Kou Chen had never done arts and crafts before. He slept through them or did something else in elementary school, or he had already been kicked out of the classroom by the teacher. He had even less interest in them as he got older, even Kou Xiao putting beads on string for a bracelet was like magic to him.

The only reason he wanted to make Huo Ran something for his birthday was because of that anonymous bracelet he received.

He never would’ve wanted to do anything like this in the first place. He can just buy birthday gifts. If they’re a good friend then he can spend some more time picking out a thoughtful gift.

He didn’t know why he wanted to make something for Huo Ran either, but once the idea took shape, there was no getting rid of it. He would see it through no matter what.

The first thing he did after they ate breakfast and went to class was sit beside Huo Ran. He grabbed Huo Ran’s leg from under the desk and put it on his own legs.

He ignored the giggles of all the girls around them.

“Can’t I do it myself?” Huo Ran tried to take his leg back.

“Don’t move!” He glared at Huo Ran and held his leg tight. He ripped off a strip of paper from his notebook and curled it around Huo Ran’s ankle, “See? Done.”

Huo Ran took his leg back and sighed.

Kou Chen made a mark on the paper and then measured it with a ruler, before typing it down on his phone.

When he looked back up, Xu Chuan was standing by his desk with his arm extended.

“Fuck,” Kou Chen cursed. He grabbed Xu Chuan’s arm and drew a quick watch on his wrist.

They planned to play basketball the entire weekend. One because the tournament was next week and they wanted to get in some more practice, and two because they just wanted to hang out.

But Old Yang was free that weekend to teach him how to make the anklet, so Kou Chen had no choice but to cancel on them.

Before Old Yang’s car even arrived at his place, Shuaishuai suddenly perked up from where he was laying on Kou Chen’s lap, his ears standing up straight.

“You hear Old Yang’s car?” Kou Chen leapt from the couch, “Let’s go.”

“To where?” His mom called.

“To Old Yang’s.” Kou Chen opened the door as he put his shoes on, and Shuaishuai shot out.

“Your sister went out with her friends, I thought Ruidong was busy.” His mom said. “They don’t go on dates on the weekend?”

“They see each other all the time, do they need to spend all weekend together too?” Kou Chen ran out, “I’m off now, I’ll just go back to school tonight, I have to practice basketball tomorrow—”

Old Yang bought a penthouse at the outskirts of the city, to use as a studio.

The inside was full of leather goods, all sorts of wallets, bags, wine holders, ornaments.. As well as a bunch of supplies and tools.

“It feels like I’m walking into a horror movie scene every time.” Kou Chen held Shuaishuai’s collar and pointed at a huge leather cushion with a ball made out of leather scraps on top of it. “See that? Go play. If you’re bored you can come find me. Don’t bite anything, understand?”

Shuaishuai panted.

“Understand?” Kou Chen said.

Shuaishuai woofed.

“Go on.” Kou Chen let go of him, and then followed Old Yang to a workbench. “Okay, let’s start. I wanna finish fast, preferably by the afternoon. I’m going back to school later.”

“I can do it in an hour.” Old Yang said. “As for you.. Probably around the same time. You’ll give up in five minutes and then I’ll do it for you.”

Kou Chen didn’t say anything back to him. One because he wanted to be efficient with his time, and two because Old Yang wasn’t wrong.

He wrote down Huo Ran’s ankle size with a pencil, and then to Old Yang he said: “We’ll pick out the leather first?”

“Mhm.” Old Yang got out a collection of leather from the shelf and put it on the table. “Do you have a design in mind?”

“I told you, something with studs and buckles.” Kou Chen flipped through the leather.

“Have you..” Old Yang cleared his throat, “Watched too many of those videos?”

“What?” Kou Chen glanced at him, not understanding what he meant. He looked back to the leather, “I don’t like the black ones, or the really light browns..”

Halfway through his sentence he suddenly realized something and looked up at Old Yang: “What the fuck did you just say? What videos?”

“No? You want leather, studs, buckles, all that.” Old Yang said. “What feeling are you going for? You’re..”

