His Little Bunny

(Note: Zhou's backstory)

Zhou Feng was a 23 year old with stunning green eyes. His hair was previously black and reached his shoulders, but now it was dyed red. He first realised he was gay in his 11th grade of high school.

There was a boy in his class that he admired. Well, he thought it was admiration at first, but little did he know that that was not the case.

The classmate was a straight-A student, his complete opposite.

Zhou was not so good academically, but he was like a god when it came to sports. He was scouted by most of the school teams when he entered high school as a freshman.

He refused to join any of the school teams, but the basketball team did not give up on recruiting him.

At first, he joined the team because the basketball members annoyed him as they met him every day and begged him to join them.

Later, he came to love the sport.

"Your grades are way below average!" his homeroom teacher, Mr. Yong, yelled at him, "How do you expect to do architecture in university if you can't improve them?"

He bowed his head, not daring to peek at the teacher whose face was flushed profusely in anger and his neck veins were throbbing.

Zhou thought that they were going to pop, and he would be responsible for causing the death of a teacher at an all-boys high school.

"You wanted to see me, Mr. Yong?" a male voice softly asked after knocking on the door of the teacher's lounge.

"Ah. Yes. Come in," he suddenly heard Mr. Yong say in a calmer tone.

He looked up to find Mr. Yong staring at the straight-A student he later came to realise he had a massive crush on.

He stared at his classmate and felt his heart race as the guy looked at him and then bowed at the teacher.

"I asked Tian Zan to become your tutor," Zhou heard the teacher tell him, "If I hear him tell me that you don't listen to him or even refuse to do whatever work he gives you, you're in big trouble, young man!"

Mr. Yong removed his glasses, rubbed his eyes in fatigue, and put his glasses back on.

"If your marks don't improve, you're in trouble too! If you don't improve your academics, you might lose your chance at a basketball scholarship next year."

Zhou's eyes widened at the horrible thought of losing his chance at a scholarship that could change his life. He needed that scholarship to pay for his dream of studying architecture and becoming an architect.

He has always loved buildings and their design ever since he was little. It was not like he had faith that he could get a scholarship for academics as he believed himself to be a lost cause in that department.

That was why he needed a sports scholarship.

"I'll work hard, sir!" he proclaimed with a bow at his teacher.

Mr. Yong sighed and dismissed them, not wanting to see Zhou, the student who would send him to his early grave, anymore.

When Zhou and Tian left the teacher's room, Zhou let out a long sigh. Tian stood next to him, his mouth slightly parted as he wanted to say something.

"Um..." Tian pressed his lips together, causing Zhou to stare into his brown eyes.

'God, seeing him up close is driving my heart crazy. The guy is really cute,' he thought and immediately shook his head and dismissed the thought.

"I'm sorry to trouble you," Zhou said, rubbing his cheek in embarrassment.

Tian was shorter than Zhou, and his frame was tiny compared to the basketball player. He looked like a cute, fluffy white bunny, while Zhou looked like the big, bad wolf towering over its prey.

Tian waved his hands in front of his body and shook his head.

"No, no," the intelligent student said, "I don't mind helping a fellow classmate. Let's work hard together."

Since that day, Zhou and Tian spent every break together unless they had other personal things to attend to.

Tian would help Zhou with his homework and school work. Months passed and Zhou's grades improved drastically.

So drastically that he did not believe he had some intelligence in him. Even some students thought the guy might be cheating to get such shocking marks.

"Tian!" he said, running from his seat to the smart student.

"Look!" he pointed at his Math test score.

"Wow!" Tian exclaimed, blinking multiple times in surprise, "A whole 95%? I'm so proud of you!"

Zhou grinned from ear to ear. He felt like he was on cloud nine. As if he was floating in a sea of happiness. Tian thought that he looked like a big, happy dog and chuckled.

"We should celebrate!" Tian suggested, "How about we have a meal at The Crimson Cloud?"

Zhou nodded vigorously.

"It's on me," he pointed to himself.

The rest of the year had gone by quickly, and before they knew it, it was December. They met up a few times to hang out and texted each other almost every day.

They became very, very close. They were best friends.

On the 25th of December, they spent the afternoon together. However, Zhou had noticed that Tian was not his usual happy self. The guy looked extremely troubled.

