A date?

Shen Si couldn't move. Half of Cen Xia's body was pinned beneath him, and his other arm had struck its funny bone when he fell. He couldn't put any strength into it now, so he couldn't push Shen Si off even if he wanted to.

And so they remained at an impasse.

Outside the window, the sky gradually darkened, and the room's only source of light disappeared.

Time trickled by.

Surrounded by Shen Si's scent in the enclosed space, Cen Xia actually grew sleepy. His eyelids drooped beyond his control, then flew open again just as they closed. His mind went blank for a moment, and he couldn't remember at all whether he'd just fallen asleep.

In the silence, Cen Xia could even hear a heartbeat, though he didn't know whether the sound by his ear was his own or Shen Si's.

Perhaps the two were mingled together.

Cen Xia tried clenching his fist. Feeling his strength return, he immediately reached out and slowly pushed Shen Si away.

Bracing himself against a nearby table leg, Shen Si struggled to prop himself up.

Half of Cen Xia's body had gone numb under Shen Si's weight. After sitting up, he didn't rush to get up, instead bracing one hand against the dusty floor as he waited for the electric tingling to fade.

The two of them had been at each other's throats not long ago, but now they both fell into an uncanny silence.

Neither looked at the other. After all, one was injured and the other was a mess. They couldn't fight even if they wanted to, and shaking hands and making peace was even more impossible.

"Ahem, ahem-" Cen Xia coughed twice, choking on the dust in the air.

The silence was broken in an instant, and the words that followed came naturally.

"Couldn't you have found a better place?"

Shen Si fell silent for a rare moment. "Mind your own business."

"Can you still walk? Aren't you going to have your little lackeys carry you back?" Cen Xia needled him maliciously.

Shen Si shot him a sidelong glance from beneath lowered brows, apparently not very interested in talking to him.

Once Cen Xia had recovered, he climbed to his feet. "Fine. If you're not leaving, I am."

As he spoke, he brushed himself off. The loose dust came away, but the marks on his clothes remained; he couldn't brush them clean.

At the door, Cen Xia seemed to suddenly remember something. He stopped and looked back at Shen Si, his tone casual. "Next time you want to see me, pick somewhere decent. It's too dirty here. I'll have to go to the trouble of washing my clothes when I get back."

Shen Si's expression was impossible to make out in the dark.

Cen Xia left without closing the door, leaving the dark room with one last sliver of light.

While he'd been lying on the floor, both Ding Yiheng and Shi Su had called him.

Cen Xia called Shi Su back first.

The phone had only rung once before the call connected.

"Brother Cen? Where are you? How are you now? Did Shen Si come looking for you?" A barrage of questions hit him right away.

Shi Su sounded anxious, and there even seemed to be a hint of tears in his voice, so Cen Xia could only say patiently, "I'm fine. The class monitor just asked me to help with something."

"Then why didn't you answer your phone?"

"My phone was on silent, so I didn't hear it." That wasn't a lie; his phone really had been on silent.

There was a pause on the other end before Shi Su asked, "Where are you?"

"On my way back to the dorm."

As Cen Xia spoke, he lowered his head and watched his feet shuffle forward one step at a time. His shadow shortened and lengthened as he walked.

The weather was growing cooler, and the school had switched to its autumn uniforms. When the slightly cool autumn breeze blew past, Cen Xia didn't feel cold at all; instead, he found it quite pleasant.

It would be nice to have someone to take a walk with him at a time like this.

As he was pondering this, Shi Su's voice came through the phone. "Look up, Brother Cen."

Cen Xia instinctively raised his eyes and saw Shi Su standing a short distance ahead. He had evidently run all the way over, and his breathing was rapid, but his gaze rested steadily on Cen Xia.

Cen Xia ended the call and walked over. "What brings you here?"

Shi Su stood where he was, watching Cen Xia approach step by step. The turbulent, tangled emotions that had churned all the way over suddenly settled into complete calm.

It was like being given a shot of a powerful sedative.

He was still breathing a little fast, but his voice was steady. "I was worried about you."

Cen Xia finally reached him. "Didn't I already tell you? You don't need to worry."

Only when Cen Xia came close did Shi Su clearly see the black patches all over him, marks that looked as though he'd been rolling on the ground. His expression abruptly darkened, and his jaw tightened. "What's this?"

Cen Xia followed his gaze and said unconcernedly, "I accidentally got those marks on me while moving things. They'll come out in the wash."

"Don't lie to me, Brother Cen." His thick, long lashes lowered, and his voice was low.

"Why would I lie to you?" Cen Xia said. "If I'm lying, I'm a puppy."

Woof.

Being a puppy wasn't bad either. He liked puppies.

"Come on, let's go back, wash up, and get some sleep."

Cen Xia slung an arm around him like a good buddy. Their two shadows merged on the ground, lengthening and shortening as they went.

"You're really not lying to me?"

"No. I already said if I'm lying, I'm a puppy. Why don't you believe me?"

"Then I'll ask your class monitor how your clothes got so dirty just moving things..."

Cen Xia's heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly changed the subject. "...Do you know what you sound like right now?"

"Like what?"

"Like my girlfriend."

Shi Su went quiet.

After a while, Cen Xia said, "...Why is your face red?"

"The wind did it."

"Oh." Cen Xia touched his own face and asked him, "Did the wind make my face red too?"

Shi Su only dared to glance up at him before looking away again. "It did," he said softly.

Cen Xia muttered, "That pesky autumn wind."

Shi Su heard him and thought, It really is pesky.

When they were almost at Shi Su's dorm building, he suddenly stopped. Cen Xia stopped with him and asked, puzzled, "What's wrong?"

"Tomorrow's Friday. Brother Cen, do you want to go out to eat with me?"

"Sure. We can get Ding Yiheng to book a restaurant. He's been saying the last couple of days..."

Before he could finish, Shi Su interrupted him. "Just the two of us."

As soon as the words left his mouth, an indescribable unease welled up in his heart. He began to wonder whether he'd been too abrupt, afraid that Cen Xia might glimpse his secret feelings.

He held his breath and watched as Cen Xia frowned after hearing him out, a strange look on his face.

Shi Su's heart sank sharply, and the fingers hanging at his side curled instinctively. The excitement beneath his earlier unease cooled completely. He forced the corners of his mouth up into a normal smile.

"It's okay, I..."

"Will they say we're forming a little clique?"

The words came out almost at the same time.

Cen Xia hadn't heard him clearly. "What did you say?"

His heart, which had been hanging in his chest, suddenly dropped back into place. Shi Su felt it come alive and beat again, like a death-row prisoner suddenly being told before his execution that he still had a sentence to serve.

He shook his head. "Nothing."

"Oh. Then we'd better keep it quiet when we go out to eat."

Shi Su smiled. "Yeah, we definitely won't let them find out."

Cen Xia said, "We can watch a movie after dinner too. A sci-fi blockbuster just came out, and I really want to see it."

Shi Su's heart, which had only just returned to its place, thumped hard twice. Dinner, a movie... Is this a date?

The corners of his lips lifted slightly beyond his control, and Shi Su's eyes shone as though stars had fallen into them.

He answered at once. "Okay."

Even if it was all just in his imagination, his heart felt as though it had tasted honey, its rich sweetness spreading through his limbs and bones.