The bubble tea place near the edge of campus was packed as usual, but the group had managed to claim a corner booth all cramped legs and tangled knees under the table, plastic cups sweating beside half-finished fries.
Wu Suo Wei slurped his peach milk tea with a kind of determined joy that made everyone pause and smile. "This is the best thing I've had all week," he declared. "No offense, Chi Cheng."
Chi Cheng raised an eyebrow without looking up from his phone. "None taken, Da Bao. But say that again when you're hungry later and I refuse to cook."
Suo Wei flushed, grinning into his straw. "I was joking..."
Across the table, Jiang Xiao Shuai quietly dipped a sweet potato fry in whipped cream, expression unreadable. Guo Cheng Yu caught it instantly the thoughtful stare, the way Shuai sometimes leaned back like he was listening for something unsaid. He nudged him under the table.
"You're eating like a sad poet," Cheng Yu murmured with a smirk.
"I am a sad poet," Shuai muttered, but the corner of his mouth twitched.
Chi Cheng finally looked up, eyes moving between them. "You two good?"
Shuai nodded quickly. Cheng Yu's answer came slower, deliberate. "Better than yesterday."
Suo Wei reached across the table, taking a fry from Cheng Yu's tray. "I think you two are cute," he said cheerfully.
Shuai looked betrayed. "You're on their side?"
"I'm on the side of anyone who doesn't make Cheng Yu sulk like a kicked puppy during practice."
Chi Cheng laughed a rare, deep sound that made Suo Wei beam. "He's not wrong."
There was a warmth to the table that hadn't been there before. Not just comfort, but a kind of quiet ease like they were all figuring out how to be vulnerable and messy and still belong in the same room.
Halfway through another round of drinks, Cheng Yu leaned back, arm casually stretching behind Shuai's shoulders not touching, not yet, but close enough that it made Shuai still.
He didn't pull away.
Chi Cheng noticed, smirked slightly, and bumped Suo Wei's knee under the table.
"What?" Suo Wei whispered.
"Nothing." He leaned in, whispering just for him, "Just watching people fall in love."
Suo Wei went pink.
And for a while, the only thing that mattered was the shared laughter, the spill of fries, and the kind of silence that didn't feel empty anymore.