"Don't move."
"......"
"Stay still. Got it."
One of Xie Yu's hands was in his pocket, the other acting as a pillow for his head. He looked down at the pen caught in his shirt. "What did you throw?"
He Zhao said, "My hand slipped. Really, my hand slipped."
He Zhao had finally painstakingly found the pen he had lost for several days in the corner of his desk compartment. Xie Yu thought He Zhao looked like a refugee, one so poor he couldn't feed his guests, who had suddenly received an unexpected windfall. "Did you see, Old Xie? We have a pen now."
Xie Yu lay on the desk. He hadn't slept enough during the previous class period, so he made a lukewarm noise of assent. He had wanted to continue sleeping, but that pen had flown in his direction the very next second. If Xie Yu moved even a little now, it would fall to the floor.
He Zhao was very close, his hands on top of Xie Yu's thigh; it was ticklish. If his hands wandered upwards just a few more centimeters they would touch something they shouldn't touch.
Xie Yu turned away and said, a little stiffly, "Hurry the fuck up."
He Zhao hadn't thought much of it, initially. He loved his pen like he would love the last scion of his family. He finally realized when his fingers touched the pen cap.
Shen Jie stood at the window, waiting for Xie Yu to kick his Zhao-ge's chair over, informing him that people can't just do as they please, that touching inappropriately came at a price. But he waited and waited, and the class bell rang but Xie Yu still hadn't moved.
The Big Bro of the West Building just let his deskmate touch him for a while and even responded when He Zhao talked to him.
Surreal.
Shen Jie thought, I haven't seen them for a few days and the world has completely changed?!
The last class of the morning was gym. Luo Wenqiang, who had suffered all morning, was now recovered from his headache and stood up excitedly. "Brothers and sisters, see you on the court!"
He Zhao stood up. "If Old Wu sees you he'll die of anger."
During the math class just now, Wu Zheng had asked Luo Wenqiang to come up to the board and solve a problem, but Luo Wenqiang had said he was too weak that day to hold chalk. But now he was all fired up, as if he was about to take off his jacket and jump out the window and onto the basketball court.
Luo Wenqiang opened his mouth, but Xie Yu, knowing he was looking for an excuse, interrupted before he could speak. "Don't go on about the spirit of exercise."
"Old Xie." He Zhao stood in the doorway. "Let's go."
Luo Wenqiang: "......" These two are really presenting a united front today.
"Two laps for warm-up." The gym teacher squatted by the rostrum, a whistle in his mouth, and said lazily, "Free time after you're done."
The moment Xie Yu saw the gym teacher, he remembered the push-ups training, and along with it, the forum posts He Zhao had shown him at the sports meet. As he thought, he unintentionally met He Zhao's eyes.
They stood at the back of the line and neither one of them spoke. Xie Yu averted his eyes, staring at the chaos on the soccer field. Someone walked by them with a bag of volleyballs. Then Xie Yu discovered that He Zhao was pressing the back of his hand against his, whether intentionally or not.
The gym teacher narrowed his eyes and said, "If you want sports equipment, go to the gym rep. The gym rep will go to the equipment room to get everything all at once. Luo Wenqiang, are you still playing basketball today?"
