Chapter 48

When they got back that night, Wen Fu curled up on the couch with his phone and started watching anime.

The first time Fei Bolin walked past him, he said, 'The couch blanket was just washed. Don't burrow in there before you've showered.'

Wen Fu said, 'Oh.'

Then didn't move.

The second time Fei Bolin passed by him: 'Go shower already. Come eat noodles when you're done.'

Wen Fu said, 'Got it.'

He still didn't even look up.

The third time Fei Bolin went by him: 'Go. Take. A. Shower.'

Wen Fu was still watching anime.

Five minutes later, Wen Fu and his phone were both thrown into the bathroom.

They'd just finished exams. Wen Fu's Chinese grade had been holding up pretty well, so Fei Bolin hadn't planned to ride him too hard.

But while he was in the kitchen cooking noodles, the water was already boiling and he still hadn't heard any shower sounds from the bathroom.

He turned off the heat, quietly walked to the bathroom door, and pressed an ear to the frosted glass—Wen Fu was still watching anime.

Fei Bolin automatically started to raise a hand and knock, then thought better of it. There was no need to be polite right now. So he pulled the door open with a cold face and made sure it wasn't quiet about it.

Wen Fu turned at the sound and saw Fei Bolin still wearing his cooking apron, his tall frame practically filling the whole doorway. Standing there, he looked like he was giving off black smoke from sheer irritation.

'Phone.' Fei Bolin held out a hand and issued his final order. 'If you still won't shower, you're sleeping in the bathroom tonight.'

Wen Fu could tell he was about to get mad, so he slowly shuffled over. Just as he was about to place the phone in Fei Bolin's palm, he lowered his head and mumbled, '...Bolin-ge.'

Fei Bolin had already made up his mind not to indulge him again, so he said coldly, 'What?'

—Whatever it was, the answer was no.

Wen Fu tilted his head and rubbed at his shoulder, hesitated forever, then finally looked up at Fei Bolin.

'Can I finish the season first, then shower?'

With his face tipped up toward Fei Bolin's, Wen Fu stared without blinking, his black-and-white eyes like dark glass marbles catching the light. There wasn't a trace of scheming in them. It was like he was honestly asking permission, like getting turned down the next second would be fine too.

A kitten would never get mad at you over that.

Fei Bolin met his gaze, and the hand he'd clenched slowly loosened. A few seconds later, he sighed. 'You really want to watch it that bad?'

Wen Fu said, 'I do.'

Fei Bolin lifted the phone and checked the progress bar. Wen Fu still had ten episodes left. If he really finished the whole season before showering, they wouldn't be sleeping till two in the morning.

He was just about to steel himself and refuse when he looked up and saw Wen Fu still watching him like that.

While also wearing a whole head of stinky hair and a whole body of stinky clothes.

Fei Bolin: '...'

In the end, Fei Bolin came up with a compromise—he'd wash Wen Fu for him, and wash himself while he was at it.

He held up one finger in front of Wen Fu. 'One time only.'

Fei Bolin untied his apron, went to the living room to bring in a tall plastic stool and the little wooden stool Wen Fu usually sat on, stripped off Wen Fu's clothes that reeked of drainpipe first, then slowly started taking off his own.

He'd just taken off the Buddha Talisman Necklace and stripped down his upper body when Wen Fu turned and started staring at his pants.

Fei Bolin's face darkened. 'Turn around.'

Wen Fu: 'Oh.'

The second Fei Bolin's hand touched the button on his jeans, Wen Fu turned back around and stared at him again.

'...Turn around.'

'Oh.'

'And don't turn back again.'

'Why?'

'No reason,' Fei Bolin said. 'If you want to keep watching your phone, then don't turn around.'

'...Oh.'

Fei Bolin sat on the plastic stool with his legs apart, and Wen Fu sat on the low stool between them.

Wen Fu, bare as could be, huddled in front of Fei Bolin watching anime while the sound of water came on beside his ear.

