twenty-three

"Gooood morning, sunshine!" My eyes fluttered open to the annoyingly cherry voice of Zhan, only to feel a surprising jolt through my body as I launched myself to the other side of the bed to get away from his face, which was merely a centimetre from mine a minute ago.

"What- what- what the hell, Zhan?" He giggled heartily before kneeling on the bed, where I had been sleeping.

"You know it's like almost twelve already, right?" My eyes shot towards the alarm clock on my bedside table, proving Zhan's words are true.

"Yeah, so? It's a Saturday. "Saturday's always a lazy day." He waved his slender index finger at me, patronisingly. "Sunday is always a lazy day; Saturday is a fun day!" He grinned widely, sounding and looking like a five-year-old kid on Christmas morning. Now come on, get up! We got fun stuff to do. The grin never left his face. It was unnerving, really. But I obliged, dragging myself out of bed and into the bathroom to turn the shower on. Just as I was about to pull my pants down, Zhan waltzed straight in with no warning.

"Zhan! "What the hell, get out! But he just leaned against the door frame, crossing one ankle over the other, and smiled shamelessly.

"Come on, Yibo, seriously?"

Just because you've already seen this. I slid a hand down my stomach in mock tease. It doesn't mean you get to see it all the time. Zhan threw a tantrum my way, so I threw a towel at him, which hit him straight in the face, and he stumbled back a bit from the force. He tossed it to the floor and pointed a scowl in my direction.

"I've done more than just see it," I heard him mutter under his breath. I ignored the comment.

"Get out," I pointed to the doorway. He sighed dramatically, but obeyed, slouching towards the door and shutting it behind him.

I showered pretty quickly, got dressed and headed back into my room whilst towel-drying my hair. Zhan wasn't anywhere to be found, so I figured he'd wandered downstairs. Or maybe he was hiding underneath my bed... I didn't bother to check.

After drying my hair and styling it, I threw a leather jacket over my shirt. I jogged down the stairs to find Zhan sitting on the sofa, chatting with my dad. Watching them with bewilderment, I glanced at my enthusiastic father and cheerful best friend-slash-secret boyfriend with suspicion. Something was very wrong here. Why are they talking like best friends? In fact, why are they talking at all?

Ah shit, it's an omen. Was this the end of the world?

I walked slowly, as if I was walking into a war zone and had to tread carefully. No misplaced footsteps or something might explode. My father's eyes snapped to mine as soon as I took that first step closer, edging towards the kitchen where I was sure I'd find Mandy.

"Afternoon, Yibo," he greeted with a wide, slightly fear-inducing smirk on his lips. I lazily waved my hand in his direction as a return 'hello' and shuddered at the sight of Zhan grinning at me. I briefly wondered if he was plotting something, like the scheming git he was.

"Zhan, you, uh, do you want to..." I nodded my head in the kitchen's direction, showing him to follow me in.

"Oh, yeah, sure," he nodded a goodbye to my father before joining me at my side as we walked towards the kitchen.

"Your dad is very kind," he smiled at me. I eyed him a bit cautiously, leaning away from him. Mandy was dancing about the kitchen in her usual fashion. That was… until she saw me and Zhan walk into the room. Her eyes turned mischievous and daring, a quirk to her lips that left me slightly unnerved. I made an immediate u-turn, yanking Zhan around with me and headed for the games room, instead.

"What was that look for?" Zhan chuckled, slinking onto the sofa and instantly grabbing the Xbox controller. I sat on the floor next to his feet.

"Everyone's acting really creepy today. I looked as far back as I could, the back of my head resting against the sofa, to see Zhan's expression. He was fully focused on the screen in front of us. You know, with the grinning and the eyebrows. I mean, you! I exclaimed, pointing a finger at him.

"You were talking to my father! Smile at my father. You said he was great! It's a not-so-good sign, surely. "

"I think you're just being paranoid," he muttered, attacking the buttons on the controller angrily. "You were dreaming last night," he said, a smile curving one side of his lips.

"Really? That's amazing. " Zhan rolled his eyes at my sarcasm. It annoyed me he'd changed the subject to that. We had an apocalypse in our hands. And he wanted to talk about me having a dream.

"You talked in your sleep. It was so cute that it tempted me to record it, but it was too cold to get out of the bed."

"I'd have killed you if you'd recorded it"

"Why?" He chuckled.

"Because that's right fuckin' weird,"

He laughed a little louder.' "Do you wanna know what you said?" His eyes momentarily found mine, fingers pausing on the controller. He had an element of glee snaking into his features.

