Chapter Text
Everyday, Su Mucheng would put on a cheerful facade, always the calm one and the one that cheers everyone up. She was always the one that people can rely on, but never had anyone asked her if she was fine, and the closest person to noticing was Ye Xiu, who definitely saw the mask that she had put on crack, sometimes saw the way all light would disappear from her eyes, and sometimes saw her bright smile fade away. But he never said anything. Just watched from the shadows, noticing something other people don't. That was when they were all back in Excellent Era. Now Ye Xiu was in team Happy, and the Su siblings are waiting for their contract in Excellent Era to end so they could join Happy.
Su Mucheng had a secret. Every night, when she was alone in her bedroom, she let herself break, allowed herself to cry, something that she never let herself do in daytime. She don't even know why she cried. Maybe it was the constant pressure to put up a smile. She hated it.
One night, when Su Mucheng heard everyone else except for Muqiu and herself celebrating, she just ran, without telling Muqiu or anyone else. She ran to Happy Internet Cafe, looking for Ye Xiu. She was greeted by him, asking her why she was here.
"Excellent Era were celebrating Sun Xiang's victories. I can't stand it." She explained cheerfully and asked to sleep in one of their rooms. Ye Xiu agreed in a heartbeat, leading her to the closest room next to his. She knew that he could probably hear her cry, so she tried to muffle everything with the pillow that he provided him with.
"Mucheng, I brought you some water." Ye Xiu called, opening the door. He saw Mucheng curled up on the bed, quietly sobbing into her pillow. He just stayed silent and walked over to her bed, sitting down next to her. He awkwardly patted her back and waited until she calmed down a little.
"Hey, its ok to cry, you know." he silently told her.
"But...crying is a sign of weakness. You can't see me like this!" Mucheng turned her head around, wiping her tears away.
"You don't have to hide all the pain. I'm here to shoulder some of it for you." Ye Xiu smiled at her.
Su Mucheng tried to stop herself from crying, but his kind words broke the tightly wound rope of emotions inside her. The tears started, only small sobs at first, morphing into louder sniffles, until she was full on crying. Ye Xiu pulled her into an embrace, letting her sob into his shoulder. Time passed, but neither of them cared. Mucheng looked up, her eyes red and puffy, still sniffling once in a while.
"Want to get a midnight snack?" Ye Xiu asked out of the blue. Su Mucheng laughed a bit, small but genuine.
"It's midnight right now." she giggled.
"Exactly. The best time to grab a snack right now!" Ye Xiu bantered, dragging her outside to buy some chips. What he did not know was that Muqiu had followed Mucheng outside of Excellent Era, now trailing behind them on their way to grab a midnight snack.