In Xie Yu's seventeen years of living, he had never felt that he had very much youthful ardor.
Before, Zhou Dalei and the others had secretly rented R-rated DVDs, hidden them from Madam Gu and Dalei's parents, and locked their doors, not even daring to breathe loudly.
The young Dalei had watched the tapes red-faced without averting his eyes. Xie Yu had glanced at the screen twice, then booted up an old tube TV to the side and played on his Famicom game console.
What had Dalei said back then? He had said, "Boss Xie, you aren't asexual, are you?"
"What's so special about it," Xie Yu said. "It's just sex, isn't it?"
Zhou Dalei: "......"
Da Mei: "......"
But he was in a relationship now, right?
It was just drinking from the same bottle of water.
Why did his heart speed up?
A sharp whistle signalled the end of gym class.
The gym teacher walked out of the stadium and waved to Luo Wenqiang. Liu Cunhao, who was holding the ball, used the last few seconds to jump and toss the ball into the basket.
"Class is over. Dismissed." The gym teacher instructed the gym rep to pack up the equipment.
Gym rep Luo Wenqiang couldn't carry the whole class's gym equipment, so He Zhao jumped down from his perch next to the flowerbed and went to help. "I'll take the rackets. Old Xie, lend a hand?"
Xie Yu took half the rackets and the group walked in a line toward the equipment room. Liu Cunhao was still holding the basketball, refusing to let it go.
"It's all the fault of those two classes from last year. Idiots, the lot of them. They even fought. What's there to fight over?"
"I was there. It was really intense. In the end they just threw away the ball and started fighting with their fists. Even the referees were stunned silly."
The equipment room was big and divided into sections according to the types of sport. The badminton rackets went on the innermost shelves. He Zhao lifted them up and stuffed them in, then moved to one side to make space for Xie Yu. "I was at last year's basketball match."
Xie Yu said, "Oh, no wonder your class didn't make it to the finals."
"....."
"Class 2 plays too dirty. No fun at all. We were eliminated in the first round." He Zhao thought back to how he had dragged the team down. "Compete on skill or not at all."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're good." Xie Yu put the rackets back, straightening them somewhat obsessively, and said, "You're very good."
The space between the shelves was narrow and could barely fit two people. At some point He Zhao had moved to occupy the space opposite him, so when Xie Yu finished and turned around he was nearly in He Zhao's arms.
He Zhao laughed. "Little friend, is this an offering?"
"Offering what?" Xie Yu said. "A good dog doesn't block the way. Move aside?"
He Zhao's hand rested on Xie Yu's waist, gently pushing through the thin fabric, nudging him into a corner. They were both tall, but the corner was secluded, and Luo Wenqiang and the others were busy chatting over by the basketballs and didn't notice them.
The incident with the water bottle on the basketball court surfaced again in his mind as a result of their covert actions.
"I'm not a dog," He Zhao said. "I'm not moving."
