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The trainees under chief inspector A were more than aware of their superior’s chilly temperament. Even on a good day, it was enough to see him not scowling and impossible to see him smile. He was always so uptight too, immaculately dressed in his uniform with not a single speck out of place. So when this group of trainees saw You Huo leaning against the gates of the training grounds dressed in just a black t-shirt and jeans, earphones plugged in and looking like he didn’t have a care in the world, they froze. At that moment, You Huo really didn’t look like an elite military officer, the bane of these trainees’ existence. He just looked like an ordinary young man, just with looks that were anything but ordinary.
On this day, Mr. A was in fact waiting for someone. This night was the first in more than two months where both he and Qin Jiu were free enough to go out together. They were supposed to go for a nice dinner and eat copious amounts of meat, then go back to their shared apartment in the city and poke fun at a movie so bad it was funny. What came after would depend on how sleepy or drunk they were when that time rolled around.
If a stranger looked at You Huo, they’d see a young man looking impatient and aloof, utterly unapproachable. But if you knew him, you’d notice the absence of a scowl and the presence of a fond twinkle in his light eyes.
You Huo’s trainees were somewhere in between these two categories — familiar enough with him to know that he wasn’t outwardly annoyed but not close enough to understand that he was expecting someone. Suddenly, he looked up, and the trainees spun around to see Gao Qi walking up to him. This inspector was also dressed more casually. They talked quietly for a while, then Gao Qi made a call to someone and waited next to You Huo.
“Hey,” a trainee whispered, “should we really just stand here watching the chief inspector?”
Another huffed. “Why not? He’s off duty and we’re free. We’re just watching a hot guy. What’s wrong with that?”
The first trainee blushed furiously. “Oh, god. Please don’t ever call him a ‘hot guy’ ever again.”
“What, he isn’t hot?”
“He is! But he’s also our chief inspector. If he heard—” she shuddered. “We’re all dead. He’ll run us into the ground.”
“……..you’re right. We should leave.”
As they turned to find another exit out of the base, the sound of a car came from behind them and they spun around to see a black car pulling up to the front of the gates, then turn neatly so it faced back the way it came. While Gao Qi waited, You Huo walked to the car and knocked on the window, bending over slightly to do so.
The trainees couldn’t see too clearly what was going on, but they could make out some things. The car’s windows were slightly tinted, so while they couldn’t see who the person inside was, they could see the blurry figure of a man sitting in the driver’s seat. You Huo waited, then knocked again, more insistently. The figure inside didn’t roll down the window. Instead, he held up something — a phone? — and waved it around.
You Huo straightened. Just from looking at his back, strong lines becoming stiffer and tenser, the trainees could tell he was shifting from annoyance to anger. To make matters worse, the car honked once, then the driver took off without a single glance at You Huo.
The trainees collectively gaped. They didn’t know of a single person who would dare to insult the chief inspector like this. Such an affront…surely You Huo would rip their head off. But instead of immediately going and getting a bazooka, You Huo took out his phone. The trainees thought he was calling in reinforcements to hunt down the car. In actuality, he was looking at a message from a certain S Brigade officer. The message was so simple he wanted to break the phone:
;)
You Huo played with a knife at his ankle. Nice dinner, my foot. Just pray your foot is still attached in the morning.
While he silently cursed out his boyfriend, the trainees prayed for the poor soul he was cursing out, whoever he was.
Truth be told, You Huo wasn’t all that surprised Qin Jiu had done this. He had recently been spending time with Chu Yue, and had obviously picked up some bad habits from her. In particular, he had become fond of pranks as a form of soft revenge. Most people wouldn’t expect someone as outwardly easygoing as Qin Jiu to hold strong grudges, but he remembered everything. This little show, for example, was almost exactly like the time the invigilator Gin had come up to Invigilator A’s car. He had even waved his phone the same way before leaving.
These pranks weren't harmful in any way. Even though he had just been stranded by his boyfriend, he wasn't truly angry, no matter how annoyed he looked, because he knew it wouldn't last. He knew Qin Jiu would come back, just as he always did.
What the trainees didn’t see was the car circling back around less than ten minutes later and the driver getting out with a bouquet of roses in hand. They didn’t see Qin Jiu kiss You Huo lightly and promise to buy him as much food as they could eat that night. They didn’t see You Huo roll his eyes and pluck out one of the roses to stuff the stem between Qin Jiu's lips, before kissing his boyfriend on the cheek and getting into the passenger seat of the car that was the same model as the one Invigilator A once owned.
The trainees definitely didn’t see what happened that night. It was a good thing A’s physical strength was good enough that during training the next morning, he looked perfectly normal. The trainees wondered who that cursed-out driver was for a long time, but another clue wouldn’t come up for another few weeks.