Daniel hardly touched any dishes throughout the meal.
After dinner, it started raining outside.
"Let's go, I'll drive you back."
"Thank you Sir Mason, no need, I'll take a taxi."
Mason, hearing him say "Sir Mason" repeatedly, opened his umbrella, grabbed his wrist, and led him towards his car.
He opened the passenger door and said, "Get in."
Daniel sat in the passenger seat.
Mason drove in silence, and Daniel, listening to the pattering rain outside the car window, was slightly lost in thought.
The car was pulled over to the side of the road.
Mason clamped his chin, forcing him to look at himself, and said, "Daniel, how long are you going to avoid us?"
Daniel was silent.
Suddenly, there was a cool touch on his lips.
Daniel was completely dazed, and he pushed Mason away.
...
The car stopped at Mason's current residence.
Seeing Daniel constantly wiping his lips with his hand, Mason's eyes darkened as he closed the door, pinning Daniel against it, and said, "Do you find me disgusting?"
Daniel turned his head away.
Mason forced him to get closer, holding his chin, and kissed him.
His lips were a bit cool, with a faint taste of alcohol.
Mason held his face, forcing him to look at himself, lowered his head, and touched his nose to Daniel's, saying, "Sir Mason? You're counting on me for a bright future?"
Daniel was dazed, panting slightly, his eyes reddening. The person in front of him, he had known for over twenty years, yet now felt both familiar and strange.
He didn't know where he found the strength, but he pushed Mason away. He was very confused, his mind was blank, and he said, "Aren't we brothers? Why did you kiss me?"
"You damn well know we are brothers. Have you hidden enough? I've long stopped wanting to be your brother. I just want to be with you, to the point where you cry."
The information was too much for Daniel to process.
He leaned against the door, feeling his mind go blank.
This brother, with whom he had eaten, slept, and played together since childhood.
Today, he actually kissed him?
Mason forced him to look up at himself, and lowered his head to capture his lips again.
His lips were soft, just like his waist.
Daniel tried to push him away, but his hands were tightly held, and his waist was pressed against the table behind him.
This was hardly a kiss; it was fierce and unskilled, with lips and teeth occasionally colliding. He invaded his mouth, mingling with his.
Daniel felt like a duckweed, oxygen-deprived, yet Mason's hand was still rubbing his waist.
He couldn't help but moan.
Mason released him and said, "Do you find me disgusting? Why did you leave without saying goodbye? Are you an idiot?"
"I'm not."
"Then why..."
"I was already living unhappily. I couldn't burden you or William anymore." Daniel's eyes reddened as he spoke, leaning against the cabinet behind him and exhaling heavily.
"Daniel, are you an idiot?"
Hearing this, Daniel couldn't hold back the sourness in his nose, and he grinned at Mason, "You're the idiot, I'm your Yang Da Ye."
"You look worse when you laugh than when you cry," Mason said, lifting him onto the table with one hand. He looked down at Daniel and said, "Are you still leaving?"
"Leaving."
"Where to?"
"I don't know."
"Then stay, don't leave." Mason heard his voice trembling, even more afraid that he would disappear again after waking up.
He had left without saying goodbye before, and it had been several years.
Daniel pursed his lips and didn't speak.
"William and I know about what happened before, how silly. We should face things together, why face them alone?"
Daniel didn't speak, just kept crying.
Mason wiped away his tears and gently kissed his eyes, saying, "Stop crying, I won't say it anymore."
Daniel rested his head on his chest and calmly told him about the past few years.
Mason held him in his arms, not saying a word, feeling sour in his heart. When he first saw him, he was heart-wrenchingly distressed.
He was already thin as a washboard, and now even thinner, with a sharper chin.
Daniel always felt this was strange, and he whispered, "Can you let go of me?"
"Why?"
Daniel looked up at him, having to admit that Mason indeed had a good appearance.
His features were upright and somewhat hard, not particularly white, but a very healthy skin tone, with clear edges and a tall, slender figure, and an overly good physique.
Since high school, Daniel had been jealous of him.
Why did he have abs, while he was like a washboard.
Mason looked at him and said, "The first wet dream I had, you were the object, so from then on, I knew I was different from others, I don't like the opposite sex."
"I considered you a brother, and you damn well want to sleep with me."
"I wanted to before, and I still do now."
Daniel: "..."
Daniel bit his chin and said, "You're such an animal."
"I've called you Daniel for so many years, how can you be like a dog, biting people."
Daniel didn't respond, just hooked his neck and kissed his lips.
He didn't know if he liked the same sex, but if it was Mason, he could accept it.
If it were someone else, he couldn't.
Mason was momentarily stunned, then closed his eyes and responded to him.
...
In the bedroom.
Daniel, with his neck tilted back, clutching Mason's hair, was trembling all over.
He was so overwhelmed that he couldn't stand.
Yet Mason kept asking, "Why not call me Sir Mason?"
"Get... get away, fuck you, Mason, you old fart."
"Fuck you, old fart."
"Fuck you, old fart."
"Who am I?"
"You're an idiot, fuck you, Mason, you old fart."
...
In the end, Daniel was carried to the bathroom by him.
He looked at the porcelain-white body with his own marks and smiled with satisfaction.
...
The next morning, Daniel denied everything.
He lay in bed, saying, "That wasn't me yesterday, I was possessed."
Mason: "..."
Mason pulled back the blanket, pinched his chin, and kissed him.
As they kissed, something felt off. Daniel pushed him away and covered himself tightly with the blanket.
Mason looked at him hiding in the blanket and said, "I'm going to cook."
Daniel stuck his head out: "What are we eating?"
"Come see for yourself."
Mason cooked, and Daniel sat on a small stool waiting.
He always felt like he was being kept.
This feeling intensified when Mason moved all his things over and gave him a card, telling him the password was his birthday, and to spend as he wished.
"Mason, I always feel like I'm being kept."
Mason looked back at him and said, "Then come back to the company with me tomorrow."
"What would I do?"
"You can do whatever you want, everyone in the company knows you."
"Can I run around on top of you?"
Mason was silent for a while and said, "As long as you're not embarrassed."
Daniel scratched his nose and said, "I was just joking." He suddenly felt a sense of emotion and said, "I feel like I'm about to be raised into a good-for-nothing by you."
He didn't have to cook, do housework, or even dress himself; Mason did it all for him.
"As long as I'm here, what if you're a little good-for-nothing?"
Daniel's burp broke the atmosphere.
He smiled sheepishly.
Mason just took out a piece of paper and wiped the grease from the corner of his mouth.
The road ahead was long; they had a very, very long future ahead.