Chapter 24: Best Friends

As Lu Xun returns from the restroom, he hears the intro to a song just outside the door.

It's a big over hit song about the humble love that comes with being a secret admirer from the perspective of the secret admirer. The tune is slightly melancholic and completely out of character for the theme of their happy birthday party.

He's got to find an excuse to cut the song.

Lu Xun thought so, and pushed the door to enter.

The slender silhouette sat alone on top of the high swivel chair in front of the private room, looking up at him when he came in, his eyes unclear in the dim light.

It's Ye Yao singing this song.

Before Lu Xun could react, he was pulled onto the couch by the others.

"Come sit with us, Lu, and listen to Ye Zi sing." Big Black said, "Remember to support Ye Zi!"

Ye Yao turned sideways to them to read the lyrics on the screen, his slightly relaxed back still straight.

Ye Yao's voice is not that of a cheerful teenager, his timbre is cold, and when he sings this song about a humble crush in a low voice, it carries some of the sadness of the lyrics.

Orange light flickered across Ye Yao's neck, illuminating the tiny bulge in the slender neck, the knot in the throat that belonged to a man.

"I never dared to hope, for a response from you."

Ye Yao's lips curled up in a smile that was most often seen on his face.

"Quietly watching you and her back with a smile on your face would be perfect."

Ye Yao tilted his head towards Lu Xun amongst the others, his lips still wearing Lu Xun's most familiar smile.

"It's all out of sight, and I'm careful to hide it."

As Ye Yao sang on, Lu Xun's heart slowly sank.

Lu Xun was uncomfortable.

Rationally, he knew Ye Yao was just singing his heart out, but emotionally, he couldn't accept it.

This song doesn't fit Ye Yao.

Ye Yao, how can you be so humble?

Ye Yao, how can you love someone so much, and even suffer for that person? I can't, I can't.

Lu Xun stood up and walked over to the song selection and cutting machine. The music was just in the middle of the backing track, Ye Yao didn't have to sing, and Lu Xun took the opportunity to open his mouth.

"Why did you suddenly think of singing this song? There are a lot of songs lined up, the ones in the back might not get a turn, and this one is halfway through anyway, so I'll cut it?"

Ye Yao smiled and shook his head.

Lu Xun pursed his lips, and although he wasn't happy about it, he listened to Ye Yao and didn't move.

It's time to start singing again, and Ye Yao takes the microphone, and this time instead of singing, he speaks.

Ye Yao's voice was very soft, but through the amplification of the microphone, it still clearly reached Lu Xun's ears, "Lu Xun, there are a few more words that I've been wanting to say to you."

Lu Xun froze, he didn't know what Ye Yao was going to say, but subconsciously felt nervous.

The light that shot chaotically through the booth was as panicked as his chaotic heartbeat.

"After knowing you for so ...... long and also being a friend for a long time, you have always been very good to me." Ye Yao slowly narrated the buried heart, he suddenly smiled to himself, "You shouldn't be so good to me."

After all, one will always crave warmth.

"What else are you going to do as a straight ...... man when I fall in love with you?"

Ye Yao looked straight at Lu Xun as he said this.

Lu Xun looked completely frozen, his eyes widened and his thin lips unconsciously opened slightly. The unexpected confession interrupted all his thoughts, and his entire being was dumbfounded.

Lu Xun's fingertips were trembling uncontrollably, his spine straightening as the air turned solid, making it difficult for him to breathe.

His best friend on his side is gay and has a crush on him.

Ye Yao likes him.

What's he gonna do?

Anyone else who talked to him like that, Lu Xun would be able to make a quick decision and tell that person to get out.

But it's Ye Yao in front of him. How could he let Ye Yao get out?

These two simple questions caused the temperature in Lu Xun's brain to rise, and before Lu Xun could make sense out of this confusing mess, he heard Ye Yao laugh out loud, breaking the tense atmosphere.

Ye Yao smiled with slightly arched eyebrows, "Scared you to death, aren't you thinking about how to take the door out? False, don't worry, I definitely don't have any improper thoughts about you."

Next to them, the forcibly serious Daikoku and Dafang, who had been holding their breath for quite some time, were finally able to let out a hearty laugh, and they pounded the couch with laughter.

"Lu just had that look on his face, he's stupid, he really believes it!"

"Lu's world must have just fallen apart in pieces once, Lu pick it up and put it back together again, it'll still work!"

