Ji Yunyu lowered his gaze, staring unblinkingly at Sui Ning.
His kiss was very gentle. At first, it was only a light press against Sui Ning’s soft, damp lips, like a devout little puppy, tenderly rubbing and licking back and forth. One hand cradled the back of the young man’s head, while the arm around his waist suddenly tightened, binding him firmly into a strong embrace.
Their bodies fit together completely. With every brush of skin, the ambiguous warmth between them continued to rise, and all the unspoken words were sealed inside the kiss.
Ji Yunyu lowered his eyes slightly. In the instant their gazes met, Sui Ning seemed burned by the affection brimming in his eyes—his crow-feather-long lashes fluttered a few times, and he couldn’t help but close his eyes, his cheeks flushing red.
Vaguely, he seemed to hear Ji Yunyu let out a soft chuckle.
Once he was sure that Sui Ning didn’t dislike this kind of intimacy, Ji Yunyu’s hold tightened further, carrying an unmistakable possessiveness.
A warm tongue slipped inside. Sui Ning’s body trembled, and he nearly lost his footing. What began as a gentle probe soon turned into mutual, greedy breaths drawn from the one they loved.
Their breathing grew hotter and more urgent. Sui Ning reached out and hugged him back, boiling blood surging into his wildly pounding heart, until both of them forgot everything around them.
Kissed dizzy and lightheaded, Sui Ning gradually felt short of breath. Fine beads of sweat appeared on the tip of his nose, and he instinctively leaned into Ji Yunyu’s arms.
“…Mm…”
A soft moan spilled from between his lips, only to be swallowed again by the lips covering his. At last, just before suffocating, he pushed at Ji Yunyu’s shoulder.
Only then did Ji Yunyu pull back, panting, his hand still resting on Sui Ning’s waist.
Freed again, Sui Ning leaned against the wall and gulped down fresh air. The damp redness at the corners of his eyes made Ji Yunyu’s blood heat up all over again, and he almost leaned in for another kiss.
After a long while, Sui Ning finally steadied himself. He lifted his head and shot Ji Yunyu a glare, half-embarrassed and half-annoyed. “You—”
Ji Yunyu tilted his head. “Me?”
Biting his lower lip, Sui Ning seemed a little too shy to say it outright. “…How are you so…”
“So skilled?” Ji Yunyu finished the sentence for him with a smile. “Can’t be helped. I like you too much. Be understanding toward a male high school student.”
After all, he’d done this countless times in his dreams already.
Sui Ning choked for a moment and retorted instinctively, “You’re already eighteen—what kind of ‘male high school student’ are you?”
“Doesn’t that count?” Ji Yunyu raised an eyebrow and leaned close to Sui Ning’s ear, pressing forward step by step. “But everything a male high school student has, I have. What should I do, then?”
“Want to inspect the goods?” As he spoke, the hand at Sui Ning’s waist began to stir, dangerously stroking up and down along the young man’s beautiful, taut waistline.
The corner of his lips curved up slightly. “—Want to see diamonds?”
Realizing what he meant, Sui Ning’s face flushed instantly. He raised his hand and flicked Ji Yunyu squarely on the forehead.
“Ow!” Ji Yunyu cried, clutching his head.
That single motion instantly dispelled the pressure radiating from him, turning him back into a pitiful little puppy. He looked at Sui Ning with watery eyes.
“PNG_Cloud,” Sui Ning said.
Having reclaimed the initiative, he crossed his arms and looked at him leisurely. “Allow me to remind you: within a radius of 9.6 million square kilometers outside, they’re all fans of my and your careers.”
Ji Yunyu didn’t understand at first and blinked belatedly.
For some reason, he had a bad feeling.
Sui Ning curved his brows and eyes, leaned in close, and flashed a slightly smug little devilish smile right in front of him. Enunciating each word clearly, he said, “The career fans say—no horny stuff allowed.”
Ji Yunyu: …?????
But PNG doesn’t even have a match right now—?
