Both Wang Li and Xu Chen weren't ones to go out and drink, as the night went on Ma Tian could see the red faced boy become more and more drunk while he stayed completely fine. The last bottle of wine that had been opened was a sweet dessert wine, suiting Xu Chen's tastes. Because he didn't show any signs of wanting to head to bed, Ma Tian stayed seated and continued drinking with him but this meant he had to listen to the boys drunk mumbling too.

"Do you think Ge will be like how he is when he messages me?"

Xu Chen murmured quietly but Ma Tian could hear what was being said. Like at the resort, he always felt awkward when Xu Chen asked him about Martian, mainly because it is weird to talk about yourself as if you're a different person. Ma Tian hadn't responded to the drunken question so Xu Chen looked over, his eyes were slightly glazed over while his cheeks and nose were very red. The sight alone made Ma Tian take a sip of his drink to wet his dry throat. In the meantime, Xu Chen lept mumbling.

"I hope Ge isn't disappointed when he sees me."

"He won't be disappointed."

Ma Tian got up from his chair so he could sit beside the drunk boy and wrapped his arm around the slim shoulders. Usually Xu Chen would sit stiffly or try and wriggle away when he did this, but tonight he snuggled into Ma Tian while rambling about how much he likes Martian. Ma TIan couldn't hold back and laughed at the drunk mutterings in his ear.

"What's so funny?"

The smell of alcohol on Xu Chen's breath felt more intoxicating than the drink in his hand and Ma Tian stared into Xu Chen's eyes. Fuck It!

"What if I told you I knew who Martian was?"

"You know Martian?"

Xu Chen smiled widely as he leaned closer to Ma Tian their faces were only a couple centimeters apart and their warm breath mixed together. Xu Chen turned his body then wrapped his arms around Ma Tians shoulders and leaned against them heavily. Ma Tian was about to blurt out his confession when Xu Chen cutely whispered in his ear.

"I'll be happy even if Martian is only half as good as you."

Ma Tian had to hold himself back from crashing his lips onto Xu Chen's, those words had left him tongue tied and he couldn't say anything for a while. The pause in their conversation made Xu Chen quite drowsy and he soon fell asleep on the broad shoulder. Ma Tian took a few more minutes to recover then carried Xu Chen to his bedroom. He was tempted to sleep in the same bed but returned to the living room with a spare pillow and blanket, choosing the sofa instead.

. . . . . .

After the weekend, another week of school came and went. Whenever Kong Da didn't have a client, he would walk Wang Li home from school and he had even bought a bouquet of flowers as it was obvious it wouldn't embarrass his little lover, especially when he was constantly fighting off kisses in public. With being able to see his handsome man during the week, Wang Li felt he was in heaven and expressed happily how he couldn't wait for Xu Chen to feel how he felt.

Xu Chen however, was a nervous wreck and his nerves only became worse when it came to the day of his date. Wang Li had tried every way he knew to calm Xu Chen down but nothing worked. Massages? Games? Cake? Nothing worked. The plan for the date was to start at a restaurant then the group of four would go to an arcade, since Xu Chen had mentioned how much he liked games and toys.

Wang Li wasn't too nervous before the big day because he was too excited about Xu Chen being in a relationship, but after seeing his soulmate on the brink of having a nervous breakdown, he couldn't help but become nervous too.

When the two nervous boys showered and dressed, they checked the time and it was finally not too early to go to the restaurant. Xu Chen was a hospitality major so he knew about a lot of the top restaurants in their city, the one Martian had reserved a private room for was one of the best. Once at the very expensive restaurant, Xu Chen stood outside a little flustered but was eventually dragged in by Wang Li. Again, at reception Xu Chen had become a deer in the headlights, causing Wang Li to state the name the private room was under.

"I don't think I can do this Xiao Li."

Xu Chen turned to walk back down the hall but Wang Li gripped his sweaty hand tightly and wouldn't stop pulling until Xu Chen promised to follow. The waiter had strict orders from the person who made the reservation to simply knock at the door then leave, Xu Chen was also told by Martian to walk in as soon as he arrived.

Wang Li stood behind Xu Chen once the waiter had left, allowing his friend to make the final decision of opening the door and walking in. A couple minutes passed by and Xu Chen finally reached his hand forward, slowly pushing the door. Wang Li was close to his heels since he wanted to get a close look of this Martian, but the two of them only took a few steps in the room before he started yelling at the man sitting at the table.

"YOU'RE CHEATING ON ME?!"

"Calm down, I'm not Martian Xiao Li."

Kong Da stood up from the table and quickly tried to comfort his silly lover, behind Wang Li,  Xu Chen was frozen to his spot as the door opened behind him. Kong Da was holding Wang Li's fists firmly so the couple wasn't focused on Xu Chen turning around, after seeing Kong Da in the room, Xu Chen could guess the identity of his mystery man.

Ma Tian paused as him and Xu Chen locked eyes, he gave a nervous smile.

"Beep boo."

The reaction Ma Tian was hoping for didn't come and he watched as Xu Chen's eyes filled with water. Wang Li heard Ma Tian's voice, causing him to forget about his lover and he snapped around in time to see Xu Chen run out of the room. Wang Li didn't have any time to give Ma Tian a piece of his mind because the tall man ran after the crying Xu Chen

"Wait Xiao Chen!"

Xu Chen was almost at the end of the hallway when Ma Tian held him from his waist, he was sobbing loudly and tried to push his body away from the strong man's embrace.

"You did it just to make fun of me!"

"I didn't Xiao Chen."

