FLME Ch25: Grown up

After lunch, Yu Wen downed a cup of brewed cold medicine. Xie Heyu fetched the forehead thermometer gun. “…Your fever is gone.”

36.9°C.

Yu Wen felt his physical state was decent. Waking up this morning had brought a splitting headache, but not long after taking his medication, things improved considerably. Even though his whole body felt languid and devoid of energy, it wasn’t particularly agonizing.

“Teacher Xie, go ahead and mind your own business. My fever has completely broken anyway; no one needs to watch over me.”

“…You’re not sleepy?”

“Not at all.” Yu Wen couldn’t grasp why he was asking. “When I say I’m doing fine, I’m really not lying to you. Other people get drowsy when they’re sick, but I don’t feel it at all.”

Xie Heyu gave him a deep, unfathomable look.

Reaching for his laptop, he stated, “I didn’t bring my dorm key. I’ll head back once my roommate returns. Mind if I sit here for two hours?”

Yu Wen turned it over in his head—as long as it wasn’t specifically meant to nurse him, it was fine.

Bearing an out-of-the-blue favor that far surpassed normal social etiquette always made him feel crushed under immense pressure, even if Xie Heyu himself was genuinely a wonderful person.

“Then go ahead and have a seat. Treat this place like your own home; don’t be a stranger.” Yu Wen was very generous.

Xie Heyu had already booted up his laptop, lowering his head to tap on the keyboard. “Mhm, thank you.”

Ten minutes later.

Xie Heyu let out a helpless sigh, turning his gaze toward the person who had fallen asleep leaning against his shoulder. “…Dozing off haphazardly again.”

Yu Wen wasn’t sleeping very peacefully, his brows furrowed as he whimpered softly.

Cold medicines contained sedative components; it would be abnormal not to feel drowsy. Xie Heyu had been worried he would pass out in some awkward spot again, which was precisely why he had manufactured an excuse to stay behind.

Sure enough, while he was scrambling to finish his thesis proposal, Teacher Yu had drifted over to peek at the screen twice, only to promptly rest against his shoulder and drift off.

Setting the laptop aside, Xie Heyu gently scooped Yu Wen up into his arms.

Teacher Yu was very light, feeling in his embrace like a bundle of soft cotton.

Yet he wasn’t without substance. His early dance training had left lasting traces on his frame—his upright posture, a slender and elegant neck, full and plump glutes, along with a supple waist.

Xie Heyu kept his eyes fixed straight ahead, but Yu Wen rolled over on the bed, burying his face in the pillow. A plush toy ended up pressed right under his lower back, arching his hips and rear upward—

The loose waistband caught at the crest of his hip bones, revealing a rim of white briefs. The two firm mounds of flesh stretched the light fabric taut without a single crease; merely looking at it was enough to imagine how intoxicating the touch would be.

Further down, the hem of his T-shirt had ridden up to his ribcage, leaving an expanse of waist narrow enough to grasp with two hands exposed to the cool air, curving into a breathtaking silhouette.

It was impossibly difficult to keep his eyes straight.

Xie Heyu stood frozen by the bedside, falling utterly silent for an entire minute.

He had always known he was different from his peers, having sensed it as early as adolescence. Not only did he harbor zero interest in the opposite sex, but even when watching adult videos, he would only register a faint reaction during “pure romance” titles.

Though he had never confided in anyone, he had hazily realized he was gay—yet coming to that realization was one thing, and witnessing something firsthand was another entirely.

Xie Heyu looked down at his own crotch.

“Tsk…”

He couldn’t help but tug at his own hair.

Yu Wen liked to twirl his hair when thinking; Xie Heyu had always found that gesture endearing, until right now…

Tugging at his locks pulled against his scalp, sending a faint twinge of pain that cleared his head somewhat.

So people really tugged their hair when they were at a complete loss.

How could it be… so easily triggered…

Heat radiated from an unnamed place, creeping up to the tips of his ears like a crackling, disorderly wildfire, burning with fierce intensity.