"What?" I asked, admittedly a tad hesitant to find out by the way he was staring at me. He paused his game, sliding down from the sofa so he was kneeling beside me.

"Just that, erm." he leaned in towards my ear, dropping his voice to a deep murmur.

"Just that you loved me." It took a moment for the last few words to register before I was elbowing Zhan in the side and watching him kneel over himself on his back.

"Liar," I said, kicking him in the shin just for the fun of it. Zhan laughed, trying to say something between each chuckle. Once he'd sat back up, the evidence of his humour dissipated until it was only a small smile sitting on his lips.

"How do you know I'm lying? You weren't the one awake."

"Yeah, yeah," I waved him off, grabbing the discarded controller on top of the sofa.

"Did I also mutter something about Tiffany boxes and rose petals?" I mocked.

"Yes, actually you did," he said, falling against my shoulder with the last remaining remnants of a laugh.

I looked down at him, nudging him off me, but that only caused him to shift even closer. Eventually, he rested his head in my lap, lying on his back as I stared up at the screen. My hands were busy with the controller, playing the game almost like I was on autopilot. This is because I focused my mind on the gentle patterns Zhan's finger was tracing against my chest.

"You remember just a few weeks ago when we used to just tease each other?" his finger continued tracing a circle in the centre of my chest, over and over. "Did you ever think about me? You know, think about this. How we are now."

"Why are you asking?"

"A random question that popped into my mind." There was a brief pause before he said, "I did." In case you were wondering, His hand stopped drawing circles, and he crossed his arms across his chest. I'd completely forgotten about the game I was playing, fingers sitting idly on the buttons as I stared down at Zhan in thought.

"What do you think about it?"

"You know, think about what it would be like to actually date. To... act all couple-y. Like you would with a chick or whatever," I placed the controller on the floor, leaving my arms by my sides.

"Not really. I never really thought about having a relationship with you."

So you were only thinking about sex, he grinned, raising his eyebrows.He didn't sound surprised at all. I don't blame you. I'm a very sexy man. " I smiled, inwardly agreeing with him. Zhan's hand slid around the back of my neck, pulling himself up for a soft kiss.

When we parted, I checked to make sure no one had noticed the open doorway. Zhan's eyes followed mine when I returned my gaze, realisation setting in.

"Sorry, I forgot about your dad," he said, sitting up and leaning back against the sofa. "Pisses me off that we have to be careful," he said.

"I know."

"So why don't we just tell people?" There was a sudden burst of frustration in his tone. I felt like he was stuck inside a box and just wanted to break out, and I was the one stopping him from doing just that.

Because, Zhan, I can't. I don't think people would like it.

"Who gives a fuck about what people think?"

"I do."

"There's always going to be haters, Yibo. You can't hide yourself forever. That's no way to live. "

"Please don't turn into another bloody psychologist, Zhan."You've got that tone of voice, and I really don't want to sit and listen to it. Anyway, have you spoken to Yu Bin yet? I'd forgotten about Yu Bin's knowing, and I was glad Zhan had reminded me.

"Nah, not yet. I'll see him on Monday. "

"Man," I said, dropping my head into my hands. "He's one of my best friends. I really hope this hasn't messed things up between us. "

"He'll be fine, Yibo." I would have liked to have believed that, but I couldn't. That was one of the main reasons I didn't want people to find out about me and Zhan. I didn't want anyone to treat me differently. I just really hoped Yu Bin had told no one.

"Yeah, let's hope." I mumbled, sighing.

I don't want to talk about it anymore. Change the subject. I rubbed at my eyes, pushing away the urge to crawl back up to my room and hide underneath my covers.

"Alright, well, I'll give you a game." He pointed towards the TV. "Let's race, and whoever wins at least three has to go out and buy a shitload of junk food."

"What for?" My brow furrowed in confusion.

"Because I really, really want some chocolate right now. Like, lots of it. and crisps. And coke.,"God, I need some coke."

"You sound like you're about to have an orgasm over the thought of drinking soda," I laughed, watching him with bemused eyes. We also have coke in the fridge.

"Is it in a can?"

"No..?"

"Bottled coke doesn't taste as nice as canned." He explained. I didn't really understand how that was possible, since it was the same shit just in different wrapping. But that's a typical Zhan thing to say.

"Okay then," I stood up, swapping the game discs, inserting our favourite car game and handing Zhan the other controller. Sitting back down, I gave Zhan a look of pure confidence.

"May as well put your coat on now, because I'm going to kick your ass."

He snorted. "Don't be too sure about that." A smirk spread from his lips.