The afternoon sun came through the broken window and made a warm rectangle of light on the floor and Wenhao and Shen Wei were lying right in the middle of it like two starfish who had washed up on the same beach.
Their arms and legs were spread out and their heads were close together and their feet were pointing in opposite directions and they had eaten so many eggs and so much toast that neither of them wanted to move ever again.
"Weiwei," Wenhao said while staring at the ceiling which had a water stain that looked kind of like a bunny if you used your imagination.
"Yes."
"We need to share the chores now. Since I'm staying here."
Shen Wei turned his head to look at Wenhao and Wenhao's face was serious like he was discussing something very important like a business deal or a peace treaty. "You have never done a chore in your life."
"That's not true," Wenhao said and he sounded offended. "I once carried my own plate to the kitchen. The servant almost fainted from shock but I did it."
Shen Wei laughed and turned back to look at the ceiling because looking at Wenhao's face for too long made his chest feel weird. "That doesn't count. Carrying a plate is not a chore. That's just moving things from one place to another."
"Then I'll learn," Wenhao said and he sounded determined. "I'll wash dishes. I'll sweep the floor. I'll even take out the trash. How hard can it be."
"Famous last words," Shen Wei said and he smiled.
They lay there in comfortable silence for a while and the only sound was the distant noise of traffic and the occasional bird that landed on the windowsill and looked at them like they were strange creatures.
Then Shen Wei's smile faded and his face got serious and his hands which were resting on his stomach started to fidget with the hem of his shirt.
Wenhao noticed because Wenhao always noticed when Shen Wei got quiet in a way that was different from his normal quiet.
"Weiwei," Wenhao said and he propped himself up on his elbows to look at Shen Wei's face. "What's wrong. Your face is doing that thing where you look like you're about to tell me something bad."
Shen Wei took a deep breath and sat up slowly and crossed his legs and his hands were still fidgeting and he looked at the wall instead of looking at Wenhao.
"Wenhao," Shen Wei said and his voice was shaking a little. "Before you continue to stay here. I want you to know one thing about me. One thing that might change how you look at me."
Wenhao sat up too and pushed his messy hair out of his face and his eyes were curious and a little worried. "What is it? Do you have a secret twin? Are you secretly a spy? Do you owe money to dangerous people because I can fix that my father knows dangerous people."
Shen Wei laughed but it was a nervous laugh and it didn't last long. "No. Nothing like that. It's just...Do you know why I get bullied the most. Why those boys push me and call me names and look at me like I'm something gross they stepped in."
Wenhao frowned and his face got dark because he hated thinking about those boys touching Shen Wei. "Because they're idiots. Because they're jealous. Because they have small hearts and small brains and probably other small things too."
Shen Wei snorted because Wenhao's mouth was always shocking even when he wasn't trying to be shocking. "No. I mean yes those things are true but that's not why they picked me. They picked me because they could tell..... They could sense something about me. Something different."
Wenhao tilted his head like a confused puppy and his frown got deeper because he didn't understand what Shen Wei was trying to say. "Different how? You're not different. You're just Weiwei. You're small and weird and you make terrible eggs and you sleep on the floor like a homeless person even though you have a bed. That's not different. That's just you."
Shen Wei's heart squeezed because Wenhao said it so simply like being himself was the most normal thing in the world and maybe to Wenhao it was because Wenhao didn't know yet.
Shen Wei took another deep breath and closed his eyes because it was easier to say things when he wasn't looking at Wenhao's face. "Wenhao. I'm..... I'm actually...I'm gay."
The words came out quiet but clear and they hung in the air between them like a soap bubble that could pop at any moment.
Wenhao gasped so loud that Shen Wei's eyes flew open because he thought something had fallen on Wenhao's head or maybe a bird had flown in through the window.
Wenhao's eyes were wide and his mouth was open and his whole face was frozen in an expression of pure shock like someone had just told him that the sky was actually green and grass was actually blue.
"What?" Wenhao said and his voice was high and squeaky. "What is gay?"
Shen Wei froze.
His brain stopped working.
He stared at Wenhao and Wenhao stared at him and the silence stretched between them like a rubber band that was about to snap.
"You don't know what gay means?" Shen Wei said slowly like he was testing each word to make sure it was real.
Wenhao shook his head and his messy hair flopped around. "No. Should I? Is it a disease? Is it something bad? You said it's not an illness but now I'm worried because you look like you just told me you have six months to live."