Lu Xun's brain temperature, which had risen in a matter of seconds, cooled sharply again in a single sentence, and his handsome brow furrowed, "Trick me?"

"It's Truth or Dare, Ye Zi just drew this." Big Black quickly took out his cell phone and showed it to Lu Xun to prove Ye Yao's innocence.

Lu Xun is silent.

Ye Yao got out of his chair and patted Lu Xun on the shoulder, "Did I scare you? Eat some more cake later, I'll make it up to you."

Lu Xun was dragged back to the couch to listen to the others compliment Ye Yao's acting.

"Worthy of being our Brother Ye, not only are you a good student, even your acting skills are so realistic!"

"That's amazing, how did you come up with those lines? I would have just rushed up and said I like you, but I didn't realize Ye actually knew a lot of bloody lines!"

"Is it well acted? It's like learning from TV." Ye Yao smiles.

He's not actually an actor, so where did he get the great acting skills?

Ye Yao asked Lu Xun again, "Did you get over it?"

"Well, order a couple bottles of wine." Lu Xun muffled, "Drinking helps."

Soon various, beer and wine were delivered to the private rooms to add to the party atmosphere.

Lu Xun behaved as usual, but he drank a lot.

Lu Xun isn't a big drinker.

Ye Yao took in the anomalies and had a rough idea of what to expect.

As expected, even if it was just a joke, Lu Xun couldn't accept it. Being confessed to by a person of the same sex is undoubtedly a minefield for Lu Xun, and even if he stepped into the minefield, it would still cause Lu Xun discomfort.

Lu Xun Shouldn't want to get intimate with him anytime soon.

It was near twelve o'clock when the cake was served.

"Yay, eat cake! You eat the core of the cake, I'll eat the side of the cake, we both get to eat, heh heh heh." Drunken generous giggling.

By this time everyone except Ye Yao had had a lot to drink, their faces were red, and they were getting more and more excited about what they were saying.

Lu Xun drank the most, but he didn't get drunk, instead, the more he drank, the more he got angry.

The cake is placed on the table, Ye Yao walks to make a wish and blow out the candles, and then it's time to cut the cake.

Cutting the cake is a relatively troublesome task, and in the past, Lu Xun would compete with Ye Yao to cut the cake. Today, Lu Xun is in an unusual state, and Ye Yao, not wanting to cause any more disputes, picks up the cake knife and starts to cut the cake first.

"How can you let today's birthday girl cut the cake!" The drunken Big Black shouted, "I'll do it, I'll do it, your sweet little brother for your sincere service."

Before Dahei's hand could reach out, another large hand reached out and placed its palm completely over the back of Ye Yao's hand.

He held Ye Yao's hand tightly, eliminating any possibility of Ye Yao breaking free.

Ye Yao froze slightly and turned his head to meet Lu Xun's line of sight.

"Cut the cake." Lu Xun's eyes look cold and sober, the words coming out of his mouth say otherwise, "Cut the cake together."

Lu Xun's sudden contact caused fine sweat to seep from Ye Yao's palms, and he whispered, "Good."

Hearing Ye Yao's response, Lu Xun stretched out his other arm around Ye Yao's shoulder, then very quickly lowered his head and rubbed his cheek against Ye Yao's, mumbling, "Cut the cake, cut the cake together."

Ye Yao was rubbed the wrong way and finally realized.

Lu Xun is 100% drunk!

Ye Yao is held in hand by Lu Xun as he cuts the large cake on the table, and Lu Xun cuts it with a serious look on his face, as if it were not an ordinary birthday cake, but a wedding cake, to be treated with care.

Cut the cake into even portions and Lu Xun divides it into one for each person.

"It's so good, don't waste it, it's a very important cake you know?" Lu Xun said fiercely.

"Got it, oooh, thank you Lu for the reward." Dahei stood up and spun around while eating, "Is this your cave, it's so sparkly, it's glittering my eyes."

"Today, we come to the cave to visit! Once we worship heaven and earth, twice we worship the high hall, husband and wife worship each other - and send them to the cave! Hey, hey, hey." Da Fang continued to giggle.

Lu Xun looked around the room, came back to his senses, and slammed the table and said angrily, "What are you doing in my cave at this late hour? Is this a place for you to stay! Get out, all of you, Master wants to do business."

Those two people really listened to Lu Xun, hand holding the cake dizzily out of the door, while walking also did not forget to ask.

"Ye Zi's skin is so tender, she can't withstand the abuse, you must be gentle." Fangtang wiped her tears, "It's mom's fault, I couldn't protect you and let you marry this bully."

