Chapter Text
Jiang Xiaoshuai was halfway through microwaving dumplings when his apartment door slammed open.
Wu Suowei burst in, clutching his laptop like it was a ticking time bomb.
“I need wine,” he panted, chest heaving. “And advice.”
Xiaoshuai didn’t even flinch. This was barely in the top five most dramatic entrances Suowei had ever made. “If this is about one of Chi Cheng’s weird snake videos again, count me out.”
“It’s worse.” Suowei’s voice was low, urgent. He stormed to the couch and slammed the laptop down, the screen glowing ominously. “You’ll want to sit. And pour two glasses.”
That finally got Xiaoshuai’s full attention.
By the time he returned with the wine, Suowei had pulled up a grainy video file title, rather casually: cc_bar_dare_regret.mov.
Xiaoshuai arched a skeptical brow. “Is this something you stumbled upon, or did you acquire it via… questionable means?”
“Does it matter?” Suowei asked darkly. “Press play.”
The video flickered to life with a shaky handheld shot of a sleek private bar, Chi Cheng’s domain unmistakably. Expensive leather chairs, glossy marble counters.
Then came Wang Shuo’s voice, silky but dripping with passive aggression. “Chi Cheng, truth or dare?”
“Dare,” Chi Cheng replied with effortless arrogance.
Wang Shuo’s tone sharpened. “Kiss Guo Chengyu.”
Chi Cheng raised one perfect brow, an expression so smug it nearly radiated off the screen and then caught Guo Chengyu’s jaw gently in one hand and kissed him.
It was quick, clinical almost: no lingering passion, just a precise, confident peck.
Guo Chengyu blinked, then laughed. Not the nervous, awkward kind, but genuine amusement.
Behind the camera, Wang Shuo’s face tensed, his mouth a thin line of displeasure.
The video ended.
Suowei stared at the screen like he’d just witnessed a coup. “Thoughts?”
Xiaoshuai took a slow, deliberate sip of wine, letting the weight settle. “Wow.”
“Right?”
“Chi Cheng just locked lips with Guo Chengyu like it's no big deal.”
“And Chengyu laughed,” Suowei whispered. “Like it was endearing.”
“But Wang Shuo definitely wasn’t laughing.”
“Nope. He looked like he wanted to sue everyone in that room for emotional damages.”
Xiaoshuai rewound the clip, watching Guo Chengyu’s reaction again... the small, knowing grin, the warmth in his eyes. It wasn’t romantic, not exactly. But it wasn’t discomfort, either. If anything, it looked fond.
He set his glass down, voice quieter now. “Do you think Chengyu has feelings for Chi Cheng?”
Suowei blinked, caught off guard. “What? No! No, no. I mean… I don't think so?”
But Xiaoshuai’s mind was already spiraling. That laugh. That warm, easy laugh directed at Chi Cheng…
His stomach twisted into knots.
“I’m going to do something stupid,” Xiaoshuai muttered.
“God, finally.” Suowei leaned forward, grinning. “What is it? I’m here to support your idiocy.”
“We make our own kiss video,” Xiaoshuai said, eyes glinting with mischief.
Suowei blinked. “You mean like… revenge?”
“Exactly. You and me. Fake kiss. Perfect lighting. Maximum emotional whiplash.”
“I’m in,” Suowei said instantly, too eagerly.
Twenty minutes later, the living room had transformed into the set of a painfully low-budget music video. The coffee table was shoved aside, lamps dragged into strategic, dramatic spots. Xiaoshuai’s phone balanced precariously on a tripod he hadn’t touched since his ill-fated clinic vlog days.
“Okay,” Suowei said, fluffing his hair and flexing. “How do we do this? Slow? Fast? Do I grab you?”
“You grab me. I pretend to resist. Then I lean in like I’m emotionally compromised.”
“Oh! Like a drama kiss!”
“Exactly, Dawei.”
They hit record.
Take one was a disaster. Suowei tripped over the rug; Xiaoshuai laughed mid-kiss, their foreheads collided with a loud clonk.
“Cut!” Xiaoshuai groaned, rubbing his forehead. “Not nearly emotionally devastating enough.”
“Again!” Suowei said, hands on hips. “I’m ready to ruin hearts.”
The second take was… shockingly good.
Xiaoshuai’s hand curled around the back of Suowei’s neck, pulling him closer.
Their lips met...soft, sure, and surprisingly warm. Suowei’s thick lips pressed against Xiaoshuai’s with a slow confidence, full and unhurried, as if they knew exactly how to take up space without overwhelming it. The kiss deepened gently, Suowei’s tongue brushing lightly against Xiaoshuai’s, tentative at first, then more assured. It was meant to be ridiculous, spiteful even, but beneath that was an unexpected intimacy, a quiet warmth born of years of friendship folded into something more tender.
Xiaoshuai’s breath hitched as the kiss lingered, neither hurried nor hesitant. It was a steady, searching touch, offering comfort and familiarity and maybe a flicker of something neither of them wanted to name aloud.
When they finally pulled apart, their foreheads rested together briefly. The silence between them was charged with a strange, unspoken understanding.
But it was… strangely comfortable.
There was chemistry, not romantic, no! but warm and lived in. The kind born of sharing meals, bad decisions, and covering for each other.
“Wow,” Suowei finally said, blinking. “We’re either brilliant actors or just really confused.”
“Let’s not overthink it,” Xiaoshuai said, already scrolling through filters. “Romantic black and white or cinematic blue?”
“Give me tragic. I want their souls to ache.”
They layered on soft piano music, dramatic, maybe over the top, and exported the final cut.
Xiaoshuai attached it in a message to Guo Chengyu:
Kiss videos are trending now. Here’s ours. Don’t say I never keep you updated.
Suowei sent his to Chi Cheng with a smug note:
Since you think kissing friends is no big deal, I figured I’d show you how it’s actually done :)
They clinked glasses and collapsed onto the couch, satisfied, a little buzzed, and dangerously pleased with themselves.
“If this causes a meltdown,” Suowei said, grinning wide, “we fake our deaths and move across the country.”
Their phones buzzed simultaneously from across the room.
They didn’t check.
Not yet.
Tonight, they had wine, petty triumph, and each other, two idiots in a dimly lit apartment, drunk on spite and just enough lip balm.
The fallout could wait until morning.