Chapter 43

Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.

With no other schedules on the third day of the expo, the Titans team members took advantage of their hard-won rest between rounds of intense training to relax. As far as Yao Sen was concerned, the benefit of a day-off was that he didn’t need to get up early.

Shao Han was still asleep, his breaths lightly spilling across Yao Sen’s arm. Yao Sen, who had been awake for some time, couldn’t bear to move an inch.

Yao Sen feasted his eyes on Shao Han’s neck, peppered with pale hickeys. His fingers were slightly curled where they peeked out of the blanket, and Yao Sen gently took hold of his smooth and round fingernails to fiddle with, the corners of his mouth rising into an endlessly delighted grin.

Just then, Shao Han’s phone on the nightstand vibrated, and the screen displayed an incoming call from ‘Captain’. Shao Han’s brows faintly creased as he opened his eyes, a hand extending out of the blanket to fumble around for his phone. After answering the call, he pressed his phone to his ear.

Shao Han opened his mouth to speak, yet nothing came out. It was only then did he realise that his throat was uncomfortably hoarse. He desperately cleared his throat, but what greeted him was a stinging pain. Enduring the discomfort, he forced out, “…Hello?”

“……Shao Han?” Lin Lan said after a brief pause. “You haven’t gotten up yet?”

Shao Han stared at the time on his phone with a blank gaze and was startled to find that it was already 10.40 am. As Shao Han’s thoughts gradually returned to his brain, he whirled around, yet he bumped into a warm chest. Upon looking up, he saw a bare-chested Yao Sen, a hint of a not-quite-smile on his lips as he stared at Shao Han. His phone nearly slipped out of his grasp.

Last night’s events flooded his mind and made him go pink. He struggled free from Yao Sen’s arms and quickly answered, “I was… catching up on sleep. Is there anything you need, Captain?”

“Did you catch a cold? Drink more water,” Lin Lan didn’t think much of it, his words nothing more than a casual inquiry. “It’s nothing. Don’t forget to meet up at the hotel entrance at 4.30.”

“Mm, okay.”

After hanging up, Shao Han lay back down, his entire body aching. A trace of exhaustion still lingered in the flushed corners of his eyes; he seemed wan, listless.

Yao Sen chuckled helplessly. “You were already asleep when I came back with the medicine last night, and I didn’t want to wake you. If your throat hurts, then let’s go have a bite. You can take your meds after eating.”

Shao Han, however, had no desire to move a single inch, his body carrying a rare languidness.

Yao Sen: “Where does it hurt?”

Shao Han’s voice contained a hint of complaint. “……My waist is sore.”

“Then shall I massage it for you?” Yao Sen’s hand reached inside the blanket and rubbed at Shao Han’s waist, laughing softly in his ear as he said, “Don’t worry, next time I’ll be sure to remember.”

As much as Shao Han wanted to flip a look at Yao Sen, his body was too exhausted to do so. Yao Sen’s hands felt so good that all he wanted to do was lie in the warm and snug nest of his blankets and soft pillow and go back to sleep.

Gradually, Shao Han’s eyelids began to flutter shut. He thought that since there were no activities today, then he could just sleep until noon… He was really really tired… Yao Sen had tossed him around for such a long time yesterday… It was the first time he was treated like this, in the future—why did Yao Sen’s hands stop?

Shao Han whispered wearily, “Why did you stop…”

Yao Sen was between laughter and tears. “Classmate Xiao Zuo, it’s already past eleven. Shouldn’t we go get something to eat?”

“Not hungry…”

“You still need to take your medicine. Think of your throat.” Yao Sen firmly patted Shao Han’s butt until the latter woke up, then lifted the blanket and got out of bed. He changed his clothes, then took out a shirt and pants for Shao Han from his suitcase. “Baby, do as you’re told. Get up now.”

Shao Han buried his head in the blanket. “Can’t we eat here…”

“Shao Han…” Yao Sen took the boy into his arms, his brow slightly raised. His voice contained a trace of amazement and faint amusement as he said, “Are you getting all coquettish with me?”

This was the kind of person Shao Han was in the first place. When giving everything to his favourite person unreservedly, he wouldn’t be able to help himself from being more dependent on the other person—being more himself.

Now, in front of Yao Sen, Shao Han had completely shed the indifference and aloofness he usually displayed in front of most people. He shot a slightly annoyed glare at Yao Sen and couldn’t be bothered to do more. “I’m not getting up, I’m going to sleep until noon.”

“……” Yao Sen’s heart constricted at Shao Han’s cuteness. He used up all his strength to restrain the surge of desire to press Shao Han into the sheets and kiss him. In the end, he gave in, saying, “Okay, okay. We’ll eat here. Let me go down to the dining hall and pack up some food for you, wait for me.”

