Chapter Text
The heat and excitement of the championship game has left Shen Yuan sweaty, with smeared green paint on his cheeks and hair sticking in black whisps to his forehead and neck. His heart beats too fast, a rabbit confronted with a wolf, and there's an aching dryness in his throat from screaming obscenities at the Huan Hua basketball team. Shen Jiu would likely cuss him out for his appearance, but unlike the times before, Shen Yuan couldn't give a damn.
They were so close to winning. If there had been an extra 5-minute play, he's convinced they would have gotten a three-pointer and crushed Huan Hua like the insects they are. But the game had been called mere moments before his shidi could get one more basket.
The screech of the timer pulled ferocious blaspheme from the dregs of his energy as Cang Qiong wilted on the court. The disappointment thrums in the clench of his teeth, and yet the high of the game leaves him feeling almost dizzy.
He slumps back into his seat with a whine as he tries to reorientate. Beside him, Shang Qinghua whoops for Huan Hua's shooting guard, Mobei Jun, face red and mouth stretched wide. Shen Yuan's sorely tempted to push him down the stairs.
"Where's your loyalty?" Shen Yuan cries as Huan Hua's bleachers erupt in cheers and Cang Qiong in cries of anguish.
Shang Qinghua, the slimy bastard that he is, shrugged and, without hesitation, gestured toward the court. "In those tight shorts."
The Huan Hua team does have ridiculously short shorts, and if Shen Yuan didn't care about the flagrant red and gold colouring, it might even have been attractive. He has some decency, unlike his regrettable best friend.
Slowly, after hands are shaken, and the Huan Hua players vacate the court, the throngs of spectators start to trickle away. It's a Friday night, and the home court is situated on the outer bounds of what the university students affectionately call 'beer town.' The merriment, win or lose, is bound to spill over into the streets where the roads are already clogged with illegally parked cars.
Shang Qinghua makes up a poor excuse to leave Shen Yuan alone, fidgeting and darting eyes over to the adjoining hallway.
He sighs, "Oh my god, just go get plowed already, like I care."
Taking the out for what it is, Shang Qinghua scurries away to find his ridiculously large boyfriend. Disgusting.
(Shen Yuan has heard way too much about Mobei Jun's athleticism – on and off the court – to be any kind of prude about his friend's mating habits.)
Once the stands are mostly cleared out, Shen Yuan hooks a duffle filled to the brim with protein bars, vitamin water, and his winter coat over his shoulder. Jiu-ge could keep his stash in his locker like any reasonable person would, but if time is any indicator, Shen Jiu is the most unreasonable and distrustful person to ever walk the earth. So, Shen Yuan cringes under the weight and trickles down the stairs to wait for his brother outside the home team changing room.
The heat of the game clings to him and his clammy skin still, so he makes the hard decision to pull his hair – so sweaty why did he think it was a good idea to wear it loose – up into a rough bun. He likely looks like Jiu-ge post-morning run, but the rapidly cooling air at the nape of his neck is absolute bliss. As soon as they get outside, he might freeze to death, but within the sweltering confines of the sports auditorium, it's a necessity.
As time ticks on, and his shoulder starts to ache, he steals a vitamin water from the duffle, uncaring that Shen Jiu will likely throw a hissy fit. He sips it lazily while scrolling through his photos. Despite not being in the ground seats, he's managed to capture a particularly cool shot of Liu Qingge twisting to pass the ball, his eyes squinted with determination and neck flexing. Qinghe is objectively gorgeous, a fact that Jiu-ge seethes at with the kind of spite reserved for steamy dark romance novels. Shen Yuan would know. He's a lit major.
With a smirk, Shen Yuan sends the image to his brother, followed by an unholy number of emoticons, including but not limited to a few drooling faces.
If there's anything that could stop Shen Jiu from ripping into him due to post-game frustration, it's bribery.
"Oi, Shen Jiu, that shot was a fucking foul!"
At the sudden yell, Shen Yuan jumps and turns to find Huan Hua's captain - Bingbing? Bingbe? - eating up the distance between them, face locked in a vicious snarl. The man is a solid six feet of muscle wrapped in an obscene amount of red and gold, his eyes seeming to glint red with the exit sign across the hallway.
Shen Yuan tenses, mouth opening silently, prepared to take a punch that will possibly kill him or land him back in the hospital for his brother. It's a more common occurrence than one might think.
