Chapter Text
Justin's POV
"Come on, Xinchun.."
"Why me? You could ask Zeren or maybe even Quanzhe, I saw them play basketball several times." Xinchun looks vexed. I have been so annoying these past few hours, I know. But I need him for my plan. I cannot ask Zeren or Quanzhe because they would definitely outdo Jie-ge. Chengcheng will slap me if I ruin our plan, we need someone who worse than Jie-ge in playing basketball.
"Quanzhe is busy with his homework and Zeren obviously will spend his Saturday night with Yanchen, or should I ask Wenjun?"
"No, please don't. He has a slight fever, I just told him to sleep early. How about Zhengting?"
"OH GOD, are you kidding me? Both Jie-ge and Rui-ge have agreed to play with us, putting Zhengting-ge in our team will make them awkward. Do you really want to see me and Chengcheng lose that bad, huh?"
"It's just a usual match, right? Nothing at stakes."
"Xinchun, do not underestimate any match! In order to succeed, you have to take everything seriously. Remember: the harder you work, the luckier you will be!"
"Then, ask someone else. I can call Xikan and ask him if there is any Mr.X member available tonight."
"Even if there is, our match will be done the moment they arrive." I should find another reason, "Moreover, you're free tonight. Wenjun is sleeping like a baby, so you have no chance of getting lovey-dovey with him. Playing with us sounds a lot better than doing nothing by yourself, right?"
"I am not doing nothing, Justin. I have to take care of Wenjun!"
"There it is, the more reason of why you should join me. If we talk about taking care of people, Zhengting is totally much better than you. You should ask him a favor, and he will be glad to cook some porridge for Wenjun." Do you hear that? It's a sound of victory.
"Fine, but you owe me this." Xinchun rolls his eye.
I hug him tightly, "Anything you want, Mr.Monkey!"
Xingjie's POV
I feel stupid. After all this time, I am still nothing compared to him. I thought learning from Kun, Ten, and Jaehyun would give me some benefits, but this man in front of me? He easily did a three-point shoot without even blinking his eyes. I was pretty sure he looked sleepy, yet he became so much alive whenever his hand touched the ball. I started to lose control, I feel so tired. This might be why Yankai always mock me by calling me his old man, because I do get older.. physically.
"Getting old, huh?"
"Nah, still younger than you."
"Didn't you say you had practiced with Kun before?"
"Yeah.. you fetched me once, didn't you?"
"No, I didn't. I told you, it's Winwin. I just came along with him."
"Whatever, seems being honest with me is much harder than playing basketball."
"I am being honest. Unlike you, who kept pretending to be busy almost every night for a basketball practice." He throws me a towel, "What were you guys practicing for? I bet it's not basketball, since you're still suck at handling a basketball."
Geez, this stupid guy think that Kun is having an affair with me. He never even considered that I was practicing to death because I want to win this match. I have to win this. I lost at a truth-or-dare game with Linkai. He told me to ask Rui out for a date, and as you could expect, I have no courage. But the thing is, no one in Gramarie dares to ignore a dare. it's humiliating not to be able to do a dare. So, I decided to reach out to Yanchen ---the only guy I am close with, who has the most successful love-life. Do I sound envy? I hope not.
Anyway, Yanchen told me dare myself to gain courage. If I can win Zhou Rui on the things he loves the most, I should be able to win his heart. So here I am, a stupid magician trying too hard to impress a basketball MVP. Of course, I failed.
Zhou Rui's POV
Justin is crazy. The match is over and we have won, but he begged me to teach him. I feel sleepy as hell, yet here I am doing a 1-on-1 basketball moves with Justin.
"Justin, it's past midnight already. Zhengting would kill me."
"I'll text him later and make sure you won't get into trouble. We're not kids anyway, it's time for Zhengting-ge to let us free."
"See, there? Chengcheng and Xinchun have fallen asleep. You're the youngest, means you should've been sleeping earlier than them." I am so ready to throw him lots of scientific research on why the younger he is, the more sleep he needs.
"Not until I learn how to block and throw a three-point shoot. You agreed to teach me, didn't you?"
"He didn't agree to teach you for hours, Justin." Xingjie jumps into our convesation, "He is an old man, didn't you realize that he did a dribble whilst closing his eyes? He is exhausted."
"I am not an old man, but yes I feel exhausted."
Xingjie throws me a bottle of water.
"How about playing with me instead?" Xingjie offered.
"Nah, you're suck."
"You heard him, Xingjie. You should probably get some sleep, so you can drive us back home when we're done."
"I can't sleep." he added, "plus, I am used to stay awake throughout the night."
"That's the part of you I hate the most. Moreover, that's when you're composing a song. Tonight, you're just watching this boring match."
"I don't think it seems boring. On the contrary, I've been liking it for years."
"Stop lying, since when did you ever like basketball?"
"He didn't talk about basketball, though." Justin walks closer, "am I right, Jie-ge?"
