This group of people were chatting and drinking, and after getting drunk, they couldn't keep their mouths shut. The topic went from online games to their respective crushes.

Among guys, these were the only topics of conversation.

But these trivial troubles were significant in this world of theirs, that had not yet been stretched by time and was not vast.

"The first time I saw her, she was walking out of the teacher's office holding a book, looking down and almost bumped into me...it was nothing special, but when she looked up, she smiled at me. Damn, I still remember it."

The rooftop was simple, with no comfortable chairs, so they just laid out some newspapers on the ground and used beer bottles to hold down the corners.

Xie Yu sat by the iron door, leaning back slightly so that he could rest against it. He reached into a plastic bag and pulled out a can of beer, using his fingers to pull the tab open. As he listened, he tilted his head back and took a few gulps.

The beer went down smoothly, cool and refreshing.

As Xie Yu casually placed the beer can beside him, his palm happened to press down on He Chao's hand.

Wan Da also had a secret crush, and after drinking a bit too much and being influenced by the people around him, he blurted out, "Yeah, I don't even dare to tell her that I like her..."

Wan Da was always the one to gossip the most, and once he knew something, he couldn't keep it to himself. However, he had silently kept his feelings for that girl in the class next door hidden for so long.

Upon hearing this, Xie Yu turned his head and glanced at He Chao: "You were pretty brave. What were you thinking at the time? Weren't you scared?"

He Chao realised he was referring to the day of the confession.

He remained silent and calmly flipped the page of the book. Then, he turned his palm upwards and squeezed his five fingers into the gaps between Xie Yu's fingers, holding his hand tightly.

He said, "I was scared."

Of course he was scared.

All the cautious emotions and uncontrollable thoughts were swirling inside him. He wanted to get closer but didn't dare to make a sound.

But afterwards, he was glad that he had taken that bold step.

He was even more grateful that the person beside him...had also walked towards him without any hesitation.

Wan Da and the others were still talking about their own tragic love stories.

The lighting around them was too dim, and no one noticed their small movements.

A couple of empty cans rolled on the ground for a few rounds, and finally, they were blown by the wind and hit the iron door. They landed right next to Xie Yu, who reached out and picked up the cans, flattened them, and threw them into the trash bag. Then he remembered what He Chao had said about picking open the door.

The door on the rooftop of the dormitory building was always locked. In order to prevent students from having any accidents, there was a sign on the door besides the lock. The sign had three big words written by the Mad Dog, "Entry Strictly Forbidden."

"What did you use to pick it open?" Xie Yu asked.

He Chao wouldn't admit that he had searched the internet for a bunch of lock-picking tutorials, but he really didn't have the talent for it. He had been struggling with this lock for several days and pretended to be relaxed as he said, "I used my brain. I just casually picked it open."

"..."

Xie Yu thought to himself, you're just talking nonsense.

It was already close to midnight.

Xie Yu finished drinking two cans, looked down at his phone, and was busy replying to WeChat messages.

In addition to the birthday wishes sent by Madam Gu, there were dozens of people in the Blackwater Street group chat, lining up to say "happy birthday" one by one, filling the screen.

[Aunt Mei]: On this day of your 18th birthday, you came to this world. I hope you can do what you want to do, go where you want to go, and be happy every day!

[Zhou Dalei]: @xy, thanks boss, congratulations on getting another year older hahaha.

......

There were too many messages, and Xie Yu was still replying them one by one when he heard He Chao call him "Old Xie".

After Xie Yu finished typing "thank you" and clicked send, he looked up and saw that He Chao had somehow pulled out a gift box. The box was tied with a few ribbons and didn't look very big, about half a foot tall.

"What is this?"

"It's a gift," He Chao said, "a birthday gift."

Xie Yu put his phone aside and took the gift box.

Wan Da and the others gathered around, especially Wan Da, who was the chief of staff for Xie Yu's birthday party. He knew very well how long He Chao had spent picking out the gift: "Brother Chao spent a long time on it, almost forgetting to eat and sleep. He was very careful. He said it was a mysterious gift and wouldn't let us see it."

Xie Yu didn't have much of an opinion at first, but after hearing Wan Da hype it up, he became a little curious.

He untied the ribbon and removed the decorative wrapping paper, revealing a simple cardboard box.

With everyone's eager eyes on him, Xie Yu opened the box and when he saw what was inside, he was speechless for a while: "..."

Wan Da's angle wasn't very good, so he leaned forward a bit and asked, "What is it, what is it?"

But he stopped halfway through his sentence.

"Take it out and have a look," He Chao said confidently, obviously very satisfied with the gift he had chosen. "The switch is at the back of the base, and the colorful light effects are really cool and awesome."

Only this idiot would use the words "cool" and "awesome" to describe this thing.

Xie Yu took a deep breath before summoning the courage to continue staring at this "awesome" gift - a crystal lamp in the shape of a very tacky big heart. The crystal heart had their photo printed on it, the one they took sitting on the stairs before the school anniversary performance.

Around the heart were not only patterns from the 1980s, but also several lines of non-mainstream fonts that were almost ridiculous: "Little friend, fate brought us together. Time does not age, we will not separate. Happy birthday."

