Chapter 36

Asher liked silk pajamas because they were comfortable, but they weren't meant to withstand any friction. With a small tug, they easily slipped downward, hiding absolutely nothing underneath.

If Asher had merely suspected Sebastian hadn't noticed back during the military camp, this time, he was absolutely certain Sebastian had.

Because he had noticed Sebastian, too.

A rush of heat flooded Asher’s cheeks, but to save face, he forced himself to stay calm. "M-Morning... this is normal. It just proves... proves that both of us are healthy."

Sebastian nodded, his tone calm. "Yeah. Full of energy."

Asher’s face burned even hotter, but he felt that if he didn't act even calmer than Sebastian, it would look like he hadn't seen the world. Boys at this age were mostly unwilling to show weakness in this area.

So he raised an eyebrow, deliberately adopting a careless and impatient tone. "Full of energy your head. Why are you just standing there frozen? Trying to take advantage of me?"

Sebastian half-squinted his eyes, his voice lazy. "You want me to move?"

"...Damn it!" Asher finally lost his patience and kicked at Sebastian. "I want you to get lost!"

Sebastian shifted to the side, dodging the kick, and smoothly climbed out of bed. A trace of a smile flashed in his eyes as he slowly walked into the bathroom, leaving one last sentence before closing the door: "Young man, don't carry such a heavy temper."

Asher flipped over, burying himself entirely under the blanket. He covered his face with both hands, too thoroughly embarrassed to speak.

He knew it. He had definitely been influenced by his Omega hormones recently, making things a bit weird. When Sebastian was pinning him down just now, he actually thought the scent on him was incredibly dominant... This damn hormone was turning him into the same breed of archaic beast as Elliot.

But how could he harbor such inappropriate thoughts about Sebastian?

How could he have these thoughts just because Sebastian was handsome, had a great body, and possessed such a dominant pheromone scent?

Back when he was presenting, when he was in his mating heat, when he was that attractive and alluring, had Sebastian ever harbored any inappropriate thoughts toward him?

No.

So Asher reasonably suspected that if it weren't for a young man's normal morning routine, someone as cold and chaste as Sebastian wouldn't have any reaction at all.

This made him feel even more deeply sinful.

Burying his face in his palms, he pressed his knuckles hard against his face, wishing he could smother himself on the spot.

To hell with not needing to care about the boundaries between Alphas and Omegas. How could he not care?

Asher felt his own face burning with a stinging ache.

When Sebastian came out after his shower, he saw Asher acting exactly like an ostrich.

Fearing he might actually mortify the guy to death, he spoke up to clear the air: "It's a normal situation. You've only recently presented, so your hormones are still unstable and prone to fluctuations. It'll be fine later. We are both normally developing teenage males; having a reaction fits the laws of human anatomy. There's no need to overthink it. We're in the same boat, so I'm not going to laugh at you."

His voice was cold, calm, and deliberate, as if he were reading from a textbook. Hearing it actually eased a fraction of Asher's embarrassment and washed away some of his mortification.

He turned around, pretending nothing was wrong. "Who's overthinking? I just needed to use the restroom. And why did you take so long in the shower? I was almost about to burst."

Sebastian lifted his eyelids, casting a flat glance at him.

That single glance gave Asher an absolute revelation: "Holy sh—! You didn't just bury millions of your future generations in my bathroom just now, did you?! My bathroom is no longer pristine!"

Sebastian: "..."

He cast a narrow glance at Asher, completely unwilling to speak.

Taking it as a silent admission, Asher crawled out of bed and walked into the bathroom with a face full of tragic grief. However, he discovered the bathroom was freezing cold, stripped of any lingering steam. Yet Sebastian’s hair had clearly been wet just now.

So this guy...

Was genuinely living like an absolute ascetic.

Asher suddenly felt like he was even more of a beast.

Sebastian was truly chaste; he was the one who was no longer pristine.

Squatting down, he covered his face, not daring to look into the mirror.

By the time he dragged his feet out after a shower, Sebastian had already changed clothes.

For some reason, he hadn't put on the clean clothes Asher had laid out for him. Instead, he had settled for putting back on his clothes from yesterday.

The silver buttons of his white shirt were neatly and properly fastened all the way to the very top, and his gold-rimmed glasses had been retrieved from his bag and placed on the bridge of his nose. He looked perfectly prim and proper, completely stripped of that bewitching, sensual charm from the KTV last night.

Sitting by the desk next to the window, leaning against the back of the chair, he was flipping through a book. His gaze dropped along his half-lowered eyelids, his face devoid of any expression. The fingertips turning the pages appeared almost transparent under the sunlight.

