The moment they arrived at the centre of the water park, Lan Yuning's face paled when he saw rides that went in 360-degree loops with translucent fibreglass.
Children were screaming from thrill which Lan Yuning didn't understand how or why. All the raft rides and slides just looked too frightening that he slowly stepped back.
Gu Xiao noticed the fear in his eyes and grabbed his slender wrist with the same foolish smile, dragging him towards the public park area where the water levels only reached halfway to their calves.
"Let's go to that slide. That one's for two people," Gu Xiao beamed and pulled him across the pool.
At this point, Lan Yuning had no more energy to refute and just followed him. The slide didn't have a high-rise fall, so Gu Xiao hoped it wouldn't scare Lan Yuning away, but since the whole slide was set high above the ground, it still might have been too extreme for him.
"It's alright. I'll sit in front," Gu Xiao chuckled.
He had already forgotten he was still holding onto Lan Yuning's wrist the whole time, but none of them said anything about it, so he just subconsciously hung on.
...
Letting out a sigh, Lan Yuning just went on the slide. Seeing how happy Gu Xiao was, his mind didn't have any thoughts to refuse and prevent him from doing what he wanted.
It was refreshing to feel the cold water splash on their skin amongst the scorching heat, washing away their sweat.
When they reached back to the ground, Gu Xiao helped Lan Yuning up and held him by his hand instead of his wrist this time.
It was only after a few more rides that he realised Gu Xiao had been basically dragging him everywhere while holding his hand. Sometimes he would shift to only holding four fingers, sometimes even grabbing hold of two.
But the boy didn't cling tightly, letting the water cascade between their fingertips to sometimes loosen their connection.
Strangely, when that happened, Lan Yuning found himself lightly curling his fingers so they wouldn't split apart.
"Hey."
Gu Xiao let out an "Ah?" and turned around with a large grin.
Lan Yuning glanced down. "Do you hold hands with everyone?"
It was only after when he pointed it out did Gu Xiao noticed this. He let out a short laugh, and the other looked at him in confusion.
"I didn't even know. Sorry, it's a habit."
"...A habit?"
"Yeah. Every time I bring our neighbour's kid to parks, I always hold their hand. They always end up lost or falling somewhere."
"But I'm not a kid," he said.
"Yeah, but I feel like you will run away," he laughed and immediately withdrew his arm back. "Sorry, sorry. Let's go over there."
Lan Yuning's lips pursed, and he uttered something, though it was too quiet for Gu Xiao to hear since there was water clogging his ears.
Gu Xiao shook his head and smacked his head twice to get the water out, and finally could listen to the surrounding noises clearer.
When Lan Yuning saw the absence of that water-drenched hand that wrapped around him from the beginning until now, his palm felt empty. It was like something inside of him sunk and left a cold hollowness inside.
"...Hand..."
Gu Xiao turned around and said, "Ah?"
Lan Yuning put his palm out, and without thinking, he said, "...Give me your hand. What if I end up slipping?"
Surprised by the request, Gu Xiao's brows raised, and he looked at the pale hand presented before him.
Without saying anything more, Gu Xiao smiled and reached for his hand once again before letting out a soft chuckle.
Lan Yuning didn't know why he said that. He was most definitely not a child or a toddler. It wasn't like him to say things without allowing it to go through a thorough process in his mind.
His ears flushed red, and he wanted to withdraw his arm back, but the tall figure had already started dragging him to another area.
Just then, words that sunk into the pits of his memories reappeared.
"Isn't it weird? Two grown boys holding hands?"
"Just this distance is fine."
"Let's not do this in public, ok? Let's keep it a secret."
Lan Yuning wasn't sure if Gu Xiao didn't have any self-awareness of his actions, but he said nothing.
Seeing Gu Xiao in front of him, pulling him around with their fingers intertwining, aroused his heart to flutter.
He was startled for a moment when Gu Xiao did indeed reach out again, and while he offered his hand, he was completely immovable from fluster compared to him.
"Student President, you are really cute, you know that?"
Feeling his neck burning, Lan Yuning's heart raced at the sudden comment. It was just a remark that probably meant nothing to Gu Xiao, but for Lan Yuning, his blood started stirring and boiling.
The warmth looped in his stomach that his fingers started trembling.
He was afraid of how he was behaving.
Whenever Gu Xiao was around, he always found himself blurting out the most unusual things out of his character, but that wasn't what he was nervous about.
He was nervous about the way Gu Xiao made him feel.
When he was around this tall figure, he didn't need to think or care about anyone else, because all he needed to do was blindly follow his lead.
But when Lan Yuning did that before with He Rong—allowing himself to be carried away by his sweet words of toxicity—all it did was torment him in the end.
After dragging him to multiple water slides and pools, Gu Xiao finally decided to take a break from the rides.
Gu Xiao took him to the main centre, where cafés and souvenir shops filled each level. A claw machine caught Gu Xiao's eyes, and he instantly ran over to play.
He inserted a coin and focused on the sheep with a blue collar.
Lan Yuning nibbled on his popsicle that Gu Xiao shoved at him as he watched the boy's eyes ignite with such concentration.
Surprisingly, he hadn't realised how focused he was on Gu Xiao's face. Every thought of restraint failed him; the curve of the corner of his lips and the shallow dimples constantly drew him in.
The surrounding noises were unable to enter Lan Yuning's ears as he wholly engrossed his attention towards the person before him.
He was unaware that Gu Xiao had turned around, smiling as he waved the small sheep keyring, and continued drifting off into a blank state of infatuation with those pair of dark eyes.
"Student President? Hello? Here."
Lan Yuning snapped out of his thoughts and brought his attention to the small keyring.
Whenever Gu Xiao handed him something, his mind always washed with bewilderment since it was always some random object he would least expect.
Gu Xiao grabbed his hand and placed the little keyring in his palms.
"Are you making fun of me?" Lan Yuning asked.
"Hey, this character is smart too! Maybe his happy attitude will rub onto you, so you aren't grumpy all the time," he joked.
Lan Yuning shoved his popsicle into the hands of the other and inserted a coin into the machine.
His eyes landed on a grey wolf, and he exhausted every drop of his concentration to grab that specific character.
After a moment, he took his popsicle back and gave Gu Xiao a keyring of a small wolf, leaving the other's mouth to gape. Now, he was unsure if he should feel offended.
"Wait, wait, wait, why did you get me this one? Is it because I always fail?"
He didn't respond and just walked away with a face that spoke with complete satisfaction and accomplishment.
He looked at the small sheep keyring and smiled subtly, but the moment Gu Xiao ran up to him, he straightened his lips and slipped the keyring into his pockets.