Part Twelve: Brothers (2)

—

Once the idea materialized, it took root. Watching Magician and Ye Qia bantering together, Xia Zhi’s suspicions grew. His brows knotted and did not smooth over for a long time. His wounds weren’t deep and the pain quickly faded. He sat in place in a long daze, the thought in his mind throwing him for a loop.

If Magician is interested in Ye Qia, has he confessed before? Does Ye Qia know? Did he accept? Or did he reject him? Or do they have some history between them?! If so, why didn’t Ye Qia tell me? Is there something he’s trying to hide?

Xia Zhi felt as if he would detonate. Though he was in an air-conditioned room, he sweated profusely as if all of the moisture in his body was coming out through his pores.

“Xia Zhi?”

Xia Zhi shot up from his seat with a dimwitted shout, “Huh?”

Ye Qia and Magician both frowned. Magician even maliciously said, “Your response is fast as ever, it’s no wonder you’re the Rapid-Shot King.”

“…”

Normally Xia Zhi would’ve retorted back already, but at the thought of the “cruel rejection of Magician’s deep yearning towards Ye Qia,” Xia Zhi could no longer get his taunts out.

Magician waited for a moment and hearing no insults, he looked surprised. “What? Got nothing to say?”

“Uh, if you say so,” Xia Zhi stammered. “As long as it makes you happy.”

Both Magician and Ye Qia had a look of “is there something wrong with your head.” Ye Qia was still harboring doubts after they had left. “Are you alright?”

“I’m good.”

“Why are you suddenly so nice to Magician?”

“How so!” Xia Zhi forced a laugh, discovering that Ye Qia looked completely unconvinced. He sighed and said, “Actually, there is a reason.”

“What?”

Being asked this, Xia Zhi felt suddenly embarrassed to say. After sputtering for a bit, he finally revealed the reason under Ye Qia’s growing look of skepticism. “I think Magician likes you.”

Ye Qia was surprised before looking expressionless.

Xia Zhi understood Ye Qia to an extent, so seeing his expression, he was immediately upset. “No way, you two really had a thing?”

Ye Qia hesitated before saying, “It didn’t count.”

“Then what the hell happened?”

“I’ll tell you at home.”

Xia Zhi brooded over it, making wild speculations until midnight when it was time for bed. As the two climbed into the bed, he crossed to the other side of the bed, grabbing Ye Qia by the collar as he fiercely said, “Are you purposely not telling me?”

“You still remember?”

“No shit!”

Ye Qia raised a brow and sighed.

Xia Zhi exploded. “Dammit, are you really doing it on purpose? You’re just waiting for me to forget, huh?”

“Okay, okay.” Ye Qia mussed his hair and gave it some thought. “Magician has hinted at it in the past, but I didn’t acknowledge it, pretending not to understand. We’ve been good brothers all these years. He hasn’t given up either. Once in a while he’ll drop a hint, but I don’t intend to answer. Are you satisfied with this explanation?”

“Oh…” With a straight face, Xia Zhi asked in a low voice, “So you’ve never been tempted?”

Ye Qia’s response was swift and firm. “No.”

Xia Zhi relaxed slightly. Thinking of something else, he said, “Then what does he think about my existence?”

“What do you think?”

Xia Zhi’s neck shrank back and he said with uncertainty, “I think he’s rather friendly.”

Ye Qia laughed. “He was the one who demanded we test you last time.”

The corner of Xia Zhi’s eye twitched and on second thought, he decided to be petty again. “So I’m actually quite charming and he feels threatened.”

Ye Qia rolled his eyes and nudged Xia Zhi away, saying impatiently, “He’s never come out with it clearly before. There’s only ever been ambiguity between us. Either way, we’ve slept together before, shared secrets, mutually have dirt on each other, and we’ve even had a threesome before…”

“What?!” Xia Zhi let out an unprecedented howl. “You’ve had a threesome with him before?!”

“…Don’t you think you’re focused on the wrong thing?”

“How do you determine who’s top and bottom?!”

“He was in the middle.”

“Shit, you even let him have such a pleasurable spot of being in the middle!” Xia Zhi was in a rage. “Screw it, I want a threesome! I want one, too!”

Ye Qia opened his mouth and squeezed out a question, “Me, you, and who else?”

Xia Zhi opened his mouth and was stumped.

Ye Qia raised a brow, a cloud forming over his expression as he asked coldly, “Tell me, who else?”

“…”

As it turned out, the physical aspect of a relationship was more important than the relationship between two people for gays. A threesome was enough to overturn things. After being chewed out by Ye Qia, Xia Zhi pitifully did not dare bring up the topic of threesomes anymore. He didn’t think that after this, Ye Qia would bring back a silicone stimulator. As he looked it over, he discovered it was a female-shaped one.

“Why is it a female one?”

“The other end is male.”

He flipped it around, looked at it, then frowned. “It looks pretty crude!”

“300 bucks.”

Xia Zhi was shocked. “Isn’t that too cheap?!”

“Insider price.”

“Can this sort of thing even be used?”

“You can give it a try.”

Xia Zhi hesitated but unable to resist his curiosity, he probed a finger in. After a few seconds, he looked up and said innocently, “My finger seems to be stuck.”

“…What?”

Xia Zhi stood dumbly for a full hour with a masturbator on his finger. When his finger was finally freed from the glue, he was nearly in tears from the pain. Because the glue was in a strange location, Ye Qia had dismantled the masturbator. Xia Zhi, who watched this entire process unfold, suffered an extreme provocation.

“I’m not finished with you!” Xia Zhi bellowed indignantly.

“What does this have to do with me?”

“You’re the one who brought it to me!”

Ye Qia looked torn between crying and laughing. “This was given to me by Magician.”

Xia Zhi was startled, then grew angrier. “I’m going to find him and make him pay!”

“No, no, no,” Ye Qia grabbed him, massaged his red hand and said quietly, “Forget it, he was just playing a joke on you.”

“Whose side are you on?” Ye Qia’s attitude infuriated Xia Zhi. He roared, “Gentler, my skin hurts like hell!”

Ye Qia had to reason with Xia Zhi in every way before Xia Zhi finally gave up on the idea of revenge. Ye Qia brought clothes into the laundry room and after starting up the laundry machine, he called Magician. “Put away your trap. Xia Zhi won’t be going.”

The sound of laughter came through the line. Magician said regretfully, “He really isn’t going to show up? Are you preventing him from coming?”

“Putting glue inside of a masturbator—how old are you again?” Ye Qia said, unable to resist the urge to chuckle.

“Just a joke. Does your heart ache for him?”

Ye Qia’s smile disappeared and his tone grew serious. “Yes, it does.”

There was no answer on the other end for a long time, only the faint sound of breathing. Having known each other for so long, saying this much alone was enough.

“I get it,” Magician paused, then added, “Since you and Gourmand have already attained enlightenment, shouldn’t you bring your brother along as well?”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Set me up with someone.”