He looked so cold and distant that Asher suddenly felt a sliver of disappointment.

It felt as if the boisterous clamor of last night and the ridiculous scene from just now were nothing more than a drunken farce.

The farce had ended, the curtains had fallen, and the actor had returned to his original state.

Nothing was left behind, and nothing was affected.

All those vague, unclear emotions ground to a sudden halt, turning out to be nothing more than his own internal drama.

Meanwhile, Sebastian remained a completely rational bystander from start to finish.

Asher felt that this version of Sebastian was what made sense, so much so that those senseless, subtle chemical reactions were brushed under the rug, deliberately forgotten.

Feeling an empty space in his heart, Asher let out a soft sigh, drying his hair as he walked over. "What are you reading?"

"This physics problem booklet of yours is quite interesting. I haven't seen many of these question types before."

"Oh, those are all competition problems, crossing past the curriculum boundary. We don't learn them in high school." As Asher spoke, he gave his head a violent shake, intentionally spraying water droplets all over Sebastian.

Sebastian dodged to the side, extending his long arm to press two fingers against Asher’s head, unable to resist laughing. "Are you a grade-schooler, still playing this trick? On a serious note, when is the national competition?"

"December."

"Can you win a prize?"

"Duh. If I don't secure a national first prize to guarantee early admission to the top university, I won't have the face to see anyone."

Asher’s tone was so thoroughly arrogant it was asking for a beating.

Sebastian felt that it was a good thing this guy had been thrown into the military camp since childhood to train up a proper set of skills; otherwise, managing to live safely to the age of seventeen would count as an absolute miracle.

He casually asked, "Since your early admission is guaranteed anyway, why are you still torturing yourself with language reading comprehension questions every day?"

Hearing this, Asher slapped Sebastian’s hand away from his head, his expression turning serious. "Early admission is one thing, securing rank one in the senior year is a completely different matter. To speak flatly, even though we're brothers, I am definitively taking that rank one spot back."

"That's going to be a bit difficult. My comprehensive science scores are improving quite fast."

"Heh, you're just relying on the joint exams being simple. When you witness how truly psychotic our grade director’s exam designs are, you'll be calling me dad."

Asher wasn't bragging. The grade director's exam problems had always been psychotic, but no matter how crazy they got, Asher could still score above 290, easily pulling open the gap.

His probability of securing rank one on the monthly exam was far greater than Sebastian's.

Furthermore, because there used to be zero competitive pressure, he felt that passing the language track was enough. In any case, a massive gap always separated first and second place, so his total score remained unaffected.

But ever since Sebastian arrived, pressure had transformed into motivation. Although he still couldn't guess what the author was thinking, he had already learned to apply templates to deduce answers, just like matching mathematical formulas.

His rate of progress was beyond Sebastian’s imagination.

He wanted to ensure his name was proudly displayed at the very top of the monthly exam honor roll, keeping Sebastian pinned firmly beneath his feet, letting that crowd see who the true number one Alpha of Southaven was.

Sebastian didn't deny this either, withdrawing his hand to continue flipping through the booklet. "Can I still borrow this book?"

"Take it. In any case, I've already mastered everything inside. But it's definitely too late for you to prepare for it now. After all, your timeline for learning science is limited, and you lack competition experience. It's more practical to focus your attention on the regular physics exam."

"I know what I'm doing. I can only use these questions to broaden my problem-solving approach; the difficulty level isn't something I can easily control for now."

Asher felt instantly pleased upon hearing this, patting Sebastian’s shoulder. "Don't lose heart. Not everyone can be a genius like your Ash."

True, God was fair.

Having granted certain individuals a right brain resembling a paramecium, He would naturally compensate them with a left brain resembling Einstein.

Sebastian let out a soft chuckle.

Asher asked watchfully, "What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing." Sebastian didn't want to irritate him, shifting the topic. "Take a look at your phone. It's been letting out a continuous line of dings. Something probably happened. While you're at it, my phone ran out of battery, find a charger to help me plug it in."

"Oh." Asher tossed his towel aside, plugging Sebastian’s phone in by the nightstand before picking up his own phone to take a look.

The messages were flooding the Fairies group chat.

He looked down upon this group name immensely, but the group creator Milo was thoroughly persistent, Eugene supported it completely, Mason and Caleb also thought it was quite beautiful, and Elliot...

Forget it, stop talking about him.

Asher opened the group chat with a face full of mock-disgust.

