I Treat You as a Brother - Chapter 12

Less than half an hour after Fang Mo had left, he was back knocking at Xu Xiran’s door again, carrying a large luggage.

“Have you thought it through?” Xu Xiran was very happy.

“Listen to me, listen to me, listen to me,” Fang Mo was emotional. “Wait, let me have some water first.”

Xu Xiran was confused, but quickly poured a cup of water for him.

After Fang Mo tilted his head and downed the cup of water, he took a big breath, then grabbed Xu Xiran’s sleeve and said, “That Liu Xiaochang’s biceps are huge!”

“Eh?” Xu Xiran had a blank expression.

“With his clothes on, he looks like a delicate flower, but without them, he’s a bodybuilder!” Fang Mo’s face was lingering with fear. “I don’t think I can beat him.”

“No way, really?” Xu Xiran said, suddenly burning with a desire for competition.

He rolled up his sleeves and flexed his biceps: “Compared to me? Better than me?”

Fang Mo fell into obvious hesitation. After a while, he cleared his throat and said, “You two have different physiques. Even if you both have a similar amount of muscle, the way it looks on you versus on him is very different. The proportions are not the same.”

Xu Xiran felt that this didn’t count as a loss, and put down his hand with content: “You should also exercise. You’re afraid of someone half a head shorter than you, isn’t that embarrassing?”

Fang Mo frowned and looked at him: “Do you usually exercise?”

Xu Xiran suddenly stood up, jumped in place, and made a shooting gesture: “I like playing basketball!”

Fang Mo was startled by his sudden action. Then a moment later, he said, “When do you usually play? Can I watch?”

“I haven’t been playing lately, “ Xu Xiran sat down again. “It’s too hot.”

“……”

“Then are you sleeping here tonight?” Xu Xiran asked.

Fang Mo looked at him: “…Is that convenient?”

“Nonsense,” Xu Xiran smiled, “Oh right, our club president just asked me if I could bring your friend tomorrow. I haven’t had time to contact him, could you help me ask?”

Fang Mo gave him an “okay” gesture: “No problem.”

~

“Tomorrow? I can’t tomorrow,” Zou Shun refused. “I’m busy.”

School hadn’t officially started yet, so there couldn’t possibly be something that took the whole day to do. Fang Mo had doubts in his heart: “Are you choosing love over friends?”

Zou Shun was unmoved: “You are the most unqualified person in the world to say that about me.”

Fang Mo suddenly felt guilty.

“You really don’t have any time?” he asked.

“I’m not sure yet, until tomorrow, it’s hard to say,” Zou Shun said, “Can’t it be the day after tomorrow?”

“Wait for me, I’ll ask.”

After Fang Mo finished speaking, he turned around and said, “He asked if the day after tomorrow could work.”

“I think it should be fine? We’re not in a hurry.” Xu Xiran said.

“The day after tomorrow works, then let’s do the day after tomorrow.” Fang Mo said to the phone.

The opposite reaction was much bigger than he thought it would be: “He’s right next to you? Are you together?”

“Hehe.” Fang Mo smirked.

“Wait, where are you two now?” Zou Shun asked.

“In his dorm,” Fang Mo couldn’t help thinking about it for a moment, “there’s no one in his dorm these days so I’m staying here temporarily.”

Zou Shun’s reaction made him very satisfied: “Damn! Just the two of you? Overnight?”

“Is there a problem?” Fang Mo smiled.

“I’m reminding you,” Zou Shun said, “Don’t do anything illegal or criminal, you know that?”

“…You’re mental.” Xu Xiran was not far away so Fang Mo couldn’t speak too bluntly. “Even if I think about it, I don’t have it in me to do that okay.”

“So you’ve actually been thinking about it?” Zou Shun sighed, then suddenly remembered something, “Oh also, I need to tell you! A person named BigAwesome1 added me as a friend just now, and it seems like he’s in our dorm area. Scared the shit out of me.”

“…” Fang Mo was spooked for a bit, then felt extremely relieved that he had logged out of his account last night, “I think I know this person.”

Zou Shun was stunned for a moment and then asked, “Is he that awesome?”

Fang Mo said firmly: “No, he’s definitely not your type.”

“Nonsense, I only like one type right now,” Zou Shun said, and sighed lightly, “Oh right, there’s one more thing that I think you should think about.”

“What is it?”

