At two in the morning, Xiao Yan posted on his Moments.
[Orange]: The stars are beautiful. [Image]
The accompanying picture was of the night sky outside the window. It was pitch-black, without even any moonlight. There was nothing to see.
[Tangyuan] commented: My God, I got up to pee in the middle of the night and happened to check my phone. What time is it already? Why are you still not asleep, Brother Yan? When did you change your WeChat name to Orange? And you even put up an orange picture. Pretty distinctive style, I have to say.
[Orange] replied to [Tangyuan]: I think so too. Orange is better.
[Dad] commented: ? When did my son become so literary? Go to sleep. We’re not coming home tonight. We’ll probably be back a little later tomorrow.
[Zhang Shu] commented: What is this? A completely black screen? A global nighttime landscape appreciation event? What kind of bizarre behavior is this in the middle of the night? Though I haven’t slept either, so I don’t exactly have the right to criticize you.
[Fan Yue] commented: …Damn, I wouldn’t dare say anything.jpg. I just feel like something’s not right.
On the sofa bed, Xiao Yan put his phone beneath his pillow so the light from it wouldn’t disturb the sleeping person.
He quietly got out of bed, picked up the blanket Luo Zhiyu had kicked onto the floor, and carefully covered him again.
Just as he had tucked Luo Zhiyu’s hand back under the blanket, his foot poked out from underneath it again.
Xiao Yan had no choice but to add a thin blanket and cover Luo Zhiyu properly.
After all, Luo Zhiyu wasn’t feeling well, so he slept restlessly. He kept turning over, sometimes pressing against the wound at the gland on the back of his neck. Every now and then, he would unconsciously mumble in his sleep, softly complaining about something.
An omega in heat needed an alpha’s soothing particularly badly.
Xiao Yan still wasn’t at ease, so he checked Luo Zhiyu’s temperature again.
Luo Zhiyu didn’t have a fever anymore. He was simply sleeping poorly.
Everything around them was utterly quiet.
Whether it was inside the house, out in the courtyard, or even throughout the residential neighborhood in the dead of night, there wasn’t another sound.
It was as if the entire world had been reduced to just the two of them.
The endless darkness outside combined with the silence around them could create the illusion that no one would know anything they did.
Xiao Yan felt that after meeting Luo Zhiyu, some things had become complicated.
The textbook’s solution for dealing with an omega’s heat was simply the words “inject a suppressant.”
But when it came to the two of them, one was willful and the other indulged him.
In the end, Xiao Yan had not only given him a temporary marking, but also wanted to soothe him with his pheromones while the whole world was asleep.
Taking an inch and wanting a mile, yet being perfectly happy to do it.
Half-asleep, Luo Zhiyu caught a faint scent of oranges.
The pleasant orange-scented pheromones soothed his emotions and forcefully, without allowing any resistance, entered his dreams.
They erased his unease and severed that long, nonsensical dream.
It was as though he had floated free from the restraints of the dream and his anxiety, and above the layers of clouds, he saw his moon.
He stopped tossing and turning.
Instead, without realizing it, he gently rubbed his cheek against Xiao Yan’s hand resting beside the pillow.
The corners of his lips curved slightly, and he peacefully fell asleep.
Whether it was having an omega in heat hiding in his room or having an omega in heat stay overnight in an alpha’s room, neither seemed like something a good student should be doing.
Tonight, the two of them were both bad students.
The only difference was that one of them was deliberate, while the other had happened naturally.
Luo Zhiyu felt that he hadn’t slept this deeply in a very long time.
He didn’t even know when Xiao Yan had gotten up, nor did he know when Xiao Yan’s little brother had flown onto the head of the bed and begun staring at him with its head tilted to one side.
The moment Luo Zhiyu opened his eyes, he was met with a colorful parrot face.
It took him a long while to remember where he was.
He sat up in bed.
His strength had recovered somewhat. He was no longer in the state from yesterday where his legs would go weak at the slightest movement.
The gland at the back of his neck no longer hurt either.
There was only still a faint orange scent lingering in the air.
After getting through the first night of his heat, the remaining days wouldn’t be nearly as uncomfortable. His consciousness was also gradually clearing, allowing him to clearly realize just how unreasonable and clingy he had been yesterday.
And Xiao Yan hadn’t even hit him.
Instead, he had backed down again and again and even given up his bed to him.
The parrot wasn’t shy with strangers at all. It flew over and landed on his shoulder.
Parrot: “There is a road through the mountain of books, diligence is the path to learning, stu—?”
“Little Brother.”
Luo Zhiyu reached out and pinched the parrot’s beak.
“Stop reciting poetry. Your brother will teach you something else. Become a parrot unlike any other.”
When Xiao Yan returned from the bathroom, Luo Zhiyu was in the middle of having a spiritual conversation with a parrot.
One person and one bird were staring at each other, apparently having reached some kind of agreement.
“You’re awake?”
Xiao Yan pushed the sofa bed toward the living room.
“I thought you’d sleep a little longer. I ordered breakfast delivery. You don’t have to hurry home.”
“Your bed is way too comfortable. I really want to pack it up and take it with me.”
Luo Zhiyu hugged Xiao Yan’s pillow and squeezed it, reluctantly lifting the blanket.
“I haven’t slept this well in ages. But I think I picked up some orange pheromones. I need to take a shower, then I’ll go home.”
“Mm. Go ahead.”
He turned his gaze away, avoiding the topic.
“The bathroom you used yesterday is my private one. Use that one to shower.”
Last night, worried that pheromones with only a 0.001% match might not be effective enough, he had simply used more, winning by quantity.
