"Don't move."

"..."

"Hold still, I've got it."

Xie Yu had one hand in his pocket and the other propping up his head as he looked down at the pen stuck to his shirt hem. "What are you throwing around for?"

He Chao replied, "It slipped, really, it slipped."

Just now, He Chao had finally managed to dig out the pen that had been missing for several days from the corner of the desk compartment. Xie Yu felt that he looked like a poor and destitute person who couldn't make ends meet, suddenly receiving an unexpected windfall, even saying, "See, Old Xie, we have a pen now."

Xie Yu was lying on the table, not having slept enough in the last class. He responded with a nonchalant "oh" and wanted to bury his head and go back to sleep. 

But then, in the next second, the pen flew towards him. Xie Yu only had to move a little and it would fall to the ground. 

He Chao was very close, his hand touching his thigh and causing a slight itch. If his hand moved a few centimeters to the side, it would touch a place it shouldn't.

"..."

Xie Yu turned his head away and said somewhat unnaturally, "Hurry up, damn it."

He Chao didn't think much of it. He cherished this pen as if it were the last surviving seedling of his family, only realizing its value after touching the cap.

Shen Jie stood by the window, waiting for Xie Yu to kick over his Brother Chao's chair and teach him that you can't just touch whatever you want without consequences. But he waited and waited, and when the bell rang for class, Xie Yu still hadn't made a move.

The boss of the West Building just let his desk mate touch him for a while, and even replied with a couple of sentences while He Chao was talking to her.

It was like something out of a fantasy. 

Shen Jie exclaimed in his heart, what happened to this world in just a few days of absence?!

During the last PE class in the morning, Luo Wenqiang, who had been sick all this while, suddenly stood up excitedly, his headache gone, and said, "Brothers, let's meet on the court!"

He Chao stood up and said, "If Old Wu sees this, he'll be furious."

Just in the math class earlier, Wu Zheng had asked Luo Wenqiang to solve a problem on the blackboard. Luo Wenqiang had said that he was too weak to hold the chalk today, but now he was so energetic that he wanted to take off his coat and jump from here directly to the basketball court.

Luo Wenqiang opened his mouth to speak, but Xie Yu knew he was looking for an excuse and said, "Don't talk about sportsmanship."

"Old Xie," He Chao stood at the door and said, "Let's go."

Luo Wenqiang: "..." Why did these two seem to have a unified front today? 

"Two laps for warm-up," the PE teacher squatted lazily next to the podium with a whistle in his mouth, "then free activity."

Whenever Xie Yu saw this PE teacher, he thought of push-ups, and then about the poses that He Chao made for him during the sports meeting. As he thought about it, he accidentally met He Chao's eyes.

They stood side by side at the end of the line, neither of them speaking. Xie Yu avoided eye contact and stared at the chaotic football field. Someone walked past them carrying a bag of volleyballs, and he noticed that He Chao had intentionally or unintentionally pressed his back against him.

The PE teacher squinted and said, "If you need equipment, go to the sports committee representative. He'll go to the equipment room to borrow some. Luo Wenqiang, are you still playing basketball today?"

Luo Wenqiang replied, "Of course we are playing." 

Sports teacher: "I don't know if we'll have a basketball competition this semester. I heard from your principal that they want to try something new this year."

"What kind of new thing?" Liu Cunhao had just joined the basketball team with difficulty, and had been buttering up the sports committee representative for this for a long time. "Is it because of what happened last semester?" 

In the last elimination game, the two remaining classes had such a strong competitive spirit that they almost started fighting. This caused the two classes to hate each other for the entire semester.

Everyone started a furious discussion.

No one noticed the two people in the back making a subtle and secretive move.

Their backs were touching, and they stayed like that for a while, silently understanding each other.

"Old Xie," suddenly said He Chao.

"What's up?"

"Are you playing basketball later?"

"No." 

Luo Wenqiang reached the front row and led everyone in running laps. He ran backwards with his hands raised high, saying as he ran, "Girls, follow our Brother Qing! Pay attention to the formation and don't fall behind."

He Chao was originally running at the back, taking advantage of the PE teacher's inattention and ignoring the formation, he rushed forward and ran to Xie Yu's side, whispering, "Can you run? Is your foot recovered?"

It had already healed early on, and it wasn't too serious to begin with. It recovered quickly, and after lying down for a few days, it was almost back to normal.

Before Xie Yu could even say "yes," he heard Luo Wenqiang shouting from the front, "What are you doing, Brother Chao? Formation! Formation! You're so daring."

He Chao waved at Luo Wenqiang and went back to the last place.

After two slow laps, they crossed the finish line and everyone scattered in all directions. Behind the exercise ground, there was a strip of greenery near the equipment room where those who didn't exercise usually sat and chatted.

Xie Yu had originally planned to find a place to sit there, but he remembered last time when he was caught by the Class 3 class committee representative, Xue Xisheng, who could appear from everywhere. He pulled out a pocket-sized vocabulary manual from his pocket and came over, saying, "Xie Yu, let me tell you about word roots. The mnemonic method for English word roots is very effective. I hope your English score can improve in the midterm exam..."

So Xie Yu decided to go to the basketball court and find a place to hide. 

When he appeared on the court, Luo Wenqiang's eyes lit up and he exclaimed, "Brother Yu!" 

