The staff breakroom was technically a supply closet with chairs.
Yin Yue didn't care.
He stormed in with righteous purpose, slammed his cup of lukewarm matcha on the folding table, and said:
"We need to talk."
Liang Yu, seated calmly on a crate and eating an apple like he wasn't the villain in this romantic drama, just looked up. "About?"
"You know what about."
"Do I?"
Yin Yue growled. "The almost-kiss. The alley. The confession disguised as a truth-or-dare answer. You can't just drop romantic depth and then go back to your regularly scheduled emotional constipation."
Liang Yu tilted his head. "You didn't run this time."
"That's because I'm trying to be mature."
"Define mature."
"I'm confronting you instead of pretending it didn't happen!"
"You mean like you did after the closet incident?"
Yin Yue blinked.
"Excuse me?"
"You avoided me for two days."
"I was busy!"
"You made a blanket fort behind the pastry case and hid in it."
Yin Yue pointed. "That was emotional processing. Do not mock the fort."
> 💻 SYSTEM 520:
📊 Argument Intensity: 68%
💘 ML Affection +3 (He likes when you fight back)
🫠 Host Mood: Like a shaken soda bottle
Yin Yue sat across from him. "Just tell me what this is."
Liang Yu wiped his fingers with a napkin. "What do you want it to be?"
"I asked first."
"I'm asking now."
Yin Yue stared at him. "Are you always like this in relationships?"
"I'm not in one."
"Well," Yin Yue snapped, "neither am I, apparently!"
Silence.
Liang Yu set the apple core aside. "Would it make it easier if I kissed you?"
Yin Yue choked. "That's not the point.."
"Then what's the point?"
"I want to know if this is real!"
Liang Yu looked at him. Really looked and stay quiet.
Then: "Would you believe me if I said I've been trying not to make it real?"
Yin Yue blinked.
"I don't do this," Liang Yu said, voice soft. "I don't make room for people. I don't tie aprons. I don't eat lunch I didn't make."
"Then why are you doing it?"
Liang Yu didn't answer.
Not out loud.
But his eyes said everything.
Yin Yue swallowed.
"Say it."
"Not like this," Liang Yu said again.
And this time, it wasn't avoidance.
It was a promise.
"I challenge you," Yin Yue declared while wielding a milk pitcher like a weapon. "To a rematch."
Liang Yu, seated at the bar counter mid-inventory check, didn't even glance up. "No."
"You can't say no. That's illegal."
"Since when?"
"Since now. Feelings are unstable. The only answer is this foam-based violence."
> 💻 SYSTEM 520:
💥 New Mission: Resolve Tension With A Battle of Beverages
🎯 Emotional Turbulence: High
🧠 Passive-Aggressive Flirt Mode: Activated
Liang Yu finally raised his gaze, calm and still. "You're challenging me to a latte duel because you're emotionally overwhelmed."
"I'm challenging you because you're emotionally evasive and it's the only arena in which I can assert dominance."
Jiang Mei popped up from behind the syrup rack like a chaos goblin. "Did someone say unresolved sexual tension contest?"
"We said latte art," Yin Yue muttered.
"Same thing."
Liang Yu sighed. "Fine. Five minutes. Loser does dishes."
"Winner gets eye contact privileges."
Liang Yu blinked. "What does that even mean?"
"Exactly," Yin Yue said, already steaming milk. "Fear me."
The café filled with the scent of espresso, the hiss of the steamer, and the buzzing of full drama.
Yin Yue poured furiously, tongue poking out in concentration. He went for a swan but it came out looking like a melted goose.
Liang Yu, beside him, poured with quiet precision. His design was clean, delicate and look too good.
A fox, ears perked, tail curled.
"I hate you," Yin Yue muttered.
"You're talking to your latte again."
"I'm talking to your latte. Because it's smug."
Jiang Mei leaned over the counter. "Judgment time!"
She studied both cups, arms crossed, eyes narrowed.
Yin Yue held his breath.
She pointed at his first. "Yours looks like it's going through a divorce."
"Rude."
"Yours," she said to Liang Yu, "is technically better. But it lacks the emotional trauma."
Liang Yu raised an eyebrow. "And that's required?"
"For art, yes."
"Just pick a winner," Yin Yue said, already bracing for defeat.
"I refuse."
"What?"
"You're both emotionally compromised and this entire competition is just one long coded love confession. So I abstain."
> 💻 SYSTEM 520:
📈 Affection +4
💘 Current Score: 77/100
🎯 Status: Confessions pending. Milk wasted.
Yin Yue huffed, wiping his hands on a towel. "Fine. We're both losers."
"You said winner gets eye contact privileges," Liang Yu said, sipping his espresso.
Yin Yue turned to him.
Liang Yu met his eyes.
Didn't look away.
Didn't blink.
And held it.
Longer than he needed to.
