History3: Make Our Days Count (Miracle)

Take You Home

Xi Gu was convinced that Xiang Hao Ting's parents were going to take one look at him, from the soles of his worn-out sneakers to his fraying uniform sleeves and find him severely lacking. Not at all someone that they'd want their son to be friends with. 

But against all odds, they liked him. They were welcoming, warm and kind and it wasn't hard at all to see where Xiang Hao Ting inherited his amazing character traits from. Auntie had been especially eager for their friendship to grow, for them to get closer. If only she knew just how close Xi Gu has been imagining he can be with Xiang Hao Ting while they all innocently ate at the dinner table. 

Xi Gu felt guilty facing them, conversing and acting like he hadn't just been staring at their son's lips outside their house and wanted to do things to him that they definitely would not be happy about. He thinks it would've been easier if they had ended up not liking him, that they demand he no longer associate himself with Xiang Hao Ting— no matter how much the thought of being separated from the other boy feels like a punch to the ribs— because then Xi Gu could maybe pretend the past several days never happened. 

Xiang Hao Ting was just a curiosity and would have stayed that way. But then he had surged into his embrace, red-eyed and wet-cheeked. Their skin touched, sparks igniting and leaving tendrils of heat in their wake and something unlocked inside Xi Gu. 

Xiang Hao Ting said he didn't want to pressure him, that he didn't expect an answer to his confession, and yet Xi Gu's been fantasizing about what it would feel to taste his lips. Why does seeing Xiang Hao Ting's smile make his heart soar or his laughter make him feel like walking on air? Why do his hands make him think of home? As if he's known him all his life.

Everything feels like it's moving too fast and too slow at the same time and Xi Gu is dizzy with it.

He glances at Xiang Hao Ting and finds him already staring, a small smile on his lips like Xi Gu's some kind of precious artifact on display. Xi Gu feels caught and has to fight the urge to duck his head and look away. They're sitting inside the bus. No one knows them here and maybe that'd be enough to help him muster up the courage to talk to Hao Ting about the stunt he pulled back at their house. 

"Xiao Yu." Xiang Hao Ting softly calls out his name. They're holding hands again. He didn't even realize it. "I don't really think of you like a little brother. I just had to say that to my parents so they won't protest against us living together." He leans in and the sight of his lips up close has Xi Gu swallowing drily. "I'm a hundred percent sure I want to do things to you that I would definitely not do with a sibling."

Heat blossoms on Xi Gu's cheeks, flashes of sweat soaked sheets and a comforting weight against his body overtaking his senses. He gulps. Frozen, wide-eyed. Where did that come from? No words come to him and he watches mutely as Hao Ting's playful expression sinks.

"I'm sorry. That made you uncomfortable. I shouldn't have said that." Xiang Hao Ting apologizes quickly and tries to pry his hand away. 

Xi Gu holds on, swallows again and forces himself to speak. "I'm not uncomfortable. You're good. We're good." He squeezes their joined hands to prove just how not uncomfortable he is. That's actually the problem. He's not at all uncomfortable. Just suddenly very aware that he wants to be intimate with Xiang Hao Ting when logic and self-preservation dictates to avoid him at all cost. He can't seriously be considering this right now. Relationships just mean eventual break-ups and broken hearts and Xi Gu can't afford to lose his focus when he's persevered for so long.

But at the same time, he wants to be where Xiang Hao Ting is. The image of him miserably curled up on the floor had been burned into the back of his eyelids and Xi Gu can't shake off the feeling that if left to his own devices, Xiang Hao Ting might do something rash.