Mason: [Hahahahaha, Ash, go check out the school forum quickly. Someone is actually claiming you and Boss Seb are launching an AA romance. It's killing me.]

Milo: [That's still passable. The most hilarious part is that someone actually launched a deep analysis claiming you aren't an Alpha, but an Omega. Hahahahaha, that's what's truly killing me. I'm still waiting to pursue Ash after he presents. If Ash isn't an Alpha, I'll raw-consume three tons of exam papers.]

Elliot: [Even if he is an Alpha, you still wouldn't be able to pursue him.]

Milo: [Why? You look down on me??? I'm this sweet and cute!]

Asher: [What the hell is this garbage?]

Caleb: [Ash, I was wrong. I was genuinely wrong. I just posted the group photo from last night on my moments feed, and as it turned out, your matching couple bracelets were far too prominent, and then...]

Caleb’s moments feed was essentially the publicity department of Riverdale Prep, plus half the high school liaison network across the city.

Asher could already imagine how spectacular the scene was. His brows knitted with absolute displeasure as he cast a glance toward Sebastian. Seeing him buried in his book, he remembered his phone was still charging and let out a sigh of relief.

Dropping his head to reply: [Caleb, you better find a way to explain this clearly, otherwise just wait to meet your doom.]

Caleb: [Sob sob sob, Ash, I explained, I genuinely explained! But they refuse to believe me! You have no idea how insane these shippers are. I genuinely can't out-argue them. Ash, just let me off the hook.]

Mason: [In any case, Ash, go check the school forum quickly. Shippers and solo fans are launching a full battle. It's hilarious.]

Asher: ...

Are these people completely devoid of tasks? Is the homework too light, or are the exams too simple? What on earth is filling their brains every single day.

Finally, his gaze locked onto that line: "Someone launched a deep analysis claiming you aren't an Alpha, but an Omega." Pinching his lips, he opened the school forum.

The vast majority of the posts harbored zero malice, amounting to nothing more than their routine daily praise for Asher, paired with a routine wave of praise for Sebastian, before mapping out a beautiful romance story to trigger a round of frantic squealing.

Although this crowd was thoroughly bored out of their minds, their words were actually quite entertaining. One short joke followed another, turning out to be quite fun. The frantic praise also left Asher’s naturally proud, peacock-like personality feeling thoroughly comfortable. Even the name "Pine and Cypress Pair" left him rather satisfied; at the absolute least, his name occupied the position right before Sebastian's.

Asher scrolled through a loop, a trace of a smile hanging across the corners of his lips.

Finally, he clicked into the post boasting the highest engagement—The Years I Spent Shipping the Dual Top Students

Original Post: [Posting sweet pictures of my favorite pair to anchor the thread.]

Captured in the photograph were Asher and Sebastian standing by the curbside. The dim yellow light of the streetlamp filtered through the plane tree leaves to drape over their frames, encircling a two-person stage amidst the night. Sebastian was holding a teddy bear, his head tilted sideways as he looked toward Asher, while Asher also pinched his lips, his brows raised as he looked back at him, the two smiling into each other's eyes.

Evaluating the pixel quality, it clearly tracked to Eugene's cheap phone worth a few hundred bucks. But because it was blurred, it unexpectedly invited an extra layer of romantic imagery. Even Sebastian’s deadpan face turned soft due to the high blur.

Asher felt an internal dismissal, yet his fingers disobeyed his system, continuing to scroll downward.

2L: [Serving as an eyewitness, the original poster will list the sweet details captured recently. Ash has a bad stomach, so Boss Seb arranges his three daily meals every single day, practically coaxing him to eat. He picks out every single item Ash dislikes, and Boss Seb doesn't touch a single shred of the food Ash loves.]

3L: [The absolute first task Boss Seb executes after every single class period is filling a cup of hot water for Ash, and he even scaled the wall to step out to purchase stomach medication for his frame. Ash complained that the medication tasted sallow, so he stealthily gave him candy to eat (stealthily, mind you. I accidentally caught sight of it one day. The school boss actually loves consuming milk candy! It killed me with cuteness!)]

4L: [Every single time Boss Seb is grinding through problems, if alternative individuals approach him, Boss Seb puts on a flat deadpan face. If Ash approaches him, Boss Seb displays absolute warmth. Online double standards, far too spoiling!]

5L: [And putting aside the reality that they commute to school together every single day, they originally weren't in the same room during the military camp, yet the two suddenly transformed into a single room in the end. Tell me, why on earth is that! Isn't it purely because Boss Seb refuses to let Ash stay in a single room alongside alternative foul men?! This damn dominant desire for possession! (Mapping out the imagery of the two wearing uniforms once more, I am dying from the visual thrill.)]

