A Blur of Faces in Amber Light

The “National Server Bro” exploded.

Xu Yi was equally caught off guard.

Where the hell had Lu Xingyan picked up that whole “green tea little brother” routine?

He saw the guy’s mic icon flicker. Instinctively, he killed his own earpiece before his brain caught up—and made damn sure to block the guy’s alt account on his phone for good measure. These self-styled “national server” types screamed their lungs out when they flamed. Total ear pollution.

Lu Xingyan had apparently muted him too. He went about his business, calmly gutting the guy’s jungle as if nothing had happened.

National Server Bro had already been on tilt. Now his mental was completely shattered. He just stood in the fountain, keyboard on fire, hammering out a wall of rage text.

The target of all that fury, meanwhile, took a lazy stroll through the rift with Xu Yi like they were on a canyon date. Took the Elder Dragon.

Then casually grabbed a pentakill. Without their jungler.

“An ally has disconnected!”

The system notification flashed across the top of the screen.

Xu Yi bit back a laugh. Watching someone put National Server Bro in his place—that was deeply satisfying.

The game ended in an unsurprising victory.

The biggest possible slap in the face to the guy.

Xu Yi was feeling pretty pleased with himself, already queuing up for the next match, when Lu Xingyan’s mic crackled open.

“Xiao Yi, can you… not play with people like that?”

“If you want to climb, just call me anytime. I won’t cling to you.”

Xu Yi’s hand froze mid-click. A wave of guilt washed over him, unbidden.

Lu Xingyan sounded so earnest, so wounded—like a wronged little wife—that Xu Yi actually felt bad about using him.

The pressure was immense.

But compared to all those insufferable National Server Bros from before…

Playing with Lu Xingyan was just objectively smoother. The atmosphere. The tempo.

And his personality—it was on a completely different plane of existence. Practically a dimensionality strike.

Xu Yi could say without hesitation: of all the big-shot players he’d encountered since picking up this game, Lu Xingyan had the best personality by a mile.

With National Server Bro gone, they naturally unmuted and queued up for duos again.

From the ambient noise, Xu Yi figured Lu Xingyan was playing from his dorm now. He’d gotten his internet set up, so probably no more dedicated trips to the net cafe.

That was for the best. No more chance run-ins there.

Maybe they could actually sustain this gaming-buddy dynamic. That would be nice.

And now that he had a point of comparison, he noticed how much gentler Lu Xingyan sounded talking to Xiao Yi compared to real life. You could even say the guy was voice-training pretty damn hard.

The thought almost made Xu Yi laugh out loud.

“What are you so happy about?” Lu Xingyan’s voice was magnetic, pressed right up against the headset, sending a pleasant shiver tingling all the way down Xu Yi’s spine.

Xu Yi pressed his lips together. Pure fishing instinct took over, the words escaping before he could stop them. “Just thinking… playing with you makes me really happy.”

“…”

The second it was out, Xu Yi regretted it.

You couldn’t say stuff like that to a casual gaming buddy.

But Lu Xingyan didn’t flirt back the way he used to. His tone turned unexpectedly serious. “Then… can you promise not to suddenly go dark on me again?”

Xu Yi fell silent. This kind of direct, earnest talk from Lu Xingyan was far harder to handle than any sweet nothing. It hit deeper.

He was self-aware enough to know he had an avoidant streak. Whenever a relationship or conversation edged toward anything slightly formal, he instinctively glossed over it and ran.

Xu Yi muted his mic and let out a slow breath.

It seemed he genuinely didn’t know how to deal with someone like Lu Xingyan.

Fortunately, Lu Xingyan shifted the topic smoothly, steering the conversation back to the game with ease.

Xu Yi relaxed again.

They climbed so efficiently that they played straight through until two in the morning.

They only stopped because Li Yuan was heading to bed. Lu Xingyan finally said goodnight to Xu Yi.

Yawning, Xu Yi gathered the things he’d need to meet up tomorrow, took a quick shower, and burrowed into his soft bed.

It had been ages since he’d posted a photo to keep up appearances. After all the purging, his friend list was down to just that one “little brother.”

Xu Yi had zero motivation for a photoshoot right now.

He picked up his phone, framed a shot half-heartedly, then gave up.

Since their meeting time was set for the evening, sleeping until the afternoon was completely fine.

He didn’t set an alarm. With the AC humming softly, he burrowed under the covers and let himself drift off without a care.

After a week of military training with barely enough sleep, he woke briefly around noon, then tumbled right back into unconsciousness until two in the afternoon.

When Xu Yi opened his eyes again, muted orange light was already slanting through the curtains, painting the bed in amber hues.

Ah. Had he slept almost until evening?

He sat up slowly. The excessive sleep had left him feeling groggy and thick-headed.

