Is It So Hard to Admit You Love Me?

[Manipulative, tea-drinking, love-struck top x aloof, haughty, cool bottom]

After one wild night, Xin Shan was covered in ambiguous marks, with his college classmate and childhood friend Chen Zhichu, whom he'd had a crush on for six years and been estranged from for three, asleep beside him.

Between killing him to keep him quiet and having a complete breakdown and killing himself--

Xin Shan calmly got out of bed, dusted himself off, and walked away, choosing to pretend nothing had happened.

But after that night, Xin Shan realized something was off.

Very, very off.

A certain ill-behaved dog who needed to be disciplined had suddenly become much more obedient.

Chen Zhichu circled around him, constantly trying to please him and acting sweet, with the boundless energy of an animal in heat.

After giving in again and again to no avail, for the umpteenth time Xin Shan pushed away the head nudging against him, ignoring the burning lips on his neck and the muscular body pressing down on him, heavy as a boulder.

At that moment, what came to mind wasn't how Chen Zhichu had forgotten the anniversary of his parents' deaths while busy going on dates, nor how the two of them had lost touch and fallen out after Chen transferred schools. It was that long, ridiculous, deeply buried crush.

And whether he should drop out or change majors now.

Just kidding. If anyone was leaving, it would be Chen Zhichu.

"Chen Zhichu, are you ever going to stop?"

"Chen Zhichu, what's wrong with your brain?"

"Chen Zhichu, quit acting crazy--"

Chen Zhichu smiled brightly. "I like you so much."

Xin Shan finally lost his patience. "Will you stop bothering me already?"

An older student told him it was all because he had a superpower that could make the people he liked fall madly in love with him.

Xin Shan was speechless. "We're college students. Could you be a little more mature?"

It didn't take long for him to believe it.

Because Chen Zhichu really had gone crazy.

At one in the morning, Chen Zhichu sat by the river on a bridge and called Xin Shan, asking in a desperate, tearful voice, "Xin Shan, if I disappeared, would you remember me forever?"

Xin Shan: I've learned my lesson. Please let me go.

To break the superpower, Xin Shan agreed to Chen Zhichu's ridiculous demands.

From next-door neighbors to roommates, and then to sharing a bed, they kept up their fake relationship until Xin Shan suddenly realized: I'm doomed. I've taken this act too far. Could it be that... I've fallen for him again?

Chen Zhichu smiled slyly, as if he'd gotten exactly what he wanted. He pulled off the collar around his neck, ignored Xin Shan's serious protest, wagged his tail, and pounced on him.

Come on, after pretending for so long, this was the day he'd been waiting for.

--

Afterward, Xin Shan brought up the superpower again.

Li Xing, the "con artist," "helpful bystander," and "gossip-loving" senior, was genuinely confused. "Wait, bro, you didn't actually believe Chen Zhichu's nonsense, did you?"

A:

1. Childhood friends, bickering couple, mutual pining, getting back together (the mirror never broke, but they still had to put it back together)

2. The superpower was a complete scam. Chen Zhichu was faking it.

3. One-on-one, both leads are each other's first and only, happy ending, light and sweet

4. Handsome top and gorgeous bottom. The top absolutely spoils the bottom, falls first, and makes the first move. There's no helping it, everyone cut Chen Zhichu some slack: he only won his husband over with his looks and shameless persistence (shrugs). Shan-shan is an absolutely flawless handsome man.

Theme: People are good by nature