"Hey," Zhou said, stopping in his tracks and turning to face Tian, "Are you okay? It's like your body is here, but your mind isn't. What's wrong?"

Tian widened his eyes, suddenly pulled Zhou's hand, and they stepped into an alley.

"Hey, what's wron-"

Zhou was cut off by Tian's sudden passionate kiss, which held some urgency and a sense of intense sadness.

At first, Zhou thought he was dreaming. I mean, Tian was kissing him, right? Was he maybe hallucinating?

"Z-zhou," he heard Tian stammer after breaking their kiss, "It's h-horrible."

He looked at the smart student and cupped his face.

"What's wrong? Tell me," he stared into the student's teary brown eyes.

"My d-dad," Tian began to say, tears escaping his eyes as he hiccuped while he spoke, "H-he wants u-us t-to go abroad because h-he got a j-job offer. I'm leaving tomorrow. I only found out yesterday and..."

Zhou's green eyes widened in shock, while Tian's body shook as he silently sobbed. Tian covered his face with his hands. His body slumped from sadness.

'H-he's leaving?' Zhou could not believe it as he stared at the ground.

He was angry, confused, but mostly his heart was shattered. He felt like someone had grabbed his heart, stabbed it with a knife that had been placed on a hot surface, and then used it to also cut his pierced heart open.

"I'm sorry," he heard Tian say, causing him to look at the intelligent student.

"I..." Zhou didn't know what to say.

Just what was he supposed to say? Don't go? Stay with me? This was not some fairytale. He did not have that kind of say in Tian's life.

"I don't know if I will ever come back," Tian said softly, "But I-I really came to like you...No, I still do. I hope that we can continue being friends even if we never meet again. You will always have a place in my heart, Zhou Feng."

When the new year began, Tian was gone, and Zhou felt like his once exciting and fun school life was mundane again.

He missed Tian so much that it drove him crazy. He hoped that wherever the smart guy was, he was happy.

He continued to work hard in school and was accepted at one of Cedoria's top universities, Waterfalls University, located in the hub of Qingzou.

Mr. Yong was the happiest teacher when Zhou told him the great news.

Zhou was very open about his sexual orientation in university, and no one dared to harass or bully him about it.

I mean, how do you even bully the big, bad wolf? Not that our Zhou was a bad guy.

"Bunny Teng," he called the sleeping university student, sitting on the side of his roommate's bed.

This was the nickname he gave Teng because he was such a cute and adorable guy, just like a cute bunny. It has been six years since Zhou last saw or heard from Tian.

They used to text all the time, but as they both got busy, the texts decreased gradually until neither texted the other.

"Bunny Teng," Zhou whispered in Teng's ear to wake him up so that he was not late for his engineering classes, "Wake up, or I'll bite you."

Still, Teng did not wake up and just rustled in his sleep. Every morning, Zhou had a mission: Get up and wake Teng Heng, his roommate, and colleague.

He was basically the little guy's human alarm clock. In a way, Teng Heng reminded him of Tian because they were both cute and intelligent.

Not to mention, complete angels who are always willing to help others. Maybe this was why he fell for Teng Heng. Yes. You read that right.

Zhou had a secret crush on his roommate and colleague, Teng Heng.

A crush wasn't even the word to describe it. He was utterly smitten and spoiled him so much. But alas, his roommate was straight.

He sighed as he gently shook the sleeping guy's shoulder.

"Okay, for real now," Zhou said in a more serious tone, "You're gonna be late. Wake up, sleepyhead."

Just then, Teng woke up, rubbing his eyes. He slowly wrapped his arms around Zhou's waist and rested his head on the guy's chest, catching him by surprise.

He noticed that Teng liked skinship a lot, which was strange because the little bunny was never this intimate with his university friends at Waterfalls University.

"Okay," he heard Teng mumble in his chest, "I'm all powered up, now."

Zhou sighed and ruffled Teng's hair.

"All right. All right," Zhou stood up, and Teng looked up at him, "Good morning. Go take a shower now, Bunny Teng. I believe you have a class soon."

Teng jumped out of bed and yawned softly as he stretched his tiny body.

"Okay and good mornin', Zhou," Teng sleepily greeted Zhou, whose heart immediately went 'ba-thump.'