The Basketball Court

Xu Shuche had absolutely no desire to go to the basketball team.

In his eyes, the basketball team was a gathering place for straight men, filled with the smell of sweat and terrible jokes.

Just thinking about it made him uncomfortable.

He never expected that the day after he rejected Jian Yixun, Jian Yixun would personally show up at the dorm entrance, carrying breakfast and Aifulai cake, waiting for him.

Xu Shuche had been on his way to the cafeteria for breakfast and was startled.

“What are you doing here?”

“This is my dorm. I’ve temporarily lent it to you, senior.”

Jian Yixun pointed at the dorm room number.

“Can’t I come back and take a look?”

He had probably just finished his morning run.

A thin layer of sweat covered his nose and forehead.

His body carried a damp warmth.

In the late-October autumn of B City, he wore only a shirt, stretched tight across his frame, faintly revealing the muscles and solid build underneath.

Xu Shuche averted his gaze.

“No.”

“I knew you’d say no.”

Jian Yixun shoved the breakfast and cake into his hands.

“So I waited for you to come out.”

Xu Shuche pressed his lips together, wanting to refuse the cake forced on him.

But compared to Jian Yixun’s strength, the difference was obvious.

After struggling for a while, he still couldn’t win.

“Good senior, don’t be mad at me anymore.”

Jian Yixun tilted his head to look at him.

His originally cold and sharp eyes were now full of grievance and pitiful softness.

“I was wrong.”

His lips curved downward, his eyes damp as he looked at Xu Shuche.

For a brief moment, Xu Shuche almost imagined a tail wagging behind him.

“I told you, I’m not mad.”

Xu Shuche closed his eyes slightly in helplessness and sighed.

“You really are…”

“If you’re not mad, why are you ignoring me!”

Jian Yixun looked even more wronged.

“Senior, without you I can’t even eat properly or sleep well. I…”

His tone was overly dramatic.

Xu Shuche couldn’t help but laugh.

“What nonsense are you talking about? Annoying.”

“I’m telling the truth!”

Jian Yixun said solemnly.

“They say beauty is a feast for the eyes. When I’m with you, senior, I don’t even need to eat. Just looking at you makes me full. But when I’m alone, I can’t swallow food and can’t rest at ease.”

This straight guy was surprisingly good at flattering people.

His words were as sweet as if coated in honey.

Xu Shuche parted his lips, about to speak, when the door of the dorm across from them opened.

Qu Chao had been coming back to stay more frequently lately.

Several nights in a row, Xu Shuche had heard the sound of the opposite dorm door opening and closing.

Qu Chao narrowed his eyes at the two of them, tossed a bag of trash outside, and then slammed the door shut with a loud bang.

“Senior, won’t you really come check out our basketball team?”

Jian Yixun’s voice turned pitiful again.

“If you don’t come, I’ll really be heartbroken.”

Xu Shuche was soft-hearted rather than responsive to force.

If Jian Yixun had ordered him around, he definitely wouldn’t have agreed.

But now Jian Yixun was asking him, like a little dog trying hard to please its owner.

“I don’t know how to play basketball.”

Xu Shuche lowered his head.

“If I go, your teammates will laugh at me.”

“Laugh my ass. They dare?”

Jian Yixun clenched his fist and waved it in demonstration.

“If anyone dares to laugh at you, I’ll teach them a lesson one by one.”

B University’s basketball team hadn’t been thriving in previous years.

They couldn’t even recruit enough members.

But ever since Jian Yixun took over, it had gradually grown stronger, even able to compete back and forth with other universities in B City.

B University seemed to have picked up a treasure.

They allocated a high-quality basketball court to the team and regularly provided funding for equipment.

On the day Xu Shuche visited the basketball team, he woke up early.

He bought a whole case of water from the campus store and, stumbling and stopping every few steps, carried it to the training court.

Jian Yixun and the others had arrived half an hour earlier and were running laps to warm up.

By the time Xu Shuche dragged the case of water to the side of the court, he was completely exhausted.

He sat on a chair, trying to steady his breathing after the intense exertion.

With his back to the court, Jian Yixun spotted his silhouette from afar.

He gestured to the other players.

“My friend’s here. I’ll go get him. You guys keep running.”

“Brother Xun’s friend?”

A buzz-cut boy asked Lin Xiu.

“Didn’t Brother Xun say the basketball team was his spiritual home? This is the first time he’s brought a friend.”

Lin Xiu looked at Jian Yixun’s back and let out a cold laugh without speaking.

And he says he’s not bent.

Before, every single delicate-looking boy who dreamed of coming to Jian Yixun’s basketball team had been ruthlessly rejected.

But Xu Shuche, who hadn’t even wanted to come, had been invited repeatedly by Jian Yixun.

Lin Xiu had known Jian Yixun since undergrad.

He had never seen Young Master Jian lower himself to coax anyone.

Xu Shuche was probably the first person who made him lower his posture like this.

Jian Yixun quietly walked up behind Xu Shuche and suddenly spoke.

“Senior, why didn’t you tell me you were here!”

Xu Shuche had been looking at his phone and nearly jumped out of his skin, like a startled cat.

