Dyed in Your Color

What Did You Say?

Despite his show of enthusiasm, Xian was actually half-expecting that the other guy would turn him down.

Lance once again looked down at the place where they were connected. It was only a passing glance, as if he merely looked there as he was looking away. But to Xian, it appeared that Lance was preparing to snub him.

However, while his head was turned the other way, Lance answered, “Let’s go.”

“…”

'Did I hear that right?' thought Xian in disbelief. 'Did he say "let’s go" and not "let go"?'

When Xian remained silent out of too much shock and doubt, Lance finally turned to face him again. “You lead,” he said, making it clear exactly what he’d meant earlier.

“Er... Right,” Xian replied, this time letting go of Lance’s wrist without waiting for a prompt. “Well, come. I know a lot of great places.”

It took Xian a little more time to once again bounce back from feeling awkward, but luckily, after he did, nothing else happened that could cause him embarrassment.

After asking Lance about his food preference as they walked—to which the man unhelpfully answered, “None”—Xian took him to a small fusion restaurant that served a variety of dishes, many of which were generous with spices.

Xian told Lance to order whatever he wanted. Lance did not waste time standing on ceremony with him, which pleased Xian so much that he chuckled right after the waiter took their order.

Hearing his laughter, Lance looked at him in silent inquiry.

“I don’t get it,” Xian began cryptically. “It doesn’t seem like you’re that hard to get along with. How come the others have been steering clear of you?”

Before answering, Lance took a slow sip from his cup of water. “I haven’t noticed.”

“...You haven’t noticed that they’ve been steering clear of you?”

Lance nodded in answer. Xian chuckled again.

“Good, great,” he said with a knowing nod, suddenly looking serious. “I guess you’re something of an airhead. That’s cute.”

When Lance merely stared blankly at him, Xian couldn’t hold it in anymore and began cracking up.

“No, seriously, Lance, you’re cute, you’re very, very cute!”

Though his face still looked stony, Lance once again raised his cup to his lips. The action hinted at the embarrassment he actually felt.

While the cup was covering Xian’s view of his mouth, he muttered, “You’re cuter…”

“Eh? What did you say?”

Lance downed the water and placed the cup back on the table. “Nothing.”

The food that Lance ordered soon began arriving, the majority of which were spicy dishes, including some of Xian’s favorites from that restaurant.

“We even have the same taste in food,” Xian observed as he happily began to dig in. “Lance, I think we’re really going to get along.”

From his words, it seemed that Xian already considered Lance to be his friend.

Secretly pleased, Lance took a piece from the least-spicy dish on the table and answered, “Mn.”

An hour later…

“Gosh, this is really so embarrassing…” Xian mumbled to himself for the umpteenth time as he power-walked on the pavement, urgently trying to get someplace.

“Xian…” he heard someone call from behind him. Like the previous time, despite his rush, Xian could not help but forget everything else and respond.

He stopped in his tracks and turned to see Lance, who had been keeping pace with him without difficulty. Lance also stopped upon reaching his side.

“There’s no need to hurry,” he said in his quiet and measured voice. “I do not mind waiting.”

Stunned at first by Lance’s show of consideration, Xian then displayed a sheepish smile. “Sorry, Lance, I was just so embarrassed. You ended up paying for our meal even though I said I’d treat you. I want to hurry up and find my wallet so I could pay you back.”

With a look of understanding, Lance shook his head and repeated, “I do not mind waiting.”

Xian’s smile softened. “I don’t want to make you wait though.”

Lance stared at Xian silently, his own expression unreadable. Not finding anything amiss, Xian put his arm around the other man’s shoulders.

“Now, come,” he said cheerfully as he resumed walking with Lance, but at a slower pace this time. “Let’s go to my place.”

Xian actually didn’t know whether he simply left his wallet at home or lost it somewhere else. He just thought that even if he didn’t find it in his room, he could just take a few bills from Chase’s stash and tell his brother about it later, if he managed to remember to do so.

In any case, he did not expect anyone else to be inside the apartment he shared with his siblings, located on the upper floor of a high-rise building. And as Lance did not know that Xian wasn’t living off-campus by himself, he was also expecting that it would just be the two of them at Xian’s place once they got there.

However!

“Xian, is that you?”

Xian had just unlocked and pushed open the apartment’s door when he heard a female voice calling from inside.

“Oh…” Xian glanced at Lance and felt awkward for some reason. “You’re home, Big Sis?” he called back in an unnecessarily loud voice while ushering Lance in.

Laurel met them at the entrance as the two were taking their shoes off. “You brought a friend over?” she asked in a pleasant tone. She had not yet taken a good look at the other young man’s face and therefore did not recognize him.

“Yeah. Sorry, Big Sis, I didn’t know you were in,” answered Xian.

His elder sister smiled. “That’s fine. I just wanted to talk to you about something, but it can wait.” She turned to Xian’s companion, who had straightened up and was stepping past the entrance. “Please, do feel at… oh…”

When Laurel trailed off after seeing Lance’s face, Xian assumed at first that she felt the same awe he did because of how beautiful that face was.

For some reason, he felt a slight, indefinable discomfort.

'It’s just that kind of face, I guess…?' he thought.