"Oooooh, how can you get married so soon!"

Ye Yao: "????"

Ye Yao of course can not look at the two drunken men just walk out, go to do not know where to play drunkenness, immediately stood up to pull people back, however, not yet two steps was blocked waist embrace.

"You want to run?" Lu Xun, who was hugging Ye Yao, coldly said, "Dream on, when you enter my door, you are my person."

"You're passed out, letting you drink so much!" Ye Yao couldn't break Lu Xun's bonds, so he could only improvise and act together, "I'm going to see them off, it's proper etiquette, you have to come with me as well."

Lu Xun obeyed this time and walked out with Ye Yao.

Time is already more than twelve o'clock, these three people into this drunkenness can not play other, Ye Yao simply take these three drunks to the next hotel, near the opening of two double rooms.

He coaxed his two little friends hard into bed and then dragged the tall Lu Xun back to the other room.

He tries to coax Lu Xun into bed, but after Lu Xun gets next to the bed, he sits squarely on the edge of it, his gaze sharp as a knife.

"Don't want to sleep yet? I'll get you some water." Ye Yao asked.

Lu Xun shook his head and patted the seat next to him, so Ye Yao sat down next to Lu Xun.

Ye Yao and Lu Xun looked at each other, and Lu Xun's eyes were so dark that one couldn't see what was going on in his mind.

According to Ye Yao, any Lu Xun who was drunk to such an extent would get up the next day and forget what had happened the day before when he was drunk.

Lu Xun leaned in so that his shoulder could rest against Ye Yao's shoulder.

"When you get drunk, you forget about my confession to you, and that little bit of discomfort, and you're the best brother in the world with me again?" Ye Yao said.

Lu Xun smiled when he heard the words "the best in the world", his hand groping back as if looking for something, turning back anxiously when he didn't find it.

"Where's the bag, where's my bag?"

"You looking for that bag you brought today? I put it on the chair over there for you." Ye Yao said.

When Lu Xun came out today, he was carrying a bag and told him secretly that it contained a birthday present and he couldn't look at it until the end of the day.

Lu Xun got up and brought that bag over, placing it between him and Ye Yao.

"Guess what?" Lu Xun was smug, "Bold guess."

Ye Yao couldn't have guessed, but when he held the bag tonight he realized it wasn't heavy, and it didn't rattle or jiggle when he shook it, so he casually guessed, "Pictures of you from when you were a kid?"

"So you want this?" Lu Xun frowned once, "I'll give it to you next time, guess again."

Ye Yao : "...... don't need to give me pictures with clothes in them?"

"So smart, you guessed it right!" Lu Xun excitedly pulled out the sweater from his bag and held it up for Ye Yao to show, "Do you like it?"

Ye Yao looked at the logo-less shirt with some sort of arguably absurd speculation looming in his mind as he quickly raised his eyes to Lu Xun and whispered, "Love it."

Lu Xun's features are three-dimensional and deep, and I don't know if it's an illusion caused by the silhouettes and shadows, or if it's influenced by his own state of mind, but Ye Yao can see a little bit of deep emotion in Lu Xun's eyes.

This school bully who had a big grin no matter who he was in the eyes of, whose various interests were similar to those of ordinary boys, and who was not halfway close to needlework, grinned happily, "I made it for you with my own hands."

Ye Yao reached out to the sweater, the fine plush on it warm and soft, rubbing softly against his palm.

He suddenly realized what Lu Ming's unfinished sentence was referring to earlier, so Lu Xun was secretly knitting sweaters for him when he didn't make a fuss about sleeping with him for a while earlier, right?

No one would be unhappy to be treated so seriously again, and Ye Yao's eyes grew a little sore as he blinked, tilting his head to keep Lu Xun from looking.

Lu Xun hugged Ye Yao's waist and pressed the tip of his nose against Ye Yao's neck, "Wear it for me now, okay?"

"...... Uh-huh." Ye Yao nudges Lu Xun slightly, unzipping his jacket and pulling the sweater over his body.

The sweater is flesh pink, and Ye Yao's fair skin makes her look even whiter and pinker in this sweater.

Ye Yao seldom wore this kind of pink dress, Lu Xun looked at it with fascination and murmured, "I knew this pink color would suit you."

Lu Xun proudly introduced this dress to Ye Yao: "Your skin is thin, I specially chose this kind of very soft velvet, you feel it, it's not at all sticky, and you can wear it closely."

