Love Begins with a Try

* Older man, ten-year age gap, gorgeous top and handsome bottom

* Top (Hua Mingyang): A gentle, gentlemanly facade, but actually a manipulative flirt and a shameless flirt

* Bottom (You Chenyu): A sunny, innocent facade, but actually a looks-obsessed wolf in sheep's clothing

* Substitute romance, but sweet and doting

* Also known as: "Open the Door, It's Your Brother~" and "Why Did the Gentle, Thoughtful Guy I Secretly Loved, Who Was Like the Boy Next Door, Turn into a Manipulative, Shameless Flirt After We Started Dating?!"

* Synopsis: They first met when You Chenyu was ten, and Hua Mingyang's extraordinarily beautiful face left a deep impression on him.

At his new school, You Chenyu was bullied. Hua Mingyang showed up in place of You's older brother and calmly stood up for him against an unreasonable parent. Along with his gratitude, You Chenyu felt a growing admiration for Hua Mingyang, and hoped that one day he could become a gentle and strong adult just like him.

When Hua Mingyang's face appeared in a blush-inducing dream during puberty, You Chenyu realized that his admiration and yearning had quietly changed into something else.

By chance, You Chenyu discovered Hua Mingyang's secret: he had a crush on You's older brother. You planned to keep this hopeless affection hidden away.

But years later, at his brother's wedding, You Chenyu saw Hua Mingyang drinking himself into a stupor out of heartbreak. In the end, he couldn't suppress his selfish desire, took Hua Mingyang home, and, acting on a strange impulse, kissed him.

He hadn't expected Hua Mingyang to wake up. The kiss that was supposed to be fleeting and secret quickly became impossible to stop after You Chenyu said, "You always say my brother and I look alike, so why can't you treat me as if I were him?"

"Would you like to try dating me?"

Before they fell asleep in each other's arms, the words slipped out in a moment of impulse.

You Chenyu thought Hua Mingyang would turn him down, but Hua Mingyang gazed at him for a long while before finally giving a gentle nod. "Sure. Let's give it a try."

You Chenyu didn't care whether Hua Mingyang had agreed out of drunken guilt or a fleeting sense of responsibility. He only wanted to seize this hard-won chance and see this relationship, which had begun as an experiment, through to the end.

But as they kept dating, You Chenyu gradually realized that Hua Mingyang seemed to have become a completely different person.

When faced with one of You Chenyu's suitors, Hua Mingyang deliberately provoked him with his words and goaded him into throwing a punch. Then he put on a wounded expression and said, "Sigh, Xiaoyu, I don't know what I did to upset your friend. Don't blame him. He was right to hit me. Maybe I'm just so annoying..."

You Chenyu: "..."

My dear big brother, do you think I'm deaf and didn't hear how nasty you were just now?

Or do you think I'm blind and didn't see you dodge his punch with ease?

Even if you hadn't dodged, he was aiming for your left cheek. Why are you covering your right one?

Enough with that tea-soaked act of yours. You're practically drowning in it!

After they started dating, Hua Mingyang was always treating him like a child, too.

You Chenyu complained, "Stop treating me like a kid all the time. I'm grown up now."

Hua Mingyang gave him a meaningful look and smiled. "Mm... You really have grown up quite a bit~"

You Chenyu: "...I meant my age! Where are you looking?"

Hua Mingyang: "I meant your age too. You're the one with your mind in the gutter, aren't you?"

Fine, fine. He flirts shamelessly and then turns it around on me. What a guy.

You Chenyu couldn't for the life of him figure out how his gentle, boy-next-door big brother had turned into a manipulative, shameless flirt after they started dating!

Well, whatever. He could change all he wanted. The manipulative, shameless flirt was just too beautiful.

You Chenyu was more than happy to fall for Hua Mingyang for the rest of his life.

* Bonus Scene: One day, Hua Mingyang suddenly remembered a topic You Chenyu's older brother had brought up. He asked You Chenyu, who was nestled in his arms, eating watermelon and watching a movie, "I heard from your brother that you only like me because of my face. Is that true?"

Caught up in the exciting part of the movie, You Chenyu scooped up a spoonful of watermelon and popped it into his mouth, answering casually, "What else would I like about you, your age?"

Hua Mingyang: "Then if we set my face aside..."

You Chenyu: "There is absolutely no setting it aside."

Hua Mingyang was speechless for a moment. After a long pause, he pressed on as if unwilling to give up. "So apart from my face, you don't like anything else about me? Is it because I'm not good enough in bed, or because I..."

Before Hua Mingyang could finish, You Chenyu scooped up another spoonful of watermelon and turned to stuff it into his mouth. "Lao Hua, try this watermelon. It's so sweet. Here, have another bite." Seeing that Hua Mingyang was about to speak again, he scooped up an even bigger spoonful and thoroughly plugged his mouth.

With his mouth full of watermelon, Hua Mingyang couldn't speak. But seeing You Chenyu's ears turn bright red made him feel much better.

At that moment, Hua Mingyang decided it didn't matter whether You Chenyu only liked his face. All that mattered was that he liked him.

He also thought the watermelon You Chenyu had just fed him really was sweet. So when he saw You Chenyu scoop up another bite and put it in his own mouth, Hua Mingyang pressed his lips to You Chenyu's without a word, just to taste that sweetness again.

A few notes:

There is no soft, delicate uke or baby-talk, nor any N-some-P, choosing between love interests, nonconsensual sex, or anything of that sort. If that's what you're looking for, please proceed with caution.

No character-type loyalists. Extreme character loyalists, proceed with caution.

(The above two points apply to all works in this author's column.)

Both leads have only been sexually intimate with each other, but each has had a previous relationship. If that bothers you, proceed with caution.

The top is, at heart, extremely possessive and controlling. He hid this side of himself after it caused his first relationship to fail, but the longer he dates the bottom, the more his true nature shows.

The bottom is perfectly happy with this. If the top so much as thinks of locking him up, the bottom is the type to offer him the chain and swallow the key. If that's not your thing, proceed with caution.

Both leads have some degree of unhinged tendencies. Neither is a flawless saint. If that's not to your taste, proceed with caution.

(The above points apply only to this novel.)

Theme: Love yourself before loving someone else