“What are you doing! You scared me!”

“That scared you?”

Jian Yixun grinned mischievously.

“Why are you sitting out here alone? Oh, what’s this?”

He flipped over the case on the ground, revealing the sports drink logo.

“Senior, that’s too polite. Why bring gifts just to hang out?”

“You shouldn’t visit empty-handed.”

Xu Shuche said softly.

“When you came to watch my competition, you brought cake too.”

Jian Yixun snorted, his voice tinged with dissatisfaction.

“But that was just for you. Now you’re buying drinks for the whole team. In the future, you don’t need to buy for them. Just buy for me.”

He bent down to lift the case.

The moment he moved it, he frowned.

“You carried this here yourself?”

Xu Shuche nodded, a hint of pride in his tone.

“Yes. I carried it alone. Impressive, right?”

“Let me see your hands.”

Jian Yixun stood up and grabbed his wrist without question.

“It’s so heavy. Why didn’t you call me to pick you up?”

The palms of Xu Shuche’s hands were rubbed red by the box.

Even after more than ten minutes, the marks hadn’t faded.

They looked especially glaring.

Jian Yixun clicked his tongue.

“Senior, your skin is so delicate. Why are you doing rough work like this?”

“Why can’t I carry it? It’s not like I’m missing arms or legs.”

Xu Shuche lifted his chin slightly.

“You’re scolding me again. I carried it myself and you won’t even praise me.”

“Didn’t I just praise you?”

Jian Yixun gently rubbed his palms, clearly concerned.

“Next time you carry something like this, call me. You can barely carry your own books.”

Xu Shuche snorted softly and slipped his hands back into his pockets, following him into the court.

“Get over here.”

Jian Yixun placed the drinks on the ground and called out to the team.

“These are from Senior Xu. You better feel lucky. Without me, you wouldn’t even get them.”

The players, having just finished warming up, rushed over to grab drinks.

“Thank you, Senior!”

“Senior Xu is so kind!”

It was the first time Xu Shuche had been thanked like that.

His face grew warm.

“It’s just water. If you like it, I can buy more next time.”

Jian Yixun nudged his waist with his elbow.

“Not allowed.”

“Not allowed what?”

Xu Shuche turned to look at him.

“Not allowed to buy for them again.”

Jian Yixun bared his teeth, trying to look fierce.

“Only allowed to buy for me. Got it?”

Xu Shuche couldn’t understand the inexplicable possessiveness behind his words.

He seriously explained.

“They’re your teammates. Buying for them is the same as buying for you.”

“That’s different, senior.”

Jian Yixun argued stubbornly.

“Buying for everyone and buying only for me aren’t the same.”

As the two of them whispered to each other, a teammate suddenly spoke up.

“Come to think of it, this is the first time Brother Xun has brought someone to the basketball court.”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s practically a medical miracle!”

Another teammate named Chen Xiang chimed in.

“Didn’t Brother Xun always say the training court wasn’t somewhere just anyone could come? That we weren’t close enough to bring friends to disrupt practice? He rejected so many people with those excuses. Senior seems to be the first friend he’s brought here.”

Jian Yixun’s past was laid bare.

He threw the empty water bottle at Chen Xiang.

“Get lost and practice. Even water can’t shut your mouth.”

The teammates dispersed laughing.

Lin Xiu shot Jian Yixun a meaningful look.

“You, I won’t say much. Just remember to treat me to a meal.”

“Treat you to a meal?”

Jian Yixun raised a brow.

“Why?”

“Didn’t someone once tell me he was the least likely person in the world to bend? And that if he did, he’d treat me to a meal?”

Lin Xiu glanced at Xu Shuche, who was standing not far away replying to messages.

“You even wrapped his hands with your freshly washed towel. He carried that water alone and you were heartbroken, weren’t you?”

“What nonsense.”

Jian Yixun sneered.

“Senior’s straight too. We’re just normal friends. I really don’t understand the filthy thoughts in your head.”

He tossed the basketball to Lin Xiu.

“You lead practice. I’ll teach senior how to play.”

Xu Shuche had originally planned to just drop off the water and leave.

He never expected Jian Yixun to insist on teaching him basketball.

He was pushed to the smaller adjacent court.

“You’re already here. How can you not try?”

Xu Shuche flushed red.

“But I don’t know how.”

“No one’s born knowing how to play.”

Jian Yixun stuffed a basketball into his hands.

“After today, you will.”

Xu Shuche was about to protest again when a burning body suddenly pressed against his back.

Jian Yixun wrapped his arms around him from behind, gripping his arm to guide him into a standard shooting posture.

“Why are you hugging me!”

Xu Shuche’s eyes widened.

Instinctively, he tried to break free.

Jian Yixun leaned close to his ear, not feeling anything wrong with what he was doing.

“What’s wrong, senior? I’m correcting your form. Why are you reacting so strongly?”

“I…”

The hand gripping him was hot and firm.

It felt as if it could burn him at any moment.

Yet strangely, it also brought a sense of security.

“Jian Yixun, be gentler.”

Xu Shuche swallowed the words telling him to let go.

His voice unconsciously softened.

“You’re hurting me.”