Who Knew I Was Gay?

[Current status: Main story complete, extras 1, 2, and 3 complete.]

Before his birthday, Xu You received a birthday present. Normally, that wouldn't have been a big deal.

But when he opened it, he realized there was a problem.

Who had sent him condoms?

That wouldn't usually have been a big deal either, except Xu You was gay.

He'd always done a good job of keeping it hidden. Even though he had a boyfriend, they were just online sweethearts, dating long-distance over the internet.

Whenever he posted videos online, he even cropped out his head. So who had figured out his true sexual orientation?

Xu You decided to track down the person who sent the gift and confront them in private.

But who had sent it?

So he decided to treat his friends to a birthday dinner, hoping to spend a little money and coax some information out of them.

In the end, Xu You narrowed his list of suspects to these people.

Suspect No. 1: His roommate in bed one, a sunny, athletic PE major who had recently taken to posting pictures of himself in white socks on a certain video app. He seemed to have a gaydar.

Suspect No. 2: His roommate in bed two, a cool, top-of-the-class student who used to spend all his time working on projects in the lab but had recently started coming to Xu You's apartment to play video games every weekend.

Suspect No. 3: His roommate in bed three, a playboy who usually never spent the night in their dorm. But recently, he'd been staying there all the time.

Suspect No. 4: His stepbrother, a CEO so busy he had no time to spare, who had recently told Xu You to come back home because his mother missed him.

Suspect No. 5: His homophobic childhood friend, who had gone to college in another city. But this year, he'd said he wanted to come over and have dinner with Xu You.

Xu You went to great lengths to get all of them together for a meal. He planned to watch their expressions and figure out who had sent him such a bizarre gift.

So who was it? Who knew he was gay?

This isn't a story where readers place bets on love interests. The stepbrother is not on the same household registration as him.

The main story is purely a mystery, with no sex scenes. Each character gets a separate bonus chapter.

The order of the bonus chapters will be decided by a vote after the main story is complete.

The bonus chapters are as follows:

Liang Yu: What to do when your stepbrother becomes your boss.

Xie Yunfei: What to do when your roommate becomes your dating coach but wants to steal you for himself.

Qi Yuanxiao: What to do when your childhood friend wants to win over a closeted homophobe.

Ning Cheng: How to turn a fake-couple influencer side gig into the real thing.

Chen Wangyi: How to deal with gossip when you're a couple in the same research group.

Coming next: When Everyone Lives in a World Where They Have to Check In on Me

What if the protagonist top lived in a world where everyone had a check-in task involving him?

Each check-in scenario is separate, and can be understood as the protagonist top having all his memories from other parallel worlds.

Check-in scenario 1: An aloof stepbrother. Check-in task: How to max out your stepbrother's affection and be a good older brother.

Check-in scenario 2: A homophobic costar in a hit danmei adaptation drama. Check-in task: How to genuinely learn to act.

Check-in scenario 3: A hypocritical roommate and senior who's trying to marry into money. Check-in task: How to help your roommate become a self-made entrepreneur and be a good wife at home.

Check-in scenario 4: A jealous, sharp-tongued childhood friend and illegitimate son who's always in second place. Check-in task: How to show your kind and sincere side.

Check-in scenario 5: A demanding, sexually frigid boss. Check-in task: How to help an employee plan their career properly.

So what happens when the protagonist top can see a task bar above everyone's head?

The top can see everyone's tasks, but he can't interfere with them or tell anyone about them.

Theme: A small gift carries deep affection