Chapter 7: Homophobic Straight Men

The next day was the weekend, and Ye Yao woke up with a planned invitation to Lu Xun.

Lu Xun readily agreed, and Ye Yao and I went out on the road to map out the day's itinerary as we walked.

"Watch a movie, eat some more, and buy some thicker clothes when the cold air comes in a few days. It's time to update our clothes, so see what you like then and I'll let you have it." Lu Xun said.

A few girls brushed past the two of them, and after a few steps probably thinking they couldn't hear them, started talking excitedly.

"Do you hear me, do you hear me, I'm depending on you, so spoiled ahhhhhh!"

"Oooh, full of old married feeling, I can't believe this is the way they get along in private, I'm knocked up!"

"It's true that the same models were bought together on purpose, so true, they're really real oooooooooh!"

Ye Yao :"......" that I faintly heard

Faintly embarrassed.

I wonder how Lu Xun feels when he hears that their friendship is being treated like love.

Ye Yao was suddenly wrapped in a hug and Lu Xun came up to whisper in his ear.

"You heard it, we have quite a lot of cp fans." Lu Xun, the straight man, said, with a bad smile on the corner of his mouth, "Not bad, the wise eye knows true gold, we are so true, the public's eye really does stand the test."

Ye Yao :"...... What are you talking about, you know what a cp fan is?"

"Of course I know." Lu Xun thought of the post he had read earlier and raised an eyebrow, "Look you don't surf the internet and you haven't heard of such a hot cp, obviously the forums are full of them. cp fans are people who think we are a pair and like to see us together, get it Ye students ?"

The girls' discussion was completely inaudible, but the cheerful scent they left behind still seemed to float in the air.

The word "together" is uttered by Lu Xun in a frank and natural tone, as if he doesn't see anything wrong with it at all.

Ye Yao looked at Lu Xun's dark eyes and suddenly opened his mouth: "Actually, this kind of post ...... is not good for you. Although you keep emphasizing that you don't like men, but people are so kowtowing around, the atmosphere is to the point where it is inevitable that some people will subconsciously think you like men, so they will come over and pester you again."

Ye Yao paused for a moment and saw Lu Xun furrow his gallant brows, his expression seemingly displeased, so he continued softly, "I'll go and see if they have a group or something like that then, and if they do, tell the admins to ...... stop talking about us like that on the public forum us anymore."

Ye Yao looks at Lu Xun's unruly brow.

For personal reasons, he was happy to see people talking about him and Lu Xun like that. But in reality, it's not good for Lu Xun, a homophobe.

Lu Xun didn't answer right away, he put his arm around Ye Yao's shoulder: "How do you feel?"

Ye Yao stared, "I don't feel anything."

"That's the end of it." Lu Xun said in a relaxed tone, smoothing Ye Yao's hair and saying lazily, "A great man once said, "The people like it, you don't like it, so who are you? You mustn't discourage the masses, you know, Comrade Ye?"

The corner of Ye Yao's mouth quirked up for a moment, then compacted again, slapping Lu Xun's disruptive hand away with a grimace.

Nonsense, that's not how the phrase was used!

*

The central area has busy streets and a wide range of entertainment venues.

From upmarket luxury shops to affordable fast-moving shops that cater to all levels of consumer desire.

They walked past the window of a well-known luxury clothing shop, which was brightly lit, illuminating the shop's logo with a glittering light.

Ye Yao remembers this brand. When he was in high school, Lu Xun used to have this logo on many of his clothes, so he must have liked this brand a lot. But later on, as their relationship became better and better, Lu Xun's style of dressing became more and more affordable, and there was no sign of the luxury brand anymore.

As far as he knew, Lu Xun's family could buy ten pieces in one go without any pain, just like using up a dollar.

Ye Yao stops in front of the window and looks at Lu Xun: "Do you want to buy, I can show you."

Lu Xun seemed to have long thought about how to answer this question, he glanced at the shop with a disgusted expression and answered without hesitation, "A handsome man like me, who looks good even in a 20-cent sack, has to rely on a brand name to improve his handsomeness value?"

Lu Xun blew on his hair in the window that reflected his reflection, turned Ye Yao's face to him and raised his eyebrows: "Handsome or not, have you charmed Ye Yao?"

Ye Yao :"......"

Ye Yao doesn't give Lu Xun a chance to be flirty anymore and drags him towards the next normal priced clothing shop.

*

With the clothes they've been looking for, Ye Yao and Lu Xun walk to the fitting room.

The fitting rooms here are large, separate for men and women, and inside each large fitting room, there are many smaller fitting compartments.

The men's and women's fitting rooms are on the left and right, with the outermost doorway separated by a thin curtain. Because of the poor sound insulation, they could still faintly hear the sounds inside the women's fitting room when they were at the door of the men's fitting room.

"Ting Ting, are you ready? Come in and help me with my dress, it's so hard to put on."

