C34

 When Lu Yuxing arrived at Shang Jue's door, it was already very late. He glanced at his watch, which was about to strike midnight, pursed his lips, but still knocked on the door.

Before long, the door opened from the inside.

Shang Jue stood in the doorway, looking at Lu Yuxing with a confused expression. "…Why are you here? Didn’t I tell you I sent that by mistake?" And why didn’t you tell me before coming?

He glanced at Lu Yuxing.

The night was quite chilly, and Lu Yuxing wasn’t dressed very warmly.

Lu Yuxing didn’t get the chance to ask who the mistaken "baby" message was originally meant for. Instead, he first noticed a strong smell of smoke in the air.

He asked, "Mind if I come in?"

Shang Jue stepped aside to let him in.

Lu Yuxing asked, "Why are you smoking at night?"

"…I just suddenly felt like it."

Lu Yuxing grabbed Shang Jue's wrist, pulling him into an embrace, and softly asked, "…What's wrong?"

He felt that the back of Shang Jue's dark-colored pajamas was a bit damp, as if it had been soaked in sweat.

Shang Jue didn’t say anything, but he liked being hugged like this. It was as if his body had found a support, and the small house in his heart felt a bit more stable too.

He lowered his face, pressing his warm cheek against the skin of Lu Yuxing's neck, closing his eyes as he inhaled the scent of the other person.

Lu Yuxing found it difficult to handle Shang Jue's soft snuggling. He held Shang Jue tightly for a while before gently pressing him against the wall, slowly kissing his cheek and lips. He tried hard to control his desire to deepen the kiss, focusing only on comforting him. There was a faint taste of cigarettes on Shang Jue's lips. Lu Yuxing didn’t like the smell of smoke, but knowing it came from Shang Jue’s lips made it more tolerable.

He kissed so gently that Shang Jue, with his eyelashes lowered, didn’t pull away.

Lu Yuxing's hot breath fell softly on one side of his nose. Shang Jue impulsively opened his lips to cooperate for a few seconds, but then immediately regretted it, tilting his head back slightly and turning his face to the side.

Lu Yuxing paused, a low, hoarse sound of inquiry escaping his throat: "Hm?"

Shang Jue cleared his throat, turned back with a smile, and said, "I haven't even asked you yet—why did you suddenly come over? I told you it was a mistake."

Instead of answering Lu Yuxing’s question, he asked one of his own.

Lu Yuxing replied, "When you messaged me, I happened to be looking at my phone." As he mentioned this, his eyebrows furrowed slightly in displeasure.

Shang Jue froze for a moment before realizing. 'Baby,' sent to the wrong person, was indeed easy to misunderstand.

He chuckled, "Who did you think I was sending that to?"

Lu Yuxing replied, "Your other… 'baby.'"

Shang Jue laughed, "Oh, so you're suspicious of me cheating, huh?"

"…No."

"No? Then why did you run all the way from school to here?"

"I really wasn’t." Lu Yuxing didn’t know how to explain it. He truly wasn’t doubting Shang Jue. It was just in the heat of the moment, without much thought, that he came over.

Shang Jue said, "I don’t have any other 'babies.' Do you think I’m that kind of person? How could I be that much of a jerk… I just thought you might be asleep after sending the message, so I retracted it." After saying that, he pushed Lu Yuxing’s arms away and sat down on the couch, cleaning up the paper cup on the table, which was filled with cigarette butts.

He calmed down a bit.

Then, feeling a bit embarrassed by his emotional overthinking from earlier in the day, he was relieved that he wasn’t one to vent to others or babble to He Yang or Lu Yuxing in a moment of rashness.

Lu Yuxing sat beside him and said, "Even if I had been asleep, I would have seen it the next morning."

So, say whatever you want to say, send whatever message you want. As long as it’s about you, no matter the time, I won’t overlook it.

"…Oh."

Lu Yuxing: "I'll stay with you tonight."

Shang Jue didn't respond.

He figured saying no wouldn't help anyway; the dorms had already locked their doors by now.

But Lu Yuxing stubbornly stared at him, waiting for a verbal response.

Shang Jue had no choice but to reply, "I still don’t have an extra blanket. Next time..." Wait, no. It’d be best if there wasn’t a next time.

Lu Yuxing: "It's fine, the living room is pretty warm."

Shang Jue wrinkled his nose.

The living room was barely tolerable at the beginning of the month, but now it was almost the end of November, the start of the harsh winter...

"My bed is pretty big..." Shang Jue muttered.

Lu Yuxing: "..."

His ears turned red as he responded with a quiet "Oh."

"You’ll sleep on the edge, alright?" Shang Jue said with his eyes closed. "You know... I'm, uh..."

Lu Yuxing finished for him, "I know, you're conservative."

Shang Jue: "…Yeah, haha."

Conservative, huh... He almost wanted to bite his tongue and die from embarrassment.

Shang Jue got up and opened the living room window to air the room. It worked quite well—until a sharp, cold wind sent shivers down his thin frame.

Lu Yuxing frowned and said, "Close the window; your pajamas are too thin."

