Out of the friend zone and into the fire I

Wary of repeating the incident from that morning, Yuliang followed his brother's example and used a surgical face mask to obscure his face and secured his jacket hood over his head for both added protection from the cold and as an added layer of security.

"Ready to go, brother? Zander's waiting for us in his car downstairs."

Yuliang's expression darkened.

He didn't understand how the fuck that had even happened.

How the fuck had someone managed to convince his commitment-phobic brother to date them? Let alone Zander fucking Vesalius, who from what Yuliang last remembered, had been so deep in the friendzone that even Yuliang was more likely to date Yukio than him.

Yuliang sighed, trying not to let the bitterness he felt get to him. No matter how many people Yukio had slept with before, Yuliang had never felt threatened by them, knowing that Yukio's affections for them were fleeting, but now he was dating someone. This was the man that his brother felt comfortable and happy enough with enough to commit to them. This was the man that could one day usurp Yuliang's importance in Yukio's heart.

Yuliang hated it and wanted things to go back to the way they were because even if his brother was a total slut, it was at least familiar and didn't change their dynamics. Yuliang mentally slapped himself, what the hell was he thinking? How selfish could he be to think something as horrible as that? He'd always been against his brother's promiscuity and now that Yukio had found a stable partner, it suddenly made it okay?

No, it fucking didn't!

Also, Yukio was clearly a lot happier now that he was with Zander. Yuliang hadn't seen him this happy since he had gotten his acceptance letter six months ago.

"Brother?" Yukio asked, looking at him in concern when he didn't answer immediately.

Yuliang patted him on the shoulder reassuringly and said, "I'm fine, brother. Let's go."

Yuliang had never gotten in the way of his brother's choices before, and he wasn't going to start now.

At least his brother's boyfriend was someone he already knew, instead of one of Yukio's random hookups like he had always feared.