Twenty years of ascetic detachment had left him entirely ill-equipped to handle such a visceral reaction. Being able to execute everything flawlessly meant maintaining absolute rationality and self-control. He was accustomed to suppressing every unnecessary impulse, but judging by the present situation… certain impulses couldn’t be stamped out merely because one wished them to be.

He liked Yu Wen. He had to admit it—he had fallen for him at first sight. That day, Yu Wen had worn a white T-shirt paired with a black jacket. Coming over, he had run straight into a downpour and gotten soaked through. His features had been misted with vapor, his clean gaze and touching teardrop mole rendering him as pure as a glass of water stirred with sugar.

As he ran over, Xie Heyu had lifted his gaze and caught his eye, distinctly hearing his own heart skip a beat.

Yet within a single second, he had cast his eyes down—his PowerPoint slides weren’t finished.

In the face of his highest-priority task, even if heaven and earth were roaring inside his chest, he had to sit firmly where he was and finish what needed to be done.

This had been his governing life rule for twenty years.

Yet at this exact moment, that core rule suffered a subtle tremor.

Even though he had already settled on a “slowly boiling Teacher Yu in warm water” strategy, swearing not to let Yu Wen catch the faintest whiff of his feelings, and had even gone out of his way to look up online “how to avoid blushing when facing one’s crush.”

His top-priority assignment in front of Yu Wen was to restrain any reaction rooted in romantic affection.

And yet—

His body was far filthier than he had ever imagined.

Just as Xie Heyu plunged into profound self-doubt, a well-timed phone call came to his rescue.

The phone resting on the nightstand was on silent, yet the screen lit up, flashing the three large characters: Xie Jiamao. Xie Heyu had never found Xie Jiamao’s name so pleasing to the eye. Flustered, he tucked the blanket over Yu Wen, strode out to the balcony, and took several deep gulps of cold air before finally feeling himself steady somewhat.

“Hello,” he answered.

Silence stretched from the other end. After a moment, a grave voice asked, “Who are you?”

Xie Heyu tilted his head to check the contact display. That was right—Xie Jiamao.

“Me,” he replied concisely.

“…I know it’s you, but who are you? Where is this phone’s owner? Did you pick up his phone? Or have you kidnapped him! What is your motive? Are you demanding a ransom—”

…Xie Heyu tilted his head once more to confirm the contact name.

The contact wasn’t wrong, but this didn’t appear to be his phone.

He had grabbed the wrong one.

It just so happened that he and Yu Wen shared the exact same phone brand and model. Neither of them cared for flashy phone cases, with only the subtle gradient sheen on the back differing slightly—impossible to tell apart without looking closely.

Xie Heyu felt vexed inside, though none of it bled into his voice. He remained cool, even lowering his pitch intentionally on account of an unnamable shyness, making his tone sound all the sterner.

“I am Xie Heyu.”

“…” The other end fell quiet for two seconds before Xie Jiamao uttered, “That makes sense then.”

God knew where the logic lay, but the fact that Xie Heyu was holding Yu Wen’s phone simply struck him as utterly normal.

“Where’s Little Yu? I have business with him.”

“Sleeping.”

Xie Jiamao had called to inform Yu Wen that two new scripts had reached out to them and wanted him to review them before deciding. But hearing that Yu Wen was sick, he didn’t elaborate, merely fussing over him and instructing Xie Heyu to take good care of the company’s golden goose.

Right before hanging up, he finally realized something was amiss about the whole situation.

“What are you hanging around Little Yu’s place for anyway?”

“I’m his assistant.”

“…Temporary assistant, just for one week. That expired ages ago.”

“You told me to come.”

“Bullshit! When did I ever tell you to go to his house?! Besides, you have finals coming up; how would I dare bother you!”

“Looking after him on your behalf.” Xie Heyu rested against the balcony railing, his tone casual. “You are his manager after all. Shrugging off your duties—isn’t that rather irresponsible?”

Xie Jiamao had no counter to that.

