As silence was just about to stretch between them once more, from somewhere below, a door slammed open, and a student screamed.

"Amazing timing!" Xu Jinli said with a bright smile. "That scream was the perfect sound effect!"

"I think someone just caught a couple fooling around."

“Well, an actor should always show his naked self to the world.”

“You’re unbelievable.”

“You still haven’t said I look good in black.”

“You look ridiculous.”

“Same thing.”

Li Zhen exhaled, feeling a bucket of bad blood clogging in between his heart and head. Dealing with Xu Jinli was something he always needed to brace in advance for, and even when fully prepared, nothing guaranteed that he wouldn't end up completely wordless. In the end, he simply gave up, stepping away from the door and looking for a place to sit down. However, all the pieces of furniture inside the small room were in various stages of decay, forcing him to make do with an ancient-looking armchair that only had three usable legs. 

Without missing a beat, Xu Jinli lifted the wide hem of his extra cumbersome gown, kicking off his heels with a dramatic flair. The discarded black stilettos rolled across the floor, instantly disappearing in the mess of random objects that was scattered beneath a crooked bookcase. Barefoot, he then padded over to the wall, one hand blindly searching for the switch. With a click, the room turned brighter, as a light the same colour as the sky at twilight bloomed above their heads. It was still a dramatic choice for a lightbulb, but at the very least, the creepy vibes disappeared at once, as if they were hastily swept under the old linoleum.

With a light sigh, Xu Jinli turned around and perched himself delicately on the armrest of Li Zhen’s chair, the added weight miraculously stabilizing it. 

"So much better," he hummed, lazily stretching his toes in the air. "I was about to faint from misery."

Li Zhen didn’t answer. He looked up instead, crashing directly into those expressive eyes still lined with smudged black. If someone were to ask him, he could confidently declare that those eyes were definitely Xu Jinli's most bewitching feature. When seen from the side, they appeared curved and delicate, with fine eyelashes tracing the rounded contours of his eyelids, almost inviting you to brush them with your fingers. They started small in the inner corners of his eyes, barely noticeable, growing longer and longer as they followed the arc. Then, they abruptly ended in two fragile lines once they reached the end of his eyelids, like the last feathers in a sparrow's tail. 

However, when those eyes turned around and looked straight at you, the story they told was completely different. Through the years, Li Zhen had heard countless words for them, coming from countless people's mouths: amorous, seductive... bedroom eyes that invited you to fall into depravity. But if one were to listen carefully, all those voices had one thing in common. 

They all blamed Xu Jinli's eyes. 

Blamed them for being too beautiful to resist, too enticing, too alluring. As if possessing eyes like those was reason enough to deserve all the unwanted attention he received.

But Li Zhen never dared to put a word to those eyes, for every time Xu Jinli looked straight at him, the only thing he could see was his own reflection, captured in those dark pupils. His wants, his fears, all the things he wanted to hide, and things he wasn't even aware existed... All of them played in front of Li Zhen in an endless loop, like a silent, black and white movie.

So it wasn't really that Xu Jinli's eyes pushed you over the edge. Instead, they simply reflected what was already buried deep inside.

Like a shallow pool of dark water at the bottom of a well. 

Some nights, it reflected the pristine moonlight above, but more often than not, it reflected the poisonous toad that was staring at it. 

As if reading his mind, Xu Jinli asked with a faint smile on his lips: "Still watching, eh?" The violet lights from above spilled onto his eyebrows, painting his pupils in a warmer shade than usual. And in that crystal clear reflection, Li Zhen stared back at him, completely transfixed.

"...It's hard not to," he finally answered, one hand gripping the free armrest.

"Perfect! Because I have something to show you." Xu Jinli was obviously in a good mood. He leaned a little more into him, knees brushing against Li Zhen's thigh as the tips of his long wig grazed his shoulder. "You know, if we must work together for the gala," he said casually, "I want it to be big. No, monumental! Something that would make the whole campus go crazy."

Li Zhen blinked at him. "Is that your official proposal?"

"Nope. Just a thought I had at lunch." Xu Jinli grinned, then fished a piece of paper from god knows where, placing it dramatically on Li Zhen's lap. On a second look, the whole floor was littered with similar sheets of paper, some of them in full color, others just dirty with smudges of charcoal. Even the one Xu Jinli had deemed to be worthy of sharing was hastily done, just a swirl of ink and pencil lines as shadows mixed with random silhouettes, looking like bones and silk dancing together.