“We have a lot of people moving in together this semester, right?” Zou Shun said, “I don’t want to drag you down, but basically everyone who knows me knows my orientation. In case it reaches the ears of your Xu Xiran, it would be very passively revealing if you want to explain thingswhen that happens. You don’t want him to know what your intentions are now, do you?”

~

Zou Shun was really thoughtful.

After hanging up the phone, Xu Xiran quickly noticed Fang Mo’s solemn expression.

“What’s wrong?” he was concerned. “I asked about changing it to the day after tomorrow, and they said it was totally okay. You don’t need to worry about it.”

“No, it’s not that,” Fang Mo’s eyes fluttered, “It’s something that’s a little hard to talk about.”

Xu Xiran moved in his direction when he heard his words: “Want to try?”

“It’s about Zou Shun,” Fang Mo sighed, “He…”

“Is he regretting it?” Xu Xiran became nervous.

“He… he’s afraid you’ll regret it,” Fang Mo said, “So he told me to tell you something. There’s one thing we think it’s better for you to know.”

Xu Xiran didn’t understand but nodded cautiously.

“You told me before that you know a couple of gay people, right?”

“Mn, that’s right,” Xu Xiran nodded, “Is this related?”

“You don’t dislike them, do you?” Fang Mo asked.

“It’s not that I dislike them or not… I’m just not familiar with them,” Xu Xiran said. “That’s all. What does this have to do with Zou Shun?”

Fang Mo sighed: “Actually, Zou Shun is also one of them.”

Xu Xiran hesitated for a moment, then nodded slowly: “No wonder, I actually thought he seemed a bit like it.”

Fang Mo was shocked: “You can tell?”

“I had somewhat of a feeling.” Xu Xiran said.

Unexpectedly, this seemingly carefree straight man also had a meticulous and sensitive side. Fang Mo suddenly panicked. In the past two days, he has made a lot of mistakes and has left loopholes everywhere. If Xu Xiran also secretly suspected him in his heart but didn’t say it out loud, that would be a disaster.

He was incessantly anxious, but Xu Xiran didn’t notice at all. He pointed to his right ear and said, “He only pierced this ear, isn’t that what it means?”

This man somehow actually knew this. Something like this may also be regarded as how a “long illness makes the patient a good doctor”1. Knowing that he was identified by this small piece of knowledge, Fang Mo finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“Don’t worry, he has someone he likes, so he won’t mess around,” he explained to Xu Xiran. “That’s why I can be friends with him. He’s a good person.”

Xu Xiran nodded again: “Mn, and?”

“Nothing, that’s it.”

Xu Xiran was at a loss: “What about the thing that was hard to talk about?”

“He’s gay.” Fang Mo said.

“So?” Xu Xiran asked.

Fang Mo was silent. Zou Shun’s concern was completely unnecessary, as Xu Xiran’s nerves were thicker than the mouth of a bowl. With regards to a gay man who didn’t show his obvious intent of pursuit, he made no association of that at all with his friendship with Fang Mo.

It’s no wonder that Fang Mo’s strange behavior since yesterday did not make him alert whatsoever. Fang Mo suspected that if he were to even climb into his bed tonight, he would not think much of it.

“Nothing,” Fang Mo said. “As long as you don’t mind, then that’s good.”

“Ai,” Xu Xiran suddenly sighed. “If only all the gays in the world were like him.”

“……” Fang Mo was rendered speechless.

If it were a few months ago when he hadn’t yet met Fang Mo, and he instead met Zou Shun’s type, there would be no doubt that he would be eager to give it a try. If everyone was like him, the world would turn upside down.

“Hearing from what you said with him just now, is he going on a date with his boyfriend tomorrow?” Xu Xiran suddenly started to gossip.

“He’s not his boyfriend yet,” Fang Mo waved his hand dismissively. “He’s chasing someone right now, so I don’t know if it will work out yet.”

He actually wanted to explore what Xu Xiran would think about Zou Shun’s pursuit of a straight man, but unfortunately, Xu Xiran’s gossip died down too quickly, so he had no intention to continue and ask.

“Since he’s not free tomorrow, why don’t I take you around school and around the area?” he said to Fang Mo. “You mentioned before that you came here early to familiarize yourself with this place, right? It’d be a waste to stay inside all day.”

Author’s note:

Have you ever seen a straight guy suddenly jump in place and play air basketball? I always thought it was a signature move.

The idiom here means that if you have been suffering from an illness for a long time, you become very experienced and knowledgeable about your disease. In this case, it most likely means that these little details are usually learned from long-term experience