Brother, you smell good - 48

 

| BYSG | Maybe One Day | 48

Xiao Xiong and Sun Xinghe noticed that Cheng Mofei had been acting a little "strange" lately.

He no longer allowed them to lift up his shirt to show off his abs, and he didn’t wander around topless anymore. 

Even after the heating was turned on, he, who used to love walking around in just his shorts in the dorm, now dressed neatly every day...

It was as if something had affected him.

However, when Cheng Mofei promised to take them to the hot springs after the sports event, all of this was quickly forgotten.

After all, it's normal for people to be affected by certain things once in a while. Some habits can change subtly over time.

Living under the same roof, they should try to understand each other.

Only Shen Yu knew the real reason behind all this.

That afternoon, the words he spoke had quite an impact on Cheng Mofei.

Although Shen Yu didn't know exactly what Cheng Mofei was thinking, he could tell—Cheng Mofei was trying to take his feelings into consideration.

Although he was a bit clumsy and sometimes funny, it was very warm.

It was a really good sign.

...

The sports event arrived as scheduled.

The weather had been great lately, with the sun shining, and the sports field was bustling with energy, chasing away the chill of late autumn.

As a member of the logistics team, Shen Yu wore a work badge on his chest and diligently carried out his tasks.

In his free moments, he would steal a glance at Cheng Mofei’s competition, secretly taking a few photos of him.

Cheng Mofei was the most captivating during the events.

Suddenly, a boy tapped Shen Yu on the arm.

Shen Yu glanced sideways and realized the person looked somewhat familiar, but he couldn't quite remember their name right away.

Seeing the puzzled expression on his face, the person smiled and reminded him, "The school infirmary."

Shen Yu blinked, and then it clicked.

This person was one of the gay couple he had encountered during military training, the one who helped his partner when he twisted his ankle and was escorted to rest. 

However, he still didn’t know the person's name.

It seemed like this person was also here to watch his partner's competition, as he was holding a large coat and a water bottle.

The person casually started a conversation, saying, "I heard Meng Feng got locked up. It’s really satisfying to hear."

Shen Yu remembered the incident when Meng Feng had harassed him.

He nodded in agreement.

Noticing that Shen Yu didn’t seem shocked by the news, the person asked, "You knew about this?"

Shen Yu nodded and said, "I’ve heard about it. Bad people will suffer retribution."

He didn’t just know about it—he had "participated" in it. But since he wasn’t very familiar with this person, so he didn’t say too much.

The person wrapped the clothes he was holding around himself, he looked like he wanted to say something but didn’t know how to start. He seemed to be struggling with his words.

Finally, with a sense of determination, he moved closer and whispered, "The news that you are gay has already spread around. Quite a few people know."

Shen Yu paused for a moment, not feeling particularly surprised, and quickly realized he was being warned. He smiled casually and said, "I know, thanks."

He never thought of his sexual orientation as something shameful. While he didn’t go around announcing it all the time, he also wasn’t afraid of others knowing.

Since he had chosen to gently let Cheng Mofei know by telling others, he had long been prepared for the fact that other people would find out as well.

The second-year student he was introduced to was a living example of this.

Seeing Shen Yu's calm attitude, the person also relaxed, no longer being as cautious as before.

The two of them turned in unison to watch the track.

"Hey, wanna add me on WeChat? You seem like a nice guy, it would be good to be friends," the person suddenly said.

"Sure," Shen Yu replied.

He had a pretty good impression of the person, so he immediately took out his phone from his pocket and added him as a friend on WeChat.

"Just note me as 'Han Xuan,'" the person said as he sent the request. "I know your name is Shen Yu. My partner's about to start his competition, so I’ll go watch him now."

"Go ahead."

It seemed like he had specifically come over to remind him about this.

What a kind-hearted person.

It’s always nice to make friends with someone who shares the same s*x orientation. 

Who knows, maybe they’d hang out together sometime.

The person's WeChat profile had a very obvious couple's avatar. After adding the contact, Shen Yu casually clicked on his Moments and took a quick glance.

The background of his Moments was a photo of the couple, and they looked quite well-matched.

At this time, the Moments "pinned post" feature didn’t exist yet, and almost all of this person’s posts were about his sweet daily life with his boyfriend.

Shen Yu had never been in the habit of posting on Moments. He hadn’t done it in his past life, and he still hadn’t in this one. 

Perhaps it was because he didn’t have any friends or family on his list who could provide emotional value in return.