6L: [Interrupting the original poster for a second, didn't these two experience a total fracture of their relationship to battle for the rank one spot? It seems they even launched a physical fight, landing straight inside the hospital?]

7L: [I personally evaluate that between a couple, it's merely a slice of romantic interest to let academic performance determine who occupies the dominant position.]

8L: [Ahhhhh!!! Class 5 weakling passing by! Bowing before the romance shared between the two top students! The romance engineered between top students simply means whoever secures rank one across the senior year occupies the top position! Holy sh—, this is far too thrilling!]

9L: [Holy crap, I originally calculated that their relationship was sallow. It turned out to align along this trajectory! Powerful pairing is far too sweet to ship! Charge!!! Supporting Ash to launch a counter-attack on the monthly exam!]

...

79L: [Then would you say Sebastian occupies the top position in the end, or does Asher occupy the top position? During the military camp, the two executed training throughout the day and stayed enclosed in a single room at night; could their physical endurance comfortably sustain the load? Tsk tsk tsk.]

80L: [Regardless of who occupies the top position, reflecting on the reality that the male idol you moon over every single day is being physically dominated by someone else, don't you find it disgusting? You can still bring yourselves to ship this? Alpha and Alpha, isn't it filthy? Vomiting.]

81L: [What kind of bizarre garbage has smuggled its way inside this thread? Our pack is simply shipping a sliver of sweetness between two handsome guys, how on earth does it concern your existences? Existences whose brains are entirely packed with wicked thoughts are the ones who evaluate everything as filthy.]

82L: [Replying to the poster above the poster above, that's far too arbitrary, alright. Who stated it must be an Alpha and an Alpha? A certain someone hasn't even presented as an Alpha yet. Stop insulting Alphas; perhaps he aligns exactly as an Omega. An Omega hitting a heat cycle staying enclosed in a single room, isn't that normal?]

83L: [My mother disclosed a line to my system, telling me to refrain from delivering words stripped of evidence, and to cease launching casual insults targeting alternative genders. Growing up allowed me to comprehend the reality that far from every single human being possesses a mother.]

84L: [Everyone here is an orphan, right? Our pack is simply shipping a casual pairing, how on earth have you stepped onto the track of gender insults? Draping a cloak over your frame means you cease to behave like a proper human being, is that it? Manufacturing random rumors?]

85L: [Stop rushing to launch a verbal barrage, listen to my system deliver a deep analysis for your frames. Has Asher presented? Does he possess an Alpha pheromone scent? Why did he lack the absolute courage to stay enclosed in a single room alongside others during the military camp? Why did he suddenly have to pace toward the hospital? Could it be driven exactly by a terror of his gender being exposed? Furthermore, back during the instance he launched a physical fight alongside Huangfu Yi's pack, he clearly displayed a structural maladjustment facing the oppressive force of an Alpha's pheromone scent, alright. At that juncture, if Sebastian hadn't advanced assistance, he would likely have been crushed to death. Could this possibly be the reaction typical of an Alpha?]

86L: [Oh, where exactly is your brain? An Omega of your household is this formidable? Hitting a heat cycle allows his frame to run five kilometers every single day? Allows his frame to shatter the obstacle course time record? Allows his physical endurance tests to drop the remaining Alphas a far distance behind across the board? Launching a physical fight allows his frame to pin Alphas flat onto the earth without even deploying a single shred of a pheromone scent? If Ash genuinely aligns as an Omega, the Alphas of your pack might as well cease to live like proper human beings.]

87L: [Our Ash aligns exactly as the most dominant Alpha of all! Flawless academic records, flawless looks, flawless popularity across the board, you existences are simply jealous! Delivering extra random words will drive my frame to rip your mouths apart! Carrying my baby Ash away to appreciate solitary beauty, hmph.]

88L: [Passable, passable, in any case, I lack clarity regarding what exact thrill can be engineered by pulling an Alpha and an Alpha together. Since you children assert Asher is the most dominant Alpha, then it can only be Sebastian who assumes the pinned position. Putting on a cold front on regular days, yet in reality, tsk tsk tsk.]

89L: [Do you suffer from an absolute mental defect? Shipping a casual pairing drives your system to elevate the target onto real human beings?]

...

Asher’s brows knitted, forcefully clamping down on the burning fury inside his heart.