“Fine, look after him for me then. Once exam week wraps up, you might need to accompany him on a few schedules. I won’t have time to tag along, and I wouldn’t trust anyone else anyway.”

Xie Heyu let out an indifferent “Mhm.”

“I’ll have plenty of time in the second half of the year.”

Returning to the bedroom after the call, he found Yu Wen had shifted into another pose, his arms and legs—tucked into the quilt with such effort—poking out once again.

He was sprawled out haphazardly in all directions, a smile resting at the corner of his lips as though savoring some sweet dream.

Xie Heyu didn’t have time to harbor stray desires toward that exposed stomach; he merely felt the chill, immediately pulling the blanket back over him to tuck him in securely.

Not two minutes later, a porcelain-white calf slipped right out.

Xie Heyu’s brows knitted unconsciously. Peeling back the quilt to inspect, he discovered that this sleeping beauty had, at some unknown point, stripped off his trousers.

White boxer briefs hugged his firm, rounded hips and thighs, the edges biting slightly into the tender, luscious flesh. His T-shirt had already ridden up to his chest, just one step away from being yanked off and cast aside.

Tucking the leg back in and firmly pinning down both sides of the blanket, Xie Heyu sat on the edge of the bed and couldn’t help pinching the space between his eyebrows.

…It seemed he wouldn’t be leaving today after all.

That was secondary; the greatest problem was…

Could he genuinely endure this kind of trial?

Sitting in place and pondering for quite a while, Xie Heyu eventually pulled out his phone and opened a search engine.

How to suppress physical arousal around your crush?

Is it normal to get aroused the second you see your crush?

How to play it off if you accidentally get hard?

Scrolling through, the homepage pushed a thread titled: Top Rookie Training Guide: Make Your Bottom Swoon with Unbearable Pleasure.

Xie Heyu hadn’t paid close attention; seeing the sheer volume of replies, he tapped right in. Ten minutes later, his right brow slowly ticked upward, opening the gateway to an entirely new world.

Having slept straight through until evening, Yu Wen woke to complete darkness outside.

The blanket was comfortably warm, though a bit heavy. It took him a moment to realize that the weight wasn’t the blanket, but an arm draped across his waist.

A heat source pressed against his back, unfamiliar male pheromones boldly encroaching upon his personal territory, mingling with the faint, crisp scent of laundry detergent.

Yu Wen’s mind went blank for a second before he twisted his neck to look behind him.

His movement was slightly abrupt, waking Xie Heyu instantly. Yu Wen was met with a pair of narrow eyes, bloodshot and half-lidded.

Yu Wen: “…”

“Yu Wen…” Xie Heyu was a light sleeper and woke quickly, though his brain clearly hadn’t booted up as fast. He squeezed his half-lidded eyes shut with force, seemingly trying to ease the sudden wave of dryness.

He had always called him “Teacher Yu” with strict propriety; this was the first time he had spoken his full name.

The timbre was low and raspy, carrying an inexplicable magnetism. As his breath fanned against his ear, Yu Wen froze for two seconds. The awkward shock of waking up to find himself intimately wrapped around another man vanished instantly into thin air.

Yu Wen: Huh? Sounds nice.

He even entertained the idea of having Xie Heyu record an alarm tone to wake him in the mornings, though right now clearly wasn’t the time for such thoughts.

“Teacher Xie, did I wake you?” Yu Wen rolled over and asked.

Xie Heyu shook his head with his eyes closed, then suddenly registered something and snapped them open.

Yu Wen locked eyes with his stunned gaze at point-blank range, catching a trace of tension from his abruptly contracting pupils.

Yu Wen didn’t say a word, and neither did he.

Only after a good while did Xie Heyu explain, “You were clutching my hand; I couldn’t pull away, so…”

Yu Wen wiggled his fingers with delayed awareness.

His palm was loosely clutching a hand, the forearm muscles taut, with the faint contours of veins palpable beneath the skin.

It was Xie Heyu’s hand.

Cradled in his arms like a body pillow.