"Well, I do like watching YOU playing basketball." Xingjie smirks, "or to be precise, I just like watching you doing anything."
Something familiar hits me right in the stomach. He is flirting, right? I hate to sound over confident, but he does it quite often lately. I don't know what's getting into his big head. I bet Justin has contaminated his brain!
Chengcheng's POV
"Wake up, Chengcheng. We're going home." I felt someone tap me on shoulder.
Finally! We can finally go home. I look at my watch, and it's freaking 5 a.m. in the morning. I slept like a baby, while Justin played like a monster. I know we're supposed to make Jie-ge and Rui-ge get back together, but after watching Jie-ge failed to impress Rui-ge during the match, Justin should have given up. Like me, having enough sleep is better than prioritising someone else's love-life. But Justin is so thick-headed, he wanted to give Jie-ge more chance to win the love of his life.
Speaking of Justin, I didn't see him anywhere, "Where is Justin?"
"Sleeping." Xinchun pointed at the furthest bench. Justin sleep on the bench, putting his head on Rui-ge's lap. Anyway, Rui-ge is sleeping too. How could we go home when the car owner is still sleeping?
"Don't tell me you woke me up because you're too lazy to wake Justin up?"
"No, Jie-ge said we should get in the car first. He already brought our stuff to Rui-ge's car, and oh.. there he is!" Xinchun look at the parking lot. Jie-ge is walking towards that bench. "He is gonna take care of them, I think."
Jie-ge put Justin on his back and piggyback him to the parking lot, heading to Rui-ge's car.
"Xinchun, I'll wake Rui-ge. You go first."
"But, Jie-ge said we don't have to wake him up."
"Then, who's driving?"
"Jie-ge."
"Oh." Not surprised, at all. "Anyway, Xinchun.."
" ... "
"Do you know why we're being like this?"
"Oh, I thought you guys won't ever tell me."
"Well, Justin forbid me to tell anyone but I feel bad to make you leave Wenjun for this."
"No worries. Besides, I can guess why you did this. Trying to make up for what you did in Dachang, right?"
"Yeah, we shouldn't force Jie-ge to take care of Zhengting-ge back then."
"It's not your fault, you know. You guys just want the best for Zhengting, and I think he was happy back then."
"But because of us, Jie-ge lost his chance to win Rui-ge's heart."
"They will be fine, I can sense they're still care for each other. You will see them together in no time, believe me."
I hope so.
Xinchun's POV
Justin is such a devil. He woke up the moment Jie-ge put him on the car's seat, and acted like he never fell asleep. He turned on the radio and started jamming to the music. Chengcheng has been staring at me. I know what he means, I should join them singing out loud like crazy. So, I do what they want. Not because I am a good friend who always fail to refuse these two's requests, but more because they're jamming to Linkin Park!
"Sorry I didn't wake you up." I heard Jie-ge whispered. Do these two grown-ups at the front even know who Linkin Park is? They don't look like listening to the car radio.
"It's okay, I was too tired anyway. Thanks for doing me a favor," Rui-ge replied, "to drive, I mean. Not to carry me all the way to the car, you didn't have to do that."
"But you looked so tired, I figured.. you need some sleep. Now that you had some, you can drive by yourself after I drop these kids home. Sounds good, right?"
"Your apartment is closer from here. Just drive to that place of yours, then I will drive these kids home."
"No, you need more sleep. The moment we arrive at Yuehua dorm, I'll wake you up and take these kids up to their apartment. Then, you can drive straight to your place without having to drive me back home. I bet Yanchen will drop Zeren this morning, I can go back with him once he arrived."
"What if Yanchen take Zeren for a Sunday date?"
"Then, I'll wait until he come.. or I can get a taxi. Anything will do."
Rui-ge sighed, "I will fetch you home, Xingjie. Period." He accepts no refusal. This time his words are absolute, "and promise me, you'll sleep all the way from Yuehua dorm to your place. I know you're already pale to begin with, but you look like a living corpse right now."
Their conversation ended just like that. I don't know if Justin and Chengcheng were listening too, but they smile to each other.
Half an hour later, we finally arrive at Yuehua's dorm. From far below, I could see Zhengting stands up in front of our door ---probably looking both mad and worried. I guess, Jie-ge texted him before we headed back.
"Why don't you two drop by for a cup of tea? I can make you some."
"Sorry, Xinchun. We don't have any energy left to face Zhengting, it's too scary." Jie-ge gets out of the car to switch place with Rui-ge.
"If you're scared to go upstairs, just tell him Justin made us stay overnight." Rui-ge laughs, "Truth don't lie, bro!"
Well, that might work. Zhengting always love to scold Justin, especially because he really cares for that kid. Now that Justin and Chengcheng almost get into the elevator, I should probably walk faster.
Before getting into the elevator, I see the car moving further. I was so eager to get home and check on Wenjun, but right now.. somehow, I really want to know what's gonna happen to those two grown-up in that car. I wonder if Justin and Chengcheng's plan will succeed.