In the end, the soothing effect had been quite satisfactory.
“Okay.”
Luo Zhiyu tossed the parrot that had been clinging to him over to Xiao Yan and pushed open the bathroom door.
“Stinky Orange,” the parrot said.
“Stinky Orange.”
Xiao Yan: “…”
“You don’t learn anything good. You only know how to learn bad things, and you learn them pretty quickly.”
He scolded the parrot.
From the direction of the bathroom came the sound of running water.
Because he was going to shower, Luo Zhiyu stood in front of the mirror and removed the gauze from the back of his neck.
The wound had healed reasonably well.
He carefully kept it away from the water and took a quick shower.
If someone had told him half a year ago that one day he would spend the night at Xiao Yan’s house, even taking over Xiao Yan’s bed and bathroom, he wouldn’t have believed it.
Back then, the two of them rarely saw each other.
Whenever they did meet, either Luo Zhiyu would bare his teeth first or Xiao Yan would show his claws first.
Both of them had been full of fighting spirit.
Getting along this harmoniously—so harmoniously that they had crossed the line—was truly a first.
“Zhiyu.”
Just as Luo Zhiyu turned on the hot water, there was a knock from outside.
Luo Zhiyu turned off the water.
Outside the door, Xiao Yan held out his phone to him.
“Your phone. Someone’s called three times.”
It was Luo Sixue calling to remind Luo Zhiyu not to forget to feed the cats.
“Are you up?” Luo Sixue asked.
“I’m up.”
Luo Zhiyu really was up.
He just wasn’t up from his own bed.
“I’ll feed the cats in a minute.”
“Okay. Just don’t forget. I think Mom, Dad, and Big Brother are all out, so I have to leave it to you.”
Luo Sixue casually asked another question.
“What are you doing? Why are you only getting up now?”
“I’m out for a morning run.”
Luo Zhiyu dropped the sentence and quickly hung up.
He heard quiet laughter coming from outside the bathroom door.
“What are you laughing at?”
Luo Zhiyu slapped the phone back into Xiao Yan’s hand and continued showering.
The sound of water in the bathroom blocked out their voices.
A dark figure leaned against the frosted glass door outside.
Luo Zhiyu tugged the corners of his lips upward but didn’t say anything more.
“Can you use another alpha’s private bathroom?”
Xiao Yan found a hair dryer and dried Luo Zhiyu’s hair.
“Can you take a shower at someone else’s house?”
“Of course not.”
Luo Zhiyu’s answers were becoming smoother and smoother.
“Would anyone else have a pheromone match like ours?”
Rarely getting a vacation, the two of them finally experienced a slow-paced life together.
Luo Zhiyu slowly changed back into his own clothes, slowly finished breakfast, played with the parrot for a while, then quietly deleted the security-camera footage from outside the house the night before.
Only then did he put on his backpack and let Xiao Yan walk him out.
“I want to take your bed with me.”
Luo Zhiyu kept looking back every few steps, unable to let go of the thought.
“It’s really comfortable.”
“You little rascal.”
Xiao Yan said it jokingly as he led him out of the courtyard.
Luo Zhiyu walked two laps around the residential area, counting it as his morning run, before finally returning home.
He fed Luo Sixue’s three little blue cats.
With only him and the cats in the house, he suddenly felt that it was somewhat empty.
That faint sense of spacious loneliness surfaced once again.
[Not Zhiyu]: Home?
[Orange]: Almost there.
[Not Zhiyu]: Sigh.
[Orange]: Why the sigh?
[Not Zhiyu]: I guess we have to go back to school again tomorrow. Feeling a little sad about it.
[Orange]: Once you finish your finals, it’ll be vacation. If you have time, come over and play again.
[Not Zhiyu]: Okay.
When Xiao Yan entered the house, he happened to run into his parents coming home.
“Where did you go?”
His father asked.
“Why are you coming back from outside?”
“Morning run.”
Xiao Yan didn’t even change expression.
“Just finished.”
“Good habit.”
Xiao Yu praised him.
“Exercise keeps you healthy. You’re an excellent alpha.”
“Morning.”
The parrot greeted the family very familiarly.
“A friend comes from afar, is that not a joyous thing?”
“Did we have a guest last night?”
Xiao Yu smelled a different scent.
The same scent seemed to have appeared on his son before, making it impossible not to pay attention.
“No. I just met some schoolmates at the banquet.”
Xiao Yan pushed open his bedroom door, intending to catch up on some sleep.
“Stinky Orange.”
The parrot gave the family an affectionate greeting.
“Stinky Orange.”
Xiao Yu: “…”
“Orange.”
The parrot squatted on the coffee table.
It stomped its right foot once, completely throwing away the aura of a cultured parrot.
Its entire body practically radiated delinquency.
“East, south, west, north, four streets around—go ask around and see who’s the boss.”
Xiao Yan’s parents were completely stunned.
Xiao Yan: “…”
Luo Zhiyu was sitting on the sofa with the three little blue cats watching television when he received a video call from Xiao Yan.
The temporary marking was like a thread.
Through this tiny signal, it seemed to connect them faintly once again.
“Just watching TV.”
Luo Zhiyu propped his phone on the coffee table.
One of the little blue cats curiously came over to the phone.
“What’s up?”
“How did I not hit you last night?”
Xiao Yan glared at him.
“How did I let myself be deceived by that rare display of obedience from you?”
“How did I not seize the opportunity to bully you properly?”
“I don’t care about that.”
Luo Zhiyu’s eyes curved.
He seemed to remember exactly what kind of mischief he had gotten up to.
“If you can catch me, then you can bully me however you want.”