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"Your parents bought us a new rice cooker. And a coffee machine. And a lamp."
Shi Guang is staring at the three big boxes currently taking up space in their living room that hadn't been there in the morning when he'd left to visit his grandfather.
"You said we shouldn't just rely on take-out all the time and that the area around the couch is a bit too dark to study your new weiqi books and technically the coffee machine is from Shixiong."
Shi Guang just tilts his head and squints a few times really hard at Yu Liang. The boxes are still there.
Yu Liang crosses his arms in front of his chest.
"Why are you staring like that? Should I have said no?"
"... how did I not notice sooner? It's all so clear now. Really obvious."
"What are you even talking about?"
"Nothing. I think I just understood why you threw that bucket into the well."
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It isn't the first time his mother is cooking in this kitchen to save her son from certain death by starvation or a grueling case of instant noodles overdose.
It is however the first time his mother and Yu Liang are cooking together in this kitchen.
Watching his mother instruct Yu Liang while they're kind of dancing around each other in that small space is rather fascinating. Seeing these two different aspects of his life collide is doing something weird to his stomach. Maybe the lack of lunch has something to do with it.
Shi Guang feels a bit bad about not helping, but the kitchen is honestly too small for three people, plus his mother had betrayed him earlier by declaring that udon are indeed noodles. He'd stomped right out of the kitchen in an only half-earnest huff and declared that he wouldn't eat whatever they were cooking up, cause clearly they didn't have any taste. They'd both just laughed and then grinned at each other and proceeded to make something that now smells divine.
With a sigh he rests his chin on his hands and continues watching.
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"GAH!"
Shi Guang slams the door close behind him. His heart is pounding and the urge to dive back under his blankets strong.
He grabs his phone and hits speed dial before he can even think about it.
"... Shi Guang."
"Your father is in our living room. Why is your father in our living room?"
His voice sounds high pitched and he might be hissing a bit, but he doesn't care.
"I told you about this? Last night, while we were playing our game? I told you he was going to come and re-play Wei Da's last games with me!?"
"You said tomorrow! It was already after midnight! That means tomorrow! Not today! I was not prepared!"
"What does that even mean?"
"Yu Xiao Yang saw me in my pajamas!"
"... You do know that I'm sitting right in front of him, right?"
"GAH!"
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There is a proper magazine rack in the living room now. At some point Yu Liang had looked at the growing stack of weiqi magazines and newspapers on the little table next to their couch and told Shi Guang that they needed to do something about it. Shi Guang had told him to just stop being on the covers of so many magazines then, to which Yu Liang had just raised an eyebrow and held up the last two magazines with Shi Guang on it.
Now, mounted on the wall right next to the entry door, their own faces stare at them every time they leave. Sometimes, Shi Guang has the childish urge to take a pen and draw silly little things on their faces, but he knows that he'd regret it soon after. Plus, Yu Liang would likely be mad at him and not the funny kind of mad where he scrunches his eyebrows in a certain way and yells, but the cold kind of mad where he refuses to even look at someone. The thought alone makes Shi Guang shiver.
Still, the urge is there, so he simply traces his rival's face with his fingers and imagines the things he would draw.
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Having Chu Ying's weiqi board in his room still feels a bit weird. Sometimes it's almost like it's watching him and he can then feel his heart skip a happy little beat before returning back to normal. Normal means a life without Chu Ying now and looking at the board fills him with sadness on some days. Still, just like the fan, it's a reminder that Chu Ying existed and he just had to ask his grandfather if he could have it. It's one of his most treasured possessions and he's obviously never going to give it away. It's going to be a proper heirloom from now on as far as he's concerned. It's never going to be in hands that don't appreciate it. He even bought a special polish for it and no matter how messy his room gets, there is never any clutter on it.
Yu Liang takes his probably weird looking devotion to the old weiqi board in stride like he does most things that have to do with Shi Guang and the game.
Some evenings they play on it, instead on of Yu Liang's new one and to Shi Guang it almost feels like Chu Ying is in the room with them.
It's the warmest time of his week.
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"You've got a rice cooker now? Why didn't we have a rice cooker?"
Hong He turns around with a scandalised look on his face and hands on his hips.
"Cause there was no reason for Yu Xiao Yang to buy us a rice cooker?"
"... Yu Xiao Yang bought it for you?"
Next to him, Shen Yilang releases a big fake sigh, like he's some put-on mother looking after some particularly trying children.
"Please do not steal any kitchen appliances."
"Shi Guang would never tell on me! We're brothers!"
Shi Guang had feared that it would be weird for Hong He to be back in his old apartment, but seeing his friends here, in this place he calls his home now makes it clear that there are really no hard feelings. He should have known, cause Hong He isn't like that, but Shi Guang still catches himself walking on eggshells around his friend sometimes.
Shen Yilang on the other hand seems to not be thrown by anything these days. He just accepts the facts and works with them. Japan had really been good for him.
Seeing them here fills him with the sweet warmth of nostalgia.
In about an hour Yu Liang will come home and they'll gang up on him - or rather Hong He and Shi Guang will, while Shen Yilang will just watch them doing their thing with an amused smile on his face.
Instead of weiqi and their own clumsy, but more and more fruitful attempts at cooking, they're going to play video games tonight and order takeout. It's going to be awesome.
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Shi Guang startles at the sudden weight on his shoulder
He'd been so immersed in the movie, that he'd almost forgotten everything around him.
Chu Ying, what does one do when one's eternal rival falls asleep next to you and decides to use you as a pillow?
By now he knows there won't be an answer, but talking to Chu Ying is so ingrained in his entire being after all those years, that he doesn't think he'll ever stop doing it. It calms him down and helps him sort through his thoughts when faced with a really strong opponent or with impossible conundrums... such as this.
Shi Guang has known Yu Liang for a long time now. Him and Chu Ying had almost been a package deal. Almost. Now he only has one of them left. He knows Yu Liang better than probably anyone else and vice versa and yet if someone asked him to explain their relationship, he'd probably flail around and spout something about rivalry and annoyance and friendship and none of those things would be a lie, but also not the full truth either.
His rival's breath is tickling his neck and his entire left side is way too warm now, but he doesn't dare move.
Yu Liang is not a touchy feely person, which is something Shi Guang hadn't even realised before regularly spending time with him, because Yu Liang had never shied away from touching him - seriously, who in this day and age writes his phone number on another person's hand? Except maybe for Xu-Ge, he has never really seen Yu Liang physically reach for other people.
Yu Liang had grabbed his hand back when they'd been children and then just simply... never really let go, dragging Shi Guang with him and if he is honest with himself, he's quite thankful.
Maybe that does make Shi Guang feel at least a little bit special. Not that he'll ever tell anyone.