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"Absolutely not" Baiyang grunts.
"Never in a million years!" Qiao Chen says right after.
Mu Siyang and Yan Zhiming had been talking. When the older students graduate, the only current regulars staying on the team will be Baiyang, Qiao Chen and Lu Xia. It's still too early to decide which one will be who, but if everything goes well, Baiyang and Qiao Chen would be the next captain and sub-captain of the team, and to be honest, Siyang is a little stressed out about it.
Both of them have always had trouble getting along, since their first day of school. They've been double partners in the last tournament and they did pretty well, even if they didn't win. Now, the plan wasn't to make them the best double partners on the team, they're not the Golden Partners and they'll most likely end up playing singles if they become captain and sub-captain anyway, but for the arrangement to work, they must learn to work together and stop fighting all the time, especially over stupid things like most of the time.
Mu Siyang never had any trouble with Chi Dayong as his sub-captain; he's responsible, he cares about everyone on the team, he's a strong player and a good listener. Somehow, he wanted Baiyang and Qiao Chen to be like them, but he knows that won't be possible. He can only hope for the best.
"What are we going to do with this?" he asks Yan Zhiming who has the record of all the data that could be useful to the team. He adjusts his glasses.
"Those two definitely need to work on getting along if they're going to be in charge in the future" Yan assures him, revising his notes.
"What do you suggest?" the captain asks. He trusts Yan with this, he knows he'll find a way to make this work.
"Well, they might not like it… but I have an idea" he answers.
Siyang and Yan had asked both Baiyang and Qiao Chen to meet them at the club room. They had already discussed the situation with coach Qi and she told them they could do anything to make the future of Yu Qing's team brighter. After getting her approval, the four of them were reunited to discuss Yan's new plan.
"You might be wondering why I called you two here" Siyang says. Qiao Chen rolls his eyes at him.
"It's obvious, you're going to ask me to be the next captain and Baiyang will be the sub-captain," he says, getting a complaint from the other guy in return.
"Ha! I'm the one who's going to be captain, why would you be captain?" Baiyang laughs at the comment.
"This. This is exactly why I gathered you here" Siyang begins to explain. "You two need to end this rivalry of yours if you want to be the next captain and subcaptain of Yu Qing".
The two of them look annoyed, they've always fought whenever there was a chance, and even when there wasn't. Sure, they wanted the best for the team, but they weren't about to become best friends from a day to another just to make Siyang happy.
"Yan has an idea to make you two get along" Siyang continues. The two guys in question turn to look at their data expert.
"Please tell me it's not some brand new Yan juice" Qiao Chen cries, scared of the possibility. Yan shakes his head.
"Although that would certainly be interesting, that's not the case". Yan adjusts his glasses. "To prepare for your future roles on the team, you two are going on a date to get to know each other better" he says with a smile, and both Baiyang's and Qiao Chen's mouth drop.
A date?!
"Absolutely not" Baiyang grunts.
"Never in a million years!" Qiao Chen says right after.
"This isn't a suggestion, it's an order from your current captain" Siyang says in a serious tone.
"I don't even like guys! Let alone Baiyang!" Qiao Chen exclaims.
Baiyang rolls his eyes. "Well, I doubt anyone would want to go out on a date with you!"
"Xing Zi was about to ask me out but YOU ruined it!" Qiao Chen gets up from his chair to scream at his teammate who's ignoring his gaze and crossing his arms, until Siyang makes them shut up.
"Silence!" he shouts, and suddenly Qiao Chen is back on his chair and he, and even Baiyang look frightened to hear the captain shout like that.
Siyang looks at Yan and nods for him to explain what they're going to do.
"You two will meet tomorrow at Xinglong's restaurant at 7 pm for dinner" Yan says while checking his notes. "Dress nice and casually" he adds, not wanting one of them to end up going there on their running clothes.
"Wait… are you serious?" Qiao Chen asks with a scared look on his face and then he turns to look at Baiyang who looks like he's also kind of scared, even if he hides it well.
