Universal Love - Scenes of YuZhou

Hide and Seek (R-18)

The air was getting heavier, more uncomfortable, but he didn't want to go back into the apartment yet. He had been feeling claustrophobic while inside. That had been more disconcerting to him than the humidity that clung to his skin in the dark on the rooftop. He could see occasional flashes of light in the distance, but the roll of thunder did not reach his ears, so he knew there was no worry about getting caught in the rain.

JingYu had been right. The roof was a nice hideout. WeiZhou had been uncertain at first when JingYu told him to go up while he took a shower. He was scheduled to be in Shanghai right now, but definitely not at JingYu's place. The rooftop was dark, though, without any other buildings too close by, and sitting in the shadows, WeiZhou didn't feel conspicuous. There was always that small edge of fear that someone was watching for him whenever he stepped outside, but as it was the middle of the night, even the sounds of a large city were muted from streets many stories below. To be outside, breathing, by Shanghai standards, fresh air, to feel the breeze cooling his sticky skin, WeiZhou tried to let go of the awkward feeling that had overtaken him recently.

WeiZhou smiled to himself. JingYu had finished his shower and come up to look for him. And look for him. JingYu was standing in the middle of the roof, turning around and around, not noticing the smiling face of the man who watched him from the shadows.

"Lose something?" WeiZhou laughed when JingYu jumped at the sound of his voice. Following the laughter, JingYu finally distinguished the outline of his boyfriend.

"Damn, Zhou," he said, sitting down next to WeiZhou, their backs leaning against the structure of the stairwell entrance, "you startled me. I was beginning to think you hadn't come up here. How many times did I look this direction? I didn't see you at all."

WeiZhou leaned over to take the bottle of iced tea from JingYu's hand. Taking a large swallow, he felt the refreshing cold of the beverage slide down his throat, causing him to shiver slightly from the inside out.

"You're right, it's nice up here."

"Mmm," JingYu had just taken a swig of the tea. He swallowed slowly, not noticing how WeiZhou's eyes followed the movement of his Adam's apple. "I call it 'hiding without hiding'. Especially late at night like this. Just to get outside and not have to think about other people being around me."

WeiZhou sighed as he leaned his head against the wall behind him. Closing his eyes, he felt only JingYu beside him. There was no feeling of eyes watching him or even other people being in the world with them. The air was still hanging heavy around him, causing a thin sheen of moisture to gather on his skin. A small breeze cooled the sweat, but it was the heady smell of JingYu assailing his nostrils that caused his skin to tighten and crawl.

"Tired?" JingYu asked, his fingers pushing a lock of hair from over WeiZhou's eyes.

"No. Frustrated."

Pulling WeiZhou's hand to his knee, teasing fingers with his own, JingYu leaned his head back just as WeiZhou had.

"Tell me."

"I know we have to, but I hate all of this. We're not wusses. Neither of us are cowards. But we're not stupid either."

JingYu continued to play with his fingers as WeiZhou sat up and turned to face him.

"We've been playing it safe. Too safe. It's not us. We may not be rebels in the greatest sense of the word, but neither of us have ever allowed ourselves to be pushed around."

"So? What do you suggest?" JingYu raised himself away from the wall. He understood exactly how WeiZhou was feeling. He himself had been thinking the same thoughts for some time. Only his concern for WeiZhou's future career, and to a much lesser extent his own, had kept him from saying anything. "How do we do what we want to do while we do what we have to?"