A drop of humor, a gallon of glee,
A hint of amusement, and a universe of love...

------------------------------

Shijie and I returned to the Snack bar to find a red-faced Jin Zixuan being teased by Cheng. Seeing it, Shijie chuckles, shaking her head.

"He's still scared of the two of you." She tells me before going over to him. "Stop bullying him, Cheng." She says making the rest of them aware of our presence.

"You made it." Qing screeches as she gets up to hug her, and they have their little chat about the wedding.

"Where are the drinks?" Sang demands.

"Forgot," I reply with a grin, feeling no guilt.

That's when I notice that my chair had been taken by the peacock, leaving me no place to sit. Well, not all places. I've got one more seat vacant.

Well, well, Lan Zhan, you gave me the liberty of showing you off. And now I'm going to use it.

Smirking to myself, I walk over to him and sit on his lap, initiating an awkward silence at the table. Lan Zhan's eyes widen for a moment, but then he wraps his hand around my waist protectively, holding me to make sure I don't fall off. I keep my elbow on the table and hook my chin on my hand, casually taking a look at the astonished gazes on us.

"Well, we're not friends anymore," I say nonchalantly.

Shijie chuckles. "What he's saying is, they're together."

Jiang Cheng's jaw drops. "But you used to-" he stops abruptly when Sang shoves his sandwich into his mouth.

"Well, I win," Xingchen tells Song out of the blue.

Song throws his head back. "Fine, you're driving today," he replies with a chuckle and then I realize what was happening.

I glare at them with a raised eyebrow. "You two had a bet?"

"Uh-huh," Xingchen replies. "He bet that you two aren't dating and I bet against. I win." He grins.

"And what made you think that?" I ask.

"Because of the-"

"Don't say it." Song mumbles.

They exchange a message through with a glance they shared. "Just the tension between you two.'

Song groans. "That wasn't subtle at all Xingchen."

It takes me a moment to figure out the word which was supposed to come before 'tension'.

"Ha, funny." I laugh sarcastically without turning behind, too embarrassed to look at Lan Zhan.

"Well, first," Qing begins, "to be sane, congrats. Second," she grins innocently, "how long has it been?"

"A few days," I reply honestly.

"Whoa, I lose there," Xingchen exclaims. "I thought it had been weeks already. You guys definitely look that."

I agree with it. Even though it has been just a little time since we got together, I felt so bonded with him, as if we've spent an eternity together. I guess it's because of the way our relationship started, right from our rock bottom. I thought I would feel embarrassed about the fact he had seen me in that vulnerable state, but now when I think about it, it had made us more comfortable around each other.

"I'll give no comments," Sang says. "I was blind to all of it."

What he doesn't know is that he revealing my past laid the first few stepping stones we needed. I chuckle inwardly. Maybe I'll tell him sometime.

We decide to call it a day at sundown. Saying our goodbyes we separate, taking our ways home.

I was waiting till Lan Zhan comes out of the shower. He agreed to stay over since I asked him to.

Probably because he's here, I start to note things in my room. All the walls were painted white, except the one behind my bed, which is a dark shade of red. In the far left corner is my 'small studio' as I called it, which had my guitar, amps, and all the stuff related to music. My sheets were always plain black or white, and there's a small balcony, which had a somewhat similar view as our cliff, where I am sitting right now with my earphones plugged.

I remove them when I see Lan Zhan immerging from the bathroom. He walks over to the balcony and sits in front of me on the ground. I scoot close to him and keep my head on his shoulder and he laces our fingers together. He used my toiletries and is wearing my clothes, but still, he smelled like... him.

He leans his head on mine as I close my eyes, reveling in the closeness and the warmth.

"Were you bored today? I know you don't like things like parties." I ask.

"I got to spend time with you, that's all that matters." He replies.

I lift my head up to look at him. "Hey, tell me honestly. Do you really like coming to gigs?"

"I was uneasy on the first day, but now I enjoy coming there. I think it's because of you."

"I'm pushing you, aren't I?"

"No, you're making me try new things. I need it, I think. At least, my brother thinks."

I smirk. "Your brother is totally different than the person I thought he was."

"Is that bad?" he asks.

"No. It's very good."

It is good indeed. This is good. Being next to him is good. His warmth is good. I just hope my extreme luck wouldn't strike us with a meteor or something.

But I can make it work, can't I? As long as I'm careful, stop being reckless, why wouldn't it work? Because right now, I feel like I can do anything to make it work. This is not my hormone-struck-self speaking, is it? I do love him. I don't doubt that.

"What are you thinking?" Lan Zhan asks.

I give him a light kiss on his jaw. "Nothing... Oh, I got something for you."

I take out what I purchased earlier from my pocket. It was a wrist band, quite similar to my one. But this one is blue and mine is black. I tie it to his wrist.

"We have somewhat matching ones now. Uh, I know it's childish-" I'm cut off by him.

"No. It's perfect." He takes my hand and kisses my knuckles.

"Sorry about the way I acted today," I say after a while.

"Why are you apologizing?"

"Didn't I embarrass you?" I ask.

"Of course, not." He says. "It was... surprising."

I let out a chuckle. "Now you know how shameless I can be Lan Zhan," I say in a soft voice while sitting on his lap, facing him, with my knees on either side of his thighs. "Will you be able to put up with it?"

"Mn. I love you." He says.

I smile, almost against his lips, and I seal them in a kiss. I graze my fingers through his hair, and he holds me by my waist, caressing my back from time to time. He licks my lip, seeking entrance and I happily grant it, letting his tongue seek its mate. I release a low hum as his tongue swirls around mine. Both of our breathing becomes heavier as the kiss becomes more intense and I feel his hand slightly lifting my shirt.

I pull away and press my thumb to his lower lip. Tempting. Too tempting. But on another day.

"You must be tired. Do you want to sleep?"

He smiles at me. "Mn. Let's sleep."

I stand up, take his hands to pull him up. We walk over to the bed. I climb in and lift the comforter for him to get in. I snuggle against his chest using his arm as a pillow and he kisses my forehead. I off the light on the nightstand and I know, I'm going to have a great sleep.

Extra:
Gangster wangxian

credit:  @出尘 公子 on Weibo

For those who expected something else at the end, apologies 😁😁
¯\_( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)_/¯ 

Hope you enjoyed it.
Till next time...