They were very serious.
Qiao Chen and Baiyang were stretching together to cool down after their training, bickering as always.
"Baiyang, you almost made me pull a muscle!" Qiao Chen cries.
"Maybe if you weren't so inflexible you wouldn't have a problem!" Baiyang responds, but right after saying that, he caught the captain looking at the two of them with a stern face. Qiao Chen notices too and he tries to make it look like they're not fighting.
"Ah, you're right Baiyang. Maybe I should stretch more!" he says loudly, getting a confused look from his teammate. He whispers telling him that the captain was watching and they had to play it cool to avoid their… get-together.
"Don't worry Qiao Chen, I'll help you stretch" Baiyang says with almost no emotion. Siyang is about to kill them.
"Good idea, let's work together to get stronger!" Qiao Chen says with fake enthusiasm, making Jiale and Dayong look at them with confusion.
"Dachi, they're acting weird today" Jiale says, hiding behind Dayong and putting his arms on his shoulders. Siyang walks up to them and gives them a disappointed but serious look. He turns to look at Dayong.
"Dayong, have you two finished your training today?" he asks.
"Yes captain, I also made sure everyone else had finished" Dayong answers.
"Good" Siyang turns to look at the two rivals now. "See? You're supposed to be like this with each other".
"It's not like you and Chi Dayong are super close, why don't you go on a date with him tomorrow night?" Qiao Chen complains, and Jiale comes out from his hiding spot.
"Woah woah, date? Why would Siyang go on a date with Dachi??" he complains. "Dachi, you promised we would get omurice tomorrow night!" he says with a frown.
"Captain? What's this all about?" Dayong asks, not understanding what's going on.
"Don't bring them into this, it is decided already. You two are going out tomorrow night" Siyang says.
Jiale's eyes go wide. "You two are going out?? On a date??"
"I-It's not a date! It's training!" Qiao Chen says defensively.
"Anyway, Xinglong's at 7 pm tomorrow" Siyang says before leaving.
Qiao Chen arrives early at Xinglong's and takes an empty seat. Xinglong goes to greet him almost immediately with his usual bright smile.
"Hey, Siyang said you would come today" he says. "Would you like anything to drink?"
Qiao Chen orders an iced green tea and Xinglong brings it to his table, noticing that his teammate looks quite annoyed to be there.
"What makes green tea… green?" Qiao Chen asks to think about something else that isn't having dinner with Baiyang.
"Ancient secret" Xinglong answers with a smile, getting a confused look from the other guy, but then he explains "That's the name of the brand of tea we use". Everything makes sense now.
Xinglong leaves to serve the rest of the clients and Qiao Chen takes a sip of his tea until he suddenly hears a loud voice from behind and he almost chokes on his drink.
"Qiao Chen". It was Siyang standing behind him.
"You scared me! What are you doing here??" Qiao Chen complains, wiping the spilled tea from the table.
"Did you think I would let you come here unsupervised?" the captain asks. "Ah, Baiyang" he says when he sees the other guy enter the place. Siyang gestures to the empty seat where Baiyang is supposed to sit.
Baiyang looks even more annoyed than always, but to Qiao Chen's surprise, his teammate isn't wearing his usual workout clothes, he's actually wearing a nice outfit. He has black jeans and a blue shirt with cuffed sleeves showing off his arms, he's not wearing his bandana like he usually does, and his hair looks… well, nice. And wait, is that cologne?
Baiyang takes a seat and he's ready to complain. "I'm here… Why?" he asks with an annoyed look on his face.
"You two need to learn to be around each other without fighting" Siyang says looking down at the two.
"Okay, I get that. But what does that have to do with having dinner together??" Qiao Chen whines.
Siyang sighs. This would be more difficult than he thought. "Listen, just see this as part of your training, it can't be that hard".
Both Qiao Chen and Baiyang sigh, there's no way to get out of this one.
"Anyway, have fun with your date" Siyang says.
"It's training!" Qiao Chen insists, and Baiyang just scoffs.