After getting the hot water ready, Fei Bolin said, 'Tilt your head back.'

Wen Fu tipped his head back, and Fei Bolin carefully rinsed from his forehead backward so the shower wouldn't splash into his eyes.

Once Wen Fu's hair was completely soaked, Fei Bolin reached for the shampoo.

Wen Fu took the chance to twist around and look down.

'Bolin-ge?'

'Mm?'

'Why didn't you take your pants off?'

'For exactly this reason.' Expressionless, Fei Bolin worked shampoo into Wen Fu's hair. 'I knew you'd sneak a look.'

After lathering Wen Fu's head full of foam, he lifted the back of his head. 'All right. Watch your phone.'

So Wen Fu stopped asking and tipped his head back again, going right back to his anime with total focus.

Fei Bolin first worked through Wen Fu's hair a bit, and when that seemed about right, he leaned in and took a hard sniff with his nose.

Maybe it was his cleanliness issues messing with his head, or maybe Wen Fu just hadn't used body wash yet, but Fei Bolin kept feeling like Wen Fu had been marinated in that drainpipe smell.

So he squeezed out another palmful of shampoo and vigorously scratched at Wen Fu's scalp.

Scratch scratch scratch. Scratch scratch scratch.

He was dead set on washing every last inch of Wen Fu's hair clean and giving him back his fresh, pretty little kitten self.

After a while, Wen Fu suddenly said, 'Bolin-ge.'

'What is it?' Fei Bolin was fully lost in the hair-washing.

'My head hurts.'

'Your head hurts?' Fei Bolin stopped. 'You catching a cold?'

'...My scalp feels kind of tight.'

'...'

Fei Bolin said, 'Then I'll be gentler.'

'Mm.'

At last, it was finally clean enough to satisfy Fei Bolin, and Wen Fu leaned his head back so he could rinse it.

Fei Bolin put the bar of soap in one of Wen Fu's hands. 'Wash the rest of yourself.'

Wen Fu started watching anime one-handed on his phone and soaping himself up with the other.

While he had the chance, Fei Bolin shampooed his own hair once.

He had just finished washing his hair when Wen Fu set down the soap, still staring at his screen. 'Bolin-ge, rinse me.'

Fei Bolin lifted the showerhead and rinsed off his soap.

After rinsing his upper body, Wen Fu turned around and presented his back. 'Rinse my butt too.'

Fei Bolin rinsed his butt.

Then Wen Fu turned back around to face him. Before he could open his mouth, Fei Bolin said, 'Shut it.'

Wen Fu: '...Oh.'

Once everything was done, the second Fei Bolin draped a towel over Wen Fu's head, he let out a breath.

Washing someone else was even more tiring than washing himself.

And the culprit was hugging his phone and watching with gusto.

Fei Bolin drove Wen Fu out of the bathroom. 'Go boil water in the kitchen. When it boils, throw in a handful of noodles. I'll be out soon.'

Wen Fu went.

Fei Bolin turned his back and was just about to take off his pants and shower when the door behind him silently opened a crack.

His hand froze. Wen Fu's voice drifted in from outside. 'Bolin-ge—'

'What now?' Fei Bolin frowned helplessly.

'Want me to wash you?'

'Watch your cartoon.' Fei Bolin turned his face slightly and cut him a look from the corner of his eye. 'Close the door. Don't come in.'

'Oh.' Wen Fu was just about to close it when he suddenly poked his head in again. 'Bolin-ge?'

Fei Bolin broke. 'What?!'

'Are you shy?'

'I'm not.'

'Really?'

'Really not.'

'Then can I watch you take off—'

'Three, two...'

Wen Fu whooshed the door shut and ran off.

Starting that night, Wen Fu spent the next several weeks completely hooked on anime every time he got home. Under Xie Yining's leadership, he went from one series to the next and got so deep in he could barely pull himself out.