“…S-Sorry.” Yu Wen slowly released his grip.

Even though the current scene was deeply bizarre, he firmly believed that as long as he didn’t find it ambiguous, it didn’t count as ambiguous. It was just that his voice somehow still stuttered when replying.

“It’s fine.” Xie Heyu shook his head. Yu Wen was simply too unruly in his sleep; he had been forced to guard the bedside to monitor his movements. In the middle of adjusting the blanket, he had accidentally let the sleeping beauty grab his wrist, and he was never able to break free after that.

Considering Yu Wen was still sick and having a peaceful rest didn’t come easily, he hadn’t had the heart to yank his arm away either.

In the end, it had turned out like this.

Just as Xie Heyu moved to sit up, Yu Wen felt a bizarre sense of déjà vu, as though the man leaving the bed right now was being discarded after use—

“Why don’t you sleep a bit longer?” the words slipped out.

“…” Xie Heyu turned his head, looking at him with question marks in his eyes.

Yu Wen tugged at his messy hair.

“You look exhausted. You probably haven’t been resting well lately… Why not sleep here a bit longer?”

Xie Heyu still wore a look of utter incomprehension.

Yu Wen squirmed sheepishly. “I feel bad.”

Xie Heyu had looked after him all day; he felt he ought to do something in return to balance the scales…

Xie Heyu understood.

“…I’m already awake. If I sleep more, I won’t fall asleep tonight.” Sitting on the edge of the bed, Xie Heyu’s voice was raspy and rich with texture, so much so that Yu Wen felt his ears might get pregnant.

“If you feel bad about it, treat me to a meal some other day… Are you listening to me?”

Yu Wen: “Oh, right, what did you just say?”

Xie Heyu: “…”

Unable to help himself, he curled his finger and rapped Yu Wen on the forehead.

“I asked: are you hungry, and what do you want to eat?”

Yu Wen wanted to eat soft-boiled eggs.

His tastes had turned rather bizarre lately. In the past, he definitely would have said he didn’t want to eat and had no appetite—most of the time, he genuinely lacked one.

Hence, he was used to eating while focusing on other tasks, which allowed him to ignore the negative feedback from his taste buds and unknowingly consume quite a bit.

But today, he truly craved soft-boiled eggs.

“Mhm, I’ll take a shower first.” Probably due to the recent stress, that shallow nap had left Xie Heyu with a slight headache. Intending to wash up to clear his mind, he asked to borrow Yu Wen’s bathroom.

Before heading inside, he retrieved a bowl of set yogurt from the fridge and handed it to Yu Wen. “Line your stomach.”

Yu Wen looked down; it was his favorite flavor.

He had no idea when Xie Heyu had picked up on that. What an attentive monster, Yu Wen mused inwardly.

The sound of rushing water drifted from the bathroom. Yu Wen scooped out two spoonfuls of yogurt and flipped the blanket to get out of bed. The moment he threw it back, he felt a draft below, and looking down—his trousers were gone.

It definitely wasn’t Xie Heyu who had taken them off, he reasoned calmly.

Surely nothing dirty had occurred either; they were two straight guys after all.

Tossing the thought back and forth, he could only chalk this incident up to his own atrocious sleeping posture that provoked outrage from gods and men alike.

His sleeping posture had always been terrible. His family used to say that his sleeping looked like he was brawling with someone—not only did he bust out kicks, punches, and strikes, but he also pulled off bizarre, high-difficulty maneuvers, such as frog squats, Dunhuang celestial dances, full splits…

Wait a second.

A full split?

By the time Xie Heyu emerged from the shower, Yu Wen had already put on his clothes and pants, sitting on the sofa. Seeing him come out, he instantly assumed a proper, upright posture.

“Teacher Xie, did I do anything improper while I was asleep?”

Drying his hair with a towel, Xie Heyu’s clothes were slightly damp, the contours of his shoulders and back vaguely visible beneath the fabric.

“Improper how?”