"It begins now, at 7:12 pm. You two must stay here tonight until the restaurant closes at midnight" Siyang says looking at his watch.
"Forget it, I'm leaving!" Baiyang gets up from his chair and Qiao Chen does the same. "Yup, me too".
"If either of you leaves before midnight, Lu Xia will be captain and Huang Jing will be the sub-captain". Siyang says calmly, a little too calmly which made his voice sound scary.
"What? You can't do that, they're younger!" Qiao Chen complains.
"Lu Xia became a titular as a freshman, and also I can do what I want" Siyang answers, he's about to lose his patience.
"It's fine, he's not going to know when we leave" Baiyang says.
"I have two spies watching you, one of them is Xinglong who will be your waiter tonight" he says and Xinglong waves from afar with a nervous smile. "The other one is Yan". The other two turn around to see Yan sitting on a table on the other side of the room adjusting his glasses, right across them.
"Since when is he here?" Baiyang asks with surprise.
"Happy dating" Yan says from his table, and proceeds to take a sip of his traditional Yan juice.
Siyang has left the place now and Qiao Chen ends up alone with Baiyang at their table. Xinglong appears out of nowhere to take their orden.
"Yes, my date and I were wondering if there's a flight of stairs we can throw ourselves down" Qiao Chen says with a fake smile and Baiyang tries not to laugh at what he just said, he would never admit it to Qiao Chen but sometimes he actually thinks he's funny.
"Ah, I'll bring some roast goose and something to drink for Baiyang" Xinglong says as he nervously leaves the two of them alone again.
They're both eating, Xinglong made sure to bring a lot of stuff to the table so he doesn't have to get close to his teammates again. There's roast goose for a whole extended family, white rice, hot and sour soup and five different kinds of vegetable sides.
Qiao Chen is eating soup, but he's making too much noise to Baiyang's liking and it's driving him insane.
"Stop it!" he grunts, getting an annoyed look from his teammate in return, but he stops making noise and puts his bowl down, opting for some rice instead.
"Worst night ever" Baiyang says, taking a sip of his drink.
"You think I'm having fun on this date ?" Qiao Chen answers, finger quoting the word date and a sarcastic looking smile. "I'm not!"
"Then let's not talk!" Baiyang scoffs at him.
"Fine!" Qiao Chen fights back. Two seconds have passed when he opens his mouth again. "Hey, you know--"
"Ahh shut up!" Baiyang complains again.
"Ugh, listen to me! There's no good reason why you and I can't sit together and have a conversation" Qiao Chen exclaims, getting annoyed looks from other people at the restaurant for talking too loud, but he ignores them.
"I have a good reason, I don't like you!" Baiyang replies looking at him in the eyes.
"Really? You can't think of one thing you like about me?" Qiao Chen asks seriously but still done with Baiyang's fierce attitude.
Baiyang takes a few seconds to think, and the first thing that comes to his mind is saying "I like when you're sad".
Qiao Chen is about to lose it, he doesn't like having dinner with Baiyang, and that's a lot to say because he loves food. But Baiyang is being way more annoying than usual and it's driving Qiao Chen crazy. He breathes out.
"Okay, try again" Qiao Chen gives Baiyang another chance. "Reach deep down your twisted bitter snake soul and see if you can think of anything nice to say about me"
Baiyang rolls his eyes but starts trying to think of something.
"Uhh, okay" he says while looking up to think. "Your tennis skills aren't… awful". Qiao Chen still wants to murder him for his poor attempt to think of something nice to say but he just nods with a fake smile, trying to be patient because this is Baiyang who we're talking about.
"Thanks so much" he replies with a sarcastic tone, taking another sip of his tea.
"Now you should say something nice about me!" Baiyang exclaims looking at his teammate.
"Sure… I admire how you're never afraid to say what you think" Qiao Chen means it, Baiyang might be annoying, bold and stubborn… but at least he's honest and he speaks his mind.
