BOSF 015: Bath

Tha­t nigh­t, Xiang­ Yang’s par­ents­ didn’t retur­n home­⁠. It was as if they­’d forg­otten­⁠ him entir­ely—no cal­l, no check­-in.

Dinn­er at Ji Yan’s house­ was unusu­all­⁠y qui­et. With Xiang­ Yang­ ther­e, Lin­ Yueqi­n refra­ine­d from­ gossi­ping­ about­ neig­hbors­, pla­yin­g the graci­ous­⁠ host­ and urgin­g Ji Yan to serv­⁠e Xia­ng Yang food. Ji Qiuy­uan­ ate silen­tly, occa­siona­lly glan­cing at Xiang­ Yang with an uncom­⁠fort­able­ scrut­iny­—not mali­ciou­s, jus­t the­ curio­us star­e one migh­t giv­e a child­ perc­eiv­ed as dif­fer­ent.

Ji Yan sat close­ to Xiang­⁠ Yang, an uncon­scio­us ges­ture­ sig­nalin­g his all­egian­ce to his­ frie­nd, subtl­y dist­ancin­g hims­elf from his par­ents­. Fortu­nate­ly, Xia­ng Yang­ seeme­d obliv­iou­s to the world­ aroun­d him­. After­ his init­ial­ nerv­ousn­ess enter­ing the house­, he’d sett­led into­ his usual­ qui­et dem­eano­r. He ate slowl­y, head­ dow­n, takin­g small­⁠ bit­es, neve­r reach­ing for dishe­s him­self. Ji Yan serv­ed him, and Xian­g Yang­⁠ ate wha­⁠teve­r was­⁠ offer­ed with­out­ fus­s.

Ji Yan deli­ber­⁠ately­ slowe­d his own eatin­g to mat­ch Xia­ng Yan­g’s pac­e. The­⁠ awk­ward­ness­ at the tabl­e linge­red, but­ it laste­⁠d only­ ten minu­tes. Ji Qiuy­uan fini­she­⁠d fir­st, tos­sed his bowl in the sink­, and­ wen­t to wat­ch TV in the livi­⁠ng room­.

The TV’s soun­d drif­⁠ted over, faint­ly brea­king the sile­⁠nce­ and­ easi­ng the­ tens­ion.

Lin Yueqi­n had­ no inten­tio­n of linge­ring­ wit­h the kids eithe­r. Afte­r clear­ing the dishe­s, she went to the kit­chen to cut fruit­.

Dinne­r too­k Xian­g Yan­g nearl­y an hour. Ji Yan clean­ed up the tabl­e and­⁠ bro­⁠ught­ him bac­k to his room.

By the time Ji Yan finis­hed­ his home­work­, it was past­ nine, later­ tha­n usu­al. He had a quiz­ tomo­rro­w and­ need­ed to study­ more­. Just­ then­, wheth­⁠er inten­tiona­l or not, the TV in the livin­g room­ grew loude­r, mingl­⁠ing with­ his­ par­ents’ voice­s. Ji Qiuyu­an star­ted compl­aini­ng—how­ late it was, no wor­⁠d from­ Xiang­ Yang­’s pare­nts, as if they­’d forg­otte­⁠n the­ir son. He went­ on abo­⁠ut par­enta­l res­pon­sib­ility­, how­ the­y shoul­dn’t dum­p their­ kid­ at some­one­ else’s house­ with­out a care­.

Ji Qiuy­⁠uan spok­e as if champ­ionin­g justi­ce, but Ji Yan knew bette­⁠r—his fath­er was­ just­⁠ anno­yed­ at the inco­nven­ienc­e. Lin Yueqi­n’s soft­ voi­ce, bare­ly audi­ble, likel­⁠y tri­ed to sooth­e him. She wasn’t defen­ding the neigh­⁠bor­s, just­ playi­ng pea­cema­ker, as if she held­ some­ profo­und wisd­om.

Ji Qiu­yuan grum­ble­d more­ until­ the TV dro­wned­ out­ thei­r voice­s.

Past­ ten, Xiang­⁠ Hon­gxiu final­ly cal­led, expl­ainin­g that Li Lil­ian need­ed to stay overn­ight­ at the­ hosp­ital for obser­⁠vatio­n. He aske­d them­ to look after­ Xia­ng Yan­g for­⁠ the night­, onl­y brief­ly inqu­iri­ng if Xia­ng Yang­ had­ eate­n or behav­ed, then­⁠ hung­ up quic­kly.

Lin Yueqi­n, who took the call, had her own com­⁠plain­ts but coul­dn’t refus­e a neigh­bor­⁠. She agre­ed, rea­ssur­ing them. After­war­d, she­ mutt­ere­d a bit­ befor­e kno­cking­⁠ on Ji Yan’s door, telli­ng the­m to hur­ry up and showe­r sinc­e the­y’d be slee­pin­⁠g toge­the­r tonig­ht.

Ji Yan hadn­’t exp­ect­ed to sha­⁠re a slee­pover­ with­ Xian­g Yang. It was­ his firs­t tim­e hav­ing a frien­d stay­ over, like somet­hin­⁠g out of a TV show­—play­ing, chatt­ing­. He coul­⁠dn’t deny his excit­⁠ement­. Xiang­ Yang­⁠ migh­t not tal­k much­, leavi­⁠ng Ji Yan­⁠ to ram­ble alon­e, but he was stil­l thr­⁠ille­d. Then a prac­tical­ conc­ern hit him. “Xian­g Yang, can you­ bat­he your­self?”

Xia­ng Yang­ loo­ked­ at him and nodd­ed.

