[Guild Chat] Bamboo Shoots In The Wind¹Zhu Yingde: Did you guys hear?

[Guild] Bamboo Shoots In The Wind: Leader is going to fight brother-in-law in the solo competition tomorrow!

[Guild] Can’t Think Of A Name²Mei XiAn: ???

[Guild] Can’t Think Of A Name: Trouble in paradise? =口=

[Guild] Can’t Think Of A Name: Why would they…?

[Guild] Lightning Strikes Twice³Tang LeiDe: Who do you think will win?

[Guild] Bamboo Shoots In The Wind: Of course it’ll be our Qingfeng-ge!

[Guild] Chuunibyou⁴Chu Weini: Come on, he’s smarter than that…

[Guild] Chuunibyou: How can he bear to beat brother-in-law?

[Guild] Panda Says No⁵Jia Xiong: Let me go ask our insider for more info…

--

[Friend Chat] Panda Says No: Hello friend

[Friend] No Name Hero⁶Jun Yingzhe: ?

[Friend] No Name Hero: We’re might face off in the party battle soon

[Friend] No Name Hero: Don’t you mean ‘hello enemy’?

[Friend] Panda Says No: Aiya that’s a different matter

[Friend] Panda Says No: Want to check with you regarding your leader

[Friend] Panda Says No: Is it true he instigated the solo competition with Ah Gu?

[Friend] Panda Says No: Asking on behalf: should Ah Gu let brother-in-law win? O (￣ヘ￣o)

[Friend] No Name Hero: Hahahahahaha

[Friend] No Name Hero: Oh, that

[Friend] No Name Hero: No, lol

[Friend] No Name Hero: He’s very serious about winning with strength

[Friend] No Name Hero: He’s been researching on Gu Qingfeng’s playstyle the whole morning

[Friend] No Name Hero: If he finds out your leader let him win, I think it’ll cause more harm than good

[Friend] Panda Says No: Got it, thanks friend

[Friend] Panda Says No: See you in the arena later

[Friend Panda Says No: Enemy ლ(｀ー´ლ)

[Friend] No Name Hero: ლ(｀ー´ლ)

--

Jia Xiong looked over at his perplexed friend who was zoning out while staring at the screen playing recordings of Undying’s gameplay. Going over to reassuringly pat the other’s shoulder, he opened his mouth to impart some advice but stopped short. What did he know? He was just a poor single dog. Who was he to give relationship advice?

Jia Xiong was a hundred percent sure that this whole thing was because Gu Qingfeng said or did something to provoke Wen Xi. He was not sure what was the exact trigger, but knowing his best friend’s character and propensity to spout nonsense, it could be any of the thousand and one shameless and embarrassing things he has said in the past few days. Over their many years together, he had already grown resistant to his friend’s nonsense and had developed a built-in filter to automatically tune most of it out.

After much deliberation, Jia Xiong settled on a non-committal, “Good luck.” Before sitting back down in his seat to prepare for the upcoming party competition.

Gu Qingfeng grunted in reply and let out a long sigh as he clicked into the next playback video.

[Guild Chat] Panda Says No: Never mind, what do us single dogs know ┑(￣Д￣)┍

[Guild] Bamboo Shoots In The Wind: ┑(￣Д￣)┍

[Guild] Lightning Strikes Twice: ┑(￣Д￣)┍

[Guild] Take Me Lying Down: Did you guys see the forum?

[Guild] Take Me Lying Down: The two of them are trending!

[Guild] Can’t Think Of A Name: ? What? What happened?

[Guild] Can’t Think Of A Name: Been busy with the competition, haven’t been checking the forum

[Guild] Panda Says No: Let me go see

Jia Xiong switched to the internet browser, opening up the school forum website to see the trending hot topic: Public Confession of Two Male Gods!

OP: Guess who I saw at the movie theatre last weekend? Isn’t this our school grass on a date with his boyfriend? (image)

Jia Xiong looked at the blurry image of a slightly dark theatre, barely recognizing Gu Qingfeng in front of the screen while standing next to a taller young man who kind of looked like Wen Xi. Oh, shit.

Commenter 1: Yes, that’s our school grass for sure! I would recognize that figure anywhere!

Commenter 2: Why would you say they’re dating? I recognize the last frame of this movie—it’s a horror thriller, what kind of couple will go watch this on a date? Even if they’re a male-male couple.

Commenter 3: @Commenter 2: What’s wrong with watching a horror thriller on a date? Just cause you don’t like it doesn’t mean that other people can’t enjoy it!

Anyway, I’m OP’s friend and was in the same theatre. I can testify that the tall guy next to our school grass confessed in front of the whole theatre. He basically declared that our school grass belonged to him.

Commenter 4: !! No video, no proof!

OP: Do you want me to go to jail for illegal recording in a movie theatre? Tsk. Obviously there’s no video proof—it’s up to you if you want to believe us or not.