Speaking of which, Lu Xun was in high spirits and leaned over to bump Ye Yao: "Show me."

Ye Yao sat up straight after being hit and followed Lu Xun's words, "...... Next time, next time when the weather is warmer for sure, okay?"

Lu Xun probably agreed, and he continued to ramble and talk all by himself : "I want to see you wear it, and I'll go for walks with you in all sorts of places, and when people ask you where you bought your pretty, pretty sweater, you'll tell them I knitted it, and sour them to death."

Lu Xun's fantasies of the future are very bright, and he talks a lot. Ye Yao doesn't interrupt him, but listens until Lu Xun stops.

"Won't that embarrass you?" Ye Yao asked softly.

"Why would I be embarrassed," Lu Xun wondered, "to knit you a sweater?"

Lu Xun, who had been talking non-stop, was quiet for a while, and he suddenly reached out and held Ye Yao's hand.

Ye Yao's heart fluttered as he turned his head and crashed straight into the bottom of Lu Xun's eyes.

Lu Xun's eyes were full of seriousness, "Whatever I do, as long as it's for you, I won't be embarrassed."

Looking into Lu Xun's dark eyes, Ye Yao had heard his heartbeat again.

Ye Yao thought he was immune to Lu Xun's closeness, but every now and then, he found himself falling even further.

He knew that Lu Xun meant what he said.

As a friend.

...... friends.

Ye Yao's other unclenched hand quietly balled up into a fist, and as he closed his eyes, deciding to get up and go somewhere random for a moment of solitude himself, it was re-clenched by Lu Xun.

"I also want to give you a special birthday present." Lu Xun wouldn't let Ye Yao go, he lifted his lips and smiled, "Do you remember before when I hurt my leg and you took me to the hospital, we rode in a cab together and I laid on your lap?"

Ye Yao remembers, of course, and it's embarrassing to say that he never mentioned it to Lu Xun afterward.

Between the special birthday gift and that, there's a connection?

The conversation was so inexplicable that Ye Yao didn't react to it for a moment. But when he saw Lu Xun changing his position again and lowering his head, he suddenly realized what Lu Xun was talking about.

The cozy atmosphere shifted in an instant as disbelief and shock filled Ye Yao's heart.

"You're crazy!" Ye Yao yanked Lu Xun by the collar with a shaking hand, lifted Lu Xun's head up and snapped, "Do you know what you're doing? Are you drunk, treating me like a girl?"

Lu Xun, who doesn't drink to his head and is still his usual unruly self, inexplicably asks, "How can you be a girl? You're a guy, did you get a sex change operation? Let me see."

Ye Yao stopped Lu Xun's attempted hand and said in a cold voice, "Then what are you babbling about, don't you mind being disgusted by doing this kind of thing?"

Lu Xun froze at the comment and he slowly furrowed his brow, "You think I'm disgusting?"

Ye Yao was simply laughed at: "I didn't say you were disgusting, I said you are a straight man, don't you think it's disgusting to help another man to do this kind of thing?"

Ye Yao stared intently at Lu Xun, his hands still shaking, and Ye Yao knew it wasn't just the shock, it was the anticipation he couldn't control bubbling up.

This question made the drunk Lu Xun very incomprehensible, "I am helping you, how can helping you be disgusting." Lu Xun did not know what came to his mind, and in Ye Yao s gaze, he smiled, "We are ...... best friends."

Ye Yao felt as if he had punched cotton, he felt a deep sense of powerlessness and closed his eyes and sighed.

He's the one who doesn't understand straight friendship anymore.

After all, he's bent.

Lu Xun still wants to make a scene, but Ye Yao holds his hand down and doesn't let go.

"Lu Xun, I'll ask you one last time." Ye Yao questioned the drunken man word for word, spitting out his words clearly.

It was only when Lu Xun drank himself into a stupor and wouldn't remember things when he got up the next day that he dared to ask this.

"Can you accept that you're attracted to the same sex," Ye Yao looked Lu Xun in the eyes, "Can you accept that you, in fact, sleep with another man?"

Is it possible that the crush ...... he has pressed on his heart could be realized?

Lu Xun's expression changed, the original comfortable and pleasant look on his face disappeared, as if he had eaten something wrong and was now holding back the discomfort to not vomit it out.

Ye Yao wasn't surprised, and he couldn't help but laugh at his still-imaginative self.

It's also almost time to get ready to start alienating Lu Xun.