"That's stupid!" Baiyang scoffs. Qiao Chen is really really trying not to lose his patience right now.
"See? You just said what you were thinking" that sarcastic tone is going to be there all night apparently. "Now your turn again" Qiao Chen says while grabbing another goose leg and putting it on his plate.
Baiyang thinks. What's good about Qiao Chen? The only things he does besides tennis are probably eat burgers, read manga, think about Xing Zi and bother Lu Xia. Well, his hair is nice, Baiyang thinks to himself. He also thinks his smile is okay… his lips seem kind of soft… ah, whatever.
"Uhh I guess… some people might say that… from certain angles… you're good looking" Baiyang mutters but Qiao Chen heard him loud and clear.
Wait, what? Did Baiyang just say I'm good looking? Is he sick??
"You can say I'm good looking too" Baiyang says looking at his plate, secretly hoping his teammate will return the unexpected compliment.
Qiao Chen just looks at him perplexed. Well, he knows his teammate is certainly not ugly. He's tall, tan, muscular… wait, what? This is Baiyang!
"You're good looking" Qiao Chen blurts out. There, he said it. There's no going back. Baiyang just nods and goes back to his food, but it looks like maybe, just maybe, he might be blushing a little.
They continue eating awkwardly after having complimented each other, until a few familiar faces appear in front of them.
"What do we have here? Aren't you the guys from Yu Qing?" someone says.
"And this night actually gets worse" Baiyang scoffs.
"What are you guys doing here? This restaurant belongs to one of our team members" Qiao Chen says while looking at Hai Guang's team standing in front of them.
"Well, you see. We happen to be hungry and we were passing by" Tian Zilong says, showing them a bag with food to take home.
"Why are you two so dressed up?" Bai Shiting asks with curiosity. He seems to be doing well after his treatment.
"Umm well…" Qiao Chen begins and then sees Yan Zhiming looking over at them. He gulps. "We're on a date" Qiao Chen says and Baiyang almost chokes on his drink.
"You two?? On a date? Aren't you the two who are always fighting?" Yuan Chi questions them.
"It's normal to fight with the person you like, perhaps it's unspoken sexual tension" Liu Lian points out.
What?! Baiyang and Qiao Chen think .
"That's right, maybe that's why Zilong was arguing so much with Shiting the other day" Yuan Chi makes fun of the captain and sub-captain, getting a deadly stare from Zilong in return.
Bai Shiting clears his throat. "Well, it was nice seeing you two" he waves goodbye. "Good luck on your date!" And just like that, the Hai Guang team leaves with their food, leaving the guys from Yu Qing perplexed.
"That was so weird" Baiyang says.
"Yeah, what do they mean with sexual tension? We don't have that!" Qiao Chen exclaims.
"It's your fault for saying we were on a date!" Baiyang huffs.
"Yan Zhiming was watching, I panicked!" Qiao Chen defends himself.
"Whatever, I'll go to the restroom" Baiyang scoffs and gets up, leaving Qiao Chen alone.
"Ahh he's so annoying!" Qiao Chen says out loud. Xinglong has approached the table to retire the empty plates and he hears Qiao Chen complaining.
"Hey, maybe you should go check on him" he suggests. Qiao Chen crosses his arms and gives him an annoyed look.
"Why? It's not my fault he stormed off!"
Xinglong then pulls the empty chair and sits with Qiao Chen. "Look, you two have to learn how to coexist without fighting, soon it'll be you two leading Yu Qing. Also, aren't you enjoying tonight?" Qiao Chen thinks about it. The food has been nice, but Xinglong made it, of course it's going to be nice. Baiyang complimented him which was unusual, and he even dressed up for the evening. He's not wearing his dirty bandana and the shirt he's wearing makes his arms look nice. He's been polite and didn't bother him saying how he eats too much like he usually does. Wait, did I seriously think his arms look nice? Qiao Chen shakes his head, that's a weird thought to have about one of his teammates, especially Baiyang, please!