He reached for his phone. Messages lit up the screen. A vague sense of having forgotten something nagged at him…

Then he saw the two little dots glowing beside Lu Xingyan’s avatar. His brain jolted awake.

1: “Heading out now.”

1: “I’m here.”

He’d completely slept through it. Xu Yi practically launched himself out of bed. At least he’d prepped everything last night—he just needed a quick wash, a change of clothes, and to slap on a smoky eye so heavy it would make his actual features completely unrecognizable.

An hour later, he was finally out the door.

Thank god his place wasn’t far from the bar. Five minutes by taxi, max.

Just as he was stepping out, something flashed through his mind. He spun around and ran back inside.

From his vanity drawer, he selected a heavy, lingering perfume and dabbed it on his wrists, behind his ears—all the pulse points.

He’d nearly forgotten. He used the exact same shampoo and body wash at home and in the dorm. If anyone picked up on that scent… it would be game over.

It was only once he was in the back of the taxi that he had a moment to type out a quick “Almost there” to Lu Xingyan.

The guy had already been waiting an hour… He wouldn’t have left, would he?

Xu Yi sighed.

Then all that effort getting ready—the whole hour—would’ve been for nothing. Smoky eye was a nightmare to remove. And the long, straight black wig wasn’t exactly light on the head either.

But the reply came almost instantly.

**1:** “Okay. I’m at A7.”

Xu Yi walked a little faster after getting out of the car. He wasn’t exactly adept at walking in heels—mostly he just wore them for photos—and he nearly wiped out several times.

The bar had been his pick, though. He’d been here before and knew exactly where A7 was.

The moment he stepped inside, he spotted Lu Xingyan’s silhouette, even through the dim, hazy atmosphere of the room.

Xu Yi’s nerves suddenly kicked in.

He slowed his pace, his posture straightening almost unconsciously, chest lifting slightly.

As he drew closer, he registered that Lu Xingyan was dressed completely differently from usual.

The collar of his shirt was open just enough to reveal a platinum chain, the metal glinting faintly in the low light. Over it, a black casual blazer gave him a distinctly aristocratic air—a touch of the young master.

A far cry from his usual sports jerseys. This version of him was undeniably striking.

Especially with that sapphire stud fastened to the cartilage of his ear.

Xu Yi hadn’t even known Lu Xingyan had a piercing. Half-hidden, half-revealed beneath the strands of hair, it was somehow all the more eye-catching.

Xu Yi suddenly understood why Lu Xingyan had insisted on meeting Xiao Yi in person.

He was clearly confident—very confident—in his looks.

Xu Yi wasn’t about to be outdone. Though he’d deliberately gone for the kind of look straight men supposedly hated, he was still capable of turning heads at first glance.

He slid into the seat opposite Lu Xingyan and gave a light toss of the long wig behind his ear. “Starfall?”

“That’s me.” Lu Xingyan smiled. Elegant. Restrained.

So pretentious.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.” As Xu Yi spoke, the server appeared with the drink menu.

He picked something low in alcohol content at random and turned his attention back to Lu Xingyan.

“It wasn’t long.”

Lu Xingyan held his gaze as he spoke, his focus unnervingly intent.

How had Xu Yi never noticed before? The slight upward tilt at the corners of Lu Xingyan’s eyes—those peach-blossom eyes that seemed effortlessly, almost unfairly amorous.

When they’d met as roommates, Lu Xingyan had rarely, if ever, looked at him like this.

The sensation was far too strange.

“What are you staring at?” Xu Yi couldn’t quite hold up under that gaze.

“Just… exactly how I imagined.” Lu Xingyan’s eyes drifted downward, almost involuntarily, toward Xiao Yi’s legs—wrapped in those fishnet stockings.

The skirt barely reached mid-thigh. Maybe a little higher.

Positioned almost perfectly to reveal the spot where Xiao Yi’s beauty mark was.

But the light was too dim. Before Lu Xingyan could make it out clearly, Xiao Yi abruptly laid a black leather clutch across his lap.

“Bit forward, don’t you think? We just met.”

Lu Xingyan lifted his eyes. Xiao Yi didn’t look genuinely offended—if anything, there was a teasing edge to the expression.

The smoky makeup traced the elegant shape of those eyes, lending them a touch of enigmatic allure.

The face was small, too.

Lu Xingyan’s fingers curled inward unconsciously.

In the photos, Xiao Yi’s style had skewed innocent, and his build had seemed slightly softer, with a bit more flesh.

But in person… it matched the dream from that day instead.

Slender, tall—strikingly similar to his roommate’s silhouette.

Lu Xingyan’s vision swam. For a disorienting moment, Xiao Yi’s face blurred and overlapped with his roommate’s.