Shang Jue shut the window and returned to the bedroom, trying to minimize the secondhand smoke for his unexpected guest.

Lu Yuxing turned off the living room lights and followed him inside.

In the end, Shang Jue still didn’t tell him what was wrong or why he was upset... Lu Yuxing felt a bit disappointed, but he was willing to respect Shang Jue's feelings.

If Shang Jue didn’t want to talk, then he’d just quietly stay by his side. That’s what he planned to do...

"Are you upset about sending your mom to the airport today?" Lu Yuxing asked softly once they were in the bedroom.

He knew it wasn't the best time to ask, but he couldn't hold it in. Every time he was with Shang Jue, he lost control and couldn’t help digging for answers.

Shang Jue glanced back at him. "You’re pretty curious, aren’t you?"

"..."

Shang Jue mumbled, "Something like that."

The room was dim, lit only by a small bedside lamp.

Shang Jue lay down comfortably on the edge of the bed, while Lu Yuxing sat beside him, watching.

Shang Jue: "If you keep staring at me like that, I’ll think I’m on my deathbed."

Lu Yuxing chuckled.

"I actually..." Shang Jue hesitated after saying those few words before continuing, "I actually quite like living in the dorms compared to being alone..."

"Then why did you move out?"

Shang Jue chuckled. "Because I had terrible luck and lost a game."

Lu Yuxing was confused. "What game?"

And what kind of game would have anything to do with moving out?

Shang Jue shifted up in bed, resting both arms behind his head, smiling at him. "Wanna play rock-paper-scissors?"

Lu Yuxing blinked in confusion. "Sure."

The two played a round of rock-paper-scissors out of boredom. After a minute, Shang Jue threw a fist, and Lu Yuxing played paper. He grabbed Shang Jue’s fist, and didn’t let go.

Shang Jue propped up one leg, his knee pressing against the blanket, touching Lu Yuxing's back.

Lu Yuxing leaned down and kissed him.

He had taken off his jacket, and the sweater underneath was warm from the heating. Half of his body slipped into Shang Jue’s blanket, and unlike their embrace in the freezing snow last time, this time both of them were warm, pressed together through thin layers of pajamas and a sweater.

Lu Yuxing’s goodnight kiss was restrained, but as he pulled back, Shang Jue’s pajamas had been messed up by the movement, with the neckline gaping open. Beneath his right collarbone, a small, bright red mole stood out vividly under the soft glow of the bedside lamp.

Lu Yuxing’s eyes were first drawn to that beautiful red mark, then he raised his gaze and saw Shang Jue.

Shang Jue’s expression could almost be called indifferent. His lips were tightly shut, devoid of any warmth, but his eyes shone brightly with a watery gleam, staring at him in a dazed yet focused way.

The contrast hit Lu Yuxing hard, leaving him breathless. His fingers instinctively clenched the smooth bed sheets, his throat suddenly dry.

He froze, just like that.

Shang Jue: "..."

"You..." Shang Jue's expression twisted into something indescribable, and his voice caught in his throat.

He held on for a moment but couldn’t hold it in any longer. Gritting his teeth, he said, "Get your damn thing off me."

"..."

Thing...?

Lu Yuxing was stunned for a long time, his face flushing an embarrassed, fiery red in an instant.

Shang Jue could feel the object pressed against his hipbone digging in even more.

"..."

Lu Yuxing quickly sat up, turning his back to Shang Jue, pressing his lips together.

"I'm sorry."

Shang Jue was startled. There was no need to apologize, was there? They were both guys, and while it was awkward, it was still pretty normal. During the height of puberty, even an accidental brush under the blankets could trigger a reaction.

He chuckled softly. "It’s fine, baby. We're both men, I get it." Though, in his mind, he labeled Lu Yuxing as one of those single guys so deprived that just a kiss could get them overly excited.

Lu Yuxing didn’t respond.

After about half a minute, Shang Jue asked, "Do you need to use the bathroom?"

Lu Yuxing shook his head.

They fell into silence for a while.

It was getting late, and Shang Jue was starting to feel sleepy. Half-closing his eyes, he mumbled, "When I was a kid, my classmates used to say that when I sleep, I look like a corpse in a coffin. Hmm, baby... How about I show you?" He really was on the verge of sleep.

Lu Yuxing turned his head slightly and whispered, "Your classmates weren't very good at metaphors."

Shang Jue replied drowsily, "Really...?"

"Mhm. You sleep like a little angel."

"..."

Lu Yuxing pressed his palm firmly against his knee and glanced down at the side of his pants that was awkwardly lifted. Feeling a bit uncomfortable, he said, "I think I’ll... borrow your bathroom."

"Go ahead, baby..."

A new light source filled the room, coming from the bathroom.

Shang Jue lay there, staring blankly at the ceiling, his expression neutral. After a while, he tugged the blanket up, shifting its edge from his neck to cover his face, hiding his nose and the pink blush on his ears.

He closed his eyes.

You sleep like a little angel.

Shang Jue quickly opened his eyes, wide awake now, as alert as a clock.

He might as well keep pretending to be a corpse!

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Next: Chapter 35