Come Down to Me

[Blunt and natural x Cunning fox]

After transferring schools, Xia Zhixi met someone. The first time they met, she "teased" him a little. The next time, he tricked her. Her impression of him could be summed up in a few bold words: annoying brat.

Later, the longer Xia Zhixi spent with the boy, the more she realized that while he could be annoying, he wasn't a bad person. In fact, he was pretty great.

Though he did have his quirks. When he was sick, he would pant after every few steps and look pitiful. When drunk, he loved following her around and acting "cute." He was also rather good-looking, and at times like that he was practically a well-behaved little boy.

The boy's friend: ...Wait, what did you say Shen Yujin was like? A green-tea scumbag?

-

Shen Yujin had always thought he'd moved on from that brief two-month period long ago.

But when Xia Zhixi appeared before him again after more than a decade, he realized he had never forgotten her.

Little by little, he was leaving his mark on her life, hoping to claim a place in her world under the guise of friendship.

Gradually, he realized there were far too many people getting in his way.

He also realized that being just her friend wasn't enough.

He watched her, completely off guard around him, trusting him enough to fall asleep on his sofa.

He thought, he didn't want to be just her friend. He didn't want anyone else by her side. He didn't want her to need anyone else more than she needed him.

[Scene]

One day, one of Xia Zhixi's middle school friends heard she was dating someone and traveled a long way to see her.

He blocked the doorway and yelled at Shen Yujin, who had conveniently come down with a low fever: "I was with her for four years. We understand each other. Do you really think you and she can last?"

Shen Yujin looked feverish and told Xia Zhixi to go to the kitchen and eat some cake first. He'd join her in a bit. Xia Zhixi knew he was trying to send her away, but she couldn't bring herself to leave. She agreed on the surface, then turned back. Shen Yujin still had a fever. What if he couldn't win an argument?

But when she opened the door, she heard Shen Yujin speaking without the slightest hint of breathlessness, his voice weak but his words biting, almost teasing: "You say I'm older than her, and that's true. But I'm one year older than her, while you're half a year younger. Which of us do you think is fresher and tastier, you or me, who's aging like fine wine?"

Her middle school friend stared at him as if he were crazy.

Shen Yujin then calmly asked him a string of questions about Xia Zhixi.

Looking at the young man who couldn't answer, he smiled. "See? You don't even know these things. What makes you think you can beat me?"

Xia Zhixi quietly closed the door.

[A childhood friend who appears out of nowhere.]

[Each other's first love, devoted to one another.]

[Some ensemble cast, slow burn.]

[No intimacy between the leads before they are adults.]

[Some details of the school setting are the author's invention. Please don't overthink them. Thank you.]

Theme: Growing up always comes with bumps and bruises, but we should still be grateful.