When Yao Sen came down and arrived at the hotel’s dining hall, he unexpectedly ran into the rest of the Titans.

They had a tableful of dishes that had just been served. When Wang Yuxi caught sight of Yao Sen, he immediately got to his feet and called him over. “Yao Sen! Didn’t you see our text? You came right on time, come eat with us.”

Yao Sen unlocked his phone to check, finding that Wang Yuxi had indeed @-ed him in the group chat and told him to come down for breakfast. “I can’t, I’m getting food to go.”

“What? Why?” Wang Yuxi asked. “Where’s Shao ge?”

“He doesn’t wanna get out of bed.”

The expressions of the four people around the table froze up. Yao Sen casually took a seat before opening the menu and ordering a few dishes, asking the waiter to have them packed to go.

“……Yao Sen,” Wang Yuxi squinted at Yao Sen like he was looking at a beast. “You actually did it until Shao ge couldn’t get out of bed?”

“It’s not that he couldn’t get up, he doesn’t want to…” Yao Sen looked at him. “Nevermind, it’s more or less the same.”

“C’mere, c’mere, take this plate of leeks with you. You two should eat a little more, strengthen your waist and kidneys.”

To the rest of the members, who had no sex life to mention of, he said, “No thanks, keep it for yourselves.”

Yao Sen returned to his room. Sure enough, Shao Han was still lying in bed, except this time, he was already fully clothed. Yao Sen put the food down on the small dining table, then picked up Shao Han, wrapped in his bundle of blankets, and set him down on the sofa.

Yao Sen half-smiled. “You just want me to carry you around everywhere, huh?”

Shao Han picked up his chopsticks and began eating, darting a cool look Yao Sen’s way.

The two men stayed in their room until two in the afternoon, when Shao Han finally told him that he wanted to go out. Yao Sen called up the other Titans, and they went to a nearby commercial district to shop.

The four Titans members showed complicated expressions as they looked at Shao Han. Shao Han gazed back in confusion, then lowered his head to check whether his clothes had covered up the hickeys.

Bai Yue wanted to have a word with him, but in the end, he hesitated and only patted Shao Han’s back, a placating look of understanding across his face.

If a group of boys went shopping and two-thirds of the group were straight dudes, then there was an eighty percent chance that they would go to buy shoes. Ever since Yao Sen received the pair that Shao Han had gifted, every other shoe was basically consigned to a trash heap, and currently, he had no desire to buy any, so he merely looked around.

Wang Yuxi: “Guys, how does this pair look on me?”

Bai Yue: “Pretty good, like those savory pancakes from a stand at an intersection.”

Wang Yuxi rolled his eyes. He turned to Yao Sen to ask for his opinion, but found that the latter had wandered off to the nearby men’s clothing store in Shao Han’s footsteps.

Not long after that, Wang Yuxi spotted a milk tea dessert shop in the mall. Being a viral food enthusiast, he hauled Bai Yue to go queue with him without another word. Yao Sen asked Shao Han whether he wanted to get anything, and Shao Han gave a small nod and told him that he wanted a fruit milkshake.

As they queued for their drinks, Yao Sen looked back and saw that Shao Han was standing in front of the advertising window of a clothing store and staring up at the poster fixedly. There were two models on the poster, one male and one female. The male model had a masculine, handsome crew cut, and the female model had a headful of curls. The photo looked quite nice.

Yao Sen suddenly reached out to twirl his bangs and mused, “Say, do you guys think I should get a crew cut?”

“Don’t get any weird ideas,” Wang Yuxi hurriedly stopped him. “Don’t even think about it. You look great the way you are now, I promise.”

Bai Yue, who rarely saw eye-to-eye with Wang Yuxi outside of gaming, objected alongside him, “I think so too. If you shave your hair off, you’ll shave a few years off your fans’ lives too.”

“What’s wrong with a crew cut? It looks smart and it’s easy to take care of.” Yao Sen narrowed his eyes at the two doubtfully. “Don’t tell me it’s because you think I won’t be able to pull it off?”

“Ge, this style isn’t for you, okay?” Wang Yuxi persuaded him earnestly. “You shaving your hair would be tantamount to an AD world champion going off to play Gold Miner.”

Yao Sen fell silent for a moment. In the end, he gave up the idea and said, “Then how about I have part of my bangs swept back?”

Wang Yuxi stroked his chin. “This could work. A swept-back hairstyle will forever showcase the romance of men.”

