103 – Get over here. Didn’t you want me to deal with you?
Fake Slackers
Translator: Jury
Editor: NomNom
First Published on Chaleuria
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103 – Get over here. Didn’t you want me to deal with you?
“You need dealing with?”
“That’ll depend on how you want to deal with me. For instance, if it’s fighting on the bed…”
Xie Yu didn’t retract his hand, leaving it trapped under He Zhao’s.
Then he lowered his eyes and leaned down without a second word. Different from the furtive kiss earlier that day on the courtyard under everyone’s eyes, this kiss was harsh without any attempt to hide it.
All remaining words were extinguished between their interlocking lips and teeth.
Xie Yu opened his mouth a little, revealing a row of small teeth. As if in revenge, he bit the corner of He Zhao’s mouth.
He Zhao had been teased to the point of losing his rationality. He moved his hands upward along the waist of the person in his arms, his hand half-hidden by the hem of Xie Yu’s vest. At the bite, he couldn’t hold back a hiss.
Outside, in the corridor, people were walking to and fro.
Someone seemed to have lost something. There was a commotion.
“Is it over there?”
“I didn’t see it. Look over there again. Quick, before the lights go out.”
“……”
The footsteps continued intermittently.
Separated from it by the door, Xie Yu couldn’t help his breathing growing shallower, all the nerves in his body dialed up to their highest sensitivity. He Zhao held onto his waist and moved upward and Xie Yu felt his temperature rise where the hands touched.
“You’re hard.”
Xie Yu half-opened his eyes. Seeing that he had bitten a suggestive mark on the corner of He Zhao’s mouth, he said hoarsely, “You’re not much better off.”
Last time hadn’t gone so well.
It had been both of their first times. He Zhao hadn’t known how to treat his partner and he hadn’t been completely relaxed, either.
But they were both at the age where their blood ran hot. Often they couldn’t control themselves and as they messed around, sparks turned into fire.
He Zhao was still worried. He had filled in the gaps in his knowledge by looking online, but putting it into practice was another matter. “Did it really hurt?”
Ever since he was young, Xie Yu did not let out a frown even when he got injured. He had a high pain tolerance and previously when he had said it hurt, it was mostly because he hadn’t slept well all night and was more frustrated than anything. “It wasn’t so bad.”
“Actually, I hurt too.”
He Zhao coughed awkwardly and said, “You were too tight.”
By the time He Zhao had finished speaking, Xie Yu had taken off his shirt. His hand rested at He Zhao’s waist and he reached for his waistband.
Xie Yu’s upper body was bare and beneath his narrow, exquisite collarbones the V-line of his pelvis disappearing into his waistband. As Xie Yu moved, the red string on his wrist slid downward a little, the red bean coming to rest on the jut of his wristbone.
It was nearly summer, but the nights had still been on the cooler side.
Xie Yu had intended to undo He Zhao’s waistband, but now his hands wandered inappropriately through the material, touching a certain place. He raised his eyes and said, “Get over here. Didn’t you want me to deal with you?”
He Zhao supported himself against the side of the bed and felt his throat grow tight.
Xie Yu caught him off guard by taking initiative and all his self-control crumbled away.
…One day he would die at this person’s hands.
Lights out.
The whole building went dark and the only remaining light came from the streetlamps outside.
Xie Yu was held down under He Zhao, one arm braced on the edge of the bed. Unwilling to show weakness, he levered himself half up to kiss him.
“Zhao-ge.”
The tail end of his voice went a little hoarse. He called again, “Ge.”
Xie Yu had already gotten He Zhao’s jeans mostly undone and they hung loosely at his waist.
He let go of Xie Yu’s chin and leaned down, following the line of his waist downward.
Xie Yu gave a muffled groan and was rendered completely speechless.
Xie Yu rarely submitted. Even in bed, even being held down and touched, he was very stubborn. He Zhao’s hand had been lightly holding the back of his neck, but now he gasped and moved it upwards several inches, landing in Xie Yu’s hair.
It was soft.
And there was also the low moan, stifled, bitten back and held down, that belonged to him.
Eventually, in the pitch darkness before his eyes.
Xie Yu heard He Zhao repeat his name several times, very close by, right next to his ear. The voice mingled with the overwhelming pleasure.
……
Xie Yu, who had recovered his ‘top student’ status less than 24 hours ago, walked into class the next day and immediately lay down on his desk to catch up on sleep.
He didn’t pay attention to class all morning.
He sat in the last row, head pillowed in the crook of his elbow, looking very languid. His hair fell over his face, which was only half-visible. His features were chilly and even asleep he gave off an aura that made people afraid to get close to him.
The stack of textbooks on his desk seemed to be brand new and showed no signs of having been used. Anyone who looked at him would not have associated him with the top scorer in the 4-school combined exams.
If not for the grade sheet from the combined exams, which had been put up on the noticeboard, the teachers and students who looked at the familiar back of his head might have thought that everything that happened yesterday had been a dream.
Every class period, after the dismissal bell rang, there would be students from other classes outside the window who snuck over for a look.
Before, they had come to see the school tyrants, but now they had another thought: This was a walking 744 points. 744 points they wouldn’t see even in their dreams.
He Zhao reflected on himself, wondering if he had lost control and been too rough again last night. But he concluded he had not. Last night, this guy had clearly been overcome and even asked him to go faster. “Does it still hurt?”
“Tired.”
“Then how were your ge’s skills? I think your last assessment was not very objective.”
Xie Yu did not want to bother with him. “Can you get lost?”