Which unlucky kid said that?!
Before Ji Yunyu could protest, Sui Ning had already slipped free of his arms. After tidying his mussed hair and smoothing the wrinkled corners of his clothes, he prepared to head back to the training room.
As usual, he left Ji Yunyu with his back.
But this time, after taking two steps forward, Sui Ning turned sideways and looked back, a little puzzled. “…Aren’t you coming?”
Utter defeat.
Ji Yunyu laughed helplessly and moved to Sui Ning’s side. “I am.”
He had given all his love to this person—someone who talked to himself and never, ever wanted to be on the losing end—allowing the other to tug effortlessly at every one of his nerves.
But fortunately, the place beside that person belonged to him alone.
Thinking this, Ji Yunyu took the young man’s hand in a grip that brooked no refusal.
Of course, Sui Ning had no intention of refusing anyway.
——
They both agreed that, for now, it was best not to make things public in front of their teammates.
…Although Cheng Su seemed to have already figured it out, Ji Yunyu thought to himself.
Before entering the training room, Sui Ning and Ji Yunyu each took half a step back to check one another, doing their best to rein in the pink bubbles filling the air. After fussing around for quite a while, they finally pushed the door open.
Cheng Su was once again the first to hear the sound and turn around—nearly suffocated on the spot by the sickly-sweet stench of romance clinging to the two of them.
He pulled a thoroughly speechless expression and looked away.
Lin Zhaoxu was sitting in Sui Ning’s seat, wearing a headband with the word “Wind” written on it.
When he saw Sui Ning come back, he nearly burst into tears of joy. “—Feng-bao!! You’re finally back!! Where did you go? Why were you gone so long?!”
Sui Ning: “Uh.”
“The moderators just came by to inspect your stream earlier. When they saw you weren’t there, they were about to dock your hours!”
Lin Zhaoxu puffed out his chest proudly. “Good thing I was quick-witted and turned on the camera to stream for you! How about it—don’t I deserve a ‘good brother’ for this?!”
Sui Ning turned his head and glanced at his screen. The barrage was already flooded with countless messages: [Feng-bao, come back quickly, son Xuxu is staging a coup!]
Looking again at Lin Zhaoxu’s self-moved expression, the corner of his mouth twitched. “Thanks.”
Lin Zhaoxu: “No problem. As long as you’ve got me in your heart.”
Ji Yunyu: ……
Ji Yunyu couldn’t even be bothered to get annoyed anymore. This kid was just an idiot. He’d already gotten the guy he liked—arguing with him now would only cheapen himself.
He exchanged a glance with Sui Ning, and the two of them sat down at their stations.
The camera swayed past, as if catching something.
[????]
[…Am I seeing things???]
[W-wait a second, that ‘Tranquility Leads Far’ shirt…]
[Holy shit…]
Sui Ning stiffened for a moment. With a screen full of question marks staring at him, he calmly turned off the camera.
His tone was perfectly normal. “I’m back. Let me check the time… we can still play two or three more games.”
[?? Feng-bao, you???]
[Why black screen? Why black screen? Why black screen?]
[Black screen equals guilty conscience—repeat, black screen equals guilty conscience!!!]
[Explain!!! Feng-bao, why are you wearing Yun’s clothes!!]
[ …Are you CP fans all losing your minds? Close friends wearing matching clothes is totally normal, okay? Forget matching—wearing the same exact piece is normal too!]
[True, I borrowed my roommate’s clothes back in college. This kind of thing is pretty common. You “brotherhood shippers” are getting a bit too excited.]
Various “firsthand witnesses of brotherhood” stepped in to testify, and the doubtful comments and CP-fan barrages were quickly drowned out.
Even the fans started doubting themselves: Have we really been too obsessed lately? In real life, this really is a small thing—Feng-bao and God Yun are ironclad bros. What’s wrong with swapping clothes?
The CP fans let out long, sorrowful sighs. They’d been squeezing sugar until they were hallucinating. Sigh—another day of praying for Cloud Follows the Wind to get married soon.
