Ch 37 – Friends?

Tau had been acting strange lately. Kersz claimed that Yu Xi was about to make his second friend, but Yu Xi felt that Kersz’s judgment was flawed.

He felt no urge to become closer to Tau.

Kersz was quite surprised to hear this: “You don’t feel the urge?” He still thought that Yu Xi really wanted to spend time with Tau.

“No.” Yu Xi shook his head. “When I look at him, I don’t feel any particular urge to get to know him.”

Could this be right?

Kersz pondered the situation deeply, and subsequently felt that Yu Xi had already come to understand Tau very well.

Besides, Yu Xi had been curious enough to ask about Tau’s past.

How could that possibly be considered a lack of interest?

Kersz found the recent interactions between Yu Xi and Tau rather amusing. Tau was always engrossed in caring for his little dinosaur, and Yu Xi would sometimes run over to watch him. After some time passed, Tau would then invite him to touch Xiao Konglong.

Kersz, however, received no such treatment, and Tau remained on guard any time he approached.

Kersz was very helpless, and was unable to figure out why Tau was so wary of him. Was it because he always used Xiao Konglong to threaten him?

That Tau was just too petty.

He categorized Yu Xi’s remark about having ‘no urge to get to know him’ as mere shyness, a desire to preserve a little bit of pride.

However, Kersz soon realized that this was not the case. Yu Xi truly felt no need to get closer to Tau.

*

*

Yu Xi woke up in the middle of the night. He glanced at the ceiling, then the window, and finally let his gaze settle upon Kersz.

It felt so good to wake up and find his friend lying beside him.

Yu Xi reached out and gave Kersz a poke, which elicited a couple of snuffles.

Yu Xi’s eyes lit up faintly.

He had been unable to forget the shock he felt when Kersz called out his name in the bathroom. His ears had tingled, and he’d felt as if his very energy had gone soft with the sensation.

Never before had he known that a friend could be such a joyful thing.

Yu Xi’s hand touched Kersz’s lips.

It was from these very lips that Kersz had called out Yu Xi’s name. Yu Xi felt as if he was rediscovering the joy of the human language.

“Humans speak by opening their mouths.” Yu Xi parted Kersz’s lips and teeth and proceeded to examine the interior of his mouth.

Then he reached farther to touch his throat.

“Gah!” Kersz jolted awake.

He opened his eyes and sat up, letting out a rather dazed “Eh?”

Then he glanced at Yu Xi beside him. He had wrapped himself up like a silkworm cocoon and appeared to be sleeping soundly.

Kersz touched his throat. He had been having a rather unsavory dream tonight.

He’d started out in a cornfield, picking ears of corn and reveling in the joy of the harvest, when suddenly, Yu Xi popped out from among the stalks and asked if he wanted to see his breathing lights.

Then he felt something in his throat, which triggered his gag reflex.

It was only…..how had the gag reflex he experienced in the dream carried over into reality?

Yu Xi lay with his back to Kersz, his eyes open in narrow slits.

He felt a bit nervous. But he had covered himself with exceptional speed, so Kersz likely hadn’t noticed that anything was amiss.

Yu Xi waited, listening to Kersz’s heartbeat. He felt thoroughly spooked, and decided that he would never dare to sneakily touch Kersz again.

Humans seemed to have a curious button which, once touched, would suddenly power them on.

Kersz seemed to stir. Clutching the blanket, Yu Xi squeezed his eyes completely shut.

A moment later, he felt Kersz stroke his head. He drew closer to Yu Xi, but did nothing more.

Kersz simply watched him for a moment, then reached out and patted him.

Yu Xi would never mess with this human again. His reactions were just too terrifying.

Especially if he were to be caught with his fingers down his throat…..

Kersz would definitely be angry.

Huh? Kersz’s heartbeat had slowed down.

He had fallen asleep.

Yu Xi, who had just sworn to never touch this human sneakily again, abruptly spun around and fixed his eyes on Kersz once more.

Just one more poke.

Yu Xi extended a finger and poked Kersz.

Come to think of it, where exactly had he pressed just now to wake Kersz up?

“Gah!” Kersz jolted awake again and clutched his mouth.

He frowned and looked at Yu Xi, who was lying beside him.

Yu Xi was frightened again. He really shouldn’t have messed with this human a second time.

This time, rather than giving him a gentle tap, Kersz called out to Yu Xi. But he received no response.

“Are you touching me in secret?” Kersz asked.

Yu Xi still didn’t respond.

Kersz wanted to fake being asleep in order to lull Yu Xi into a false sense of security, but he knew that the robot could tell when he was faking it. Yu Xi could even sense the depth of his sleep.

But there was still one more way to catch Yu Xi.

Kersz rose and went to the bathroom. Once inside, he let out a few soft groans, but rather than turning his back to the door, he faced it directly.

A moment later, the door was indeed quietly pushed open. A pair of cyan eyes furtively shifted toward the crack, meeting Kersz’s gaze head-on.

Yu Xi: …..

Yu Xi exchanged a silent glance with Kersz. Then, acting as if nothing had happened, he backed away and closed the door.

