An Indeterminate Age Gap

Lu Chen is thirty and has built a successful business. He rises above his station and gets together with the man he's had a crush on for years, reaching the pinnacle of his life. Life is going swimmingly, and happiness is written all over his face. But trouble always strikes when you least expect it. When he wakes up one morning, his beloved has gotten younger. He's back to being an unruly eighteen-year-old, shrunk down into a prickly little hedgehog. And he doesn't remember Lu Chen at all :) * This extremely rare condition gradually fades with time and has no adverse effects on the patient. Looking at his young boyfriend's fresh-faced, shy, easily prickled expression, Lu Chen thinks: It isn't all bad. If he doesn't remember me, then I'll just... again. “Hey!” Lu Chen cuts off his train of thought and looks toward the voice. Ning Huang stares at him suspiciously. “Why are you blushing?” * Bonus scene: The night Ning Huang learns who the top and bottom are, he can't sleep until three in the morning. At last, he angrily gets up and leaves a message for his thirty-four-year-old self in atrocious handwriting. “He's still four years younger than you!” Young Ning Huang writes furiously, exasperated with himself. “Pathetic.” “Ning Huang, you're so pathetic.” He presses so hard the words show through the paper, then draws a little person angrily pounding the ground. Not long afterward, he finds a string of words added below. The handwriting is almost identical to his own. “When you get older, you just want to lie around :)” That night, Ning Huang can't sleep again. His thirty-four-year-old self has annoyed him too much to let him drift off. [Sly, capable, nurturing top (Lu Chen) x proud, prickly hedgehog bottom (Ning Huang)] Reader notes: 1. A sweet-and-sour, feel-good slice-of-life romance. 2. The story is told from both perspectives in roughly equal measure. Chapter one is from the top's perspective. 3. The top and bottom are related, but they're outside the prohibited degrees of kinship and barely related at all. There's no ethical issue. ++++New story ↓+++++ In the twenty years that young Marquis Wei Zan has been alive, the person he's understood least is his archenemy, Shen Yuan. When Wei Zan was riding high, Shen Yuan envied him, resented him, and hated him. But when Wei Zan fell to rock bottom and lost everything, Shen Yuan risked it all to save him. Wei Zan mocked him for going to such lengths. “Shen Yuan is jealous by nature. Some people are mine to torment.” So Shen Yuan said, and he laid even half his life on the path of Wei Zan's revenge. One day, Wei Zan is reborn in his younger self. He's still the spirited young marquis, and Shen Yuan is still the sickly, lonely boy consumed by jealousy. With memories of his past life and a completely different attitude, Wei Zan can't help following Shen Yuan around, teasing him and calling him “Brother Shen.” “Is the young marquis playing with me?” Young Shen Yuan tightens his grip on the book in his hands. His gaze flickers as he looks at Wei Zan, and at last he grits his teeth and says, “You know I'm narrow-minded and jealous.” “I know.” Wei Zan pecks him beside the ear, then smiles lazily. “But you can't be jealous of anyone else.” “You can only be jealous of me.” [Free-spirited, proud young marquis top (Wei Zan) x narrow-minded, jealous, sickly beauty bottom (Shen Yuan)] Theme: The thorny roads we've walked will all bloom into cotton candy.