Chapter 42

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When the Titans entourage arrived at the hotel that the organisers had reserved for them, Yao Sen exchanged a few words with their manager and ran off with his suitcase to stay with Shao Han. Seeing Yao Sen fleeing at breakneck speed, Manager Guo asked confusedly, “Who is Yao Sen staying with?”

Wang Yuxi: “A friend of his called Tian Li[1].”

A friend called Tian Li my ass. More like his boyfriend.

The unsuspecting Manager Guo nodded.

The expo opened at nine a.m. the next morning, so the group went to the gathering spot to get acquainted with the area, taking advantage of the opportunity to check out the not-yet-released gaming accessories and pre-launch products in passing.

Wang Yuxi looked at the RAM stick with hearts in his eyes, wanting to incorporate the RAM stick into his harem of computer hardware. Presently, the mistress at the top of his harem was the video card he had fallen in love with at first sight.

Wang Yuxi rubbed his hands and let out a string of ‘hehehe’s as he approached Bai Yue and said, “Eh, Lao-Bai, you and I are good bros, aren’t we? You know it’s my birthday in two months… That RAM will also go on sale in about two months… I want…”

Bai Yue cut him off unfeelingly. “No. You don’t want it.”

“I do! I really really want it!”

“But I don’t.”

“……”

The next day, the Titans Club members, as the protagonists of the Expo, went out and took the stage to meet their fans.

This year’s esports expo was larger than ever before. Furthermore, super popular clubs such as Titans and Noah’s Ark were in attendance, so expo attendees and fans who had come for the fanmeeting flooded the venue’s entrance, making the crowd nearly impenetrable. The lines at the entrance wound round and round the outdoor parking lot, and the ticketing process alone took up several hours.

The expo was packed to the rafters. The game demo area was unusually crowded, but the most jam-packed area was the fanmeeting venue of several clubs. Titans and Noah’s Arks fanmeets were so stuffed with people that even standing became nearly impossible, and the security guards were so busy that they had to run like the wind to keep order.

Yao Sen signed autographs all morning, until his hand cramped up. The fanmeeting, which was supposed to end at twelve o’clock, dragged on until one o’clock, the lines never ending.

Yao Sen knew that his fans had traveled long distances to see him; they had waited anxiously for his autograph, and many people had brought him gifts; how could Yao Sen let down the fans who genuinely liked him?

When the line finally reached its end at 1.30, Yao Sen shook his somewhat stiff shoulders before accepting the item handed to him to sign from the next fan.

It was a T-shirt with the Titans logo on the front that many other fans had asked him to sign, but this particular T-shirt surprised Yao Sen.

This T-shirt was a limited edition item created to commemorate the Titans Club’s 25th anniversary. Only a few hundred shirts were made in total, and the price wasn’t exactly cheap either. Those who were able to purchase this shirt were considered true hardcore fans.

Yao Sen raised his head and cast a glance at the person in front of him. The other party was a male fan. He wore a cap and appeared to be about the same age as Yao Sen, if not a little younger.

“Buying this shirt wasn’t easy, was it?” Yao Sen asked, smiling. “Are you sure you want me to write on it?”

The other party did not appear to be as enthusiastic as Yao Sen’s average supporter. He simply replied, “Your autograph and ID would be fantastic.” Thank you very much.”

This was the majority of his fans’ request. Before returning the shirt, Yao Sen signed his autograph and wrote his ID on it with a marker.

The boy left as soon as he received the T-shirt, not saying a word more.

After he signed for the last fan, everyone was finally able to catch their breath and go out to eat. When Yao Sen met up with Shao Han, he noticed that the black marker had left a small stain on Shao Han’s cuff. He’d probably signed a lot of autographs.

Wang Yuxi and Bai Yue were bickering over who had the most fans in their line. Wang Yuxi insisted that he had more, while Bai Yue contended that Wang Yuxi had more male fans than female fans, and that one female fan should be worth two male fans.

Yao Sen: “Stop fighting, I have the most.”

Wang Yuxi and Bai Yue: “……”

After lunch, the group had some free time. The esports expo was scheduled to last three days. They had a friendly match against fans the next day, so there was still a lot of work to do.

Wang Yuxi and Bai Yue planned on going to drink a viral milk tea in H City, Song Mingzhe and Zhou Ziyu wanted to walk around the nearby esports district, while Yao Sen and Shao Han directly returned to the hotel.