As one of the players who had been targeted by the sports committee representative from the beginning, no one had yet witnessed the true strength of Xie Yu. It was always felt that he would be very strong. Only Wan Da held the ball silently, recalling the scene of playing games with Xie Yu, and then shook his head in despair.

He really couldn't imagine what it would be like for a lone wolf player to play a cooperative match.

He Chao was taking off his clothes under the basketball hoop, leaving only a short-sleeved shirt, and then casually threw his jacket to the side. Hearing Luo Wenqiang's shout, he looked back.

Luo Wenqiang: "Brother Yu, did you come over..."

Xie Yu: "No, I just came to watch you guys play."

"..."

Luo Wenqiang wanted to say something else, but Xu Qingqing stood at the door of the basketball court and shouted to him, "Sports committee rep, do you have any more badminton rackets? We don't have enough." 

Luo Wenqiang rubbed his head and ran over, saying, "Is it not enough? I borrowed according to the number of people in our class."

He Chao leaned against the basketball hoop, just standing there doing nothing was already eye-catching enough. When Luo Wenqiang walked away, he slightly bent over and whispered in Xie Yu's ear, "Are you here to see us...or me?"

Xie Yu thought to himself, neither, I'm here to avoid the class committee representative.

But when He Chao spoke, the hot breath he exhaled in Xie Yu's ear and the hopeful, flickering, and crazily suggestive look in his eyes were almost written as: say you're here to see me.

"See you," Xie Yu decided to give this person some face and sighed, "See my boyfriend."

"Brother Chao-" Wan Da urged from the side, "Are you done yet?" 

With a smile, He Chao replied, "Coming now," then patted Xie Yu's head before leaving and saying, "Watch closely, I'll show you what a handsome guy you're dating."

"..."

Handsomeness aside, that shamelessness was definitely real.

Throughout the game, He Chao played as if he was trying to catch the attention of all the girls, playing aggressively and fiercely. Especially when he did a three-step layup, he jumped up into the air, seemingly defying gravity, his waist twisting and turning.

He crazily fought for the ball, and when he got it, he ran across the court with it, sometimes even dribbling past...the air. 

"Great, here we see Brother Chao dribbling through the air again. This is a perfect dribble through the air, with dazzling and spectacular moves, as if there really is a person standing over there," Liu Cunhao, a substitute player, commented while sitting on the sidelines with nothing to do. "Too amazing, let's applaud for Brother Chao."

Xie Yu laughed and said he was a lunatic.

After throwing the ball, He Chao turned to look in Xie Yu's direction, sweat dripping down his forehead. He raised his index and middle fingers to his lips and blew a kiss.

A large group of people who had been watching for a long time shouted in unison, "Ah!"

The surrounding crowd was discussing and guessing who the kiss was for, especially those standing in that direction, looking at each other, trying to find a clue.

However, the true recipient of the kiss seemed completely unfazed. 

Xie Yu leaned against the flower bed and thought to himself, he's quite handsome.

After a pause, he thought again: forget it, he'll be kind and remove the 'quite'."

He's handsome.

There was a certain drama king who was truly dazzling, shining like a beam of light.

After playing for a while, He Chao's teammates couldn't stand it anymore, especially Wan Da. He felt useless on the court and could even take off his jersey and sit next to Liu Cunhao for a break. He Chao carried the whole team and didn't even need any assistance.

Moreover, his fancy moves and fake actions were so confusing that even his teammates couldn't figure out what he was going to do next.

"You should take a break, Brother Chao," Luo Wenqiang advised. Before He Chao could reply, he waved to the substitute player and said, "Hao-zi, come on!"

He Chao said, "...Are you guys even human? Who begged me to come here in the first place?" 

Luo Wenqiang said, "Can't I apologize? I finally understand why you said you were too strong to come and disturb us before. You have a good understanding of yourself."

The cost of He Chao's performance was being permanently kicked out of the Class 3 basketball team by the sports committee representative. It also made the sports committee representative realize clearly and deeply that the two big shots from the east and west buildings were not people he could control.

He Chao came off the court feeling a bit tired, "They're not human."

Xie Yu said, "You're not human either. Do you enjoy dribbling through thin air?"

The court became lively again, and Liu Cunhao tried to dribble past someone but was immediately robbed of the ball.

He Chao turned his head and asked, "Wasn't I handsome?"

Xie Yu replied, "You looked like an idiot."

"..." 

The two of them sat on the side and watched the game for a while. He Chao took a few sips and casually handed the bottle to Xie Yu, "Want some?"

Xie Yu wasn't thirsty, but He Chao's gesture was so natural that he took it without thinking. 

As his lips touched the bottle, he felt the coolness of the ice water and realized that He Chao had just touched the same spot.

Both of them thought at the same time: Fuck. Indirect kiss.

He Chao suddenly felt like the half bottle of water he had just drunk was useless, and his throat became dry for no reason. Especially with Xie Yu's lips still moist, it looked...tempting. No, better not look.

He Chao cleared his throat and forced himself to continue watching Hao-zi and the rest play basketball. 

Xie Yu wasn't doing any better either. He held the bottle in his hand for a long time, until his fingertips became cold, before he remembered to hand it back to He Chao. 

He Chao frantically tried to put the cap back on the bottle, but his fingers struggled to grasp it. After a few moments of struggling, the cap slipped from his grasp and fell straight down, rolling across the grassy lawn.