Chapter 1: The Straight Man

As the aroma of food wafts through the night market, Ye Yao blows on the octopus ball in his hand and takes a bite.

"Eat slowly, don't burn yourself." Her shoulder was wrapped around her, and another skewer was handed to Ye Yao's mouth, "Try this one."

The man holding up the kebab was tall, and his features were impeccably handsome, so that he could be spotted at once even if thrown into a crowd.

This prominent appearance made the people around him stare at him intentionally or unintentionally, but he didn't give a single glance to the people around him, just focusing on Ye Yao who was wrapped in his arms, with the intention that he wouldn't stop until Ye Yao ate his food.

Ye Yao opens his mouth and takes a bite: "It's okay."

"Right." Lu Xun puts the skewer back and bites down on the spot where Ye Yao had bitten it, not missing it in the slightest.

Ye Yao drops his eyes as the octopus ball in his hand is taken by Lu Xun, and when he returns it, the topmost ball that he had bitten has disappeared.

The person who did the food-grabbing was humming happily and continued to wander around with his arm firmly around Ye Yao, as if his hand had grown on him.

*

Lu Xun isn't approachable to outsiders, and is known far and wide as an unapproachable god. For Ye Yao, however, the distance is zero.

They can eat the same bowl of noodles, wear each other's clothes, sleep in the same bed, whatever he wants to do to Lu Xun.

Because they're the best of friends.

Ye Yao knew that as long as he didn't step on Lu Xun's biggest minefield, Lu Xun would never be able to distance himself from him.

And this biggest minefield ......

"What a coincidence, you guys are playing here too."

A voice came from behind her, and Ye Yao stopped and looked back to see a clean-cut boy's face.

This face seemed to have been seen somewhere, Ye Yao thought for a moment and remembered that this was a classmate Lu Xun had met after he went to college, and could be called a good friend of Lu Xun.

The clean-cut boy's mouth said what a coincidence, but the expression on his face was one of surprise with traces of camouflage; it didn't look like a chance encounter, but rather like he had deliberately waited here for a long time.

"Something wrong?" Lu Xun asked.

The boy didn't speak right away, his eyes went to Lu Xun's hand that was tightly wrapped around Ye Yao's shoulder, and there was a flash of hostility in his eyes when he looked at Ye Yao again.

But this hostility was quickly collected and cleaned up, and he smiled coyly at Ye Yao: "Could you excuse us for a little while? I have something I want to say to Brother Lu alone."

Ye Yao nodded and took Lu Xun's hand off his shoulder before pointing to the small shopping mall not far away and telling Lu Xun, "I'll wait over there-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Ye Yao's hand, which was pointed at the mini-mall, was taken in a firm grip.

Lu Xun held Ye Yao's hand, and the cheerful expression on his face that he had when facing Ye Yao had all but disappeared. He looked at the handsome boy with an expressionless face, and a sense of distance instantly penetrated his deep brows and eyes.

"If you have something to say, just say it directly, I'll leave first if nothing happens." Lu Xun said directly.

Ye Yao had a sneaking suspicion as to what the boys were up to on this visit, and he tried to yank his hand out of Lu Xun's grasp, only to be gripped tighter.

Seeing that these two would not be separated, the clean-cut boy gritted his teeth and opened his mouth anyway.

He was almost a head shorter than Lu Xun, and when he raised his eyes to look at Lu Xun from the bottom up, he brought with him a feeling of innocence and pity.

"Lu brother ...... I've liked you for a long time, can you give me a chance?"

The clean-cut boy looked at Lu Xun's dark eyebrows and felt nervous from the bottom of his heart.

It wasn't that he didn't want to make his confession when Lu Xun was alone, but he had known Lu Xun for so long, and except for class time, Lu Xun was either beside Ye Yao or on his way to Ye Yao's side.

And in traveling to Ye Yao, Lu Xun would not stop to listen to him.

Lu Xun couldn't hear much emotion in his voice: "I thought everyone around me, knew I didn't like men."

"Well ......," the clean-cut boy bit his lip and glanced at Ye Yao.

Of course he knows Lu Xun is homophobic, but if he's so rejecting of the same sex, why does he still cling so tightly to Ye Yao every day, protecting him like a jewel?

He did have some doubts about Lu Xun's sexual orientation because of the relationship between Lu Xun and Ye Yao. And if he doesn't do it again, these two may have to make a pair on their own.

The boy fought again: "I won't disturb your time together, Lu, can you give me a week to try?"

Lu Xun lazily spoke as he looked down and pulled out his cell phone, his eyes cold.

The boy sensed that it was not good, immediately took a step back and said with a smile, "I can't force you if you don't want to, I will retreat to my original position and be your friend."

Ye Yao was standing next to Lu Xun, and could easily see what Lu Xun was doing by glancing to the side.

Lu Xun was pulling black the various contact information of the person in front of him without leaving any attachment, and after he had done this, he raised his eyes to look at the clean-cut boy, and the thin corner of his lips hooked out an arc of disgust.

"I don't accept, a friend of the same sex who likes me."

*

It's still summer, but Ye Yao's hands are cold.

As they walked back to school, Ye Yao's hand was held the whole time.

"What's going on, why are your hands so cold." Lu Xun asks, "Sick?"

"No matter, drinking cold drinks body temperature did not regulate over just." Ye Yao didn't move to adjust his voice while trying to pull his hand out, "Don't hold it."

Instead of struggling so much, he was gripped tighter.

"What's wrong with me holding your hand, can't I?" Lu Xun smiled but did not laugh, the strength of his hand did not relax at all.

