“Yeah, yeah. Save the doe-eyes for when we’re having sex. I’m going to get out of here before he walks in on us. Happy New Year.”

“Happy, uh. Happy New Year. Could I ask you for a present?”

“Are we that close?”

“I think by now we’re at least close enough for this.”

Xiaokai, hand already on the doorknob, rolled his eyes. “Fine. Ask.”

Weiran was quite possibly an idiot. Actually, he was definitely an idiot. “Don’t, uh—don’t judge me for this, but could you kiss me?”

Xiaokai’s face was unreadable. “You seriously want a kiss?”

“We, uh, didn’t kiss at all when we—”

And then Xiaokai was in front of him in an instant, his nose just half a breath away from Weiran’s. “Are you going to picture Xingyu when I do this?”

“Um, n—”

Xiaokai pressed their lips together. It was a surprisingly chaste kiss—soft, sweet, Xiaokai’s tongue tracing the seam of Weiran’s mouth but, even as Weiran’s lips parted to welcome him, did not delve any further in. It was over before Weiran even knew that it had started, and he tried to chase after the warmth that had parted far too soon. Xiaokai just smoothed a hand over Weiran’s forehead, pushing his hair away from his eyes, and gave him another kiss, just on the edge of his brow. “Take a shower before he gets here,” he said. “You’re still covered in my cum.”

Weiran’s face felt hot, but he wasn’t sure if it was because of what Xiaokai said or one of his kisses. “O-okay.”

It was a good thing Xiaokai left when he did, and an even better thing that Xiaokai reminded Weiran to take a shower—he changed the sheets too, for good measure—because, about half an hour after Xiaokai had departed, Xingyu was knocking at the door with a bottle of champagne and a collection of assorted desserts, which Weiran took in with pleasant surprise. He’d expected cheap candy for some reason, but of course Xingyu was going all out. “I can’t stay until midnight,” Xingyu said, and he lifted both of his gifts like offerings, “but I figured you’d want to do something that reminds you of home.”

“Wow.” Weiran was almost wishing Xingyu had brought cheap candy. His heart was swelling up in his chest so much it felt like it would burst. He gestured for Xingyu to come further into the room. “Let me put the chairs back next to the table so we can sit and eat together. How long can you stay?”

“Just for a few hours. I didn’t want Xiaokai to be alone for New Year’s Eve. Not that,” he added hastily as he dropped into the chair that Weiran pulled over for him, “that I want you to be alone, but—”