"Are you lost in your thoughts?" Xinglong asks with a smile. Qiao Chen comes back to reality and receives a pat on the head from his teammate.
"Just go see him" Xinglong says before leaving with the empty plates.
Qiao Chen lets out a breath and decides to listen to Xinglong, he'll go check up on Baiyang.
He gets up and walks to the restroom, which to his surprise, is rather empty, and he sees his teammate washing his face.
"There you are" Qiao Chen says, giving the other guy a pat on the back. "You okay?"
Baiyang dries his hands with a paper towel and avoids eye contact. "Why wouldn't I be?" he asks.
"Well, you stormed off for no reason" Qiao Chen says. "Or, was there a reason?"
"You were being annoying" Baiyang scoffs and finally looks up. Qiao Chen wants to snap back at him but he contains himself and just exhales. He's not going to fight this time, he's more mature than that.
"Alright, sorry. I'll try not to annoy you next time" he apologizes and Baiyang looks at him like he just said the weirdest thing ever.
"Huh? You're not going to fight back?" Baiyang questions him in disbelief. Qiao Chen just shakes his head.
"It's not fun when you just agree with me and apologize" Baiyang complains.
"Well, too bad. Someone has to be the bigger person now that we'll be seniors soon" Qiao Chen says while he stands against the sink area.
"The bigger person? You're just a wimp, look at your skinny arms" Baiyang laughs and Qiao Chen seriously wants to fight him so bad but he must. be. mature. Damn it!
Qiao Chen exhales. "You're right, my arms will never be as strong as yours. How much do you lift?" Qiao Chen says while touching Baiyang's biceps. "I'm sure you could crush me with those arms".
For some reason, Qiao Chen has been thinking about Baiyang's arms the whole night. I mean, he does work out a lot. That's inspiring.
Baiyang just gives his teammate a confused look. "Well, now you're just being weird". Qiao Chen was about to roll his eyes but then he notices a slight difference in Baiyang's face.
"Wait… are you blushing?" he asks, paying attention to the slight redness on Baiyang's cheeks before he turns around. "You're probably not used to getting compliments, that's fine".
Baiyang faces him again, trapping Qiao Chen between him and the sink, almost leaving no space between them. "Look, I don't know what you're trying to do but it's not funny" he says with a serious tone, it takes Qiao Chen by surprise because, even though he sounds serious, he doesn't sound angry. He decides to try another thing.
"Your hair looks nice, you should wear it like that more often" Qiao Chen slowly caresses Baiyang's hair and he can see the blush on his cheeks increasing.
"Hey, stop that you idiot!" Baiyang fights and angrily grabs Qiao Chen by the collar of his shirt. Qiao Chen sees the opportunity to say something he's always wanted to say because he's seen it in movies, and he does.
"Make me"
"What did you say??" Baiyang makes Qiao Chen repeat himself, but he heard him loud and clear.
"I said make m-" but Qiao Chen couldn't finish the last word of the sentence because he soon felt Baiyang pull him by his collar and pull him into a fierce kiss. Qiao Chen can't even think about what's happening but somehow, he closes his eyes and eases into the kiss.
Baiyang deepens the kiss, slowly sliding his tongue inside of Qiao Chen's mouth and it catches him off guard because he's never kissed anyone with tongue before and also what the fuck, he's kissing Baiyang. His classmate, his teammate with whom he has a certain rivalry going on; he's kissing fucking Zhang Baiyang who always fights with him, who always insults him for some reason, Baiyang with his stupid dirty bandana that he's thankfully not wearing today because Qiao Chen can easily slip his hands in his hair to pull him closer. He's kissing his friend… they're friends, right?
Qiao Chen is lost in his thoughts and can't even process what's happening, or how he's kissing his friend back, or how Baiyang's hands are on his neck and how he wishes he would stop having impure thoughts about Baiyang's hands on his neck right now because that would make things even more awkward. A muffled moan comes out of the back of his throat. Fuck.
He pulls out from the kiss and just looks at Baiyang trying to process what just happened. Did they just make out? In Xinglong's bathroom??