“Leather, and rivets. Like a punk style.” Kou Chen said.

“..Really,” Old Yang looked at him. “My bad, you’re a pure young man.”

“What the fuck were you thinking then?!” Kou Chen yelled.

“Don’t force me.” Old Yang pointed at the leather. “Pick.”

“You’re the one that’s watched too much of it.” Kou Chen tsked. “Horny old bastard.”

“Who’s old?” Old Yang picked out a piece of leather. “How about this? It’s pretty old, it suits the feeling you’re going for.”

“Yxjs.” Bbe Jtfc abbx j ibbx. Pa kjr vjgx ygbkc, klat j qgfaas nlcajuf nlyf.

“Pa’r jigfjvs yffc agfjafv, sbe vbc’a cffv ab vb la sbegrfio.” Yiv Tjcu qea atf gfra bo atf ifjatfg jkjs, jcv rqgfjv atja bcf bea lc ogbca bo tlw. Ktfc tf uba bea j geifg jcv j xclof. “Zfjregf, wjgx la bea, jcv atfc mea.”

“Mhm.” Kou Chen put the ruler on top of the leather and took a deep breath before drawing the line.

That should’ve been the easiest step, but the hand holding the ruler down didn’t quite listen to him, so he ended up drawing a half circle off the edge of the ruler.

He heard Old Yang sigh, and he glanced at him.

“Fill it in.” Old Yang said.

He drew it again, and this time the ruler moved for some reason, and he ended up with a new line beside the old one. Whatever, even though the piece of leather wasn’t big, it was still enough to make like fifty anklets.

“How thick?” He asked Old Yang.

“However you like.” Old Yang said. “But I recommend you don’t go over two centimetres, or it’s gonna be too flashy.”

“Okay, 1.5 then.” Kou Chen continued. He was also afraid that Huo Ran wouldn’t wear it if it turned out too flashy.

He always thought that making a anklet was just: cut a piece of leather, and then put the studs in. That’s it.

To be honest, it really was just that, but it was like cooking. It sounded easy, but it was like he was all thumbs when he actually tried to do it.

When cutting the leather, he accidentally sliced off a bit of his fingernail.

His nails were trimmed short, so it also took a piece of skin off the top of his finger.

It almost scared Old Yang to death when it started bleeding: “Enough, let me do it. This piece of leather has your blood, sweat, and tears on it now. Leave the rest to me.”

“It’s fine.” Kou Chen sucked on the finger and then put a band-aid on it.

“Your sister’s gonna kill me.” Old Yang said.

“She’s beat me worse, okay?” Kou Chen grumbled.

“That’s because it’s her, try having someone else beat you up?” Old Yang said.

Kou Chen still wanted to keep going. This is the first time he wanted to make someone a gift, and it was for the first person to ever block a knife for him. He also really liked this person.

But he clearly underestimated how hard it would be, or more like he overestimated his crafting abilities.

Maybe he even overestimated his fondness for Little Cutie Huo Ran.

Old Yang got him a scrap piece to practice riveting, and after he hit that same finger for the third time, he tossed the hammer to the side and collapsed onto the couch.

“Fucking hell, practice my ass. I give up.” He stared at the finger that was starting to bleed again.

It really hurt.

To someone like him who thought scratching open a mosquito bite hurt like hell, this was practically torture. It hurt and he was angry, with no way to vent.

Old Yang leaned on the workbench and looked at him.

“I wasn’t talking about you.” Kou Chen groaned.

“Let’s do something easier.” Old Yang said. “You know what the first thing I made was?”

Kou Chen didn’t say anything.

“A tape measure.” Old Yang smiled. “I cut a really long strip of leather, and I didn’t even cure it. I just stamped the marks on, and it was done.”

“A tape measure?” Kou Chen looked at him a little distractedly.

A tape measure?

“Yup. Everyone starts with the easiest thing.” Old Yang said. “As for someone like you who can’t even fold a piece of paper neatly, it’s surprising that you could even cut the leather.”

