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The fan was getting ever closer, emboldened by Yu Wenzhou’s friendly smile. Huang Shaotian knew he was being irrational, knew that glaring at the man who’d caught his captain’s attention was ridiculous, he was only asking for an autograph, the reason his smile was so wide, so open and friendly was because he was excited to meet his “favourite Glory player-”
Huang Shaotian was yanked out of his thoughts by the sound of Yu Wenzhou’s laughter, his head tilting back slightly as he did so. Blue Rain’s vice-captain didn’t miss the way the fan’s eyes seemed to linger on Yu Wenzhou’s throat, a note of hunger threading its way through his expression. Huang Shaotian narrowed his eyes, watching the way the guy’s eyes followed his captain’s movements, tracking the way his hand grazed Yu Wenzhou’s as he accepted the autograph, smile widening.
Blue Rain, who were standing a little way off, fervently hoped that no one was around to witness their vice-captain slowly stalking towards their captain and his admirer, if only to preserve their reputation. Huang Shaotian’s reputation on the other hand…there was a collective mental shrug at the thought of trying to salvage his. Zheng Xuan wondered if this was finally the moment that Huang Shaotian was going to discover his less than platonic feelings towards Yu Wenzhou.
Admittedly he’d been fully aware of his vice-captain’s feelings, had noticed them a long time ago. However, bringing it up, actually informing Huang Shaotian about this, would have been far too stressful to contemplate. Easier to watch and sigh from afar.
Huang Shaotian congratulated himself for being able to sneak close enough to the pair to eavesdrop on their conversation without being noticed. Not so all-powerful now captain- wait don’t think that, what if he’s really psychic- He was so busy revelling in his own sneakiness that he failed to notice the rest of his team recording his behaviour from a short distance away.
“I’ve always admired the way you never gave up on Glory, how you kept pushing forward, never accepting defeat.” Huang Shaotian bit down on his urge to gag, the blatant flattery making him scowl, even as he leaned in closer to listen for Yu Wenzhou’s response.
“Ah…” Huang Shaotian chanced a glance over, knowing he was close enough he might get spotted. He blinked at the light flush staining his captain’s cheeks, noting the way the fan took another step closer, fully invading Yu Wenzhou’s personal space. “I think anyone in Glory can be described that way.” The fan laughed, smile still bright on his lips.
“Maybe, but you’re very lovely, it’s not a wonder that my admiration focused on you.” Huang Shaotian nearly choked at the man’s audacity, deciding that this was an excellent opportunity to cut in before he tried anything else.
“Captain! There you are, there you are, you’ve made us wait such a long time after the match, you know that Zheng Xuan gets tired after a match, like a cranky toddler, he needs to rest and recover, he gets so upset if he doesn’t get the chance to have his nap afterwards, who are you talking to, I’ve never met this guy before, I’m Huang Shaotian!” While Yu Wenzhou seemed unaffected by the barrage of words, Huang Shaotian watched in satisfaction as the fan took a few steps back, no longer so close to his captain.
“I was just talking to a fan-“ Before Yu Wenzhou could finish his sentence, the other man, unnerved by the glowers that Huang Shaotian was aiming at him, took the first opportunity he could to flee.
“Ah, I’ve just realised how much of your time I was taking up! I apologise, I will leave you in peace. Thank you for the autograph!” Huang Shaotian nodded, pleased with himself at the other man’s retreat, watching as he turned back for a moment before catching Huang Shaotian’s stare and walking faster as a result.
“Shaotian.” Huang Shaotian prided himself on knowing the different tones of Yu Wenzhou’s voice by heart, prided himself on being able to read his captain, his friend, and he knew exactly what this tone meant. He turned to face Yu Wenzhou and ducked his head at the admonishment he could see written across Yu Wenzhou’s face.
“That was rude Shaotian, he was only being friendly.”
“Too friendly! You can’t be all nice and smiley to everyone captain, sometimes people have, they have- they have intentions!” Neither Huang Shaotian nor Yu Wenzhou noticed Blue Rain in hysterics at Huang Shaotian’s justification for his behaviour.
“Intentions.” Yu Wenzhou’s voice was deadpan and unimpressed, but Huang Shaotian was content to take that as an opportunity to elaborate.
“Intentions captain! And besides, he was talking to you in a way that he shouldn’t be, he was all familiar and close!”
“That’s because he was flirting Shaotian, there’s nothing wrong with that.” Huang Shaotian’s brain stalled for a long moment at those words, unsure of how to respond to Yu Wenzhou’s matter-of-fact acknowledgement that he was aware of the other man’s advances. He was at a loss of how to explain what his issue was and relied on simply letting his mouth continue to run.
“But you’re my captain!” Huang Shaotian promptly regretted his decision to let his mouth continue to run when Yu Wenzhou’s forehead furrowed, confusion clear in his eyes.
“I don’t think captain means what you think it means Shaotian.” Yu Wenzhou waited for a long moment, but Huang Shaotian didn’t have anything else to say and he watched as Yu Wenzhou seemed almost disappointed before he went to join the rest of the team.
Song Xiao came jogging over after another moment, arm around Huang Shaotian’s shoulders the moment he was within reach, his touch familiar and grounding.
