Chapter 42—I might…like Song Yu

by Bocchan13

Song Yu was glad he was an ability user. If he wasn’t he would have been recuperating in bed for a few days rather than the few hours it took him to get better. Peering outside, the sun had just gone down and Lan Zhou was sleeping right next to him.

Looking at that dastardly good face, Song Yu stared at Lan Zhou with pensive thoughts.

I slept with him.

Yeah, no shit.

What should I do now?

Oh, so now you wanna listen to me? Screw you!

This is so weird. How can I let this guy go?

You can take him to your little black room and tell the other light bulbs to scram.

They’ve been with Lan Zhou this entire time. He trusts them.

But YOU don’t. Remember, this is just a temporary solution. Lan Zhou’s wound would most definitely heal in two or three days. Even Xiao Zi’s internal injuries are mending fast.

Song Yu sighed as he listened to his own argument. He sometimes wished that he didn’t have such a rational conscious. He felt a hand hold his waist tighter. Lan Zhou shifted his position so they were even closer together. Nuzzling his neck, his hot breath tickled his skin.

Song Yu gently tried to get out of the embrace, but unlike the very first time they had sex, Lan Zhou was 100x stronger. Those large hands were like iron grips as it didn’t budge the slightest. Song Yu didn’t want to wake him up but…

He really had to pee.

“Lan Zhou…get up.”

“Mmh.”

Lan Zhou held on tighter, his barely awoken state going back to dreamland.

“Lann Zhooouuuuu???”

“Gruff.”

“Lannnnnnnnn Zhhhhhoooouuuuu???”

“Eh.”

“Up!”

Lan Zhou woke up slightly and patted Song Yu’s back, trying to coax him to sleep. Song Yu blushed as the hand unconsciously slid down his back to his butt.

Gentleness wasn’t going to wake up with bear.

Song Yu karate chopped the hand on his waist.

“Ow!”

Song Yu sighed in relief as he got up and scrambled to the bathroom. Lan Zhou rubbed his red hand, and chuckled slightly. He had woken up when Song Yu did.

Call it a trauma, but he hadn’t slept lightly ever since Song Yu left him at the hotel. He didn’t want to remember that lonely feeling when he was left behind. So when Song Yu stirred just now, he woke up instantly. The rest was just a ruse. He was about to tease him some more when Song Yu hurt him.

He heard the toilet flush and went back to faking sleep. Hearing footsteps coming towards the bed, he evened his breathing.

“I know you’re awake. Get up!” Lan Zhou laughed and opened his eyes happily. Reaching out, he tugged Song Yu back onto the bed.

“Wah!!” Song Yu’s waist was once again held prisoner, Lan Zhou’s large arms encompassing him completely.

“Good evening.” Lan Zhou pecked his chin and cheeks. Song Yu was still uncomfortable with so much skin ship, but didn’t want to leave Lan Zhou’s embrace.

“You aren’t sleeping in this bed tonight. Move to the next room.”

Lan Zhou furrowed his brow in dejection but didn’t argue. They got dressed (Lan Zhou wore a new tunic shirt and lounge pants Song Yu had made) and went downstairs.

Lan Zhou’s leg seemed to be healing at an alarming rate. Including the fact that he had just ‘exercised’ and cleaned everything up, he should have been as bedridden as Song Yu. But he could now walk with a limp downstairs.

He hadn’t seen the house in its entirety, but seeing the rooms and space, he could guess how big it actually was. Lan Zhou didn’t look in awe or amazement, but he did note every place they passed. He didn’t want his lover to think he was coveting his things.

Song Yu also checked Lan Zhou’s expression. Either he hid it well or not, he was wary. Song Yu helped him down the stairs and into the living space with the large TV. Hearing the sounds of talking; the rest of the gang was in there.

“Hey! The lovebirds have finally woken—Ouch!” Wang Cheng rubbed the back of his head, his teary eyes glaring daggers at Lu Jiangxi.

Lu Jiangxi ignored Wang Cheng and turned to Lan Zhou and Song Yu.