After getting together with Cheng Mofei this time, he figured he’d start posting a bit more.

...

That evening, after the sports event ended, Cheng Mofei and Shen Yu returned to their dorm together. Cheng Mofei eagerly went straight to the bathroom to take a shower.

Xiao Xiong and Sun Xinghe hadn’t signed up for any events or volunteered, so they came back early.

Xiao Xiong was wearing headphones, but he wasn’t playing games or editing videos. 

He was just looking down at his phone. Sun Xinghe was sitting cross-legged on the bed and was not on a video call with his girlfriend, but also looking down at his phone.

The dorm was unusually quiet.

Shen Yu didn’t notice anything odd. He took off the work badge from around his neck, plugged his phone in to charge, quickly tidied up his things, and then went over to the cage to feed the little hamster.

Just as Cheng Mofei entered the bathroom, he heard his phone pinging with several new message notifications.

Thinking someone might need something, he opened WeChat only to find that Xiao Xiong and Sun Xinghe had added him to a small group chat with just the three of them.

The group was named, "Give Brother Fei a quick-acting heart-saving pill."

Cheng Mofei: "?"

What is this??

Xiao Xiong: [Brother Fei, there's something I've been discussing with Old Sun for half a day, and we decided we have to tell you.]

Sun Xinghe: [You have to bear it, okay!!!]

Cheng Mofei’s heart instantly skipped a beat.

Could this have something to do with Shen Yu? 

Otherwise, why would they leave him out of the loop?

Did something happen to Shen Yu?

Cheng Mofei quickly typed: [Just say it already, stop dragging it out.]

Xiao Xiong: [It’s... well...]

Xiao Xiong: [I can’t say it, Old Sun, you do it.]

Sun Xinghe: [You spineless coward.]

Sun Xinghe: [Well, recently there’s been some gossip, saying that, well, it’s about Xiao Shen…]

So it really was about Shen Yu...

If Shen Yu hadn’t been in the dorm, Cheng Mofei would’ve wanted to rush out and shake the truth out of these two.

Finally, Sun Xinghe gathered his courage and pressed send: [It seems like Xiao Shen is gay.]

Cheng Mofei: "..."

Oh.

What did they expect?

That's it?

Cheng Mofei turned on the shower, adjusting the temperature while replying: [Mm.]

Xiao Xiong: [Brother Fei, hang in there, don’t do anything stupid. What are you turning on the shower for?]

Sun Xinghe: [Come out of the bathroom first, let’s all have a proper talk. It’s understandable that Xiao Shen was too scared to tell us at first.]

Xiao Xiong: [Ah, it’s all my fault for running my mouth at the start for telling Xiao Shen that you’re homophobic. I probably scared him.]

By the time Cheng Mofei typed out one sentence, these two had already sent ten.

Cheng Mofei: [I’ve known for a while. Don’t overthink it, it’s fine. I’m going to shower first.]

Xiao Xiong: [?]

Sun Xinghe: [?]

Halfway through his shower, Cheng Mofei suddenly thought of something. He frowned, ignored the foam on his body, dried his hands, and picked up his phone from the sink. 

He sent a message in the group chat: [How did you guys find out about this?]

Shen Yu had gone through great lengths to tell him and carefully consider his feelings because of his homophobia.

These two weren’t homophobic—Shen Yu wouldn’t have gone in circles to tell them. 

And if Shen Yu had told them directly, he would have also mentioned that Cheng Mofei already knew. They wouldn’t be acting so worried about whether he could accept it or not.

That meant they must have found out through some other channel.

Xiao Xiong: [Ah, well, word just got around. A lot of people know. Didn’t you hear about it the same way?]

Sun Xinghe: [People are even discussing it under that post about you two.]

Cheng Mofei immediately exited WeChat, opened the previous post from the like list, and scrolled all the way to the bottom.

[So if Shen Yu is gay, will Cheng Mofei start avoiding him? Isn’t he supposed to be really homophobic?]

[I don’t think so. If he really minded, he would’ve contacted the admin to delete this post already.]

[At the sports meet today, Cheng Mofei even drank the water Shen Yu handed him. Their relationship seems pretty good.]

[Can a straight guy and a gay guy really have pure friendship?]

[Is Shen Yu pursuing Cheng Mofei? First, he gets close while pretending to be straight, then he comes out. After being friends for so long, it’s hard to cut ties, so Cheng Mofei can only accept it. It feels like Shen Yu has him wrapped around his finger—who knows, maybe one day, he’ll turn him gay.]

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