Chapter Text
When the next morning arrived, Guo Chengyu woke up first. He moved extra carefully so as not to wake Jiang Xiao Shuai, who was sleeping peacefully in his arms, slipped out of bed, washed his face, and prepared to make breakfast. By the time Jiang Xiao Shuai woke up, Guo Chengyu had already finished preparing breakfast in the kitchen. Seeing Jiang Xiao Shuai awake, Guo Chengyu said:
"Come sit down. I made what I could."
"Ge, you can even cook things like this?"
Jiang Xiao Shuai asked in surprise as he sat down in front of Guo Chengyu. He took a pancake from the plate, tasted it, and said:
"It's good, Ge."
"Come, let's eat together then."
The two of them sat across from each other, focusing entirely on eating their breakfast. Neither of them uttered a word about what happened last night, and no one brought it up. However, the silence was shattered by Jiang Xiao Shuai's phone resting on the table. Guo Chengyu stopped eating mid-bite and looked at Jiang Xiao Shuai. Jiang Xiao Shuai glanced at the caller and answered immediately.
"Hello, WeiWei. What's wrong?"
"Shuai Ge, I'm already downstairs. Come on down!"
"Umm... I'm only going for the evening shift today."
"Oh, oh... that's perfect! I didn't feel like going to school either. In that case, I'll come upstairs, okay?"
Before Jiang Xiao Shuai could say anything else, Wu Suowei hung up the phone. Jiang Xiao Shuai looked at the man in front of him with an apologetic expression.
"Ge..."
"Hmm..."
Guo Chengyu had actually been listening intently even though the call had nothing to do with him, but the moment Jiang Xiao Shuai hung up, he pretended not to care. When Jiang Xiao Shuai called out to him, he answered while acting completely indifferent. Jiang Xiao Shuai said:
"My friend... he tends to talk a lot of absolute nonsense. Please bear with him, Ge."
"Umm, okay."
When Wu Suowei walked into the apartment, he tossed his keys onto the table and sprawled out on the sofa as if he were in his own home. He called out to Jiang Xiao Shuai inside:
"Shuai GeGe, please bring me a glass of water.
"Hearing Wu Suowei's voice, Guo Chengyu turned to look at Jiang Xiao Shuai in front of him. Seeing how the other boy stood right up and fetched the water as if he were entirely used to doing so, Guo Chengyu couldn't help but ask:
"Was the door not locked? How did he just walk in?"
"Ah, that's because he has a spare key."
Jiang Xiao Shuai fetched the water and walked back out, completely oblivious to the expression left on the man's face behind him. He sat down next to Suowei and handed him the glass.
"WeiWei, have you eaten breakfast yet? Do you want something to eat?"
"No, I haven't eaten yet. Do you have anything here, Ge?"
As Wu Suowei spoke and headed toward the kitchen, he ran right into Guo Chengyu, who was walking out from there. The two sized each other up intently. Because Wu Suowei recognized the man, he turned to Jiang Xiao Shuai and couldn't resist making a snide remark:
"Shuai Ge, you didn't even tell me you had a guest over at the apartment. If I had known there was a guest here, I would have bought some snacks."
"WeiWei...."
Knowing exactly how Wu Suowei was, Jiang Xiao Shuai gave him a firm shake of his head. He pulled Wu Suowei behind him, stepping directly in between Guo Chengyu and Wu Suowei to introduce them:
"Ge, this is my friend, Wu Suowei. WeiWei, this is my friend, Guo Chengyu."
"I am Guo Chengyu."
Guo Chengyu extended his hand to offer a greeting, but the other boy childishly refused to glance at the hand even once.
"Ohhh...."
"WeiWei!"
"I have some business to take care of, so I'll take my leave now. I'll text you later."
"Alright, take care on your way back, Ge."
Jiang Xiao Shuai offered an apologetic goodbye to Guo Chengyu and watched him walk out the door. However, what neither he nor Wu Suowei noticed was that Guo Chengyu had taken the spare apartment key that Wu Suowei had tossed onto the table right along with him.