"I want your sculpture to bleed light," Xu Jinli continued. "And my shadows to merge with it. You build the foundation, and I'll dress it. Literally, if needed."

Li Zhen glanced at the drawing. Then, at the black dress pooling at his feet, intimately entwined with his legs. Then back to the drawing. 

"...This is ambitious."

"Coming from you, that means you're intrigued," Xu Jinli replied, his head now resting against the back of the armchair. "Come on, Ah Zhen. I'm sure this is what you came back for."

Li Zhen didn't answer, but his fingers were already tracing one of the pencil marks, charcoal grey clinging to his skin.

Xu Jinli smiled into his shoulder.

"If I agree to this..." Li Zhen sighed. "Will you stop trying to haunt me?"

"Only in daylight." Xu Jinli grinned, clearly taking his question as an agreement, before continuing: "Good. Because my mind is overflowing with genius."

Before Li Zhen could protest any further, the man was already bending down at the waist, scooping a handful of random sketches from the floor. Then, balancing them precariously on both of their knees, he started flipping through them, hastily moving from one idea to another, with no actual plan in mind. 

"Picture this..." Xu Jinli stabbed a finger at a quick charcoal drawing of jagged shapes and slanted lines, looking like a gaping mouth opening on the paper in a silent scream. "You make this tall and cruel, almost feral. I'll drape myself around it and project gloom so sharp it could cut someone's throat. Very avant-garde murder scene. We'll scandalize the alumni!"

Li Zhen stared at the drawing. On the outside, his face was just as expressionless as ever, not letting anything out. But inside his head, a clear thought formed in an instant: Can... Can I even sculpt this? 

And what exactly is this anyway?!

Clearly confused about the direction Xu Jinli imagined for their collaboration, Li Zhen asked, voice mellow and restrained: "Are you creating an art manifesto?" 

"No... But it can be." Xu Jinli tossed that sketch aside like he didn't praise it just mere seconds ago, choosing another winner from the pile of demonic drawings he held so dearly. This one was the complete opposite of the previous one, with the entire page covered in black smudges of ink and swirling lines that looked like smoke, except for a stark white figure, plastered right in the middle of it all. "Or this one," his excited voice sounded in the small space. "Monochrome, but with big splashes of red. Your work can bleed! I'll make sure it does."

Well... at least this one looked vaguely human. And even though the whole sketch was in complete black and white, something inside indeed looked like it was bleeding, conveying a profound sense of desolation and a pathological feeling of misanthropy.

"..."

Glancing up at him, Li Zhen made a noncommittal noise, which only seemed to fuel Xu Jinli's dramatism and excitement. "Come on," he said suddenly, sliding off the armrest in a swish of black fabric. "You won't understand unless I show you."

Before Li Zhen could ask what that meant, a pale and cold hand latched onto his wrist and tugged him out of the cramped room. The bare soles of Xu Jinli's feet made a soft sound on the corridor floor as he led the way into the life performance studio next door. The space was completely dark until Xu Jinli flicked a single spotlight on overhead, hitting the center of the empty stage in a clean, white circle. Without hesitation, he climbed right into it, kneeling to let the black gown swallow his frame, except for the bare curve of his shoulders and the pale column of his neck. 

"This," he declares, arranging the folds of his skirt, “is where the magic happens. Imagine your sculpture standing here, towering, untouchable. And me…” He let the skirt fall still, as his voice softened to something almost conspiratorial. “…the shadow that wraps around it.”

Li Zhen leaned against the doorframe, his arms crossed, and his expression neutral. But his eyes, as usual, never drifted away from that figure. 

Xu Jinli tilted his head, catching the light just enough to make his eyes glint. “Do you see it now?”

Li Zhen’s reply was slow. “…Something like that.”

“Perfect! Then we’re halfway there, and this might actually work.” With a swish, Xu Jinli stood up, taking a step out of the spotlight. Walking all the way to the edge of the stage, he watched Li Zhen from above, close enough that only a sliver of darkness remained between them. 

“Darling," he continued, "you just have to bring the slab of stone. I’ll take care of everything else.”

Li Zhen let out a quiet breath through his nose, not moving, and not giving a clear answer either.

But Xu Jinli smiled. Sharp and satisfied, as if whatever it was that he read in those green eyes was what he needed to hear most. In a fluid motion, he turned away, his bare feet whispering against the stage floor as he headed back down toward the props room. “Maybe we'll meet again, Ah Zhen,” he called over his shoulder. 

“After dark, of course.”