"Y-You. You kissed me" Qiao Chen manages out.
"Yeah, you've got a problem with that?" Baiyang snaps back at him.
"You… You hate me!" Qiao Chen exclaims and Baiyang scoffs.
"I don't hate you," Baiyang says. "I just think you're annoying sometimes, that's all".
Qiao Chen just stares at him, half in disbelief and the other half is just looking at his eyes for a little while, and then up to his eyebrows. Baiyang has good eyebrows, wow.
" Hey, stop staring at me like that!" Baiyang exclaims, making Qiao Chen come back to the real world.
"Ah, sorry" Qiao Chen whispers, looking down. "So… I guess the captain will be happy. We've gotten pretty close, huh?"
Baiyang scoffs again, or is that a chuckle?
"You seem like you'd like to get even closer"
Qiao Chen rolls his eyes at him. "You kissed me first" he mutters.
"I heard you moan" Baiyang teases and it makes the other guy blush.
"I- Anyway. What are we going to tell the others?" he asks. He's not about to tell the whole team that he and Baiyang just made out at a restaurant's restroom. And they were lucky enough no one came in, they didn't even lock the door.
"We'll tell them… that we're ready to lead Yu Qing, we're mature enough and we'll work together" Baiyang says. Qiao Chen nods, they definitely will.
"Alright".
When they both finally come out of the restroom, the place is already empty. Qiao Chen checks his watch and apparently it's midnight already. They both straighten their clothes and see that Xinglong is talking to Yan.
"Ah, there you are" he says as he sees them. They're trying not to make eye contact because they're sure Xinglong and Yan already have an idea of the reason why they spent so long together in the bathroom. They just kissed though, but it doesn't make it less awkward.
"Congratulations, you too completed your task. I'm sure you must have realized you're more compatible than you thought" Yan says with a smile.
Baiyang clears his throat. Compatible?
"Ah, yeah sure" he manages out.
"We're going to work together from now on" Qiao Chen says.
Yan and Xinglong are both happy to hear that. They all say their goodbyes and Xinglong is ready to close the restaurant.
Qiao Chen and Baiyang stand awkwardly with Yan who is looking at them.
"Ah, well. I better get going" Baiyang says and he notices that Qiao Chen seems a little disappointed they're about to go separate ways, but he's not about to tell him to come over in front of Yan, at midnight. He has already spent too many hours with him. Baiyang still looks over at Qiao Chen and tells him "I'll call you tomorrow morning to talk about the training we thought of".
Qiao Chen's eyes light up. "Yeah, that would be nice".
Yan looks at the two of them suspiciously but doesn't say anything. They all separate and go home, it's late after all.
------------------
The next day, Qiao Chen and Baiyang were putting on their tennis uniforms in the dressing room. They were both late because of a class they shared. Siyang went to see why they were taking so long.
"Shut up Baiyang, that's not true" he hears Qiao Chen say.
"It's true though, you always do that. People will think you're weird" Baiyang answers while putting on his shirt.
"What are you two fighting about now?" the captain joins the conversation. Yan had told him that the date was successful but now he was just hearing disagreement between those two again.
"Ah, Baiyang is saying I always sit right next to people when they're undressing. But that's not true!" Qiao Chen exclaims.
"...What?" Siyang asks, not getting how their conversation is relevant at all.
"Whatever, I'm right. Anyway, let's go" Baiyang stands up and grabs Qiao Chen's hand to help him stand up.
Siyang keeps an eye on them after they get to the tennis court. So they really got closer, huh? he thinks to himself.
"Hey, you two. Twenty laps around the court for being late" Siyang tells them.
They both answer with a groan but they get going anyway.
"Come on, I'll race you" Baiyang tells Qiao Chen as he starts running. Qiao Chen starts running after him, trying to be faster than his teammate.
Siyang just stares at them for a little while until he sees Yan approach him.
"It seems like the plan was a success" he says, adjusting his glasses.
"Hmm" Siyang nods.