______________
After the events of that morning, they all easily slipped back into their regular routines. Guo Chengyu found himself buried so deeply under mountains of paperwork and back-to-back meetings that he could barely even lift his head. On the other side, Jiang Xiao Shuai spent the entire morning caught up entirely with Wu Suowei, struggling through their school material together. It was only after having lunch that the two of them finally left for school. Even then, it took them a substantial amount of time just to get there, all because Wu Suowei had lost his key and kept looking for it. In the end, it was only when Xiao Shuai firmly told him to calm down and promised to get him a brand-new replacement key that he finally quieted down, allowing them to head to school.
The moment Jiang Xiao Shuai's classes dismissed, he had a private tutoring session in the evening. After teaching his class, he returned straight home. However, the exact moment he stepped inside the apartment, Xiao Shuai's footsteps came to an abrupt halt. The books, papers, stray clothes, and snack wrappers he had left scattered all over the place during the day were completely gone; the entire apartment was immaculately clean. Frantic with worry, Jiang Xiao Shuai quickly speed-dialed Weiwei, who had mentioned losing his key earlier that afternoon. The call was just starting to ring when a hand suddenly reached out from behind and snatched his phone away. Oblivious to what was happening, Xiao Shuai spun around, fully intending to scream, but the other party turned out to be someone he was already all too familiar with.
"Ge... Ge... how on earth did you...?"
The residual trauma Jiang Xiao Shuai had endured the night before, coupled with being ambushed just now, made him snap with pure frustration. Hot tears spilled down his cheeks. Driven by the raw resentment inside his chest, he raised his small fists and began relentlessly pounding against Chengyu's chest, sobbing out his anger.
"Ge, you are terrifying me to death! Why did you come in without my permission?! Get out... get the hell out right now!"
Guo Chengyu merely stood there and took it, completely yielding to the furious Omega in front of him. Ever since he first met Jiang Xiao Shuai, he had never seen him act like this before. Only when Xiao Shuai's strength finally waned and he gave up did Chengyu wrap his strong, heavy arms around the boy, locking him firmly back into a tight embrace against his chest.
"Hey, calm down. I just wanted to surprise you."
Xiao Shuai tried his best to push away from Guo Chengyu's embrace as he wiped his tears.
"Ge, how did you get inside? I locked the door securely when I left."
"Oh, that? I just took the key from someone this afternoon."
"What...?"
Jiang Xiao Shuai looked up at the man in front of him in pure shock. Noticing Jiang Xiao Shuai's expression, Guo Chengyu said:
"Hey, hey, why are you looking at me with that kind of gaze? I'm honestly a good guy."
"Liar."
"Me? I'm a liar? Tell me more."
Guo Chengyu started tickling the person in his arms while questioning him. The other party laughed uncontrollably while trying his best to break free. Jiang Xiao Shuai laughed so hard that his stomach started to hurt, crying out:
"Ge, stop, stop it! I admit I was wrong!"
"Are you sure?"
"Hmm."
While the two of them were playfully teasing each other, they ended up tumbling onto the sofa, locked tightly in each other's embrace as their eyes suddenly met. Jiang Xiao Shuai's face was flushed a deep red from laughing so much, and it burned from their extreme physical proximity. Jiang Xiao Shuai lightly tried to push Guo Chengyu off from on top of him.
"Ge, let... let go of me for a moment."
Jiang Xiao Shuai whispered softly, not daring to look directly into Guo Chengyu's eyes. Guo Chengyu, however, completely ignored Jiang Xiao Shuai's words. He locked his arm even more tightly around Xiao Shuai’s waist, pulled him closer to close the remaining distance between them, and began gently kissing his lips.
Under Guo Chengyu's tender kisses, Jiang Xiao Shuai yielded as their pheromones flooded the room. Chengyu scooped him off the sofa and gently laid him onto the bed. Carefully avoiding his injuries, he slid his clothes away. Clutching his shoulders, Xiao Shuai whimpered:
"Ge... be gentle..."
"I know... I won't hurt you."
With a soft vow, Chengyu showered him with gentle kisses as they deeply fused into one another. This time, their intimacy held no brutality, ending warmly with pure protective tenderness.