[It’s all because this pair feels too real]
[+1]
[+1……]
……
Sui Ning and Ji Yunyu duo-queued for three matches.
During the queue intervals, the two of them coincidentally reported today’s “results” to the same behind-the-scenes matchmaker.
Sui Ning opened his chat with Xu Hexuan.
[Go With the Flow and Be at Peace]: Thanks.
[Xu Hexuan]: ?????
[Xu Hexuan]: Holy Shit.
[Xu Hexuan]: Holy shit??? Did my CP actually come true???
[Go With the Flow and Be at Peace]: [shy cat]
That was basically an admission.
Xu Hexuan was so excited he nearly dropped his phone. He sent several consecutive 60-second voice messages, joy overflowing—Damn it!! I struck gold for real!!
I can stay single, but my CP can’t!!
[Xu Hexuan]: Details details details—hurry up and give me some details!! Tell me everything!!
[Xu Hexuan]: What stage are you at now? You kissed, right? Definitely kissed, right? The way that little wolf-dog looks at you is like he’s staring at meat—if you so much as nodded, he’d probably go crazy with happiness!
[Xu Hexuan]: How’s his technique? Can you even catch your breath?
[Go With the Flow and Be at Peace]: …
Forced to relive that first kiss from just now, Sui Ning’s face heated up. He really didn’t want to deal with this useless friend anymore—didn’t even want to listen to that whole string of voice messages.
His skin still wasn’t thick enough to describe his love life to a buddy in detail.
But Xu Hexuan had no intention of letting him off.
[Xu Hexuan]: Don’t be shy, come on—
[User Xu Hexuan has transferred 0.5 yuan to you (awaiting acceptance)]
[Xu Hexuan]: Come on, let’s chat for fifty cents!
[Xu Hexuan]: Was it a wet kiss? Describe it—give me some details so I can better reconstruct the “original text.”
[Go With the Flow and Be at Peace]: …? What do you mean?
Xu Hexuan didn’t answer directly, just let out a mischievous chuckle.
[Xu Hexuan]: Did you do it yet… oh wait, never mind, it’s only been how long—probably not.
[Xu Hexuan]: They say male high schoolers are harder than diamonds, hehehe. So—have you seen the diamond yet?
[Go With the Flow and Be at Peace]: …[speechless cat]
Sui Ning completely lost the desire to reply.
Xu Hexuan didn’t think his “car speed” was too fast at all—both of those youngsters were hot-blooded boys, so fast progress was perfectly normal. Of course, as a steadfast career fan, he still firmly stood by the “no that-before-the-match” principle.
But if Sui Ning wouldn’t talk, was he not allowed to fill in the blanks himself?
After getting excited on his own for a while, Xu Hexuan switched to his smurf account and continued howling in the big CP group and the fanfic-production group, then finally clicked into the #CloudFollowstheWind# tag.
[HeHeHasACry]: Inspiration overflowing—no sleep tonight. Made something everyone loves > shared link “Sealed with a Kiss” (Original Esports AU + Clean)
Comment: Front row! It’s here—my favorite orthodox esports AU! After reading tons of fic, I’ve realized Teacher He’s writing still matches real life the best!!
Comment: Me seeing “clean” in the title: tsk. Me reading the actual text: the wheel almost flattened my face… How does Teacher He manage to make just kissing feel this explicit?
Comment: Maybe because it’s not just kissing—there’s touching too…
Comment: Wuwuwu, how does this not go straight to the wedding night? I’m not very satisfied 5555
On the other side, Ji Yunyu also sent a message to Cheng Wensheng.
[Cloud]: Thanks.
[Wensheng]: [speechless cat]
Cheng Wensheng rolled his eyes and blocked Ji Yunyu.
——
By the early hours of the morning, Sui Ning and Ji Yunyu still logged off right on time.
