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“Hi, captain,” Huang Shaotian yawned as he walked into their base’s cafeteria.
It was way too early for him to be awake, but the sun was already shining through his thin curtains and lighting up his room, making it impossible for him to go back to sleep. After mindlessly scrolling on his phone for half an hour, he rubbed his eyes and decided to get up.
There was still a thick layer of tiredness hanging over his eyes as he blearily passed through the door wearing his slippers. Yu Wenzhou smiled slightly when he turned around, seeing his half-asleep vice captain slowly making his way over. “Morning, Shaotian. You’re up quite early today.”
“Mm,” Huang Shaotian leaned forward and rested his forehead on Yu Wenzhou’s shoulder. “Woke up too early, but it was too bright, so I couldn’t fall back asleep…”
Unlike how he was normally, Huang Shaotian was actually pretty quiet in the mornings. But since practice normally started in the late morning, by the time he entered the training room, he would be full of energy. Yu Wenzhou reached up to slowly ruffle Huang Shaotian’s hair, chuckling softly. “You can take a nap in the afternoon if you’re tired then.”
“Okay… wait,” Huang Shaotian shifted slightly, looking up at Yu Wenzhou. “Don’t we have training later?”
“No, we don’t,” Yu Wenzhou moved his hand away and handed him a cup of warm water that he had poured out earlier. “Today’s a break day. Weren’t you all excited about it yesterday?”
“Oh…” Huang Shaotian’s time was extraordinarily slow today, but his eyes widened slightly after he realized. “Oh, right! I forgot…”
“Are you normally like this in the mornings?” Yu Wenzhou’s voice softened as he watched Huang Shaotian take a sip of the water.
“Huh? Ah… I think so? My parents would always yell at me to do things in the morning so I never really got the chance to laze around… I’ll be back to normal when it gets closer to afternoon. Oh, don’t tell anyone about me acting like this, okay? It’s too embarrassing.”
“Really? I think you’re pretty cute like this.”
“Captain, don’t joke around like that,” Huang Shaotian dragged out the vowels in the first word.
He put the cup back down on the counter and wrapped his arms around Yu Wenzhou’s waist, leaning against him as he sighed. He really was too tired; all he wanted to do was go back to his room and sleep. He couldn’t do that at the moment, but hugging Yu Wenzhou wasn’t a bad alternative.
“I’m not joking,” Yu Wenzhou hugged him back, his voice light. “You know I don’t like making jokes.”
Huang Shaotian didn’t respond, the room falling into silence, save for the sounds of their staggered breathing. They stood there for a while, Huang Shaotian closing his eyes and basking in the silence. It felt nice staying quiet for a while. For a long time, Huang Shaotian had hated silence because of everything he’d hear in his own mind, constantly using his voice to block them out.
But when he was with Yu Wenzhou, he felt a kind of security that he hadn’t before, and the silence when they were together was warm and comforting. There was a kind of reassurance in Yu Wenzhou’s presence, telling him that everything would be fine, and that it would be okay.
After a long while, Huang Shaotian let out a long exhale before pulling back. “So,” he started, his voice clearer than it was earlier. “Should we do something today?”
It was obvious that he was fully awake now, as his eyes were brighter, and his motions were faster. Yu Wenzhou tilted his head to the side. “Do you want to? I don’t have anything planned.”
“Let’s do something then! I’m up early for once, we shouldn’t let this chance go to waste- oh I haven’t even changed yet, I’ll be back, captain!”
Yu Wenzhou watched with amusement as Huang Shaotian darted out of the room, the sound of his slippers hitting the floor following behind him. It wasn’t too obvious, but Yu Wenzhou had noticed; when Huang Shaotian had fallen silent, he relaxed just slightly, as if finding relief.
He knew Huang Shaotian didn’t really like talking about himself, so he never asked. But he thought that it would be nice if he could bring it up at least some time, so that he could understand Huang Shaotian better and maybe find a way to comfort him. However… that day didn’t have to be today. Yu Wenzhou sighed as he drank the water that had cooled down to room temperature.
A few minutes later, Huang Shaotian returned, wearing a pair of jeans and a loose-fitting hoodie. “Captain, let’s go out and buy breakfast!”
“Okay,” Yu Wenzhou agreed easily.
Huang Shaotian crossed the cafeteria quickly, grabbing Yu Wenzhou’s hand and leading him out of their team’s base. “Do you know which stores are open? I don’t usually go out in the morning so I wouldn’t know. Oh wait, I don’t even know if you do either… well if you don’t know it’s okay, we can just walk until we find one.”
It was slightly colder outside than it was inside, a chilly breeze brushing past them as they stepped onto the sidewalk. They crossed a street and started to make their way down the road, keeping an eye out for anywhere that was open. Since it was still early morning, there weren’t too many people outside.
“It depends on what you want to eat,” Yu Wenzhou pointed out. “I come outside sometimes. If I know somewhere that has what you want, we can go there.”
“Sounds good,” Huang Shaotian hummed, thinking about what he wanted to eat. “Actually I don’t really know what’s good in the morning, since we usually eat cafeteria food… oh, is there anywhere that sells jianbing guozi here? I haven’t had that in so long…”
“There’s one a few streets away,” Yu Wenzhou thought about it, interlocking their fingers and tugging Huang Shaotian in a different direction.
