Shen Yuan stared up at the man, disbelief clear on his face.
The man before him huffed a laugh, brown eyes becoming crescent shaped with amusement. He was a little taller than Shen Yuan, a little broader, with a sleeve tattoo covering his right arm to his wrist. His dark brown hair was softly curled, more wavy, and a little shaggy, falling to his shoulders. His face reminding Shen Yuan of Binghe. Not a lot, but just enough if he were to tilt his head and squint.
“You’re just a kid.” When the man finally spoke his voice was as smooth as velvet. “How old are you?”
“Nineteen.” Shen Yuan automatically responded as he gawked.
The man had round wire glasses, a piercing on the left side of his lower lip, both ears were pierced, and he had cheekbones that belonged on a magazine cover. He was a little older than Shen Yuan expected. Somewhere in his late-twenties compared to Shen Yuans late teens.
“Cucumber-Bro, come on, I’m not that different.” Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky offered a smile, showing off dimples underneath a days worth of scruff.
“How old are you?” Shen Yuan demanded, still blocking the doorway into the dorm.
“What the fuck?” Shen Yuan asked aloud.
Seriously, this was the caffeine addicted crack-writer?!
When Shen Yuan had woken up back in his dorm room instead of in bed with his husband in the bamboo house, he immediately contacted Airplane—it was a gamble, but it paid off. The relief Shen Yuan felt when Airplane responded was like a weight lifted off his shoulders. He gave the other man his phone number and address, then waited an excruciating five days until the two could meet. (Because Shen Yuan lived in Beijing, but Airplane apparently lived in Chengdu, and last minute flights weren’t cheap.)
Shen Yuan knew that his friend would look different. Hell, Shen Yuan looked different! A little shorter, a little rounder, way younger. With pitch black eyes, short inky black hair, and an ear piercing. He was pretty rather than handsome, softer than Shen Qingqiu.
And it wasn’t that Shang Qinghua wasn’t handsome—he was! Like everyone else in PIDW. But Airplane?
“Can I come in?” Airplane asked while shoving his hands into his back pockets. He wasn’t dressed fashionably. His beat up backpack was slung carelessly over a shoulder, jeans were ripped due to wear and tear, his faded band shirt was due to too many washes, his sneakers were scuffed. And yet…
Shen Yuan dressed in the latest fashion. He tried his best to look good, he had standards for himself! He looked like a C-Pop star.
Airplane wasn’t even trying to be hot. (WHY WAS HE SO HOT?!)
It shook something inside of Shen Yuan. All of his past theories of Airplane being a troll flew out the window.
“Well?” Airplane looked like he wasn’t above shoving past his friend to get in.
Shen Yuan allowed his friend inside, still shook.
“Wait…you used your actual name for the character closest to Mobei!? Fucking Mary-Sue!”
“Ah, there we go, there’s the Peerless Cucumber I know. Although it’s weird to hear such vitriol from a face so cute.”
Shen Yuan felt the blood rush to his face and wished he had a fan in his hands to use as a weapon when Airplane chuckled.
“Come on, let’s try to figure out how to get back home,” Shang Qinghua said as he moseyed to the desk in the room.
Shen Yuan sighed as he closed and locked the door.