to be it.
Lu Xunji drew a deep breath. The cold summer-night air entered his lungs, stabbing painfully.
But it was nothing compared to the agitation of his pathological desire to control Xie Ji going unsatisfied.
Lu Xunji bit down hard on the tip of his tongue. Blood flooded his mouth, clearing his head somewhat, and only then did he slowly straighten up, ready to leave.
Yet he had barely taken two steps when the door behind him opened. Xie Ji poked his head out and called to him at once. "Lu Xunji!"
Lu Xunji stiffened, but he didn't stop, hurrying away.
Xie Ji grew anxious. "Lu Xunji, stop! Ji Shi, I'm leaving! Wait for me to come back tomorrow..."
He was going again tomorrow?
Lu Xunji pressed his lips together and walked even faster.
"Here... here lies a wondrous road to heaven!" As though he knew what Lu Xunji was thinking, Xie Ji instantly changed tack. "Don't invite me to gaming sessions like this again. I'm afraid Lu Xunji will get angry. All right, I'm off to practice singing!"
Ji Shi's voice came from inside. "Get lost, you fucking noob."
Xie Ji: "..."
Fucking scum gong.
Xie Ji hurried to catch up with Lu Xunji. "Come on, Little Jiji, take deep breaths with me. Breathe in... out... calm down..."
Lu Xunji shook off his hand, his expression stormy. "Get lost!" he said darkly.
How could he possibly like Xie Ji? An oblivious block of wood, a money-grubbing little bastard, a money pouch who would leave with anyone who crooked a finger, a little fox with one sly idea after another.
There was absolutely-absolutely no way he could-
...He hadn't figured out what came after "no way" yet.
But now he couldn't think.
Because Xie Ji grabbed his collar and slammed him against the wall.
Then he tilted his head and pressed close.