At this time, Shao Han was not the least bit aware that his boyfriend’s train of thoughts had gone all over the place from his staring at the advertisement. He was simply thinking that the dress on the female model’s body looked pretty, and that it would probably suit Xiao Meng.

At four o’clock that afternoon, Yao Sen towed Shao Han’s suitcase for him to the lobby in front of Noah’s Ark’s amazed gazes. Shao Han followed on his eels, his face practically filled with shame.

“I put the cough drops on the outside pocket of your suitcase,” Yao Sen reminded him. “Remember to take them.”

Ah, Shao Han and the Titans’s captain are so close—everyone thus convinced themselves.

After sending Shao Han off, Yao Sen checked out of their room. Their club would be gathering at around seven anyway, so squatting in Wang Yuxi’s room until then should be fine.

With a few hours to go, Yao Sen decided to go to the nearby barbershop to get a haircut and blow-dry and actualise his idea of a hairstyle change. He came back an hour later and opened the door of Wang Yuxi’s hotel room; the four people who were in the middle of playing a round of Draw & Guess online all turned their heads towards him.

“……” Wang Yuxi’s eyes were stuck on his face for a long time before he squeezed out a sentence, “Yao Sen, are you planning to abandon us? Are you going to make your entertainment industry debut?”

Yao Sen: “This dad of yours has no need for any of you.”

“I never thought that a swept-back hairstyle would look this good. You’re making me want to have my hair done as well.”

Bai Yue: “Don’t even bother, you never had much hair to begin with, if you comb it back, you won’t be able to see a single strand.”

After the Titans returned to the Yiyou Building, at around ten o’clock that evening, Yao Sen took five selfies of himself and posted them on Weibo.

@Titans_Sen: We’re back, I had tons of fun these past few days. Thank you for your gifts, everyone.

[Fuck me!!! God Sen changed his hairstyle!!!!!!!]

[Partial bangs and a swept-back style. The most ideal hairstyle in my heart!!!!]

[I’m so jealous of Sen ge’s hair volume…]

[My god, he’s so hot! This hairstyle is perfect]

[I’ve already forgotten what God Sen’s hair looked like before this]

[Male fans, take a good look at the hairstyle tutorial of the year[doge]]

[God Sen’s is teaching you all how to go from a sunny handsome boy to a refined sexy man]

@Titans_Xi: If it weren’t for me, your Yao Sen would’ve shaved his hair and gotten a crew cut // We’re back, I had tons of fun these past few days. Thank you for your gifts, everyone.

[Xi ge, let me kneel down to you in thanks]

[Xi ge is 2.8 metres tall today]

[Holy crap, a crew cut HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA I can’t see it]

[Tbh, I feel like a crew cut should look pretty good… It’s all in the face]

[It’s all in the face]

[It’s all in the face]

[It’s all in the face]

Wang Yuxi slammed his phone down in anger.

After tidying up his things, Yao Sen unlocked his phone, intending to ask Shao Han what he thought about his new hairstyle. However, he found that Coach Gou had sent a document in their group chat just a few minutes ago.

The document contained a list of valid contending teams after the WCAD registration deadline. It was arranged in alphabetical order. As Titans was near the end of the list, Yao Sen looked for Noah’s Ark’s name first.

Yet after finding Noah’s Ark, Yao Sen unexpectedly saw another team on the row directly below Noah’s, Northern Lights, who had made an appearance in the niche youth competition.

The entry threshold for the WCAD wasn’t high. A large number of teams would generally be screened out in the preliminary rounds. However, because the WCAD was always held in North America, only the teams that made it through to the quarterfinals would be given free accomodation by the organisers.

Prior to the quarterfinals, the team’s expenses were a relatively large burden to small clubs. As a result, even with the low entry threshold, small clubs wouldn’t take it upon themselves to join in the scrum unless they truly intended for their club members to broaden their horizons.

Yao Sen was extremely surprised. A completely unknown club like NLwas actually this loaded?

He opened his browser and typed the club’s name into the search bar, and quickly found NL’s official website. It was very well made and didn’t give off the impression that they were cheap nor stingy, but it had only been established very recently—last year, by the looks of it.

Yao Sen clicked on the player introduction section, and the moment the photo of the main team’s captain came into view, he couldn’t help but freeze on the spot.

The NL main team’s captain was precisely that “fan” Yao Sen met at the H City Exhibition Centre yesterday, Cheng Rui.

☆ ☆ ☆

t/n – sorry for the lack of updates! i haven’t dropped this novel and have no plans of dropping it, in case anyone was wondering. anyway, dlfsee now has a manhua on bilibili!

⟵ Chapter 42.5 | TOC | Chapter 44 ⟶

Like this:Like Loading...