Silver Linings

Chapter Fifteen - Being chivalrous is a subtle game

- ARC TWO -

[12 June 2020]

⁂ GONG JUN ⁂

He had woken up without yesterday's weight on his shoulders and with Mojito still playing on repeat inside his head. It had been the last song he'd listened to before he went to bed, even posting the cover on Weibo right before he fell asleep, and the first song that he played as he showered and filled the hotel room with the fragrance of grapefruit. It had been a really good start to his morning and he felt like himself again. No—he felt even better than usual, which had kept him relaxed throughout the morning.

After what felt like baring his soul the night before—which was a slight exaggeration—he felt like something had changed in his relationship to Zhang Zhe Han. His senior hadn't judge him in the slightest. Zhang Zhe Han hadn't talked about all the things he should be feeling or told him he shouldn't feel the way that he had felt. Instead he had listened, understood and comforted. Acknowledged the fact that it was okay to be frustrated and caught off guard, and offered to share his own experience. And most importantly—Zhang Zhe Han had told him to relax and take care of himself first.

The conversation from the night before had given him a bit of confidence to be himself. He knew that it was okay to be himself. Not that he hadn't been himself up until now, it was just that he had been himself with a whole heap of filters wrapped around himself. He had decided to scale those back, for at least some of the time.

It had been easier than he thought to 'de-filter' himself. Zhang Zhe Han had such an easy going personality and had a natural talent for making people feel relaxed around him. And Gong Jun was certainly feeling relaxed at the moment. They were currently in one of the many 'cave sheds', located at Hengdian World Studios, and getting ready to shoot some of the scenes from episode eighteen. The temperature was approaching thirty four degrees outside and the cave shed was more like an oven than a shaded refuge. It also didn't help that he was all snuggled up in Zhang Zhe Han's lap. Well, sort of. Wen Ke Xing was supposed to have passed out from the fall that brought the two protagonists crashing into this zombie-filled cave and Zhou Zi Shu was trying to wake him up—gently. Gong Jun squashed the flutters in his heart—and everywhere else for that matter—that were reacting to where he was cozied up, and to how dangerously comfortable he felt inside Zhang Zhe Han's embrace. His eyes were also heavily ignoring the beads of sweat, that they could clearly see trickling down his co-stars delicate neck and disappearing behind those soft robes.

The cave was supposed to be pitch black dark, so lights were sparse, except for a few which were aiding the camera crew. There were three assistants hovering over him, fixing his makeup, hair and robes, and all whilst he was nestled in between Zhang Zhe Han's legs. He was very aware of the behind the scenes camera that was recording—practically in his face—but he still felt perfectly happy where he was. He did not try to hide how those thick thighs felt against his waist—Wen Ke Xing should be enjoying this position, after all. However, he resisted the urge to snuggle back further into that strong arm that was wrapped around his back for support. They were, after all, supposed to be interacting this way. They were about to shoot the scene.

The camera crew said something and his co-star held out a stick, casually blew at it, and a flame popped out from the top. Even though he technically knew what it was, he was still amazed, "Oh my god. It's a lighter?!"

He tried to grab it from his co-star, but the stick disappeared behind his right shoulder and he could hear Zhang Zhe Han let out a low laughter before responding, "Yes."