Tagging every single individual within the group chat: [Eugene, initiate a personal application to delete the post yourself. Caleb, track down the forum administrator—execute thread deletion where thread deletion is due, and execute account bans where account bans are due. Furthermore, deliver the IP addresses of those absolute idiots tossing out toxic profanity to my palm; let my system evaluate exactly where these disgusting pieces of trash crawled out from.]

He possessed absolute clarity that his routine posture on regular days was a fraction arrogant, lacking any intent to restrain his presence, and his temper was far from upstanding. Consequently, the count of individuals he offended was far from small, the count of existences jealous of his frame was far from small, and the horde tracking down an opportunity to splash a bucket of filthy water onto his frame to locate a slice of personal balance was far from small either.

But how on earth did these matters concern Sebastian?

Sebastian was an individual of this extreme excellence, based on what did he strictly have to endure the verbal abuse launched by this pack of absolute idiots? Do they even possess the qualifications?

Reflecting further on the reality that Sebastian had assumed the groundless blame purely due to being entangled alongside his own frame, Asher felt an even deeper layer of discomfort within his core.

Relentlessly refreshing the school forum page, sliding downward instance after instance, tracking that circling loading ring as it spun over and over. Only when he finally witnessed those specific threads vanish cleanly from the home page did he let out a lengthy breath of relief.

His own state being discovered as an Omega far from amounted to a massive crisis anyway. In any case, his initial choice to blanket the reality was merely driven by a mock-disgust facing unnecessary trouble, far from stemming from a terror of a specific matter. He, Asher, possessed a massive horde of methodologies to teach that pack of trash how to behave like proper human beings.

But pulling Sebastian inside the perimeter transformed the nature of the track entirely. He had zero desire to let Sebastian maintain a single connection alongside these foul words, let alone letting him experience a slice of displeasure as a consequence. Principal of all, today was his birthday milestone; he refused to let Sebastian harbor even a microscopic fraction of an unhappy ripple.

He had delivered the line—he calculated to ensure Sebastian’s eighteenth milestone was packed with excellent luck, and he strictly had to keep his word.

Yet since childhood, as long as an unpleasant ripple touched his heart, there wasn't a single instance Sebastian failed to detect.

Sebastian lifted his eyes to cast a glance toward his frame, setting his book down as he paced to the nightstand, snaring the phone currently processing the charging command to turn the device on.

The absolute first notification that popped past the surface tracked to a contact titled "Ice Cream Mochi": [Sister! I am fried with pure fury! Someone is actually shipping my baby and Sebastian! Although I harbor zero structural malice targeting an individual like Sebastian, and my recent impression facing his frame can be evaluated as passable enough, my baby hasn't even hit adulthood yet, can't they just let him appreciate his solitary beauty?!]

"Ice Cream Mochi": [I’m blasting the link over to your palm, hurry up and help my system launch a counter-barrage together. There is zero necessity to abuse Sebastian; the exact fraction of a second you run into those idiots asserting AA is disgusting, unleash a verbal blow targeting their frames! Although I look upon Sebastian with zero affection, it’s far from being their turn to spray random waste!]

"Ice Cream Mochi": [Link: The Years I Spent Shipping the Dual Top Students]

Sebastian clicked into the link.

The thread had already been deleted.

As fate would have it, a dense horde of group chat notification push streams broke past the surface at that exact fraction of a second.

Asher: [Eugene, initiate a personal application to delete the post yourself. Caleb, track down the forum administrator—execute thread deletion where thread deletion is due, and execute account bans where account bans are due. Furthermore, deliver the IDs of those absolute idiots tossing out toxic profanity to my palm; where on earth did these disgusting pieces of trash crawl out from.]

Disgusting.

Sebastian repeated those words silently within his core, tilting his head sideways to look toward Asher.

He was currently sitting by the edge of the bed with his legs spread wide, his elbows resting against his knees along a slightly hunched upper body posture, his fingers relentlessly tapping the phone screen. His lips were pinched into an uncompliant straight line, and his sharp, beautiful features radiated a cold fierceness and explosive irritation that completely failed to be concealed.

Asher was far from being an individual who lacked the capacity to process a casual joke, and Eugene's thread completely could have lacked a single shred of malicious intent. Yet he stubbornly insisted on deploying his personal network connections to execute a thread deletion command.

It could only demonstrate that he genuinely detested this specific topic to an extreme threshold.

Sebastian turned his phone off, delivering not a single word as he sat straight back down right before the desk.

Dropping his head, his fingers gently brushed past the prehnite stone resting against his wrist.

The green prehnite fruit, ultimately remained short of hitting absolute ripeness, astringent.

Yet regarding that tiny sliver of sweetness, his core was completely unable to discard the attachment regardless.