Obsessed with a High-Ranking Esper (BL)-Chapter 195: Your ears are red

Jian Ci had been too stunned to react. Too stunned to stop it and Yu Xi... he didn’t remember. He couldn’t othewise he would have said something. Jian Ci had also never brought it up.

It had been his first kiss. And now, every time Yu Xi said that word, it made his heart stutter.

He turned quickly, eyes landing on the other three, who were staring at him like obedient dogs waiting for a command.

"What are you all looking at me for?" he snapped. "Go dish up. I am not dishing up for you."

The three moved instantly, clattering toward the food like a pack released from command.

Jian Ci risked a glance back at Yu Xi. Yu Xi was watching him, brow slightly furrowed. "What’s wrong?"

"Nothing," Jian Ci said too quickly. "Why?"

Yu Xi tilted his head. "Your ears are red."

Jian Ci slapped his hands over them. "No they are not," he muttered, and turned on his heel, walking away before he could expose himself.

Yu Xi’s brow arched as he watched him go. He knew Jian Ci too well.

There was something he wasn’t saying. Something he was hiding. It seemed Yu Xi wasn’t the only one with secrets

***

The workshop buzzed with energy, bright overhead lights casting sharp shadows across rows of half-dismantled mechs, the scent of coolant and scorched alloy thick in the air. Students moved between workbenches, muttering to themselves, tools clinking, sparks flying. It was the final stretch. There were two exams standing between them and graduation. One was a written exam and the other a mech battle.

Yu Xi sat hunched over his station, the neural interface console open before him like a stubborn puzzle. His fingers trembled slightly as he tried to align the psi-conductive filaments, the delicate threads refusing to settle into place. Sparks snapped at his fingertips, and he let out a soft, frustrated breath.

He wasn’t actually struggling. But he looked like he was and that was enough.

On the workbench next to his, Jian Ci’s head snapped up. His expression tightened the way it always did when Yu Xi looked even remotely distressed. He set down his own tools, wiped his hands on a cloth, and strode over, his steps clipped and purposeful.

Yu Xi didn’t look up, but he could feel the shift in the air. the moment Jian Ci’s shadow fell across his workbench.

"Little Xi," Jian Ci said, voice low and firm, "you are forcing the flow. The resonance won’t stabilize if you push it like that."

Yu Xi glanced up, sweat beading at his temple, then back down at the console, carefully concealing the small smile tugging at his lips.

Jian Ci leaned in, his presence steadying. He pointed to the filament nodes, his finger hovering just above the surface. "Here, steady your aura. Let it guide the alignment. The console responds to precision, not brute force."

His tone was serious, unyielding, the kind of voice that made people listen. Yu Xi nodded, adjusting his posture, letting his aura settle just enough to make it look like he was trying harder.

He could have done this in his sleep. But if pretending meant Jian Ci would hover close, would speak to him in that quiet, focused way, would touch his hand to guide a wire into place so Yu Xi kept "struggling" all semester long. And maybe a little longer, if he could get away with it.

Yu Xi nodded, eyes fixed on the console, but his awareness was elsewhere. It was anchored to the warmth of Jian Ci’s body pressed lightly against his back. Every breath Jian Ci took seemed to graze the nape of his neck, sending a ripple of heat down his spine. He moved slower, more deliberately, not just to follow the instructions but to prolong the moment.

Jian Ci’s hand reached forward, fingers brushing Yu Xi’s wrist to adjust the angle of the filament. "Here," he said, voice low and steady. "Let your aura guide it. Don’t force the flow."

Together, they aligned the psi-conductive threads. The sparks faded, replaced by a soft, steady hum as the console’s resonance stabilized. The interface lit up in a clean pulse of blue. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Yu Xi bit his lower lip, a flicker of disappointment rising in his chest. It was already over.

Jian Ci straightened, stepping back. His gaze remained sharp, but there was a flicker of approval in his eyes. "Good. Remember, patience and control. That’s how you master the interface."

Yu Xi was just about to ask another question, any question, really, when a voice rang out from somewhere behind them.

"Well, well. The number one student in the entire academy doesn’t know how to repair a neural interface console. How interesting."

It was Alarna.Yu Xi turned to look at her, his expression the picture of innocent confusion. "Huh?"

Inside, he was smug. He was sure she had seen the whole thing.

Jian Ci slid his hand into his pocket, casual as ever. "Oh hey."

Yu Xi glanced at him. Over the years, he had come to understand something about Jian Ci. He was the very definition of a bad boyfriend. A walking red flag. He would get Alarna anything she asked for, no hesitation.

But beyond that? He rarely went the extra mile. No spontaneous gestures, no emotional check-ins, no real effort to understand her moods. And yet, Alarna stayed. Yu Xi found her patience fascinating.

Yu Xi had once asked him late one evening when the lights were low and the air between them felt too honest to lie, why he always seemed so distant with Alarna. Yu Xi didn’t even know what possessed him that night to ask such a question.

Jian Ci had stared at the ceiling for a long moment before answering. "I don’t know why," he said. "But whenever I am around her, something in me makes me resistant. I am trying."

Yu Xi hadn’t said anything then. He didn’t need to. He already knew why.

What he really wanted to know though was if they had kissed and... but that question was too painful to ask.

Alarna’s discomfort around Yu Xi was never subtle. It was in the way her smile tightened when she walked in on them talking too closely, in the way her eyes lingered on Jian Ci’s hand if it so much as brushed Yu Xi’s sleeve. She didn’t say it, but she didn’t have to. Her expression said everything.

"Can we talk?" Alarna’s voice cut through the workshop, sharp and poised.

Jian Ci didn’t move. He pressed his palm flat against the workbench, gaze still on the console. "Sure."

Alarna’s eyes flicked to Yu Xi. "Let’s talk outside."

Jian Ci finally turned, nodding. "Sure." Then to Yu Xi, with a calmness that bordered on casual, "If you have any other questions, wait for me to come back, okay?"

Yu Xi gave a small nod. "Mn."