Guo had left in a hurry, and Yunlan was still thinking about it when he absent-mindedly turned a corner and almost bumped into Shen Wei.

They both looked surprised, greeted each other with a smile and started walking together, side by side.

Yunlan liked this, he liked how they walked at the same pace, how comfortable it felt to be close.

"Maybe he really is a lucky charm," Yunlan thought while walking along with Shen Wei.

Not only they met early, which meant that they had some time alone ahead of them before meeting with their friends, but Wei was alone. Ren would join them later when they were to meet with all the others.

Yunlan was really happy at finally being alone with Wei, but he also didn’t know what to say. It had been a long time since they had spent some time alone, and now Yunlan didn’t know what to say to him.

The last time they had walked like this, it had been the beginning of their friendship.

Zhao wondered if Wei remembered that day, but he did, in every detail.
Little did he know that Wei was thinking the same thing. Of course he remembered their "date", his memory was always good but it became eidetic when Yunlan was in the picture.

Lost in these thoughts that neither of them could voice aloud, both kept silent for a few minutes, then Yunlan scratched the back of his head and laughed awkwardly.
"I don’t really know what to say."

Wei looked at him, wondering if maybe Yunlan would rather be alone, and since he himself didn’t know what to say, he suggested, "There’s no need, it’s ok, you don’t have to talk to me."

'What does that mean?', thought Yunlan , was Wei thinking that he didn't ‘want’ to talk to him? He did! But what could he say, I like walking with you? So lame... I'm glad we're talking again? So stupid, besides they hadn't been fighting, nobody was there to stop Yunlan from talking to him, after all. I like your company? Yeah, if his goal was to sound pathetic...
Aaargh, he really didn’t know what to say...

So he started singing.

"What...?" Wei started saying, and Yunlan smirked.
"You said nothing about singing."

They looked at each other and after a second they both laughed out loud, and somehow the awkwardness vanished. Now Wei was smiling and Yunlan added another thing to his list of established facts: he really enjoyed seeing him smile or laugh.

Wei asked him if he wanted something to drink and they stopped for a cup of tea, chatting easily about the weather, about school, about their teachers and their grades, anything that came to mind was a good excuse to keep talking to the other.

We all know how it is, when you're having a good time and you'd want it to last, that's when time really flies away, and there's no stopping it.

It was nearing the time to meet with the others, and Yunlan said so because they needed to go and head towards the place of the appointment.

Wei lowered his eyes and said, "Yeah, Ren will meet us there too."

Yunlan didn’t let that discourage him; for now he still had Wei all to himself.

But the mention of Ren caused his thoughts to run wild.
He fought against himself for a moment: the brain was yelling ‘things are going well, just shut up’ but the heart was pouting and wanted to know... so he asked, "How did you and Ren... you know, how did you two..."

Wei lowered his eyes again and Yunlan couldn’t decipher his expression.
"Become boyfriends?"

“...”

"I’m not really comfortable..." he started saying, but Yunlan interrupted him.

"You know I would never judge you right? If it’s you, I will accept everything you say to me."

Was Wei worried that he might judge him or refuse him for what he was? He'd never do that, what he really wanted to know was how had they ended up together, how did it happen that one day it was just Wei and since the next it was always Wei&Ren?
But he struggled to find the right words, fearing that Wei might read it as an attack against Ren and distance himself again.

Those words hit Wei in a strange way; whenever Yunlan was involved, Wei always felt like his emotions were all over the place. He reminded himself that of course Yunlan wouldn’t judge him because after all he had dated guys too - 'although I wasn't supposed to know, and I can't tell him that I know' he thought - and he suppressed that little voice inside himself that poked painfully at his heart screaming ‘it could have been you!’ , thinking that maybe, had he met him before, had he been less shy and useless, maybe, just maybe...

Wei cleared his voice, thought back of the first time he met Ren, and said, "I... I wasn’t sure of what I wanted, back then. I... I wasn’t like you, I didn’t have friends, I never dated, I only thought of my studies, basically I was always alone; my classmates thought I was arrogant because of my father’s position and didn’t like me, everyone but Ren. He sat next to me instead of avoiding me like the others did, he talked to me, he.. he flirted with me, although it took me a while to understand that."

There was a slightly embarrassed chuckle before he continued.
"When he asked me out I only knew that I liked his company, I didn’t really know that I was gay until we...”
His reserved soul sounded a loud alarm that stopped him abruptly before he went there... he wasn’t going to talk about ‘that’ with anyone, let alone Yunlan.

He blushed like crazy and became mute. He couldn’t believe that he almost told Yunlan... what was wrong with him? He had never felt so embarrassed in his entire life!

Yunlan was silent too, lost in his own thoughts. What Wei had told him... actually they had been very similar, he would have been alone too without Hong at his side, he had been before she came into his life, just like Wei had been before Ren came into his life... and yet their relationships had developed in opposite ways: they had become like brother and sister, while Wei and Ren had... become... l...lovers?

Even thinking that thought was so difficult!

He kept thinking about his words: so they had started talking to each other and spending time together, and they enjoyed each other's company... pretty much like they were doing right now.
It was pretty much what Yunlan felt about him.

So now he looked at Shen Wei as if it was the first time, in a different way than before.

Yunkan looked at his face, then focused on every detail: his short hair that seemed so soft, those kind eyes that were so deep he could drown if he stared at them too long; his long lashes, fair skin, thin lips... so pink and perfect, how many times had Ren kissed those lips? What had it been like? How would he feel if he...

Wei had known for sure only after they got more intimate... would it work for him too? Would he finally be able to understand his own feelings if they kissed?

Gosh, he should really say something to break this silence, why couldn’t he think of anything to say? He could only keep staring, wondering what kissing him would feel like, if it would be too awkward to hug him now without reason, and ultimately wondering what was hidden under that shirt, was he thin and delicate or strong and muscular? What would it feel like if he touched, if he kissed... What if he...?

"lan.. Yunlan!" Hong almost screamed.

Startled, he came out of his own thoughts, not even knowing what Hong was doing there, wasn't it just the two of them?

Actually there wasn't just Hong, all of his friends were there, plus Ren. He hadn’t noticed that they had arrived, he was so lost...

Da Qing: "What were you thinking that you didn’t even see us?"

Yunlan laughed an awkward laugh and didn’t reply.

Hong stared at him wondering what had happened, but she could only wait until they were alone to ask him.

They ate something, and it was funny to see Da Qing and Ren together, they ate so much the girls were rather envious, how could they eat and eat and never gain weight? Life was so not fair!

They kept chatting as usual until it was time to go back home, but Yunlan couldn’t really remember what he ate or what they talked about, he was like in a daze.

Once alone on their way home, Hong tried to question him, but he was unresponsive, she couldn’t get anything out of him, only that ‘nothing happened’.

As if she was going to believe that.