“Did you mean to say that?” Huang Shaotian shook his head blankly, unsure of what to say, knowing that something had just shifted between himself and Yu Wenzhou but having no idea what to do to fix it, at a loss of how to restore their equilibrium.
He was soon surrounded by the rest of his team, their voices washing over him as he kept his eyes on Yu Wenzhou, who was chatting to Xu Jingxi about something in the match, keeping his gaze firmly away from Huang Shaotian and Song Xiao’s arm tightened around his shoulders, the squeeze reassuring.
Huang Shaotian found himself overwhelmingly grateful for his team as they climbed onto the bus, the clamour and chaos distracting him, letting him pretend that everything was just fine.
But when Yu Wenzhou’s gaze flicked away from him once again, Huang Shaotian knew that it wasn’t really fine.
It had been a week.
One whole week of Yu Wenzhou avoiding him, trying to keep their interactions to a minimum and Huang Shaotian wondered if it was possible for someone to snap in half physically. He kept pulling back when he reached out to touch Yu Wenzhou, unsure if he was still welcome, unsure of how to navigate this new distance between them and he wasn’t sure how much more of it he could take.
It came to a head after their next match, they’d won against Tiny Herb, they’d done their interviews and Yu Wenzhou was talking to a fan again. And he was smiling. Smiling in that soft open way he did. The kind of smile Huang Shaotian hadn’t seen directed at him for a week and something within him just snapped.
It was almost too easy to grab Yu Wenzhou the moment he was finished chatting to the fan. Yu Wenzhou’s arm was cool to the touch and Huang Shaotian towed him along, tuning out his captain’s protests and confusion until he found an empty room and shut the door behind them.
Yu Wenzhou straightened himself out before looking at Huang Shaotian expectantly, waiting for him to explain himself.
“He was flirting with you!” Huang Shaotian wasn’t sure why that was the first thing out of his mouth and from Yu Wenzhou’s confusion, it was likely not the right thing to start with either.
“Shaotian I don’t understand why you got upset, he wasn’t doing anything wrong, fans come and flirt with you as well.”
“But he was flirting with you, and you’re my captain!” Huang Shaotian took a breath after that, taking a moment to centre himself so he could articulate what he wanted to say properly.
“I want you to just be my captain, then other people can’t flirt with you and can’t flirt with me either because we’re together.” Yu Wenzhou tilted his head to the side, gaze assessing and Huang Shaotian could see him putting the pieces together, finding how they fit together, just as he did in Glory.
“Shaotian, when you say captain, do you mean boyfriend?” Yu Wenzhou’s voice was even but there was something fragile in his eyes, something delicate and fragile in the way he looked at him and Huang Shaotian trusted his instincts and stepped closer.
“I mean boyfriend, be my boyfriend, I wanted to ask you before but then I thought that you didn’t want to because you told me I wasn’t using captain right so I thought that you didn’t want to talk about it and-“
“Shaotian, I do want to be your boyfriend.” Huang Shaotian’s mouth snapped shut at those words and his face lit up in delight, shuffling even closer to Yu Wenzhou, delighting in the fact that Yu Wenzhou was letting him.
“Do I get a kiss now, I think that now we should celebrate with a kiss, don’t you think so captain-?” Huang Shaotian let his words trail off as Yu Wenzhou tilted his head up to press their lips together in a gentle kiss, hand cupping the back of his neck carefully and Huang Shaotian let himself go pliant in Yu Wenzhou’s arms.
“Yes Shaotian, we celebrate with a kiss.” Yu Wenzhou’s smile was bright with teasing but Huang Shaotian didn’t mind because now he was allowed to lean up and kiss the smile off Yu Wenzhou’s lips, which meant that he was the real winner in all this, even if Yu Wenzhou got to tease him about choosing his words more carefully.
When they finally re-emerged from the room Huang Shaotian had dragged them into, the rest of their team were hanging out near the bus waiting for them and when Song Xiao caught sight of their entangled hands, he pointed at the sight vigorously for a few moments before he regained his voice and caught the rest of the team’s attention.
Huang Shaotian resigned himself to getting teased by the rest of his team as well, particularly when Zheng Xuan pulled out the footage of him sneaking closer and closer to Yu Wenzhou and the fan he’d spoken to a week ago. Huang Shaotian had been convinced he’d been subtle as he crept closer but Zheng Xuan’s video made it abundantly clear that he had been horribly conspicuous.
Yu Wenzhou’s laughter was full of delight as Song Xiao leant over to show off his own video of Huang Shaotian acting as if he was the most skilled spy, even as he looked more like a clumsy toddler. The only solution that he could see was to bury his face in Yu Wenzhou’s shoulder and pretend that he couldn’t hear any of his team’s comments, flapping one hand in lieu of answering.
Huang Shaotian felt Yu Wenzhou’s hand begin to card through his hair gently and he shifted himself to get more comfortable as he settled in for the bus journey home. Song Xiao was now offering a dramatic re-enactment of what his face had looked like after he’d spotted Yu Wenzhou, and Huang Shaotian pressed himself more firmly against Yu Wenzhou to watch the show, offering his own taunts as how inaccurate Song Xiao was being.
Yu Wenzhou’s arm was wrapped securely around him, holding him to his side as if sat here, tucked up carefully against his captain’s side, was exactly where Huang Shaotian belonged. Something Huang Shaotian whole-heartedly agreed with.