Chapter 85: TO ME YOU’RE THE BRIGHTEST OF ALL THE STARS

An hour into the flight Guiying had gone through his phone twice and stared at the clouds until they lost their appeal. He looked across at Liuxian, reading glasses on, pen moving across documents, entirely elsewhere.

He got up and sat beside him. "I’m bored. Can I help you work?"

"No." Liuxian didn’t look up. "I’m really busy. Go find somewhere else to be, get Zhang Wei to play board games with you or something."

Guiying’s lips twitched. He stood up. "Don’t you dare come looking for me when you’re done."

Liuxian turned a page.

Guiying went back to his seat and looked around the cabin. On a small shelf near the window sat a magazine, a deck of cards, and a drawing pad with a pen beside it. He reached over and picked up the drawing pad.

He uncapped the pen and looked at the blank page. His eyes moved across the cabin and landed on Liuxian.

He smiled and moved to the seat directly across from him. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Guiying had always been good with his hands. His pen moved across the page steadily, pulling out the line of Liuxian’s forehead, the bridge of his nose, the slight furrow between his brows when he was focused, the reading glasses sitting low, the loose way he held his pen even when he was deep in work. Years ago he used to sketch things he liked, little drawings done purely because his hands wanted to move. He had not done it in a long time.

The sketch came together quickly. Clean lines, right proportions, unmistakably him.

Liuxian turned a page without looking up.

Guiying kept drawing.

By the time Guiying had drawn Liuxian from every angle he could think of, sitting, profile, three quarter view, hunched over his documents, the back of his head, his hand holding the pen, two hours had passed.

He looked at the pages. Seven sketches in total. They were good. He closed the pad and set it on the seat beside him.

He was bored again.

One of the cabin attendants passed and he raised his hand. She came over immediately.

"Can I get breakfast?" he said.

"Of course," she said. "What would you like?"

He told her. She noted everything down with a smile and told him it would be ready in about fifteen minutes.

He ate at his seat slowly, making it last. The food was good and he took his time with it. When he was done he handed the tray back and looked around the cabin.

His eyes found the bedroom door at the back.

He picked up his phone and went in.

The bedroom was larger than most hotel rooms he had stayed in. A proper king sized bed with thick linen, mood lighting along the walls, a vanity, a small wardrobe, and a screen built into the wall opposite the bed. The kind of room that made you forget you were thirty thousand feet in the air.

He kicked off his Sambas, lay down on the bed, and pulled up a film on the screen.

Two hours later he had finished the film and was staring at the ceiling.

He put his shoes back on and went back to the main cabin.

Liuxian was still at his seat. His laptop was closed and his reading glasses were off. He had one ankle crossed over his knee and the drawing pad open in his hands, turning pages slowly.

Guiying stopped in the middle of the cabin.

Liuxian was on the fifth page. The sketch of him asleep, head tipped back slightly, mouth just barely open, which Guiying had drawn from memory because he had seen it enough times to know it by heart.

Then Liuxian turned to the sixth page.

Guiying’s face went red.

The sixth sketch was Liuxian without his shirt, drawn entirely from memory, and unfortunately very detailed because Guiying had a very good memory and was very good with his hands.

"That’s mine," Guiying said.

Liuxian looked up. He looked at Guiying’s face. Then he looked back at the sixth sketch.

"You drew this from memory?" he asked.

"Give it back," Guiying said.

"You have a very good memory" Liuxian said.

"Liu Liuxian."

Liuxian turned to the seventh page.

Guiying crossed the cabin in four steps and snatched the pad out of his hands.

Liuxian let it go without resistance, leaned back in his seat, and looked at Guiying.

"You’re talented," he said.

"Don’t," Guiying said.

"The one of me sleeping especially. Very accurate."

"I said don’t."

Liuxian smiled. "Sit down. We still have about nine hours before we land."

Guiying sat down across from him, the drawing pad held firmly against his chest, his ears fully red.

Liuxian opened his laptop again.

"The shirtless one was my favourite," he said pleasantly.

Guiying pointed at him. "One more word."

Liuxian said nothing further but he was smiling at his laptop screen for a considerably long time after that.

Liuxian closed his laptop and looked at Guiying across the cabin.

"Come," he said.

"Where?"

He was already standing. "The bedroom."

Guiying looked at him. "Why?"

"I can go shirtless in real time," Liuxian said. "You can even draw my lower body if you want."

Guiying’s ears went red. "I wasn’t—"

Liuxian was already walking to the bedroom. Guiying looked at the empty cabin, looked at the bedroom door, and followed.

Liuxian reached back and pulled his shirt over his head before Guiying had fully closed the door behind him.

Guiying stood there.

Liuxian rolled his shoulders back and looked at him. "Do you want me to flex? My body’s not the cleanest. I was in the military. I have a few scars here and there." He glanced down at himself. "But it did give me a great body."

Guiying’s lips twitched.

He crossed the room and stood behind him. His eyes moved over the scars on his back, several of them, some faded and some less so, mapped across his skin like a record of things he had been through and survived.

He reached out and touched one, lightly, with his fingertips.

"I don’t mind your scars," he said. "They’re proof of what you went through." He traced the line of another one slowly. "I have scars too. You seem to forget that you’re a really handsome man with an amazing personality. Even if you were riddled with scars people would still choose you." He paused. "I would still choose you."

The room was quiet.

They were not facing each other when he said it. Liuxian’s back was to him, Guiying’s hand still resting lightly against his skin.

Then Liuxian turned around.

He reached out and took Guiying’s hand and pressed his lips to it, holding it there for a moment.

"I’m happy to hear you say that," he said quietly. He looked at Guiying properly, with that expression that had no performance in it whatsoever. "Despite my old age, you’re too loveable Guiying. It’s a shame your family couldn’t see just how amazing you are." He turned Guiying’s hand over and kissed his palm. "To me you’re the brightest of all the stars. Even brighter than the sun itself."

Guiying looked at him.

He opened his mouth.

Nothing came out.

Liuxian looked at his face, at the particular expression of someone who had been caught completely off guard by something they were not prepared for and did not have a response to, and smiled.

Then he pulled him in and the conversation ended there.