Fei Bolin figured he'd never watched this stuff before, and school hadn't been too intense lately. On top of that, Wen Fu's Chinese score had been steadily inching up with every weekly exam, so he didn't crack down too hard.

It was just that now Wen Fu had gotten a taste of the perks, and afterward he kept eyeing chances to get Fei Bolin to help him bathe again. Every time, Fei Bolin gave him a scolding and firmly refused.

Refused once, and Wen Fu still dared ask a second time.

Fei Bolin refused every day. Wen Fu asked every day.

Eventually Fei Bolin got so harassed by it that, when he wasn't too busy, he'd sometimes just drag Wen Fu in to bathe together.

But he still refused to take off his pants.

And Wen Fu still believed that if two people were showering together and he was fully naked, then Fei Bolin should be fully naked too.

Fei Bolin, meanwhile, couldn't figure out why Wen Fu had this weird fixation on him taking off his pants.

One wouldn't ask, the other wouldn't explain. The two of them were stubborn in exactly the same way, which led to Wen Fu staring at Fei Bolin's pants every single bath.

And Fei Bolin guarded that line to the death.

The kitten didn't understand, and the kitten still hadn't given up.

-

Over on Xie Yining's side, she'd stayed mad at Su Haoran for ages over that Slam Dunk-versus-Kuroko argument in morning study that day. By now, after most of a week, she'd gotten to the point where seeing him at all annoyed her.

And of course, the next week their class was holding a basketball mixer with Class Seven and Class Twelve. Su Haoran and Fei Bolin were tall and good at basketball, so obviously they'd be playing.

Su Haoran really wanted Xie Yining to come watch him play.

And he wanted Xie Yining to bring him water.

That's what basketball games were for—getting the person you liked to bring you water.

But Xie Yining reacted to seeing him like she'd just spotted dog shit. She'd start frowning from far away and take a detour around him.

That day, Su Haoran came over with a homework sheet pinched in his hand and a face full of solemn purpose. He plopped down in Lu Yuqiu's seat and, before Xie Yining could tell him to get lost, started reading: 'Dear Ningning.'

Xie Yining: '...'

Xie Yining rolled her eyes so hard it was practically theatrical.

Here he went embarrassing himself again.

Behind them, Wen Fu had been buried in practice questions, but for once he silently looked up to watch the fun.

Three people: one apologizing, one losing face, and one kitten observing in secret.

Su Haoran cleared his throat. 'I know full well that my string of inappropriate remarks that morning had a very bad effect on you and on Kuroko's Basketball, and caused a very bad emotional experience. The truth is, I don't understand Kuroko's Basketball at all! I don't understand The Legend of Basketball Kings either! I'm a lump of dog shit. The second I open my mouth, stink comes out!'

Lu Yuqiu had just come back from buying water and happened to be standing beside the desk. The corner of her mouth twitched. 'Su Haoran, can you stop hanging that kind of thing on your lips all day?'

Wen Fu silently nodded at Lu Yuqiu.

Lu Yuqiu shot him a look of perfect understanding.

Su Haoran kept going. 'I promise that from now on, I absolutely won't say one more bad word about Kuroko. And I also won't, in front of you—no, in front of anyone—deliberately trash something you like! Hobbies are all equal. None is above another...'

That long homework sheet was packed full of writing. Su Haoran hadn't even made it halfway before Xie Yining cut him off. 'If you've got something to say, spit it out.'

Lu Yuqiu said, 'Can you two as a couple stop with the shit-piss-fart stuff all day long—'

Then got ignored.

Su Haoran said, 'I've got a—no, I've got a basketball game next week on the field.'

'Saturday afternoon.' He shot Xie Yining a flirtatious look. 'You coming? And bring me water while you're at it.'

Xie Yining's face didn't move. 'No one else can bring you water?'

'Of course there are people who can.' Su Haoran rushed to argue back, suddenly serious now. 'There are a bunch of girls who want to bring me water.'