The two men intended to take a nap before venturing out later in the afternoon to see what kind of fun places the city had to offer. Before napping, Shao Han rested against the headboard while shopping on Taobao. Yao Sen sat next to him and watched.

Yao Sen discovered that Shao Han was particularly quick at online shopping, yet there were many items that he directly purchased after only looking through his previous orders list; he essentially didn’t look through any new items at all.

When he saw Shao Han purchasing a peaked cap that he had previously ordered, he asked, “You don’t want to check out the new ones?”

“This one’s the one I accidentally lost,” Shao Han answered. “I’m pretty fond of it.”

Yao Sen didn’t know why, but he fell silent when he heard this. He fixed his gaze on Shao Han and reached out to take him into his arms, his chin dropping to his shoulder, eyes fixed on him.

“You’re pretty a nostalgic guy,” Yao Sen slowly said. “Are you like that when it comes to feelings too?”

Shao Han blanked. “Feelings… How am I ‘nostalgic’?

“Shen You,” he said. Yao Sen took his hand and kissed the corner of his mouth. “Aren’t you?”

Shao Han was even more stumped. His eyes shook, and he seemed to be taken aback. He widened his eyes slightly as he turned to face Yao Sen. “How do you know about Shen You?”

“Just assume that I dreamt it up,” Yao Sen said. “You can tell me anything, all right? I shouldn’t be jealous for no reason, should I?”

Shao Han’s expression took on an embarrassed shade. His mouth twitched. “He’s not my ex-boyfriend, we were never together.”

Shao Han told Yao Sen about the events of the past. After Yao Sen heard the full story, he drew back from Shao Han and gave him a deep kiss. Only after Shao Han had been kissed breathless did he let go of him, and he said pensively, “So it’s always been unrequited on his end?”

Shao Han glared at Yao Sen, panting slightly. He couldn’t make sense of the connection between Yao Sen’s abrupt kiss and the conclusion he had reached. e

Shao Han: “…There’s no such thing as requited or unrequited. He doesn’t have feelings for me anymore.”

Yao Sen recalled the scene in which he had repeatedly targeted Shen You during their previous friendly match, wondering if Shen You had cursed him for being a nutcase. But that doesn’t mean Shen You wasn’t in the wrong. Back then, who told him to scare his Shao Xiao Zuo?

Shao Han’s gaze was drawn to Yao Sen’s right hand, which was braced against his sides. The scald had only left a few pale scars, which Shao Han couldn’t help but stroke with his fingertip.

Yao Sen: “Don’t touch it, baby. It’s still a bit itchy.”

“How long will the scars take to fade?”

“At least a few months, I think.” Yao Sen smiled. “What’s wrong? Do you think my hand is ugly?”

Shao Han shook his head and whispered, “My heart aches.”

The slightly cool voice seeped into Yao Sen’s heart, carrying its thread of warmth with it. His throat tightened, and the corners of his eyes curled up slightly. As he stared at the side of Shao Han’s fair neck that peeked through his clothes, he was struck by an urge to nip at it.

Yao Sen’s wicked impulses were seemingly discovered by Shao Han, who smoothly slipped out of Yao Sen’s arms and rolled to the other side of the bed, covering himself with the blanket and bidding Yao Sen a good afternoon.

Yao Sen didn’t have much of a choice. If his boyfriend wanted to tuck himself in and take an innocent nap, then how could he not go along with him?

The next day, the expo set up an on-site fan competition segment, where fans who won the fan competition could play in a friendly match against the club pros.

What Yao Sen did not expect was to see a familiar face among the winning fans.

The boy who had handed him the T-shirt to sign the day before scored the highest points in the fan competition, and had rightfully deserved to be the captain of the fan team in the friendly match.

However, after the friendly match ended, Yao Sen felt extremely doubtful upon leaving his computer.

He couldn’t help but glance at this mysterious fan of his. That person’s gameplay just now had contained a lot of minor mistakes that an amateur might not notice and would only assume that he had played carelessly, but Yao Sen felt that, no matter how he looked at it—

That kid seemed to be doing it on purpose.

Is it possible that an amateur fan deliberately threw the game against a professional player?

Additionally, Yao Sen bore an imperceptible strange feeling throughout the match, which made him feel out of sorts and a little uneasy, yet he couldn’t exactly say where it came from.

Seeing the other party walk over, Yao Sen wore a smile on his face. “You played pretty fiercely.”