Even though the pink bubbles between them were frankly a bit outrageous—smiling whenever they called each other’s names, constantly whispering things no one else could hear—fans still said goodbye with teary eyes, utterly reluctant to part.
Ji Yunyu went back to his room and took a shower first, thinking as he washed about buying matching body wash with Sui Ning—not just body wash, but everything else too, all in pairs, all in couple sets.
In fact, ever since he’d pushed the two single beds together, he’d already been planning it. But since they shared one bathroom in the dorm suite, he’d been afraid of making things too obvious and putting Sui Ning off, so he’d held back. Now, though…
Sui Ning was lying on the bed scrolling through his phone, the blanket half draped over his waist. When Ji Yunyu came out, still wrapped in warm steam, he turned off the light and quickly burrowed into Sui Ning’s covers, wrapping him up in a tight hug like an octopus.
He kissed Sui Ning’s ear and sighed contentedly. “I’ve wanted to hold you like this for so long. We were clearly sleeping together before; you were so close to me, and I still had to force myself to keep my distance.”
“Do you know? The night before Little Shark came to stream, you were sleeping way too close. I could even feel your breathing—” Ji Yunyu lowered his gaze and said slowly, “I was this close to just holding you while I slept.”
“And then the next day there was a shoot.” He laughed. “We almost would’ve had to come out in front of all the fans.”
Hearing that, Sui Ning turned his head and looked at him for a long moment, then reached up, wrapped an arm around his neck, and gave him a quick kiss on the tip of his nose.
Ji Yunyu smiled, a little boyish.
The curtains weren’t fully drawn, and a few faint streaks of moonlight fell across the bed, letting Sui Ning vaguely make out Ji Yunyu’s outline.
Their current posture was intimately close, like a pair of mandarin ducks with entwined necks—warm, tender, brimming with affection, without any lewdness. Sui Ning closed his eyes and lay quietly in Ji Yunyu’s arms.
“Thank you.”
Ji Yunyu suddenly said.
Sui Ning lifted his head in confusion. “For what?”
“I still can’t quite believe it—you really gave me this chance.”
Ji Yunyu smiled, resting his chin against the crown of Sui Ning’s head. “…It still feels a bit unreal.”
Sui Ning thought for a moment, the corners of his lips lifting into a faint smile.
He hooked Ji Yunyu’s neck and pulled him down, giving him a light kiss. “Does it feel real now?”
Ji Yunyu licked his lips and said against his better judgment, “Hard to tell… kiss me again.”
Clingy. Sui Ning couldn’t help laughing, and kissed him again.
One kiss after another—at some point, the two of them ended up stuck together, the blanket kicked aside, the atmosphere gradually heating up.
After a while, Sui Ning, breathing a little hard, pushed away Ji Yunyu, who was just as flushed.
Meeting Ji Yunyu’s burning gaze, he spoke with a half-smile. “Don’t get so excited.”
The boy froze for a moment, not quite processing it.
Sui Ning’s eyes flicked downward pointedly.
Only then did Ji Yunyu understand what he meant—the “diamond” was being a little too impressive.
“This isn’t my fault,” Ji Yunyu blinked innocently. “It’s a normal reaction.”
He reached out and hooked Sui Ning’s little finger.
Sui Ning ignored him, calmly pulling the blanket back over himself, looking completely ready to sleep peacefully.
Ji Yunyu puffed out his cheeks, then crawled back under the covers, pressing tightly against his beloved.
His eyes, bright as morning stars, stared straight at Sui Ning as he stammered, “Um… can I…?”
“Hm?”
The boy made a suggestive little movement under the blanket.
Sui Ning smiled faintly. “No.”
Ji Yunyu’s face fell in dissatisfaction. “Why not? Aren’t I your boyfriend? Just help a little… this is normal, isn’t it? What’s wrong with it?”
Sui Ning turned to the side and closed his eyes. “Good night.”
“Ah—don’t sleep!” the boy protested relentlessly.
……
“…Are you done yet?”
Sui Ning looked up, weary, his voice tired.