"Coming! What cubicle are you in?"

Ye Yao, unconcerned, walked into the men's fitting room and went into a cubicle with Lu Xun.

It was only after Ye Yao had finished changing and waited outside for a while that he realised something was wrong.

Lu Xun is not out yet.

Lu Xun Does it take so long to change?

As he wondered, Lu Xun's voice came from the cubicle in front of him.

"Ye Yao, are you dressed?"

Ye Yao: "......?"

Oh no, Lu Xun, this guy is definitely up to something bad again!

Without waiting for Ye Yao to say anything, Lu Xun spoke up for the second time, with a smile in his voice: "Come and help me with this, it's so hard to put on, I can't fit in it alone."

Ye Yao walked up to the door of that cubicle and said coolly, "If it's hard to wear it, don't wear it Lu Xun, your old clothes are still intact and you can still wear them."

"...... grass." Lu Xun smiled and poked his head out, grabbing Ye Yao's wrist with a big hand, "Come in you."

Ye Yao is violently pulled into the cubicle, the door is slammed shut again by Lu Xun, who pushes him against the wall with one hand on the side of Ye Yao's head.

Trapped Ye Yao directly in front of himself.

Lu Xun smiles and comes closer, probably because he is in a public place, and lowers his voice.

"Everyone else's best friends help each other get dressed, and you're letting me wear old clothes from years ago, how heartless Ye Yao."

Lu Xun speaks slowly, while slowly moving closer, until their faces are very close together and Lu Xun stops.

They were so close that Ye Yao could see Lu Xun's lips with the slightest lift of his eyes.

Ye Yao has seen male leads walloping female leads on TV before, but never thought that he would one day be walloped.

Or being walloped by the straight guy you have a crush on.

Lu Xun's lips are thin, with a flat line that easily gives off an air of desperation. It is only when faced with him, these lips are always smiling, and the aura of desperation is completely dissipated.

If this were a TV show, the hero and heroine would be kissing by now.

Ye Yao averted his eyes, not letting them reveal his inner self.

Lu Xun laughed: "I can't do the complicated act of dressing alone because of the crushed fractures in my hands, can you put me through that?"

"...... I'm sorry to hear that." Ye Yao cooperated and pulled out his phone, "It hurts in your hands, but it hurts in my heart, I'll contact the funeral home for you right now, okay."

"Then help me put my clothes on before you drag me to the crematorium." Lu Xun began to play it safe, "Our relationship is no worse than anyone else's, if other friends can do it, so can we."

This is too gay, Ye Yao sighed very lightly and pushed Lu Xun a little further away to try to reason: "Other people are girls, it's normal for their clothes to be slim and hard to wear, or they need help zipping up their skirts. You don't need my help to wear a sweatshirt, and you don't have a zip on your dress that needs to be zipped ......"

Ye Yao closed his mouth as it occurred to him that Lu Xun did have a zip on this outfit - a trouser zip.

Lu Xun's mind quickly aligned with Ye Yao's, and his eyes moved down Ye Yao's face, "You want us to help each other with this zip? Good idea, I never thought of that before."

Ye Yao :"......"

Ye Yao bent down and got out from under Lu Xun's arm and left the cubicle without a backward glance, even hearing Lu Xun's giggle before he closed the door.

The damn straight man is happy with his daily action kiriki and has the nerve to do it next time!

*

After shopping for clothes and eating, it was time for the movie.

Ye Yao had booked his tickets in advance and sat with Lu Xun in the best seats for the film to start.

When the time came, the lights went out in the cinema, and Ye Yao was able to observe Lu Xun's expression through the 3D glasses issued by the cinema without being noticed.

The plot of this movie is simple, the main story is about how the two lovebirds, a man and a woman, go from disliking each other to becoming a sweet couple in the end, thanks to the help of their friends.

The obscure subplot, on the other hand, involves two male friends who understand their feelings for each other when they set up the hero and heroine, but for practical pressures and various reasons, even though neither of them are looking for a partner again, their eventual relationship stops at friends.

In the darkness, Ye Yao would look slightly away from Lu Xun when the two men were playing against each other.

Ye Yao is somewhat apprehensive.

If Lu Xun was really homophobic, he would have been disgusted to see this kind of episode. But if he is only verbally homophobic and not actually that repulsed, then he won't have a reaction, right?

To Ye Yao's relief, Lu Xun's expression remained unchanged.

As time passed, the film came to an end. Lu Xun took off his 3D glasses and took a sip of his Coke.

Ye Yao: "...... That's my coke."

"Oh?" Lu Xun held the Coke a little further away to look at it, then took another sip in front of Ye Yao.

Lu Xun slowly finished his Coke against Ye Yao's gaze, and then shoved the Coke on the other side into Ye Yao's hand: "What's the difference between you and me in Coke, really, I'll give you this one."