Ye Yao was silent and sighed softly after a long time, "If you keep hugging me like this, people who don't know will misunderstand that you like boys. Even if you go to clarify, they will only think that you are hiding your sexual orientation, so there will always be boys confessing to you."

As the words fall, Ye Yao is greeted with a familiar hug.

The tall young man wrapped his arms around him from behind, lavishing his breath on the skin around his ear, turning that small patch of skin scorching hot.

Ye Yao heard Lu Xun's voice with laughter: "What do you care about other people's opinions, you can't say that I can't even hug you for the sake of other people's misunderstanding, right?"

*

When he returned to the dormitory, Lu Xun was still holding Ye Yao's hand.

The other two roommates in the dorm cracked up at the sight.

"Brother Lu, are you on your honeymoon with Ye Zi again?"

"Other couples are small goodbyes, you two are good, you don't need to be small goodbyes to be newly married every day."

Lu Xun, a homophobe, didn't get angry at all when he heard himself and Ye Yao being joked about, instead he smiled and put the snacks he was carrying on the table: "Jealous of our love? Here's some candy for you, eat up."

Cheers rang out and the two housemates immediately began to eat nonchalantly, and after a couple of bites, Xiao Pang turned to Lu Xun Ye Yao with an eight-toothed grin and a thumbs-up : "Lu Ye Zi, a hundred years of good luck!"

Wen Ke, who was eating heavily, turned around and gave a thumbs up: "Good morning!"

Ye Yao : "......"

Born a hammer early.

Lu Xun frowned and wrapped his arm around Ye Yao's waist: "Don't listen to their nonsense."

Ye Yao froze and was about to say something when Lu Xun laughed again, resuming his appearance of being able to take a joke.

Lu Xun touched Ye Yao's belly and laughed: "We're still in love even if we don't have children."

"......" Ye Yao couldn't stand it any longer and slapped Lu Xun away with a palm, "Go aside!"

*

After a shower, and covered in water vapor, Ye Yao lies down on the bed.

In the dormitory, Xiao Pang and Wen Ke were giggling and playing games downstairs, while Ye Yao buried his face under the covers and slowly relaxed his body.

On the way back, not only were his hands cold, but so was his heart.

His heart went cold when he saw Lu Xun not hesitate to blackmail someone he called a friend and bluntly say that he wouldn't accept someone who was fond of him as a friend.

Because he ...... also likes Lu Xun.

In the case of his own unnoticed, this friendship quietly changed quality. By the time he realized it, it had become a prairie fire that could not be extinguished, much less returned to friendship.

Lu Xun is a straight man without the slightest doubt, able to accept all sorts of joking flirtatious remarks between the two of them, but completely unable to accept serious affection from the same sex. Once Lu Xun found out what he was thinking ...... the relationship between them would be over.

When it was time to turn out the lights, the dormitory was dimly lit, and Xiao Pang and Wen Ke had gone to bed, except for the occasional commanding voice coming from their direction, both of them apparently still wearing headphones to play the game.

Ye Yao lay distracted with his eyes closed, when there was a sudden rustling in his ears, and when he opened his eyes, he saw that the curtains of his bed had been lifted by an opening, and a tall figure had climbed into his bed from below.

Ye Yao could have guessed who this person was who climbed into his bed in the middle of the night, even if he had been blind and used his feet to guess.

Lu Xun skillfully lifted Ye Yao's quilt and got inside.

The single beds in the dorms weren't wide to begin with, and two people who were both tall squeezed so tightly together made the space in which they could move suffocatingly small.

Ye Yao is trying to maneuver himself into a space, but Lu Xun has him wrapped up in his arms.

Lu Xun adjusts his position, finds an excellent angle, and stops contentedly.

Ye Yao held back, feeling that he really couldn't help himself, and pushed Lu Xun away a bit.

"Grass, it's summer, you don't mind the heat." Ye Yao cursed in a small voice.

"Yo, our good student exploded." Lu Xun let out a light laugh and also lowered his voice, "What's hot, isn't this an air conditioner? I'm also a humanoid air conditioner."

Seeing that Lu Xun was about to come up again, Ye Yao quickly reached out and put his hand against Lu Xun's body to prevent him from coming closer, and tried to intimidate him: "What are you taking off, if you sleep like this, be careful that I will be seduced by you someday, and sneakily touch you at night."

Lu Xun quieted down, and Ye Yao wondered if the threat had gone too far and stepped on Lu Xun's homophobic minefield, when he heard Lu Xun open his mouth again.

Lu Xun's tone rose slightly, and instead of any annoyance in his voice, it sounded pleasant: "There's such a good thing?"

Ye Yao's hand is grabbed and then carried to the other man's firm abs.

"Come on, touch."

Ye Yao : "......"

Iron straight men are truly lawless.

Ye Yao couldn't stand it any longer, he withdrew his hand and rolled over to the wall, leaving his back to Lu Xun, so that even if he reacted in a way he shouldn't have, Lu Xun wouldn't be the first to realize it, and it would give him time to cover up.

Lu Xun laughed a little and hugged from behind again.

They embraced intimately, and Ye Yao could clearly feel the beating of Lu Xun's heart, one after another, disturbing him.

Ye Yao adjusts his breathing and closes his eyes.

He had to keep his feelings completely hidden; no matter how much he liked Lu Xun, all he could show was friendship.

Let's hope his acting is good enough not to show any cracks, or else ...... will have to pull away from Lu Xun.

Hopefully there will never be a day like this.