“We could only make a few things from the parcel Squinty gave us, but there is remaining rice and side dishes on the counter. Or do you want to wait until dinner? It won’t be for another hour or so.”

Song Yu didn’t want to eat leftovers and decided against eating, but Lan Zhou was worried about Song Yu’s appetite.

“You should at least eat a little something before dinner. We—cough, cough—uh…you should get your strength back up.”

Song Yu remembered when Lan Zhou told him to stop drinking. That deep voice was filled with concern but subtle awkwardness; it made him very cute in Song Yu’s eyes. Reminded by that, he relented.

“I’ll take you to the kitchen.”

Yu Ci watched as the couple left. That itchy feeling came back again. He was a little disappointed and…envious. Xiao Zi patted Yu Ci on his back, consoling the big guy.

“Xiao Zi…I think I might like Song Yu.”

Xiao Zi sighed.

“Not to sound negative, but you have zero chance. They met before the apocalypse, and you know how long Lan Zhou had been searching for him.”

Yu Ci nodded, “I know all of that. But…I can’t control how I feel. Even though we didn’t talk much during those two days…he was the first one to make my heart skip a beat. I’ve never felt that before.”

Lu Jingxiu sat next to Xiao Zi his hand unconsciously holding each other’s. Yu Ci stared at those entwined fingers and couldn’t help but feel bad. Lan Zhou was a brilliant leader, charismatic and kind. If he hadn’t had low EQ, he would have snatched lovers left and right.

For Lan Zhou, finding the love of his life in the apocalypse was a one in a billion chance. But he did it. Like the protagonist in a movie, Lan Zhou was able to find the string of fate back to Song Yu.

Yu Ci’s previous life was harsh. Born in a military family, he as the youngest child, enlisted since he was 12 years old. He didn’t know about many things, including how to live in the normal world. It used to be barracks and gun, and now…high school? When he was forced into high school, it was the first time he made friends.

And it was Lan Zhou beating him in jousting that got him to open up. He couldn’t have imagined having friends for so long. Most people entered and exited each other’s lives like bright fireworks. Fleeting. But these people stayed by his side, urging him to succeed. His first everything’s happened with these four people.

In their past life, Yu Ci’s strength ability in the front lines was gloried, leaving people in the dust. He amassed hundreds of people’s approval, and his battalion death count was almost non-existent. But like most people in the apocalypse…people got lonely.

 

So after eight years in the apocalypse, Yu Ci was at the age where he started thinking about family. Women were extremely scarce, but not overly so. He had gone out with some women and some men, hoping to get the spark he heard from in Lan Zhou’s magazines.

However, Yu Ci was forced to marry a girl from an affluent military family. Yu Ci tried to be happy, but every night when he went to bed, he felt that the person sleeping next to him was not ‘the one’. That didn’t stop him from treating her as carefully and gently as a behemoth-like man could.

Over time, she grew on him and they eventually tried to have a child.

With no luck, Yu Ci tried his best to take care of her still. Until that autumn day when he came back and saw his wife in the embrace of someone else. What startled Yu Ci wasn’t his wife in bed, naked with an equally naked man. What startled Yu Ci was that…he wasn’t torn over this.

Seeing her crying face as she tried to explain, Yu Ci felt nothing. His wife of two years was nothing to him. Leaving her was the easiest thing he had ever done.

Yu Ci felt that he didn’t have the necessary properties to love someone. But when he saw Song Yu for the first time…he felt it. That tingle in your toes, that heart pumping in your chest, the electricity boiling your blood.

Yu Ci felt alive.

Or rather, he felt like he could love Song Yu.

Sitting in the living room, Xiao Zi tried to comfort Yu Ci some more, but Yu Ci closed his eyes and sighed deeply. Lan Zhou was his friend, the truest friend a person could have. He would not hurt his friend like this.

Even if it meant hiding his love forever…he could do it.

He wished that one day, someone would come along and that spark he felt in the bamboo forest that day would come true once again.