Longer than was polite.
Yin Yue's breath hitched.
Then Liang Yu said, quietly, "I'll collect later."
And walked off.
Yin Yue stared at the floor.
Jiang Mei high-fived the air.
The rooftop was quiet.
The city sprawled beyond the edge, lights flickering like tired stars. Yin Yue leaned against the railing, arms crossed, heart pacing faster than his thoughts.
He heard the door creak behind him.
Didn't turn.
"Don't," he said. "I need exactly five minutes of dramatic rooftop sulking before you ruin it by being logical."
Liang Yu stepped forward anyway. "Too late."
Yin Yue exhaled. "Of course."
Silence stretched between them. Wind tugged at his shirt. His frustration clung tighter.
"You can't keep doing this," Yin Yue said finally.
"Doing what?"
"That!" He turned, gesturing wildly. "That thing where you flirt and then retreat. Lean in, then pull away. Look at me like you want something and then walk off like I imagined it."
Liang Yu's gaze was steady. "I never said you imagined it."
"That's even worse!"
Liang Yu didn't reply.
Yin Yue pushed away from the railing. "Do you even know what you're doing to me? I haven't slept in three days. I rehearse comebacks in the mirror. I almost kissed you last week and instead you offered me barley tea."
"You said you liked it."
"I said I liked YOU, you emotionally delinquent espresso ghost!"
Pause.
Then: "...Did you mean to say that?"
Yin Yue blinked.
Silence.
Then, quietly: "...Yes."
Liang Yu finally moved. Closer. Measured steps. Not slow and not fast, just steady.
"I don't know how to do this," he said.
"You are doing this," Yin Yue whispered. "Just badly."
"I don't date. I don't open up. I don't even let people tie their shifts with mine."
"You tie my apron."
Liang Yu looked at him, usually his eyes sharp and unreadable. But now it cracked.
"I don't know what this is," he said. "But it's yours. If you want it."
Yin Yue stared.
Heart pounding.
"You don't get to say things like that and just not kiss me."
Liang Yu stepped closer.
Hand brushed his wrist.
Then his jaw.
Then paused.
Their faces were inches apart.
> 💥 SYSTEM 520:
⚠️ CRITICAL TENSION LEVEL
💘 AFFECTION: 85/100
💬 KISS WINDOW: 2.1 seconds
But Liang Yu didn't close the gap.
He held there.
Still.
Like he was waiting for something.
Yin Yue's breath hitched. "Are you seriously backing off again?"
Liang Yu's hand dropped.
"I want to kiss you," he said. "But I don't want it to feel like an accident."
Yin Yue blinked. "Then stop making it feel like one."
A long pause.
Then, very quietly: "Don't go."
Liang Yu didn't.
Yin Yue stepped back to the railing.
Turned away.
Screamed into the void.
"I swear to GOD, if he doesn't kiss me next time I'm quitting this world!"
The café was nearly empty.
Late evening glow painted the walls in soft gold. Yin Yue wiped down the counter for the third time, not because it needed it, but because it gave his hands something to do other than tremble.
Across from him, Liang Yu counted tip bills like nothing had happened at the rooftop. Like he hadn't stepped into Yin Yue's space, stolen his breath, and said everything except the thing Yin Yue actually needed to hear.
The silence felt dense. One word away from snapping.
Yin Yue set the rag down. "Are you just going to act like that rooftop conversation didn't happen?"
Liang Yu didn't look up. "It happened."
"Then say something."
"Like what?"
Yin Yue exhaled sharply. "I don't know. Say you like me or say you hate me. Say you want to make out next to the espresso machine. Just.. say something real."
Liang Yu finally looked up.
His eyes were calm.
But his voice not.
"I want to kiss you."
Yin Yue blinked.
Liang Yu stepped forward. One slow, deliberate step.
"But I don't want to do it like it's an accident," he continued. "Not because of timing or tension or just because the room went too quiet."
Another step.
"I want to kiss you because you know it's coming. Because I said it out loud. Because you didn't have to guess."
Yin Yue's heart kicked. "And?"
"And I like you."
He was right in front of him now.
"I like your noise. Your panic. Your dumb apron tying. I like that you're the first thing I notice when I walk in, and the last thought before I go to sleep. I like you."
Silence.
Yin Yue opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
> 💻 SYSTEM 520:
💘 ML AFFECTION: 92/100
⚠️ Host Emotion: Overwhelmed
💬 System Suggestion: Confess. Or kiss. Or short-circuit impressively.
"I…" Yin Yue tried.
He couldn't think. Couldn't breathe.
He laughed just a little. "You had me at 'apron tying.'"
Liang Yu's lips twitched. "I thought so."
Their fingers brushed.
Then—
Liang Yu reached out.
Took his hand.
Didn't kiss him.
Didn't need to.
Because for the first time—
he didn't let go.