He Zhao now understood that Xie Yu was the sort who would pretend he didn’t know you after getting out of bed.
He reached out and ruffled his deskmate’s hair. “All right, sleep then.”
Classroom 2.3 was relatively quiet.
After midterm grades had been released, nearly every class period was spent going over the exam papers, and after going through the papers, they did corrections for the questions they got wrong.
When the homework deadline approached, Xu Qingqing looked up from her math paper and counted the English homework next to her. She found that two people had not turned it in and called across the walkway between desks, “Zhao-ge, where’s your homework?”
He Zhao put a finger to his lips, indicating to her to be quieter, then answered honestly. “I didn’t do it.”
Xu Qingqing walked over carrying the stack of homework. She glanced at the sleeping first-place, then at the second-place watching his deskmate sleep. She really did not understand the world they lived in.
“Can I ask why you didn’t do it? If the teacher asks later, I won’t know what to say.”
“About that,” He Zhao said, “You can tell her the homework she set was too easy.”
Xu Qingqing: “……”
When Xu Qingqing turned in the English homework, her legs were shaking. She had never thought that she would say the words, ‘Your homework was too easy,’ to a teacher while she was alive.
Clearly, in the ten years or so the English teacher had been teaching, she hadn’t encountered such an issue before either.
The English teacher was silent for a moment, then she put her mug of tea down and said, “All right, I understand. Leave the papers here.”
“The homework was too easy?”
“Mr. Tang, what on earth is going on with these two from your class?”
Since the day grades were released, the Year 2 group of teachers had not had a moment of calm while they were in the office.
When Dean Jiang had gotten the news, he had put his pants on backwards and ran over from the faculty dormitory. “What? How many points?”
Not only Dean Jiang but the rest of Erzhong’s school administration came one after the other to look at the papers. The principal had stared at the papers for a long time, speechless, and finally forced out the words, “Good… good job! I’m proud that they are students of Erzhong! Put this in the school history! Write that Erzhong’s students worked a miracle, went against the odds, and beat all the four schools!”
Aside from being curious, the other homeroom teachers also couldn’t hide their envy. One class had produced two students who might score first place in the A City college exams…
“They… have special circumstances.”
Tang Sen didn’t know the details, either. He repeated, “Special circumstances.”
Several teachers were currently discussing it in the faculty office when someone pushed open the door. The teacher currently getting water from the cooler called out in surprise, “Miss Xu?”
Xu Xia stood in the office doorway, a document in hand. Her expression was frozen. “I’m… here to look for Miss Wang. I have a document for her.”
“Miss Wang isn’t here. You can put it on her desk.”
Xu Xia made a soft noise of assent.
She had worked in this office before.
Although it had not been for very long, she was still familiar with the office layout and decor.
She looked around and eventually, as if possessed, her gaze landed on the desk she had occupied. Tang Sen was grading homework and felt something. He looked up and met Xu Xia’s eyes.
Tang Sen wasn’t aware of all this. He smiled at her and considered that a greeting.
Xu Xia smiled too, but her smile was a little forced. “Mr. Tang, I heard that your class produced two…”
Tang Sen had been deluged by the topic of grades for two days. He had long overcome his original shock and now just wanted this matter to blow over as quickly as possible so it wouldn’t disrupt the two kids’ everyday lives. “Ah, no, no. It’s not worth mentioning.”
“……”
Xu Xia would be lying if she said her feelings weren’t complicated. In that complexity, what remained was mostly regret and dissatisfaction. The two high scores from Class 3 were not only so shocking it could make one’s glasses fall off, all the subject teachers who taught Class 3 also shared in the glory.
If she… if she was still teaching this class.
That was what she thought, with some anger.
But she wasn’t sure who she was angry at, either.
Now she suddenly remembered various little details from before. From the first time she saw them at the start of school to the day of the monthly exams when He Zhao had stood in the stairwell and asked her, Just because I get bad grades?
Xu Xia didn’t dare keep thinking along those lines. Her face was growing warm.
If she kept thinking, she wouldn’t be able to keep up an appearance of calm.
She didn’t stay any longer. She placed the document on Miss Wang’s desk, turned, and left.
“Xu Xia’s face… you didn’t see it. It was so satisfying.”
Wan Da had slipped back from the faculty office and immediately caught hold of Liu Cunhao. One of them played Old Tang, the other Xu Xia. They took dramatic footsteps and yelled, “Ah, I heard your class—”
Liu Cunhao waved a hand calmly. “It’s not worth mentioning.”
Class 3 was in an uproar.
Xie Yu shifted positions but still couldn’t sleep for the noise. He sat up, but he couldn’t get angry at Wan Da and the others when they had expressions of such silly happiness. He steadied himself and asked, “What are you doing?”
Seeing he was awake, Wan Da was about to act it out again. Share the joy.
But when he walked over he felt that something was amiss.
Xie Yu had not done up his collar properly and he had been lying down, so after he got up, his collar had fallen open. Wan Da wondered what his Yu-ge had been up to last night. Such a rich night life. Now he was so tired he didn’t seem to have any bones in his body.
As Wan Da kept thinking, he glimpsed a very obvious red mark under Xie Yu’s collarbone.
But he only glimpsed it for a moment.
“Yu-ge, didn’t you close your dorm window properly?”
Xie Yu tugged his open collar closed. “Window?”
Wan Da remembered last time and thought Xie Yu probably had type O blood and attracted a lot of bugs and mosquitoes. He said, “It’s nearly summer. Check your window screen.”