From the Beginning

Chapter 1: Cake

            "You don't even like cake," Skye reminded.

            "But, you do." Bowen pointed out.

            Cornered at the side of their house, Skye sighed and let Bowen slather a handful of cream on his face.  "Happy?"

            "Yes." Bowen did his mule-honking laughter which only happened when he was in extreme joy.

            "Good." Skye chuckled and licked the cream off his finger.  "Mm...  You should taste this."

            "Okay." Bowen leaned over and tasted the cream he smeared on Skye's face.  "Mm...  Not bad."

            Bowen's sudden action paralyzed Skye momentarily from shock.  "T-There's cream on your own hand.  Why did you...?"

            "Oh, I thought it would make more sense if I ate it off your face, since there was more there."

            "L-Let's go get cleaned up." Skye dashed into the house to hide his blush.

            "Ge, wait for me." Bowen trailed after him.

***

            They sat down in the living room and ate some cake; this time, it was on a plate and not their faces.  "Look at you.  You can't even wash your face properly.  There's still cream left on your face." 

            Bowen handed Skye a napkin and stuck his face at him. "Clean it off for me."

            "You big baby." Skye smiled and wiped the leftover residue from Bowen's face.  "There you go.  You're handsome again."

            "I thought you liked me covered in cream."  A smirk lifted a side of Bowen's plump lips.

            "Is there something going on between the two of you that I should know about?" Someone took a seat adjacent to theirs.

            "J-Jensen ge," Bowen sputtered.

            "What are you guys talking about?" Sion plopped down beside Jensen.

            "So, why are you guys in here when the party is outside?" Jensen inquired.

            "We're eating..."

            "Each other?"

            "Cake," Bowen corrected. "We're eating cake.  Okay, Jensen ge?"

            "Eating cake..." Jensen stared at them with his deep set eyes, "off each other's faces?  Does it taste better that way?"  His low voice rumbled sexily and his wide lips flattened into a smile.

            "Are you guys dating?" Sion finally caught on with a gasp.

            Bowen quickly glanced over at Skye and then at Sion before his eyes landed back on Jensen.  "I don't like him in that way."

            "In what way?" Jensen challenged.

            "You know what I mean, so stop asking."

            "Why?"

            "I just...can't."

            "Why not?"

            "I..." Bowen searched his mind for the right words to say but couldn't find them.

            "Is it because he's a guy?" Sion spoke his thoughts out loud.

            Skye looked down at his own hands and sighed inwardly while plastering on a smile. "We're running low on snacks.  I'll go to the nearby minimart to get more.  I'll be back shortly." He excused himself and headed toward the front entrance.

            "Skye ge, we have plenty of..."

            The door shut before Bowen could finish his sentence.

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Today is July 7th on the lunar calendar. Happy Chinese Valentine's Day! 七夕快乐!

All right, the journey to revise their names begins. If anyone finds their old names showing up anywhere, please point them out to me. I'll try my best to catch all of them as I edit, but I might still miss some. I'm manually changing the names one by one on each chapter instead of copy-pasting it from my word doc. It's going to take way longer, but I think it's worth it. This way, I keep all the wonderful comments wherever they were left. Yes, those comments most likely will have their old names.  That's fine.  Thank you so much for the support.