Shen Wei put his face in his hands and his ears were burning and his cheeks were burning and his whole body was burning because he had prepared himself for Wenhao to be angry or disgusted or confused in a bad way but he had not prepared himself for Wenhao to simply not know what the word meant.
"Wenhao," Shen Wei said through his fingers. "Have you ever heard of two men liking each other? Like liking liking? Like more than friends."
Wenhao thought about this for a moment and his face scrunched up like he was solving a very difficult math problem. "You mean like how my father likes his business partners? He likes them but he doesn't like them like them."
"No," Shen Wei said and he dropped his hands from his face because this was going to take a while. "I mean like how a man and a woman fall in love and get married and have babies. But instead of a man and a woman it's two men. Or two women."
Wenhao's eyes got even wider which Shen Wei didn't think was possible. "Two men can do that? Two men can fall in love."
"Yes."
"Like real love. Like wedding love. Like hold hands and kiss love."
Shen Wei nodded and his face was so red it looked like he had been sunburned. "Yes Wenhao. Like that."
Wenhao leaned back on his hands and looked at the ceiling and the water stain that looked like a bunny and his mouth was moving like he was talking to himself but no sound was coming out.
Shen Wei held his breath and waited and his heart was beating so fast that he could feel it in his throat and his fingers and his toes.
Wenhao looked back at Shen Wei and his face was not angry and it was not disgusted and it was not confused in a bad way. It was curious. Like a child who had just learned something new and wanted to know more.
"So," Wenhao said slowly. "When you say you're gay. You mean you like men. Like you like like men."
"Yes."
"Like you could like like me."
Shen Wei's heart stopped beating for a full three seconds and then it started again at double speed. "I....That's....Wenhao that's not what I—"
"Because I'm a man," Wenhao continued like he was working through a puzzle out loud. "And you're a man. So if you're gay that means you could like like me. Hypothetically."
Shen Wei opened his mouth and closed it and opened it again and no words came out because his brain had left his body and was floating somewhere near the ceiling next to the bunny shaped water stain.
Wenhao looked at Shen Wei's panicked face and his own face softened and he reached out and poked Shen Wei's cheek. "Weiwei. Breathe. You're turning purple."
Shen Wei took a gasping breath and then another and then another because he had forgotten how to breathe like a normal person.
"I wasn't trying to tell you that I like you," Shen Wei said quickly. "I was just telling you about me. About who I am. Because I didn't want you to find out from someone else. I didn't want you to hear it from those bullies and think it was something shameful because it's not shameful it's just who I am."
Wenhao nodded slowly and pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them and looked at Shen Wei with those big dark eyes that saw too much and missed nothing.
"Weiwei," Wenhao said quietly. "I don't care."
Shen Wei blinked. "What?"
"I don't care that you're gay. I don't care if you like men or women or both or neither or aliens from outer space. You're still Weiwei..... You still have pudding on your glasses from yesterday."
Shen Wei touched his glasses and sure enough there was a small smear of dried pudding on the left lens. He had been walking around all day with pudding on his face.
Wenhao laughed and reached over and took Shen Wei's glasses off his face and wiped the lens with the hem of his soft white sweater and put them back on Shen Wei's nose.
"See," Wenhao said. "Fixed. Just like that. You told me something about yourself and I fixed your glasses and now we're going to take a nap because I'm tired from all the unpacking and all the eating and all the learning about new words."
Shen Wei stared at Wenhao like he was seeing him for the first time. "You're not going to ask more questions? You're not going to treat me differently? You're not going to tell anyone?"
Wenhao lay back down on the floor and spread his arms and legs out like a starfish again and patted the spot next to him. "Weiwei. I don't care about labels. I care about you. You're my friend. My only friend. My favorite person. You could tell me you're secretly a dolphin and I would still want you to make me eggs in the morning."
Shen Wei laughed and it came out wet because his eyes were crying even though he didn't feel sad. He felt relieved. He felt light. He felt like someone had opened a window in a stuffy room and let in fresh air for the first time in years.
He lay back down next to Wenhao and their shoulders were touching and their legs were pointing in opposite directions and they both stared at the water stain on the ceiling.
"Weiwei."
"Yes."
"I'm glad you told me. Even though I didn't know what the word meant. I'm glad you trust me."
Shen Wei closed his eyes and let the sun warm his face. "Me too."
"And Weiwei."
"Yes."
"I wanna be a dolphin but I'm not Just so you know. I'm definitely a human. I checked this morning."
Shen Wei laughed and his whole body shook with it and Wenhao laughed too and they lay there on the floor like two starfish who had found their ocean and neither of them moved for a very long time.