Lu Xun acts and behaves as before and does not seem at all uncomfortable at the sight of a same-sex love affair.

Ye Yao was in no hurry to test the waters, and it was only when they left the cinema and got a ride back to campus, walking along the campus lane, and Lu Xun started to try to take his hand again, that Ye Yao opened his mouth.

"What did you think of the film today?"

"It's not bad, it's just a sweet romance." Lu Xun was carrying a shopping bag and holding Ye Yao in one hand. Lu Xun was holding a shopping bag in one hand and Ye Yao in the other, not knowing what was on his mind, his expression suddenly sharpened, "Why are you asking me what I think all of a sudden, you don't want to fall in love and find a girlfriend and are using this movie to test me?"

Ye Yao :"......"

What should be associated is not associated, and what should not be associated is blindly associated.

He does want to fall in love, but certainly not in the way Lu Xun wants.

No, no, no, Lu Xun didn't even see the homoeroticism in that movie!

Lu Xun let go of Ye Yao's hand and put his elbow around Ye Yao's neck to close the distance between them, saying angrily, "I haven't even thought about it yet, and you're not allowed to talk about it. You can't put sex before friendship!"

"I didn't think of it that way." Ye Yao was really convinced, he thought for a second and took out his phone, "I just thought the actor's acting was too oily, so I wanted to hear your opinion. I'll see what other people think of the movie review."

There were many reviews, and Ye Yao pretended to have just discovered it, saying to Lu Xun: "Many people felt that it was a pity that the two male co-stars obviously loved each other, but they didn't get together in the end, so they didn't want to give it a good review."

Lu Xun froze, his expression turning stony in an instant.

"...... love each other?"

When it comes to the Lu Xun minefield, Ye Yao is more careful than usual with his words: "Maybe it's because people like this kind of cp."

Lu Xun's expression slowly eased off: "Girls don't understand the expression of friendship between men, they think it's love, it's normal, just knock it."

...... Lu Xun Surprisingly, I really didn't see it coming and thought that pair were just friends!

Ye Yao had mixed feelings and was a bit unsure how to proceed with the test, as he walked forward as if nothing was wrong. On the contrary, Lu Xun seemed to have taken some kind of interest in the phrase "kowtow cp" and pulled out his mobile phone with great interest.

Lu Xun looked at his phone while comparing: "There are quite a lot of fans, when will there be so many people who are keen on our cp, there are many who write novels for them, it's interesting."

Ye Yao was helpless: "What do you envy other people's cp fans for, you want to read your own homoerotic?"

"I'll see if there is, it's not like there isn't-" Lu Xun snapped to a halt, his face grim.

Ye Yao was startled and looked over at Lu Xun while seeing the contents of Lu Xun's phone.

Lu Xun slides over to a p-picture where the faces of the people are replaced with the two male counterparts from the film, kissing and one pressing the other to the bed, the whole picture bursting with sexual tension.

This is a p out of bed photo that foreshadows a sexual act between two men.

Ye Yao held Lu Xun's shoulder and said nervously, "What's wrong, what's wrong?"

"It's okay." Lu Xun closed his eyes and slowed down, returning the phone to the main page and pressing the screen out, "It's a little sick to my stomach to see something like this, I'll take it easy."

"......" Ye Yao's heart sank downwards, and in this moment he suspected he wasn't looking too good either.

Ye Yao steadied his voice, "Don't you move here. I'll go get you a lemonade."

Without waiting for Lu Xun to reply, he strides towards the milk tea shop not far away, hiding his emotions.

The night breeze, with a hint of early autumn coolness, woke Ye Yao up.

Lu Xun is genuinely homophobic, and seeing intimate photos of two men makes his cringe.

Ye Yao smiled to himself, all his expectations and tentative little thoughts disappeared at this moment, and instead he felt a sense of relief.

Friends or not, all he wanted from the beginning was to be Lu Xun's friend for life without revealing himself.

*

Ye Yao is far away and Lu Xun is leaning against a tree waiting.

He still felt guilty of nausea, the kind of mental nausea that doesn't necessarily go away with ten glasses of lemonade.

He needs something that he can feel physically and mentally happy just by looking at it.

Lu Xun takes out his phone again, and instead of looking at the food and beauty, he taps on his phone album.

Lu Xun doesn't have many pictures in his phone album, most of them are of him and Ye Yao together, as well as a single picture of Ye Yao that he scraped from a forum last time, and a picture of the two of them as a couple.

Lu Xun clicks on one of the images to enlarge it, and it shows him leaving the pitch with his arm around Ye Yao, their heads so close together that you can tell they are talking intimately. They leave like that, without a third person in between, and there will be no third person.

Lu Xun looks at this picture and, like drinking a glass of cold watermelon juice in the middle of summer, the nausea that made him sick to his stomach fades away and becomes sweet.

Lu Xun touches Ye Yao's face on the screen and gives a satisfied smile.