Commenter 2: @Commenter 3: Are you single? Do you want to go on a horror thriller movie date with me? -shy-

Commenter 3: @Commenter 2: … *Anyway, I’m OP’s boyfriend and was in the same theatre on a date. So obvious, please read between the lines.

Commenter 2: -sobs- Any singles out there want to watch a movie together? Hit me up~

Jia Xiong rolled his eyes and scrolled down quickly past the useless comments.

Commenter 58: So how did our school grass react?

OP: Couldn’t see very clearly, but I think he was smiling as they both left the theatre…

The next few pages of comments were discussing if Gu Qingfeng was really smiling or not in the photo—which Jia Xiong was sure that his friend definitely was, considering the situation.

Commenter 184: Thank you OP for starting this thread so I can identify the male god!

I was in the same cinema! I wasn’t sure who the two male gods were, but I took a photo of them to cleanse my eyes when I’m dying from all the coursework (image)

Jia Xiong gulped as he looked at the high resolution undeniable image of the two young men seated side by side on the red plush sofa seats, with his good friend obviously holding onto his red-faced boyfriend’s hand in an extremely suggestive manner.

Shit, shit, shit. The previous posts could still count as speculation without actual proof, but this photo… He was not sure if the couple intended to go public with their relationship yet, but with what little he knew of Wen Xi, he did not think that thin-skinned guy would be happy about this.

Jia Xiong sighed as he slid over on his chair and kicked his friend’s shin to get his attention. “Look what you’ve done,” Jia Xiong chided and directed his line of sight to the computer screen which showed the image of the couple at the cinema.

“Hmm?” Gu Qingfeng looked up in a daze, his mind still preoccupied with how to fight Wen Xi and whether there was a way to discreetly lose to his boyfriend while still giving the satisfaction of a proper battle.

“How did you get that photo?” Gu Qingfeng asked, confused, his first thought upon seeing the photo being that his boyfriend looked very adorable and well-behaved, sitting there with a blush on his face.

“How did I—aiya, old man sit closer and look properly.” Jia Xiong got up in frustration to roll his friend’s chair over to his computer. “This is our school forum! That’s you and your beloved, holding hands in public!”

“The school forum? Our school forum?” Gu Qingfeng repeated in disbelief as he scrolled down the page, reading the posts of his schoolmates squealing over their clasped hands and making conjectures about their relationship.

“Yes, have you turned blind and stupid at the same time?” Jia Xiong rolled his eyes and peered over his shoulder, reading the posts alongside his friend.

Commenter 218: They’re very well matched! Both very good-looking and easy on the eyes~

Jia Xiong watched as Gu Qingfeng’s hand on the mouse automatically went to like the post praising the two of them.

“Hey, what are you doing?!” Jia Xiong snatched back the mouse and quickly un-liked the post. “It’s under my account, they’ll know it’s me, your good friend, liking the post—do you want to add oil to the fire??”

“Okay, okay, I won’t like anything,” Gu Qingfeng promised as he took the mouse back.

 As Gu Qingfeng scrolled through a few more pages, the commenters started discussing who they thought was top and bottom. His eyes sparkled as he read the fascinating discourse—some thought that Wen Xi would be the top with his taller height and colder demeanor, others thought that the sunny charming Gu Qingfeng was the more obvious answer.

Ha, guess and imagine all they want, they would never know what his Xiao Xi looked like in throes of pleasure—with his head thrown back, hints of wetness on those long eyelashes of his, his skin flushed pink with exertion as he gasped with his mouth slightly parted…

 Gu Qingfeng shook his head to get rid of the alluring image. He needed to focus on the current situation. Of late, he had sensed some shifts in his boyfriend’s attitude to making things public, but he knew that Wen Xi still had some unresolved trauma regarding the stigma surrounding their relationship. If Gu Qingfeng did not handle this well, it could cause unnecessary distress to his precious darling.

Quickly scrolling through the rest of the thread to check if there were any other sensitive evidence like his subsequent public confession (oops), but not finding anything, Gu Qingfeng grabbed his phone to message Wen Xi, while issuing instructions to Jia Xiong, “Ah Xiong, you know the forum moderator right? Can you get him to remove the thread?”

“Already done, just waiting for him to reply,” Jia Xiong answered, holding up his phone to show the message chat screen.

“Muah, you’re the best,” Gu Qingfeng blew a kiss as he hurriedly put on his coat and shoes. “Ah no,” He made a sucking noise to rescind the kiss as he said, “Sorry, I’m a taken man now so I can’t frivolously give away my kisses to random men, even if you’re my best friend.”

Jia Xiong made a face as he waved aside his nonsense. “Where are you going? The party battle’s going to start soon, aren’t you going to watch?”

Gu Qingfeng tsked as he opened the door to leave, “That’s why you’re a single dog and I have a boyfriend. I’m going to find my baobei, of course.”

Jia Xiong made some gagging noises in disgust. “Go, just go!”

“Do well in battle, don’t let our guild down~”