The man comes to a stop much too close, radiating heat and the musk of an athlete too keyed up to shower. The last two Shen Yuan is well acquainted with after years of living with the irrepressibly bossy and emotionally volatile Shen Jiu. Shen Yuan blinks rapidly up at him, at a loss for words.
"If you think I'm gonna let that dirty trip slide then you don't remember the last time I smashed your ugly face in."
The words sink in seemingly in slow motion. He's not blind to his brother's abrasiveness, and he's well aware that he's a downright asshole to most people, often but not always deserved. Jiu-ge has probably been beaten up for less and deserved more. But, as the arguably cuter twin, Shen Yuan takes the comment about their shared face personally. At this, Shen Yuan flips from anticipatory misery to affronted fury. His tongue comes unstuck. "My ugly face?" he hisses, pushing himself forward until their chests bump. He feels much colder compared to the heat burning of Captain Asshole. "Haven't looked in a mirror for a couple of fucking years have you?"
Captain Asshole's face settles further into a sneer as he raises his hand, the tensing of his shoulder a sure indicator that Shen Yuan's going to need a bottle of pain pills later. His chest shudders, with the force of his growl, it travels through their connection and down to Shen Yuan's toes. "What did you-"
"Oi, beast, get the fuck away from my brother."
Shen Yuan tumbles back with the familiar clench of a hand at the back of his shirt. His shoulder collides with Jiu-ge pushing out his fury in a huff of breath and pulling in a kind of vengeful satisfaction on a waft of bamboo curling from newly showered skin.
Even as the younger twin sneers, the older's hold shifts to shove Shen Yuan behind him.
With comical ease, Shen Jiu takes over the menacing chest collision he'd just liberated Shen Yuan from. And, in a miraculous turn of events, Huan Hua's captain falters with his raised fist instead of laying on Jiu-ge as Shen Yuan might have expected him to. This momentary lapse allows Jiu-ge to shove him backward. He stumbles back, hands flailing, and Shen Yuan grudgingly admits Shen Jiu is much, much stronger than himself.
"Shen…Jiu?" The man asks, unsure, eyes darting between the brothers, snarl melting away to puppy-like confusion.
"What of it? Think you can push my brother around?" Shen Jiu does not let up, advancing on the bewildered basketball player. "I'll fucking kill you."
He might have, too, had Yue Qingyuan not chosen that moment to step from the changing room and effectively killed off the fighting mood by the sheer force of his disappointed moue. He's already showered and, as he is wont to do, looks like a particularly mournful capybara in his oversized grey sweater.
"I'm so sorry, Captain Luo," Yue Qingyuan says, mouth a tense smile. "A-Jiu is very protective of his brother."
Still looking bewildered, Captain Lou-Asshole, shakes his head. "No, no, I apologize." He seems to struggle for words for a moment. "It was a misunderstanding." His eyes, empty of his earlier fury, are wide and a warm brown as they settle on Shen Yuan. "I'm sorry, I thought-"
Shen Yuan huffs, unwilling to let the insult slide that easily, and tilts up his chin. "I was my brother? Screw right off, as if Jiu-ge has an ugly face."
The man seems to fumble, his face heating to a pale pink. "No, I-I didn't, you. I mean, your face is…nice."
Shen Jiu jerks forward as if he's going to attack the man, but Yue Qingyuan, with years of experience, intercepts with a quickly outstretched arm. "Perhaps you should leave, Captain Lou."
Clearly frazzled and out of his depth by the whole experience, Huan Hua's captain gapes and stares before collecting himself. "Oh, yes, I should, I should. Apologies, Captain Yue, Shen J-…ah, Shen." And with that, he is gone.
But Shen Jiu is clearly not appeased by the lack of a fight and turns to glare instead at Shen Yuan, who throws up his hands in surrender.
"I did not start it." He defends. His brother's eyes narrow. "I didn't!"
"You're lucky I was here to save you-" Shen Yuan scoffs in offense. "- or he would have ended you right back in the hospital."
"I could have handled it."
"With what? Your twig arms?"
He sucks in a breath, "Oh, so you do wanna fight? Qi-ge, release him, I'm going to tear his hair out."
"I think, perhaps, we can get pizza instead." Yue Qingyuan offers brightly while bodily dragging a struggling Shen Jiu back into the changing room. "Why don't you get the car warmed up for us so long? The team's almost done with post-game pep."
"I hate you," Shen Yuan hisses at the closing door, and, just to be contrary, he tears through two of Jiu-ge's protein bar stash.