Work Text:
“I. Can’t. Believe it.”
“Cheng Xiaoshi, I don’t have high hopes since you never read books, but I assume you have more words in your vocabulary.”
Cheng Xiaoshi was too busy fuming to catch the jab. He spread his arms to indicate how absolutely ridiculous the situation was. “The landlady left us!”
Lu Guang tapped the edge of his account book on the surface of the counter. “She’s going on vacation.”
“Without us!” Cheng Xiaoshi wailed dramatically. “I thought we were family.”
“We’re not hers to babysit,” Lu Guang said. “Besides, she and Xu Shanshan went with their own money.”
“Well!” The gears in Cheng Xiaoshi’s head were spinning rapidly. “She could’ve invited us to join. It’s not like we don’t have money to go on vacation.”
Lu Guang snorted. “Don’t be ridiculous. They’re going overseas. That’s not cheap, especially around this time of the year.”
Cheng Xiaoshi flopped onto the couch. Closing his eyes, he spread out his limbs and stretched with a loud groan. It was exactly because it was this time of the year that he was so bummed! Winter, snow, Christmas, and New Year’s meant festivities. Togetherness. Family time. See, he could be articulate sometimes.
“And besides,” Lu Guang continued, “you’ve used up your savings to go to Yingdu. You know, that spontaneous trip early this year when we left her.”
“Jeez, okay, okay…”
Cheng Xiaoshi opened an eye and peeked at Lu Guang. It wasn’t the first time he and Lu Guang were alone for days at a time, but this would be the first winter they celebrated together. Just the two of them.
The heater wasn’t running to save electricity, but Cheng Xiaoshi felt his cheeks heating up.
“Lu Guang.”
“Hmm?”
“What do you usually do during the winter holidays?”
Lu Guang leaned against the counter. His eyes were glazed with nostalgia for a past Cheng Xiaoshi didn’t know. His lips were pursed in thought. Cheng Xiaoshi wanted to kiss them. Wait, stop.
“Not much,” Lu Guang said finally. “At home, reading. Why?”
Cheng Xiaoshi huffed in frustration. Between the two of them, Lu Guang was the one reading danmei, believe it or not. Shouldn’t he be less dense, then? Or was he the type who only read “for the plot?”
Cheng Xiaoshi had to do everything around here. “Tomorrow, after work, let’s go somewhere.”
“…Where?” Lu Guang already sounded like he’d rather nap on the couch in the sunroom.
“Oh, I don’t know!” Cheng Xiaoshi threw his hands up. “Don’t you wanna go somewhere to get in the festive mood?”
“Not really.”
Why did Cheng Xiaoshi have to fall for an awkward block of ice, again? Oh, right. Because he was kind, gentle, secretly loved cute things, considerate, dedicated, smart, and gorgeous to boot…
Suppressing his feelings, Cheng Xiaoshi started scrolling on his phone. “There’s gotta be something interesting… oh!” His finger stopped at a Weibo post. “Lu Guang! Lu Guang! Look at this!”
Cheng Xiaoshi got up from the couch and pressed one palm on the counter. His other hand shoved the phone up to Lu Guang’s face. Lu Guang’s eyes narrowed as he leaned back, like a white kitty avoiding water. Seconds later, his face morphed to mild interest.
“Ice skating, huh.”
“Yeah, and it’s pretty close to campus. Students get a discount on the entrance fee, too! Perfect, huh?” Cheng Xiaoshi mentally patted himself on the back.
He put down his phone and leaned against the counter with both hands now. Staring intently at Lu Guang with the best puppy eyes he could muster, he grinned. “What do you think, Lu Guang?”
Did he sound too hopeful? It would be pathetic if Lu Guang turned out to be straight, though he doubted it. But Cheng Xiaoshi reeled back anyway and pointed a finger at Lu Guang. “Actually, I’m not taking no for an answer. We’re going tomorrow.”
Lu Guang sighed, but Cheng Xiaoshi could see a ghost of a smile across his thin lips. His heart leapt with hope, but he only let himself rejoice when Lu Guang finally said, “Fine.”
Yes! Confetti rained down inside Cheng Xiaoshi’s mind. Step one, make Lu Guang agree to an ice-skating date—oh, this was definitely a date, no matter what Qiao Ling or Xu Shanshan would say. Check.
Step two, make Lu Guang fall for him. Easy, right?
Apparently, step two was to not fall flat on his face and break his nose.
Cheng Xiaoshi stumbled, his feet skidding on the ice. He was almost bent double at the waist, and his arms were extended in a desperate attempt to maintain his balance. But deep inside, he knew he was fighting a losing battle. It was only a matter of time before he…
“So, you’ve never ice skated before.”
A whoosh past his ear, a flash of white hair, and Lu Guang had come to a perfect halt in front of him. Not that Cheng Xiaoshi could see whatever smug expression he had. If he tried to look up, he might just lose the final bits of balance he had left.
But Cheng Xiaoshi refused to give him the satisfaction. “I have!”
Technically, he had skated before. Over ten years ago, with his parents and Qiao Ling. There was a skating rink at the nearby mall that they visited at least once every holiday season. Cheng Xiaoshi and Qiao Ling would spend hours racing each other until they had run out of breath from exhaustion and laughter.
After his parents left, Cheng Xiaoshi didn’t have the money to frivolously spend on ice. Now that he had started earning for himself, he could finally entertain the thought again.
Well, Lu Guang didn’t need to know all that. “I’m serious. I have skated before.”