“How hard would that be to make?” Kou Chen asked.

“..Cut, finish, trim, stamp, and rivet the two ends.” Old Yang said.

“You can do the trimming and riveting.” Kou Chen stood up. “What kind of stamps do you have? Any with letters?”

“Yeah, why?” Old Yang opened a big wooden box, and inside were all sorts of metal stamps shaped like big nails. The larger flat side had different letters and designs.

“Huo Ran’s not gonna believe I made it if you help me with a more complicated one,” Kou Chen said. “I’ll do an easier one then. A thin strip that’s enough to wrap around an ankle twice, and then instead of number markings, I can do his birthdate and his name. What do you think? Can I do that?”

“Yes.” Old Yang nodded.

“Then that’s settled.” Kou Chen snapped his fingers. “I’ll make one for myself too.”

“..Matching couples anklets?” Old Yang asked.

“Mhm.” Kou Chen nodded, and then he paused, “They’re friendship anklets, okay?”

“I call everything like this matching couples stuff.” Old Yang patted the leather. “Let’s begin then, Master Kou.”

Most of the people in their class didn’t go home for the weekend. The Seven of them, excluding Kou Chen, were all at the gymnasium.

Their class team consists of Kou Chen, Jiang Lei, Wei Chaoren, and Luo Feiyu, with all the other guys above 178cm as substitutes.

They all stayed to practice, and they split into two teams.

Everyone except Kou Chen.

Kou Chen went home to make his birthday gift.

Huo Ran was a bit unhappy. There was still half a month until his birthday, and he had to do it today. But when he thought about the fact that he’d already been thinking about it for a while now and that he specially went home for it, it made him feel really warm inside.

Kou Chen was good at fighting. Not only was it natural talent, he’d also had a lot of practice, so he was good.

But his crafting skills.. From Huo Ran’s understanding, that guy couldn’t even unwrap a piece of chocolate without taking a chunk of it with the wrapper, so he was scared to even think about him attempting to craft something.

If really did end up successfully making an anklet or something, he didn’t even know if he would wear it or not.

What if it was too ugly?

But at the same time, Kou Chen worked hard on it.

..So he should wear it.

Huo Ran had everyone take a break in the afternoon, and he, Xu Zhifan, and Xu Chuan went to buy drinks.

Wu Xiaochen and a few other girls went with them. Their food and drink for this practice session were all covered by the class funds, so she had to pay.

“How come Kou Chen’s not here?” Tang Wei asked.

“He’s busy, he’ll probably come later today.” Huo Ran said.

“I’ve never seen Kou Chen play before,” Tang Wei asked again with a face of anticipation, “Is he cool?”

“Very cool.” Huo Ran said.

“Ah..” Tang Wei put a hand over her heart and leaned on Li Yiyi, “Ah.. My Chen..”

“Whose?” Wu Xiaochen turned to her, “Say that again! You shameless woman!”

Tang Wei kept her hand over her heart: “Ohh, you’re such a mean woman! You just want to say he’s yours!”

“He’s Huo Ran’s!” Wu Xiaochen made a fist for justice.

Huo Ran was eating Wei Chaoren’s last back of beef jerky, and he almost choked.

The girls immediately started laughing. Wu Xiaochen actually lasted a few seconds before laughing herself.

“I won’t be joining you!” Li Yiyi said. “My heart is with someone else right now.”

“Who?” Wu Xiaochen asked.

“Who else? Lin Wuyu, obviously.” Tang Wei waved her off. “She nearly drooled when he went up to the roof the other day.”

“Shut up! I wasn’t that..” Li Yiyi stopped halfway through her sentence and pointed ahead, “Kou Chen’s here?”

“Ah! Kou Chen!” Tang Wei bounced over and waved.

Huo Ran quickly stuffed the rest of the jerky back in the bag and looked up.

He saw Kou Chen walking over.

He couldn’t hold back his smile.

“Are you guys done with practice?” Kou Chen called.

“Nope, just taking a break.” Xu Zhifan said.