“Oh, coming,” Huang Shaotian quickened his pace as he caught up to Yu Wenzhou.
The two of them chatted idly as they made their way to the food stall on the street, ordering their food and deciding to walk around while eating. By this time, the sun had risen higher in the sky. The already filled streets became even more crowded, traffic starting to pile as people started heading toward work.
“Who are we playing next?” Huang Shaotian asked around a mouthful of food.
“Team Samsara.”
“Oh…” Huang Shaotian took another bite as he thought about it. “We should be able to beat them, right? Zhou Zekai is scary and all, but it’s not like he’s invincible…”
They wandered into a park, passing by people who were doing morning exercises. The path that they walked on wasn’t paved, tiny clouds of dust rising with every step they took. Trees lined the sides, providing shade from the sun. Compared to the city center, it was a lot quieter here.
Huang Shaotian continued to ramble as they ate their breakfasts and walked around, talking about anything and everything. At some point, they finished their food and were just strolling around, making their way back to the team base.
Before doing so, Huang Shaotian got distracted by the many stores that had displays on the streets, dragging Yu Wenzhou to take a look in at least twenty stores before they actually headed in the direction that they were supposed to go in. It wasn’t as if he had never been to those stores before, but rather the fact that he didn’t have many chances to. Understanding that, Yu Wenzhou didn’t complain at all as he let himself get pulled into another store.
“Ah, if only I could wake up this early all the time,” Huang Shaotian lifted his arms up toward the sky and squeezed his eyes shut as he stretched. “Actually, nevermind. I like sleeping… people who wake up this early every day must be lunatics.”
“They probably go to sleep earlier,” Yu Wenzhou commented as he picked up a notebook, turning it over in his hands and flipping through the pages. “Not everyone stays up as late as you do.”
“True…” Huang Shaotian lazed over a pile of books, picking one up at random. “Maybe if I had a sleep schedule like Zhang Xinjie I’d be able to get up earlier.”
“Zhang Xinjie has an extremely strict sleep schedule which he has adhered to for many years. It won’t be easy to suddenly develop a habit like that.”
“Let me dream, captain! Ah, but sleeping later isn’t too bad either, since most of us are still awake then anyway. There isn’t much to do in the morning anyway… I definitely wouldn’t work out or go on morning runs. Hmm… maybe just getting up early once in a while is okay.”
Huang Shaotian turned to lean the side of his face on the pile of books when something caught his attention. He quickly walked over to the shelf full of plushies, picking up a cat that had soft fur and squishing it. “Hey captain, do you think they’d let us take care of pets in the base?”
“Probably not,” Yu Wenzhou shook his head. “It’s too troublesome; we still have to take care of ourselves first.”
“Hmm,” Huang Shaotian pouted as he squished it once more before putting it back on the shelf. “What about you? Have you ever thought about raising a pet?”
“Maybe once or twice,” Yu Wenzhou thought about it for a moment. “Although, those thoughts are usually dashed when I remember our team responsibilities. Maybe after I retire though… I haven’t thought that far yet.”
“We should raise a cat!” Huang Shaotian said as he led the way out of the shop. “They’re not as hard to take care of as dogs are, but more interesting than something like fish or whatever.”
Yu Wenzhou didn’t miss the implication from when Huang Shaotian said “we,” the corners of his lips tugging upward. “We can think about it then,” he responded easily. “Let’s first focus on the regular season.”
“Okay,” Huang Shaotian agreed without a second thought, bringing their topic back to Glory.
They started to properly make their way back to their team base, passing by familiar roads and stores as they retraced their steps. Cars passed by in a blur, and voices of people mixed into the background noise of the city.
At one of the intersections, the light turned red before they could cross, the two of them stopping on the sidewalk. “Shaotian,” Yu Wenzhou began, unsure of what to say.
“Hm?” Huang Shaotian turned around expectantly, obviously distracted.
Yu Wenzhou paused for a few seconds, studying his face, before ultimately deciding to drop it. “Nothing,” he shook his head before nodding toward the street light. “Let’s cross.”
Huang Shaotian walked out quickly, Yu Wenzhou trailing behind him. He had wanted to tell Huang Shaotian that he could tell him anything — no matter what it was about — but seeing the pureness in his eyes made him realize that he had been worried about nothing.
Who knows what kind of bad memories he would’ve brought up if he had asked about it. Some things were best left alone; they would surface in due time. It would be fine if he saved it for someday else.
“Mm?” Huang Shaotian turned around, seeing that Yu Wenzhou was a few steps behind him. “Captain, what’s wrong? The light’s going to turn red again soon. Hurry up, or you’re going to be left behind!”
Huang Shaotian grinned, stretching his hand out with his palm up as he waited for Yu Wenzhou on the other side.
Yu Wenzhou let out a sigh, smiling in defeat. He put his hand atop Huang Shaotian’s, letting his vice captain pull him forward. “I’m here,” he said as the light turned red behind him.
I’ll be here whenever you need me… whether it’s when we are on the stage or when you’re feeling down…
As if Huang Shaotian could hear him, he tightened his hold around Yu Wenzhou’s hand. “Captain, thanks for coming out with me today! You’re the best! Let’s go get breakfast together again sometime! Next time, let’s get noodles!”
Yu Wenzhou squeezed his hand back, his silent words lingering in his heart. “Okay.”