Yu Wen asked solemnly, “Did I hit you?”

A low, muffled chuckle rumbled in Xie Heyu’s throat. “You like to move around a lot, but you didn’t hit me.”

Strictly speaking, he had actually enjoyed it quite a bit.

“Oh.” Yu Wen felt somewhat relieved. “Did I do a split then?”

Xie Heyu retrieved two eggs from the fridge. “What about doing a split?”

Yu Wen: “When I do a split, I might rest my leg over your shoulder, which is slightly…”

Indecent.

Xie Heyu lit the stove and poured oil into the pan. Yu Wen failed to catch the momentary unnaturalness that flashed across his face.

To tell the absolute truth, he had.

Yu Wen’s self-awareness was reasonably accurate. While it couldn’t strictly be called a split, he had indeed repeatedly hooked one foot over Xie Heyu’s waist—he had actually aimed for the shoulder, but Xie Heyu had clamped his leg firmly against his waist, terrified of snapping him in two.

They had even maintained that delicate posture for well over an hour.

During that time, Xie Heyu had realized countless times just how filthy-minded he was.

Yet he would never voice these details. Teacher Yu was insanely sensitive to social boundaries; he seemed instinctively prone to fleeing any sincere affection he couldn’t shoulder. Once things crossed a certain line, nine times out of ten he would retreat into a shell like a quailing partridge.

These boundaries weren’t reserved solely for Xie Heyu, but extended to everyone else, men and women alike.

Whether they were gay or straight was beside the point. Before he opened his heart, the paramount rule was never to trigger his defensive sense of being “encroached upon.”

—All of the above were Teacher Xie’s takeaways from a mere half-day.

These undercurrents lurking beneath Yu Wen’s placid exterior had been faintly sensed by Xie Heyu in the past, yet he had never analyzed them deeply, relying only on instinct to guard Yu Wen’s comfort zone. But now…

He was a man who had undergone advanced training.

The forum post stated: One must map out every single weakness and sensitive zone of the target, deducing preferences from reactions, discerning their offenses and defenses, in order to strike the destination with pinpoint accuracy and achieve an explosive breakthrough.

Xie Heyu could not agree more.

Though these words of wisdom were primarily geared toward… certain intimate matters, shifting the mindset made them remarkably applicable to Teacher Yu. Thus, he had immediately conducted a highly specific analysis on Yu Wen, ultimately arriving at the aforementioned conclusions.

“…No. I was sleeping too deeply; even if you did, I wouldn’t remember.” Xie Heyu casually tossed a piece of toast into his mouth, his expression unflinching.

Yu Wen audibly sighed in relief.

Sometimes whether something happened wasn’t important; as long as neither side remembered, it could be treated as though it never did!

With the eggs in the pan, sizzling oil crackled in the kitchen. He strolled over, leaning against the doorframe. “…Teacher Xie, your hair isn’t dry.”

A towel was slung over Xie Heyu’s shoulder, and Yu Wen’s sharp eyes noticed that the opposite shoulder was already damp.

Toast between his teeth, Xie Heyu didn’t turn around. “I’ll dry it in a bit.”

Yu Wen fidgeted awkwardly by the kitchen door for a moment.

Presently, he asked, “Want me to dry it for you?”

Teacher Xie had looked after him all day; it was only right to offer some small return…

Xie Heyu: “No need. I don’t like people touching my hair.”

The moment he said he disliked it, Yu Wen relaxed completely.

“Then, should I fetch you fresh clothes? Your shoulder is soaked through.”

Focusing on frying the eggs, Xie Heyu appeared quite unbothered. “Sorry for the trouble.”

Very polite.

So polite that it put Yu Wen’s mind at ease.

Yu Wen happily skipped off to the bedroom to hunt for unworn clothes. By the time he finally dug out an oversized piece, Xie Heyu had already finished frying the soft-boiled eggs and was inspecting the remaining ingredients in front of the fridge.

His hair had dried; men’s hair was short, and a quick rub with a towel combined with the indoor air conditioning made it dry rapidly.