“Your body sure is forgetful, then.” There was a tinge of laughter in Lu Guang’s voice.
“Maybe,” Cheng Xiaoshi grunted. He just wanted to look cool and impress Lu Guang with laps around the rink, but muscle memory failed him and decided to embarrass him in front of his crush. Was muscle memory even a thing? Were people lying?
While internally complaining like this, Cheng Xiaoshi straightened his back. Slowly, slowly…
A little girl zoomed past in her bright pink skates. A younger boy followed behind her, gliding just as smoothly. Lu Guang’s eyes followed them, then looked back at Cheng Xiaoshi… who had lost his balance again, now bending even lower than before.
Great. Cheng Xiaoshi took a deep breath, willing himself not to scream. Above him, there was a chuckle.
Well, if his misery could make Lu Guang laugh, that was a small win. Not ideal, but this was Lu Guang. Cheng Xiaoshi would take whatever he could get.
“Well,” Lu Guang’s cool voice still contained traces of laughter. It warmed Cheng Xiaoshi’s heart. His cheeks heated up in embarrassment and infatuation. “Since your muscle memory isn’t coming back to you yet…”
Lu Guang bent down and took hold of Cheng Xiaoshi’s hands.
…Huh?
Lu Guang was holding his hands?! Well, sure, this wasn’t the first time they held hands, but when Cheng Xiaoshi escaped with Lu Guang after getting kidnapped by Vivian, and then when they were running away with Xia Fei from those crazy drunks at the bar, they were pretty much in life-or-death situations. The handholding wasn’t exactly romantic. Besides, Cheng Xiaoshi had been the one to reach out for Lu Guang. He was always the one initiating any sort of physical contact.
But now Lu Guang reached out to hold his hands. While ice skating, no less! Cheng Xiaoshi’s mind was reeling with shoujo manga panels Qiao Ling liked to read when they were younger. Could it be? Did he dare to be hopeful? How else was he supposed to interpret this?
“What are you waiting for? Get up.”
Cheng Xiaoshi blinked. “O-oh… yeah.”
Gripping Lu Guang’s hands more tightly, Cheng Xiaoshi straightened back up. But just before he could exhale a sigh of relief, he was pulled forward.
“Lu Guang!” he yelped. “Wait, not so fast!”
Lu Guang sent him a quizzical look. They were actually going at a crawling pace.
Cheng Xiaoshi laughed awkwardly. Lu Guang was still holding both his hands and guiding him forward. His eyes darted around, looking anywhere but those striking grey irises. “Uh.” At times like these, he wished he could use his hands so he could scratch his cheek, or ruffle his hair, or something. He paid attention to how smoothly Lu Guang was skating backwards. “You never said you’re good at skating.”
“You never asked.”
Classic reply, but what did he expect? Cheng Xiaoshi knew what he signed up for when he fell in love with Lu Guang. That night before they left for Yingdu, when Lu Guang said he’d stay with him until the end…
“How did you get so good, anyway?” He’d better keep the conversation going before he did something impulsive, like leaning in and kissing Lu Guang’s lips. They looked slightly dry. Was he cold? They were both wearing gloves that came with the skates and the student discount, but Lu Guang’s ears were slightly red…
Lu Guang shrugged. “I used to skate quite often.”
“You said you only read at home during the winter holidays!”
“I do. I don’t typically skate during the holidays. It’s too crowded.”
Cheng Xiaoshi barked out a laugh. “What, did you rent a whole rink for yourself?”
“Idiot.”
They were going faster now. Fast enough that Lu Guang must have realized Cheng Xiaoshi was getting the hang of it. But he hadn’t let go of his hands, and Cheng Xiaoshi didn’t intend to let him.
“Cosplayer, ice skater, time agent,” Cheng Xiaoshi snickered when Lu Guang rolled his eyes at that last one. He said it was cheesy and borderline cringe. Cheng Xiaoshi kept insisting it was the coolest thing ever. “What else are you, Lu Guang?”
Something flickered in Lu Guang’s eyes, but then he met Cheng Xiaoshi’s gaze. “That’s for you to find out.”
…Was that a challenge? An invitation?
A wide grin spread across Cheng Xiaoshi’s face. “Oh, you’re on.”
He would break down Lu Guang’s walls. Peel off his carefully crafted mask. With each new layer he uncovered, he was sure he’d fall deeper and deeper for this man.
He just hoped that, somewhere along the process, he’d make Lu Guang fall for him, too.
Lu Guang flashed a smile of his own, forcing Cheng Xiaoshi to take a sharp intake of breath. It was fleeting, but to Cheng Xiaoshi, that was exactly why it was so beautiful. Like the precious few seconds of a sunrise or the flash of a shooting star.
“Race you, then.”
Lu Guang let go of his hands, and before Cheng Xiaoshi could react, he kicked the ice and sped off, all while still skating backwards.
Cheng Xiaoshi’s jaw dropped as he watched Lu Guang’s face—so smug yet so handsome that he couldn’t even be mad—becoming smaller and smaller.
The surprise nearly made Cheng Xiaoshi stumble and fall for good, but he regained his footing quickly and increased his pace. “Not fair! Lu Guang, you can be so childish!”
Step one, have an ice skating date with Lu Guang. Check.
Step two, make Lu Guang fall for him. Uh, that one was still in the works. Cheng Xiaoshi would figure out what to do later.
Right now, he was busy accomplishing step two point five—catch up to Lu Guang and hold his hands again.