Ma Tian wrapped an arm around Xu Chen's chest to hold his arms down, the manager from the restaurant walked in on this scene and asked Ma Tian awkwardly.

"Mr Ma is everything okay? We received a complaint about shouting."

"Everything's fine. My friend needs to use the bathroom so please make sure no one else enters."

"Y-Yes Mr Ma."

Ma Tian pulled the still sobbing and struggling Xu Chen into the bathroom at the end of the hall while the manager stood outside the door, a little flustered. In the bathroom, Xu Chen was put down onto a towel that Ma Tian moved to the edge of the sink, he tried to get off and leave but Ma Tian stood between his legs and held his arm firmly.

"Let me explain first, if you want to leave after I've talked, I won't stop you."

A small hand towel was used by Ma Tian to wipe Xu Chen's now swollen face. As he gently wiped the red skin, he softly spoke.

"At first I was just teasing you but after the second day, I actually enjoyed talking to you. I had thought many times about telling you I was the one messaging you but you acted so different around me in person. You were timid and barely talked but in our messages you couldn't stop talking. You even flirted with me first."

"It wasn't long and I started recognizing I was developing feelings for you but was still hesitant to reveal who I was, since I didn't want you to turn away from me. I was finally going to tell you when Chen Bo was captured but I wanted to have a proper date and spend the day with you after you found out, so I could only wait until now...Close your eyes."

Ma Tian drenched the cloth in cold water before squeezing it out, he then placed it on Xu Chen's closed eyes. He had finished explaining himself, so he waited for Xu Chen's answer but the red eyed boy didn't say anything. After the cloth was taken away, Xu Chen kept his eyes and lips closed.

"Are you hungry?"

Xu Chen wasn't given the chance to refuse as his stomach answered for him; he had been too nervous the whole morning, so Xu Chen hadn't even had breakfast, meaning his stomach was angry now. Ma Tian didn't push Xu Chen to stay after hearing the hungry stomach though, instead he asked if Xu Chen wanted to be dropped off at a cafe. He knew this offer would be refused but didn't expect the reason he was given.

"Th-This restaurant is really expensive and the reservation wait time is for a few months. It would be bad to waste the money you spent to get a private room...I'll go after I've eaten"

Un. Ma Tian helped Xu Chen off the sink and put the towels in the wash bin, they were about to walk past the manager outside, when he told the two of them that the two men from their private room were asked to leave, since Wang Li wouldn't stop yelling. Ma Tian nodded seriously and looked over to Xu Chen, waiting to see if he would still stay. Hearing this news, Xu Chen pulled out his phone and quickly called Wang Li.

"Xiao Li. Everything's fine...I-I'm going to have lunch and I'll see you back at home later, okay?"

Wang Li was yelling as soon as he had picked up but after hearing Xu Chen talking calmly and willing, he forced himself to calm down too. After a few more words, the call ended and Ma Tian led him back to the now empty private room. He pulled Xu Chen's chair out then pushed it in once Xu Chen had taken a seat. Ma Tian usually wasn't the type of person to be nervous, but right now he couldn't help but feel a little anxious in his heart.

"The menu is set already and the food should be arriving soon. Do you want tea?"

Un. Ma Tian walked to the side of the table and poured two small cups of herbal tea. They didn't talk much, the main reason being Xu Chen would mostly answer in one or two words, very little conversation happened during their meal too. Xu Chen had always wanted to come to this restaurant, even before he was in university, but now under the circumstances, the food tasted dull and boring. Both men were almost finished with their meal, when Ma Tian's phone rang loudly in the silent room. Xu Chen could see Ma Tian was about to hang up but then excused himself and answered the call outside the room.

After coming back inside, Xu Chen didn't want to talk to Ma Tian but something inside made him want to know the meaning of the call and he couldn't help asking. Ma Tian looked a little embarrassed towards answering but ended up saying anyway.

"Hehe, it was the arcade. They wanted to ask why we were late but I told them to not worry since no one would be turning up."

"Why would they call?"

"Uh, well I booked the whole arcade for the day since I didn't want you to wait in line or miss out on the best prizes."

Xu Chen wouldn't think that someone would hire out an arcade for the day just for a date, especially a date with him. After hearing this, he thought about the money spent on the lunch at this restaurant then the money spent on the workers wage and the bill for a day hire at the arcade. All the money being spent on him made Xu Chen feel awkward and sad at the same time.

He had lost his appetite now and Ma Tian looked like he no longer wanted to eat too. Xu Chen made no signs of leaving, so Ma Tian stood up then walked behind him to help pull his chair out.

"I'll drop you off home now."

Un. Xu Chen almost felt like a zombie as he followed behind Ma Tian, he thought over the messages they had sent each other and the pictures too. All the times Martian called him handsome or demanded he never hide his face when taking pictures. The amount of times Martian comforted him when his ribs were hurting or when he felt lonely because Wang Li was with Kong Da. All of these were sent by the man walking in front of him.

In the car, Xu Chen was still processing everything and Ma Tian soon pulled up in front of the apartment, he sat quietly since it looked as if Xu Chen was in deep thought. Xu Chen had been trying ever since the messages first started to find the identity of Martian, now that he knew the man's identity, he felt a little silly for not noticing the clear similarities.

Ma Tian had always been kind to him and pushed him to break out of his comfort zone, he had already recognised that he might like Ma Tian more than a friend early on, but pushed those feelings aside since he was set on dating Martian.

Xu Chen didn't know how long they had been parked outside of his apartment but after going through his mess of a brain, he sighed lightly and turned to face Ma Tian.

"I think it would be a waste of money to not go to the arcade too."