Aum changed slowly.
Not because he struggled with the clothes.
Because Xu Chen kept accidentally looking at him.
Which made functioning difficult for everyone involved.
Xu Chen stood near the windows pretending very hard to observe the festival streets below while Aum pulled the charcoal-grey sweater over his head behind him.
Outside, Sanyuejie had fully transformed Dali into motion and sound.
The mountain roads below overflowed with people now. Bright embroidered Bai garments moved through the streets in waves of white, silver, and deep indigo while flower vendors arranged fresh camellias beneath hanging lanterns strung across old stone alleyways.
Smoke rose continuously from food stalls.
Xu Chen could almost identify individual dishes from memory through scent alone:
charcoal-grilled rushan cheese,
roasted yak meat,
steaming claypot rice noodles,
fried rose pastries dusted with sugar.
The city felt alive in a way that made staying indoors impossible now.
Behind him, fabric shifted softly.
Xu Chen's nervous system immediately reacted.
Hopeless.
Absolutely hopeless.
"You are avoiding visual contact intentionally," Aum observed calmly.
Xu Chen stared out the window harder.
"Yes."
"Why."
"Because self-preservation remains important."
A faint pause.
"I remain uncertain how clothing replacement created threat-level consequences."
Xu Chen laughed softly under his breath.
"That's because nobody ever taught you the psychological damage attractive people cause accidentally."
Warm amusement touched Aum's voice behind him.
"That assessment appears emotionally biased."
"It is catastrophically biased."
Silence followed briefly.
Then:
"You may look now."
God.
Xu Chen closed his eyes once before turning.
Big mistake.
Huge mistake.
The charcoal-grey sweater fit Aum far better than the previous oversized black one. Dark fabric framed the width of his shoulders cleanly while the sleeves stopped properly at his wrists now, making him look less sleep-soft and more dangerously composed.
Human.
Beautiful in a way that physically irritated Xu Chen's emotional stability.
The grey made Aum's eyes appear darker somehow beneath the daylight streaming through the bedroom windows.
Xu Chen's throat tightened immediately.
Aum noticed instantly.
"You reacted negatively."
Xu Chen laughed weakly.
"That is unfortunately the opposite of what just happened."
A faint pause.
"You approve."
Xu Chen leaned briefly against the wall beside the wardrobe.
"You genuinely cannot keep asking calm questions while looking like this."
"Like what."
Xu Chen stared at him helplessly.
Like someone I could accidentally build an entire future around.
The thought hit too deeply to say aloud.
Instead Xu Chen exhaled quietly and crossed back toward the wardrobe.
"You need a jacket too," he muttered.
Aum followed automatically.
Again.
Always toward him now.
The movement had become so natural neither of them acknowledged it anymore.
Xu Chen reached for a lighter dark coat from the wardrobe shelves before pausing briefly.
Then glanced sideways toward Aum beside him.
Aum was watching him with that same quiet attentiveness again.
Not intense.
Not invasive.
Present.
Xu Chen suddenly realized something strange:
he had stopped feeling observed by Aum.
Now he felt accompanied.
The difference mattered enormously.
Xu Chen handed him the jacket.
"This should help later. Dali gets colder after sunset."
Aum accepted it carefully.
"You planned for future environmental conditions again."
Xu Chen smiled faintly.
"That's called basic preparation."
"That appears identical to care."
The room fell silent.
God.
Xu Chen genuinely needed the universe to stop allowing this man access to emotionally precise language.
Aum slipped the jacket on slowly.
Xu Chen's heartbeat destabilized instantly again.
Hopeless.
Absolutely doomed.
Aum adjusted the sleeve once before looking back toward him.
"You are staring again."
Xu Chen rubbed once at his forehead.
"You know what the real issue is?"
Aum tilted his head slightly.
"What."
"I think people are going to stare at you today."
The words entered the room quietly.
Aum processed this thoughtfully.
"Because of physical appearance."
Xu Chen laughed softly.
"Your confidence remains deeply offensive."
"It was observational."
"That somehow makes it worse."
Warmth softened Aum's expression immediately afterward.
Xu Chen's pulse reacted automatically.
Dangerous.
Everything about today already felt dangerous.
Outside, a louder swell of drums echoed upward from the old town square below the mountain. The festival energy had intensified visibly now. Crowds moved thicker through the streets while colorful fabric banners shifted continuously in the spring wind.
Aum stepped closer beside the windows again.
Xu Chen joined him instinctively.
Together they looked down over the city waiting below them.
Aum spoke softly after a long quiet moment.
"You are concerned about public attention."
Xu Chen looked sideways toward him.
"A little."
"Why."
Xu Chen hesitated briefly.
Then answered honestly because apparently lying had become structurally impossible around this man.
"Because once people notice you…" His eyes drifted back toward the streets below. "They tend to keep looking."
The silence afterward softened gently.
Aum considered the statement carefully.
Then quietly:
"You are included within people."
Xu Chen blinked once.
"What."
"You continue looking at me repeatedly."
God.
Xu Chen laughed under his breath because honestly survival no longer appeared mathematically achievable.
"That's different."
"How."
Xu Chen turned fully toward him now.
"Because I'm already emotionally compromised."
A faint pause.
"That condition also appears ongoing."
"It became permanent approximately yesterday afternoon."
Warm amusement flickered visibly through Aum's face again.
Xu Chen suddenly understood with terrifying certainty that today was going to be impossible.
Not because of crowds.
Not because of the festival.
Because this would be the first time Xu Chen walked through the world beside someone he loved openly inside his own heart.
And somehow—
everything already looked different because of it.