“Buying drinks?” Kou Chen stopped.

“Yup, we have funding.” Xu Chuan pointed at Wu Xiaochen.

“Courtesy of me.” Wu Xiaochen patted her purse.

Kou Chen walked with them to the shop. He leaned over to Huo Ran and whispered: “I’ll show you later..”

“Woah,” Tang Wei said from behind them, “Kou Chen, your anklet is so cool!”

Huo Ran paused, and then looked down at Kou Chen’s ankle along with everyone else. There was a thin leather strip wrapped around it twice, with a weathered rivet at the buckle. Below that was a small hoop, and hanging from it was a nail sized little thing.

“What’s that?” Tang Wei followed them with her head down.

Kou Chen stopped: “What’s what?”

“The little thing hanging from it.” Tang Wei pointed.

“A scythe.” Kou Chen said.

“Ah,” Tang Wei put her hand over her heart again, “The one from the grim reaper on your back?”

“..Yup.” Kou Chen laughed.

“Did you make it yourself?” Wu Xiaochen asked. “Leather? It’s stamped too.”

“Yup.” Kou Chen continued forward.

Huo Ran watched him prance around, and he fell into step beside him to whisper: “It’s my birthday gift, but now you’re wearing it around for everyone to see?”

“This one’s mine.” Kou Chen whispered back with a smile. “Yours is in my pocket, I’ll show you later. But it’s the same as mine.”

“Check the group chat.” Xu Chuan said.

“Huh?” Kou Chen got out his phone and opened the group chat.

The others had spammed it with their own wrist and ankle measurements, and Hu Yi just went for his waist measurements.

-I’m not used to bracelets or anklets, I’ll take a belt

“You guys can fuck off!” Kou Chen showed Xu Chuan his hand, “See this?”

“What happened?” Huo Ran asked.

“Cut it by accident. And then it was hammered a bunch of fucking times right after.” Kou Chen frowned, “Pissed me off.”

“Bet you cried from the pain..” Huo Ran said.

Kou Chen looked at him.

“You’re scared of pain,” Huo Ran said. “Is it deep?”

“No, I just took off a bit of skin.” Kou Chen said. “It’ll be fine.”

“And then it was hammered?” Huo Ran squeezed his finger, it almost felt swollen. “Who did it?”

“Who do you think? Not like Old Yang would do it.” Kou Chen sighed. “I did it, obviously.”

Huo Ran knew that it wasn’t something you could just pick up and make, and he also knew that Kou Chen wasn’t gifted in that area, but he didn’t think that he would end up cutting or hammering his finger.

He suddenly felt a bit bad.

“I would’ve said no if I knew it was so hard.” He said.

“What the fuck are you saying?” Kou Chen tsked.

After they got back to the gymnasium, The Seven of them all gathered around to look at Kou Chen’s anklet.

“I thought you were making one for Huo Ran?” Wei Chaoren said. “How come you ended up making it for yourself?”

Kou Chen side-eyed him.

“Are you stupid?” Jiang Lei said. “It’s obviously a pair.”

“..Oh,” Wei Chaoren gave him a little bow, “I’ll be off then.”

Kou Chen burst out into laughter.

Huo Ran cleared his throat when the rest of them went off to get their drinks: “Can I see?”

“Mhm.” Kou Chen a small roll from his pocket. “Just look at it for now. I’ll make a little pouch and give it to you on your birthday.”

“No need for that.” Huo Ran looked at the leather in his hands. It was a mini tape measure, and it was even stamped. There was a letter or number under each increment, “Is this my birthdate and my name?”

“Yup.” Kou Chen pointed at the buckle. “Mine has a scythe charm, yours is.. a Shiba Inu head.

Huo Ran looked at him.

“There was nothing else.” Kou Chen held back his laughter. “I can look again, it’s not your birthday yet anyways.”

“It’s fine.” Huo Ran said.

“Hm?” Kou Chen looked at him.

Huo Ran hesitated, before wrapping the leather strip around his ankle and buckling it.