“What else do you want to eat?” he asked.

Embarrassed to trouble him further, Yu Wen said, “Two eggs are enough. I shouldn’t eat too much at night, need to watch my figure…”

Like hell he did.

He snuck out for barbecue every single day.

One hand bracing against the fridge door, Xie Heyu’s eyelashes flickered downward before lifting again.

“Treat me to a meal, and I won’t tell Xie Jiamao.”

“…”

This was the very first time Yu Wen had heard such playful banter from Xie Heyu’s mouth.

Perhaps his astonishment was too glaring; Xie Heyu turned around blankly, stating mildly, “Rest properly when you’re sick. Just this once; don’t make a habit of it.”

Meaning, this pact of “collusion” had an expiration date, valid only while he was ill.

Yu Wen paused for only half a second. “Then I want beef meatballs!”

Xie Heyu: “…”

The moment the words left his mouth, Yu Wen realized his mistake—making beef meatballs was a painstaking chore. At this hour, pre-ground beef paste was nowhere to be bought; one had to start by mincing the beef by hand…

“Never—”

“Two meals.”

Yu Wen blinked.

Retrieving the beef he had bought from the fridge, Xie Heyu raised a brow slightly and reiterated, “Treat me to two meals once you recover, and I’ll make them for you.”

“…Oh.” Yu Wen chewed on it, sensing an odd dissonance. “Teacher Xie, are you… short on cash lately?”

So broke he couldn’t even afford meals?

“Not short on cash, just looking for company to eat with.”

“…Where’s your roommate?”

“We’re in different majors; our meal schedules rarely line up, and I’m off-campus most of the time anyway.”

Yu Wen: “…Oh.”

What did that imply? It implied that Teacher Xie had wasted a massive amount of personal time on Starlight Media, leaving him with zero social life on campus, without even a friend to eat with.

Could he possibly turn down such terms?

“I’ll treat you! I’ll treat you to tons of meals.” Yu Wen looked at him with wide, expectant eyes. “Then will you make me beef meatballs?”

Xie Heyu’s gaze settled on his face for two seconds before he turned around, answering with aloof dignity: “Mhm.”

Xie Heyu had never made beef meatballs before, so he pulled out his tablet to look up a tutorial.

Holding his plate of fried eggs, Yu Wen stood behind him to watch along.

Teacher Xie was somewhat tall and the tablet was held a bit far off. Yu Wen leaned closer and closer, eventually resting his chin directly on Xie Heyu’s shoulder.

This posture was far more comfortable.

With Yu Wen resting his cheek against the crook of Xie Heyu’s neck, Xie Heyu took the plate of eggs from his hands, turning his arm around to feed him with a fork.

“Teacher Xie, you don’t let people touch your hair, but can they touch your shoulder?” Having rested his head halfway, he remembered to ask.

The side of Xie Heyu’s face was as calm as still water, without even his peripheral vision shifting.

“It’s fine.”

Yu Wen scrutinized his expression. Gathering that he didn’t seem to mind, he laid his worries to rest and leaned against him happily.

The tutorial reached the step of adding minced ginger and scallions to the ground beef.

Yu Wen: “Can we skip the ginger?”

Xie Heyu: “…It’ll smell gamey.”

Yu Wen: “What about skipping the scallions then?”

Xie Heyu: “…I’ll mince them so fine you won’t see them or taste them.”

Yu Wen: “Oh, then thank you so much, Teacher Xie.”

Xie Heyu: “Three meals.”

It took Yu Wen a beat to catch on, breaking into a goose-like cackle of laughter.

He tilted his head to study Xie Heyu’s expression, met with a stony-faced profile.

His tone turned sweet and soft: “Teacher Xie, you are so cute.”

Xie Heyu: “Acting cute won’t get you a discount.”

Yu Wen: “Hahahaha fine, I’ll treat you to lots of meals! Next time you come over, I’ll fry soft-boiled eggs for you, deal? Though they might not taste as good as yours…”