He grinned and leaned closer. 'I don't want them. I don't even want anyone else watching me play.'

Xie Yining was taping something into her planner and didn't even look up when she sneered, 'Really? Then get Rukawa Kaede to come watch your game.'

Su Haoran's smile froze.

Xie Yining said, 'Get Sakuragi Hanamichi to bring you water.'

She batted her eyes at Su Haoran. 'A real hotshot sports anime boy bringing you water—wouldn't that be such an honor?'

Su Haoran struck out there and turned to Lu Yuqiu for help.

Lu Yuqiu shrugged to show she was powerless here.

Served him right for needling Xie Yining first thing in the morning before, and insisting on being such an ass about trashing something she liked that hard.

Su Haoran looked at Wen Fu next.

Wen Fu looked at him.

He looked at Wen Fu.

Wen Fu looked at him.

Su Haoran: '...'

Wen Fu: '...'

Su Haoran: '...'

Wen Fu suddenly said in a small, quick voice, 'Ganbade.'

Su Haoran: ?

Fei Bolin, doing practice questions beside them: ?

Xie Yining and Lu Yuqiu both turned around. 'Since when did you start speaking Japanese?'

Wen Fu blinked.

He'd actually learned it from anime.

It was just that his language-learning ability was honestly terrible. He hadn't even fully sorted out his native language, so with anime all he could do was parrot the simplest lines like a kitten learning sounds, tossing out a word or two now and then to startle the people around him.

This time he'd suddenly spoken up, and judging from their reaction, the effect seemed pretty good. Privately, Wen Fu got a little more into it.

That Saturday night, after Lin's Convenience Store closed, Wen Fu came home, set down his schoolbag, and was just about to sit on the floor. His butt hadn't even touched down before Fei Bolin hauled him up. 'Go sit on the couch.'

He genuinely couldn't understand how anyone could like sitting on the floor that much.

Following that line of thought, Fei Bolin figured it might be because the places Wen Fu used to drift around and stay probably didn't have much furniture, or if they did, he wouldn't have dared sit on it, so he'd gotten used to the floor.

In that case, they'd need to buy more rugs for the house later.

The second that thought crossed his mind, a question mark suddenly knocked inside his head.

Why was he thinking about a future home?

And buying rugs?

Like Wen Fu was going to stay by his side for life or something.

Fei Bolin tossed the schoolbag into the corner of the couch and went off to the balcony to grab the broom and mop and get busy.

The first time he passed Wen Fu, he reminded him as usual, 'Go shower within half an hour.'

Wen Fu nodded.

On the phone screen, someone was saying, 'Daijoubu!'

Wen Fu immediately followed in a low voice, 'Daijoubu.'

Twenty minutes later, Fei Bolin rolled up his sleeves and tied on his apron, getting ready to make a late-night snack, and specifically came over to remind Wen Fu again: 'Go shower already.'

Wen Fu kept staring at the screen and nodded.

This time the screen said, 'Chikusho!'

Wen Fu echoed it. 'Chikusho.'

Ten minutes later, Fei Bolin stood against the wall with his arms folded, spatula in hand, and gave the final reminder. 'Go. Take. A. Shower.'

Wen Fu didn't answer.

The screen immediately said, 'Yamete!'

Wen Fu instantly followed along. 'Yamete.'

Fei Bolin silently moved up to loom over Wen Fu's head.

This one-sided anime training session was still going strong.

The screen said, 'Sugoi!'

Wen Fu: 'Sugoi.'

Fei Bolin said darkly, 'You know what people call a dirty slob who won't wash his face or shower?'

Only then did Wen Fu curiously tilt his head up to look at him.

Fei Bolin straightened up, looked down at Wen Fu, and said with crisp, perfect enunciation:

'Wen. Fu.'

'...'

In that one second, one kitten lost all trust in the world.