Ji Yunyu’s toned muscles were coated with a thin layer of sweat, his voice slightly restrained. “N-not yet…”
He held Sui Ning’s hand and kissed his deep, water-mist-colored eyes.
——
The next day, Lin Zhaoxu was unusually enthusiastic when he saw Sui Ning in the training room.
No surprise—last night he had run into the same terrible teammate for five consecutive games, and they were always on his side, reversing the ranking.
Rank and Glory Stars aside, the real issue was that due to these losses, Lin Zhaoxu’s multiple marksman heroes had their power weakened, severely affecting the end-of-month national ranking. He urgently needed Feng-bao’s guidance.
“Feng-bao, emergency!” Lin Zhaoxu rambled as he circled Sui Ning. “Come duo queue with me! Forget about Cloud that idiot—we’ll duo queue, be unstoppable! Tear through the valley!”
Sui Ning looked a bit helpless, opening his mouth a few times but saying nothing.
Before he could decide what to say, Ji Yunyu, holding back a laugh, answered for him: “Not today. He’s playing Spirit Fawn with me this morning to climb ranks.”
Lin Zhaoxu: ? What’s that?
He gave the same skeptical look as an old man staring at a phone in the subway. “Don’t trick me—wasn’t that hero retired by Feng-bao? How could the #1 mid lane kill god in HPL play that??”
Ji Yunyu answered cheerfully, “His hands are sore, he can’t play right now.”
Sui Ning immediately shot him a glare.
Lin Zhaoxu looked around, utterly confused.
Cheng Su, who had been forced to listen the whole time: Hush Fox speechless.jpg
He almost wished he could pour a cup of water over his ears.
As a pure spectator before, Cheng Su had enjoyed watching excitement. But he never expected Ji Yunyu to show off so much after winning his prize—since last night, every action of the two of them had been basically a public announcement.
If the teammates weren’t the two as blunt as steel—Wei Ye and Lin Zhaoxu—PNG would probably have three people hospitalized due to vision problems caused by excessive sugar attacks.
…Now it was just him, quietly being pelted with dog food—feeling a bit lonely.
Cheng Su sighed softly, replaying yesterday in his mind, and finally realized the key: that bastard Cheng Wensheng definitely played a big assist.
Following the “misery loves company” philosophy, Cheng Su sneered, took out his phone, and messaged his older brother:
[You made me sleepless]: Well done.
[Wensheng]: .
A whole day of good mood ended as soon as he saw his younger brother’s message upon waking.
Cheng Wensheng couldn’t help himself—he blocked his younger brother too.
——
In the afternoon, Chen Chen and the coaching team gathered the players to officially analyze the playoff format.
Chen Chen stood in front of the whiteboard, writing and drawing.
There are two playoffs a year, spring and summer, and only the top ten teams in the regular season qualify. The summer playoffs have an extra function compared to spring—they determine the region’s spots for the World Championship.
The summer champion becomes HPL’s #1 seed to represent Huaguo. The #2, #3, and #4 seeds are also determined according to the rules after the summer playoffs.
To prevent strong teams from being unexpectedly eliminated, the playoffs use a double-elimination system: teams losing in the fourth round of a BO5 enter a redemption match, and a second loss eliminates them.
Additionally, playoff groups (A/B) and rounds aren’t randomly drawn.
To ensure fairness and transparency while minimizing weak team concealment and strong team internal conflict, HPL set detailed rules: the first round has lower-ranked teams play first, up to the fourth round, where the top 1 and 2 teams from the regular season appear as the A/B group “gatekeeper bosses.”
Chen Chen copied PNG’s match info onto the whiteboard.
[Fourth Round]
Bracket A: G5 Winner vs PNG (1) - Game 7
“Our first match is against the winner of A group’s third round. We don’t know who yet.”
“If everything goes smoothly, we only need to play three BO5s for the whole playoff.” Chen Chen shrugged. “Of course, if not smooth, two BO5s and back home.”