The other party wore his same old perfunctory expression. “Thanks.”

Half-joking, Yao Sen said, “What’s your name? Not considering joining any professional clubs?”

The boy paused. “Cheng Rui.”

This Cheng Rui didn’t say whether he wanted to join or not. After receiving the competition prize, he left without another word. Yao Sen stared at his retreating back, deep in thought.

Wang Yuxi walked over and saw that Yao Sen was looking at a random guy. He patted Yao Sen’s shoulder. “What’re you staring at? Shao ge is over there yet you’re gutsy enough to make eyes at other pretty bitches? You wanna kneel on your keyboard[2] when you get back?”

“What the hell are you talking about,” Yao Sen turned his head to shoot him a glance. “I just find the guy a little interesting.”

“Why?”

Yao Sen wasn’t too sure whether it was just his imagination or if the guy had really thrown the game. Without another word, he left to go and find Shao Han.

That night, everyone went to Haidilao. Shao Han had eaten a little too much frog meat and fish head[3] for lunch earlier today, and combined with the fact that the Haidilao’s soup base wasn’t spicy enough, Shao Han didn’t have much of an appetite and only ate some vegetables.

When they got back to the hotel, Yao Sen took a bath, and the first thing he saw when he came out was Shao Han sitting quietly on the bed, playing with his phone. His loose pants bared his ankles; they were like honey under the glow of the warm yellow light.

Yao Sen lingered at the bathroom doorway for a moment, briefly contemplating the possibility of having to make his bed on the floor tonight.

Shao Han looked up at him. “Why are you standing there?”

Yao Sen walked over and sat down, struggling between ‘I want to hug you’ and ‘why don’t I open another room and we’ll sleep separately’, before saying, “Did you eat your fill tonight? You didn’t eat much.”

“No appetite.”

“Look at how skinny you are. How can you not eat more?” Yao Sen wrapped his arms around Shao Han’s waist and groped his shoulder. His hands were moving indecently, yet he wore a righteous look on his face. “You have no meat on your body.”

Shao Han could only put down his phone as he let himself be drawn into Yao Sen’s chest, half kneeling and half lying in the circle of Yao Sen’s arms. He looked up and stared at Yao Sen, fully aware that Yao Sen’s heart was filled with bad intentions. He replied with half-lidded eyes, “I’m not that skinny.”

Yao Sen tightened his embrace, confining the warm boy in his embrace. His arms snaked south towards the round mounds below his lower back, slowly clutching and feeling up the two lumps of flesh. He chuckled softly, “Well then, there sure is a little meat here.”

Initially, Yao Sen thought that Shao Han would break free from his arms with an added glare, but to his surprise, Shao Han merely trembled and tensed, clinging to Yao Sen’s shoulder without a single word escaping his lips, the tips of his ears quietly dyed red.

Yao Sen’s gaze was a shade darker. His right hand wandered up, lifting Shao Han’s pyjamas, while his left hand moved down, worming its way into the elastic band of Shao Han’s pants, exposing the skin around his waist and butt little by little, as if he was opening a clam’s shell.

Shao Han clutched at Yao Sen’s shoulder, his fingers tightening more and more, yet he made no move to push Yao Sen away from the very beginning.

“Shao Han,” Yao Sen said slowly. “If you don’t push me away, I won’t stop.”

Minutes passed without a word from Shao Han. The room was filled with only the ambiguous sounds of rustling fabric. Yao Sen waited calmly, his hands no longer travelling south. Although he’d said what he’d said, he wouldn’t do a thing without obtaining a nod from Shao Han.

A moment later, Shao Han finally raised his head. As he pounced on Yao Sen’s ear, he rasped out, in cool yet warm voice that was filled with seductive ambiguity: “Then don’t stop.”

☆ ☆ ☆

[1] lol i almost didn’t catch this thank you changpei comments section. the characters for Tian Li is 田 = Tian and 力 = Li. but together they make up the character for ‘man’ = 男 (nan). 叫田力的朋友 (a friend called Tian Li) >> 男朋友 (boyfriend)

[2] 跪键盘: a meme? I think. the modern counterpart to kneeling on a washboard. they’re both ways for a wife to punish their husband.

[3] 美蛙鱼头: a sichuanese dish made from pig frog & bighead carp head

⟵ Chapter 41 | TOC | Chapter 42.5 ⟶

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