The laser engraving had an extremely strong visual impact.

...It looked like a memorial photo. Especially when the cool and colorful lights turned into white light, the black and white photo emitted a bleak glow.

What was even more unbelievable was that this thing could actually play music. A very nostalgic song, "365 Blessings," forcefully came out.

"My heart hides every day~"

"More than 1,440 thoughts~"

Xie Yu's temples throbbed fiercely, shaken by this tasteless gift and not knowing what to say.

He felt that today, either he would push He Chao off the rooftop, or he would jump off himself.

"Brother," Xie Yu held the crystal lamp and finally spoke very slowly, "...thank you very much."

Wan Da sat back in a daze and muttered to himself, "How scary, after all that searching, he ended up with this thing? Is this what they call straight male aesthetics?"

Ding Lianghua whispered, "...Moronic aesthetics, right?"

He Chao remained oblivious.

Buying gifts while living on campus was inconvenient, so he skipped class a few times to go out, but the shops around the school didn't have anything special. In the end, he reluctantly looked at a few online stores.

When he saw this crystal lamp, he felt a stirring in his heart.

The seller's cover had a big line of text: This time, he was really moved! He really cried!

Xie Yu certainly felt like crying.

But definitely not the kind He Chao was thinking of.

"Thank you so much," Xie Yu decided to offer up his last bit of patience, "Your taste...is very unique."

He Chao smiled, "As long as you like it."

Wan Da held onto his thoughts tightly, unable to bear watching this scene of gift-giving.

As they drank on, the group forgot all about their early morning classes the next day.

Knowing his own limits, Wan Da stopped drinking while he still had some sense left.

On the other hand, Ding Lianghua, usually quiet and reserved, became the most talkative after a few drinks. He stood up and started shouting wildly by the wall, impossible to restrain.

"Wow, this is too much," Wan Da finally managed to catch him and hooked his arm around Ding Lianghua's shoulder, pushing open the door and heading downstairs. "I'll take him back first."

One by one, people started leaving.

He Chao stood up and bent down to stuff the leftover items on the rooftop into the garbage bag.

Xie Yu watched He Chao busying himself and then lowered his head to count the empty beer cans at his feet. He wanted to tally up how many he had drunk, but his head was spinning and he couldn't count them all.

After finishing up on the rooftop, He Chao took out a new lock from his pocket before leaving.

Xie Yu took two steps down while leaning against the wall and looked back at him. This guy not only broke the lock but also bought a new one to secure the door. "You're quite thoughtful, huh," Xie Yu said.

"It's for the safety of other students," He Chao replied.

At one in the morning, they headed back to their respective dorm rooms. He Chao opened the door and was about to say goodnight when the little friend bumped into him and fell into his arms. "...Where are you going?"

Xie Yu had lost control tonight and drank about seven or eight cans of beer. He didn't feel it at first, but after a while, the alcohol hit him.

He felt a bit hot.

He blinked his eyes before realizing that he had followed this guy to his dorm room without even noticing.

Xie Yu pressed his temple and was about to say "went the wrong way" when He Chao grabbed his wrist and pulled him inside.

After drinking, Xie Yu looked unusually obedient, his sharp eyebrows and eyes softened, and there seemed to be a hint of moisture in his eyes when he looked at He Chao.

"Close your eyes," He Chao was almost unable to control himself under Xie Yu's gaze, "be good, close your eyes."

Xie Yu leaned against the door and closed his eyes as He Chao kissed him all the way down.

He still held Xie Yu's wrist, causing him pain. Their breaths gradually intertwined, intense and tender, until Xie Yu struggled and called out to him in a hoarse voice, "Brother..."

He Chao cursed under his breath and loosened his grip on Xie Yu's wrist, thinking that he wanted to leave.

However, Xie Yu didn't open the door. He slowly pulled down the zipper of his school uniform jacket.

When Wan Da came to knock on his door to walk around the dormitory building, he didn't think much and just put on a random jacket. Now that he had taken it off, he was still wearing the thin t-shirt he had on when he was sleeping.

Xie Yu casually threw the jacket on the ground and approached him, grabbing He Chao's collar and pushing him onto the bed.

Xie Yu's whole body was burning, but surprisingly, his mind was clear. He opened his mouth and uttered two words, "Do it?"

"Behave, you're drunk."

"I'm not drunk."

As Xie Yu spoke, he almost straddled his legs and rubbed against him, intentionally or unintentionally. He then said, "Do it, Brother."

The dormitory was dimly lit.

With the light coming in from the window, one could vaguely see the messy sheets on the bed, with half of them hanging down to the ground.

He Chao's hand was holding Xie Yu's waist.

The young man's bare back was taut, forming a beautiful curve. Above that were his protruding shoulder blades. Xie Yu had his head lowered, half of his face buried in the pillow. He let out two low moans of pain.

As if he was suppressing something and begging for mercy.

"Fuck," Xie Yu grabbed the bedsheet, his fingertips turning white. It took him a while to say a complete sentence, "...slow down, damn it."

He Chao also let out a low "fuck".

Their movements were intense, causing the bed to make ambiguous sounds.

It was both inexperienced and impatient, with constant collisions and entanglements.