of course, I was trying to find those exact reasons why our protags like each other at all, and as is the case with ashitaka novels, it continues to be more vague than obvious. but, one must persevere:
zhan chao seems to have always knows he was gay, and was both quick and without shame when it came to his crush of yan jiayao. quick shoutout to the pond scene where zhan chao makes peace with his sexuality btw
the real question throughout the chapters was yan jiayao. one, he is very much the male lead, not the protag, and we don't really know what he's thinking afterall. but, i read his compliance as a certain form of acceptance of zhan chao's feelings. i mean, given that he was completely sure of zhan chao's feelings as early as the yeats incident, the inherent fact that he never pushed aside zhan chao and what was, at that point, clearly flirtation, seems to indicate that he was at the very least open to the suggestion of a future. this especially lands right before the scene where they hug for the first time, abd when zhan chao had dragged jiayao out (which, deskmate xu very kindly adds is a precursor to a confession, and hence jiayao would have also known this), zhan chao hinself notes that jiayao never once berates him from dragging his ass out in the cold, and very decisively starts small talk. i was thinking about how if jiayao were a girl, and this was a straight romance, this is literally textbook acceptance from the girl's end. all just a proof, really; i do not claim the assumption to be a good signifier of consent
also the painting scene, where while zhan chao's feelings are meant to exist, very much so, but forced to be implicit (like the misty poetry it metaphors), yan jiayao is supposed to be taken aback, but not in confusion, but in recognition.