Kersz followed him out, only to find that Yu Xi was already in bed feigning sleep, as if he hadn’t been secretly peeping on him just now.

Kersz abruptly pinned Yu Xi beneath him and cupped his face in both hands. “Did you just stick something down my throat?”

Yu Xi remained motionless.

“This behavior of yours is going a bit too far,” Kersz reproached him.

Yu Xi trembled.

“If you want me to help you, you can just say so, ah.” Kersz knew that his previous interaction with Yu Xi’s breathing light down there had embarrassed him. But no matter how embarrassed he was, it gave him no right to take advantage of Kersz in his sleep and do such things in return.

“I personally don’t mind my face being dirtied, but I do mind you doing something like this behind my back.” Kersz’s tone turned serious.

Yu Xi suddenly realized that Kersz had misunderstood something, and nervously opened his eyes: “I touched it with my finger.”

Kersz: “Ah?”

“I suddenly felt that human vocal chords were truly fascinating. Your voice sounded exceptionally beautiful when you called my name, so I just wanted to reach out and touch the spot that produced such a lovely sound,” Yu Xi explained cautiously.

Kersz: …..

Yu Xi: “Did you think I…..”

“I just thought you were using your hand,” Kersz cut in.

Yu Xi: “But you mentioned dirtying your face, and then you said I wanted you to help me…..”

Kersz: “To help you understand the structure of the human throat.”

Yu Xi sensed that something was off. Kersz’s heartbeat had sped up again, and his face was turning red. “But touching your throat wouldn’t dirty your face, ah. The last time it got dirty was because…..”

“Do you still want to touch it?” Kersz interrupted him again.

Yu Xi’s attention was finally diverted: “Can I?!”

“There’s no reason why not.” Kersz had no desire to delve deeper into this misunderstanding.

“T-then lay back down.” Yu Xi was excited. “I’m simply the luckiest robot ever. I have the best friend in the world!”

Upon hearing the word “friend,” Kersz felt even more ashamed.

He lay down flat on the bed, and Yu Xi’s fingers brushed his lips.

Yu Xi ran his fingers over them softly, as if savoring the soft texture.

After feeling his lips to his heart’s content, he then moved on to Kersz’s teeth, followed immediately by his tongue and the roof of his mouth.

Then, as Yu Xi slowly moved deeper inside, Kersz’s throat constricted slightly.

“Are you uncomfortable? I’ll take it slow.” Yu Xi touched Kersz’s forehead, then kissed the space between his eyebrows.

Kersz tilted his head back. This sensation wasn’t comfortable.

He and Yu Xi looked at each other.

Those cyran eyes truly resembled the surface of a beautiful lake, and at this moment, the faint discomfort made Kersz feel as if he had fallen into the depths of that lake, sinking deeper and deeper. Suffocating.

…..A blissful suffocation that made him wish he could dissolve into the water completely, never to emerge again.

A short while later, Kersz ended up going to the bathroom anyway.

Yu Xi stealthily trailed behind him, worried that he would lock eyes with Kersz again this time too.

But his intense curiosity ultimately overcame his apprehension, and he furtively pushed the door open just enough to make a narrow crack.

This time, Kersz’s back was turned to him, his eyes pointed away.

But why, exactly, had feeling Kersz’s mouth caused him to react this way?

Hadn’t Kersz said that he had no interest in carnal desires?

After all, he was still a young man, ah.

Yu Xi watched with a sense of wonder, feeling a strange, inexplicable happiness.

And his exhilaration grew, especially after discovering that the little noises he inadvertently made would send Kersz’s heart racing.

*

*

“Did you know? Being friends means trusting one another without reservation,” Yu Xi shared with Tau. “Close friends will even invite each other to touch the inside of their mouths.”

To the side, Kersz covered his face.

Tau felt that something wasn’t right: “I’ve played the part of a friend before, but I didn’t have to open my mouth for them.”

“Those were just casual acquaintances, not close friends,” Yu Xi said with a wave of his hand.

Tau fell deep into thought: “I’ve never seen close friends do something like that.”

“Of course you haven’t. After all, you weren’t involved in their relationships.” Yu Xi felt that his own experience had surpassed Tau’s. “This is just a small bit of happiness between friends. They wouldn’t do it right in front of you.”

So these guys were really that close?

Tau still had some doubts, but Yu Xi seemed so confident that Tau began to wonder if he was actually right about this.

“Then do close friends do anything else?” Tau humbly sought advice.

“They also call out each other’s names to gain a sense of security,” Yu Xi said.

Tau stared at Yu Xi, who raised his head confidently.

“In what kind of situation?” Tau couldn’t figure out why a friend would frequently call out the other person’s name.

“It’s a secret.” There were some things that Yu Xi wouldn’t share. He wanted to savor them slowly, all to himself.

See? He had just said that he and Tau weren’t friends, and that he had no desire to become close to him.

His desire to get closer to Kersz, on the other hand, was very intense.

“Are you sure that’s friendship?” Hearing such a description, Tau felt that this was more like two confused individuals hooking up under the guise of friendship.

“It’s friendship.”

What pure friendship, ah.

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Chapter 36 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 38