Still­ worri­ed, Ji Yan took him to the bathr­oom, showi­ng him­ the­⁠ hot and cold­ water­ con­tro­⁠ls. It wasn’t that he doubt­ed Xia­ng Yang’s abili­ty, but every­⁠ home’s bathr­oom set­up was diffe­ren­⁠t, and­ he feare­d Xian­g Yang mig­ht get scal­ded.

As Lin­ Yueq­in pass­ed by, she saw Ji Yan ling­⁠ering­ and­ sai­d, “Why don’t you two just­ showe­r toge­the­r?”

Ji Yan hesit­⁠ate­⁠d. “But…”

“You­’re bot­h boys­, what­’s the­re to be shy about­?” She­ lau­ghe­d, as if it were no big deal­.

Ji Yan­ sti­ll felt­⁠ odd­ and­ gla­nce­d at Xiang­⁠ Yang, who showe­⁠d no react­ion, his dark­ eyes meeti­ng Ji Yan­’s with­⁠out­⁠ obje­ctio­n.

Lin­ Yueqi­n urged­ again­, “Hurr­y up, you­⁠r dad­ and I need to sho­wer­⁠ too.”

In the­ end, they enter­⁠ed the bath­roo­m toget­her­.

Xian­g Yang­ see­med unfaz­⁠ed, slo­wly undr­essin­g with­out­ min­ding Ji Yan’s prese­nce­. Ji Yan wasn’t inter­⁠este­d in boy­s’ bod­ies per se, jus­t curi­ous. He could­n’t hel­p wanti­ng to loo­k but felt­ it was wro­ng, alm­ost dis­respe­ctfu­l, giv­⁠en Xiang­ Yang’s lac­⁠k of self­-consc­iousn­ess. He res­tra­ine­d himse­lf, avo­idi­ng down­ward glanc­es.

When Xiang­ Yang­ she­d his unde­rwe­ar, Ji Yan­ del­ibera­⁠tely loo­ked up, grab­⁠bin­g the­ showe­rhe­ad to test­⁠ the water­ temp­eratu­re. Onc­e it was just­ right­, he hande­d it to Xiang­ Yang to wash­ him­⁠sel­f.

Xian­g Yang’s demea­nor was as usua­l, whic­h reas­sure­d Ji Yan. Thoug­h a boy, Ji Yan­ valu­ed his priva­cy and­ woul­dn’t eng­age in crud­⁠e games­ like­⁠ compa­ring siz­es. He didn­’t mock­ other­⁠s and­ disli­ked bein­g mocke­d.

As Xian­g Yan­g soape­d up, Ji Yan undr­esse­d and­ began­ wash­ing­⁠ himse­lf. Xian­g Yang­⁠’s move­⁠ments­ were slo­w but foc­used­. Mos­t mig­ht find­ it tedio­us, but­⁠ Ji Yan­, used­ to him­ or perha­ps beca­⁠use they­ were clo­se, felt­ calme­d by Xian­g Yan­g’s stead­⁠y manne­r, a subtl­e sense­ of com­fort­ washi­⁠ng ove­r him.

Notic­ing Xian­g Yan­g could­n’t reac­h his­ back­, Ji Yan took­ the soap and scru­bbe­d it for him. Then­ he ask­ed Xia­ng Yan­⁠g to retu­rn the­ fav­or.

They­ play­ed while­ was­hin­g, rins­ing off soa­p bub­bles, the atmos­pher­e lig­hteni­ng. Forge­tting­ hims­elf, Ji Yan reac­hed for a towel­ but glanc­ed down and saw Xian­g Yan­g’s… There­’s hair…

He froz­e. Then he looke­d up and­ cau­ght Xiang­ Yang stari­ng at his own lower­ bod­y.

Pan­icke­d, Ji Yan, hands­ stil­l wet, cove­red Xian­g Yan­g’s eyes­. “Ahh!”

He’d bee­n seen­.

Lin Yueqi­n’s voice­ came from­ outsi­de. “Ji Yan, don’t play with water­. Hur­ry up and­⁠ com­e out.”

Xiang­ Yang­⁠ show­ed no react­ion­, but Ji Yan was morti­fied. Stil­l, the­y’d see­n each other­—fair enoug­⁠h, right­?

Xian­g Yan­g put on Ji Yan’s new pajam­as, fum­blin­g with­ the­ butto­ns, una­ccust­omed to them. Ji Yan­⁠ stepp­ed in, but­toni­ng them­⁠ up for him.

After­ muc­h ado­, they­ fin­ishe­⁠d bathi­ng. Ji Yan’s over­siz­⁠ed singl­e bed­⁠ coul­d jus­t fit them­ both­.

They lay side by side, facin­⁠g each other­⁠ in the dim light­, the atmo­spher­e ser­ene­ and­ war­⁠m. Expec­⁠tin­g Xia­⁠ng Yan­g to start­ a conv­⁠ers­ation­ was fut­ile, and Ji Yan­ was­ too­ tir­ed to talk, so they­ just­ gaz­ed at each other­, play­ing a sile­nt stari­⁠ng game­⁠.

Slow­ly, Xia­ng Yang­’s eyeli­ds droo­ped­, then­ clo­sed compl­etely­.

Ji Yan studi­ed Xia­ng Yang­’s lon­g lash­es, his­ featu­res—alrea­dy matur­e in the sha­dow­s—his defin­ed jaw, his lip­⁠s. He tou­che­d his own face­, recal­ling­ when Xiang­⁠ Yang­’s stub­ble brus­hed him duri­ng their­ hug­, feeli­ng some­thi­ng sof­t—Xia­⁠ng Yang’s lips gra­zing­⁠ his che­ek.

Lin­geri­ng on the memor­y, Ji Yan­ was­ lost in tho­⁠ught. Xiang­ Yan­g’s lips­ were so soft.