He was referring to the double-elimination system—although there’s a “revival” layer, two consecutive losses and it doesn’t matter who you are, even the #1 seed—you’re out. Everyone in the meeting room understood his meaning and let out friendly laughter.
Because they were among their own people, Chen Chen spoke quite frankly: “The teams in our group are TMX, ELG, GEN, and TL. No need to say much about ELG. TMX hasn’t been performing well this season either—they just can’t get it together.”
ELG was ranked ninth, looked formidable on paper, but in actual matches often made brain-melting mistakes, with chaotic command that Chen Chen even suspected they might argue mid-game. In one word: trash.
TMX didn’t need much comment—they were crushed by PNG.
Chen Chen continued, “Overall, TL seems the strongest. Our main opponent should come from GEN or TL. The other two teams are still quite a ways behind them.”
Sui Ning and his teammates agreed with this assessment.
Of course, “favoring” TL didn’t guarantee they would advance. PNG would continue to monitor other teams’ matches closely.
Sui Ning thought it felt pretty good to be comfortably seated at the top, waiting for challengers.
“Group B has AQ, FR, Navic, Star.L, and HTG. There’s a bit more uncertainty there. If we reach the fifth round, we’ll face the winner from Group B.”
Chen Chen wrote the team names on the whiteboard, circling each as he said it. “Star and HTG are very close in strength—it’s hard to say who will come out on top in a BO5.”
AQ and FR were basically guaranteed to lag behind.
Then Chen Chen drew a larger circle, enclosing the last three teams. “Navic is interesting—they’re currently 7th and will start from the first round of Group B. I heard Meng Xiyue might return. Their new mid, Fiw, has performed decently in the second half, and with rotations alongside Meng Xiyue, they might be able to put up a fight.”
But he said this more casually than anything. Mountains of obstacles stood in Navic’s way, and there were too many variables that could cause unexpected results.
Finally, Chen Chen summarized.
PNG’s first match is in the fourth round, with a long gap beforehand. This has both pros and cons.
The advantage is more time to prepare and observe the opponent. The downside is a long “idle period,” during which players’ touch may fluctuate. During this time, the coaching team scheduled lots of training matches with other teams—
This is the benefit of being first in the rankings.
Everyone wants to training match with strong teams to learn and improve, and once you’re the strong team, you get to pick your opponents—you aren’t picked by anyone.
Additionally, Chen Chen scheduled training matches with many overseas teams, especially strong teams from Korea and the West.
After all… even if there’s only a one-in-a-thousand chance of winning the cup, they need to prepare, train early, and not go into battle against overseas powerhouses blind.
Chen Chen sighed quietly.
Actually, the overall summer situation wasn’t particularly favorable for PNG.
The HPL’s world championship seed selection relies on an important “annual points” system: Spring/Summer champion +60, runner-up +40, third +30, fourth +20, fifth and sixth +10.
The region’s #2 seed will be the team with the highest annual points.
The #3 seed is determined by the team with the next highest annual points (excluding #1 and #2) versus the highest-ranked summer playoff team, taking the winner.
The #4 seed is the next two highest annual points teams (excluding the top four) playing each other, and the winner faces the loser of the #3 seed match.
PNG was ranked 14th in spring, meaning they earned 0 points.
Other summer playoff teams had spring points, so if PNG performed poorly in the elimination stage, scoring only 10 or 20 points, their chance of securing a world championship spot would depend entirely on others.
In other words, if PNG didn’t win the summer championship, their chance of going to Worlds would be almost zero.
No success means total failure.
“…That’s roughly it. Everyone clear?”
Chen Chen tapped the whiteboard.
“Clear.”
Sui Ning took a deep breath, his hand under the table clenched into a fist, a mix of nervousness and swelling anticipation in his chest.
Ji Yunyu glanced at him and, where no one else could see, gently placed his hand over Sui Ning’s, opening his fist and entwining their fingers, finally locking all ten together.
----------
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